iPad By Davis

Bladepad iPhone gamepad seeks Kickstarter funding, looks to change your iPhone gaming experience
Apple rumored to be in talks to buy The Fancy social sharing and commerce network
"Project Purple" and the pre-history of the iPhone
Maybe Steve Jobs Didn’t Hate the Idea of an iPad Mini After All
Best Free iPad App of the Week: Time Out London for iPad
Weekly Wrap: Mastering Mountain Lion and plenty more
The Macalope Weekly: Tablet trouble

Bladepad iPhone gamepad seeks Kickstarter funding, looks to change your iPhone gaming experience

Posted: 05 Aug 2012 12:32 AM PDT

Bladepad iPhone gamepad seeks Kickstarter funding, looks to change your iPhone gaming experience The Bladepad is an iPhone case / Gamepad combo that is currently seeking funding from Kickstarter. It consists of an easily removable iPhone case complete with a clip on gamepad that includes two joysticks, a D-Pad and many buttons to enhance your iPhone gaming experience.

Playing games on your iPhone will never be the same! Bladepad brings a full console controller to your phone with a convenient and comfortable gamepad that maximizes portability and minimizes unnecessary bulk. Connect Bladepad to your iPhone via Bluetooth. Place your iPhone in the protective case and the gamepad slides out beneath your phone. When you are done playing, the gamepad slides back in place under your phone.

Bladepad makes use of high quality components and materials to provide a durable device that is built to last. Inside is a powerful micro-processor and Bluetooth module from Texas Instruments. Additionally, Bladepad has a real metal bezel made out of the same lightweight and durable alloy that is used in the iPhone 4/4S. The bezel is actually a solid metal plate that protects Bladepad for long-term use.

If you would like to be one of the first to try this gamepad, you can become an early adopter with a pledge of $59 or more to secure one should they make it into production. The Bladepad currently has just over $6k of pledges and it needs to hit over $55k to gain enough to be funded. As with all of these Kickstarter projects, just because a particular item reaches its funding total doesn't guarantee it will be made. I guess the saying goes; you pays your money and takes your choice!

There is no doubt in my opinion that gaming on the iPhone is hugely popular but is being held back by the lack of hardware buttons and a joystick. Lots of innovation is taking place on this front as we have already seen solutions from iCade and one or two others. The problem however is that there is no set standard for including support for a gamepad. Developers can chose to support one particular solution or none at all and until that changes, you could well be wasting your money as your favorite games may well not have any gamepad support at all.

The only long term solution to the problem would be for Apple to release its own gamepad and give all developers the ability to easily add support for it. Then we will we see most games taking advantage of the gamepad and it will become an essential part of gaming on the iPhone iPad and iPod touch.

Can you ever see Apple releasing its own gamepad? Would you buy one if they did?

Source: Kickstarter

Apple rumored to be in talks to buy The Fancy social sharing and commerce network

Posted: 04 Aug 2012 09:12 PM PDT

Apple rumored to be in talks to by The Fancy social sharing and commerce network

Apple is reportedly interested in acquiring The Fancy, an online social sharing network similar to Pinterest, but with a strong commerce component as well. A 20-person New York startup, The Fancy allows users to share things they like, and then buy those things, with The Fancy taking 10% of the sale price, with a system in place for users to get a cut as well. Owen Tomas of Business Insider reports:

The objective: to secure a role for Apple in the growing e-commerce market, putting the 400 million-plus users with credit cards on file with Apple's iTunes Store to work shopping—with Apple getting a cut of the action.

There's no word on whether or not talks are continuing, or if the deal is at all likely to go through, but BI does say Apple CEO, Tim Cook and The Fancy CEO, Joe Einhorn recently spent time together at the Allen & Co. Sun Valley conference. Cook also has a The Fancy account, where he's shared a few items, an unusually public move for Cook.

Before anyone gets too excited, however, Apple was also recently reported to have been interested in buying into Twitter, a interest that turned out to be over a year old, and no longer in active discussion.

Meanwhile, Twitter integration was added to the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad with IOS 5, and Facebook integration is coming this fall with iOS 6. And either way, it seems Apple's interest in creating their own social networks waned with the ill-fated Ping.

Anyone fancy a little more social commerce sharing and buying on iOS?

Source: Business Insider

"Project Purple" and the pre-history of the iPhone

Posted: 04 Aug 2012 02:38 PM PDT

The single most fascinating aspect of the ongoing Apple vs. Samsung trials continues to be the wealth of historical information they're unearthing about the design and development of the iPhone and iPad. Yesterday, Apple senior vice president of worldwide marketing. Phil Schiller, and senior vice president of iOS, Scott Forstall, both took the stand and shared an unprecedented look into the events and timelines surrounding the creation of Apple's iPhone and iPad. Bryan Bishop broke down the testimony for The Verge. Here's the timeline:

Phil Schiller said the project began with the idea of putting entertainment content on phones. (Because phones back then weren't as good as iPods)
In 2003, Apple began working on the tablet that would become the iPad
In 2004, they shifted focus from tablet to phone, and the device that would become the iPhone
They used a table view as a proof of concept. (We've heard this from Steve Jobs before -- that he was sold on the project after seeing inertial scrolling and the rubber-band physics.)
Forstall was only allowed to recruit from within Apple, and couldn't tell anyone what they'd be working on until they were on board. (He could tell them they'd be giving up nights and weekends.)
Forstall repeated the Jobs' mantra that they made the phone they themselves wanted to own
Of the various "colors", "Project Purple" went ahead as the iPhone project and the building the team took over became the "Purple Dorm", complete with a "The first rule of Fight Club is not to talk about Fight Club" poster on the door.
Forstall had the idea for tap-to-zoom while using early prototypes.
Schiller said sales for the original iPhone exceeded expectations.
Schiller said sales of subsequent iPhones have been greater than all generations previous.
After the iPhone, Apple moved back to the iPad project.
Schiller said Apple was going for great design, ease of use, and lust factor with the project.

So, not only have we seen early prototypes of both devices, including the "Project Purple" prototype itself, but we're getting even more information about the timeline and the thinking behind the product development process.

And again, the typically ultra-secretive Apple's willingness to share this information provides tremendous insight into just how genuinely they feel wronged and want to absolutely trounce Samsung in court.

And it's only been the first week.

Source: The Verge

Maybe Steve Jobs Didn’t Hate the Idea of an iPad Mini After All

Posted: 04 Aug 2012 12:55 PM PDT

Back in October of 2010 Steve Jobs made his thoughts on 7 inch tablets pretty clear during an Apple financial results call. Among the comments he made were these:

7 inch tablets are tweeners – too big to compete with smartphone, too small to compete with tablets
We don't think you can make a great tablet with a 7 inch screen

Now there's some evidence emerging (during the never-ending Apple v Samsung court battles) that Jobs' opinion on smaller tablets may have changed by early 2011. As MacRumors and CNET have recently reported, an email sent by Apple VP Eddy Cue to other senior execs at the company states as much:

Having used a Samsung Galaxy, I tend to agree with many of the comments below (except moving off the iPad). I believe there will be a 7″ market and we should do one. I expressed this to Steve several times since Thanksgiving and he seemed very receptive the last time. I found email, books, facebook and video very compelling on a 7″. Web browsing is definitely the weakest point, but still usable.

It seems a virtual lock that we will be seeing a smaller iPad released this fall / winter, though the general consensus is that it will be much closer to an 8 inch tablet (7.85 to be precise). And probably a big holiday season hit this year too.

Image Source: MacRumors

Best Free iPad App of the Week: Time Out London for iPad

Posted: 04 Aug 2012 10:16 AM PDT

One of the best things about using an iPad is the great apps that we can run on it. There are excellent apps for just about any purpose you can think of. Better still, there are lots of great free apps for the iPad. Our Best Free iPad App of the Week posts celebrate these apps.

This week's pick is Time Out London for iPad, the shiny new iPad edition of the famous London entertainment and city guide magazine. It provides an excellent, curated selection of interesting places to see and things to do in London – and there are few if any cities in the world that have more to offer than London.

When I lived in London Time Out was always considered to be the go-to title for finding great things to do and see in London – an equally great resource for tourists on a short visit and long-time Londoners. It's great to see this excellent title come to the iPad.

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Weekly Wrap: Mastering Mountain Lion and plenty more

Posted: 04 Aug 2012 09:30 AM PDT

Now that you and Mountain Lion have had the chance to get to know each other a bit better, the pressure's off: No more first date jitters. We're delighted you and Mac OS X 10.8 have reached this comfortable point in your relationship, so you and the big cat can curl up together, stress-free, and catch up on some of our biggest stories from the week gone by.