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July 8th, 2011 at 1:35 PM EST | by Oliver VanDervoort
There have been plenty of rumors about when the next iPad is going to come out and what exactly it will be called. We even alluded to the fact that what was once known as the iPad 3 is set to have a display that will set the other tablets on their ear. The high resolution screens that are being promised for the iPad 3 may actually be included or they may not quite hit the levels currently talked about but one thing is clear is that there will be yet another version of the iPad and it now appears that it will be coming by the end of this year.
Of course there does appear to be a few changes that weren’t necessarily expected including the name which appears to be the iPad 2 Plus as opposed to the iPad 3. What this means for the future of iPad owners is still unclear but it could mean that Apple is looking to make their own devices obsolete at a pretty historic rate. If the iPad 2 Plus is indeed going to be the precursor to the iPad 3 then it appears this fall’s version of the iPad will be more of a bridge than the next step in the evolution of the device.
The reports that the iPad 2 Plus is coming are due in large part to industry analysts who are seeing Apple asking component makers for quotes on how much it would cost to put together the new iPads. These component makers have told these same industry analysts that the iPad 2 Plus will indeed have some serious upgrades in the screen resolution. While the company didn’t both to improve the iPad 2’s resolution, they did make some subtle changes like a lighter weight and of course the cameras that so many other tablets have been sporting. There are a few reports that now that there is going to be a third iPad, the screen resolution will be improved from the current 132 pixels per inch, to 250 to 300ppi. Of course the same industry analysts are also saying they cannot say for certain that the level of improvement of the resolution is something that can’t be confirmed until Apple starts actually hyping their new product and people begin to know when the device is going to be coming to stores.
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June 28th, 2011 at 11:00 AM EST | by Oliver VanDervoort
Finding the right kind of budget tracking software on the iPad can be a bit of a hassle. While there are several that offer almost everything you could possibly want, it seems there is always one area where it falls a little short. However there is one that seems to come as close as giving you everything you could want as you are going to find on a tablet computer. The first thing that sets Home Budget apart from some of the other banking apps is that you can literally sync your accounts to any other iDevice that has Home Budget installed almost instantly. This means that if you happen to have both an iPhone and an iPad you can go do your shopping with the iPhone, make a few notes and then transfer them to the iPad.
One of the truly great things about this particular app is that when you put in a particular transaction to a certain payee, a number of things can be done with that information. The first thing is that, should you actually enter a category you can already see just how much of the budgeted amount you have spent. Should this be a particular place you do a lot of spending, say like Target you can see the total amount you have spent with the company as well as how much you spent on a certain day. Of course, no income tracking app is going to be complete without the ability to break down how much money is in each of your accounts. There is one drawback to using this particular program and that is that when you enter a transaction you cannot do it from inside the account. Instead you enter a transaction in either the expense or income ledgers and assign the transaction to an account. This is actually a pretty small drawback in the grand scheme of things.
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June 16th, 2011 at 11:03 AM EST | by Oliver VanDervoort
Finding an addictive adventure game for the iPad can actually be a bit harder than one might think. Finding one that is both addictive and plenty suitable for kids can even be harder. One of the best new games that fits both bills is Max and the Magic Marker. This particular game is one that will allow you to run through all sorts of different adventures and unlike most of the other games on the iPad, “Max” allows you to play and win the game by using your imagination by creating ways out of different problems instead of having to find the exits.
Max and the Magic Marker is a simple story on its face. As Max you wonder from world to world, having to get around, under, over and through different obstacles such as huge cliffs, large bodies and water and even at some junctures, deadly laser beams. All the while you are also trying to evade purple little enemies that will kill you if you touch them with nothing more than your magic marker and your wits to help you. As you wander through these lands you also need to pick up little black ink balls as well as white energy balls and most importantly of all, orange ink balls that will actually fill the marker. It is with these orange balls and your marker that the game really sets itself apart.
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June 15th, 2011 at 1:51 PM EST | by Oliver VanDervoort
With the iPad 2 just hitting the market a few months ago, it should come as no surprise that the public just wants more and more and more. Now rumors of an iPad 3 have become more than just rumors and plenty of people are starting to turn their attention to what will actually be in these new devices. Apple moves quicker than most when it comes to improving their products and while there are a number of different new features that will most likely be included in the third iteration of the iPad, the one making the most news is the supposed screen resolution.
According to several different sources it appears that the screen resolution for the iPad 3 could actually be about twice what the resolution is currently. All of these rumors popped up because of a couple of people managing to get a look at the screen resolution settings of a Twitter framework – of all things – and that little tip has started a bit of a tidal wave of speculation.
While current screen resolution settings are currently sitting at a very respectable 768 x 1024 the framework of the Twitter app makes it appear as though the images will appear with dimensions of 1536 x 2048. This number of pixels would be unheard of on any of the existing tablet PCs and it is the main reason that there is so much speculation about what the new iPad 3 is going to be doing. While increasing the screen resolution to twice what it currently is may seem like quite a tall order, but it is actually not something that is completely unheard of, especially when dealing with Apple. When introducing the “Retina” display on the iPhone 4, Apple had to jack up the screen resolution of their phones from 480 x 320 to 960 x 640 with an increase of pixels of 326 per inch.
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June 15th, 2011 at 10:16 AM EST | by Oliver VanDervoort
We all know that in today’s work-a-day world it can be pretty hard to stay organized when you are on the go. Keeping your planner together with your to-do list can be a real pain, especially if you are still working with paper copies of everything. That is why Pocket Informant HD for iPad is here to solve all you problems. Informant is an all in one calendar and task manager that can sync with Google Calendar as well as Toodledo in order to keep you up to date on what is happening when and what you need to do in order to cross a task off your long list of projects.
The interface for Pocket Informant HD is simple and sleek enough, when you open the app the background looks as though you have just opened an actual daily planner and the first screen that shows up is an itinerary of what you have going on for the day both on your calendar and in the tasks menu. On the right hand side of the page are tabs that you can select, representing the calendar function, task entry and the settings.
The coolest thing about the calendar function is the aforementioned ability to sync up with your Google calendar account. If you currently don’t have a Google Calendar account you should get one if for no other reason than this provides a nice backup of your meetings and schedule and while because while the interface is easy to use in Informant, it is always going to be easier to enter your dates on the web from anywhere you are. You can also choose just how far back you want to sync the calendar, meaning that you can literally import all of your historical dates into Informant, or start over with a clean slate.
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June 13th, 2011 at 10:39 AM EST | by Oliver VanDervoort
For those iPad users who are looking for the perfect cooking app, they don’t need to look any further than the app known as Paprika Recipe Manager. Paprika is a full service cooking app that brings everything anyone who wants to be able to do all their cooking from one app should do. The app itself sorts itself into three different categories that all morph into one great use. The first is of course the recipe storage. The app does not come with its own recipes but that is hardly a problem.
What really sets Paprika apart from other cooking apps is the way you can add recipes. Paprika allows you to surf the web looking for recipes for any kind of meal, snack or desert and with the push of a button will actually import that recipe into the app. How exactly Paprika knows when you are actually on a cooking website is anyone’s guess. This is not the sort of thing where it links to specific cooking websites; you can literally go on almost any cooking or recipe site and pull the recipes down into your app. Once you have the recipe in the app you can categorize it any way you want, meaning after a couple of weeks or months of use, the Paprika could become the most largest, most easily accessible cook book in your collection.
While viewing a recipe you can automatically change how many servings you are looking to make and the app will change how much of each ingredient will be needed. Downloading the recipe doesn’t mean that you have to use exactly the same ingredients as what the recipe calls for. In fact you can edit the recipe however you want in order to make the recipe your very own. While the recipe you are preparing is being made there is also an in-app timer that you can set to time the recipe perfectly.
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