Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on December 8, 2011
Free App Brings Image Stabilization to iPhone, iPad
The iPad’s stills camera might be terrible, but as a video camera it’s pretty good. And combined with iMovie in the big screen, it’s hard to beat. But even the big ol’ iPad is prone to shake, and iMovie has almost no special effects. Which is where Luma comes in. Read More…
Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on October 12, 2011
Jailbreakers Release iOS 4.3.1 Hack for iPhone, iPad, Apple TV
Hackers have cracked opened the latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system to install unauthorized apps on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Read More…
Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on April 4, 2011
Apple Releases iOS 4.3 for AT&T iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad
iOS 4.3 adds a wireless hotspot option for the AT&T iPhone. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
Apple this morning released a software update for its mobile operating system, introducing a wireless hotspot feature for AT&T iPhones, a faster Safari browser and expanded AirPlay video streaming, among other features. Read More…
Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on March 9, 2011
Tablet Wave Means Few Will Succeed, Many Will Fail
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LAS VEGAS — Every year at CES, there’s a theme or expectation that quickly becomes codified the moment you step inside the cavernous and often soulless Las Vegas Convention Center. This year, it was clear that everyone and their grandmother was coming out with a tablet PC. Pre-show estimates put the number around 50. Scuttlebutt inside Central Hall here put that figure closer to 80, although an exact count would be a near-Herculean and mind-numbing task.
What is painfully obvious is that many of these tablet makers showing off their wares will be drubbed by giants like Apple, Samsung, Motorola, RIM, and maybe a couple other fortunate ones. For the rest, 2011 is looking to be a gruesome battle of attribution amongst dozens of other companies.
“The market will only bear so much,” said IDC analyst David Daoud before CES kicked off. “It’s going to get pretty ugly as the year goes on.”
And with so many options out there to pick from, it’s going to be up to the manufacturers to separate themselves with unique features, although some are banking on being the budget-priced model of choice for those looking to spend under $500 on an entry-level tablet. Let’s look at show some of the major players of 2011 might be.
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Erik is the editor of Playbook, Wired.com’s sports blog. He’s also the managing editor of Longshot and a contributor to Pop-Up Magazine.
Follow @erikmal and @wiredplaybook on Twitter.
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Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on January 8, 2011
Retro Stick-On Joystick Turns iPad into Arcade Machine
Pac-Man sucks on a touch-screen. Unless you have a proper joystick to yank your yellow-pizza avatar from the clutches of Clyde and co, then you’ll get bored (and frustrated) in minutes. Help is at hand (or at finger?) from ThinkGeek, in the form of the JOYSTICK-IT, a handsome stick which sticks straight onto a tablet screen.
Press it into place over the onscreen controls and the milled aluminum stick will transfer your jerks and tugs into virtual finger-presses by way of a conductive foam pad beneath. The biggest problem with on-screen gaming button is that your thumb can wander off the controls and leave you stranded just as you were about to perform a slick 180 and leave those dumb ghosts in a heap.
The stick will be available at the end of January, for $25. Stick it on you iPad, lay the tablet down on a too-low table and surround with glasses of warm beer. Congratulations: you now have a perfect replica of a tabletop arcade cabinet. Cigarette burns are optional.
Joystick IT product page [ThinkGeek]
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Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on January 6, 2011
Biceps-On: WiThing’s Blood Pressure Monitor for iPhone, iPad
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LAS VEGAS Maybe you’ve been eating too much fried chicken, or you’re just a neurotic health nut. Whatever the case may be, if blood pressure is important to you, there’s some iPhone dongleware for that.
Withing’s blood-pressure monitor is a traditional strap with a dock connector at the end to plug into an iPhone or iPad. Launch the WiThings app, tap the Start button and you’ll feel the accessory tighten around your bicep and slowly loosen up until the app gives you a reading of your blood pressure.
During my demo here at the Consumer Electronics Show, I scored a blood pressure of 160/90 pretty high, but expected because this convention’s pretty stressful. After it took my pressure it gave me the option to look at my blood-pressure history in a 2D chart nifty for monitoring progress.
“In the near feature, 30 percent of Americans will have to follow their blood pressure, so we think we have a big audience,” said Eric Carreel, chairman of Withings, a French company specializing in health accessories.
WiThings is among a wave of new gadgets taking advantage of features inside mobile devices to monitor health anywhere and anytime. A similar device we saw last year was an insulin meter that connected to an iPhone for diabetes patients to plan out their meals and insulin injections using live data.
The Withing accessory ships this month for $130; the iOS app will be a free download in the App Store.
Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
Brian is a Wired.com technology reporter focusing on Apple and Microsoft. He’s also writing a book about the always-connected mobile future called Always On (publishing April 2011 by Da Capo).
Follow @bxchen and @gadgetlab on Twitter.
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Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on January 5, 2011
The 19 Most Wired iPhone and iPad Apps of 2010
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Apple’s iOS App Store hit the ground sprinting two-and-a-half years ago, and it hasn’t slowed down. In 2010, programmers unleashed a plethora of high-quality apps for the iPhone and its brand-new big sibling, the iPad.
For Apple’s tablet, many of the most impressive apps focused on the reading experience. That’s not surprising, because what better to do with that big, beautiful screen? And for the iPhone, we saw some clever apps that made excellent use of the handset’s always-on data connection, geo-awareness and camera.
With 400,000 apps crowding the iOS App Store, it’s tough to choose what’s worthy of a space on your screen. Here are Wired staff’s picks for the best iOS apps of 2010. There may be a lot of useless apps out there, but these are worth downloading.
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See Also:
- 15 iPad Apps You Should Download Today
- 10 Stellar iPad Apps That Will Blow You Away
- Top Five iPad Comic-Book Apps Reviewed
- GeekDad: IPhone Apps
- Underwire: IPhone Apps
Brian is a Wired.com technology reporter focusing on Apple and Microsoft. He’s also writing a book about the always-connected mobile future called Always On (publishing April 2011 by Da Capo).
Follow @bxchen and @gadgetlab on Twitter.
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Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on December 30, 2010
Photogene 2.0 for iPad: A Desktop Photo Editor on a Tablet
Photogene has long been one of the better photo editing apps for the iPad, but a new update version 2.0 turns it into arguably the best around. First I’ll run through the main features, and then tell you about the new stuff, which includes non-destructive editing, something only usually found in desktop software costing hundreds of dollars.
Like most iPad photo apps, you can apply a whole lot of tweaks familiar from desktop applications like Photoshop. Photogene lets you tweak the contrast, curves and levels, change saturation, white-balance, add sharpness, reduce noise and the like. It also has a effects section (called “Enhance”) which contains various frames, blurs and vignettes, along with a whole pocketful of strange filters, speech bubbles and crops.
But what sets it apart is the UI. It doesn’t have a revolutionary layout, but it is dead easy and fast to use. The buttons are big enough to hit with fingers, transitions are slick and quick and you can do a lot of what you’d do in, say, Lightroom on a Mac or PC. A great example of the user friendliness is the curves tool, which puts the contrast-curve over the top of the picture so you can drag and add points right over the photo as you see it. It made me smile when I first saw it.
Finally, there is an embarrassment of export options: You get Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, vanilla FTP, copy-to-clipboard, email and plain ol’ local save.
So what’s new? Quite a lot, as it turns out. The first thing you’ll see is a custom photo-browser. Instead of the iPad’s crappy built-in browser, you get a great full-screen browser with big thumbnails. All your regular albums, faces, events and places are here, just bigger and better, and this is where you do batch exports (now up to 8MP each). You can also view metadata, including GPS info. The only problem here is the font used for album titles: too bold and ugly.
Open a photo from here and you edit with all of the above, plus a new clone tool (which works exactly like the one in Lightroom), a heal tool (similar to clone, but cleverer).
But the real meat here is the lossless editing. Just like Lightroom and Photoshop, Photogene doesn’t change your original files. Import a RAW (or JPEG) from your camera and you can edit as much as you like without the original being touched – all the edits are stored in the app, and can be reset at any time, even in the far future. Edits are only “baked-in” when you export a picture. All your edits are reflected in the thumbnails, too, so they show up when browsing your catalog.
Like I said, this update adds some really big features, but take the app for a test drive. The interface has been tweaked so much that even if you tried it once and didn’t like it, you should give it another shot. It’s almost unbelievable that it packs so much in, weighs just 2MB and costs only $4.
Photogene for iPad [iTunes]
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Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on December 30, 2010
Skype for iPhone, Now With Video
Skype now does video-calling on iOS devices. The new 3.0 update allows users to make video calls not only between iDevice, but also with desktop computers, and the calls can be placed over both Wi-Fi and 3G.
To make and receive video calls, you’ll need to have an iPhone 3GS or better, and be running iOS4. If you have both front and back facing cameras, you can use either. The 3GS can only, obviously, use the rear cam.
And if you have an iPad or a last-gen iPod Touch? You’re not left out. You can still receive video calls, but of course you can’t send any video.
Skype has a big advantage over FaceTime, Apple’s own video-calling app, as pretty much everyone already uses Skype. FaceTime requires a camera-equipped iPhone or iPod Touch, or a Mac running beta software. It also only works over Wi-Fi.
This is big news, especially for people wanting to replace computers with iPads. If a camera-equipped iPad goes on sale this year, as expected, then peope like my parents could ditch their hard-to-administer PC for an iPad. Hopefully Skype’s next update will bring us a proper iPad version of the software. This update, despite adding video, still requires you to pixel-double it to get full-screen.
Skype 3 for iPhone – With Video Calling [Skype Blog]
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Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on December 30, 2010
Rumor: Apple Preparing New, Verizon-Compatible iPad
Apple’s loose-lipped overseas partners are exchanging whispers about the next-generation iPad, claiming it will come in three different versions, one of which would work with Verizon’s network.
The iPad 2 will support three different wireless configurations: UMTS, CDMA and Wi-Fi only, according to “industry sources” citing component makers. That’s up from the two versions Apple currently offers: UMTS plus Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi only.
To explicate the alphabet soup, UMTS is the standard used by major 3G carriers such as AT&T and T-Mobile, while CDMA is compatible with Verizon and Sprint networks.
Currently the 3G iPad ships with a MicroSIM card slot, and in the United States, the only carrier that uses MicroSIM is AT&T. Customers who want to connect to non-AT&T 3G networks must either buy an external wireless hotspot device such as the Verizon MiFi (Verizon even sells a MiFi plus iPad package already) or trim a standard SIM card down to MicroSIM size, like Wired.com’s Charlie Sorrel.
The current 3G model of the iPad is not tied to a contract; customers pay a flat rate monthly for data and can opt out whenever they please.
So if this rumor is true, what this means is when the iPad 2 ships, you’ll have to pick a 3G model based on your carrier preference. If you don’t plan to be on the road a lot, there’s still the Wi-Fi option.
Support for both major wireless standards in the U.S. will make the iPad 2 available to a much larger potential audience, whereas before it was only available from AT&T here in the states.
Whether Apple hammers out sales agreements with Verizon or Sprint remains to be seen, however.
Recent rumors suggestion that the iPad 2 will hit stores April 2011, one year after the original iPad’s release. Some third-party protective cases for a purported “iPad 2″ have been cropping up in Asia, hinting at the possibility of a bigger speaker and a rear-facing camera.
Persistent rumors — so far unsubstantiated — have also pointed to a Verizon-compatible iPhone to be released in early 2011. If Verizon got the iPhone and the iPad, it would greatly expand Apple’s potential market, and would also likely deal a severe blow to AT&T, which has been roundly criticized for the inability of its 3G network to keep up with iPhone-induced demand.
Photo of the current iPad: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
Brian is a Wired.com technology reporter focusing on Apple and Microsoft. He’s also writing a book about the always-connected mobile future called Always On (publishing April 2011 by Da Capo).
Follow @bxchen and @gadgetlab on Twitter.
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Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on December 28, 2010
IPad 2 Has Bigger Speaker, Flat Back, Smaller Body
Artist’s rendering of rumored iPad 2 speaker grille
Today’s iPad rumor comes courtesy of Japanese blog MacOtakara. According to “sources in China”, the iPad 2 will be smaller, flatter and have a bigger, beefier speaker.
Even MacOtakara is skeptical of the rumors, but true or not they sound plausible. The new iPad will shave 3mm off the screen’s bezel, making for a smaller tablet but with the same sized display, dropping the overall dimensions from 242.8mm to 239mm (height) and 189.7mm to 186mm (width).
The back of the iPad will be flatter than the current model, leading to less wobbling when poking at the screen whilst the iPad lays on a table.
Most interesting of all is a new speaker, a bigger, louder unit which crawls around the curve at the back of the iPad. The image above is a rendering by Taiyo Fujii for MacOtakara, showing what it might look like, interior metal gauze and all.
This larger speaker fits perfectly with the leaked iPad 2 case design, which has a large cutout that wraps around the rear in just this spot. In fact, when I saw that case design earlier this month, I immediately assumed it was for a bigger speaker.
Finally, and labelled as “unreliable” by MacOtakara, the new iPad will have two cameras, one front-firing and one rear-facing. The rear cam will be the same as the one in the iPhone 4. These units are, according to the source, already in production, and will ship in January.
This January date is like more likely to mean shipping to Apple, not shipping to customers. Establishing January as the launch date for new iPads would kill all iPad Christmas purchases in future.
Equipped with large speakers ‘iPad (2nd generation)’ is released in January 2011? [MacOtakara]
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Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on December 23, 2010
Four-Way USB-Charger Packs Power-Saving Timer
Toss away up to four chunky USB chargers and replace them with one small, slick charger. That’s the promise of the Green Wall Charger from VogDuo.
At its heart the VogDuo box is a pocketable four-way charger for any and all USB-powered gadgets, and for that alone it probably deserves a place in your travel-bag (you’ll need an adapter, though, as the handy fold-out prongs are US-only). But it also comes with its own special schtick: a timer. Hit the set-button to choose between two, four, six or eight hours and press start. Once done, the circuit is cut and no power is drawn from the mains.
Want to charge your iPad? The charger provides standard five-watt USB ports, which aren’t really enough to charge the iPad (the Apple charger puts out 10-watts). A Y-connector is provided in the package, though, so you can just hook the iPad up to two sockets simultaneously.
The Green Wall Charger will be on show at CES in Las Vegas next month, where we should find out about pricing and shipping dates.
Green Wall Charger [VogDuo]
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Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on December 21, 2010
IPad Five-in-One Dock Adapter: When Will the Madness End?
Just as seemingly every year the number of blades on a disposable razor inevitably increases, so every few months a new iPad dock adapter adds yet another input. In August we saw the 2-in-1 camera-connector, with USB and an SD-card slot. The just last week we were treated to the plasticky wonders of the 3-in-1 adapter, which added micrSD to the mix.
Now, ladies and gentlemen, behold the amazing, nay, astonishing 5-in-1 dock adapter. Slot this overachieving little widget into your iPad’s port and you get all of the above functions plus a mini-USB port (for charging the iPad or connecting to a computer) and an A/V-out port. This last lets you hook up an iPad (or a video-supporting iPod) to a TV.
That’s a whole lot of features packed into one small box and – if experience of these things is anything to go by it will likely break soon after buying. On the other hand, this combines a whole shopping-cart full of Apple products into one, and even ships with the A/V and USB cables needed to use it.
What next? The same manufacturer also has an unholy version that will read Sony MemorySticks, but I’m hoping for something more practical (or plain weird). Comments, please: What oddity would you like to see here? MIDI would be nice for musicians. A crappy but functional webcam would be awesome for everyone. But I’m going to vote for a USB hand-warmer. Given the iPad’s huge battery, this should last at least a day, and keep me blogging from my cold, non-heated apartment.
5-in-1 adapter product page [Anguodz via MIC Gadget]
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Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on December 20, 2010
Gadget Lab Reader Makes iPad Kitchen Stand, Starts Business
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Roland Heersink had a problem. He wanted to use his iPad in the kitchen, but his wife vetoed any and every space-hogging countertop stand. So Roland, smart Gadget Lab reader that he is, decided to make his own. And not only did he come up with the The Original Kitchen iPad Rack. he turned it into a business.
Roland’s rack takes up precisely zero space on the countertop, instead suspending the tablet from the overhanging kitchen cupboards. The rack comes in two pieces of clear acrylic. One attaches permanently, out of view, beneath the cupboard. The other hooks onto this mount and forms a sloping or vertical stand for the iPad, keeping it handy, but out of the way of spills. When you don’t need it, just toss it into the cupboard above.
The rack will cost you $30, and should you have a big kitchen, you can choose kits with two or three mounting brackets, at $5 extra per bracket. I think Roland’s idea is pretty ingenious and, if coupled with my own low-tech waterproof iPad case, would make for an almost indestructible kitchen iPad setup.
The Original Kitchen iPad Rack [Kitchen iPad Rack. Thanks, Roland!]
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Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on December 17, 2010
ShutterSnitch 2 Adds Automation, Metadata and Speed. Lots of Speed
ShutterSnitch, the iPad app that lets you beam photographs directly from your camera to your iPad, has been updated to version 2, and it adds a whole lot of really neat new features.
First – what ShutterSnitch won’t do: unless you jailbreak your iPad to let it create its own ad-hoc Wi-Fi network, ShutterSnitch requires either a router or a computer to create that network. If you have a battery-powered Mi-Fi, that will work just fine.
So, what’s new? Rob Galbraith, photographer, blogger and gear-head, has been testing v2.0 for some time, and has a detailed run-down on every new aspect. The first big changes are speed and stability: instead of crashing, you can now pump big files into the app, as fast as you like, and it will keep on going. Your collections can be a lot bigger, too: ShutterSnitch will let you put thousands of images together without bogging down.
But you’re here for the new gimmicks, right? Now you can enjoy full-resolution zooms and support for RAW files (although remember this works over Wi-Fi, so those big files will be slow to transfer). There is support for simple metadata, including geotagging (this grabs the location from your iPad and embeds it into the photo.)
But best of all are Actions. You can automate what happens to the photos when they arrive, adding metadata, saving a copy to the photo-roll and even exporting, sending photos to Flickr, Facebook or an FTP server. And there are plenty of other tweaks, too, including slideshows and external-display support.
To use ShutterSnitch, you’ll also need a way to send the photos. The easiest way is with an Eye-Fi SD-card, which turns any camera into a wireless photo-transmitter. If you have a transmitter for your SLR, one of Canon or Nikon’s units, for example, those work too.
ShutterSnitch 2 is in the App Store approval tubes right now, and should hit any day soon. The update will be free for ShutterSnitch 1.x owners, and $8 to buy new. The price will go up to $20 early in the new year.
A first look at ShutterSnitch 2.0 for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch [Rob Galbraith]
ShutterSnitch app [iTunes]
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Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on December 17, 2010
