iPad

Drag, drop, and rock with Couch Music Player for iPad

I'm too lazy to make playlists. Plus, I like to experience albums in their entirety. For times when I want to listen to a mix of songs, I typically pick a genre in my iTunes library and hit shuffle (or use Pandora or Spotify's radio feature). Given my playlist aversion, I was excited to put Couch Music Player to the test, a new music app for the iPad whose chief purpose is to make the playlist creation process so easy that even lazy people like me will undertake it.

Couch Music Player costs $1.99. It features a … Read more

Game maker: Apple banned our sweatshop iPad game

Education becomes more difficult by the day.

Kids have their heads buried in gadgets and bongs. For them, virtual communication is the only real communication there is.

So how can you get them to think about the wider world? One game developer, Littleloud, thought it would be stimulating to create an iPad game called Sweatshop HD.

This tasked the young players to maintain, yes, a sweatshop. It was, indeed, helpful during the game to ignore human rights and hire frightfully young employees. Just as in real life.

Apple, though, felt it was too much like real life. According to Pocket Gamer, … Read more

Mailbox e-mail app signs up 1 million users

Dropbox's Mailbox app for iOS has just picked up its 1 millionth user.

The free app hit the iTunes store on February 7, where iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch users can download it. But access to the actual service has been doled out on a first-come, first-served basis via a reservation system.

As of yesterday, 1 million of those reservations have been filled, according to a blog from the Mailbox team. But there are still a fair number of people in line.

Filling out a reservation today, I learned that around 445,500 users are ahead of me. The … Read more

Microsoft defends Windows RT as necessary disruption

Microsoft defended the future viability of Windows RT during an interview with CNET today.

Michael Angiulo, corporate vice president, Windows Planning, Hardware & PC Ecosystem, talked with CNET about what makes RT important for the software giant.

The platform took some hard knocks before and after it debuted on October 26. A lot of the criticism has focused on the lack of compatibility with older Windows applications, in contrast to backward-compatible Windows 8 on Intel-based devices.

But Angiulo says Microsoft has good reason to stick with the platform.

It was a ton of work for us and we didn't … Read more

Browse Instagram with universal app Gramatica

With yesterday's release of universal Instagram app Gramatica, I wondered if it would be the answer to the question I asked last year, "Which app should you use to browse Instagram on an iPad?" Thus, I first installed it on on my iPad to see how it would stack up to the competition.

Gramatica is undoubtedly slick-looking and responsive, and it includes some useful filtering options, which I'll get to in a minute. It lacks the two features, however, that I am looking for in an Instagram iPad app. I want to be able to read … Read more

Rumor Has It: Will the iPhone 5S be a killer?

This week, it's all about the specs.

The next iPad Mini and Nexus 7 get release dates, but they'll apparently get something even more awesome: high-res screens. The next Google phone is rumored to do something so crazy that makes both of us go into a frenzy of punning. Oh, and Panasonic is bleeding money. Poor Panasonic.

And rounding out this week's rumors: one Apple analyst is sure that the next iPhone will have a killer feature that will put it ahead of the smartphone pack. What could this killer feature be? Leave us a comment and … Read more

Koala iPad mount lets you stick it to your bathroom

I confess. I sometimes set my iPad on the bathroom counter and watch "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" episodes with closed captions turned on while I take a shower. No, it's not an elegant solution. There's a danger of shower splashing, or knocking it over while toweling off. I should probably be looking into acquiring a Koala Mount instead.

The $20 Koala Mount from Dockem is advertised as "damage-free," meaning you could potentially stick them all over your apartment and still have a good shot at recovering your security deposit when you move out. The Koala works with all iPad generations, even the iPad Mini, as well as several popular Android tablets.… Read more

Hands-on with the ClamCase Pro iPad keyboard

It's the age-old question, age being relative in this case: Can a tablet take the place of a laptop?

Maybe yes, maybe no. But without an honest-to-goodness keyboard, the answer is a definite no.

The new ClamCase Pro joins the ranks of iPad keyboard/case combos like the Belkin YourType Folio + Keyboard, CruxCase Crux360, and Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover.

In case the name didn't make it abundantly clear, the ClamCase Pro provides a clamshell-style case for your iPad. Open it up and you'll find a decidedly MacBook Air-style keyboard, albeit one that's necessarily a bit narrower. … Read more

Apple probably won't tap Intel until 2015: Piper Jaffray

Don't hold your breath for Intel chips inside Apple iPads or iPhones.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gus Richard doesn't see it happening until 2015.

"We believe Apple could add roughly $5B-$6B/yr in revenue for Intel but is unlikely to be a foundry customer this year or next," said Richard, who follows Intel closely, in a research note today.

Five to six billion dollars in added revenue is nothing to sniff at in light of all the smartphone and tablet chip business now going to Intel rivals like Qualcomm, Nvidia, and Samsung.

But he added that … Read more

Change your Facebook cover photo using the iPhone app

Facebook released an update to its iOS app this week. Included in the change log was group-messaging enhancements, along with adding the ability for users to change their cover photos.

The feature was once in the Facebook iOS app, but was removed when Facebook released the completely native, revamped iOS app. Android users received a similar native update, and shortly after its release the ability to change cover photos was added.

You will only be able to change your cover photo using the iPhone app, not from your iPad. Perhaps Facebook is trying to help stop people from taking pictures … Read more