iPad By Davis: “Apple CEO Tim Cook's full TV interview is now available on YouTube in case you missed it” plus 18 more |
- Apple CEO Tim Cook's full TV interview is now available on YouTube in case you missed it
- Check the status of your flight with Flightboard for iPhone and iPad
- How to use iTunes in the Cloud under iTunes 11
- FCC chairman urges FAA to allow use of tablets during takeoff and landing
- Celebrate the Holidays with A Charlie Brown Christmas for iPhone and iPad
- Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour review
- Cook upgrades Apple's television ambitions from "beloved hobby" to "intense interest"
- Apple/HTC cross licensing deal details revealed with scads of redactions
- T-Mobile USA definitely getting the iPhone, may sell it with new pricing model
- Review: CaseCrown Bold Standby Case for iPad mini
- Foxconn to expand American manufacturing operations
- Element Case unleashes the Ronin for iPhone 5, and you can win one for free!
- Instacast 3.0 for iPhone and iPad now available
- Ticker for Twitter: Streams Your Twitter Timeline
- T-Mobile USA to launch Apple products in 2013, likely including the iPhone
- iPad at Work: for The New York Times’ Nick Bilton, as a Hand-held Darkroom
- Apple investing more than $100 million to bring Mac production line to the US
- Price Drops: Snapseed Photo Editing App Is Now a Free App
- Snapseed goes free, adds Retrolux, integrates Google+
| Apple CEO Tim Cook's full TV interview is now available on YouTube in case you missed it Posted: 07 Dec 2012 12:05 AM PST Last night, US television network NBC ran the first ever official television interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook. Unfortunately if you're outside of the United States or were out for the evening, you may have missed it. Luckily some kind sole has captured the complete interview and shared it on YouTube in two parts. As it is not an official release, it may get taken down fairly quickly so if you are interested in what Tim Cook has to say, don't hand around to watch it. The interview is split into two parts on YouTube and Cook responds to questions about Apple's product design, its plans to bring some production of Macs back to the US and its "intense interest" in the TV. Hopefully NBC will release its own HD version of the interview soon; until then, you can enjoy this version. It is certainly worth a watch and lasts for a total of around nineteen minutes. The second part of the interview is right below, the quality is not great but they are still very watchable. 
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| Check the status of your flight with Flightboard for iPhone and iPad Posted: 06 Dec 2012 11:43 PM PST
The Holidays are rapidly approaching which, for many people, involves traveling. Whether you're the one traveling or picking someone up from the airport, Flightboard will help bring some order to the chaos that comes with being involved with traveling. Its purpose is to transform your iPhone or iPad into the Arrivals and Departures board for any airport in the world. The design of the app was inspired by the boards at the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and so have a beautiful, old-school feel. Flightboard includes over 16,000 airports and 1,400 airline worldwide and is updated every 5 minutes to ensure that the information is accurate and true to real-time. The information displayed on an airport's board includes the airline, flight number, destination, gate, departure and arrival times, and the current flight status. Tapping on an individual flight will reveal more detailed information including the departure and arrival terminals and the type of aircraft used for that flight. Flightboard also lets you share flight information with your friends via Facebook, and Twitter. You can also choose to "Open In..." the Flightboard for other city associated with the flight or Mobiata's other app called FlightTrack that lets you track flights on a map in real time. I don't know about you, but I'm constantly checking the arrival and departure boards when I fly, so having all the same information on my iPhone would be awesome. Unfortunately, I will not be traveling this Holiday season, so I'll miss out on giving Flighboard and spin while "out in the field". But if you're traveling and decide to pick this one up, please let us know what you think! Free - Download Now
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| How to use iTunes in the Cloud under iTunes 11 Posted: 06 Dec 2012 09:23 PM PST
If you buy your music, TV shows, and music from iTunes, iTunes 11 makes it easier than ever to download, and re-download all that content thanks to iTunes in the Cloud. With iTunes in the Cloud, even if you no longer have a song, film, or episode you previously bought on your Mac or Windows PC, you're only ever a click away from getting it back. iTunes in the Cloud can be a great space-saver for small hard drives, and is definitely a great backup for everyone.
How to enable iTunes in the Cloud in iTunes 11
    How to stream iTunes in the Cloud content in iTunes 11Streaming media is a great way to save space on your hard drive. If there are shows, movies, and music that you don't access very frequently, it's probably better just to stream them than actually download them. iTunes in the Cloud supports streaming in iTunes for anything that you've purchased directly from iTunes.
 How to download iTunes in the Cloud content in iTunes 11If you have certain songs, albums, or movies that you watch frequently or would like to be able to access on your computer even if you don't have an internet connection, it's a better idea to physically download them than to stream them. If you've previously purchased them from iTunes, you can easily re-download them at any time.
  How to move items back to iTunes in the Cloud in iTunes 11If you're computer's hard drive is starting to get full and you need to save some space, iTunes in the Cloud is the perfect option. Just like you can download items to your computer, you can also delete them so they go back to a streaming state. You aren't technically "moving" the items to the Cloud since they're already there, but you're removing the physical copy off of your hard drive. Don't worry, you can always down them again later if you'd like.
   How to delete iTunes in the Cloud in iTunes 11This isn't an option many users will want to use but if you ever decide you'd like to delete an item from iCloud completely, you can do so. Perhaps it's a title you don't want the kids to be able to see in the Cloud on their devices. This is a reason you would not want it available to download across all devices.
 
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| FCC chairman urges FAA to allow use of tablets during takeoff and landing Posted: 06 Dec 2012 07:45 PM PST
One of the great annoyances and confusions of flying is the ban on use of any and all portable electronic devices below 10,000 feet. While we're honestly perfectly fine with the use of cell phones being banned in such extended-period close quarters, devices like tablets, ereaders, and the like aren't really of great concern. I'll admit to having left my tablet and cell phone turned on (in airplane mode) during takeoff and landing, and the plane did not come crashing out of the sky, and there's little doubt that at least a few of your fellow passengers are doing the same on every flight. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski is now urging the Federal Aviaition Administration (FAA) to "enable greater use of tablets, e-readers, and other portable devices" during all phases of flight, according to a report by The Hill. Genachowski's letter to acting FAA director Michael Huerta noted the economic benefits of these gadgets we use, though one has to question how much additional utility can be gained from working in the ~30 minutes between the gate and 10,000 feet (and in reverse when returning to the ground). Then again, extra time on the tablet is extra time on the tablet. Genachowski pledged in the letter to work with the FAA, airlines, and device manufacturers on completing a review of the safety of these devices during the take-off and landing phases of flight. The FAA has been studying the question of gadgets during these phases for some time, stating in March that they were reconsidering the policy and forming a committee in August to study their current policies, though no recommendations have yet been made. While we're all for extended gadget time during flights, we also want this to be done right. There are legitimate reasons behind the not-below-10,000-feet rule, and if the studies and committees determine that there's even a small chance that turning on that iPad could knock your plane out of the sky, then we'd rather people not be doing that. Airplanes are overengineered for a reason - just one mistake, one error, one failure can be seriously when you're with a hundred other people in a pressurized metal tube hurtling through the sky at five hundred miles per hour and thirty thousand feet over the ground. We'd all prefer that playing X-Plane on our iPad not be the cause of that failure. Source: The Hill 
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| Celebrate the Holidays with A Charlie Brown Christmas for iPhone and iPad Posted: 06 Dec 2012 05:39 PM PST
A Charlie Brown Christmas -- one of the most classic Christmas stories -- is available for the iPhone and iPad as an interactive story. Just like It's The Great Pumpkin, A Charlie Brown Christmas is extremely well made, fun, and engaging for kids and adults alike. You must help Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the rest of the Peanuts gang as they try to find the true meaning of Christmas. Included with the flip style book book with awesome animations and graphics, A Charlie Brown Christmas also lets you play Schroeder's piano, finger paint with the gang, and go carolling with the Peanuts choir. You also get to participate in the Spectacular Super-Colossal Neighborhood Christmas Lights and Display Contest and unlock decorations for your very own Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. The book is narrated by Peter Robbins, the original voice of Charlie Brown, and includes original dialogue from the 1965 classic and remastered illustrations, animation, and music optimized for the iPhone and iPad. If you are a fan of this awesome classic, and especially if you have kids, you need to download A Charlie Brown Christmas for iPhone and iPad. Seriously, you have to! It's awesome. $4.99 - Download Now
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| Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour review Posted: 06 Dec 2012 05:22 PM PST
Modern Combat 4 made its big debut on iOS today following a series of teasers over the last couple of months. Gameloft's military first-person shooter franchise has for years been providing unabashed mobile knock-offs of recognizable console and PC equivalents. At this point, Gameloft has finely tuned the formula, and with each iteration, they're ramping up the graphical capabilities with gusto.
There's going to be a lot of familiar elements here for those that have played AAA FPS games elsewhere. There's a campaign mode, where players bounce between good guy and bad guy perspective, gradually piecing together a the story of a terrorist organization that figures out how to turn America's own advanced warfare technology against them. Hackneyed as the dialog may be, the graphics are outstanding, and played very smoothly on the iPad 2. The only performance hiccup I've encountered is an occasional crash after I take a screenshot. Some of the enemy models are lacking in detail, but the textures are rich, light effects varied, and a few full-screen effects such as motion blur, depth of field, smoke, and others create a visual powerhouse among iOS games. Even the menu system is well laid-out and sharp.
The visuals are equally complemented by the game's soundtrack. The strong background music mains your forward momentum when the storyline fails you, and sound effects, particularly for weapons, are believable and sharp. Voice acting across all of the characters, AI bots included, are polished and high quality. Occasionally it felt like characters would be talking over one another, but on the whole, the audio was just as impressive as the graphics. The language gets a little salty at points, for those concerned about that kind of thing. Also keep in mind that the high-grade assets contribute to the game's hefty 1.5 GB storage demand.
The controls haven't changed much since previous games. All UI elements are repositionable, which I felt necessary for the grenade button. Sprint now automatically vaults you over terrain, and if you duck while sprinting, players execute a stylish ground slide. I've been trying to get the hang of the accelerometer controls, but even with a sensitivity adjuster, it's hard to find a set-up that works better than the good old dual-stick layout.
I'm never particularly happy when premium games also employ in-app purchases, which Gameloft has done here. You earn two types of currencies: one for the single-player campaign, and another for the multiplayer game. The Blue chips from the campaign can be spent on single-use boosts, permanent upgrades, and weapon attachments. $1.99 will buy you 10,000 Gold chips, which is almost enough for the entry-level shotgun, which is currently half-off at 12,500 Gold Chips. Meanwhile, you can get 5,000 Blue chips for $1.99, which is enough to get the 4,000-chip Adrenaline boost to improve combat skills across the board. Permanent upgrades and attachments start at 10,000, which is high enough for me to just suck it up and save up for the stuff I want. Also, it would have been really nice if there was some overlap between single-player and multiplayer unlockables, but with them separated, I think a lot of players will just dive right into the multiplayer.
Most of the AI that I've encountered don't really exceed Goldeneye-grade complexity, but the sheer volume of bad guys mixed with sprawling, rich maps make for a challenging single-player game nonetheless. The standard run, duck, and shoot gameplay is peppered with some light vehicular combat and gesture-based reflex tests. Overall, the single-player campaign isn't particularly challenging and only 12 missions long, but that's okay because odds are you'll spend most of your time in multiplayer.
Modern Combat is an old enough franchise at this point that there are a lot of veteran players out there. Even giving it a shot the morning of launch, it was clear that my PC shooting game skills weren't going to transfer over particularly well, though those with some console experience might have an easier time. Multiplayer matches contribute to ranking up and reward players with Gold chips, which can unlock killstreak-style support, buy new attachments for your favorite weapons, or vanity items such as titles, badges, and badge backgrounds. My favorite among those are the cat's meow you get right off the bat, which triggers the sound effect every time you're killed in game.
There are a lot of excellent game modes available in multiplayer, including the classic free-for-all deathmatch and capture-the-flag, but also a few more interesting ones, including zone control, where owning a particular point will bestow a team with specific bonuses, manhunt, where a single player has to survive as long as possible with a flag, and barebone, which strips away perks and support for the purists.The usual achievement and statistic trappings are included in Modern Combat 4. Accuracy, win/loss ratio, kill/death ratio, and extensive match history are all there. Gameloft's Live social service is baked in, and though it's mostly bare-bones, the party system is particularly interesting. Players can get together into parties, ensure that they move from server to server together and stay on the same team. The good
The bad
The bottom lineFor first-person shooter fans, this is a no-brainer; Modern Combat 4 is the top FPS on iOS today. You'll be hard-pressed to find any surprises at all, but every element of the game is well-polished, particularly the visuals and audio. I'm still not entirely convinced that a tablet can enjoyably replicate the console and PC shooter experience, but that's namely because of ergonomics; if you're willing to stream the game out to a bigger screen and get a dedicated hardware controller (like Gameloft's Duo), Modern Combat 4 could very easily sub in for any other console game out there. As for price, $6.99 feels like a lot for a title that pushes in-app purchases, but if you're willing to accept IAPs as an inevitability and are comfortable slogging it through the progression path at a regular pace, you'll likely have a good time. Those picky about IAPs may want to hold off until it goes on sale for a buck, but I doubt we'll be seeing savings like that this year. $6.99 - Download Now
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| Cook upgrades Apple's television ambitions from "beloved hobby" to "intense interest" Posted: 06 Dec 2012 05:17 PM PST
When Apple CEO Tim Cook sat down with NBC's Brian Williams for a wide-ranging interview about the past, present, and future of Apple (set in Apple's mammoth Grand Central Terminal store, no less), he closed with an interesting note. According to what he told Rock Center:
Of course, rumors and speculation about Apple's television ambitions have been swirling for years, spurred on in no small part thanks to the musings of the late Steve Jobs about Apple and the modern living room centerpiece. It's no secret that Apple wants to revolutionize the television set (despite their silence on the matter), just as they've revolutionized personal computing, mobile phones, and tablets over the years. As always, there are significant hurdles to Apple conquering the living room, the biggest being the holy grail of television content: live television. But up to today, Apple's public line on television has always been that the adorable-yet-useful Apple TV box has been nothing more than a hobby (occasionally a beloved hobby). With Tim Cook declaring that the "backwards" television user experience is an "area of intense interest" for Apple and something that he can't discuss more definitely seems to be implying that they're getting even more serious. In fact, you could say he's implying that it's now only a matter of "when" for an Apple television set, not "if", though the rumors and speculation have always pegged it as "when", often with hilariously poor accuracy. We'll just stick to our Magic 8 Ball for prognosticating… concentrate and ask again? Source: Rock Center 
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| Apple/HTC cross licensing deal details revealed with scads of redactions Posted: 06 Dec 2012 04:57 PM PST
Last month Apple and HTC signed a ten-year cross-licensing agreement that saw the two companies agree to set aside their gangs of lawyers and get back to creating new and exciting devices. We didn't expect that we'd ever be made privy to the details of the agreement, but seeing as Samsung's lawyers and Apple's lawyers haven't yet managed to hammer out a similar agreement, Samsung found themselves curious about the details. And being that they pay their lawyers in wheelbarrows of won, they were able to make that happen, with some assistance from the court. The heavily-redacted 140 pages documents were made part of the public record by way of Samsung for today's hearing in their patent trial against Apple in California. AllThingsD's Ina Fried dug into the stack of documents, and while a lot of the nitty gritty details were covered up with thick black lines (many Sharpies were killed in the production of this document), we were able to get an idea of the broad strokes of the deal between Apple and HTC. As you might expect, Apple's design patents on devices like the iPad and iPhone are not part of the deal, as Apple takes their design patents very very seriously (see: Apple vs. Samsung, parts 1-∞). In keeping with that, the agreement sets up an 'arbitration process' for Apple and HTC should the former believe the latter has released a "cloned" product. Seeing as HTC's recent designs have taken a decidedly unique approach to design, we wouldn't consider that clause likely to be invoked any time soon. Apple has also agreed not to sue HTC over a certain list of their products, but those are redacted. Also redacted are nine patents HTC has not licensed to Apple, otherwise it appears that everything else in Apple's and HTC's patent portfolios are getting shared to prevent further litigation. Unsurprisingly, how much HTC is paying in royalty rates to Apple was also blacked out, though HTC's said before that they don't expect the agreement to have "to have an adverse material impact" on their bottom line. That's what happens when you swap paying for lawyers with paying licensing fees. Ina Fried was also in the courtroom as Samsung and Apple's lawyers went back to sparring over patents and the like in San Jose today (The Rumble In The Valley™), providing excellent blow-by-blow coverage as United States District Judge Lucy Koh presided over the proceedings. Before things even got started at 1:30 Pacific time, HTC was already involved, arguing that their excessive redactions were within the letter of the order, with HTC having redacted "terms and details irrelevant to this case"; Samsung contends that the agreement with HTC "is proof that Apple was willing and in fact has entered into license agreements concerning at least some of the patents at issue in this case." In fact, Apple had offered a licensing agreement to Samsung back in 2010. The terms would haven been mighty expensive for Samsung, amounting to around a quarter of a billion dollars annually. Instead, we've been treated to the driest and nerdiest courtroom drama ever. They spent forty-five minutes arguing about damages over the Samsung Prevail today. Yeah, exciting stuff. Source: AllThingsD (HTC agreement, Trial coverage) via Android Central 
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| T-Mobile USA definitely getting the iPhone, may sell it with new pricing model Posted: 06 Dec 2012 05:02 PM PST
The iPhone is indeed coming to T-Mobile USA. While it was announced earlier today that the fourth-place mobile carrier in the U.S. would start carrying Apple products in 2013, there was no confirmation of the iPhone. T-Mobile CEO John Legere said at Deutsche Telekom's analyst conference that starting in 2013, T-Mobile would sell all phones, including the iPhone, on their unsubsidized Value Plans. These plans have lower rates than subsidized plans, while selling the phones at a higher initial price. Seeing as the unsubsidized iPhone 5 starts at $650, this might seem like an odd move, because, though it would be cheaper in the long run, people are more inclined to pay larger amounts of money over time if they can get a low up front cost. But T-Mobile might have a plan for that. Kevin Fitchard reports for GigaOM:
A date for availability of the iPhone on T-Mobile USA has yet to be announced. It could be that Apple wants T-Mobile to have its LTE network up and running, before they carrier launches the iPhone, and that is slated for the latter half of 2013. If T-Mobile is able to sell an LTE-enabled iPhone where the new model starts at $99, they will have set themselves apart from Verizon, AT&T and Sprint, something that it desperately needs to do. They may not make as much money per phone as the other carriers, but if they can attract enough customers with pricing, then that may not be much of an issue. We'll have to wait and see when the iPhone launches on T-Mobile USA sometime next year. Source: GigaOM 
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| Review: CaseCrown Bold Standby Case for iPad mini Posted: 06 Dec 2012 02:41 PM PST
The CaseCrown Bold Standby Case for iPad mini was the first 3rd party cases I bought for my new iPad mini. I've used and done a review of the CaseCrown Bold Standby for iPad 3 / iPad 2 and found it to be a solid folio case – so their new one for the iPad mini caught my eye right away. Over the last couple of weeks I've been using the CaseCrown Bold Standby Case for iPad mini (which from here on I'll just call Bold Standby) on and off and while at work, when out and about, and during the evening. Notes This version of the Bold Standby for the iPad mini is also a folio style case, with a good amount of protection for the screen, back and sides of the iPad. The case is made of synthetic leather and the front cover has a soft color-matched interior. It supports the iPad's automatic sleep/wake feature, and doubles up as a stand as just about all folio stands do. The case comes in a range of 7 colors: black, blue, green, brown, pink, purple, and red. I got the blue model. It's currently priced at $24.95 at CaseCrown, but can also be purchased at Amazon, where it's listed at $14.19 today. (...) © patrickj for iPad Insight, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us         Related Stories
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| Foxconn to expand American manufacturing operations Posted: 06 Dec 2012 02:06 PM PST
Foxconn is planning an expansion of its American operations. Foxconn is known for manufacturing Apple products, along with those from companies such as Samsung and HTC, and this news comes after Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that one of Apple's Mac lines will be manufactured in the United States starting next year, with Apple investing $100 million in that operation. It is not known at this time if Foxconn will partner with Apple for this Mac line. As Bloomberg reports, the challenges facing Foxconn in this expansion are primarily about skill level and experience:
Foxconn already has a presence in the United States, with factories in Texas and California that manufacture partially-assebled products. But expansion into the United States comes as the electronics manufacturer is increasingly under fire for its labor practices in China, and more and more of the mainstream has become aware of just where their gadgets come from. Though both the processors and glass for iPhones are produced in the United States, many have called for Apple to manufacture the phones themselves here as well. With Foxconn expanding their U.S. manufacturing, the day when iPhones say "Made in the United States of America" might be closer than we think. Source: Bloomberg 
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| Element Case unleashes the Ronin for iPhone 5, and you can win one for free! Posted: 06 Dec 2012 12:31 PM PST
Element Case makes some of the highest end, most exclusive, most luxurious iPhone and iPad accessories on the planet, and that's never been more true than with the Ronin for iPhone 5.
I know they're drawing on Asian culture for inspiration, but to me the Ronin also looks like something straight out of the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings. It the kind of case Elrond or Galadriel would have born into battle and used to smite many a ruin upon the mountainsides. But here's the best news of all... You can win one of your very own! All you have to do to enter is leave a comment below telling Element Case you want one! We'll pick one of you at random, announce the winner in our usual post next week, and Element Case will send you your prize. And if you just can't wait that long run, don't walk, over to Element Case and order yours now! Source: Element Case
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| Instacast 3.0 for iPhone and iPad now available Posted: 06 Dec 2012 12:10 PM PST
Instacast, the very popular podcast app, has been updated (as a new app) with a completely new design and a new robust syncing mechanism. Instacast is also now a universal app for iPhone and iPad so that you can enjoy and follow your favorite podcasts with any iOS device.
The new features of Instacast 3.0 include a brand new look that removes a lot of friction by making everything accessible with fewer taps. The developers also switched out a lot of old methods with newer technologies like automatic reference counting and Core Data to make Instacast better and faster. Alongside these fancy new technologies is Instacasts new Cloud sync. Instead of using Apple's iCloud to keep your podcasts in sync, the folks at Vemedio put in a lot of work to create their own. All you need to do to use it is sign-up for a free account and all your data will be seamlessly moved to the cloud. Instacast has been one of our favorite podcast apps for quite some time and the new Instacast 3.0 makes a great app even better. Are you a podcast subscriber who uses Instacast? If so, let us know what you think of the update! Still haven't jumped onto the podcast bandwagon? What are you waiting for?! iMore and Mobile Nations hosts a slew of different podcast, so check them out and subscribe! $4.99 - Download Now
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| Ticker for Twitter: Streams Your Twitter Timeline Posted: 06 Dec 2012 10:09 AM PST Quick demo of the cool new Ticker for Twitter iPad app.
I heard about the Ticker for Twitter iPad app a couple weeks before it was released, and thought it sounded quite promising. It was recently released in the App Store and today I installed it and have been using it all morning. It's described as a passive Twitter client and I like what it does – which is show you a continuous stream of your Twitter timeline in a nice full screen view. I find I'm noticing more tweets this way than I would generally do when I have to switch over to Tweetbot on my Mac or iPad. Check out my quick video review above for more thoughts and to see it in action. Here's an App Store link for Ticker for Twitter; it's priced at $1.99 and is a universal app for both iPad and iPhone. © patrickj for iPad Insight, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us  Related Stories
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| T-Mobile USA to launch Apple products in 2013, likely including the iPhone Posted: 06 Dec 2012 09:00 AM PST
Deutsche Telekom CEO Rene Obermann just stated in an investors' day meeting that T-Mobile USA will be launching Apple products in 2013, and speculation is heavy that that will include the iPhone. No details are available yet, but in order to get the iPhone successfully up and running on T-Mobile USA, Apple would have to add support for HSPA on the AWS spectrum, or T-Mobile will need to greatly increase their 3G support on the non-AWS spectrum, or both. T-Mobile has been deploying iPhone-friendly 3G in several markets this year, so it could well be the latter. And that's just 3G. They still haven't even left the gate when it comes to LTE. T-Mo's merger with MetroPCS could give them the resources they need to begin building out LTE, but Verizon, AT&T, and even Sprint certainly aren't going to make catching up easy. So, there's a lot of work ahead. But hey, after 5 years and pretty much every other carrier, it's a start, right? 
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| iPad at Work: for The New York Times’ Nick Bilton, as a Hand-held Darkroom Posted: 06 Dec 2012 08:59 AM PST
Image Credit: Nick Bilton / The New York Times Here's yet another way that the iPad proves its mettle as so much more than just a 'consumption' device. Nick Bilton of The New York Times has done a great piece on how he uses the iPad as a hand-held darkroom. Bilton has been passionate about photography for many years and once had a darkroom in a corner of his living room. Now the iPad has taken on a primary role in his photographic efforts.
I've told friends and colleagues for a long while now that I do much more photo editing on the iPad than on my MacBook Pro. I love the number of superb photo editing and photo effects apps that are available for the iPad, and how many of them manage to combine a wealth of powerful features with beautiful, easy to use interfaces. Check out Bilton's New York Times article for the whole story on how he uses the iPad as a darkroom. © patrickj for iPad Insight, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us  Related Stories
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| Apple investing more than $100 million to bring Mac production line to the US Posted: 06 Dec 2012 07:17 AM PST
Marking one year since his ascension to Chief Executive Officer of Apple, Tim Cook has been on a bit of a public relations blitz recently. It's not something Apple really needed, they're not reeling from some unexpectedly poor launch of disappointing figures, but it's been a year since he took over and everybody wants to know how Apple is doing, how Apple has changed, and where Apple is going. We've talked extensively about those changes here - Cook has reorganized Apple from the top-down, tweaking the structure and personnel for greater efficiency and cooperation. Since taking the helm of Apple, Cook has repeatedly been asked about bringing Apple manufacturing to the United States, and repeatedly said that's something he wants to do. In separate interviews posted today by NBC's Rock Center (full interview coming tonight at 10pm Eastern) and Bloomberg, Cook was again asked about manufacturing in the US, and in light of the stock-configuration iMacs that we've been seeing hitting shelves with "Assembled in USA" labeling, he apparently thought it was time to expound more on Apple's USA plans. The lines delivered to Rock Center and Bloomberg were similar (the man knows how to rehearse), but Bloomberg's included a little extra:
It's still not clear if the new iMacs we've been seeing singing Springsteen's Born in the USA are the first steps in this program or merely Apple using their US custom configuration facilities to produce enough of the ultra-slim computers to meet demand at launch. Either way, there are certainly going to be a lot of people happy to see Apple bringing production lines to the United States, so long as the price and quality of the product aren't affected. As he has been doing from the start, Cook noted that the US has never really been an electronics manufacturing powerhouse, "so it's not a matter of bringing it back, it's a matter of bringing it here" and building up the skillset in US workers to manage that sort of work. Toyota, Honda, and Nissan (the New York Times has an excellent piece on how Nissan set up automobile manufacturing in Tennessee) went through a similar set of challenges when they brought their automobile manufacturing lines to the United States - while the US auto industry primarily existed in and around Detroit, the skills and practices of the Japanese automakers were, in a way, quite foreign to US workers. IT's worth noting that Apple has not for many years produced their own hardware (unlike the days when there was an Apple-owned Macintosh factory in California), so it's likely that - as Cook implied - Apple will be working with existing manufacturing partners to bring Apple product production to the USA, be it manufacturers already here, or those looking to expand to the US (as Foxconn has rumored to be exploring). There's also the question of how much this is going to cost Apple from a purely financial standpoint. The idea of production in China comes with the benefit of a highly flexible and massive workforce and incredibly short supply lines. Combined with China's historically low wages, Chinese production is generally just plain cheaper, though you end up paying to ship your completed product across the ocean before you can sell it. Production in the US has it's own risks for Apple, including the higher wages demanded by US workers and the now trans-oceanic component supply lines, though Cook did note that "'it's not so much about price, it's about the skills" and that the sort of engineering and manufacturing education needed to do this isn't as strong in the US as it is in China. But as the executives at Nissan, Honda, and Toyota would tell you, the US workers they hired in their new factories adapted faster than expected to the Japanese way of building cars - and the Japanese manufacturers learned from the US-trained workers as well. Source: Rock Center; Bloomberg 
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| Price Drops: Snapseed Photo Editing App Is Now a Free App Posted: 06 Dec 2012 06:56 AM PST
Snapseed, the popular and award-winning photo editing app for iPad and iPhone, has now become a free app. It's now owned by Google, and has become a free app on iOS at the same time as it launches for Android. The app offers a good range of photo effects and a friendly interface that lets you adjust them with ease. Here are some of its key features: • Easily adjust your photos with a single tap using Auto Correct And here's an App Store link for Snapseed; it's a universal app designed to run on both iPad and iPhone. © patrickj for iPad Insight, 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us  Related Stories
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| Snapseed goes free, adds Retrolux, integrates Google+ Posted: 06 Dec 2012 06:39 AM PST
Snapseed, one of the best bits of photo editing software on the iPhone and iPad, has gone free-as-in-Google today, and as some modicum of recompense, added Google+ to its mix. Snapseed had gone free for short periods of time in the past, before the Google purchase, but this time there's no going back. And, if free isn't enough, they've also added a new, Retrolux filter:
And updated the Frame filter:
Google bought Snapseed developer Nik Software back in September, and at the time both Nik and Google saw it as a way to provide better photography tools to a wider range of people. Online photos is a huge part of social networking, and an area Facebook increasingly dominates, especially after their Instagram purchase. Google, smartly, knows if they want to capture attention and migrate social towards Google+, they have to provide a compelling platform for users, and that includes photos. Making Snapseed free, and launching it on Android, which was also announced today, is just one more piece to that social puzzle. Anyone been avoiding Snapseed before based on price, and planning to get it now that it's price-less?
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