Posts Tagged
Apple
Sony’s revealing of the PlayStation 4 left more questions than answers. For starters, what’s the launch date? How much does it cost? And what does it actually look like? Almost every single facet of Sony’s presentation was positively Lost-ian, answering questions with more mysteries and dropping clues which seemed to go absolutely nowhere. I wonder if they’re simply out to beat Microsoft to the punch by announcing an unfinished product to the masses just so they can say they were first.
One area that Sony does seem sold on is making sure that the PS4 is cloud-based and mobile. Their branding is a little confusing, but I know they really want me to buy a PS Vita with my PS4 so I can play games on the go. I also know that they’ll eventually be supporting the iPad, but they haven’t exactly clarified how yet. And in what seems like typical Sony launching fanfare, they haven’t shown off the interface either — they only teased it. What we’re left with are important questions: What will the iPad do when we pair it with a PS4? And most importantly, will it work?
Is this a good idea? Let’s find out.
Today I thought I’d take a different approach to the trusty Roundup and share some awesome people to follow on Twitter for iOS, Apple, and technology insight! It can feel pretty daunting trying to find good people to to follow, like shopping for Oyster Sauce in the supermarket (I’m still recovering from that expedition), but have no fear, I’m here to help.
Twitter is an awesome place to find people who are really switched on and engage with them in a meaningful way, getting snippets of revelation, humour, and the daily trivia of people’s lives has never been so easy!
I enlisted the enthusiastic help of the AppStorm team to hone and refine this expansive list, we all hope you like it. My only word of advice: be ruthlessly selective, or prepare to be swallowed by a deluge of carefully chosen characters.
Inspired by Philip Elmer-Dewitt’s recent article on just how many people’s first Apple product is more likely to be an iPhone or, increasingly, an iPad, I’ve decided to see where most iPad.AppStorm readers clambered aboard the Apple train.
His article for Fortune, boldly entitled ‘The iPad as gateway drug‘, quotes an NPD press release that states;
“Newcomers to the brand increasingly turn to the iPhone or iPad as their first Apple device, which combined account for one-third of first-time Apple purchases since 2010.”
I’d love to know what your first Apple product was?
Rather than dilute the poll with endless different answers, I’ve attempted to break Apple products down into distinct, yet significant, categories. Where you first drawn in by the iPod, like so many people in the early 2000s, or have you been hooked since the Apple II?
One of the lesser annoucements on March 7th (which I feel was slightly overshadowed by the new iPad and new Apple TV) was the announcement of iPhoto for the iPad. This release brought all of Apple’s iLife software to the iPad (Garageband and iMovie had previously been released along with the iPad 2 back in March 2011). iPhoto really needs no introduction as most Mac users are used to it already (it comes in the iLife package which is included with every new Mac bought) so let’s jump straight in and see what the iPad version has to offer and, more importantly, whether it matches up to its bigger brother on the Mac.
This week’s poll will take a second of explanation to make complete sense, so bear with me!
New iPads will be arriving in homes all over the world tomorrow, there will be queues outside Apple stores, and thousands of bemused passers-by. The new iPad is a huge step forward, simply adding the retina display is a phenomenal upgrade – the iPad is nothing without the screen at its centre!
However, I have a little niggling question that has been bugging me over the last week, did Apple make the right compromise?
Apple very rarely releases a device that’s heavier and/or thicker than its predecessor (the iPhone 3G being the only notable example), and in the case of the new iPad it’s both. At 0.6mm thicker and around 50grams heavier (see here) the new iPad is evidence of Apple making a compromise. We all know that Tim and his team would have kept it the same, or made it thinner, if they could.
The compromise that we’re debating here is battery life, in order to keep the same battery life as the iPad 2 (something Apple clearly places as a priority) the new iPad not only needed a vastly improved battery, but a bigger one. Apple decided the trade-off was worth it, the minor physical differences in exchange for the same battery as the iPad 2 but with a retina display and 4G LTE – an impressive feat even with the compromise!
My question is whether you think the trade-off was worth it? Rather than give you endless answers, such as dropping a feature or two, I’ve given you four simple ones. Either you agree with Apple that the compromise was worth it, you’re undecided, you think they should have dropped features until everything fit, or you think they should have waited until it all worked. What say you?
March 7th was a bit of a milestone for me – it was the first time in my life that I had reserved and bought an Apple product straight after it was launched. Normally I am a bit dubious when it comes to technology, and before investing in a new gadget, I like to read countless reviews about it to really ascertain whether I’m getting the best value for money. But when the new iPad was announced I was certain that I could trust my instinct, took the plunge, and bought it outright without even reading one single review.
The features were certainly worth shouting about – that all-new, highly anticipated retina display and a beefed-up A5X processor with more powerful capabilities. All sounding good so far, I thought to myself. Then, the bombshell dropped – the new iPad will have 4G support (LTE), allowing blisteringly fast download speeds that makes 3G look ancient and sluggish.
To appropriately mark the downloading of the 25 billionth app, I think it’s important to take a fresh look at the App Store itself. Some of you might argue that I should tone down my approach, surely it’s a grave misnomer to use such strong language in reference to an imaginary (or at least virtual) shop. Much like the way it’s slightly creepy and weird to refer to the iPad, or any other technology for that matter, as sexy…
Love and hate are strong emotions, but I’m feeling opinionated so I’ll stick with them for sheer simplicity. Today I want to look at the App Store, a place we’re all abundantly familiar with, and why I think it’s a brilliant nightmare, a terrible masterpiece.
Apple today sent out invites to journalists for their annual iPad event. This year, the event will take place at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco on March 7th at 10:00 AM Pacific Time. Accompanying the invitations, Apple included the traditional image, which reads “We have something you really have to see. And touch.”
While there has been a great deal of speculation regarding this device in the past few months, there are a few things that have remained the same in most of them. Hit the break to see some detailed information on what Apple’s next-generation tablet may include.
The Apple Education event has come and gone, leaving us all with something to think about; is this the turning point, will our children’s education look vastly different to ours?
In Apple’s vision, the iPad is central and unshakable as the defining force in the future of education – it’s confident posturing that may have a dramatic effect on the way learning looks in only a couple of years. There’s a lot to be impressed by, and excited about, from yesterday’s announcement, but there are also some interesting caveats…
Read on to venture into what the future of education, and e-publishing, may look like with Apple at the helm!
Apple’s iPad TV ads are gloriously seductive. They ooze minimalism and simplicity while simultaneously urging you to find this great new device a place in your life…
To have your app selected to be part of Apple’s official iPad marketing campaign, to be showcased on the actual television over that effervescent piano jam, must mark a goal for almost every iOS developer. The only further step that exists would be to have your app showcased on stage at a launch event!
The apps in the ads are often chosen for their beautifully interfaces and intriguing concepts, you don’t see third-party Twitter clients. Today I’ll take a quick look at some of the more recent apps that have featured and what makes them special – it’s going to be tempting!
