Posts tagged iPad
iPad Video Out: it’s not what you think
Apr 27th
What would have been one of our primary “real-life” applications for the iPad has been thrown out with the trash. If you head over to Apple’s iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter, you’ll see a product that is getting bashed with every new review posted. In fact, all of the reviews give it a grand total of 1.5 out of 5 stars. That’s just sad.
Apple literally removed one of the most productive features of the iPad by limiting the video out to a select few functions. Most movies will play from the iTunes app, but you’ll never be able to play HD movies downloaded from the iTunes store with the VGA adapter. You can watch your photo slideshows with the photos app. You cannot watch the ABC player or Netflix through the VGA adapter. There have also been countless complaints about the way it handles Keynote Presentations. It’s not revolutionary, it’s not slick… it just sucks. Anyone who gives presentations frequently will be running back to their laptops and their slide clickers.
The real problem is this: Apple offered us a video out solution via VGA for the iPad. With that capability we expect to be able to send our iPad screen to the big screen so we can use it productively. What if I want to pop over to Numbers and walk through an expense report… I can’t. What if I want to train other people on a company-specific application… I can’t. What if I want to give a presentation via Keynote and view the script with the iPad… I can’t. In its current form, we can’t do any more than what the individual applications allow. Granted developers could put in the extra effort and give us video out for their applications but is that really how it should be? The iPad has some pretty good hardware under the hood that can handle a mirrored display. So why not make that happen? Instead we’re stuck with a crippled device that can’t do half of what we expected it to do. Yay!
Via Engadget
Facebook Video Player for iPad
Apr 14th
CTA RATING: 
The name really says it all. Facebook Video Player for iPad is a new app from Kemal Taskin & Elma DIGIT@L. This app is — I mean this seriously — one of my favorite apps on the iPad. I guess I would consider myself a Facebook junkie but my wife is a lot worse so I don’t feel that bad. Love you, babe.
One of the biggest complaints about the iPad, iPhone and/or iPod touch is its lack of Flash. I’ve been brainwashed into thinking that Flash sucks by Apple (in truth, it really does… at least on the Mac) but so much of our lives are spent viewing Flash. This is not by choice. This is by some stupid necessity because of dumb industry standards. We’re really happy that the industry is responding well to the iPad and other Apple products. Countless websites are going flash free for HTML5 alternatives that are just as powerful and completely compatible with the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch… and in return, they’re compatible with many other mobile devices.
Contrary to popular belief, Flash has not become a standard for the mobile industry: very few phones have it. It’s no wonder that websites are throwing Flash out for other options. Every day, more people begin using their mobiles instead of their computers… every day people drive themselves insane by grumbling at websites that use Flash. So why is the transition so slow? Ask the website you’re reading, we don’t really know.
Facebook is one of the worst offenders in the anti-Flash campaign. Many websites are using the excuse that it would be difficult to offer the features of their Flash video players with HTML5. Facebook can’t use that excuse: it’s video player is probably the worst looking, least feature-rich video player on the web. Play, pause, volume and fullscreen. Wow. There is no reason for Facebook to still be using Flash for their videos when one developer could code the same player in HTML5 with very little effort. Boo!
Thanks to the new Facebook Video Player for iPad… I can watch videos on my favorite web browsing device. There really is nothing else like browsing the web on your iPad and my Facebook addiction is a little more than healthy. The app helps out by bringing up the regular Facebook website and allows you to browse like you would normally. Whenever you run across a video of your college roommate passing out while he’s walking down the street, just tap the video TITLE and the video will play. You cannot actually tap the video as that will just bring up a Flash error. Once the video opens, you can add it as a favorite for later viewing. The interface is a little awkward and not very intuitive, but it works and that’s what we really care about. The developer will be including a help video in the next version. In general, it’s really quite slick and definitely a sanity saver for the people (like me) who are obsessed with Facebook.
We did ask the developer about upcoming features and improvements for the app… this is what will be coming in the near-future releases:
- French, Italian and Turkish language support.
- Video Thumbnail Support: you’ll actually be able to click the thumbnail instead of the title.
- Help Video
- Video Download Manager: will allow you to save movies for offline viewing.
- Advanced Search
With those features, this app will be the easier way to watch Flash Facebook videos on your iPad. If you’re an avid Facebook junkie, this app is a must-have and definitely worth the $2.99 for the iPad version. You can also hop down the road a bit and grab the iPhone version for $1.99
- Facebook Video Player
- Facebook Video 2
- FBVideo Click for iTunes
Sorry for the default pictures, my iPad crashed and dumped the ones I captured. :/
Cocoa Touch Apps iPad Unboxing
Apr 11th
Nothing too fancy here, just a quick little unboxing movie we shot last weekend. We were surprised with a couple things: Apple went with the old bulky power adapter because of the higher wattage — and — they’re shipping desktop size stickers with the iPad… interesting. Pardon the quality, we shot it on our 3GS. Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/cocoatouchapps. Please comment and rate!
iPad Wi-Fi issues are your fault… says Apple
Apr 6th
A support article turned up yesterday on Apple’s website that documents the issues that many users have been reporting with the iPad Wi-Fi connection. Honestly, we’d chalk most of this up to user error — and that’s exactly what Apple’s doing. At least for now, Apple suggests that it’s an issue with your wireless network. If you read through the notes below, it appears to be more common on non-Apple routers that utilize dual-band technology. If you have a network running wireless-g and a network running wireless-n with the same name, it could create a problem. You might also have problems if your networks are using different security protocols. Don’t ask us why that’s an issue, it doesn’t make sense to us… but if you’re experiencing problems, give Apple’s resolution a try.
Symptoms:
Under certain conditions, iPad may not automatically rejoin a known Wi-Fi network after restart or waking from sleep. This can occur with some third-party Wi-Fi routers that are dual-band capable when:
- Using the same network name for each network
- Using different security settings for each network
Resolution:
If you encounter this issue, try the following:
- Create separate Wi-Fi network names to identify each band. This can be done easily by appending one or more characters to the current network name.
- Example: Add a G to the 802.11b/g network name and an N to the 802.11n network name.
- Ensure that both networks use the same security type (WEP, WPA, WPA2, and so on)
- If the issue persists, reset your network settings using Settings – General – Reset – Reset Network Settings.
Note: Always ensure that your Wi-Fi router firmware is up to date.
Obviously, there seems to be some quirks in the wireless capabilities of the device, but we don’t think it’s nearly the problem that the news world claims. Most people are naturally stupid when it comes to technology, especially those who purchase Apple products.
Editor’s note: if you’re taking the time to read this site, it most certainly doesn’t apply to you because you’re interested in tech news.
But for the rest of the world, they’re more than happy to get online and complain about their brand new product when they don’t know how to use it. Apple has a theory that their products “just work” and most of the time they do. As soon as something goes wrong, we hear the dumbest comments from mostly uneducated people. Let’s step back and take a few deep breaths. If you’re unfortunate enough to experience connectivity issues try the troubleshooting steps and if there really is a problem with the iPad, Apple will have it fixed shortly… they always do. Via Gizmodo.
Hulu making videos available to Cocoa Touch
Feb 17th
We already have a YouTube app that makes our lack of Flash a little less painful, but many of us are getting a lot of video content from Hulu lately. We don’t rely on it to serve up all of our videos — we find ourselves navigating the TV networks’ websites on a semi-frequent basis — but having the option to play shows directly from Hulu would definitely be nice.
The fine folks over at TechCrunch have supposedly spoken with people deep in the business who claim that Hulu is already working on a non-Flash version of their website for the iPad… but it should easily work with the iPhone and iPod touch too. We see no reason to believe that this compatibility upgrade would be limited to a large screen. In fact, we’re seriously doubting the fact that this is an iPad-inspired move at all.
Hulu’s CEO specifically said that they’re “big believers” in the mobile industry and they’re not pushing out updates for a single device. It’s a smart move, especially since all of their video is already encoded in H.264. The only Flash on the site is the actual player and ads… but we’re not really worried about converting the ads. 
If they can wrap the player in something besides Flash, their site would be compatible with nearly every mobile device with a full browser. This would be a great move for Flash independence as other sites would be forced to do the same with their content in order to compete. We’re not saying that this is the end of Flash-based video; it’s the beginning of the mobile video revolution.
In the end, we’d really love to see a dedicated app with a great user interface, but website access would make us extremely happy. Not everything needs an app in the App Store.
Microsoft may compete with iWork on the iPad
Feb 17th
With the latest browser developments, we’d be surprised if Apple allowed Microsoft to sell Office for the iPad… but we’ll leave the predictions for the analysts who get paid too much to say too little.
We want to stress that Mike Tedesco, Microsoft Senior Product Manager of the Macintosh Business Unit, only mentioned this in passing. He didn’t make a formal announcement, and we fully expect Microsoft to play the waiting game before investing any resources into an iPad build of the Office suite.
We have yet to see the public’s reaction to the iPad… from a sales standpoint. We could see strong sales that would spur even more Cocoa Touch development, or we could possibly see the iPad crash and burn like the Newton. We absolutely don’t expect the latter, but we can’t blame Microsoft or any other major developers for conserving their resources.
Paper iPad, because you can’t wait
Feb 7th
A graphic designer from the iPhone development firm behind Boxee Remote, and many other apps, has given us a cut-out template that makes our paper iPads look a little more convincing.
We’ve been hearing about people creating mockups to fool their friends but this is one step beyond far. The design was initially created to help the Revolutionary Concepts development team visualize exactly what their products will look like on a 9.7 inch LCD at 1024 by 768. It’s a really cool concept, and you could pretty much throw whatever picture on the screen you’d like… or just use the default image and get yourself a paper iPad!
If you’d like to grab the images to create one, we have the front and the back images to get you started. It’s not complicated… if you can cut paper and use a glue stick, you can have a fake iPad for real.
Guess what? The iPad is pretty cheap to build
Feb 5th
According to recent analysis of the parts Apple’s using in the iPad… it could cost them as little as $270 to build the base model of the iPad. There are also manufacturing costs and warranty costs estimated at $10 and $20 respectively. That’s still pretty darn good. They’ll make a lot of profit off of me when I buy the 64GB version. In fact, each level you go up, Apple’s making exponentially more profit. There’s a cost difference of $75 between the 16GB and 64GB Flash chips, but Apple’s making an additional $125 from us making that jump. They make even more money if I opt for the 3G version: the 3G addition costs Apple $16, but we’re passed a heavy markup in the company’s extra charge of $130. Apple typically sets the price increments as $100 each level, but this is just asking us to question the price of the device itself.
Think of it this way… if I buy the default 16GB iPad WiFi, Apple’s profit is $200. If I go for the fully-loaded 64GB iPad 3G, Apple actually profits $440.
Wall street will love this device. Apple’s stock price has been slowly but surely increasing since this information was released. If this device takes off, we expect to see ridiculous amounts of profit from Apple. Ridiculous.
Apple patent could add Multi-Touch to the bezel of the iPad
Feb 3rd
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“It’s so big!” “I don’t know if I really want something that big.” “Did it need to be that large?” “Woah.” Those are all very common reactions to the size of my… iPad bezel. Here, let us explain why it’s so big (wait for it):
- We want some place to touch on the front that’s not going to cause everything to open.
- No seriously, I’ve called way too many people on accident… some heard things they really shouldn’t hear.
- Believe it or not, it’s also added protection against damage. Having that extra space around the edge has saved several MacBook LCDs from complete torment. The glass still breaks, but the LCDs are usually fine.
- There’s no way to avoid something that large if you’re going to make it so thin at the edge.
That’s what she saidl! All jokes aside, let’s get to the patent…
It’s nothing new (circa 2006), but it’s something that has gained popularity due to the announcement of the iPad. To us, it actually seems a little Microsoft, not Apple. Basically, a menu bubble would show you where to touch the bezel for certain tasks. We imagine that this technology will never arrive in its initial specifications, but we could easily see it used for additional game controls, exposé for possible multitasking or just better use of the real estate without sacrificing visuals. We really don’t see Apple putting an overlay of buttons at this point, but no one can resist some that cool, that big.
Right? Guys? Come on! … Guys?
Textbooks are definitely coming to the iPad
Feb 3rd
In fact, they’ve broken through the flood barrier. According to the Wall Street Journal, McGraw-Hill Education, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt K-12, Pearson Education, and Kaplan have all reached iBook deals with Apple this week. Some are also in negotiations with ScrollMotion to develop their interactive textbooks. We predicted that the introduction of the iPad could change how we see digital textbooks and the education industry as a whole. We also think that education has the most potential for this product.
If you think about it, the average college student spends $400+ on textbooks every semester. Going digital would help save money across the board and make the hippies a little happier, too. No, really, the environmental effects could be masterful, and depending on what kind of deals we’re looking at here, college students might actually have a little more money for beer. Just imagine the headlines: “Apple’s iPad allows students to remain drunk longer,” “The iPad is why I flunked out freshman year,” “I don’t need a girlfriend; I have my iPad!” Hopefully that last one is a little extreme… hopefully.
High school, junior high, elementary school (maybe): a one-time $499 investment for each child is less than what a school would typically spend each year in textbooks and supplemental materials. Obviously, we have to factor in the cost of the digital textbooks, but each device could theoretically be re-used the next year with a different set of students… that would leave only the cost of digital textbooks. You always have to allow for maintenance and upkeep, but wrap that up with some sort of local insurance plan and you’re set to go. I’m sure local repair shops would be happy to replace the glass for a school if a student happened to drop it. Think of how many jobs that would create. 
All in all, we find the iPad a wonderful concept for education — we can also guarantee that the government won’t get it. Our education system is so messed up and underfunded that buying a piece-of-crap Dell laptop scares them. Did you detect the irony in that statement? That’s a topic for a different blog…
