Sunday Thoughts: Pirates! - TheSixthAxis

This week marked the fourth occasion I’ve bought Sid Meier’s Pirates! It became available on iPad (although not the smaller-screen iOS devices) on Thursday and I paid my £2.49 as soon as it showed up in my repeated searching.

Sea battles can be surprisingly tense on higher difficulty levels.Previously, I’ve bought it on PC, then in its Gold incarnation on the Sega Mega Drive so that I could play it when my dad was being boring and demanding he be allowed to use his old 486 desktop for things like word processing. I even played an emulated version when I had the Xperia Play to review, thanks to the Android Marketplace. Finally, I bought it again in 2004 when they remade it on PC, sprucing up the graphics and adding the dancing mini game. Well, I thought that had been the final time I bought it, an excited reflection in my iPad screen as I hit the “buy” button proved me wrong.

Oh, and then I bought it again via iTunes and gifted it to a friend. So that’s technically five times.

I should also admit that after having bought the game I’ve spent countless hours playing, in different incarnations and on different machines, I then stayed awake until 5AM on Friday morning playing it.

You could say I was a bit of a fan.

I’m not sure what it is about Pirates! that I fell so hopelessly head over heels in love with all those years ago but if I had to guess I would say it was the open nature of the game. I first experienced it when the height of my in-game choices consisted of making Sonic run left for the secret collectible. Pirates! gave me a decent-sized area of the globe to sail around at will.

I know that the sword fights and the remake’s dancing mini game are a little less than exciting but the exploration, turn based land battles and real time sea battles were all more than enough to cement this game’s place in my heart. The terrain plays a significant role in land battles and the wind plays just as big a part in sea battles. At the time, it was amazing and even today I love it.

Trading also played a big part in the game. In fact, if you wanted to ignore the unenforced main quest to find your betrayed family, you could just spend your time in the game world travelling between ports, becoming wealthy by buying low and selling high.

Part of the Pirates! world, open seas ringed with ripened settlements.What a game world it was too. The Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, including the Spanish Main along the North coast of South America, Central America, what is now the Gulf Coast of the U.S.A. and stretching all the way up to Florida in the North. There were cities, towns, Indian settlements and pirate hideouts, all of which had dynamic, fluctuating markets and populations which were altered by events outside of the player’s control. For example, a rich Spanish town might pay well for sugar but if you arrive just after a series of pirate raids, the population will be diminished, the town looted and the funds available for your luxurious sugar cargo depleted. It wasn’t as involved or expansive as another old favourite of mine, Elite, but it did manage to feel like its own little world.

I’m struck by how much time I must have spent playing this game over the years, as well as how much more time I seem destined to spend buying it on various platforms and playing it long into the night. I can’t think of a game in this generation of consoles that holds that power over me. Perhaps it’s just the intoxicating whiff of nostalgia that makes me keen to get back to my Governor’s Letter of Marque and my life of privateering on the high seas but even so, I find it difficult to imagine a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 game having that seemingly timeless pull.

Maybe I’m wrong, maybe it is all a case of perspective and timing. What are your treasured gaming moments that you continue to revisit and do you think there will be any that you’ll take with you from this generation?

Just as I was adding images to this article, I remembered that I also bought the game on PSP. So that’s six times.

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iOS 5 Beta 4 Brings Over the Air (OTA) Update to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch - Touch Reviews

Apple on Friday released iOS 5 beta 4 for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. The latest beta release brings the highly anticipated over the air (OTA) delta update to iOS devices.

Apple during WWDC keynote event announced more than 200 new features in iOS 5 but, previewed just 10 key enhancements. The company wants users to truly experience the post-PC era and is finally cutting the cord for iOS devices. With the fifth major release of Apple’s mobile operating system users will be able to sync, transfer data, update their devices and do much more without connecting their device to a computer. 

It’s worth noting that when we tried to download the update the iPad alerts the user if the device has less than 50% battery charge. Connecting the device to a power source let us download and update the device. The update was just 128MB for iPod touch as OTA update are released as delta updates. 

Downloading the update over 3G is also possible however, given the fact that most carriers offer limited data plans it would probably be better to get the update over WiFi. 

We noticed a few error messages while trying to manually check for the update but that may have been due to initial issues in Apple’s server. 

Overall, it’s great to see that Apple has been listening to its customers and iOS 5 will certainly help Apple stay in the lead. 

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Office Suites for iPad: The Roundup - PCWorld

Complete PCWorld Coverage 

Since the day the iPad launched, zealous mobilophiles have wondered whether it might signal a new dawn in mobile computing--namely, one in which we all use a tablet in lieu of a desktop or laptop PC. With the abundance of native iPad productivity apps in the App Store, the iPad has held a clear lead in the race to tablet-centricity. But the real measure of the platform's productivity power is not the number of apps in the App Store but the quality of its best productivity apps. So I downloaded six of the most noteworthy iPad office apps and spent a week using them for all my daily work.

Because you can't ignore Apple's iWork apps as a force to be reckoned with on the iPad, I made Pages, Numbers, and Keynote my first priority in testing. These three apps bear the distinction of selling separately, which represents a departure from the selection criteria I've been using for roundups. The other three products I tried--Office2 HD, Documents To Go, and Quickoffice--are all-in-one suites that include word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation tools (among other features) within a single app. Since it would have been a glaring omission had I not included Apple's offerings, I've modified the qualifications here in the interest of diligence.

As I did in my roundup of Android productivity apps, I tested each of these leading suites for three important qualities: interface and usability, compatibility with Microsoft Office, and support for cloud services. I also took into account additional features, such as PDF viewing and support for other formats, and I considered price in the final evaluation. For each app, I created documents from scratch, imported rich documents with images and complex formatting from Microsoft Word, and exported edited documents back to Word to check for fidelity. The winner of this roundup is the app (or set of apps) with the best overall performance across all of those considerations.

In the course of testing, two general facts emerged that are well worth noting. First, an external keyboard is an essential accessory if you plan on doing a significant amount of document editing on the iPad. It doesn't really matter which keyboard you use. I've spent a fair amount of time on both the Apple Wireless Keyboard and the iPad Keyboard Dock, and both are excellent. Less-expensive third-party keyboards mostly work well, too.

Second, Dropbox is a phenomenally valuable app for anyone who uses the iPad for frequent document editing, as it acts as a file manager on the device and includes integrated links to all of the apps in this roundup. This means that you can use Dropbox to browse for a document in your synced folders and then launch it in Pages, Documents To Go, Quickoffice, Office2 HD, or just about any other compatible app.

Byte Squared Office2 HD

Office2 HD crams all of its navigation into one long, narrow menu, but it offers a good blend of cloud connectivity and basic editing features.Within the realm of all-in-one office apps for the iPad, Office2 HD has been a leader from the beginning. It's not nearly as robust or intuitive as Apple's iWork apps, but it packs far better cloud support.

Office2 HD creates and edits Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, and treats Microsoft Office formats as native. You can set the app to use .docx or the older .doc format as its default. It also views iWork documents and PDFs.

Office2 HD's Microsoft Office compatibility is generally very good. Partly because the app itself lacks many of the editing capabilities of its Office counterparts, you'll find it fairly tough to create a document in this app that Word, Excel, or PowerPoint won't preserve pretty much perfectly. And in my tests of importing complex documents containing special formatting, tables, and charts from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, the app did a good job of displaying formatting options that it couldn't create on its own.

Interface design is Office2 HD's great weakness. All of the app's navigation happens in a single-column drop-down menu, and the way to reach all of the app's features is not immediately obvious. Once you get the hang of it, you can find your way around, but everything seems to take three or four more taps than it should. Meanwhile, the menu ribbon at the top of the screen scrolls sideways to reveal additional formatting options that you may not immediately realize exist. A novice user could be forgiven for thinking that the app doesn't support image embedding (it does, on the second page of the menu). My sense is that Byte Squared is trying to be clever by packing all of the nav controls into two narrow menus, but the execution falls flat.

When it comes to cloud support, however, Office2 HD comes nicely equipped. The app supports Box, Dropbox, Google Docs, MobileMe, MyDisk, and generic WebDAV accounts.

At $8, Office2 HD is certainly the cheapest office app in this roundup, and it offers some of the best cloud support I found. Its fidelity to Microsoft Office formats is admirable, but the app's interface leaves a lot to be desired. Still, it provides more formatting options than its non-Apple competitors do.

DataViz Documents To Go Premium

Continuing its long tradition of mobile document editing, DataViz has brought Documents To Go to the iPad. The app has come a long way from humble beginnings, and it sports some of the most compelling connectivity and sharing features of the bunch.

Documents To Go Premium is supposed to be able to edit presentations, but instead it forces you to do that work in some other, more capable app.At $17, Documents To Go Premium makes no bones about its purpose: This app is designed as an interim editing tool for those times when you can't get to your full-blown desktop or laptop. Its formatting options are pretty basic, but highly competent in preserving the integrity of whatever Word or Excel document you're working in.

Unfortunately, despite DataViz's claims to the contrary on the App Store listing, even this Premium version of Documents To Go doesn't actually edit PowerPoint files. Amusingly, if you create a new PowerPoint document within the app, you can add and rearrange slides on it, but you can't put in any text or pictures. If you tap the little triangle button in the bottom menu, however, the app will give you the option to open (and edit) your presentation in any other Office-compatible app that you have loaded. At first I thought I must have been doing something wrong, but the reviews on the Apple App Store are rife with criticism over this problem. It's almost certainly a bug, and I hope to see it rectified quickly. Otherwise I have to suggest that anyone looking for a way to edit presentations on the iPad should look elsewhere for that functionality (particularly given that even Documents To Go Premium looks elsewhere on your iPad for that functionality).

Where Documents To Go Premium stands out in a good way is in its cloud and sharing features. In addition to support for Box, Dropbox, Google Docs, iDisk, and SugarSync, it includes support for DataViz's Documents To Go Desktop App, which lets you sync files easily between the app and your desktop over a Wi-Fi connection.

Frankly, I had expected Documents To Go Premium to offer a far more compelling blend of features and performance than what it's delivering on the iPad right now. DataViz has had a decade's head start over its competitors in the mobile arena, but between the app's apparent bugs and its outright lack of common editing features, Documents To Go Premium is a big disappointment. There's simply nothing "premium" about it.

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Robert Strohmeyer is a veteran journalist and entrepreneur covering tech since the boom of the mid-90s. He's worked in the field as both a consultant and in-house IT pro. When he's not writing about technology, he can be found exploring the wine world at VineCult. Follow Robert on Twitter.

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iPad 2 Display Dock Brings the Apple Store Look Home - The iPad Guide

For those who have an iPad 2 and enjoy the look of Apple Store docks for their devices, the iPad 2 Display Dock provides a solution. Apple recently unveiled acrylic displays in every retail store anchoring iPads to sales displays so that customers could get information interactively.

This version from NewPCGadgets not only holds your iPad 2 and provides a slot for the charging cable, it can also provide storage space for two iPhones or iPod touch devices. This accessory is made from high-quality clear acrylic that is custom milled and hand polished for that sleek Apple look.

The accessory is designed to provide an optimum iPad viewing angle, and comes in two versions. One version includes the additional slots to keep two small iOS devices on hand, while the other is simplified and only holds the iPad 2. The iPad 2 Display Dock with two additional ports has additional slots for charging cables to hook up with all of your devices and runs $74.95.

The iPad-only model is slightly less expensive at $69.95. Adhesive pads are included should you want to affix the iPad 2 to the acrylic stand, and there are cutouts for headphone cables to connect to your devices as well. This product is the closest thing to Apple retail store iPad displays, and with one inch of high-quality acrylic your friends will never know the difference.

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Apple's new iPad 2 ad sneaks in Lion reference - Apple Insider

Apple's new iPad 2 ad sneaks in Lion reference

By AppleInsider Staff

Published: 12:30 AM EST

Apple on Sunday released a new ad for the iPad 2 containing a subtle reference to the newly-released Mac OS X 10.7 Lion.

The ad has been posted to the iPad 2 page on the company's website, as well as its official YouTube account. Entitled "We'll Always," the commercial highlights the way the iPad 2 lets users experience in new ways things they've always done and will never stop doing.

"We'll never stop sharing our memories. Or getting lost in a good book. We'll always cook dinner and cheer for our favorite team. We'll still go to meetings, make home movies and learn new things, but how we do all this will never be the same."

The spot has quickly drawn attention because it contains an oblique reference to Mac OS X Lion. During the "learn new things" section of the ad, a child is shown writing the word "Lion" next to a picture of a lion. Of course, the lion reference could be viewed as mere coincidence, but given the company's tight control, it's likely that the allusion is intentional.

Apple has just recently stabilized inventory of the iPad in the U.S., bringing estimated shipping times to 1-3 business days, down from lead times that measured in weeks for the couple months after the device's launch. The touchscreen tablet continues to be on a phenomenal growth curve, with Apple announcing last week that it had sold 9.25 million iPad units in the June quarter.

Meanwhile, Mac OS X 10.7 Lion arrived on the Mac App Store last Wednesday. The $29.99 upgrade has seen early success, attracting over one million downloads in its first day of availability.

Lion and the iPad share a special connection, as Apple has taken features from the iOS and the iPad and brought them back to the Mac by way of Lion.

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Did the iPad really lose a big chunk of share to Android?

Almost all market indicators show that the iPad continues to shut out Android rivals. But is that the whole story?

First, let's take a look at some recent headlines that seem to point to the iPad's unassailable market position:

iPad, iOS adoption heating up the business world
Apple's iPad surpasses 100,000 app mark
Apple's Runaway Train: 9.25 Million iPads, 20 Million iPhones sold in Q3
All the world's an iPad? Maybe
Apple iPad awaits back-to-school boom

These kinds of stories (of which there are way too many to count) are not encouraging for forward sales of Android tablets like the Motorola Xoom, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, the Lenovo ThinkPad tablet, or the Acer Iconia, among others. The 100,000 apps mark headline especially stings.

But wait. Dig a little more and this recent headline pops up: iPad share of tablet shipments fell in second quarter, says report. The story continues. "For the second quarter of the year, Apple grabbed 61 percent of the global tablet business, shipping a record 9.3 million iOS-based tablets. Though still a healthy chunk, that number was down from the 94 percent share the company scooped up a year ago."

Are these numbers representative of Android's growing market strength in tablets?

(Credit: Strategy Analytics)

So, what's going on here? Are we at last seeing some real market gains by Android? It appears that the key metric is sell-out. Apple undoubtedly sells out all the iPads it can make. Is that the case for Android tablets? Sell-in numbers are notable, but what about sell-out?

The latter--also referred to as sell-through--appears to be murky for Android. That said, Android sell-in (shipment) numbers may increase as more large players enter the market, like Lenovo and Sony.

Which raises the question, will bigger sell-in translate to large Android sell-out numbers? Android, after all, does have maker momentum (if not market momentum). Name all of the top device makers in the world and pretty much every one of them is selling Android tablets or will sell them soon. Samsung, Sony, Motorola, Lenovo, LG, Acer, HTC, and Asus.

That market clout is already manifested in the U.S. via a phalanx of kiosks and displays at Best Buy and Staples proclaiming that Android tablets have arrived. (And count Hewlett-Packard among those making a big tablet-market play.)

And the Android camp's decibel level is rising every month--and it will only get louder. Will that noise be enough eventually to distract more consumers and make them tune in to Android? Just visit a major U.S. electronics retailer now and you may get your answer.

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Apple iPad Awaits Back-To-School Boom

The Apple iPad will dominate an influx of  tablet computers into classrooms this fall, according to an education technology expert and industry reports.

"The iPad is the best tablet out there today that we've seen reviewed," said John Connolly, technology director for Chicago Public Schools, during the TechWeek conference this afternoon at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago.

The iPad's market dominance will translate to dominance in schools as educators adopt tablet computing this fall, experts agree. The iPad accounted for 90 percent of tablet sales in the third quarter, according to the research firm IDC.

Chicago had 700 iPads in 23 public schools during the past school year. This fall it will add 4,500 iPads in about 50 schools.

This week the U.S. Consumer Electronics Association predicted better-than-average sales for consumer electronics, led by tablets.

"I think they're ideally suited for the classroom for a variety of reasons," Sean Murphy, a senior analyst with CEA, told NPR. "A tablet gives you the functionality of a notebook, but it's easier to use, it's smaller. And I think what we'll see, in addition to the ease-of-use, is professors will be much more interested in incorporating lesson plans."

The CEA predicts tablet sales will grow 157 percent in 2011, with more than 26.5 million units shipped to dealers, resulting in $14 billion in shipment revenue.

“One year ago, tablets were a new and unproven market, and now they, along with other mobile connected devices including smartphones and eReaders, are leading the entire industry to positive growth,” said Steve Koenig, CEA’s director of industry analysis. “The revenue boost from these innovative products is undeniable as a number of other CE segments are reaching maturity and sales are naturally declining.”

Also this week, IDC predicted tablet sales would triple in the coming year.

While Connolly expects iPads to dominate the 2011-12 school year, he does not they'll retain that position for long.

"I know there's like ten more tablets that have come down the road since we took that route," Connolly said. "If I had to predict three years down the road, it's not going to be one device. It's going to be a mixture of devices."

It's not clear yet whether schools or students will bear the cost of technological transformation in the classroom: "I think in the next year we'll know whether it's a bring-your-own or a district-supported" effort, Connolly said.

CPS purchased the 4,500 iPads coming to Chicago classrooms this year with Illinois state grant funds. Its current iPads were published through a federal grant.

In the short term, districts will have to purchase educational apps to operate on iPads and other tablets, Connolly said.

"When we look at content and we start discussing content, today, CPS and other public school systems need to purchase that content because we don't possess it."

But Connelly predicted that would change as well, as school districts nationwide collaborate and utilize their own experts to develop their own apps.

"Years down the road we may not need to purchase content. That's what I foresee happening," Connolly said. "The markets not there yet, the system may not be there to deliver the content to the teachers."

Also Read

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Impressions from a few months with the iPad 2 - The Tech Report, LLC

Some weeks ago—this is something of a shameful admission for me—I stood in line for hours at the local Best Buy store in order to purchase an iPad 2 on the device's launch day. I'm not one of, you know, those guys, and I hadn't intended to commit much time to the endeavor. Nevertheless, I got sucked in by Best Buy's promises of a well-organized ticketing solution that would let me reserve a spot without standing in the store for hours on end. Such promises turned out to be a mirage, and I became a conflicted hostage, forgoing lunch and potty breaks in order to reserve my place in line.

I suppose it was, in the end, just as well. I got to participate in the full-on iPad 2 buying experience, a ritual that is largely foreign to me as a PC geek. And it is a strange thing. Folks don't regularly line up in order to purchase much cooler computer hardware. As far as I know, nobody had to initiate a ticketing system for the Radeon HD 6990 or Dell's 30" IPS display. I've used them both, and I can tell you: worth lining up for. Exquisite. But here people were, congregated inside a depressing big-box electronics store in order to drop hundreds of dollars on securing a 10" tablet.

Not just people, either. Sure, you had your requisite contingent of quasi-geeky, overweight graphic designers with questionable facial hair configurations, but there were also girls in this line. Intentionally. Some as a favor to a boyfriend or husband, but others entirely on their own behalf. I don't know what dark magic Steve Jobs wields, but it is truly magic unlike ours.

Reviewing an iPad 2 is something of a challenge, in my view, because the assessments of it seem to fall into one of two categories. The first category is the skeptic, whose dismissal follows a well-known script, almost always nearly to the letter: "It's just a big iPhone." That summation is, of course, indisputably true. Yet it doesn't really capture the novelty of the tablet as a computing platform and, thus, isn't terribly helpful.

Those in the second category at least mean well, but a great many tend to suffer from a peculiar condition I call iPad Derangement Syndrome, or IDS. Those afflicted by IDS tend to explain, with a sense of wonderment in their voices, what you can do with an iPad, as if that captures something important about it. You can check email; you can surf the web; you can play games; you can watch movies; you can download new programs and try them out.

Yes, Sherlock, computers can do these things. Welcome to computer enthusiasm. Been here a long time, and it's nice.

But a list of the components of the tablet usage model isn't terribly helpful, in the end, all by its lonesome. After all, most smart phones will do those things, too, but using one to do them feels more like punishment than productivity.

My main question about the iPad 2—or about any tablet computer, really—is whether the user experience is good enough to make computing with the thing livable, even enjoyable. In other words, does this category of device truly have a reason to exist, and if so, where does it fit into the constellation of other computers we use every day? I like shiny gadget toys as much as the next red-blooded American geek, but are they really worth a darn?

For me, those questions come into sharp focus because I'm surrounded by excellent computers. Damage Labs is packed with high-end desktops connected to giant monitors, systems that define the power user's ideal productivity situation. When I'm on the go, I can check in on things with my iPhone 4, crammed full of apps for every purpose. Between the two sits my Acer Aspire 1810TZ ultraportable, which may just be my favorite computer of all. At 11.6" and just over three pounds, fortified with an SSD, the TZ is as close to my ultraportable ideal as any laptop I've seen, with an honest-to-goodness eight-hour battery run time. Any device that wishes to horn its way into my computing constellation will have to contend with some ridiculously formidable incumbents.

What I'm finding, interestingly enough, is that the iPad 2 is stealing time from each of those other computers in various ways.

 

Coming into the iPad 2 as an iPhone user, I had collected certain apps and habits for iOS, so getting started didn't seem daunting. One of those habits was a penchant for the mobile uber-game, Infinity Blade. This game's combination of RPG elements and an innovative multitouch swipe-and-tap-based combat system got its hooks into me on the iPhone for more hours than I care to admit. I started over from zero on the iPad, right as an update to the game added substantially more content and refreshed graphics for the iPad 2's improved hardware. This ain't Angry Birds or some imported Flash game, either; it's based on the Unreal 3 Engine and looks like it belongs on an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. The update even added multisampled antialiasing for the iPad 2, making the PC gamer in me vaguely enraged, given the history there.

The iPad 2's larger screen and better graphics improved the experience immeasurably. I played prolifically, obsessively to the point where the game had nothing left to offer—no more levels to gain or objects to master. I was dedicating evenings to playing Infinity Blade rather than gunning my way through Bulletstorm or whatever else on the PC, and was happy to be doing so. I wouldn't say I ever finished playing Infinity Blade so much as I eventually paused and moved on to other things until the next promised update adds more content. I still go back to it every now and then, though, because the core game mechanic is simply fun and addictive, even beyond the rocks of RPG-style crack the game dispenses.

More than anything, Infinity Blade was my introduction to the iPad 2, and it proved that a true, hard-core gaming experience is possible on a tablet. Yes, the multitouch controls are sometimes awkward, but they allow new possibilities that are well-suited for certain types of game mechanics, like Blade's swordfighting. The presence of a really good pointing device also creates the opportunity for true depth in things like inventory management. I wouldn't want to navigate this game's menus with a gamepad, but touch makes it easy.

If Blade alone doesn't convince you, spending some time with the iPad rendition of Dead Space should do the trick. This game, too, looks like it came right off of a modern console, with the happy exception that EA seems to have cracked wide open the enduring puzzle of how to replicate the multi-axis control experience of the mouse-and-keyboard combo. A split touchscreen arrangement provides the same sort of precise look control as a mouse while offering true "analog-style" variable control over movement—something the classic WASD arrangement can't offer. I'll admit playing this way still feels clumsy with my untrained thumbs, but the potential is blindingly obvious.

Play Dead Space with some headphones attached to the iPad, and you'll find an outstanding aural experience to match the visuals.

Beyond that, of course, the iPad 2 is wirelessly networked and has access to a vast store of games priced between zero and seven bucks. In many ways, this is a more capable gaming system than the PCs on which I cut my teeth as a PC gamer, with overclocked Pentiums and 3dfx Voodoo cards.

In many ways, this is a more capable gaming system than the PCs on which I cut my teeth as a PC gamer, with overclocked Pentiums and 3dfx Voodoo cards.

No, scratch that. The iPad 2 is better than that. Heck, it's more capable in practical terms than the best desktop PCs of five years ago, which also had dual-core processors and DirectX 9-class graphics.

Now, I'm not saying the iPad 2 or any tablet will challenge or truly replicate the gaming experience on a modern high-end PC any time soon. That's not gonna happen. But I'm convinced the iPad 2 is deadly serious as a gaming platform, and not just for flinging miffed fowl. Handheld gaming devices, netbooks, and mainstream laptops—which chronically have been graphically inept—ought to be terrified.

Many big PC titles, both current and classic, are being ported. I've grabbed iPad versions of Command & Conquer Red Alert, Madden NFL '11, Need for Speed: Shift, SimCity Deluxe, and World of Goo, among others. There's also the very real possibility the bajillion-dollar World of Warcraft franchise could see a reconfiguration with the introduction of a well-made client for the iPad. This platform offers everything WoW needs to work properly, and a mobile version of that particular time-suck would probably prove massively popular. Already, there are clones available in the App Store, so the impetus is there for Blizzard.

I've started by talking about games for a reason, of course. If there is a "killer app" that drives adoption of new computing platforms among consumers more than any other, gaming is it—pretty much always has been. Face it, dropping $500 or more on a e-mail-inator or a web-surf-a-tron isn't very sexy and heck, it doesn't seem very practical given than your existing desktop, laptop, phone, or microwave will probably do those jobs just fine. Also: booo-ring. A new gaming setup, though, appeals to the portion of the brain that pushes aside any objections and slaps the plastic down at the checkout counter. The iPad 2 does a number of things pretty well, but the potential of tablets as gaming devices makes them formidable.

Tags: Mobile computing

2 comments — Last by thanatos355 at 2:31 AM on 07/25/11

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Enterprises Favor iPhone, iPad Over Android Devices

Apple's iOS devices continued to be the principal driving force behind the rising adoption of smartphones and tablets in the enterprise space during the second quarter, according to a new report from Good Technology. Significantly more iPad and iPad 2 activations took place in the three months through June than for Google Android-based smartphones and tablets, according to the mobile-device management and security provider.

Apple's iPad and iPad 2 activations (27.2 percent) exceeded Android smartphone and tablet activations (24 percent) for the first time ever. And when smartphones as well as tablets are included in the mix, Apple's iOS drove 75 percent of all enterprise activation activity -- with Android accounting for the remaining 25 percent in the second quarter. (Good Technology does not currently track BlackBerry or Windows Phone 7 activations).

"While Android may be gaining smartphone market share with consumers, our business users are clearly gravitating to the iPad and doing so in large numbers," said Good Technology Senior Vice President John Herrema.

"With new devices from Apple expected in the third quarter, we expect iOS to finish the year as strong as it started," the firm's report added.

Apple's Enterprise Dominance

Apple told investors Tuesday that 86 percent of Fortune 500 companies are deploying or testing iPad -- up from 75 percent in the prior quarter. "To be this far into the enterprise with a product that's only been shipping for 15 months in the case of iPad is absolutely incredible, because the enterprise is typically much more conservative and takes a long time to evaluate products," Apple COO Timothy Cook said.

The device maker sold more than 33 million iOS devices in the second quarter and now has more than 100,000 iPad-specific apps in its App Store. Moreover, Good Technology reports that the iPhone accounted for 66 percent of all activations in the second quarter, with Android smartphones representing nearly 33 percent.

Android accounted for 30.1 percent of all tablet shipments in the second quarter, according to Strategy Analytics. However, Good Technology pointed out that 95 percent of tablet activations in the enterprise space were iOS devices. Additionally, financial services accounted for 46 percent of net iPad activations among the top 10 industry verticals.

Due to perceived security issues among some IT administrators and corporate users, Android has gained relatively little traction in the enterprise space. And this is likely to remain a niche market for Android tablet vendors in the second half of this year, according to Strategy Analytics Director Neil Mawston.

Android's Consumer Opportunities

The consumer space is where the Android platform is poised to make the most gains in the second half of this year with the launch of new tablets from familiar vendors such as Lenovo and Sony. Amazon.com is also rumored to be interested in entering the Android tablet race later this year, which would "bring fresh excitement and buzz" to the Android community, Mawston noted.

"But Amazon will need to deliver a truly standout offering if it really wants to make headway against the popular iPad," Mawston said.

Barnes & Noble is another possible Android tablet player. "If B&N sticks with e-book readers, then it risks lagging behind Amazon -- or being consumed by the surging tablet market," Mawston said.

Mawston thinks Barnes & Noble will eventually have to "bite the bullet" and formally enter the tablet market while hoping that its products can be differentiated enough to stand out from the crowd. "However, B&N is relatively U.S.-centric, and it remains to be seen whether it can generate the scale or brand equity arguably needed to compete with the larger global players like Apple in the long term," he added.

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Threatened by iPad, PCs start to look like tablets

NEW YORK (AP) — The response by computer makers to the iPad stealing sales from them: Make their PCs more like iPads.

The "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" strategy" is prompting a wave of experimentation with the design of the laptop, which has been largely unchanged for two decades. Touch-sensitive screens and the use of Google's Android system for mobile devices are two ways the PC industry is adapting.

About 50 million tablets are expected to be sold this year, and that could double to as many as 100 million next year. PC shipments worldwide grew just over 2 percent in the second quarter, short of what research firms IDC and Gartner had expected. The popularity of tablet computers was one of the main reasons.

One way PC makers are countering the threat is with iPad-style tablets running Android, but these haven't seen wide success so far. And in trying to emulate the iPad, they're competing with not just Apple, but also with phone makers such as Motorola Inc., which are launching their own tablets.

So PC makers are offering hybrids that try to offer the best of both worlds. Some are tablet-like devices that come with keyboards, which the iPad doesn't have. Others are PC-like, combining the tablet's signature touch-screen with the ability to run heavy-duty Windows programs for photo editing and design.

Witness the Acer Iconia, a Windows laptop that looks like any other when the lid is down. When you open it, you'll find two touch-sensitive screens and no keyboard, similar to a tablet computer. To type, you bring up a virtual keyboard on the lower screen. If you're not using the keyboard, Web pages can flow from the top screen to the bottom one.

Another iPad-like laptop is the Dell Inspiron Duo. Its screen can be flipped around to face outward when the lid is closed. When folded that way, it works like a tablet.

Lenovo Group also sells a Windows laptop with a screen that can be detached from the keyboard to function as an Android tablet.

"We should learn some things from tablets," such as the iPad's user-friendly interface and the ease of installing software from outside parties, said Yang Yuanquing, the CEO of Lenovo, the world's fourth-largest maker of PCs.

Hewlett-Packard Co., the world's largest maker of personal computers, is giving its PCs the ability to run applications written for its webOS software, which runs on smartphones and a tablet, the TouchPad.

In their experimentation, PC makers are reviving designs haven't been very successful in their previous incarnations. The laptop with a screen that detaches to become a tablet is an idea that dates to 2002, when a flurry of tablet computers debuted along with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Tablet Edition.

This earlier generation of tablet PCs didn't catch on because they were expensive and too heavy for comfortable use in tablet mode. "Windows Tablet Edition" wasn't much different from regular Windows, and it wasn't fully adapted for tablet use. Microsoft added more touch-oriented features when it released Windows 7 in 2009.

Even with the improvements in Windows, however, the PC faces hurdles in mimicking the tablet's design.

Windows isn't a very friendly operating system for tablets, partly because it needs Intel-style processors to run on. These chips drain batteries much faster than the cellphone-style chips used in the iPad, with a core designed by ARM Holdings PLC. ARM chips can save power by turning off parts of themselves when they're not in use, among other tricks.

"A lot of what makes the iPad an iPad is the long battery life," technology analyst Rob Enderle said.

Windows-based PCs and tablet computers that use Intel chips need bigger batteries, which make the devices heavier. Even then, the batteries don't last as long as the iPad's. The Dell Inspiron Duo weighs 3.4 pounds, or two and a half times the weight of the iPad. It has four hours of battery life, compared with 10 on the iPad.

Microsoft is hard at work developing a version of Windows that will run on ARM chips, and it's expected to be ready next year. That means the next generation of laptops could match the iPad for weight and battery life.

But while waiting for the new software, PC makers are in an uncomfortable situation. The new software might be what they need, but in the meantime, they have to try other means to distract consumers from the iPad, such as borrowing tablet features. These experiments with laptop-tablet hybrids are unlikely to be as important as the advent of the new system, currently dubbed Windows 8. But something might stick, providing a model for the future of PCs.

"Right now the PC industry is fighting kind of a holding action," Enderle said.

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AP Technology Writers Rachel Metz and Jordan Robertson contributed from San Francisco.

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Online:

Dell Inspiron Duo: http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-duo/pd

Acer Iconia: http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/iconia-home

Asus Eee Slate: http://bit.ly/oZTTPv

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Did the iPad really lose a big chunk of share to Android? - CNET

Almost all market indicators show that the iPad continues to shut out Android rivals. But is that the whole story?

First, let's take a look at some recent headlines that seem to point to the iPad's unassailable market position:

iPad, iOS adoption heating up the business world
Apple's iPad surpasses 100,000 app mark
Apple's Runaway Train: 9.25 Million iPads, 20 Million iPhones sold in Q3
All the world's an iPad? Maybe
Apple iPad awaits back-to-school boom

These kinds of stories (of which there are way too many to count) are not encouraging for forward sales of Android tablets like the Motorola Xoom, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, the Lenovo ThinkPad tablet, or the Acer Iconia, among others. The 100,000 apps mark headline especially stings.

But wait. Dig a little more and this recent headline pops up: iPad share of tablet shipments fell in second quarter, says report. The story continues. "For the second quarter of the year, Apple grabbed 61 percent of the global tablet business, shipping a record 9.3 million iOS-based tablets. Though still a healthy chunk, that number was down from the 94 percent share the company scooped up a year ago."

Are these numbers representative of Android's growing market strength in tablets?

(Credit: Strategy Analytics)

So, what's going on here? Are we at last seeing some real market gains by Android? It appears that the key metric is sell-out. Apple undoubtedly sells out all the iPads it can make. Is that the case for Android tablets? Sell-in numbers are notable, but what about sell-out?

The latter--also referred to as sell-through--appears to be murky for Android. That said, Android sell-in (shipment) numbers may increase as more large players enter the market, like Lenovo and Sony.

Which raises the question, will bigger sell-in translate to large Android sell-out numbers? Android, after all, does have maker momentum (if not market momentum). Name all of the top device makers in the world and pretty much every one of them is selling Android tablets or will sell them soon. Samsung, Sony, Motorola, Lenovo, LG, Acer, HTC, and Asus.

That market clout is already manifested in the U.S. via a phalanx of kiosks and displays at Best Buy and Staples proclaiming that Android tablets have arrived. (And count Hewlett-Packard among those making a big tablet-market play.)

And the Android camp's decibel level is rising every month--and it will only get louder. Will that noise be enough eventually to distract more consumers and make them tune in to Android? Just visit a major U.S. electronics retailer now and you may get your answer.

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Tablets Help a Business Stand Out, Improve Client Care - PCWorld

Tablets are creeping into the workplace, whether workers bring them from home or IT departments roll them out en masse. This development isn't altogether new, however; tablet PCs appeared two decades ago in such industries as healthcare and high finance. By and large, though, the earlier tablets ran Windows, and users mostly relied on custom pens and keyboards rather than fingertips to control them.

Yet the rise of consumer tablets--the iPad and its Android rivals--is changing how workers at small businesses tackle their jobs and interact with customers, clients, vendors, and each other.

Tablet sales worldwide will skyrocket from nearly 18 million last year to 108 million in 2012, according to projections by Gartner.

Large corporations are accepting tablets relatively slowly as they struggle to ensure security and to support users; but small and midsize businesses are diving in. Market research by TechAisle indicates that such businesses are using nearly 9 million tablets in the United States. In addition, half of the tablets that consumers buy are doing double duty in business.

What's not to love about a touchscreen computer that turns on instantly, lasts all day on a single charge, and slips into a backpack or purse? On a tablet, various lightweight apps and Web services provide nearly the same functionality as yesterday's desktop software--handling email, word processing, CRM databases, and much more. Savvy early adopters are using tablets creatively in place of cash registers, videoconferencing systems, menus, kiosks, and all sorts of paper-based forms.

At this point, however, tablets don't replace PCs outright as productivity powerhouses (you can read in detail about Tony Bradley's 30-day attempt to do so). Nor are they ideal for displaying all types of workplace content, such as PowerPoint presentations and instructional videos (Flash notoriously won't render on an iPad, and it can be flaky on Android). And finally today's touchscreen tablets aren't built for physically challenging environments--such as the wilderness, restaurant kitchens, and operating rooms.

Many industry observers maintain that tablets won't take off in the business world until they work better with legacy file formats, offer more security controls and user permissions levels, and integrate better into existing IT environments. (Microsoft, once early to the table, is now keeping us hungry.) And though the iPad was practically synonymous with tablet before Android copycats followed, it has trod the traditional Apple path of serving consumers, not businesses, first.

But that doesn't stop people from innovating with the new devices. We're only beginning to see how tablets will evolve in business. In the case study below, a medical practice uses tablets to gain a competitive edge and give patients a better understanding of their care. An older generation of tablets arrived decades ago in healthcare, but the user-friendliness of current iOS and Android slates won over staff and surgeons.

Just a few years ago, a large oral surgery practice in Connecticut relied predominantly on a few PCs for its tech needs. Some 15 employees had a mixed bag of cell phone models and plans, generating high bills for M&D Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. Billing and vendor management systems needed improvement. And doctors relied on small flatscreen monitors to show patients images related to their treatment.

M&D hoped to differentiate itself in the region by shifting its mobile strategy and embracing tablet PCs at its Milford location.

The Solution

M&D turned to Ubiquitour for help. First, the IT provider upgraded staff members' various cell phones to up-to-date smartphones, bundling the plans into one corporate account. Ubiquitour revamped M&D's calendar and practice management software, making some tools available on smartphones. It also updated the wireless and server infrastructure to support wireless data transfer of digital X-rays, CT scans, and patient consultations. Finally, Ubiquitour replaced the office's flatscreen monitors with iPads and a Motorola Xoom tablet available at the five patient chairs.

The Outcome

The tech overhaul took about 20 hours and cost close to $3000, with no need for future maintenance costs. Purchasing the tablets cost several thousand dollars more. As a result of the changes, M&D Oral Surgery immediately reduced its mobile phone bills, producing an estimated $10,000 in savings annually. And improved software, including mobile apps, have helped the staff streamline scheduling.

With tablets in place, patients can view and manipulate images of their X-rays as well as CT and 3D scans up close. Surgeons can display educational videos about recommended procedures. M&D saw a tenfold increase in patients choosing certain oral surgeries, and it distinguished itself from the competition. Most important, the practice enhanced patient communications and care.

--Case study submitted by Ubiquitour. All recommendations and opinions expressed represent the independent judgment of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of PCWorld or its editorial staff.

Douglas R. Grabowski, Jr., the founder of Ubiquitour, for more than 15 years has driven the technology directions for global companies. His expertise includes application and product development, infrastructure, market planning, and operations. Ubiquitour's clients comprise professional, medical, and business services companies, as well as nonprofits. Reach the IT pros at Ubiquitour.com or 866-520-6414.

If you're an IT solutions provider serving the small to midsize business market, and you'd like to learn how you can contribute to PCWorld Tech Audit, send mail to techaudit@pcworld.com. We're always looking for more talented pros. Tech Audit is written and produced in cooperation with IT professionals in the field.

Follow TechAudit and Elsa Wenzel on Twitter.

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New Display Dock for the iPad 2 - Bring the Apple Store Look Home

The new Display Dock for the iPad 2 showcases the iPad 2, iPhone or iPod in one convenient and easy to use docking base.

San Diego, California (PRWEB) July 25, 2011

newPCgadgets has announced the availability of the new Display Dock for the Ipad 2. Consumers can now dock their iPad 2 and iPhone/iPod just like the professionals at the Apple Store.

This is the first retail product to combine the iPad 2 and iPhone/iPod into one convenient and easy to use dockinh base. Perfect for home or business, the Display Dock meets the growing mobile needs of Apple users.

The new Display Dock is designed from high-quality clear acrylic and is similar to the look and feel of the Apple Store display. This elegant base provides the optimum viewing angle for the iPad 2 while also providing dual docks for the iPhone or iPod.

According to founder Michael Schriner, "We surveyed dozens of Southern California Apple Stores and discovered that customers were repeatedly asking to purchase the Apple iPad 2 display because they loved the look. It just made sense to produce a similar product for resale."

While similar in look, newPCgadgets has modified the design to make the Display Dock consumer friendly. This includes adding slots for headphones and charging cables, adding a finger slot for easy removal of the iPad 2, non-skid clear feet to prevent scratching and support brackets to enable use of the iPhone or iPod while in the dock.

Available in two models, the Display Dock is offered with dual ports and without. Each version has the same overall dimensions: 10"W x 9.25D x 1.25H and weighs 2 lbs. Cables are not included.

The iPad 2 Display Dock with dual ports is the ideal solution for combining multiple Apple devices into one docking base. The Display Dock without ports holds the iPad 2 only. This version is targeted towards retail, business displays or home use.

The Display Dock is custom milled and hand polished. Pricing ranges from $69.95 to $74.95 depending on model.

The new Display Dock will compliment any retail, home or office environment and showcase Apple's latest products.

# # #

Mike Schriner
info@newpcgadgets.com
(619) 729-6147
Email Information

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Rethink Advertising On The iPad

One of the most significant highlights from the Apple earnings call earlier this week was the stellar performance of the iPad. In the first full quarter that the iPad 2 was on sale, Apple doubled its iPad shipments compared to the previous quarter. There were a total of 9.25 million iPads sold in Q2 – a year over year increase of 183%. Most notably, the number of iPads shipped in Q2 exceeded the number of Mac shipments (3.95 million Macs were sold in the second quarter).

The success of the iPad clearly demonstrates just how mainstream a device the tablet has become – and how it continues to grow at the expense of the more conventional laptop/desktop.  However, if digital publishers are to leverage the growth of the tablet and grow revenue in a meaningful way, they will have to rethink their entire approach to advertising.

Here are three things digital publishers can do right away to capitalize on the tremendous opportunity that is the iPad:

1. Stop abusing the user experience – remove the click.

To state the obvious, the terrific user interface of the iPhone/Pad devices is a big factor driving their success.  People like interacting with Apple’s iOS suite of products because of their innate intuitiveness – you touch the device, and it acts in the way you expect it to.

Sadly, if interacting with the iPad is like a dream, then interacting with a lot of the advertising on the iPad is like walking off a ledge in the middle of the dream. This is because a large portion of mobile app advertising is click-based.  In a 2011 Harris Interactive survey, nearly half of the adults in the US said that they click on ads more often by mistake than they do on purpose.  The results highlighted just how disruptive click based advertising solutions can be.

Publishers wanting to make money off the iPad need to take a page from Apple’s earnings report. If they respect user experience, money will follow. And offering advertising that keeps people inside the app is a good start.

2. Leverage consumer behavior.

A recent article in Forbes revealed that about 50% of iPad consumers would opt-in to providing publishers with their first name, last name, email address and Zip.  This response rate is way above the industry average, and is a reflection of how consumers are more receptive to signing up for personalized content and advertising within the carefully curated environment of the Apple App Store.

What does this tell us? Instead of bombarding all of their consumers with a horde of irrelevant advertisements (as is common with impression based advertising), they might be better served by making a more meaningful connection with consumers and speaking to them in a relevant way.

3. Realize that the iPad and the iPhone are different.

There is a tendency to lump the mobile phone and the iPad under the same umbrella. However, publishers will do well to create entirely different content and monetization strategies for each of these devices.

To give just one example, the incredibly successful iPad publisher Flipboard plans to deliver an entirely new version of its app for the iPhone. Flipboard CEO Mike McCue says that the iPad is a "lean-back" device, while the iPhone is a "lean-forward" device. Instead of finding content and consuming it in a more leisurely way as they do on the iPad, people check the iPhone more regularly for news updates that are pertinent to day-to-day activities. Different devices. Different apps.

Daniel Cota of Color Effects is another example of an app developer who uses the larger form factor of the iPad to serve a larger number of contextually relevant signup ads. By using this approach, he is able to make up to twice the revenue as he would on the iPhone.

When they designed the iPad, Apple rethought the computer from the ground up. Now it’s the turn of publishers to do the same with regard to advertising.

Also Read

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Is A Windows 8 Tablet PC That's Like An Apple iPad 2 Possible? - Tablets Planet

Posted on 24. Jul, 2011 by Paul in Tablets

The Apple iPad 2 running Windows 8 is nothing more than a fantasy.

Now before you go all crazy I don’t mean making a Windows 8 tablet that’s running a mobile operating system like iOS on the Apple iPad 2. What I mean by building a Windows 8 tablet PC that offers iPad 2 benefits. Benefits that include 10 hours of battery life, quick boot and instant-on from sleep, speedy operation throughout the operating system, and a physical weight of 1.33 pounds. Is a Windows tablet with those features even possible?

In the history of the tablet PC there have been some lightweight models but those models were supplied with some very low-end specifications which ruined the Windows experiences. Also in the tablet PC’s history there have been some very powerful models released but they were also very expensive (close to $1000 starting prices), heavy (more than 3x an iPad 2), and battery life was iffy.

Everything about the Windows tablet PC’s past says that an iPad 2-like tablet is not possible. However Microsoft has unveiled Windows 8, and unlike previous Windows tablets the Windows 8 models can use ARM processors instead of the X86 Intel or AMD chips.

Microsoft has shown off Windows 8 running on ARM in a few live demonstrations but those demos haven’t shown anything that could be considered really amazing. In the demos the presenters have only shown Windows 8 on ARM doing one major task (playing a H.264 HD video or running Notepad), basically the demos have shown things that people already knew modern ARM processors were able to do. I haven’t seen a demo that shows multiple programs running at once.

I don’t know about you but when I’m using a full operating system like Windows I’m doing more than just one thing at a time. As I write this article on my Windows 7 computer I’m running 83 processes with six major programs running (Google Chrome, Firefox, Foobar2000, WordPad, VLC Player, and MajicJack) and my computer isn’t lagging at all.

Microsoft presents Windows 8 like it will be a Windows 7-like experience but with a new touch-friendly mode that’s available for users to mess around with on a touchscreen. Right now with Windows 7 Microsoft offers various versions for buyers to run on their PC, there is even a stripped down version for low-powered computers like netbooks (Windows 7 Starter Edition). Will Microsoft have a Windows 8 Tablet Edition available for ARM-powered tablets?

The Apple iPad 2 runs on an ARM processor and the operating system that was built specifically for that type of processor. When Microsoft launches Windows 8 it’s not really clear if they will offer an ARM only edition but my guess is they won’t it due to the extra confusion that would create. You see all the applications that Windows 7 can run right now on X86 processors aren’t coded for ARM support. Microsoft has spoken about creating tailored apps for Windows 8 that work for ARM powered tablet PC’s but it’s only talk about this point.

Microsoft is expected to launch Windows 8 sometime in the early part of 2012, and tablet PC’s running the OS might get shown off at CES in early January of 2012. Now whether a Windows 8 OEM or even Microsoft themselves will have a tablet ready, that can offer those iPad 2 benefits mentioned above, by early 2012 for a live demonstration is unknown.

Tags: apple ipad 2, ARM processor, Microsoft, Microsoft Windows 8, tablet, Tablet PC, Tablets, touch tablet, Windows 8 tablet, windows tablet

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