GADGET REVIEWS Just another GADGET NEWS

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The ZAGGMate iPad case comes in two flavors, both of which look like aluminum tea-trays, only smaller. The cases protect just the screen of the iPad, clipping on like an iPhone shell-style case, only in the front instead of on the back.

Both cases also double as stands, with a neat, hinged plastic wedge that flips out of the interior and pushes at the back of the tablet while the case’s lip stops it from slipping forward.

Then things part ways. The ZAGGmate keyboard-case contains an hardware QWERTY keyboard on its inner surface. Once the iPad is propped into place, the Bluetooth keyboard can be used for typing, and has the full-complement of media keys for volume, home, starting a slideshow and adjusting the brightness. A 510 mAh rechargeable lithium polymer battery provides juice for a couple weeks of normal use (and charges via USB).

I scoffed for a while at these keyboard cases, thinking that the iPad’s on-screen keyboard was plenty good enough. It’s surprising still just how fast I can type on it, but with iOS 4.2 and all its fancy multitasking ways, the iPad just got a lot better at doing work, and even the simple addition of cursor keys and keyboard shortcuts for copy-and-paste make a huge difference.

The ZAGGmate costs $100 in its keyboard form, and $70 case-only. Available soon.

ZaggMate product page [ZAGGmate]

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Source:wired.com

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Livescribe’s Smartpens take manuscript and audio notes. Evernote backs up and syncs multimedia notes across devices and platforms in the cloud, even doing basic OCR on photos. Now the two companies have teamed up, making for an extraordinarily versatile notetaking solution.

“Many of our customers have been asking for this capability, said Livescribe’s Byron Connell in a press release. Livescribe is dedicated to improving the way people capture, access and share information, and will continue to identify strategic partners, like Evernote, where software integration will allow consumers to get even more value from our technology while using their preferred business applications and information management tools.

Exporting Livescribe notes to PDFs and uploading them to Evernote is an extremely popular workflow for smartpen users, as we saw in our Livescribe Echo how-to earlier this month. Livescribe has its own Evernote-like cloud backup and sharing services, but Evernote’s versatility and the value of having all of your notes (manuscript, text, photos) in one place has been more appealing.

With the new version of Livescribe Desktop, available now as a free download for Windows and Mac, that workflow is streamlined to a single click. Users selecting “share to Evernote” from the can upload audio, images or both to their Evernote accounts, which are then indexed for search in Evernote. Pencasts (a little movie that plays notes with corresponding audio in sync) can still only be uploaded and viewed using a Livescribe account and the Pencast Player.

Livescribe and Evernote describe this initial feature as a “first step” in their partnership and promise more to come.

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The iPad continues its march towards world domination with an impending invasion of Walmart, America’s favorite supplier-bullying, content-censoring retail giant. Leaked emails and photos from eagle-eyed customers reveal that Apple’s overachieving tablet is just about to colonize shelf space nationwide.

The intercepted email shows inventory information and reveals that Walmart will stock all six iPad models at standard prices, along with Apple’s Bluetooth keyboard, the Camera Connection Kit, iPad charger, dock and case. Another email, published by Mac Rumors, details the roll-out: Walmart stores will start to sell the iPad this week, with 1,000 stores stocking it by the end of October, and a further 800 stores will carry it in November. Walmart joins Target, which is already selling the iPad in its brick-and-mortar stores.

The iPad is actually already on sale in at least one store, and is stashed under in-store displays in a rather non-secretive manner in at least one other, according to photos taken by readers of Mac Rumors and The Unofficial Apple Weblog (above right, complete with arrow for TUAW readers who don’t know what an iPad looks like). I particularly like the tag behind the on-shelf iPad, which reads “Low price: $829.” Low? Really?

I have the feeling that the iPad will be this year’s Tickle-Me-Elmo, especially as it can now be tossed into holiday-season shopping carts along with everything else at Walmart. Expect to see these things everywhere, and I mean everywhere, when the kids get ahold of them this Christmas.

Wal-Mart Preparing to Offer iPad [Mac Rumors]

iPad already showing up on Walmart shelves [TUAW]

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Don’t type when you can talk, says Google. The search giant has strengthened its existing voice command feature on Android and introduced a new application called Chrome-to-Phone, for syncing with Chrome browsers.

Voice Search, despite its name, now lets you do more than just search: It will let users send texts, compose e-mails, call businesses, navigate, jot notes, and set the alarm on their phone by just speaking into the device.

The voice commands, called “voice actions,” are part of Google’s effort to improve the user interface on Android and let consumers go beyond the traditional keyboard and touchscreen interface on their phones.

The Voice Search application is currently available only for phones running version 2.2 of the Android OS — which means HTC Evo, Droid X and Droid 2 users can get it on their phones immediately.

Google also launched a mobile sync app to link its Chrome browser to Android 2.2 devices. The tool, called Chrome-to-Phone, lets users on Google’s Chrome browser click an icon to send a web page or a map to their phone. The page or map is then almost immediately available on the phone.

“This is a low-latency, super-fast app for pushing data to the phone,” says Dave Burke, engineering manager for Google.

Google debuted its voice search application in the U.S. about two years ago when it introduced Android. Now one out of every four queries, or 25 percent of queries, on devices running Android 2.0 OS and higher comes through the voice interface, says Google.

The earlier version of the voice command allowed users to do just three things: web search, call a specific contact and navigate to an address.

The new voice search app goes beyond that. For instance, you can speak the name of a song or a band into the phone and the app will go online, find the music and show a list of apps such as Pandora and last.fm that can play the music you want.

For more details, check out Google’s list of voice commands available through the app.

But when it comes to the Chrome-to-Phone app, the service is more limited. It is currently available to only Chrome users, though some Firefox users are also using it. The sync feature is also only available for Android devices, though Google says it will work to bring the feature to iPhone users as an app.

Image: Screenshots of Voice Search courtesy Google.

Source:wired.com

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Livescribe’s Pulse smart pen that can automatically digitize written notes is a big hit among students and business professionals who want to move away from paper.

Now the company has introduced a slimmer version of the its pen called Echo that offers more storage and improved features including support for PDF files.

The Echo pen has double the capacity of the Pulse and is available in 4 GB and 8 GB models that record 400 and 800 hours of data respectively. The 4 GB version will cost $170 and the 8 GB version is priced at $200. The 2 GB Pulse pen will cost $130, down from $200 when it was first introduced.

Livescribe has also added a 3.5 mm audio jack so consumers can use their own headphones, instead of having to buy specifically designed ones from LiveScribe.

Livescribe introduced its first smart pen Pulse in March 2008. Users write notes on Livescribe’s sheets of paper, just as they would on a notepad. The Pulse pen captures everything the user hears using a audio record feature. As for the notes, they can be accessed by simply tapping the pen at any point on the sheet of the paper or through a computer using the Livescribe desktop software. The only drawback is that the pen will work only with Livescribe’s proprietary paper. The company also launched an app store that now has more than 60 apps including study aids and dictionaries.

With Echo, Livescribe has updated the user interface so it is easier to access apps, added features such as password protection so the audio recorded on the smartpen can have more privacy, and introduced the idea of custom notebooks so users can group and organize notes more easily.

Later this year, Livescribe plans to add new software called Connect, which will allow users to email notes, audio and PDFs from the smartpen and paper when the pen is is docked to a Mac or PC.

The company also plans to introduce a collaboration software called Paper Tablet, that will allow consumers to communicate directly from a Livescribe notebook to a computer using the Echo pen and a USB cable. That means if you draw an image on the Livescribe notebook then it can directly appear on the screen in real time–a feature that should be very useful for creating graphics and for artists.

Check out Livescribe’s video of the Echo pen and some of its key features:

Photo: Livescribe

Source:wired.com

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