iPad

What makes a great iPad case (or, why my iPad's frumpy)

Making a device that's somewhere between a laptop and an iPhone comes with challenges beyond app design. As I've been wondering since I've owned an iPad, what exactly makes a good iPad case?

I know one thing: it's not the same thing that makes a good iPhone case.

First of all, I'm terrified to drop my iPad. I've heard the stories, and I'm not about to test mine the same way. I don't trust myself to even hold it in bed--I'm afraid it'll slip out of my hands and shatter somewhere while I'm sleeping.

An iPhone gets held to your ear. A hard shell seems best, one that prevents scratches. The iPhone can tolerate a drop or two (or five), at least from my experience. I'm not worried about that. I just want a hard shell for it.

As for the iPad, I'm never likely to use it in motion, and at a subway station or bus stop I'd prefer it to be protected even when reading. The screen on an iPad is tremendous. Though the glass is scratch-resistant, I prefer a cover if at all possible

Many case makers, however, are treating the iPad like a giant iPhone in terms of their case design. I've seen some sleeve/hard-shell concepts that seem a little ridiculous.

Others are treating it like a laptop, offering soft-skinned neoprene sleeves and slipcases. Booq has an iPad sleeve for $29 that is a nice little slipcover, reinforced on the back. Its top is exposed, but the iPad's glass screen nestles against the hard back, fully covered. It's best for sliding the iPad in a backpack or bag.

But, though it's easy to remove the iPad at a moment's notice, the iPad is then exposed when in use. I'm back where I started without a case.… Read more

Apple delays global rollout of iPad

Apple's iPad won't be available outside the U.S. until the end of May, a delay of a month from its original global launch date.

With customers grabbing more than 500,000 iPads during the tablet's first week, demand has been higher than expected, Apple said Wednesday, and will likely exceed supply over the next several weeks. The company said that it's also trying to handle a huge number of preorders for the 3G iPad models, which are also supposed to reach the hands of U.S. customers by the end of this month.

Apple had … Read more

Gmail redesigns its message window for Android, iPhone, iPad

Google is continuing the slow and steady march of improvements to its Android-, iPhone-, and now iPad-optimized site. On Tuesday, the company pushed out a handful of small changes to the way Gmail.com handles new messages.

The height of the address field now expands to accommodate the full list of added contacts, so you can view your recipient spread in a glance. Tap a contact name, and Gmail also gives you an escape hatch, a quick button for removing a a recipient you've suddenly thought better of including. Tapping the backspace also achieves the same end.

Then there … Read more

Google, Apple play nice for Google Mobile on iPad

As of about noon Tuesday on the West Coast, Google's mobile app for the iPad is available as a free download in the App store. If you've used the iPhone version, be ready for more of the same. And that's too bad.

Google has basically just taken the iPad's Safari browser and used this app to make it very Google-centric, but that's about the only thing the app brings: no Chrome, no Android-ish interface, nothing. Sure, you get voice search and location-specified searches built in, but it comes across as a half-effort.

Google perhaps missed … Read more

How I almost bought an iPad

Recently, I was in an Apple store in New York looking for the new, updated MacBook Pro units and toying with the idea of buying an iPad, when I was approached by one of Apple's friendly and knowledgeable sales people. She asked me whether I needed any help finding what I was looking for.

I really didn't--or at least I didn't think I did--but we started chatting anyway. I told her I'd heard the iPad could overheat in the sun and shut down. To my surprise, she responded that yes, it could, especially if you had it lying flat on your lap. But, she explained, it wasn't that big a deal, because it would just take a few minutes to cool down and then start up again.

The way she said it made it seem like it was an integrated feature to protect the device--not a downside. She talked about how the iPad didn't have a fan inside to cool it down like a laptop, which was why it shut down if it got too hot.

"Where'd you hear about it?" she asked.

"I read this article on the Internet," I said, then quickly changed the subject, afraid she might have actually read the article and somehow associated it with me. "Has anybody returned an iPad because it was overheating?"

"No, I haven't had to process a return for that."

"What about a cracked screen?"

Nope. No one she'd seen had come in yet with a cracked screen. She thought that was because people were treating them like laptops, rather than phones. They were more careful with them.

"So, why do people return them?" I asked. "You have 15 days to return it, right?"

"Well, people really only seem to be returning them because they decide they want the 3G version, which comes out at the end of this month. We get some of those." … Read more

Windows 95 on iPad: Sure, but why?

For some, watching the above video is a nostalgic walk down memory lane. For others, memories of BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) and other Windows 95 bugs come screaming back like a nightmare. Running a BOCHS emulator--which produces a virtual x86 environment for Windows, Mac, and Linux--the developer managed to fit the 15-year-old operating system on Apple's latest baby.

While the BOCHS platform is compatible with Vista, we doubt we'll see it or Windows 7 on an iPad due to the hardware limitations. What we really want is a Windows XP/Adobe Flash combo on the iPad. … Read more

Digital City 77: Google and Dell tablets; real-life gaming; and we read some hate mail

This week, we check out some iPad competitors coming from Google and Dell (among others), and take the room's collective temperature on the upcoming iPhone 4 OS.

Secondly, if you're looking to bring those video game skills into "real life," there's an upcoming round of Street Wars coming to NYC. London, SF, and other cities are also on the list, and the game itself is a grownup version of the college dorm classic "Assassination."

Finally, we look at a couple of recent CNET articles that have readers all riled up, and willing to … Read more

CNET TV Apple Byte: iPhone OS 4

Brian Tong takes a look at the latest news regarding everyone's favorite Cupertino computer manufacturer. This week, Brian covers the announcement of iPhone OS 4. Learn about Multitasking, Folders, Game Center, and iAds for mobile advertising.

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.

Pro, con iPad opinions run the gamut

Defining the iPad is a work in progress. Toward that end, readers made strong arguments for and against the iPad in response to a post one day after sales of the device began.

In that earlier blog, I listed some of the reasons buyers gave for lining up to purchase the iPad on April 3, the first day of sales. The reasons and reader responses to those reasons are worth a second look since the iPad, like the iPhone, is one of those products that could alter the computing landscape permanently.

How exactly this will play out is of course … Read more