iPad

Digital City 82: New MacBook updates; plus RIP Ronnie James Dio

We join forces with Internet superstar Molly Wood to discuss some new MacBook updates (which were officially announced the day after we taped this broadcast). Other topics include the late, great Ronnie James Dio; the upcoming Evo uberphone; and we take a look at some more vintage laptops.

This week's video game giveaway is a copy of the cult favorite League of Legends for the PC; if you're lazy, you can fast-forward to the end of the show for details on how to get hooked up with that, or even drop by our Digital City Facebook fan page. … Read more

Five killer apps for your docked iPad

Does your iPad pull a lot of desk duty? Does it adorn your kitchen counter or even your nightstand? Do you routinely leave it on a dock or charger? If so, you should put that sucker to good use--even when you're not using it. After all, a big, beautiful screen is a terrible thing to waste.

As you learned yesterday, the iPad already knows how to function as a photo frame--and a damn fine one at that. But not everyone wants to look at photos all day. Maybe you'd prefer stock updates? Tweets? How about fish? Here are five apps to keep a docked iPad interesting:

Bloomberg: Want to keep tabs on the stock market? It's hard to imagine a lovelier window on Wall Street than Bloomberg for iPad. It delivers news, equity indices, a personalized stock portfolio, currency exchange rates, and plenty more, all wrapped in a gorgeous interface--and updated at regular intervals. Best of all, it's a freebie!

Chirp Frame: Twitter addicts, this one's for you. The app serves up tweets as they arrive, effectively turning your iPad into a big, beautiful Twitter frame. You can choose from one of three slick backgrounds, swiping as desired to read earlier tweets. Of course, when you're feeling the need to send out your own status update, all it takes is a tap of the screen to tweet (or reply). Chirp Frame costs 99 cents.

iQuarium HD: Real fish are kind of a pain, don't you think? You have to feed them, clean the tank, yell at people to stop tapping the glass, and all that. iQuarium provides all the joys of fish-tank ownership with none of the hassles (or expense--it's a mere $1.99). Actually, the app is as much a Tamagotchi-style game as it is a virtual fish tank, as you have to feed your fish daily--eventually earning "fish points" to decorate your tank with accessories, backgrounds, more fish, etc. If you want more instant gratification, check out Marine Aquarium (also $1.99).… Read more

The 404 583: Where we're switching back to Hotmail (podcast)

We've always noticed something a little off about our dear Wilson G. Tang, but today's episode finally kicks the door open on the severity of his addiction to technology. Our frightening discovery begins with a CNN article that exposes the Apple iPad and other brightly lit devices as the reason why some people have trouble sleeping at night. The hypothesis belongs to Oakland resident J.D. Moyer, who set out to prove that using devices with backlit displays in bed can actually reset a person's internal sleep clock and even trick your brain into thinking that it'… Read more

iPads losing track of the time

A number of iPad owners are reporting the devices sometimes will not keep the proper time. After a while of usage, the time will be off by anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. This seems to happen randomly, where in some cases the device will be running fine for days on end and then suddenly show a time change.… Read more

iPad app fatigue: Is it happening to you?

I've been noticing something funny lately, and it seems to be happening to iPad owners everywhere: they're starting to lose a little bit of interest.

A few of CNET's editors have mentioned this, and I'm also feeling it a little. Especially as of the last few weeks. We even discussed it on the Digital City podcast. Why? Well, it's simple. For some reason, there haven't been many good iPad apps lately. Maybe it's the App Store economy, and higher-priced iPad apps are simply not generating enough sales yet. Maybe it's the more … Read more

iPad so far having minimal effect on Mac sales

The launch of Apple's iPad brought concerns that the device might cannibalize sales of the Mac computer--but a look at the first month of the June quarter shows that it's the iPod, not the Mac, that may be taking the iPad hit.

In the U.S., Mac sales for the month of April were up 39 percent, ahead of the 19 percent projection that Wall Street has estimated for the full quarter, according to newly released data from the NPD Group. At the same time, iPods were down 17 percent for the month, compared to April of last … Read more

CNET TV Apple Byte: 2012 could bring the Verizon iPhone

CNET TV's Brian Tong discusses the latest in Apple news, rumors, and other applicable tech news. This week, Engadget discovers AT&T's contract with Apple runs through 2012, another iPhone 4 is in the wild, and Brian shows you how to share a purchased App with another user.

Be sure to check us out on Twitter and the CNET Mac forums. Do you have questions, issues, or stories you would like to see on MacFixIt? Email Us.

How to use the iPad's Picture Frame mode

I'll admit it: I'm not using my iPad much. Maybe that's because I was already an iPhone user, and that continues to be my go-to device for e-mail, e-books, Facebook, and the like. Or maybe it's because I just haven't found enough killer apps yet.

Whatever, the case, I'm finding I enjoy the device more when I'm looking at it than when I'm touching it. That's because I've discovered Picture Frame, which turns that big, beautiful screen into a splendid animated photo frame.

Perhaps you've noticed the little picture … Read more

SpeedDate iPad app complicates love quest

Admit it! When you bought an iPad, possibly against your better financial judgment, you secretly hoped that each time you pulled the shiny new gadget out in a bus or cafe, attractive singles would flock around you to stare and say hello. If you've since found that the attention-magnet-wannabe gadget hasn't sufficiently enhanced your charm quotient, there's now an app to hopefully offset the difference.

SpeedDate.com, the site that brought its dating app to the iPhone last year, announced on Friday a version for the iPad. The company claims this is the first dating app for the iPad and hints that the device's larger screen is synonymous with a higher chance of finding a date. After all, it seems apparent that the larger screen would let you see more search results in one page than the iPhone, as well as finger-swipe through photos more conveniently.

SpeedDate says the new free app allows for instant notification alerts when e-mails or "winks" have been received and when a person of interest is online. On top of that, more detailed search filters narrow the matching process further by sorting singles based on physical attributes, lifestyle, special interests, and other criteria. You can also use the tagging feature to ensure that all of your favorite profiles are stored and easily accessible.

I tried downloading the app to my iPad and immediately found out that my account, which I created a year ago for my previous post on the iPhone version, couldn't be used to log in. This is interesting as it still works when I try logging in at the Web site.

To use the app I had to create another account by surrendering another e-mail address and entering a few personal details including name, birthday, and location. I went ahead with the process. The old account didn't give me much luck in the past year anyway.

Once I created a new account and was able to log in successfully, I was greeted with a long list of (supposed) singles in my vicinity who I could quickly flirt with, wink to, add to my favorites list, or even send a private message to. Trying to do what singles probably want to do most, however--view photos--proves disappointing. The pictures are all very low resolution and show up at the same size as they do on an iPhone screen. On the iPad they look tiny, and there's no zooming function to judge just how hot he or she is. … Read more