iPad By Davis: “Ofcom sets UK 4G auction timeline, should see multi-carrier rollout by June 2013” plus 8 more

Ofcom sets UK 4G auction timeline, should see multi-carrier rollout by June 2013
Challenge your friends to outrageous stunts and distances in Extreme Road Trip 2 for iPhone and iPad
MObile Nations Movember Week 2 Update - Let it grow, let it grow, let it grow!
Apple airs new iPad mini commercials, highlights Books and Photos
No skin in the Game Center
The normalization of Apple
iMore show. iPad mini review. Tonight. 6pm PT / 9pm ET.
Weekend iPad Wallpapers: Subtle Patterns
iPad at Work: Helping Run Britain

Ofcom sets UK 4G auction timeline, should see multi-carrier rollout by June 2013

Posted: 12 Nov 2012 02:05 AM PST

Ofcom sets UK 4G auction timeline, should see multi-carrier rollout by June 2013 Ofcom has made good on its plans to push forward the auction for the UK's 4G mobile spectrum auction. Applications will start in December this year and the roll out to consumers is expected to be no later than May / June 2013. Everything Everywhere already has its 4G LTE network rolling out across the UK so this will be a huge relief to the other UK networks.

Ofcom has today published final regulations and a timetable for the 4G mobile spectrum auction – the largest ever sale of mobile airwaves in the UK. This new spectrum will be used to deliver superfast 4G mobile services to people in cities, towns and villages across the UK and will almost double the amount of airwaves currently available to smartphones and tablets that use 3G networks.

The rules set out in detail the process involved in the auction – from applying to take part, through to bidding and finally issuing the licences to use the spectrum. Ofcom has also today confirmed reserve prices for the different lots of spectrum on offer and outlines the timetable for the auction process. Ed Richards, Ofcom Chief Executive, said: 'Today marks an important shift from preparation to the delivery of the auction, which will see widespread 4G mobile services from a range of providers.

The full time table will see initial applications being sought in December 2012, after an assessment, successful networks will start bidding for space in January 2013. The auction will take place electronically over a number of weeks with the successful bidders being informed in February / March 2013. This will then give the successful networks a few months to start rolling out services which Ofcom believes will be as early as May / June 2013.

These dates should be welcome news to UK consumers; the LTE roll out in the UK is so far behind other nations that it is a bit embarrassing to be honest. Of course many areas are still waiting for the 3G roll out to happen in the UK so this news will not be taken too seriously either. Let's hope that the LTE roll out really will be a proper roll out and will provide a good service for all; no matter where you live in the UK. Of course it should be noted that the bands that will be available for the UK will not be compatible with the current iPhone 5 or iPad radios.

Source: Ofcom

Challenge your friends to outrageous stunts and distances in Extreme Road Trip 2 for iPhone and iPad

Posted: 11 Nov 2012 05:22 PM PST

Over the past 2 weeks, my Game Center has blown up with challenges from my friends for Extreme Road Trip 2 for iPhone and iPad, so I finally decided to give this game a shot. I'm not so sure this was a great idea because now I can't put the game down! Extreme Road Trip 2 is an endless survival game where you must get your car to travel as far as possible while also doing flips, wheelies, completing challenges, and more.

Your gas pedal is stuck AGAIN! Do stunts to get nitro boost and SLAM it all down to unlock the insane speed of OVERDRIVE! Collect coins to unlock new cars as you play! Complete missions and get rewards!

There are a total of 15 cars that can be purchased and unlocked as you progress through Extreme Road Trip 2. As you complete missions, you will get rewards and power-ups that help you master every car. You can also challenge your friends to see who can get the farthest.

Extreme Road Trip 2 is a free universal app for the iPhone and iPad. I typically never enjoy playing games like this on the iPad's large screen, but the iPad mini is a great size for this game. Between my iPhone 5 and iPad mini, the iPad mini is my device of choice for Extreme Road Trip 2.

If you pick this one up, let us know what you think! Are you addicted yet? What's your record distance?

Free - Download Now

MObile Nations Movember Week 2 Update - Let it grow, let it grow, let it grow!

Posted: 11 Nov 2012 04:53 PM PST

Mobile Nations Network Movember Funds Raised so far: $6,639 (USD)

Welcome to our second Mobile Nations Movember update. We'll be bringing you these updates every Sunday throughout the month of Movember (formerly known as November) as we grow out our moustaches and raise awareness and funds for prostate cancer research and men's mental health issues.

Our Mobile Nations effort has grown to 95 individuals from around the world taking part and together we have already raised over $6,000 for the cause. We want to end the month with over $10,000 raised, so while we are on track we still need your support! Donations can be made easily over the web. Simply jump over to our Mobile Nations Network page, click on the name of any of the individuals listed as part of the network, and hit the donate button. All funds donated to an individual will pass through to the network total.

We're now 11 days into Movember, which means for most of us our moustaches have sprouted nicely, but are still a long way off from that luxurious full bloom look we seek. Some of us are having more success than others. For myself, my moustache is still looking pretty pathetic, so just yesterday followed Nick Offerman's How to Grow a Moustache Advice (and Derek Kessler's dare) and ate a raw onion to fuel my moustache growth. Watch the video above to see how that all played out.

Keep reading for more on Movember and to see some great moustache photos from the team!

What is Movember?

The League of Extraordinary Moustaches

If you troll youtube this Movember, you'll find lots of videos popping up. Movember participants are extraordinary and do extraordinary things. We loved this video.

Week 2 Photos from the MO-bile Nations Movember Network

Click on the names to jump over to the user's page on Movember.com for more photos and to donate!

Adam Zeis, he may not have electricity but he has a powerful moustache!

Our man James Richardson in the UK has a mighty moustache underway.

Simon
For being a giant of a man, our own Simon Sage's moustache is growing slow...

Darren Robertson in Australia has a good start!

Jay Harker in Canada... ready to grow mo!

Mark Kashman shows off his classy 'stache.

Tim O'Brien with the before and after shots!

Tommy Thompson with a look of fierce determination.

Jeffrey Smith shows off his growth so far.

Daniel Kollehn, 10 days in and looking spec-stache-ular!

Graeme Flack shows off his dapper mo-stache in the UK.

Paul Johnson puts his best 'stache forward in the US.

Props to all the Mo Bros for posting their mugs to the web for a good cause (and props to all the Mo Sistas for supporting their men). Be sure to visit our Mobile Nations Movember Network page for more photos from all our team members. You can click through to any team member's name to see their Mo Space pages and to donate to them. All donations made to individuals show up in the Mobile Nations Network totals.

Note to Mobile Nations Movember participants: Be sure to update your Mo Space with updates, photos and videos. And send us an email at movember@mobilenations.com with your favorite photos and other details. We want to tell your story and help spread the the Mo Love!

Apple airs new iPad mini commercials, highlights Books and Photos

Posted: 11 Nov 2012 04:36 PM PST

Apple has released a pair of new iPad mini commercials, Books and Photos. Like the previous Piano commercial, they start off with both the full-sized iPad and the iPad mini side-by-side, both showcasing the same app. Then fingers take turns, alternately at first, then in coordination, choosing different books and photos, respectively.

Books is a little odd in that Apple stuck to plain, black and white novels instead of showing their full range of text books, picture books, comic books, and more. Apple is still ahead of Amazon and the Kindle when it comes to the power of their books format, and the quality of their visuals, so making that part of the pitch would have made sense. Sticking to novels may give the illusion of catalog and ereader parity with Amazon, but it keeps the fight on Amazon's terms.

Also, Books and Photos, wisely, keeps things at a distance so it's hard to see the difference in quality between the Retina iPad 4 and the non-Retina iPad mini. Because of the way the human brain works, Photos are more forgiving of lower resolution than text, but why take chances?

Whether or not that's a fair representation of the differences between both products is another story.

No skin in the Game Center

Posted: 11 Nov 2012 04:04 PM PST

No skin in the Game Center

Speaking of successes and failures, I dislike it when it feels like I care more about an app or service than the developer or platform owner. It sets off huge warning bells and sends me looking for alternatives. Apple is starting to give me that feeling with Game Center. Since Letterpress launched, a game that depends entirely on Apple's Game Center application programming interfaces (APIs) for everything from matchmaking to gameplay, Game Center reliability has taken a nose dive. For several hours this weekend, I once again had more Game Center errors than successful turns. I've also had my iPhone and iPad mini go out of sync, with the iPad mini hours behind the iPad, and games I've simply had to abandon because turns could never be taken again.

The errors are frequent and frustrating enough now that it seems like Game Center has always had a glass jaw and this is simply the first time it's taken hit. Part of the reason for this has to be that Apple literally has no skin in the game. Apple makes not a single app, built-in or App Store, that relies on the Game Center API. Apple has nothing that hammers Game Center, nothing that creates an urgent awareness within the company of how Game Center scales and performs under load.

That means that it will always be developers who find Game Center pain points first, and that break things first, and that's a terrible situation for developers and users alike.

Dogfooding (eating your own dogfood) is a term sometimes applied to companies who intentionally make themselves dependent on their own products so they can make sure they find everything from the major problems to the rough edges before their users do. It's the ultimate form of quality assurance (QA).

I always had the feeling that, with the iPhone, if anything didn't work, Steve Jobs would be down in the labs smashing it on the floor and demanding it be fixed. I never had the feeling Steve Ballmer or Eric Schmidt cared for any Windows Mobile or Android device beyond wanting to have a screen in that space. That explained the relative usability of those two products to me.

And that's the same vibe I'm getting with Game Center. That Apple felt they needed to have it, but that they don't particularly care about it. Nintendo has Mario, Xbox has Halo, Sony Has Grand Turismo, all among many others. Their gaming platforms have first party games that are almost always among the most popular and most ambitious.

It's often said that Apple doesn't get gaming and doesn't get social, so maybe social gaming like Game Center was predestined for birthing pain. But it's also likely exacerbated by Apple not having a single shipping product that depends on Game Center being great.

No company can do everything all at once, and if Apple has to spend resources fixing and improving Game Center, they can't spend those same resources fixing, improving, and creating other things. That's opportunity cost. I get that. But social gaming is a big deal. It deserves attention. It deserves resources.

I'd like to think Phil Schiller or Jony Ive or Craig Federighi or even Tim Cook is as frustrated with Letterpress performance as we are, and is down in the labs throwing an iPad mini on the floor and demanding it be fixed. I'd like to hear that Apple is buying or launching an app that's going to showcase a newer, better, far more reliable Game Center. Something. Anything.

Maps and Siri were both recently given a press release-level hand-off to Eddy Cue. Maybe Game Center isn't as high on the priority list, but I'd like to at least see some sign that it's on the priority list.

The normalization of Apple

Posted: 11 Nov 2012 03:11 PM PST

There's been a lot of great stuff written about the recent Apple management shake-up that saw Scott Forstall removed as head of iOS and his portfolio re-distributed to Jony Ive (design), Craig Frederighi (software), and Eddy Cue (services).

That last one in particular, by Michael Lopp, talks to the important of disruption is vital to success.

The word that worried me the most in the press release was in the first sentence. The word was "collaboration". Close your eyes and imagine a meeting with Steve Jobs. Imagine how it proceeds and how decisions are made. Does the word collaboration ever enter your mind? Not mine. I'm just sitting there on pins and needles waiting for the guy to explode and rip us to shreds because we phoned it in on a seemingly unimportant icon.

Consensus is said to be the opposite of leadership, but collaboration is a tool to achieve normalization. Under Steve Jobs, the power of personality literally revolutionized the consumer electronic world. Under Scott Forstall, the power of personality literally changed the mobile experience of a generation. Yet with incredible highs come incredible lows. Success, like everything, has a price. And that price is equal and opposite failure. MobileMe, iOS 6 Maps, Siri reliability -- the list is well known.

Absent Steve Jobs, and now absent Scott Forstall, we may have lost Apple's highest highs and the greatest greats. But we may also have lost the lowest lows and worst of the worsts that came with them. Instead of Star Wars under Lucas, we'll have Star Wars under Disney. Instead of Kubrick, we'll have Pixar.

Just like Steve Jobs did with product grids, Tim Cook has now done with people. There will still be great things, and still be terrible things, but the chances of both will be lessened by collaboration and committee.

iMore show. iPad mini review. Tonight. 6pm PT / 9pm ET.

Posted: 11 Nov 2012 11:27 AM PST

The iMore show returns tonight with a full-on review of Apple's latest iOS device, the iPad mini. We'll be talking all about the trade-off between power and portability, and we'll be answering your questions.

Have an iPad mini question? Leave it in the comments below, email it to podcast@mobilenations.com or tweet it to @imore.

Join us LIVE at 6pm PT, 9pm ET. Set an alarm. Bookmark this page. Be here.

Want to go full screen? Head to iMore.com/live. Want to watch via iPhone or iPad? Grab the Ustream app and search for "mobilenations". Want to subscribe to any or all of our shows? Head on over to our podcast page.

Weekend iPad Wallpapers: Subtle Patterns

Posted: 11 Nov 2012 10:29 AM PST

This weekend's iPad wallpaper picks are a few subtle patterns that look handsome on the iPad home screen and make your app icons pop. Once again, this week's choices are pulled from the iPad Insight Flickr group.

The first pick, shown above, is titled Wind and it's from Lisa Solonynko. It's a lovely blend of gradated colors that looks soothing on the iPad home screen.

Hit the break for three more picks modeled on the iPad mini and shown off in an iPad frame with the Screenshot Frame Maker app.

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