Leander Kahney's Blog, page 2292

New App Challenges Skype's VoIP Dominance

With the big news that Apple lifted restrictions on 3G VoIP calls in February and rumors that Skype might allow such calls in the near future, it's no wonder that splashes from the opening salvos in the VoIP app wars can be seen around the App Store.
The latest combatant to enter the arena is Goober, [...:]

Daily Deals: iPad and App Store Freebies, $169 8GB iPod touch

We kick off the first week of the iPad with a number of free iPad apps, including "Dictionary! for iPad." We also check out a new batch of freebies from the App Store, including "Arcade Hoops Basketball." We wrap up the top trio of deals with a number of iPod touch devices, starting at $169 [...:]

Cult Favorite: Omni Apps Prove iPad is Not Just a Toy

OK, class, weekend playtime is over. Time to get to work. More than 300,000 of you have had fun since Saturday playing games, watching movies and lazing around in bed with the Sunday New York Times on your new iPad. Now it's Monday morning and the question is: can you justify bringing Apple's new gadget [...:]

Profiling iPad Buyers: 74% own Macs, 66% have iPhones

Although analyst predictions of how many iPads would sell on the first day varied widely from Apple's own 300,000 figure, we are getting some intriguing insights into why consumers are buying the new tablet device. For Apple, maybe the most comforting bit of data is that the iPad is not a cannibal.
"We believe that [...:]

Apple Patents Pico Projectors for MacBook Pro

I think you can safely chalk this latest Apple patent won't come to fruition, but it's an interesting one the nonce: a MacBook Pro with a built in pico projector in the hinge, perfect for giving presentations on-the-go, or just throwing a movie up on the wall for your friends to watch.
It's neat, but it's [...:]

PC World Runs iPad Through Sadistic Stress Test

As they are wont to do, the fine folks of PC World have dropped, thrown, scratched, smashed, hurled, trounced, boiled, frozen and defenestrated their iPad so you don't have to. If you want to know just how much punishment your iPad can take, go read their iPad Stress Test.
The takeaway here is never to drop [...:]

Report: iPad Already Viewed as Kindle Replacement

Okay, maybe Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster should have stuck with his original estimate of 200,000 to 300,000 iPads sold over the weekend. Still, his interviews of iPad buyers revealed some interesting points – such as the number of Kindle owners in line to buy Apple's new gadget.
Indeed, 58 percent of iPad owners who [...:]

The First iPad Theft Has Already Happened

This is what happens when you have one of the most widely anticipated device launches of the year coupled with not enough to go around: someone walks out of the store and. before they can even reach their car, gets their iPad stolen.
In this case, the unlucky victim was Mohamed Aboutaleb of Dover, New Hampshire, [...:]

New Apple Patent Describes Accessory To Transform Into DS-Like Gaming Handheld

Ever since the iPhone's release, one of the most pervasive criticisms of Apple's handhelds as dedicated gaming devices have been the device's lack of analog controls. It's a criticism that has seemed considerably limper as time goes on and developers have figured out to utilize the iPhone's touchscreen and accelerometer effectively, but for certain genres [...:]

Apple: 300K iPads Sold on First Day

Apple announced official iPad sales numbers for Saturday, the first day the much-ballyhooed tablet device was available in stores. More than 300,000 iPads were sold by midnight, April 3, the Cupertino, Calif. company said Monday morning.
"It feels great to have the iPad launched into the world — it's going to be a game changer," CEO [...:]