iPad By Davis: “Belkin officially launches its Ultimate Keyboard Case for iPad, thinnest keyboard case available” plus 14 more

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• Belkin officially launches its Ultimate Keyboard Case for iPad, thinnest keyboard case available
• Ultima Forever for iOS gets previewed at GDC 2013
• iCloud gets kicked in the Core Data sync -- totally had it coming
• DragonBox for iPhone, iPad, Mac makes learning algebra fun
• Apple posts job listings for Maps Ground Truth managers
• Quick Look: VersaCase Folding Desk Stand for iPad
• Cute Fruit for iPhone tracks your baby's growth progress
• Buffer for iPhone lets you track Facebook and Twitter analytics, schedule posts, and more
• Gmail app updated with better gestures and a new actions bar
• Flipboard Magazines – A Couple New iPad Titles
• Twitterrific 5 updated with push notifications, more
• Hands-on with Galaxy on Fire: Alliances
• How to favorite and read articles offline with the iMore app for iPhone
• Flipboard 2.0 Update: Create Your Own Magazines & More
• Deal of the Day: 44% off Marware MicroShell for iPhone 5

Belkin officially launches its Ultimate Keyboard Case for iPad, thinnest keyboard case available Posted: 27 Mar 2013 11:51 PM PDT Belkin has officially announced the availability of is Ultimate Keyboard Case for iPad. What's so special about this case? Well Belkin claims that it is the thinnest keyboard case available for the iPad coming in at just 6.4mm. It has been manufactured from a revolutionary aluminium alloy and magnets and weighs in at just 17 ounces. "We believe the Belkin Ultimate Keyboard Case will reinvent the iPad user experience," says Jamie Elgie, senior director of product management at Belkin. "It gives the iPad all of the functionality of a laptop, while maintaining the sleek appeal of a tablet." Featuring Belkin's award-winning TruType keys, the Ultimate Keyboard Case provides a smooth, laptop-like typing experience to minimize errors and maintain typing speed. It also offers a fully protective back cover to keep your iPad safe from scratches, scuffs and everyday wear and tear when the keyboard is attached. The Ultimate Keyboard Case has some really nice features like fold flat hinges that let you fold the keyboard flat and allow you to use the iPad as a tablet without the need to remove the keyboard. It also incorporates Belkin's SoundFlow design which it claims will dramatically enhance the sound from the iPad's speakers. The Ultimate Keyboard Case can be pre-ordered from Belikin today with shipping estimated to be sometime in May. The Ultimate Keyboard case will be available to suit either the black iPad at a cost of $99.99 or the white iPad which will set you back a little more at $129.99. It is compatable with the iPad 2, iPad third generation and iPad 4th generation. Source: Belkin Press Release

Ultima Forever for iOS gets previewed at GDC 2013 Posted: 27 Mar 2013 09:25 PM PDT We got to play around a bit with Ultima Forever: Quest of the Avatar at GDC, and here's what it does -- it brings the classic hardcore MMO model to a more casual audience. Players party up in groups of four to delve into dungeon romps and dragon battles that last five minutes and up, depending on how much time you and your buddies have. You've got all of the standard trappings of a classic RPG in Ultima Forever - slaying monsters, gaining experience points, leveling up, unlocking abilities, and amassing loot - but there's a ton of storyline to chew through here too. You've got to remember that Ultima has been around for ages, and so there's a lot of lore to pull on. There's a tie-in with Facebook so you can keep in touch with any players there and coordinate your next raid. By far my favorite mechanic of the whole game is how they handle virtues. Making certain decisions in dialog and completing quests will have players gain different kinds of virtue points. Every city values a handful of virtues, so the more highly-ranked you are in one of its associated virtues, the more quests are available to you in that city. You even earn virtue points for helping out your underlevelled friends on quests. I've poured more than a few hours into Ultima Online, so it's great to see the world coming to iOS in a social, bite-sized way. The only downer is that there's no crafting or housing systems as of yet, which were major staples in the older games. Fingers are crossed that they'll bring those options in through a future update.

iCloud gets kicked in the Core Data sync -- totally had it coming Posted: 27 Mar 2013 09:11 PM PDT iCloud, specifically the part of it that covers the frameworks Apple has provided to developers to sync Core Data databases, has been getting kicked around lately, and by almost all accounts, deservedly so.Back in November, developers like Instacast's Vemedio and Steve Streza of Informal Protocol posted about its opacity and Paul Haddad expressed on similar concerns during the second episode of Debug. More even than ensuring the reliability of Siri and Game Center, it felt like proof positive that Apple faced significant challenge in a future where services were table-stakes. As much as I think iOS 7 and iCloud are more important for Apple than next-generation hardware at this point, I think iCloud is more important than iOS 7 because, for Apple, it'll be an even bigger challenge. iCloud, more so even that Dropbox, is the future, it just doesn't work yet. Since those initial developer posts, more have have come forward to share their experiences with iCloud Core Data sync, or in some cases document sync, and they share the same frustrations. In a post intended to reassure users of NetNewsWire about the app's future in a post-Google Reader world, iCloud issues again reared their ugly head. Daniel Pasco of BlackPixel wrote: As far as sync is concerned, we knew we would likely need an alternative to Google Reader as early as last year. At the time, the option that seemed to make the most sense was to embrace iCloud and Core Data as the new sync solution of choice. We spent a considerable amount of time on this effort, but iCloud and Core Data syncing had issues that we simply could not resolve. What seems to make the ongoing issues so vexing for developers is that iCloud was introduced with iOS 5 back in 2011, and while iOS 6 in 2012 was an improvement, it wasn't anywhere nearly improvement enough. Ellis Hamburger of The Verge did a brilliant job summing up much of the reaction and reasoning up, calling iCloud Core Data sync a broken promise: Many veteran developers have learned their lesson and given up on iCloud's Core Data syncing entirely. "Ultimately, when we looked at iCloud + Core Data for [our app], it was a total no-go as nothing would have worked," said one best-selling iPhone and Mac developer. "Some issues with iCloud Core Data are theoretically unsolvable (stemming from the fact that you've put an object model on top of a distributed data store) and others are just plain bugs in the implementation," he said. One of the reasons for this is that, just like with Game Center APIs, Apple has very little skin in the Core Data sync game. They're not making massive use of it, so they're not the first ones hitting pain points and problems. Their developers are, and that's a terrible, terrible thing for everyone. Matthew Panzarino of The Next Web also pointed out that Apple conflating several distinct services all under the iCloud banner further compounds the problem developers face: Recent criticism of Apple's iCloud has exposed just how fractured the brand actually is behind the scenes. Developers are having problems with some of the technologies bundled together under the name and it's causing some confusion. The truth of the matter is that there are really two iClouds, which couldn't be more different. Users who get their mail, contacts, or calendars synched without issue just don't understand what developers are complaining about because, for them, iCloud works, it just doesn't work in that developer's app. Some users think the developers are actually incompetent or lying. Glassboard developer Brent Simmons, on Inessential, pointed out that that's the risk of depending on systems you can't control: How comfortable are you with outsourcing half your app to another company? The answer should be: not at all comfortable. Just like services are the future for Apple, they're the future for a lot of developers. More important than hardware, arguably more important than software when that is already a core competency, iCloud is what Apple has to nail. Rather than getting kicked around, iCloud has to kick ass.

DragonBox for iPhone, iPad, Mac makes learning algebra fun Posted: 27 Mar 2013 05:12 PM PDT DragonBox is an educational math game for iPhone, iPad, and Mac that teaches the concepts of algebra in a fun way. Instead of sitting in a classroom and listening to a teacher give all the rules for solving an equation, kids can simply play a game with similar rules that starts with pictures and slowly introduces algebraic symbols. When you first start playing DragonBox, you are introduced to the game board that is split into two sides. On the board, there is a box and other tiles with pictures, and the goal is to get the box alone on one side of the board (solve for x). At the bottom of the screen, there are tiles that you may need to use to reach your goal of isolating the box. If you put a tile on one side of the board, you must also put an identical tile on the other side. Later in the game, this rule extends to placing tiles next to or under other tiles (multiplying or dividing). Each tile can also be flipped. On one side, it will be day (positive), and the other side will be night (negative). Stacking the day and night versions of the same picture will merge them into a picture of a portal. If you tap a portal, it will disappear. (The portal represent 0). Eventually, DragonBox does introduce variables with negative symbols instead of day/night as well as the number 0. Some tiles look like an ace dice and they represent the number 1. If you have two identical tiles above and below each other, you can slide them together to convert them into an ace. If an ace is touching another tile, you can slide it into the adjacent tile and it disappears (multiplying by 1). The goal is not only to isolate the box, but to also eliminate any useless tiles. For example, if there's an ace attached to another tile, get rid of it. And if there's a portal floating around, make it disappear. The number of stars you earn for each level is dependent on solving the equations in the least number of moves and eliminating useless tiles. By the time you reach the end of the game, all tiles will be variables or numbers, the box will be an 'x', and you'll have to perform several moves to solve the equations, including fraction manipulation and more than one 'x' tile on the board at a time. Dragonbox will also begin to display the tiles as an equation with multiplication symbols and plus and equal signs. After beating the game, you'll have access to bonus levels for even more practice. The good Great graphics Fun and educational Teaching algebra concepts as game-rules, making it fun Leaves some "rules" open to discovery (like how it's best to add/subtract terms from both sides before multiplying/dividing) Starts with pictures and box and slowly advances to numbers, variable and 'x' Multiple user support Universal for iPhone and iPad The bad Operators don't always line up nicely The bottom line DragonBox is one of the best math games I've seen. It does an excellent job of turning algebra into a game and teaching concepts in a fun environment. It also leaves some ideas open to discovery instead of a rule, which is the best way to learn. As a math educator, I highly recommend DragonBox to anyone who is learning algebra or struggling with algebraic concepts. I also believe DragonBox is an excellent way to first introduce kids to algebra before they formally learn about it in a classroom setting. Seriously, I'm very impressed with DragonBox as a fun, yet very effective, educational tool. $5.99 for iPhone and iPad - Download now $5.99 for Mac - Download now

Apple posts job listings for Maps Ground Truth managers Posted: 27 Mar 2013 03:47 PM PDT Apple is increasing its efforts to improve Maps around the world, having recently posted open positions for Maps Ground Truth managers in seven countries. Previously, Apple had only been hiring for these positions in Australia. Among other dutites, managers are expected to be able to do things like provide feedback for their area to enhance maps, according to Apple's job postings. Testing new releases of map code and data around the U.S. Collecting ground truth data to allow for analysis of the impact of potential map code or data changes relative to known truth Utilizing local expertise to provide feedback about U.S.-specific mapping details Evaluating competing products in-region relative to our maps Ground truth refers to collecting mapping data locally rather than by satellite imagery or other remote means. We heard about Apple retail employees being asked to help improve Maps back in October. This, however, points to teams of people dedicated to mapping improvements. Apple has been steadily improving Maps since the launch of iOS 6 in September of last year. Enhancements to Flyover, 3D buildings, and turn-by-turn navigation have been made to locations around the world. There is still a long way to go, but there is no doubt that Apple is working hard to make Maps the product that everyone expected it to be and that their customers deserve. Source: Apple

Quick Look: VersaCase Folding Desk Stand for iPad Posted: 27 Mar 2013 02:46 PM PDT As often mentioned here, I'm a big fan of iPad stands. iPad stands that are versatile – even more so. The VersaCase Folding Desking Stand for iPad (which will be referred to as just Versacase for the rest of this review) is touted as being amongst the most versatile you can find. Heck it's even got a part of versatile in its name – that's gotta be a good omen. I've been trying one out for a few weeks now and have some thoughts to share. Notes As the name implies, this is a desktop stand for the iPad, that can be folded away for use on the go. The VersaCase is compatible with the iPad 2, 3, and 4 (or iPad 3rd and 4th gen). Some of its notable listed features include: – Displays the iPad at optimal ergonomic, glare-free viewing angles – 360 degree rotation for portrait and landscape viewing – Folds to just over an inch thick – Fully... Read the whole entry... » Related Stories Review: ZAGGkeys Mini 9 Keyboard Case & Cover: Not Recommended Review: iOstand for iPad Review: Moko Slim Fit Case for iPad mini This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Cute Fruit for iPhone tracks your baby's growth progress Posted: 27 Mar 2013 11:43 AM PDT Cute Fruit is an adorable pregnancy app that compares the size of your baby with a fruit or vegetable for each new week of pregnancy. Each week, the photo will change to a new super cute drawing of the food item that your baby is similar in size with and state which week of your pregnancy you're in. You can also share the drawings to Facebook and Twitter. Cute Fruit isn't like other pregnancy apps that provide a lot of information of what to expect during your pregnancy, but it's just too cute for words. Cute Fruit will send you notifications when you enter a new week in your pregnancy and also includes tasteful advertisements for a beautiful contraction timer, to like them on Facebook and Twitter, and to rate the app in the App Store. Cute Fruit is super simple and super adorable. Free - Download now

Buffer for iPhone lets you track Facebook and Twitter analytics, schedule posts, and more Posted: 27 Mar 2013 11:23 AM PDT Buffer is a service that allows you to monitor and post to your social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and App.net. This includes queueing up posts to be shared at a later time or date, monitoring information such as retweets, likes, and replies on posts, and more. The Buffer for iPhone app allows you to take the service with you wherever you are and check data or post things on the fly. This can be especially useful for business owners that find value in knowing how well their social media techniques are working. Once you've downloaded the Buffer for iPhone app you can either sign into an existing Buffer account or create a new one. You can sign up for the Buffer service for free and start adding your accounts but you'll be limited to how many accounts you can add on a free plan. If you want to add Facebook pages and multiple Twitter accounts, you'll need to subscribe to the paid plan for $9.99/month through the Buffer site. Free users are also limited to how many posts they can buffer at once as well where paid users have no limitations on posts and can add up to 12 accounts. While Buffer does work great for free users that just want to monitor their personal profiles, it's really geared towards business owners and those using social networks as marketing tools. Buffer allows you to queue up posts quickly and easily for any of the accounts you'd like. It will then share them with those networks at certain intervals that you've scheduled with the Buffer service online. You can also choose a post now option if you'd rather share the post now instead of queueing it for a later time. Schedules with Buffer are a great way to prevent a social networking site from going stagnant and this is especially important for businesses who need to keep their users engaged. When it comes to actually queuing up and buffering content, you can embed content from tons of places and include photos, links, and many other media types. Buffer is widely supported across several apps such as Feedly, Reeder, Instapaper, and many more. You can even email things to your Buffer account instantly. The actual Buffer app for iPhone doesn't give you a lot of the same functionality that you get with the website version but it does the trick while on the go. You can view posts that are ready to go up as well as post them now, edit, or delete them. Unfortunately, you can't change the posting time within the app or schedules at all for that matter. The developers do say that scheduling options are coming to the iPhone app, we just aren't sure when just yet. Some people may not like having to be tethered to a web version of a service but this will be the case, at least for now, with Buffer. The app will, however, let you view statistics on posts. For instance, with Twitter you can view already posted items and the analytics data for them such as how many people responded to it, retweeted it, or favorited it. You'll also see a potential number of people that may see that post. The more retweets you get, the higher that number will be. The same concept holds true for Facebook, LinkedIn, and App.net. The good Inexpensive way to manage your networks from the computer and while on the go Nice interface that's easy to navigate around Support for many of the most popular networks Users who don't want to pay a fee can use the Buffer service with their personal accounts, just not actual business pages You can post directly to business pages and Twitter accounts simultaneously, there aren't very many apps out there that let you do this Widely supported by many other apps and platforms, including browser extensions The bad No Instagram support, this would be killer for sharing photos to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram simultaneously If you need to edit a Buffer, you'll have to do it across all the networks you've queued it up for - this can be irritating There's no way to change the post time within the Buffer for iPhone app, only post now or queue at the next available time Deleting a post will have to be done across all networks it is shared to individually The bottom line Buffer for iPhone is meant to be a complimentary app to an already great service. While the web version is definitely more powerful and where you're meant to spend most of your time, it would still be nice to see some of the web options become available on the iPhone. It'd also be epic to see Instagram support come to Buffer. I currently can't find any app that will let you post to a Twitter page, Facebook business page, and Instagram all at once and it's something a lot of business users would benefit from. Aside from that, Buffer is a great service that's very reasonably price and if used correctly, can greatly help businesses better manage their social networks and boost them to their full potential. Free (limited features without a Buffer subscription) - Download Now

Gmail app updated with better gestures and a new actions bar Posted: 27 Mar 2013 10:29 AM PDT The Gmail app for iPhone and iPad has just received an update that adds quicker message handling functionality and a new action bar for moving, deleting, and archiving mail. Among these new features, there are also bug fixes and overall performance enhancements. Instead of having to tap out and back into messages, the new gestures in the Gmail update allow you to swipe side to side in order to flip between messages in your inbox. Tapping on a message now also enables edit mode for quicker handling when clearing out messages. Just select the messages you'd like and the new action bar will then let you archive, delete, or move them where you'd like. The update is available now in the App Store. Hit the link below to grab the app if you don't already have it installed. Free - Download Now

Flipboard Magazines – A Couple New iPad Titles Posted: 27 Mar 2013 08:51 AM PDT Hopefully many of you are already enjoying the new 'create your own magazine' feature in the Flipboard iPad app. I know I am, and I've already created a few magazines. Here are two of them I'd like to share: – iPad Apps – a selection of some of the latest, greatest apps for the iPad, across all categories: http://flip.it/IgCDQ – iPad Accessories – iPad cases and stands and lions and tigers and bears: http://flip.it/JmvND Oh, and of course iPad Insight is a featured Flipboard partner site – so you can enjoy all of our content magazine style too. If you haven't already added us to your Flipboard, please give us a look here: http://flpbd.it/ipadinsight © patrickj for iPad Insight, 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Flipboard magazines, iPad Insight Related Stories Need iPad Help – Just Ask iPad Insight & March Madness – Join Our Bracket Best App Update Text. Ever. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Twitterrific 5 updated with push notifications, more Posted: 27 Mar 2013 09:10 AM PDT Twitterrific, the elegant Iconfactory Twitter client for iPhone and iPad, has been updated to support one of their most requested features -- push notifications. Currently in beta, users are being added to Twitterrific's push system in batches of 1,000 to make sure servers stay up and the experience remains positive for everyone. If you don't get into the push beta immediately, just try again in a few days. (You can find it in the Settings section.) Also in version 5.2, user banners have been added to profile pages, discussions are now shareable via email or storify, Doplr gets thumb-nailed, and the usual bevy of improvements, additions, and fixes. I've been using the push notifications for roughly a day now and they've been working really well. In addition to the message itself, the Iconfactory has included small icons at the beginning of the notification to help you quickly, easily differentiate between mentions, direct messages, re-tweets, favorites, and others. You can grab the update now, and If you're not using Twitterrific yet, check it out and let me know what you think. $2.99 on sale - Download now

Hands-on with Galaxy on Fire: Alliances Posted: 27 Mar 2013 09:03 AM PDT Be sure to check out the fifteen-minute Extended Edition Director's Cut below! Fishlabs was quietly showing off an alpha build of their upcoming free-to-play galactic empire game, Galaxy on Fire: Alliance at GDC 2013, and we got some time to play around with it. If you've ever played Mob Wars or anything like that, you'll be familiar with the idea of building up a persistent force of troops and taking the fight to other players in the game. Galactic commanders have to form alliances, harvest planetary resources, build ships, and improve their character's skills to cut out their territory in the stars. Usually, these base-building games that rely on long cooldown periods are very starkly text-based, and at best have well-created icons, but Galaxy on Fire: Alliance turns that notion on its head by implementing some exceptionally great graphics. The version of Galaxy on Fire: Alliances that we were shown was still in the very early stages, but the concept screenshots that we were shown of what's coming looked extremely promising. Even on the mechanics front, Galaxy on Fire: Alliances looks like it will be doing some unique things with coordinating attacks among other alliance members. It sounds like in-app purchases will be employed exclusively to speed up tasks, so nobody should have to worry about being steamrolled by a ridiculously massive star destroyer just because some dude was willing to pay five bucks for it. Though I'm hesitant to apply the real-time strategy or the MMO label on this game as liberally as Fishlabs has here, Galaxy on Fire: Alliances will very clearly be raising the bar for these types of games, whatever you want to call them. Keep an eye out on this one in the third quarter of the year.

How to favorite and read articles offline with the iMore app for iPhone Posted: 27 Mar 2013 09:03 AM PDT The new iMore app for iPhone has tons of new features that makes keeping up with your favorite articles easier than ever. Aside from being able to now leave comments in-app and listen to and watch podcasts, you can also favorite articles quickly and easily. Favorites serves two great purposes. One is that it acts as a holding place for all your favorite articles, allowing you to jump back to them any time you'd like. It also automatically saves them for offline reading, meaning you won't need an internet connection to read any articles you favorite. Don't have time to read a whole article now? Favorite it and jump back in whenever you'd like to finish, with or without an internet connection. If you don't already have the iMore for iPhone app, you can get it now for free by clicking the download now button below directly from your iPhone. Free - Download Now How to favorite an article in the iMore app for iPhone How to access your favorite articles in the iMore app for iPhone How to favorite an article in the iMore app for iPhone Launch the iMore app from the Home screen of your iPhone. Tap into the article that you'd like to add to your favorites. In the bottom navigation, tap on the star icon. You'll notice that it turns from white to gold. When a star is gold, that means you have it added to your favorites. How to access your favorite articles in the iMore app for iPhone Launch the iMore app from the Home screen of your iPhone. Tap on the Favorites menu item in the lower navigation. If you don't see a favorites option, tap on the More option and then choose the Favorites option. You can also [customize your navigation bar]( to show favorites all the time if you'd like. You'll now be taken to a list of all the articles you've favorited. If you ever want to remove an article from favorites, just tap the star icon again and it will remove it from your favorites list.

Flipboard 2.0 Update: Create Your Own Magazines & More Posted: 27 Mar 2013 07:48 AM PDT The Flipboard iPad app has had a major update today, to Version 2.0. There are a host of new features in this update, but the one that is rightly grabbing headlines is the ability to create your own magazines within the app. Creating Flipboard magazines is easy and fun, and I'm sure this is going to be an immensely popular feature. Here's the full change list for this 2.0 update: ★ You can now collect and save content into your own magazines, tap the new "+" button to get started. ★ Your magazines are public, but can be made private (viewable only to you). ★ Use the new bookmarklet to add items to your magazines from your browser. ★ Get Flipboard notifications when people like, comment or subscribe to your magazines. ★ Easily email or share magazines to Facebook, Twitter, G+, etc ★ Personalized recommendations for more to add to your Flipboard. ... Read the whole entry... » Related Stories CVS Pharmacy Now Has an iPad App Google+ iPad App Just Got Another Big Update: New Features for Photo Editing, Communities & More iPad App Store Features: 10 Apps that Wow This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Deal of the Day: 44% off Marware MicroShell for iPhone 5 Posted: 27 Mar 2013 06:37 AM PDT Today Only: Purchase the Marware MicroShell for iPhone 5 and save $10.99! Measuring less than 1mm thin, the MicroShell protects your iPhone 5 from scuffs and scratches in a slim form-factor. The MicroShell provides full access to all the ports, buttons and cameras of your device, so you can get through your day without having to take the case on and off. Stand out from the crowd with the special metallic color schemes available! List Price: $24.99     Today Only: $14.00 Learn More and Buy Now Never miss a deal. Sign up for Daily Deal alerts!

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