ipad

CNET TV Apple Byte: New iPad goodies?

CNET TV's Brian Tong takes us through the week in Apple including Apple's decision to pull "sexy apps" from the App Store, a report that shows AT&T may not be quite as bad as we all thought, and why it's still okay to "Wobble".

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.

Conde Nast's iPad plan in Apple-Adobe crossfire

The Wired iPad app Conde Nast showed off this month looks great. But the chances that the publisher will give its other magazines the same treatment don't look promising.

Conde is still creating a digital version of its tech magazine for the device. But the influential publisher says it won't create similar iPad apps for other titles unless Apple and Adobe figure out how to work together.

Conde does plan to sell iPad-friendly versions of some of its other magazines. But they will be similar to the iPhone app that the publisher has already created for its GQ title, … Read more

Olympic notebook: Microsoft exec avoids the penalty box

VANCOUVER--Microsoft Business Division President Stephen Elop looked up as he delivered a presentation to his top managers on Microsoft's campus on Wednesday.

As Elop had been speaking, one of those managers, Kirill Tatarinov, had groaned several times.

"Was it something I said," Elop asked Tatarinov, who runs a division that creates business software for midsize companies.

Sheepishly, Tatarinov confessed that he had been watching the Russia-Canada Olympic hockey game. If Tatarinov worked for some other bosses at Microsoft, that could have been what is known in Redmond as a "career limiting move." Luckily, Tatarinov works … Read more

Apple releases, then pulls, then rereleases iPhone OS SDK 3.2 beta 3 for iPad (Updated)

Updated February 24, 2010 at 10:30 a.m. PST: Updated to reflect that Beta 3 is available again for download.

Apple briefly released and then pulled, without explanation, an update for the iPhone SDK for the iPad, which would have brought the current version of that SDK to 3.2 beta 3.

The short-lived update followed the second iPhone OS and SDK 3.2 beta for the Apple iPad, released several weeks ago.

Prior to the SDK being pulled, 9to5Mac managed to gain access and published some screenshots showing an expanded Settings app, evidence of YouTube playing video in … Read more

Reading the tea leaves of iPad competitors

It turns out Apple isn't the only company readying a touch-screen tablet computer.

We say that half-jokingly, of course. In the last few months, quite a few companies have signaled their intentions to go head-to-head (or at least offer an alternative) to Apple's much-ballyhooed iPad, which should hit stores in March. Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Acer, and Sony have or are in the process of readying gadgets they say will compete with the iPad. We've seen some demonstrations at the Consumer Electronics Show and other trade shows, but several gadget makers admitted to waiting to see what Apple was going to do before setting the specifications and price of their competing touch-screen tablets.

Now that they know, what are they going to do about it? That might sound a bit silly considering companies like HP, Dell, and Acer have larger market share than Apple--when it comes to computers. But in other, faster-growing areas--smartphones and music players--Apple's popularity far outstrips theirs. And in a new device category (it's reasonable to consider this a new category) they're all essentially starting from scratch.

So how will every company not named Apple try to compete for your touch-screen tablet computing dollar, assuming such a dollar exists? They will try to emphasize something about theirs being better, of course, be it in terms of price, style, speeds and feeds, or the movies, books, games, or TV shows available via their gadget. Dell, for example, providing evidence that an old dog can at least attempt new tricks, tends to emphasize style these days. HP's commercials try to sell you on how easily their product fit into your lifestyle.

More than anything, they should try to avoid selling it as a computer, in the classic laptop computer sense. If Dell and HP and Acer and their compatriots do that, they'll end up trying to convince people to spend money on basically yet another Netbook; something that's sort of like a PC, but not quite. It's just smaller, cheaper, and with less functionality than a traditional PC. And after sophisticated smartphones and cheaper Netbooks, do consumers really need yet another device that's not quite a laptop?… Read more

Apple will sell iPad at Best Buy

Consumers will be able to buy the iPad at a variety of locations besides Apple's retail store, Apple's chief operating officer said Tuesday.

The comments came during Tim Cook's speech at the Goldman Sachs annual tech conference in San Francisco. In addition to the obvious Apple retail stores, consumers will be able to purchase the iPad from Apple directly and from "partners like Best Buy," according to AppleInsider.

Cook didn't mention whether AT&T would be selling the device in its retail locations, even though it did sell the iPhone models. One reason … Read more

Survey: iPad demand beats early iPhone demand

As consumers await Apple's iPad, a new study from market analyst RBC and ChangeWave Research has revealed that the demand for Apple's tablet currently outpaces the original demand for its iPhone. MacRumors first reported on the story.

According to the survey, which was mentioned in a research note to clients by RBC analyst Mike Abramsky, 13 percent of the 3,200 folks surveyed said they were likely to buy an iPad when it's released. According to ChangeWave, initial iPhone demand was at 9 percent prior to the launch of the original iPhone.

Perhaps more importantly, the survey … Read more

Smartwords aims to make readers smarter

If you've ever been immersed in a book and felt that some of its literary references were sailing over your head, a proposed software standard unveiled on Tuesday could make you a whole lot more erudite.

Known as Smartwords, the would-be standard is spearheaded by a start-up called Wordnik, and supported by media big shots like The New York Times, Forbes, the Huffington Post, O'Reilly Media, Vook, Ibis, Scribd, and the Internet Archive. The goal? To build a map of the English language, said Wordnik CEO Erin McKean.

Officially, the company refers to Smartwords as "a lightweight, … Read more

Pay for Hulu on the iPad? It may be your only choice

Will Hulu come to the iPad? Probably. One day. But you had better get ready to pay for it.

Hulu and its owners, three of the big broadcast TV networks, want to bring some version of the Web video service to Apple's device.

But the most likely scenario is one in which access to Hulu on the iPad comes as part of a subscription package, multiple people familiar with the company tell me.

Hulu has been free for Web users since it launched in 2008. But its broadcast owners--GE's NBC Universal, News Corp.'s Fox and Disney's … Read more