iPad Atlas

Those of you ready to shop for the holidays now have a new tool to find the best prices.

Available today in Apple's App Store, Amazon's new and free Price Check for the iPhone tries to find the best deals on items among both online and offline retailers. iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch users shopping at their favorite outlets can compare prices on the shelves against those at other stores as well as at Amazon and other online vendors.

You'll find a variety of ways to get the app to recognize an item. You can take a picture of the product's bar code. You can snap a photo of a book, DVD, CD, or video game. You can speak the name of the product. If all else fails, you can simply type the name of the item into the app's search field.

Amazon then matches the product's photo or description with the same item already in its database and provides a list of vendors and their respective prices. Price Check even offers details on the item and reviews from other Amazon users.

If you find an item and a price you like, you can buy the item directly through the app, whether it's sold by Amazon or by another retailer through Amazon. You can share prices on your favorite items through e-mail, Facebook, or Twitter as a not-so-subtle holiday wish list for friends and family.… Read more

Apple is launching iOS 4.2 today.

The company announced that its latest operating system update for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad users will be available today, though the software was not yet available for download at 7:00 a.m. PT on Apple's site or directly through iTunes. MacStories and MacWorld are reporting that iOS 4.2 will debut by 10:00 a.m. PT.

The eagerly awaited update will bring to the iPad new features that already hit the iPhone and iPod Touch through last summer's iOS 4.0 release.

iPad users will now be able … Read more

File this under "it should have been free all along." Apple's "Find my iPhone" feature, previously a feature of the subscription-based MobileMe service, is now free--with a catch: it's only free for users of the iPhone 4, iPad, or newest fourth-generation iPod Touch.

That means that while many iDevices--be they iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch--can be updated to iOS 4.2, only the most recent versions of each will get the free "Find my iPhone" functionality.

The service finds your iPhone, if by "find" you mean "get a rough … Read more

Apple's iOS 4.2 update for the iPad is coming, and unless you're inconsolable over the decision to change the screen rotation lock switch into a mute switch, this free update is nothing but win.

We've already run though the nuts and bolts of the update in last week's 4.2 Gold Master blog post and gallery. This week, we figured we'd sweeten the deal with a brief hands-on video overview, as well.

One thing to clarify from the video is that the new AirPrint feature is accessible in apps beyond the iWork suite, including Safari, Photos, and Email. Compatible printers include HP's latest ePrint machines.

We'll have more in-depth coverage of iOS 4.2 throughout the day.

… Read more

If you have a TiVo Premiere or you're an iPad owner thinking about getting a TiVo, the TiVo Premiere App for iPad might be enough to get you to buy the one you don't have.

The app, which will be available for free "in the coming weeks," essentially puts the entire TiVo Premiere interface on the iPad's screen. That means you can do everything--browse the program guide, schedule and manage recordings, and search for content across broadcast and broadband services--all without interrupting what's on screen.

Also, as you can see in the screenshot above, … Read more

T.J. Maxx, which is best known as a clothing retailer, caused seismic activity in the land of technophiles over the last few days by selling limited quantities of Apple's 16GB iPad with Wi-Fi for only $399, nearly $100 less than the suggested retail price.

Initially reported by Engadget, the discounted iPad created a great deal of buzz online for T.J. Maxx. The company threw gasoline on the fire when it confirmed the promotion on its official Twitter account.

Many forum posts and comments discussing the matter indicated that nearly all of the discounted iPads were located on the East Coast. … Read more

It's been a huge week for iOS gaming. Yesterday witnessed the arrival of a dazzling new Star Wars title, and today I've got quick takes on five more noteworthy new games--starting with a just-in-time movie tie-in.

Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4  A near-perfect replica of the outstanding console game, Lego Harry Potter (which I previewed last week) loses almost nothing in its transition to the small screen. (And for now, it's only for small screens: the game requires iOS 4.1 or later, which leaves iPads out.)

Alas, there's no option for cooperative play, and … Read more

Things we absolutely know about the next version of the iPad: it's not going to have a 7-inch screen.

Thanks to CEO Steve Jobs' epic rant against the spate of tablets set to be released now through next year of that size, it's an easy prediction. But what else do we know for sure about Apple's followup to the insanely successful iPad? Not much.

Rumors, leaks, and guesswork can offer this, though: it probably has a front-facing camera (FaceTime makes perfect sense), will likely come sometime in the first quarter of next year (Apple has a pretty … Read more

Back in April, Yahoo Mobile announced a unique approach to searching for nearby restaurants with the Sketch-A-Search app for iOS. The concept of the app couldn't be more simple: pull up a map of the area that you're currently in, and then sketch a circle (or any approximation of a shape) around the neighborhoods or blocks of streets where you'd like to eat. Sketch-A-Search then drops in pins to indicate the restaurants that fall within the designated space. Clicking the pins pulls up information on each establishment, including the phone number, operation hours, and Yahoo user reviews.… Read more