iPad News, Updates, App and Accessory Reviews
March 16th, 2011 at 11:05 AM EST | by
A game that might be fun if it weren’t so boring.
When I was a kid my mother would ask me to clean my room. I’d refuse. She’d press harder and I’d still balk at the idea. Her final solution was to turn cleaning my room into a game…pick up all your toys, and put them in this box, and you’ll get a prize. This worked for a little while, until I realized I was still just cleaning my room. And cleaning your room, no matter the high score you might receive for doing so, is boring.
It is telling that this memory is the first thing that sprang to mind while playing BattleNoidz HD on iPad. Your objective is to control a robot from one side of a landscape to another collecting ‘pyramids,’ which you then dump off at your base using a spaceship. The robot pilots the spaceship, I think. This took me a while to figure out. But you can’t use the robot sand the spaceship at the same time and you can only carry four pyramids at a time because apparently you drive a really low-tech spaceship that wasn’t built for towing heavy loads.
And that’s basically it. Oh, sure there are robots chasing you and surface to air guns firing trying to blast you out of the sky, but, all you can do is fire back one laser shot at a time, or hide in your spaceship and try avoid getting shot by flying away. But there are no power-ups; no extra weapons to acquire; and unless it happens in a later level I never reached because I got bored playing, no ‘better’ spaceship. It’s just four pyramids at a time, dump them at the base, and go back for more ‘til you meet your quota. If the game had been named ‘Space Miner’ or ‘Galactic Rockhound’ I could forgive the crushing monotony of playing.
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March 16th, 2011 at 10:47 AM EST
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inu846W
The demand for iPad 2 continues as Apple struggles to keep up with online orders. The period to wait for Apple to ship your iPad 2 has steadily increased since last Friday. On launch day last week there was only a 2-3 day waiting period before your device was shipped. Now that period is 4 to 5 weeks, after climbing to longer waiting periods throughout the past few days.
UBM Techinsights found out more information about the A5 dual-core processor:
Based on analysis performed by UBM TechInsights Lab and Process Analysis personnel, we can say that the A5 in our possession is definitely manufactured by Samsung using their 45nm process. UBM TechInsights used optical die and SEM cross-section images to analyse important features such as die edge seal, metal 1 pitch, logic and SRAM transistor gate measurements. These features were then compared to other manufacturers in our database, including other Samsung 45nm parts. The previous generation Apple A4 processor was also fabbed on Samsung’s 45nm process.
Apple has delayed the launch of iPad 2 in Japan, originally scheduled for March 25, due to the recent devastation suffered there. You can donate money through iTunes that will help people in Japan.
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March 15th, 2011 at 5:29 PM EST | by
The iPad becomes your personal physical therapist. Sort of.
Web MD is not a doctor. Most people know this. Some still go to it for a preliminary diagnosis, but most walk away with a sense that they either have a mild sinus headache or a brain tumor. It’s imperfect, but never claims to be anything but. And in many ways that’s what is nice about the Motion Doctor iPad app. It’s not a physical therapist, but it does offer a lot of insight and information. Full disclosure: I’ve got a lot of experience with physical therapists. My mother is one, and I’ve had to go through my share of rehab. I love my mom. I did not enjoy physical therapy.
My therapist was good at articulating what he wanted me to do, or at telling me why I was doing whatever he was asking me to do. It’s hard enough to suffer through the pain of an injury, and to add the constant miscommunication that can come with learning to do something new from someone who cant always demonstrate It themselves makes things worse. Motion Doctor seeks to bridge the gap between therapist and patient by offering a glut of videos that showcase a number of exercises specifically for rehab.
The exercises are organized by body part. I have shoulder issues, and spent much of my time in rehab dealing with them, so I clicked ‘shoulder,’ and was able to watch clips of an attractive model performing exercises I remember being confused by (oh…that’s what he meant by ‘scapular retraction…’). As an educational tool the app is moderately effective, as it shows Bo the exercise and lists the reasoning behind why someone with a knee injury would want to perform them. But it’s very basic. This is not like having a physical therapist in your messenger bag. But it is like having an easy to use pamphlet full of exercise demonstrations that you can take home with you as a reference for when you forget how to do a standing door stretch.
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March 14th, 2011 at 3:55 PM EST
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inu846W
An Apple spokesperson via The Loop said:
“Demand for the next generation iPad 2 has been amazing. We are working hard to get iPad 2 into the hands of every customer who wants one as quickly as possible.”
Apple also neglected to mention the number of iPad 2s sold since last Friday. Considering there was nary an iPad 2 to be found at a retail store this morning, across the country, it’s likely Apple lived up to some analysts’ estimates that iPad 2 sales could reach at least 500,000 units this past weekend.
AppleBitch.com made note of a rumor that some Apple retail stores may open an hour early Tuesday morning in anticipation of large crowds wanting to clean up on replenished iPad 2 stock. “If the Apple Stores were re-stocked today, the iPad 2 would not be sold until tomorrow”. Calls to some Apple stores made by AppleBitch and MacRumors confirm some are opening an hour early tomorrow, at 9am.
Fortune sums up analyst speculation on this past weekend’s iPad 2 sales:
Most analysts were cautious, fearing perhaps that whatever they wrote would soon be overtaken by an Apple (AAPL) press release. Most, like Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster, stuck with 500,000 units. But Baird’s William Power estimated that Apple sold “roughly 1 million” the first weekend, Wedbush’s Scott Sutherland “wouldn’t be surprised” by that number and Global Equities Trip Chowdhry thought Apple “may have sold” three times as many iPad 2s as iPad 1s its first weekend, which amounts to the same thing.
Deutsche Bank’s Chris Whitmore thinks Apple has gained an “insurmountable lead” in the tablet market in a note to investors today. During a poll of 100 iPad 2 retailers, Whitmore found all of them out of stock by yesterday.
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March 14th, 2011 at 12:00 PM EST
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inu846W
iFixit’s first teardown of a case shows Apple’s new Smart Cover for iPad 2 is filled with 21 magnets. Smart Cover is the latest accessory iPad 2 cover from Apple that differs in many ways from the previous iPad case the tablet maker offered for the first-generation.
sleeper sensor(left), and magnets inside iPad for keeping cover closed
Some highlights from the Smart Cover case teardown include:
- 10 magnets in iPad 2, 21 in the Smart Cover.
- no special properties to magnets like “correlated magnets“.
- One magnet is used to turn off the screen, others are use to hold the cover to the iPad or to create the triangular shape for the cover’s material to be used as a stand.
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March 14th, 2011 at 10:50 AM EST
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inu846W
It’s looking more likely that Apple sold close to, or over 500,000 iPad 2s this weekend. A report from Deutsche Bank’s Chris Whitmore indicated Apple and retailers selling the iPad 2 eventually ran out of stock in the past day or two.
Calls made by Whitmore to about 100 stores selling iPad 2 showed the device was selling like hot cakes on a cold day. He talked to about 50 Apple stores, 20 Best Buys and Walmarts, and a few AT&T and Verizon stores.
“Our checks pointed to a shocking 100% stock out rate across Apple/authorized retail stores just a few hours into the official launch Friday evening, contributing to what we believe was one of the company’s most successful product launches to date.”
iPad 2 retailers should be getting new shipments of the device this week. Visit our Buy iPad 2 page to see which retailers are near you. Call the store and find out when they’ll be able to ease your iPad 2 fix.
If you choose to buy iPad 2 online, apple.com has a waiting period of 3-4 weeks before shipping, att.com has a 2-3 weeks waiting period before shipping.
iPad News Via: forbes.cnn.com
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