iPad

Teen dies trying to hold onto iPad during theft, police say

It's a natural instinct to resist if someone tries to steal something out of your hand.

In Las Vegas on Thursday afternoon, that instinct might have cost a 15-year-old boy his life.

As the Las Vegas Sun reports, Marcos Vincente Arenas was walking down the street, holding an iPad. … Read more

Zinio Z-Pass gives you three magazines for $5 per month

I love a good magazine. That's why I'm hoping digital distribution services like Next Issue and Zinio can help usher in the age of the digital periodical.

Yesterday, Zinio gave it a little nudge by unveiling Z-Pass, a sort of a la carte subscription option: three magazines for $5 per month.

According to the Zinio press release, "The monthly cost of a Z-Pass is the lowest available in the market for a multiple-magazine subscription model." That's technically true, but with a huge asterisk: Next Issue (a sort of Netflix for magazines) costs $9.99 per … Read more

Apple iOS 6 devices get nod for U.S. military use

U.S. military members will now be able to use the iPhone 5, along with the Samsung Galaxy S4 and BlackBerry 10 devices.

The U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) has approved the use of Apple iOS 6 devices on the Defense Department's networks, the agency said in a statement Friday.

That means the DOD can provide iPhones and iPads running iOS 6 to its employees, though employees cannot use their own devices on the military network, a DISA spokeswoman told CNET.

"It doesn't mean [Apple is] getting a contract with us or anything like that,&… Read more

Apple orders hint at iPad Mini shipment decline

Apple's iPad Mini could be entering a rough few months, according to the latest information the sometimes-spotty DigiTimes.

The blog on Friday reported that AU Optronics, the company that supplies panels for Apple's iPad Mini, will only ship 2.5 million to 2.8 million units to manufacturers in the second calendar quarter, down from the 4 million it shipped in the first quarter.

According to DigiTimes, which is citing "supply chain sources" who claim to have knowledge of the drawdown, Apple cut orders in anticipation of a slowdown in iPad Mini shipments for the rest … Read more

Apple wants you to scratch and claw your iPad

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday granted Apple nearly three dozen patents, including one that covers how a device responds to acoustic signals such as scratching and tapping.

Patent No. 8,441,790, or "Electronic Device Housing as Acoustic Input Device," focuses on tech that would allow a device to detect and react to sound resulting from an impact with the housing, such as dragging a finger along the surface of the device. The sensors send information to a microprocessor, which can distinguish between different types of input as well as interpret what each input … Read more

Defense Department to let Apple devices onto Pentagon network

Pentagon employees may soon start using Apple mobile devices, like iPhones and iPads, on the U.S. Defense Department's secure network.

The department expects to clear the devices for use on its network early next week, Bloomberg reported Friday.

It's a space that's normally dominated by BlackBerry, but with other smartphone brands gaining popularity, the federal government is considering other options. Those options include Samsung, which officials cleared last week.

Approval means employees using government-issued iOS 6 devices can access military networks after the department builds a mobile-device management system to secure the phones and … Read more

Four iOS weather apps that exude elegance

It wasn't very long ago that for a developer to make a successful weather app, it had to have the most information possible. This meant developers would compete to pack tons of graphs, maps, diagrams, written forecasts -- and even forums where people could talk about weather -- into busy, confusing apps that tried to cover it all. But what you ended up with were long, listlike menus when the only information you probably wanted was what the weather might be like for the weekend.

Don't get me wrong, the feature-packed weather apps have their place, particularly when … Read more

Pixel Press app: Draw, create, play your own video game

Mario's multilevel gaming style has endured for good reasons. It's simple, it's fun, and it's addictive. Once you've conquered the realms of Mario and other similar retro games, where do you go next? How about creating your own custom video game? That sounds great, but you'll need to brush up on your programming skills first. Unless, that is, Kickstarter project Pixel Press gets off the ground.

With Pixel Press, you just need the app, a piece of paper, a pencil, and your imagination to create your own game. No coding required.

Here's how it works. You start by printing out the gridded Pixel Press sketch sheet, along with the instructions. You can design five layers on the sketch sheet using certain elements like terrain, hazards, monkey bars, moving platforms, barriers, spikes, portals, and power-ups. You draw all these out onto the grid, with the aim of designing five progressively more challenging levels for your hero to conquer.… Read more

10 alternatives to Apple's all-time most-popular apps

Last week, Apple announced that its App Store is approaching 50 billion app downloads. In celebration of the milestone, Apple is giving away a $10,000 App Store gift card to the lucky person who initiates the 50 billionth download.

As part of the celebration, Apple listed the top 25 apps -- both free and paid -- for iPhone and iPad. None of the apps listed is particularly surprising (especially to someone who studies the most popular list every day), but one thing that did strike me is that a lot of the all-time best sellers still sit near the … Read more

Robo-docs: RP-VITA bot now in 7 hospitals

Would you mind if your doctor were treating you through a display on top of a robot? What if that display could save your life?

Well, that could be the case if you find yourself at one of seven U.S. and Mexican hospitals that have deployed the RP-VITA telepresence robot, which obtained FDA approval earlier this year as the first of its kind.

RP-VITA, which stands for Remote Presence Virtual + Independent Telemedicine Assistant, is now on hand at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, five other medical centers in the U.S., and one in Mexico City, developers iRobot and InTouch Health announced today.

"During a stroke, the loss of a few minutes can mean the difference between preserving or losing brain function," the companies quoted Paul Vespa, director of neurocritical care at the Reagan Center, as saying in a release. … Read more