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RIM CEO Jim Balsillie says Apple is doing it wrong.
Entrepreneur has an article on how to build an iPhone app without hiring a developer. What do developers think of these services?
Steve Wozniak makes a prediction about the mobile industry.
Business Insider publishes survey results on how you use your iPad.
Car companies are bringing mobile phone apps to their automobiles.
Have you been waiting for your iPhone to support Flash videos? Today we’re going to look at Skyfire, a new browser that lets you play Flash videos on your iOS device.
Ever since the iPhone was released in 2007, users have been clamoring for Flash support. Although Flash is still not supported in iOS, the situation is much better today since many sites are including h.264 HTML5 compatible video on their mobile sites. Still, there are many sites with videos you just can’t watch on your iPhone.
That’s where Skyfire comes in. Skyfire is a browser that brought Flash support to Windows Mobile a couple years ago, and now has been reborn as an iOS and Android App. Skyfire for iOS uses your device’s native HTML rendering, but then detects Flash content, renders and compresses it on their servers, and then streams it to your device. It only supports Flash video though, so you still won’t be able to use sites that are fully powered by Flash, such as Adobe’s Acrobat.com webapps. The company plans to add support for Windows Media and Quicktime content in the future, but for now, any Flash powered video should work fine in Skyfire. Let’s see if it lives up to its promises and makes it enjoyable to use any site, whether or not it’s Flash powered.
When you go to purchase Skyfire from the App Store, you may be surprised to see it has a mature rating. While Safari comes preloaded on every iOS device, alternate browsers in the App Store such as Opera Mini and Skyfire are rated 17+ for containing mature content. Skyfire’s nothing more than an advanced browser, though, so you don’t need to be worried about your children using it any more than another browser.
Once you’ve got it purchased and installed, you’ll be ready to browse your favorite sites with Flash video. You’ll be presented with a quick and graphical guide to Skyfire’s features, so tap through it first.
Skyfire is rated 17+, presumably because the internet isn’t all child friendly
Skyfire will then open the default homepage which includes links to sites with Flash videos you can try out. We found the default homepage annoying, so if you’d like to turn it off, just press the gear icon at the top of the app. This will give you some quick settings, and you can turn on mobile view or enable private browsing here. Or, press Browser Settings to tweak more Skyfire settings.
Change settings quickly from the gear button
There’s a number of settings you can change, but if you’re trying to get the home page change, press the Start Page button. You can select from the Skyfire default page, about:blank, or your own favorite site.
Take control of your Skyfire homepage
Browsing the web in Skyfire works like you would expect. The address and search boxes are setup much like they are in Safari. By default, Skyfire will open the desktop version of sites rather than their mobile optimized versions. This can be helpful if sites hide their Flash content in the mobile versions, but it can make some sites harder to navigate. Skyfire seemed to have a hard time zooming in on text correctly, and we often had to zoom out to make sites readable.
Sites render great, but can sometimes zoom in too close
When you visit a site that contains Flash videos, you’ll see a small popup on the bottom of the app with a preview of the video. Tap the image, and Skyfire will start caching the video so it can playback on your iPhone. Note that not all Flash videos will work; Hulu directly blocks mobile devices, and other videos may not render correctly on Skyfire’s servers. However, in our tests, most normal videos play fine, even those from major networks.
You’ll always know when Flash videos are avilable on a site
After a few moments, your video will start playing. Playback works much like it does in the YouTube or other video apps, though we were not able to skip forward in a video in our tests. Skyfire compresses videos before sending them to your device, so they load reasonably fast even on slow connections. This may cause some artifacting in videos and is more noticeable in full-screen mode.
Streaming videos look nice, but you may notice some artifacting in full screen mode
In addition to playing Flash video, Skyfire has several other features that make it a nice browser. If you’ve copied a link to your clipboard before opening Skyfire, it’ll prompt you to open that site when you launch the app. Then, Skyfire handles multiple pages very much like Safari, but with the addition of a nice curve effect.
Opening links from your clipboard is a breeze
Skyfire makes it easy to share content you find online as well. Simply press the Plus button in the bottom toolbar to save a bookmark or share a link via Twitter, Facebook, or email. Twitter opens in a popover in Skyfire, making it easy to share your link and then return to your content in one tap.
Share the sites you find with your favorite networks
It also includes a StumbleUpon type service that will recommend related content to the page you’re currently visiting. Press the wave button and select from one of the suggested topics. This will open a new page with recommended media about the topic you’re researching.
Want to learn more? Skyfire’s here to help.
Skyfire actually has a lot to love. The Flash video support, while not perfect, is still quite nice. It’s surprising how many videos you get used to skipping without Flash support, so once you have it you may find you watch more videos on your iOS device. We appreciated the ability to view sites in desktop mode, and this is especially useful when sites don’t offer a way to opt out of their mobile site but you want to access the full version. The extra features are nice as well, but we wish Skyfire included more to make it a better browser than Safari, such as a way to see a list of your previous pages from the back button.
We did encounter some problems as well. Skyfire’s scrolling isn’t as smooth as Safari. We experienced lags several times while panning through sites with numerous images, while Safari handled the same sites fine. Scrolling back to the top of a page isn’t as easy either; you have to hit the small bit of the address bar that sticks out, not just anywhere in the header of the app as most apps work.
If you’ve been frustrated with your iPhone lack of Flash support, Skyfire relieves much of the pain by bringing near full Flash video support to your device. This app shows a lot of promise for bringing a fuller internet experience to iOS, but is still a bit rough around the edges. There’s still plenty of room for improvements, so we’ll be excited to see how Skyfire progresses with future updates. Even as it is, though, it’s a fun way to see more of the Internet than you could before on an iPhone.
As the end of 2010 draws nearer, it’s just about time to begin the ever-important holiday shopping ritual. This year, before you venture out into the cold to fight endless crowds and endure ridiculously long lines, why not try out some window shopping from the comfort of your couch?
Windowshop for iPad is a free app that gives you the entire Amazon experience in a custom format that was designed from the ground up for the iPad. Keep reading to see if it’s good enough to bring some sanity to your hectic holiday season.
The Windowshop interface, shown below, stays pretty much the same throughout the browsing experience. The top of the screen has various controls and buttons and the rest is consumed with a grid of items that scrolls freely in all directions (it locks into a direction as you start scrolling).
The primary Windowshop interface
The UI control design is actually quite attractive. The dark bar contrasts nicely with the white background below and the subtle realism is perfectly executed. Here’s a shot at 100% zoom.
The attractive Windowshop menu bar
The main screen is a large grid populated with content from various sections of Amazon organized into columns. Each of the many columns is topped by a header identifying that category name. To drill down into a category, simply tap the header. This will take you into similar grid organized by sub-categories within the topic you’ve selected.
The Windowshop grid is organized into various columns
Though the interface is clean and attractive, I was initially overwhelmed with the seemingly endless grid of products. However, once you get used to thinking in columns and continual drilling down via the header buttons, the process quickly becomes second nature.
Fortunately, Amazon allows you to also browse in a much more linear fashion. Tapping the “Browse” button at the top left will bring up the following pop-up window.
The much more logical browsing menu
From here you can see all the categories in a nice and simple list. As you tap on a category, the grid in the background updates and a new list will appear with sub-categories. You can also affect what’s displayed in the grid by swiping the option at the top to show Bestsellers, New Releases, Recommendations, Most Gifted or Most Wished For.
Obviously, if you already know what you’re searching for, there is an integrated search feature that will take you right to it. This is also perfect for finding products in specific category that’s not listed on the main screen (such as “Apple” or “iPhone”).
A basic but functional search bar
Once you find a product that you’re interested in, simply tap on it to bring up the product info window, shown below.
Tap on any product to bring up photos, reviews and more.
From here you can see photos of the product, read descriptions and reviews, view related products, add the item to your cart or even put it on your Amazon Wish List. You can also use the arrows at the top and bottom of the screen to skip to the next or previous product.
One thing that surprised me is that frequently, in place of a product photo you’ll actually see a promotional/informational video. I actually really like this feature. The content loads lighting fast and runs smoothly and provides a much richer experience than a simple image. However, I do wish that the videos would wait until you pressed “Play” to begin instead of automatically starting when you tap on an item.
A promotional video popped up for a lens I was interested in.
Purchasing products from Windowshop is a basic process that you’ve seen a thousand times elsewhere. You throw your items into a shopping cart and check out when you’re finished. There’s also a neat “Buy Now” option if you’re just getting one thing and want to ditch the cart process.
The window-shop shopping cart
After this, you need only type in your shipping and billing information and you’re ready to go. The app also has a nifty package tracker so you can check on your shipments and see when they’ll be arriving.
Windowshop is definitely a solid app and a needed improvement over the Amazon Mobile iPad application. The experience is quite enjoyable and really benefits from being designed specifically for the iPad. In fact, in many ways it’s better than the main website.
As I mentioned above though, the grid does take some getting used to and I fully expect many users to absolutely hate it. Just remember that drilling down is the key, whether through the Browse menu or category headers. In fact, I would say the real strength in this app lies in the ease and enjoyability of browsing through what Amazon has to offer (hence the name of the app).
One of the areas I’d like to see improved is the Wish List functionality. I love that you can create and edit Wish Lists in the app but there’s no way to search for those from your friends and family so you can see what they want (this functionality is present on the Amazon site). I’d also like to see support for portrait orientation (with a grid-based app this should be simple) and maybe a way to bookmark items without actually adding them to your Wish List.
Bottom line, if you’re an online shopper, go download Windowshop. It’s free, attractive and enjoyable to use. The app runs very smoothly and hasn’t crash on me yet. Even if you’ve never tried online shopping, this is a great place to start. Once you skip those long lines you’ll never go back.
Leave a comment below and let us know what you think of Windowshop. Do you like shopping in columns or does the format feel too restrictive? Is Windowshop better than the Amazon mobile app? You tell us!
When working as an editor or writer online, it’s easy to stay behind the scenes and remain something of an elusive shadow. AppStorm is no exception – we have a great team of editors and writers who work really hard to bring you a regular stream of top-notch articles across the sites.
Today, I thought it would be fun to publish an interview with your very own editor – Josh Johnson. He joined the AppStorm team just a few months ago, and is the driving force behind everything that goes on at iPhone.AppStorm.
I hope you enjoy getting to know your editor a little better, and feel free to leave a few questions for him in the comments!
I started writing for Mac.AppStorm in May, 2009 and quickly became addicted. David Appleyard and I became fast friends and have since begun working together on a number of other projects. The opportunity transformed my entire career and actually led to me leaving my full-time work as a graphic designer to focus on writing.
Before I knew it I was doing so much for AppStorm on a daily basis that the good people at Envato decided to let me take over one of the sites.
I’m a complete Apple nerd so my favorite part is absolutely trying out new apps and writing about what I think of them. It’s amazing to me that I can actually make a living doing something that is so ridiculously fun.
My least favorite part of the job is probably sorting through the mounds of email I receive on a daily basis from various projects I’m working on. I love meeting and interacting with people but finding time to go through, respond to and act upon every message I receive can be exhausting.
I love productivity and organization apps so Evernote, Producteev and TeuxDeux are on the top of my list. Apps like these really have the power to change the way I work for the better and I’m always on the lookout for great finds in this category.
I’m also predictably addicted to social media so Facebook for iPhone and Twitter for iPad are definitely two of the apps that you’ll see open most frequently on my devices.
I do most of my work on a 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook. I’ve had it for a few years and it’s definitely starting to age – but it helps that I recently maxed out the RAM and upgraded to a 500GB 7200RPM hard drive.
On top of this I own a second generation 20GB iPod that amazingly still works (it weighs a ton and I’m certain it’s bullet proof), a first generation 16 GB iPod Touch, a 64GB iPad, an iPhone 4, and a Time Capsule – just in case any of it ever dies!
For writing, I prefer the simplicity of TextEdit and WriteRoom. I find that when I fill my screen with one of these two apps I’m much more productive than working in a full-blown word processor with tons of formatting options that don’t really matter (especially when I’ll just be copying and pasting plain text into WordPress). I’m not the biggest Microsoft Office fan anyway so it’s a good day when I can avoid that suite altogether.
Since, I’m still very much involved in design you’ll always see Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator (CS5 at the moment) open on my Mac as well. Other Mac apps that I absolutely couldn’t live without include the following:
15+ Incredibly Useful iPhone Tips and Tricks
That article was a ton of fun to research and write. I learned a lot both from the tricks that I found and those that the commenters suggested.
One of my favorite things to do with any system is dig and and find all the little features that most people don’t know about. I wrote a similar article for Mac.AppStorm.
I’m also the editor of Design Shack, and occasionally write for a few other design blogs such as Six Revisions and Smashing Magazine.
In recent years I’ve taken up photography and am really loving it as yet another creative outlet. You can see some of my work at SmugMug.
When I’m not working I enjoy spending time with my amazing wife Kelley and playing guitar weekly at our church.
The best thing I watch each week is usually whatever web development voodoo Jeffery Way is cooking up for the weekly Quick Tip at Nettuts+ (the latest is on JavaScript Hoisting). I’ve learned a ton from watching his screencasts and am continually impressed with his knowledge of JavaScript.
The best thing I’ve listened to this week is almost the only thing: The Beatles. In honor of Lennon’s 70th birthday I’ve had my several Beatles albums repeating in iTunes. You can’t beat the originals but I do quite enjoy the “Across the Universe” movie soundtrack as well.
In addition to the countless design blog posts and news articles I read on a weekly basis, I really enjoy novels, especially the classics. I’m currently reading “The Count of Monte Cristo” and “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” in addition to a couple of newer novels: Grisham’s “The Appeal” and Crichton’s “Next”.
As you can tell, I’m all over the place with with genres but I tend to favor books with a fantastical setting such “The Lord of the Rings” or even “1984″.
My ultimate mobile gadget would be very close to the iPad. Ideal improvements would be dual processors, a couple of cameras with video-conferencing, wireless syncing, the ability to run full-fledged Mac apps, better multi-tasking, integrated text snippets to save on typing and maybe a tiny built-in projector with the ability to interact with the projection.
It would also definitely have wireless charging, and I don’t mean that lame charger you see on the Palm Pre. I mean full-on over the air charging via WiTricity or something similar.
Having your devices charge just by virtue of being in the same room as a charger sounds like something from science fiction, but it’s more than possible using the basic principles discovered by Tesla ages ago and I think it’s about time we started putting this fantastic technology into practice in cell phones, laptops, tablets and more.
What could we do to make AppStorm a site that you visit every day or at least every week?
Thanks to Josh for taking the time to shed a little light on how he came to edit iPhone.AppStorm, and what his routine looks like!
If you have a question for him, or would like to answer his question above, we’d love to chat in the comments. Now’s your chance to quiz your editor on anything and everything related to AppStorm and iPhone apps (no pressure, Josh!)
Thanks for reading, and be sure to also check out my interview with Jarel Remick, the Web.AppStorm editor!
I was a big fan of Envato long before I began writing for AppStorm. One of my favorite aspects of the Envato network is the Envato Marketplaces, where I’ve been an author for quite a while. The Envato Marketplaces serve as both an excellent way for designers, developers and musicians to make a little extra income as well as pick up a few quick resources. This ever-growing network of sites includes ThemeForest, ActiveDen, AudioJungle, VideoHive, GraphicRiver, 3DOcean, CodeCanyon and TutsPlus.
As an Envato Marketplace author, you frequently have to stop by a site to check in on your earnings, comments, etc. Recently, Envato released an API for the marketplaces that has led to a sudden crop of awesome apps allowing you to perform this task right on your iPhone. Below we’ll take a look at all the apps currently available for marketplace authors so you can decide which is right for you.
“Leaflet is an iPhone app designed for Envato marketplace publishers. Keep track of all of your account related information including comments, earnings breakdown, statement list and receive push notifications for both new sales and comments. You can also respond to comments and view individual statement entries all in one beautifully designed interface.”
Price: $1.99
Developer: TriLab Media
Leaflet
I think Leaflet is one of the most attractive apps in this category. The dark interface is oozing with style and organizes your important stats into easy-to-read chunks. The app allows you to check and respond to comments and view all the earnings info you’re used to seeing on the sites.
“Nvator is an elegant and native iPhone application which allows you to monitor your Envato Marketplace activities. Nvator is especially useful for keeping track of your deposits and balance when on the road using your existing Envato account. Just enter your username and API key and we will take care of the rest for you.”
Price: $0.99
Developer: Denon Studio
Nvator
Nvator is another strong contender in this category. It’s simpler than Leaflet but also a little cheaper. If you just want to keep an eye on your basic earnings numbers, this is a solid option.
“iNvatoo Pro is an application that will undoubtedly delight users Envato Marketplace! Through it you can monitor your account and your Envato Wallet and this, wherever you are! Finally an application that lets you track your sales on the various Envato Marketplace in your currency (32 currencies for moment) and in your language (9 languages available today). A friendly interface will allow you to quickly view your sales and keep track of your earnings over the year.”
Price: $0.99
Developer: BullzArtDesign
iNvatoo Pro
iNvatoo Pro has another option that has strength in the interface category. The beautiful leather, wood and paper textures look great with the large, easy-to-read typography.
“With Pocket Palace, you will be able to keep track of your activities on the Envato Marketplaces such as balance, rate, recent sales. Where Pocket Place stands out is that you are also able to browse the marketplaces right there on your iPhone. Search for files or just check out the newest files from a given marketplace. You will be able to search any of the current 7 marketplaces. Enjoy and stay tuned for future releases with more features.”
Price: $0.99
Developer: kreativeKING
Pocket Place
I love that this app goes one step further and actually allows you to browse the marketplaces in addition to checking in on your own stats. I always like to look around to see what other authors are up to and what’s popular so this feature will definitely come in handy.
“SalesDonkey lets you track your sales and comments on any website from Envato network. This includes ThemeForest, CodeCanyon, ActiveDen, AudioJungle, GraphicRiver, 3DOcean and VideoHive. You can view your recent sales and comments in one place. You can also view your performance graphically by months. This includes sale counts and total earnings. All activity since you last checked is highlighted and if you made some money a nice ka-ching sound is played.”
Price: $1.99
Developer: uDesign
SalesDonkey
This one seems fairly simple. You get a basic account feed that includes both comments and sales information in addition to a few sales charts. The reporting doesn’t seem as in-depth as some of the other apps.
“Are you constantly checking your Envato stats? Would you love to be able to check you sales, statement and much more on the go? If you are like me, then that is why I created Viento.”
Price: Free
Developer: Delirium Labs
Viento
Viento is the only free app on the list so if you don’t want to fork out some dough, this is your only option. Like Sales Donkey, the feature set is fairly simple, but it should definitely get the job done.
“Monitor your Envato Marketplace sales and products. Sales Summit lists sales for today, this month and summarizes past months sales. A very polished and optimized interface with background updates make quickly checking your account easy. Setup the application using your Envato Marketplace Username and API key and the application will do the rest.”
Price: $1.99
Developer: Xenon Design
Sales Summit
I really like all the options Sales Summit gives you for viewing reports. You can see breakdowns by day, month and specific item. The interface is simple and efficient so if you don’t like a lot of eye-candy, this is a good app to check out.
The seven apps above should be more than enough to keep you tuned in to all of your Envato Marketplace action.
Leave a comment below and let us know which apps you’ve tried and what you thought of them.
We’ve been covering the story of D7 Consulting for a while here on TUAW — that’s the company that originally won 20 iPads from Box.net through our comments section, and then became a showcase project for how the iPad can be used in real-life business. I called up CEO Joe Daniels for one final interview this week to see how things have progressed and what he and his company have learned from using their iPads while out and about.
He told me that even though the dust has settled on the initial program, the iPad implementation at D7 “is going to be ongoing forever.” It’s “an evolutionary thing,” Daniels said. But it has gotten to the point where the company no longer uses paperwork to share files. “Everything I do when I go out to a job site is done through the iPad and Box. I don’t even take a file with me any more.”
Continue reading How D7 Consulting uses the iPad at work
How D7 Consulting uses the iPad at work originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
It’s been almost a year and a half since I took a look at CameraBag, an app that allows you to filter your photos, mimicking classic film cameras from days gone by. Now the creators of CameraBag have stepped the game up with Infinicam. The app can generate an almost unlimited amount of filters to apply to images, and also provides 18 border styles to suit your photographic whim.
I tried the app on a variety of landscape images, and found the results interesting. You simply press an on-screen button and the app will generate a random filter. If you like it, you can save it to a favorites list. If you don’t, just press the button again. The app has some preset styles, which can be accessed by tapping on your image. Once you have what you want, the image can be saved to your camera roll, or emailed. You can save the image at the full resolution of your camera, or you can make it smaller. There is also an easy-to-use cropping tool.
I enjoyed using this app. I don’t think it’s for the semi-pro, because you really don’t have control of the image. You’re just making random stabs to see what comes up. Sometimes the results are stunning. Sometimes they are pretty weird and not worth saving. There is a history function that lets you retrace your steps. I’d love to see the app add the ability to keep the filter chosen and then modify it slightly with hue or saturation and other parameters. Photographers looking for more control would be wise to look at Filterstorm for a very flexible and powerful app. If you like the look of old cameras and films Hipstamatic is also worth a look. Check the gallery for some examples.
Infinicam costs US $1.99, supports the Retina Display on the iPhone, but works on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad and requires iOS 2.0 or later.
Gallery: Infinicam for iPhone
Infinicam gives you a boatload of filters for your iPhone images originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Reuters is reporting that News Corp, the world’s third-largest media conglomerate, has confirmed they will be releasing a news publication developed specifically for tablet computers like the iPad. “It’s a tablet-only product and it’s very exciting,” says James Murdoch, Chairman and Chief Executive, who was speaking to journalists at a conference in Spain. “You’ll hear more about that soon.” Companies are looking for ways to capitalize on user demand for instantaneous, real-time news as the newspaper industry falters, and one way to do so is to develop apps and publications that customers are willing to pay for.
With millions of iPads sold by Apple this year and major companies like RIM now selling their own tablet computers, media companies are beginning to see the multi-touch tablet format as something they should be investing in for their own products. By creating tablet-specific publications, News Corp — which owns hundreds of different media outlets around the world — could potentially find a new source of income from customers still willing to pay for their news.
News Corp developing a tablet-exclusive publication originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 19:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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After the excitement of the Safari 5.0.3 update this morning, Apple quietly slipped in a few more updates this afternoon.
Boot Camp Software Update 3.2 for Windows 32 bit and Windows 64 bit both provide support for the ATI-Radeon HD 5870 graphics card, the Apple USB Ethernet adapter, and the MacBook Air SuperDrive, as well as “addressing critical bug fixes.”
Don’t be fooled by the post date of “January 18, 2010” — the previous update came out on January 19, 2010, so it appears that someone forgot to change the month while posting the Knowledge Base article.
There are also a couple of firmware updates that have been delivered. The MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 2.0 “resolves an issue where an attached external display may occasionally incorrectly show a purple coloration” and is recommended for the 13-inch, Mid 2010 MacBook Pro.
The Mid 2010 MacBook also had the same issue, and there’s the MacBook EFI Firmware Update 2.0 to resolve that problem.
[via The Mac Observer]
Boot Camp, MacBook firmware updates appear in Software Update originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 19:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Are you one of the millions of people who seem to lose their mind on Black Friday? Do you wait in line for hours before Walmart opens at 5AM just to get that generic LCD TV for $149? If so, there’s a cool iPhone app for you. TGI Black Friday helps deal hunters navigate the bargain madness on the busiest shopping day of the year.
TGI Black Friday allows you to search over 10,000 Black Friday deals across stores and categories, get instant Push notifications on breaking deals, create and save lists of deals you want to remember to make a mad dash for, and view PDF versions of all the available Black Friday ad scans.
The only thing this app won’t do is stop you from getting crushed under a hoard of consumers acting like they’re monkeys jacked up on crack, so be careful where you use it. Seriously, you wouldn’t drive and use an app at the same time, so don’t stand in the doorway of a store just unlocking their doors on Black Friday with your eyes on this app. Good luck and safe shopping! TGI Black Friday is a free download from the App Store.
TGI Black Friday app helps you find Black Friday sales originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The guys at Headcase have created a pretty cool iPhone case that will probably appeal to anyone who’s ever completed Kindergarten. Their officially licensed Etch-a-Sketch case is available for the iPhone 3G, 3GS, and iPhone 4. The case is made of impact resistant ABS plastic that should protect your iPhone from drops and falls (if you still happen to hold it like a four year old).
Sadly though, the case is just a case and doesn’t turn your iPhone into a real Etch-a-Sketch. Thankfully, there’s an app that does.
The Etch-a-Sketch case is available for $24.99 and follows in the footsteps of Headcase’s Etch-a-Sketch case for iPad which was released back in September. This case is pretty fun for hipsters, but those high-powered business execs out there might want to think twice before you pull your iPhone out if it’s gonna be rocking this bad boy.
Etch-a-Sketch iPhone case draws on nostalgia originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Hitting the road this holiday season with the kids? Already have a back seat mount for your iPhone but not for your iPad? You may want to check out this iPad Headrest Mount from ViewSticks. The mount attaches to the back of the front seat headrests and turns your iPad, iPod touch, or iPhone into an entertainment system for the car. Easily removable to store or move into another car, the iPad Headrest Mount kit consists of 2 metal stands, 4 rubber bands, 2 suction cups, and 1 Storage Bag and is available now for US$19.95. BMW recently announced their own iPad integration that doesn’t look any better than this solution — and I imagine it’s a lot more than $20.
Granted, passengers could just hold their tablets or smartphones in their hands, but who wants to do that for the 6 hour trek to Grandma’s house? Considering that all I got on long trips with my parents was a coloring book and a healthy dose of “you kids stop fighting and stay on your own sides,” I would have loved it if my parents had hooked up iPads for us to pass the time with.
[via prMac]
Headrest mount for iPad by ViewSticks originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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In case you missed it, a couple days ago NVIDIA outed the Fermi Quadro 4000 Mac Edition video card for Mac Pro users. The card packs a punch with 256 CUDA cores, a 256-bit memory interface and 2GBs of memory (I remember the day I got excited by a video card with 16MBs of memory, though, sorting out the right driver was always a bit of a problem so maybe nothing’s changed there).
NVIDIA says the Quadro 4000 will deliver “…excellent graphics performance across a broad range of design, animation and video applications.” Especially if you use Apple’s Final Cut Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Autodesk Smoke, Mathworks Matlab and Adobe’s Creative Suite 5.
However, this kind of performance doesn’t come cheap. The Quadro 4000 has a suggested retail price of $1,199. It may be a little on the expensive side (especially compared to its PC counterpart), but then again, this card isn’t for your favorite FPS title. You’ll see this card fly when designing 3D graphics, HD video editing and rendering those rather large video / image files. The perfect holiday gift companion to go with that new Mac copy of AutoCAD. And if you’ve got the new AutoCAD for Mac then money’s not really a problem for you anyway, is it?
[via Engadget]
NVIDIA offers Fermi-packing Quadro 4000 to the Mac Pro user originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The Financial Times (FT), that UK-based financial newspaper printed on distinctive salmon-colored paper, is serious about the future of media on tablets like the iPad. FT launched a free iPad app back in May that has been an success story for the paper, with 400,000 subscribers paying for full content as of October, 2010.
iPad users are accounting for 10% of new digital subscriptions, and the FT has pulled in over £1 million in ad revenues since the launch.The FT app received one of the prestigious Apple Design Awards at WWDC 2010.
Just to show how serious the FT is about the iPad and the future of digital media, FT Group CEO John RIdding today announced that all 1,800 staff members will receive a £300 / US$480 rebate against the purchase of an iPad or similar other tablet. That adds up to a bill of about £540,000 or $864,000 for the company.
What’s the reason for the bonus, which will be active through June 30, 2011? Ridding said that it’s partly because as a reward for the strong performance of the organization over the last year, and that the company wants to “encourage all our staff to be expert and experienced in using…” tablets.
That’s not all, though. The FT is also offering a series of master classes and workshops designed to help employees get the most from their use of the iPad.
It’s a fascinating announcement, and we wonder if other media giants embracing the iPad will follow suit.
[via paidContent.UK]
Financial Times gives iPad bonuses to staff originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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