After iPad, Kindle Fire most desired tablet, study finds

After iPad, Kindle Fire most desired tablet, study finds | The Digital Home - CNET News CNET News 2011 

 

CNET News The Digital Home After iPad, Kindle Fire most desired tablet, study finds

 

by Don Reisinger November 21, 2011 5:38 AM PST

 

The Kindle Fire is heavily favored among consumers.

(Credit:Amazon)

Amazon's Kindle Fire has been available for less than a week, but already, it's a highly desiredtablet, a new study has found.

Among future tablet buyers, 65 percent of respondents said that they are planning to purchaseApple's iPad, a ChangeWave Research study found. In no time at all, Amazon's Kindle Fire has been able to attract 22 percent of future tablet buyers. The Samsung Galaxy Tab line, which has been available for over a year, was only able to muster 4 percent demand among consumers looking to buy a tablet in the coming months. According to ChangeWave, no other tablet vendor was able to secure just 1 percent demand among consumers.

That said, the pool of consumers who want to buy a tablet in the next 90 days isn't necessarily big. This month, 14 percent of consumers said that they plan to buy a tablet in the next three months, according to ChangeWave. But that is a marked improvement over the 6 percent demand tallied in August.

According to ChangeWave, the Kindle Fire isn't necessarily going to impact the iPad, which will continue to dominate the tablet space if these numbers hold up, but it is a major threat to all other tablet vendors that are trying to establish their products in the space.

What tablets do consumers want to buy over the next 90 days?

(Credit:ChangeWave Research)

"The launch of the Amazon Kindle Fire represents a shot across the bow at Apple, who until now has almost completely dominated the tablet space," ChangeWave said today in a statement. "But the most immediate impact of the Amazon device is on the rest of the competition, where the survey shows it wreaking a devastating blow to a range of second-tier tablet manufacturers, including Motorola, RIM, Dell, HTC, HP and Toshiba."

But does Apple really have nothing to worry about? ChangeWave's latest findings follow earlier research from the company that found that 26 percent of those who preordered the Kindle Fire or said that they would buy it soon after launch were planning to delay an iPad purchase. Furthermore, RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky said earlier this month that over 25 percent of those who plan to buy the Kindle Fire are saying that they'd rather have Amazon's tablet rather than the iPad.

Related LinksKindle Fire cutting into consumer appetite for iPad--SurveyAndroid coming on store in tablets, Q3 data showsCNET answers your Kindle Fire questions

So, perhaps the Kindle Fire will, in fact, impact the iPad. But impacting and beating the iPad are two very different things.

According to research from Strategy Analytics from last month, Apple secured 66.6 percent of the worldwide tablet market in the third quarter, easily outpacing all other vendors. The company is also expected to launch 12 million to 13 million iPad units this quarter, tripling the 4 million Kindle Fire tablets that will be shipping during the period, according to Rodman & Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar.

ChangeWave's latest findings are based on 3,043 Norther American consumer responses.

Don Reisinger Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, posting at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.

Topics: Digital Home Tags: Apple, Kindle Fire, Amazon, iPad

Popular headlines Seagate wins $525M in arbitration spat with Western Digital Amazon may be launching an 8.9-inch Kindle Fire in Q2 2012

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IPad Dropped in Protective Sleeve by Parachutists, Survives Fall

The problem with Apple’s iPad is that it looks so … delicate. It may be sleek and slim and versatile, but there’s all that screen on the front  just waiting to break if it’s dropped.  Unsurprisingly, the market for protective sleeves has boomed almost as fast as sales for the iPad itself.

To stand above the crowd, a Rhode Island company called G-Form hired some skydivers and asked them to jump out of a plane, carrying a couple of iPads  inside its Extreme Edge and Extreme Portfolio sleeves. At an altitude of 1,300 feet, the parachutists let go of the iPads, hoping they would hit the runway below.

The result? Well, as publicity stunts go, it was a success. The video on YouTube has had half a million hits so far.

“The very first videos we did weren’t meant to sell iPad cases,” said Lily Wray, G-Form’s director of marketing. “We were just trying to show how the technology worked.” The cases, she said, are made with “rate-dependent smart material,” which feels soft if  you touch it gently but is designed to harden in case of real impact.

The company mostly makes athletic gear — knee pads, elbow pads and the like, said Wray — “and we decided, why not apply it to other things?”

Wray insisted, when we asked, that there were no iPad disasters in the 1,300-foot fall  that didn’t make it online. The iPads, though,  never  hit the runway as hoped, since a tablet computer, even in a padded case, does get caught in  air currents.

What’s next? Watch out for falling copies of Amazon’s Kindle Fire.

Click HERE for More From the ABC News Gadget Guide.

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iPad Could Make Apple Tops in Computer Sales Globally

The Tab Is Fab

Soaring sales of last year's iPad and this year's iPad 2 will help drive total 2011 global PC shipments to 415 million, up 15 percent year-on-year, Canalys says, while tablet shipments will reach a whopping 55 million units by year's end. Heavy volume during the holiday season may drive fourth-quarter figures to 22 million, with the iPad dominating the market. Amazon's Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet will also be competitive, the firm said.

But is lumping tablets together with laptops and desktops as personal computers, well, mixing apples and oranges?

No, says Rob Enderle, principal analyst at Enderle Group.

"Actually tablets historically were PCs, and as we move into next year the new ones, which started out more like big smartphones without the phone part, will be getting four- and five-core processors and begin to run Windows," Enderle said.

Finnish handset giant Nokia has recently signaled that its debut next year in the tablet market will be a Windows 8 device.

Noting that they are competitively priced, Enderle has been suggesting for some time that tablets should be included in PC market share numbers as consumers increasingly choose between the two.

"I've seen a number of reports that actually don't put Apple on the chart in order to make the PC vendors look better and I think that is a huge mistake, because it creates a false sense of confidence," Enderle said.

"The risk for Apple is much of their historic value has been their exclusivity. As the No. 1 vendor in the segment they won't be exclusive anymore, and premium providers typically can't maintain premium status if they become the status quo. "

All Is Not Peachy for Apple

Canalys also believes that Apple has some challenges ahead.

"Apple has seen its PC market share expand from 9 percent to 15 percent in just four quarters, though iPad shipments in its core market -- the United States -- are likely to come under pressure in Q4 due to the launch of the Fire and Nook at extremely competitive price points," said Canalys Analyst Tim Coulling. "HP and Apple will fight for top position in Q4, but Apple may have to wait for the release of iPad 3 before it passes HP."

Earlier this year, Morgan Stanley Analyst Katy Huberty cited cannibalization of the traditional PC market by tablets in reducing her forecast for PC shipments in 2011 from 7 percent to 2 percent.

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Kindle Fire Eating Up Tablet Share, But Not Toppling iPad

As soon as Amazon announced the Kindle Fire tablet, it was positioned as the first device with real potential to knock the iPad off its throne. A new study from Changewave shows that while there is significant interest in the Kindle Fire, Amazon's tablet is swiping market share from other tablets rather than the iPad.

As reported by RegHardware, Changewave polled 3,000 North American consumers to find that 19 percent of them are thinking about buying a Fire. That breaks down to 2 percent who said they'd already ordered a Kindle Fire, 5 percent who said they were very interested in the tablet, and 12 percent who claimed they were "somewhat" likely to buy the device.

Apple's iPad still reigns supreme, but the Kindle Fire is gaining momentum. Changewave said 65 percent of respondents reported that they want an iPad. Nearly a quarter (22 percent) picked the Kindle Fire and just 4 percent chose the Samsung Galaxy Tab. Changewave noted that "no other manufacturer is garnering more than 1 percent of future tablet demand among consumers."

A February report from Changewave showed different results, RegHardware noted. A whopping 82 percent of consumers wanted an iPad, and there was a meager showing from non-Apple tablet makers with only 4 percent reporting that they would buy a Motorola Xoom, 3 percent saying they'd nab a RIM BlackBerry PlayBook, 3 percent pining for a Galaxy Tab, and 8 percent selecting "other."

A greater percentage of iPad owners are pleased with their tablet purchase, according to Changewave's data. About two-thirds (74 percent) of iPad owners said they're happy with their tablet, while just under half (49 percent) of owners of other tablets said they're satisfied with their device.

For more, see PCMag's full reviews of the Kindle Fire and iPad 2 and the Fire slideshow below.

For more from Leslie, follow her on Twitter @LesHorn.

For the top stories in tech, follow us on Twitter at @PCMag.

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Hands-On With The EZseal iPad Screen Protector

It's not as nice as naked, but the EZseal is as close to Fetherlight as you can get

I love to use my iPad 2 almost bareback, With nothing but the Smart Cover to protect it. This is, however, the gadget equivalent of wearing a t-shirt with no pants or underwear, and offers about as much protection in the outside world.

A few screen-gashes later and I was happy to accept GreatShield’s EZseal screen protector. I usually hate screen protectors, but — despite some problems — this one turns out alright.

First, fitting. The GreatShield claims to be bubble free, and it is. This is done by making only the black, bezel-covering edges sticky. The central section is a mere window onto the screen. You can reapply as many times as you like, and also wash the sheet. Once you get it placed properly so the holes line up with the camera, home button and ambient light sensor, you should be good to go. If you have any “bagginess” in the cover, readjusting eliminates it.

The cover actually feels a little nicer than the screen, or at least a little easier for the finger to glide over. And it does an admirable job of protection. The edges don’t peel away, and I have been tossing my iPad plus Smart Cover into a crowded bag with no problems.

No problems, that is, until last Friday night. I’m not sure when it happened, or how, but in the morning I saw a big, deep scar across the iPad’s screen. Then I realized that the EZseal had taken one for the team, and the screen itself was unscathed.

It’s not perfect, though. The model I tested was the anti-glare version. This cuts down on light transmission. Inside, you only notice this as a slight lowering of contrast when watching movies. Outside, it also scatters sunlight making the screen much harder to see. There is also a pixelly pattern in the protector, although you get used to this fast.

It’s a compromise, but a good one. I will probably buy myself a glossy version, and although the freshly-polished screen of the iPad will always look nicer than any prophylactic, protection is often the more sensible option. The only rub is the price. At $50, you can find cheaper versions that work the same way. And yes, I know that Amazon is selling it for $18, but we list MSRPs here.

Overall, recommended, especially if you get a good price. Available in black or white. One aside: Is it me, or is the iPad 2 screen significantly more susceptible to scratches than the original?

GreatShield EZseal product page [Amazon]

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Kindle Fire 2 and iPad 3 "to go head-to-head" - Telegraph.co.uk

The updated Kindle Fire is said to have an 8.9-inch touch screen, compared to the current version's 7-inch display.

According to the Taiwanese technology blog Digitimes the electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn will begin production of the new Kindle Fire in the first quarter of 2012, in time for launch in the second quarter.

Apple’s third-generation iPad will reportedly debut around the same time. It will be thicker than the iPad by 0.77mm, said iLounge, citing anonymous sources. The extra space will reportedly accommodate bulkier screen lights, required by a higher-resolution “Retina” screen, as first used in the iPhone 4.

The updated device is on track for a March release, iLounge said.

It would set up an intriguing head-to-head clash next spring between Amazon and Apple; the iPad has so far dominated the tablet computing market.

The Android-based Kindle Fire, introduced in the United States this month, is widely seen as the most credible challenger yet. It costs half the price of an iPad 2, but has received mixed reviews that said it lacks polish. A quick update with improved specifications could mark the start of the real contest with Apple.

The iPad 3 is expected to keep the technological pressure up on rivals with an upgraded processor for increasingly demanding tablet apps. The Apple A6 is thought to be based on the British firm ARM’s new four-core architecture. The iPad 2’s A5 processor has only two cores.

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iPad 2 Rival Alert : Asus Eee Pad Transformer Down To £299.99 - ITProPortal

 The great clear out seems to have started; after the HP TouchPad and the RIM Blackberry PlayBook, it is now the turn of the Asus Eee Pad Transformer to see a significant price cut.

The tablet, which is also known as the TF101, is now available from HMV for just £299.99, a 25 per cent discount off its suggested retail price at launch.

This is a lesser cut compared to the two other mentioned tablets but is still a very good price for a tablet that will not be very different from the model which has already been announced.

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime comes with a Tegra 3 chipset clocked at 1.4GHz, the same amount of onboard memory, 32GB storage, a better eight megapixel camera, a slimmer profile (a third less), a better battery life while weighing less.

Arguably, expect to pay more for th e newer model which also sports the same 10.1-inch 1280x800 pixels IPS capacitive touchscreen.

The first generation Transformer is powered by Android 3.0 Honeycomb (and we expect it to be upgradable to Ice Cream Sandwich at a latter stage).

The optional docking station is expected to almost double the battery life to a whopping 16 hours.

I have been musing and writing about technology since 1999 back in my native country Mauritius, dreaming back in 1997 of a world full of avatars...

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Survey suggests iPad users want more magazines on tablet - Appolicious

Back when Apple first rolled out its subscription setup for publications in the iTunes App Store, there was quite a bit of initial enthusiasm. Despite some issues with the policy at first, it seemed like most publishers were seeing the iPad (and other tablets like it) as a big new revenue stream for an industry that had been struggling for years producing primarily in print and on the web.

It has been about six months since that subscription policy was enacted. Some publishers, such as Conde Naste, have embraced the iPad with many magazines and have seen a big boost in subscriptions, while others have kept things a little more calm and made only a few issues or publications available for Apple’s juggernaut mobile device. But according to a new survey from by the Association of Magazine Media, a publishing trade group, it seems people who read magazines and other publications on their iPads would like to be reading even more on their devices.

AllThingsD has the story, in which the survey finds that some two-thirds of people reading magazines, newspapers and similar publications on tablets and e-readers expect to be reading even more of those kinds of publications on their tablets in 2012. Of those, 63 percent say they want more publications available on their devices. The survey also found about 46 percent of users are consuming more publications in general, both in print and on tablets. The majority of magazines and other publications are consumed on the iPad, AllThingsD writes, though the survey was targeted at all tablets and e-readers.

The survey focused on 1,009 people who were “pre-screened” for owning the right kinds of mobile devices – tablets and e-readers – and for using magazine apps on those tablets. As AllThingsD writes, the very fact that the survey has been conducted says something about the mobile industry in general and the mobile publishing industry in particular. Up until just recently, there weren’t enough people in both of those categories to accurately conduct a study, an Association of Magazine Media spokesman said.

The information gleaned from the survey paints a pretty rosy picture of the future of the magazine business, but it also shows that Apple’s bid to handle subscriptions on its mobile device has paid off pretty well. That the survey even exists shows, apparently, that lots of iPad customers are reading magazines on their tablets. And as the survey data demonstrates, many of them wish there was more to read.

Magazine and newspaper publishers have been struggling for years with the transition into a digital age. Print subscriptions are declining, while making strong revenues from the Internet has proven extremely difficult. It seems that at least part of the bridge between the two, and to keeping publications making money in the face of new technology, might consist of mobile devices like the iPad.

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Report: Apple's iPad Dominance Fades

Credit: DzineBlog360.comDespite a 20 percent increase in shipped units during the past three months, the iPad's share of the global tablet market slipped mightily in the face of growing competition from Android slates.

On an earnings call earlier this week, Apple revealed that iPad shipments for the most recent calendar quarter rose to 11.12 million units, compared to 9.2 million in the previous quarter.

That news, though, was offset Friday by a report from Strategy Analytics that the iPad's share of the global tablet market—previously a domineering 96 percent—had fallen to 67 percent. Meanwhile, Android tabs had grown their market share to 27 percent.

While iPad shipments have increased 164 percent during the first three months of this year, the numbers inside those numbers are revealing. From quarter one to quarter two, shipments climbed 96.4 percent. That contrasts starkly with the 20 percent increase from Q2 to Q3.

"It is clear that the iPad is experiencing slowing growth," observed IDC analyst Tom Mainelli in a research note today.

Credit: DeviantArt's Ayo73

One reason for slowing shipments is that Apple has picked all the low hanging fruit in the tablet market, he asserted. "Many of the affluent consumers most likely to spend $500 or more on an iPad in markets such as the United States have already done so, and these buyers have now moved into a replacement buying cycle," he noted.

What's more, he continued, the iPad may be entering a period when seasonality will begin to affect its sales, with much of the growth in a year being jammed into the fourth quarter. He reasoned that if Apple wants maintain past shipment levels, it's going to have to appeal to mainstream consumers. For them, he continued, $500 for a tablet is a hard sell, even harder in the face of the competition like Amazon's upcoming $199 Kindle Fire.

"Amazon's strategy of minimizing its hardware price is set to ignite the entry-level tablet segment and attract more mass-market consumers," Strategy Analytics Director Neil Mawston said in a statement.

So if Apple wants to compete in that mainstream market, Mainelli maintained, it's going to need to augment its media tablet lineup with lower-priced products. That doesn't necessarily mean introducing something like a seven-inch iPad, as has been suggested by some observers. Apple can simply adopt the strategy it has used for its iPhone lineup, Mainelli noted.

"Following this strategy," he explained, "we might see Apple offer the current $499 16GB/WiFi-only Apple iPad 2 at $399 or less after it launches the iPad 3 at $499 and up."

"Lower-priced iPads would increase Apple's total available market, and would give competitors already reeling from Amazon's $199 product announcement yet another reason to lose sleep at night," he added.

Follow freelance technology writer John P. Mello Jr. and Today@PCWorld on Twitter.

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150 years ago, a primitive Internet united the USA - The Associated Press

150 years ago, a primitive Internet united the USABy JOHN ROGERS, Associated Press – 1 minute ago 

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Long before there was an Internet or an iPad, before people were social networking and instant messaging, Americans had already gotten wired.

Monday marks the 150th anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental telegraph. From sea to sea, it electronically knitted together a nation that was simultaneously tearing itself apart, North and South, in the Civil War.

Americans soon saw that a breakthrough in the spread of technology could enhance national identity and, just as today, that it could vastly change lives.

"It was huge," says Amy Fischer, archivist for Western Union, which strung the line across mountains, canyons and tribal lands to make the final connection. "... With the Civil War just a few months old, the idea that California, the growing cities of California, could talk to Washington and the East Coast in real time was huge. It's hard to overstate the impact of that."

On Oct. 24, 1861, with the push of a button, California's chief justice, Stephen J. Field, wired a message from San Francisco to President Abraham Lincoln in Washington, congratulating him on the transcontinental telegraph's completion that day. He added the wish that it would be a "means of strengthening the attachment which binds both the East and the West to the Union."

A rudimentary version of the Internet — not much more advanced than two tin cans and a string — had been born. But it worked, and it grew.

Just a few years after the nation was wired, telegraph technology would be extended to the rest of North America, and soon cylindrical wires from Mexico to Canada would jangle with little bursts of electromagnetic juice, sending messages of every kind and redefining how communication can mean business.

As the United States rebuilt itself following the devastating Civil War, it did so in no small part with money wired from Washington. In 1869, when the final piece of track connecting the transcontinental railroad was laid in Promontory, Utah, a young news organization called The Associated Press sent a story about it out on the wire.

"I really see the telegraph as the original technology, the grandfather of all these other technologies that came out of it: the telephone, the teletype, the fax, the Internet," said telegraph historian Thomas Jepsen, author of "My Sisters Telegraphic: Women In Telegraph Office 1846-1950."

In its time, the telegraph was in some ways an even greater influence on the way people communicate than the Internet is today.

"The transcontinental telegraph put the Pony Express out of business in the literal click of a telegrapher's key. That's not an exaggeration," says Christopher Corbett, author of "Orphans Preferred: The Twisted Truth and Lasting Legend of the Pony Express."

Indeed, the Pony Express, which boasted it could deliver a letter from Sacramento to St. Joseph, Mo., in the unheard of time of 10 days when it began operations on April 3, 1860, shut down 19 months later — on the same day the transcontinental telegraph went live.

Though dramatic, that was a short-term effect. "But the longer-term effect was we connected the nation in real time. ...," says Fischer. "For the first time, businesses could do business nationally. The government could communicate nationally in almost real time."

Just as the iPad, the iPod and the personal computer had a visionary genius behind them in Steve Jobs, the telegraph had one in Samuel F.B. Morse.

A painter and part-time inventor who twice ran unsuccessfully for mayor of New York, Morse was in his early 40s in 1831 when he came up with the idea for the telegraph. He said in his papers at the Library of Congress that it was inspired by a discussion about electromagnetics with a fellow passenger on an ocean liner.

By the mid-1830s he'd developed Morse Code, the series of dots and dashes that telegraph key operators would tap out on their little contraptions. The result would flash across the country, and later around the world, where it would be translated back into words on the other end.

Morse obtained a patent for his telegraph in 1840, and four years later he sent his famous first message — "What hath God wrought?" — over a line he'd strung from Washington to Baltimore with $30,000 in federal money.

The technology took off. In 1845, more than a century before the TV show "America's Most Wanted," a man named John Tawell was arrested in England for the murder of his mistress after police received a telegraphed tip, telling them where he was.

A year later, the AP was formed and began relaying news of the Mexican-American War through a combination of telegraph wires and horseback riders, which demonstrated a limitation in the new technology.

"The early days of the telegraph were a lot like the early days of the Internet," says Fischer. "There were a lot of little one-off companies that would connect one or maybe two cities, but no big networks."

Thus the need for the guys on horseback, to get the information to the next telegraph station.

By 1860, the telegraph was a lot like an early cell-phone system. Only instead of losing the connection when you stepped behind a big building, you lost it if you traveled west of Omaha, Neb. From the West coast, a message could be sent only as far east as Nevada.

The Pacific Telegraph Act would change that, becoming one of the first instances of the federal government setting telecommunications policy. Passed in 1860, it called for the government to hire a company that would extend the line across Nebraska, through Utah and Nevada, linking the West with the rest of the country.

With subsidiaries of Western Union building the system from both directions, they would meet in Salt Lake City.

To get there, the construction crews had to reassure wary Indian tribes whose land they were trespassing on. They did so by giving some gifts and by hiring others to build the thing.

They needed lumber, especially in the treeless desert terrain of Nevada, and it took more than 200 oxen more than a month to haul it across the Sierra Nevada, according to an account by James Gamble, who was in charge on the western end of the project.

Once they got the lumber in place, work crews hired guards, sometimes Indians, specifically to keep it from being stolen, just as at modern construction sites. There were homesteaders heading West, needing materials to build houses.

Along the eastern flank, there was a different problem, Jepsen noted. Crews initially fashioned some of the telegraph poles so small that buffalo, using them as scratching posts, knocked them over. Despite the obstacles, the line was completed in a matter of months.

"It's a very American story," said Corbett, adding that not only was the project brought in with amazing speed but that it "completely changed everything in a flash," from the introduction of groundbreaking technology to the country's own self-image.

"California was almost like a satellite, if you think about it," he said. "It was almost 2,000 miles between the Missouri River and the California slope. But something like the telegraph made it seem closer."

Completing the project so quickly also infused the country with a kind of can-do spirit that he and other historians say it may not have had in quite as much abundance when the project was initiated.

Telegraphers, hired by the thousands to relay every kind of information, created a new language, one of strange abbreviations that only they, and perhaps some wire service journalists, understood. Seventy-three, for example, meant goodbye; 30 was the number placed at the end of a news story to signify the end.

"It had a Twitter-like feel to it," said historian Bill Deverell, director of the USC-Huntington Institute on California and the West.

But unlike terms like LOL and BTW that cell-phone users created to save wear and tear on their thumbs, and later adapted to Twitter to stay under its 140-character count, telegraph abbreviations were done to keep from jamming up and slowing down the wire with needless words.

"Time was money," Deverell noted.

These days, telegrapher talk and even Morse Code, once used to keep track of ships at sea and prevent trains that shared main lines from running into each other, have been all but abandoned, made obsolete by the technological revolution the telegraph created.

The telephone was invented in 1876. In time, cell phones and personal computers came along, and in 2006, Western Union, the company that had made a name for itself by charging sweethearts to wire singing telegrams and chocolates to one another, stopped sending telegrams all together. (Wiring money remains a main business for the Denver-based company.)

Historian Jepsen sees value in reflecting on a milestone for Morse's invention.

"It really gives one a good understanding of how we got where we are and how the Internet evolved," he said. "The telegraph is really where it all started."

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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iPad 2 Smart Cover Exposes Security Flaw, Isn't So Smart After All

[Photo: Apple]Apple's Smart Covers are pretty cool--they attach magnetically to your iPad 2, and you can lock your iPad's screen simply by "closing" the cover. Lift the cover off the screen, and your iPad wakes right up. Unfortunately, members of the German forum Apfeltalk ("Apple Talk") discovered a bug in how iOS handles the Smart Cover that makes it possible to bypass the iPad's passcode screen. Yikes.

To trigger this glitch, hold down the power button and wait for the iPad to ask to power off. When that happens, place the smart cover over the tablet. Next, take the cover off again, cancel the power down, and you're in--no passcode required.

The bug generally seems to affect iPads running iOS 5, but 9to5Mac has also discovered that the issue is present on some that are still running iOS 4.3.

It's bad news, but it could be worse: While someone may be able to get onto your iPad using this trick, they'll only be able to get at whatever app you happen to have open. And if you left off at the homescreen, anyone who triggers this glitch won't be able to open anything; they'll only be able to see what apps you installed (although they can be rearranged or deleted if a prankster so desires). Spotlight is also fully functional.

Luckily, Apple is aware of the issue and is working on a fix. And for the time being, you can make it so your iPad doesn't automatically unlock when you open your Smart Cover; that way, even if someone uses this bypass trick, they'll only be greeted with the passcode screen. To change this setting, Open the Settings app, tap General, and change the setting for "iPad Cover Lock/Unlock" to "Off".

Check out 9to5Mac's video explaining the issue below:

[Apple Talk via 9to5Mac]

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iPad 2 smart cover found to 'bypass' passwords

After Siri, the Apple iPad 2?s ?Smart Cover" has been found to pose a potential threat to the security of the popular tablet computer, an Apple enthusiast site reported.

The security flaw allows anyone with a ?Smart Cover" to bypass even a password-protected iPad 2, 9to5mac.com said in a blog post.

?Now, a real iOS security flaw has emerged, and anyone with a Smart Cover can break into your ?password-protected? iPad 2. This issue occurs in iOS 5, but we?re hearing uncorroborated reports of it also working in earlier versions of iOS 4.3," it said.

The discovery was publicized days after it was bared that Siri, the personal assistant in Apple?s new iPhone 4S, can allow access to iPhone functions even if the iPhone is locked.

However, 9to5mac.com said the problem with Siri was more of an indented feature since the iPhone 4S? user settings can prevent Siri from giving access to a locked iPhone.

A demo video posted on the site showed that while a person unlocks your the iPad 2 will not have complete access to the iPad, he or she will be able to gain entrance to whatever the user locked his or her iPad 2 on.

?If your iPad 2 went to sleep in Mail, Safari, Messages, Contacts, or Maps, you can imagine the sorts of personal information that can be viewed on your iPad. If you left your iPad 2 on its Home screen, the person can view which applications you have on your device, control media from the multitasking bar, but not much else," it said.

The site said users can recreate the scenario with the following steps:

Lock a password protected iPad 2
Hold down power button until iPad 2 reaches turn off slider
Close Smart Cover
Open Smart Cover
Click cancel on the bottom of the screen

Temporary solution

A temporarily fix for this bug is to disable Smart Cover unlocking in the iPad 2 settings menu under the General tab.

?Misleading? Apple statement

Computer security firm Sophos noted a ?misleading" statement by Apple regarding the iPad for business, where it supposedly provides hardware encryption for all data stored on the device.

It also provides additional encryption of email and application data with enhanced data protection.

But it said iOS 5 devices have the exact same implementation flaw of the AES 256 encryption as iOS 4: While the data is encrypted, iOS provides unfettered access without knowing the passcode or posessing the encryption keys.

?This type of misleading statement shows how the specific meaning of a statement might imply that all of your data is protected where the reality is the devil is in the implementation details," it said in a blog post.

Sophos said this means all media such as photos, videos, sound recordings and music can be accessed from a computer that can speak Apple?s control protocol without any authentication, even if the device is locked.

Unauthorized calls

Sophos also cited an article on MacNotes.de describing how to make unauthorized outgoing phone calls with someone?s locked iPhone with iOS 5 - if you have a missed call notification.

?If you were to forge your caller ID (somewhat trivial for VoIP users) you could call someone?s iPhone with a number you wanted to call out to and then just tap the screen to dial the number," it said. ? TJD, GMA News

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5 iPad Gadgets for Geeks

To most users, the iPad is a sleek tablet for watching videos, nosing around the Web and reading the occasional e-book. But to tech enthusiasts, the iPad can also be a platform to satisfy their intense curiosity.

We've gathered a bunch of unique gizmos that have one thing in common: they can take the iPad into new -- and often unexpected -- directions.

Ranging from techno toy to digital tool, these devices include a mini joystick, a digital voltmeter, an oscilloscope that lets you peer inside an electronic circuit, an iPad-controlled telescope that helps you view the night sky and a fascinating robotic ball.

These gadgets and instruments work with all iOS-based devices, including the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. However, after using each, I've found that all work best with the big screen that the iPad offers.

In short, these iPad add-ons can turn an ordinary iPad into a tool for exploration and discovery.

Ten One Design

Price: $19.95

Fun and games is what Ten One's Fling is all about. This snap-on mini joystick can help gamers play more efficiently (and get to new game levels faster) -- however, it only works with some of the iPad-ready games available.

The Fling snap-on mini joystick offers better game play.Fling's small, circular plastic frame has a central button surrounded by a flexible, plastic, spiral-shaped arm. It is held in place on the iPad's screen by a pair of suction cups. At 3 in. wide, it's a good size for the iPad's 9.7-inch screen; Ten One makes a pair of smaller joysticks called Fling mini for iPhones ($24.95).

The best part about Fling is that it is purely mechanical and doesn't require any software to use. In the lower left corner of many iPad games is a circular control pad that looks like a compass; it lets you control the game by pressing with your finger. You just wait for your game to start and then press the cups into place right over the game's controller spot. Serious gamers playing complex games can use two Flings at once.

I used it with an iPad to conquer new worlds (BattleNoidz HD), fend off alien attacks Heavy Gunner 3D) and drive a monster truck (4X4 Offroad Racing). Fling gave me more precise control over the action. It also allowed me to respond to on-screen events faster because I was able to keep my finger on the button rather than having to take it off the screen's surface periodically. It works just as well with a thumb or forefinger on either hand, so lefties can use it too.

Currently, Fling works with only about 200 games (Ten One has an informal list); with luck, over time there will be more that are compatible.

Bottom line

At $20, the Fling (which comes with a microfiber pouch for storage) is a bargain that can make iPad gaming a lot more rewarding.

Redfish Instruments

Price: $485

Redfish's iDVM iPad-enabled digital multimeter can help you troubleshoot all sorts of electronics by probing voltage, current and resistance. At $485, however, it is an expensive tool.

Redfish's iDVM digital voltmeter can help you troubleshoot electronics.The iDVM connection box is a 4.6-by-2.8-by-1.1-inch device to which you attach the included electronic probes. It connects to the iPad via Wi-Fi; a blue LED light on the connection box shows that it's connected. It weighs 5.6 oz., making it smaller and lighter than a standalone multimeter.

Unfortunately, no alligator clips are included for connecting to circuits in tough-to-reach places, but it's easy to use your own.

To get started, you'll need to download the free iDVM app from the App Store. The app resembles a cartoon version of a handheld multimeter. There's a window for readings, a dial for choosing whether you want to measure voltage (from 0.4 to 300 volts), resistance (0 to 4 mega ohms) or current (0.1 milliamp to 4 amps). There's also a handy continuity tester that measures whether the circuit has a break in it.

There are icons for holding the reading at any point, displaying the minimum and maximum as well as changing the range of the readings. At any time, you can grab a screenshot (but not a video).

The software works in portrait or landscape mode. The former adds a graph of the readings over time, while the latter has a list of the program's saved files. At any time, you can set the iDVM to tell you the readings via audio, although the synthesized voice quickly gets annoying.

Once everything was set up, I attached the iDVM's probes to a new 9-volt battery and verified its reading with a standalone Radio Shack multimeter; the two readings agreed perfectly. I found that the Wi-Fi connection had a range of 85 feet.

I used the iDVM to troubleshoot a car stereo that shuts itself off with no warning while driving. After connecting the iDVM probes to the stereo's power cable, I drove around listening to the meter tell me the voltage readings until the stereo cut out; at the same time, the voltage reading dropped to zero. Sure enough, I found that the stereo's power connector was loose, causing an intermittent fault.

The rechargeable device ran for nearly 11 hours before its battery ran down, easily outlasting the iPad's battery. The iPad interface has a four-segment gauge that shows how much power remains in the iDVM's battery.

Bottom line

All in all, the iDVM transforms an iPad into a capable multimeter for everything from checking batteries to sniffing out an electronic fault. However, it costs about 10 times what a good handheld meter will cost.

Osciumstrong

Price: $297.99

To my mind, the ultimate tech tool is the oscilloscope. It not only probes the inner workings of an electronic circuit but can be more interesting to watch than a TV. Oscium's Mixed Signal Oscilloscope iMSO-104 turns an iPad into a go-anywhere oscilloscope with exceptional graphics.

Oscium's iMSO-104 turns an iPad into a go-anywhere oscilloscope.The iMSO-104 consists of a small piece of hardware that plugs into the iOS device's 30-pin dock connector. This connects to a variety of probes and cables; the cables are only about 14 inches long, which can be confining for a large project.

Before using the iMSO-104, you have to download Oscium's free app. Once it's set up, the iMSO-104 is capable of performing tasks that you'd expect from a much more expensive device.

For example, it can send complex signals into an electronic circuit and examine the signals that come out, a valuable technique in troubleshooting modern electronics or developing new circuits. It works in both analog and digital modes, has six measurement probes and can capture and display up to 12 million samples per second.

On top of measuring the frequency and period of the signal, the iMSO-104 can show the signal's minimum, maximum and mean values as well as peak to peak, root mean square readings and even sophisticated and fast Fourier transform signals.

Because visualization is the iMSO-104's forte, it works best on the iPad's larger screen. Each probe wire is color-coded to what's shown on the screen, and it can show everything from a simple sine wave to complicated mixed signals on one screen with a variety of colors. At any point, you can zoom in on any area of the graph with the two-finger pinching gesture. The app can save and email screenshots of your results.

I used the oscilloscope to troubleshoot a problem with a radio that produced lower volume in the right channel compared to the left one. Later, it helped me figure out that a network jumper cable wasn't correctly wired at the factory.

It can't do everything, however. The iMSO-104 tops out at 40 volts and has a threshold of 1.7 volts, which some will find constraining. Plus, its plug heats up while it's in use. And I wish it had the ability to create a video of the on-screen action.

Bottom line

If you use an oscilloscope and own an iPad, this is a great way to get the job done using both technologies to support one another.

Orion Telescopes & Binoculars

Price: $399.99

Works with: Orion StarSeeker Wi-Fi Telescope Control Module ($159.99); Orion Star Seek 3 ($9.99)

The Orion StarSeeker 130 GoTo Reflector Telescope is useful for both longtime star gazers and absolute beginners. All you have to do is pick what you want to see on your iPad, and the scope automatically orients itself to the correct position in the night sky.

The Orion StarSeeker 130 GoTo Reflector Telescope will suit beginners and long-time star gazers.However, you will first have to make a bit of an investment. The 130mm reflector telescope itself costs $400. To get it to work with an iPad, you'll also need the $160 Orion StarSeek Wi-Fi Telescope Control Module, the $10 Orion StarSeek 3 app and the time to set it all up. With all these accessories, the telescope is a power hog, requiring 12 AA batteries (eight for the scope and four for the Wi-Fi module); I found that this barely lasted for three hours of star gazing. Orion sells a $20 AC adapter for the telescope, but there's nothing for the Wi-Fi module. For field work, the $100 Orion Dynamo Pro 12 Ah Rechargeable 12V DC Power Station can power the whole system.

After plugging the Wi-Fi module into the telescope and wirelessly connecting the iPad to it, you'll need to configure an encrypted link between the module and the iPad. This is done via a Web page that the Wi-Fi module serves up.

After that, you align the telescope by aiming the scope at three different places in the sky with the interface's four-way arrow control. At each point, the scope's electronics analyze what it's aimed at and figure out where the telescope is.

It's a little time-consuming and complicated to put it all together -- it took me over an hour. Unfortunately, there's no single manual that deals with the entire process, and I found myself juggling different booklets to get it all to work together.

However, when I was finally ready to pick an object to view from the StarSeek 3 iPad app, the results were worth the effort. The scope's motors whirred as the device's optical tube moved to point directly at that object and stayed locked on it. All I had to do was focus the eyepiece.

The telescope is capable of moving at up to 4 degrees per second; it took about 45 seconds for the scope to home in on Venus, Polaris and other objects.

The beauty of the telescope and iPad combo is that it doesn't require any knowledge of astronomy or the scientific names of the stars, asteroids and other celestial objects; the StarSeek 3 app has a database that provides access to more than 4,000 celestial items. I was able to easily locate and see stars and asteroids during three nights and an early morning of astronomical viewing.

StarSeek 3 also offers a wealth of astronomical information such as descriptions of astronomical objects, photos and coordinates. The app can be set to a red-tinted night mode so as not to diminish your night vision.

Bottom line

Orion's StarSeeker is the perfect way to turn yourself into an astronomer.

Orbotix

Price: $129.99 (due out in late 2011)

It may look like a lacrosse ball, but Orbotix's 5.9-ounce Sphero has enough techno-cool to make a geek's heart skip a beat. While most robotic devices have arms, legs or tank treads, Sphero is a ball -- illuminated by a cool programmable LED light -- that rolls around on the floor based on instructions relayed from your mobile device via Bluetooth.

The Sphero robotic ball can be controlled by iOS and Android devicesInside the ball is a sophisticated wheeled robot with an ARM3 processor, gyroscope, magnetometer and accelerometer. As the tiny robot rides up the side of the inside of the ball, the ball rolls in that direction. It's powered by a pair of lithium ion batteries.

Orbotix offers control apps for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, as well as Android phones and tablets. The most basic app, the Drive interface, is a large circular control pad that lets you aim the ball by tilting your device forward or back to make it go. This was the simplest app to operate; however, it took some practice until I was able to avoid chair legs and pillars.

Draw and Drive provides a blank screen for sketching a path for Sphero to follow; you shake your device to erase the path. I tried it by commanding the ball to first follow a square pattern and then a spiral -- and the ball followed those commands exactly.

Those of us who aren't afraid to code can make the Sphero do a lot more via powerful programming tools. First, the company's macro builder lets you put together a series of text commands for the ball to carry out. By contrast, Blox is a visual programming tool that lets you drop pre-made code modules -- in the form of icons that do specific activities, like go straight, turn right or stop -- into the order you want.

Finally, the ball has open SDKs for iOS and Android, so third-party programmers can adapt or create Sphero games. According to Paul Berberian, CEO of Orbotix, some of the projects that are being worked on include tennis, Pong and freeze tag. In addition, Orbotix is working on a voice interface for Sphero.

While I tried Sphero with an iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, I preferred the iPad because I could customize the look and location of the control circle that sends commands to the device.

The robot's response to my commands was quick with no visible delay. It worked fine on most floors (although it balked at heavy shag carpeting); if I got too fast on a slick floor, Sphero spun wildly before gaining traction. The robot's range when controlled with the iPad was limited to about 50 feet; its battery lasted for an hour of continuous floor play.

Bottom line

Sphero is now available for pre-order; it is due to ship in "late 2011" (according to the website) and will include the robotic ball, an induction charger and free games and apps. I found it to be a lot of fun and one of the most addictive things you can do with an iPad.

(See also Holiday Tech Gadget Sneak Peek.")

For more enterprise computing news, visit Computerworld. Story copyright © 2011 Computerworld Inc. All rights reserved.

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Can Android Tablets Topple the iPad? Not Just Yet

Apple's iPad remains the tablet king with 67 percent of the global market, but Android is picking up steam, according to Friday stats from Strategy Analytics.

"Apple iOS remains the world's dominant tablet platform with the most established services ecosystem," Peter King, director of Strategy Analytics, said in a statement.

As Apple revealed in its earnings report this week, the company sold 11.12 iPads during the quarter, for a grand total of 40 million iPads and iPad 2s since their April 2010 debut. That was enough to nab a "healthy" 67 percent of the global tablet market, King said.

A September report from Strategy Analytics found that the iPad has 80 percent market share in the United States. Gartner recently said that the iPad will likely make up 73.4 percent of worldwide tablet sales in 2011.

Android's share, however, also grew—from 2 percent last year to 27 percent, driven by offerings like the Samsung Galaxy Tab and Acer Iconia. All eyes are now on the Amazon Kindle Fire, which one analyst estimated is the only real credible threat to the iPad.

"Amazon's strategy of minimizing its hardware price is set to ignite the entry-level tablet segment and attract more mass-market consumers," said Neil Mawston, director at Strategy Analytics.

Microsoft and Research in Motion are in a distant third and fourth place, the firm found. Microsoft had a "niche" 2 percent of the market, and the "future release of Windows 8 cannot come quickly enough," Strategy Analytics said. RIM had 1 percent, and really needs its next-gen PlayBook 2.0 "to offer a much improved ecosystem for messaging and consumer apps if it wants to take off."

Google this week unveiled Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, which pulls together the best of the phone-centric Gingerbread and tablet-focused Honeycomb operating systems. It will show up first on Samsung's Galaxy Nexus smartphone, but Asus said at the AsiaD conference this week that its new Transformer 2 tablet will eventually get the updated Ice Cream Sandwich.

Apple, meanwhile, is reportedly ready to start production on the iPad 3.

For more from Chloe, follow her on Twitter @ChloeAlbanesius.

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ARM's latest chips hint Apple iPad, iPhone plans - Computerworld (blog)

By Jonny Evans

Apple’s [AAPL] future iPads, iPhones and other mobile devices will deliver unimaginable battery life and much-improved performance, if developments at the company's processor design partner, ARM, are to be seen as harbingers of the future.

[ABOVE: ARM's Cortex-A7 processor design diagram]

Understand history

You can sometimes get a glimpse of the future by taking a peek at the past, and when it comes to Apple and its mobile products, it's always worth taking a look at what's happening at chip designer, ARM.

ARM this week: "Announced the ARM Cortex-A7 MPCore processor -- the most energy-efficient application class processor ARM has ever developed, and big.LITTLE processing -- a flexible approach that redefines the traditional power and performance relationship."

A single Cortex-A7 processor delivers 5x the energy-efficiency and is one fifth the size of the Cortex-A8 processor, while providing significantly greater performance.

Of course, we can't be sure Apple will opt for the ARM design as its reference design in future iterations of Apple's A-series chips, but it seems pretty likely, given that its two previous processors (A4 and A5) have been highly re-imagined versions of previous ARM processors. Even more interesting, these new processors may even allow Apple to lop a few more dollars off of its product prices...

TSMC connection?

It is also interesting that this week ARM announced that it had worked with TSMC to tape out the first 20nm ARM Cortex-A15 MPCore processor. This is interesting because some previous rumors have claimed TSMC is working to produce small process chips for Apple iDevices, though these claims have become more contrary in recent weeks. TSMC's 20nm process provides more than a 2X performance increase over preceding generations.

Given Apple's focus on delivering end-to-end media-focused experiences within its family of compatible mobile devices, including the current iteration of the Apple TV, it is interesting that the TSCM process can deliver on so many fronts:

"The Cortex-A15 processor's low-power, high-performance and advanced feature set is perfectly suited to 20nm process implementations. Resulting SoCs will be ideal for a wide variety of markets, including smartphone, tablet, mobile computing, high-end digital home, servers, and wireless infrastructure."

The division bell?

I'm seeing a potential for  a parting of ways here. At present, all Apple's devices eventually migrate to the next-generation processor, so the A4 iPhone became the A5 iPhone. The A4 iPad became the A5 iPad. But, with two distinct chip solutions available to it, will Apple diversify its chip line-up?

Will it perhaps exploit the power of the Cortex-A15 to deliver processors for future iPads (and, potentially, Macs), while using the ARM Cortex-A7 reference build within future smartphones?

This would lend excellence in computing power to the iPad and deliver good performance and phenomenal battery life to the iPhone.

It's all speculatative, of course.

At present Apple has A4 and A5 processors in production for its products. Because it sells millions of these products it benefits from economies of scale when manufacturing its processors -- diversifying the family more would make the production process more expensive. That's true, but with millions of devices sold worldwide, it is possible Apple doesn't need that economy of scale as much as it once did.

Apple likes options

Whatever the plan -- and Apple doesn't always fully commit to a plan until the last minute -- the company's engineers will be looking to maximize performance and battery life in future Apple devices. Already best in class in both departments, iPhones and iPads are cleaning up in their respective fields.

Wired confirms the way Apple deals with strategy:

"Years ago, I heard the back-story on Apple's switch to Intel first-hand from some folks on the IBM side of things, and what I learned was that Steve Jobs agonized over this decision and waited until the morning of the keynote before pulling the trigger on this move. He actually went into that day with two keynote presentations prepared: one for a PowerPC-based product line, and one for The Switch. When he pulled out The Switch presentation, the IBM team was absolutely as stunned as the rest of the world, as was the P.A. Semi team who had been separately assured by Jobs that their dual-core PowerPC part would find its way into Apple portables."

It is worth considering that ARM's Cortex-A7 is a strong attempt to create a System on Chip (SoC) that meets the "conflicting consumer demand for devices with both higher-performance AND extended battery life."

Big.LITTLE processing

To help enable this, ARM has introduced Big.LITTLE processing. This pairs the best of the high-performance Cortex-A15 MPCore and ultra-efficient Cortex-A7 processors. "Big.LITTLE processing allows devices to seamlessly select the right processor for the right task, based on performance requirements. Importantly, this dynamic selection is transparent to the application software or middleware running on the processors," it explains.

It is clear that ARM wants to continue breaking Intel in the smartphone and tablet markets with its new processor designs. And, given that Apple's are the biggest-selling products in both of those industries, that relationship with Cupertino cannot be so far from ARM's mind:

"As smartphones and tablets continue to evolve into users' primary compute device, consumers are demanding performance as well as the always on, always connected service they expect. The challenge for our industry and the ARM ecosystem is how to deliver on this," said Mike Inglis, Executive Vice President, Processor Division, ARM, in a statement.

"The introduction of Cortex-A7 and big.LITTLE addresses this challenge and extends ARM's technology leadership by setting a new standard for energy-efficient processors and redefining the traditional power and performance relationship."

It will be interesting to see just how fast future Apple devices become, how energy efficient, and how much more capable these things will get as they move toward becoming productivity solutions in a post-PC age.

Got a story? Drop me a line via Twitter or in comments below and let me know. I'd like it if you chose to follow me on Twitter so I can let you know when these items are published here first on Computerworld. 

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