iPad By Davis: “The Vaavud wind meter arrives on Kickstarter, take accurate wind speed measurements with your iPhone” plus 14 more

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• The Vaavud wind meter arrives on Kickstarter, take accurate wind speed measurements with your iPhone
• Tempo Smart Calendar for iPhone review
• Facebook holding Android event on April 4
• AT&T vs Verizon vs T-Mobile vs Sprint: Which iPhone 5 carrier should you choose?
• Find My Friends updated with better controls for sending notifications
• Apple adds new 'Why you'll love iPad' section to their website
• How to recommend games to friends with Game Center
• Iron Man 3 for iOS hands on with Gameloft at GDC 2013
• Icycle 2 takes nude bicycling and fish-kissing to a whole new level
• Reeder App Will be Ready for the Google Reader Shutdown
• Iterate 43: Pocket Casts and going Android first
• Deal of the Day: 47% off Krusell Donso Mobile UnderCover for iPhone 5
• AT&T says commuters even worse than teens when it comes to texting while driving
• Cool Things: Less Apps, More Apples TV Ad
• Easter Weekend iPad App Sales Already Starting

The Vaavud wind meter arrives on Kickstarter, take accurate wind speed measurements with your iPhone Posted: 29 Mar 2013 01:01 AM PDT The Vaavud wind meter has arrived on Kickstarter and it looks to provide those that need to know the exact wind speed around them. You may think that it's not that important to know such information but if you are a kite flyer, wind surfer, paraglider or model aircraft enthusiast then this information can be critical. The Vaavud wind meter uses your iPhone to measure precise wind speeds anywhere that you are by simply using a small rotor type accessory. The accessory clips onto your iPhone; although it doesn't need any physical connection at all. It uses magnets that the iPhone can sense using its magnetic field sensor and using a clever algorithm can translate that into an exact wind speed calculation. Yes, you read it correctly :-) The secret is two small magnets in the rotor. The magnetic field sensor in the phone can detect when they rotate, and by using algorithms normally used for sound processing, the rotations can be converted to wind speed. Complicated engineering, made user friendly and simple. In fact, nobody has utilized the smartphone magnetometer in this way before. The device has been very thoroughly tested and it has been calibrated in a wind tunnel at The Technical University of Denmark. It will be manufactured with keen attention to detail, so it will great looking, durable, and easy to use. If this sort of wind meter floats your boat, you can become an earlier adopter by pledging at least £30 ($45), there were cheaper starting points but this has proved extremely popular and they are all gone. The Kickstarter project needs to hit £20,000 ($30k) to become a reality; it already has pledges of over £17,500 ($26k) with 24 days still to run so it shouldn't be much of a problem. You can see the video of the Vaavud wind meter in action over on its Kickstarter page. When you have seen it, head back here and let us know what you think! Source: Kickstarter

Tempo Smart Calendar for iPhone review Posted: 28 Mar 2013 08:29 PM PDT Tempo is a new calendar app for iPhone that not only attempts to handle your appointments and schedule more elegantly, but also doubles as somewhat of a personal assistant. It achieves this by tying into several different account types such as your emails, contacts, and more. The more you use Tempo, the smarter it gets, and the more relevant the information presented to you will be. As many of you may have already noticed if you've attempted to install Tempo, there's a reservation system in place and you'll have to wait your turn in line. This is similar to the reservation system the recently Dropbox acquired company Mailbox implemented. While it may be frustrating, we can certainly understand why apps that may have high server usage may do this. Instead of causing a spotty experience for all users, they are choosing to let users in as they can handle the traffic. After you get through the reservation system and you've gained access to Tempo for iPhone, you'll be guided through a quick tour of the main features. After that you will have the opportunity to link up your mail accounts and grant Tempo access to your contacts and current calendars. Tempo can take a little while to set up depending upon how many contacts and email inboxes you have. Once Tempo is ready to go, you'll receive an email and a push notification on your iPhone letting you know. For me, this process took about 20 minutes and I've got a pretty healthy number of contacts and synced 4 inboxes with it. The first thing you'll notice is the layout and design. The main home screen will default to agenda view. You can either choose a static photo to sit at the top or you can leave Tempo's photo of the day feature which will rotate out a new image each day. You'll also see the weather for your current location. Below that is where you'll be spending most of your time, your actual calendar. You'll see a list of events for the day under agenda view. To toggle between views, simply tap the date at the top and choose between agenda, list, day, week, and month. As far as the calendar views go - agenda, list, and month are probably the better views while the day and week options could still use a little work. For the most part they look very simliar to the default calendar but the week view will just show colored blocks. Tapping on them expands the event to see the title. You'll have to then tap on it again in order to view the detail. I'm not quite sure what the deal is with the colored blocks but a colored grid that shows no information isn't productive at all nor a good use of space. Tapping too many times to expand events can get annoying fast in week view. The main feature of Tempo is how it smartly adds contacts to events based on your description. For example, if I tell Tempo I have a call with Jason, it will import any relevant information it may find in my emails and contacts that it finds relevant. If you use last names, your results will obviously be better. The point of combining this information is so that you can view all your information without jumping between apps and for that purpose, it really does work. You have the ability to view emails (including attachments), contact cards, social networks, and more for a contact or colleague at a single glance. From there you can text a contact that you're running late, view directions to a location, and more. The good Very fluid interface with easy gestures that just feel natural Support for almost every contact type for importing Gets smarter as you use it The bad Once an event is entered, you can not edit the calendar it is on, you'll have to delete the entry completely and redo it If you don't use last names for people in calendar entries and meetings, Tempo may import wrong contacts into events No iPad support Imported alerts sometimes show up funny, sometimes as a negative amount of minutes The bottom line Overall, Tempo is off to a nice start and really does function as somewhat of a personal assistant. I've been adding entries and viewing my calendar in it for a few days now and it does seem to get smarter the more you use it. For people who travel frequently and want one app to rule them all for sorting calendars, getting driving directions, and viewing information on a client or contact, Tempo can do it all. While certain calendar views could use some improving upon, I have a feeling the app will only get better over time. For the most part, it's off to a pretty great start. Free - Download Now

Facebook holding Android event on April 4 Posted: 28 Mar 2013 08:06 PM PDT Facebook is holding another mobile-centric event, this time seemingly specifically for Google's Android operating system. Invitations for the April 4 -- not April 1! -- event went out earlier today: Come see our new home on Android. This, of course, has resulted in everything from yet more rumors and speculation about a Facebook phone like the supposed HTC Myst, to rumors and speculation of deeper integration, to rumors and speculation of next generation Facebook apps, to... you get the idea. Personally, I'd love to see HTC get some more Facebook money. They did great work as an ODM in the past, and, frankly, anything to help keep them solvent and in the race would be great. Facebook is one of the very few companies on earth that could potentially launch a new, even Amazon-style forked, successful mobile operating system at this point. I've long said they'd be stupid not to have at least considered it and worked on it in the labs. Whether they ever choose to pull the trigger on it or not is another thing. They have immense mobile talent at their disposal, and that talent could also just as easily continue to work on great apps and integration for every platform. Has anything changed in the last few months or the last year to make Facebook decide to go all in on a phone? Or are we just going to see what's next for their existing Android strategy? Like Jerry Hildenbrand of Android Central said: We're not sure exactly what to expect, but we know Facebook does things in grand style. We'll know more next week.

AT&T vs Verizon vs T-Mobile vs Sprint: Which iPhone 5 carrier should you choose? Posted: 28 Mar 2013 06:51 PM PDT If you're in the U.S. it's probably not so easy deciding which carrier is best for your iPhone 5 needs, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and now T-Mobile. Price is always a huge factor to consider when choosing a carrier, but coverage should be just as, if not more, important when making a decision. Since the iPhone 5 supports LTE cellular technology, you're going to want to take a close look at which carriers offer the best LTE coverage in your area. Then there's the matter of simultaneous voice and data -- AT&T and T-Mobile can do it over HSPA data, but Sprint and Verizon need Wi-Fi. And don't forget international roaming. First, let's take a look at prices. AT&T vs Verizon vs Sprint vs T-Mobile shared plans All four carriers use different rules for calculating the price of their plans, so instead of making things confusing and spelling out all the little details for each plan, we're going to jump to what really matters -- the bottom line. Unfortunately, the above chart isn't quite enough to compare the four carriers because it leaves out a few details. The information for Verizon and AT&T is actually fairly complete, but some things need to be clarified for T-Mobile and Sprint. First of all, notice that T-Mobile plans are not "share everything" plans like Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint. So the 500MB plans more closely compare with Verizon and AT&T's 1 GB plans and the 2 GB plans are similar to 4GB on Verizon and AT&T. I say 'similar', because they're not identical -- each line on T-Mobile has its own pool of data. Another important detail about T-Mobile's plans is that they all technically include unlimited data. The 500MB and 2GB plans are the data caps for high-speed 4G data. If you pass those limits, you will not be charged extra, but you'll be throttled to 3G or 2G speeds. All Sprint plans include unlimited text and mobile to any mobile minutes. This means you can call any cell phone, even one not on Sprint's network, without dipping into your pool of minutes. The plans included in the first chart include 1500 minutes of non-mobile phone calls. Sprint does offer 3000 and unlimited minutes plans, but they're pretty pricey (see above). In addition to the above shared plans for AT&T that include unlimited minutes and text, you can also choose from these individual plans if you only want one phone line and don't care about unlimited minutes or text. Cost to add an iPad on Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint As of right now, LTE iPads are not yet available on T-Mobile. Verizon and AT&T let you add an iPad (or other tablet) to your shared plan for just $10 per month. Sprint does not offer an add-on plan. For more details on iPad pricing, check out our iPad carrier comparison. LTE availability In addition to price, you must also consider where each carrier offers coverage and if you're within that area. When it comes to coverage, the first thing you want to consider is LTE availability. Clearly, the above maps are not a good enough indication of LTE coverage in your area. So make sure you look at each of carriers' maps very closely as they all offer an interactive tool that lets you zoom into your specific area and learn exactly which areas of your city get coverage. Verizon's coverage map AT&T's coverage map Sprint's coverage map T-Mobile's coverage map If LTE is not available to you on either network, the next thing to look at is 3G (or "4G" -- ugh!) coverage. It really does come down to who offers the best coverage. If price is deal breaker for you, you may have to compromise on coverage and stability and choose Sprint or T-Mobile, but if you're willing to pay extra for a better network, take a close hard look at the coverage that AT&T and Verizon offer. Don't only look at maps, either. Talk to your friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers who use AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile to learn how satisfied they are with their carrier's network. Simultaneous voice and data AT&T and T-Mobile are the only ones who can provide simultaneous voice and data for the iPhone 5 (Apple chose to prioritize battery life over including a second radio as a work around). So if simultaneous voice and data is something you value, you'll have to scratch Verizon and Sprint off your list. International traveling Since AT&T is GSM carrier and Sprint and Verizon are CDMA carries, Apple chose to make two different models of the iPhone 5: GSM+LTE for AT&T and T-Mobile and CDMA+LTE for Verizon and Sprint. For people who don't travel internationally, this fact is irrelevant, but if you're a frequent traveler, it may play a very important role on which carrier you choose. To make a long story short, if you regularly travel within North America (US and Canada) and want to be able to switch SIM cards and use local LTE when you travel, AT&T and T-Mobile are your choices. If you travel to the rest of the world, then you want Verizon or Sprint. If you travel between Canada and the rest of the world, well, you're out of luck -- you can't have both, unfortunately. If this is something that you need to consider, hit the link above for more details. (Note: There are almost no LTE roaming agreements between carriers, so if you don't plan on switching SIM cards, it makes no difference which iPhone you get -- you'll roam on 3G.) Making the choice So which carrier are you going to choose? And why? Anyone planning to switch to a different carrier when your contract is up? Sound off in the comments below! Carrier Discussion Lounge

Find My Friends updated with better controls for sending notifications Posted: 28 Mar 2013 05:38 PM PDT Find My Friends has been updated with a new user interface for setting up location-based notifications. Alerts tell you when you or a friend arrives or departs from a given location, and with this update, you now have control over what distance from the location alerts are triggered. To set your desired distance, open Find My Friends and go to Me, then hit Notify. Under Send My Location, choose either "When I Leave..." or "When I Arrive..." in order to select your location. Your current location will come up by default, though you can select another. The default setting is 300 ft, and cannot be made smaller, but you can make your threshold has large as you want to past that. If you're meeting friends at a location, a restaurant, for instance, set the alert trigger for when you get to the correct street to let your friends know that you've arrived. If you're a Find My Friends user, grab the update and let us know what you think. Free - Download Now

Apple adds new 'Why you'll love iPad' section to their website Posted: 28 Mar 2013 03:29 PM PDT Following Apple's new 'Why you'll love iPhone' campaign, they have now done the same for the iPad. The new page on Apple's site highlights both the iPad and iPad mini and why existing users already love it. Apple's main focus seems to be on the features that set the iPad and iPad mini apart with a strong emphasis on the availability of apps, battery life, and LTE. Interestingly, out of all the features that Apple has decided to tout, the first feature they decided to list were some statistics for how many users are currently using iPads and how many school systems and government agencies have or plan to deploy iPads. Unlike their iPhone campaign, Apple didn't decide to compare it to other tablets on the market but instead highlight the features that they think highlight why people already love iPad. Hit the link below to see all the features Apple chose in their entirety. Source: Apple

How to recommend games to friends with Game Center Posted: 28 Mar 2013 02:36 PM PDT For most users, Game Center is all about matching up with friends and competing for rankings and checking out leaderboards. It's not much fun though if you don't have anyone to play against. If you've found a particularly cool multiplayer game in the App Store that you think a friend would like, Game Center makes it easy to tell friends about it complete with an App Store link for them to check it out. Here's how: Launch the Game Center appfrom the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad. Tap on the Games tab along the bottom navigation. Find the game that you'd like to share with a friend in your list of games and tap on it. Scroll all the way to the bottom and tap on the Tell a friend button. You'll now be shown an auto-filled email with information about the game. Just type in the email of the person you'd like to share it with and tap Send. That's all there is to it. Your friend will receive the email and be able to directly view the game on the App Store and choose to download or buy it.

Iron Man 3 for iOS hands on with Gameloft at GDC 2013 Posted: 28 Mar 2013 12:54 PM PDT Iron Man 3 is coming to movie theaters everywhere this may, and coming with it is Iron Man 3 for iOS by Gameloft. Simon and I had a chance to go hands on with it at GDC, and while he loved the fast-paced gameplay -- more flyer than its adventure-centric predecessors -- they had me at Hulk Buster armor. And Silver Sentinel. Marvel and Gameloft fantastic with their blend of mainstream movie design and old-style comic book lore. It gets the wide audience, but also makes longtime fans of Old Shell-head smile their golden Avengers off. Excelsior, guys! Can't wait until this lands in the App Store!

Icycle 2 takes nude bicycling and fish-kissing to a whole new level Posted: 28 Mar 2013 09:28 AM PDT The folks at Chillingo were showing off Icycle 2 at GDC 2013, and it broke my brain just a little. The game mechanics themselves are very simple; the controls are ultimately the most basic ones you could have for a platformer game. The real trip is in the art style and storyline. Players control the chilly and lovelorn Dennis, who, for whatever reason, is chasing the woman of his dreams naked on a bicycle. Eventually, her head turns into that of a fish, but I'm not quite sure why. My demo of the game ended with Dennis mere millimeters away from smooching this aquatic goddess. Players are ranked out of three stars for each of the positively surreal levels based on how many little icicle pellets they pick up along their twisted route. Over time, players can unlock new and ridicuclous outfits to make sure Dennis doesn't have to do all of his chasing in the nude. Those of you that have played Wonderputt will be familiar with the level of graphical polish and left-field thinking that the developer, Damp Gnat, is capable of. I'll go so far as to say that Icycle 2 is the most interesting and refreshing mobile game that I've seen between GDC and PAX East. The Chillingo folks are being coy about a release date, opting for a "it'll be ready when it's ready" approach, but expect it to cost about a buck in the App Store.

Reeder App Will be Ready for the Google Reader Shutdown Posted: 28 Mar 2013 09:25 AM PDT Here's some good news for fans of RSS and users of the popular Reeder app: the developer of Reeder has plans in place to keep the app running smoothly when Google shuts down Google Reader in a few months. Reeder will be switching to use Feedbin as its backend service, as TUAW reports: The iPhone version of Reeder will get Feedbin support soon, while the iPad and OS X version will be updated in the coming months. I've been using Reeder as my RSS app on the iPad for a long while now and it's a superb, fast app for keeping up with all the feeds I follow. Since hearing the news about the impending demise of Google Reader I've been using Reeder on my Mac a lot more often too. If the Reeder iPad and Mac apps are updated before July 1 and still support most or all their current key features I will be a very happy camper. I'm sure we have lots of RSS users... Read the whole entry... » Related Stories Flipboard Magazines – A Couple New iPad Titles Need iPad Help – Just Ask iPad Insight & March Madness – Join Our Bracket This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Iterate 43: Pocket Casts and going Android first Posted: 28 Mar 2013 09:03 AM PDT Russell Ivanovic, Philip Simpson, and Matt Kelsh of Shifty Jelly talk to Marc, Seth, and Rene about being indie in Australia, making Pocket Weather, and why they decided to go Android first for Pocket Casts. Note: All accents in this show are, we assume, fake. Subscribe via iTunes Subscribe via RSS Download Directly Show notes Pocket Weather Australia Pocket Casts for Android Why Android first? Guests Russell Ivanovic of of Shifty Jelly Philip Simpson of Shifty Jelly Matt Kelsh of of Shifty Jelly Hosts Marc Edwards of Bjango Seth Clifford of Nickelfish Rene Ritchie of iMore.com Feedback Yell at us on Twitter via the above accounts. Loudly. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Deal of the Day: 47% off Krusell Donso Mobile UnderCover for iPhone 5 Posted: 28 Mar 2013 07:34 AM PDT Today Only: Purchase the Krusell Donso Mobile UnderCover for iPhone 5 and save $13.99! The Krusell Donso brings exclusivity and fashion to your iPhone 5 by combining a hard polycarbonate shell and a nice finish of genuine leather on the back for a smooth, professional look. This case features access to the camera, ports, buttons and is extremely thin and lightweight. Comes in black and red. List Price: $29.99     Today Only: $16.00 Learn More and Buy Now Never miss a deal. Sign up for Daily Deal alerts!

AT&T says commuters even worse than teens when it comes to texting while driving Posted: 28 Mar 2013 07:26 AM PDT Recent surveys commissioned by US cellular network provider AT&T cast a grim light on the state of texting-while-driving, showing commuters are even worse than teens when it comes to the dangerous practice. According to AT&T: Commuters are texting and driving even more than teens – 49%, compared to 43%. And the problem has gotten worse. Six in 10 commuters say they never texted while driving three years ago. These days I typically commute only as far as my home office or local coffee shop, but my previous job entailed a 60-90 minute commute downtown, each way, every day, for over a decade. During that time I saw a lot of people texting while driving. I also saw people reading the newspaper across their steering wheel while driving, or eating while driving, or putting on makeup, or bent over fussing with the radio or GPS, or, in a couple of cases... with other people sitting on top of them. Yeah. The real issue here is distracted driving, of which texting-while-driving is a major instance. Laws tend to focus on the instances, however, which is where things like awareness campaigns can help. Some of us can't take being "bored" for even a moment, so traffic lights, stop signs, even relatively straight pieces of road become an excuse to text, tweet, email, get in a moment of gaming, or otherwise do... something. Some of us are so used to being online now, the idea of being cut off seems intolerable, even when our lives depend on zero distractions. I used to listen to podcasts and audiobooks while on the road, and I carpooled a lot. At least conversations with friends in the car come with additional sets of eyeballs for the road. (Yet arguments, fights, and other extreme interactions, front seat or back, can also be huge distractions.) Technologies like Siri in general and Siri Eyes-free in specific may one day minimize some types of distractions, but many others will likely remain. Relieving boredom, staying in contact, shoving down some food or on some eyeliner, fooling with the radio or navigation, or just plain fooling around, are short term benefits, and humans are often really bad at weighing those against potential consequences, even life-threatening ones. And according to AT&T, that's as true, or truer for adults now than for kids. So how do you handle distractions while driving? And if you have friends and family members who drive while distracted, how do you handle them? Source: AT&T This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Cool Things: Less Apps, More Apples TV Ad Posted: 28 Mar 2013 05:12 AM PDT Great stuff. You can always count on UK beer ads being funny as heck. Also this ad combines two things I love – an Apple launch event and a lovely pint of cider. © patrickj for iPad Insight, 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Related Stories Cool Things: American Airlines Pilot Shows Off iPad in the Cockpit Cool Things: Penguins Playing iPad Games Cool Things: iPad Orchestra & Beethoven's 5th This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Easter Weekend iPad App Sales Already Starting Posted: 28 Mar 2013 04:54 AM PDT Coming up to the Easter weekend, there are already quite a number of iPad games on sale. I'm noticing multiple EA game titles with big price drops over the last few days. A few quick examples: Dead Space for iPad: down from $9.99 to 99 cents Monopoly for iPad: down from $9.99 to 99 cents Scrabble HD for iPad: down from $9.99 to 99 cents SimCity Deluxe for iPad: down from $6.99 to 99 cents 123D Creature: down from $4.99 to $1.99 If you just do a search for EA in the iPad App Store you'll see all of their iPad game titles, and find that most of their non-freemium games are on sale for the weekend. I'm sure we'll see plenty more notable price drops on iPad apps over the next few days – and I'll try to mention these again as and when I see some more notable offers. © patrickj for iPad Insight, 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: ... Read the whole entry... » Related Stories Flipboard 2.0 Update: Create Your Own Magazines & More CVS Pharmacy Now Has an iPad App Google+ iPad App Just Got Another Big Update: New Features for Photo Editing, Communities & More This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

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