Fridaytake

My first impressions of The Daily were positive. Parisa reviewed the app earlier this week and also found it to be a worthwhile read. But as the deadline to subscribe looms (the free period ends next Tuesday), it's only prudent to take another look at what The Daily has done right and where it has gone terribly wrong.

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SlingPlayer Mobile for iPad has officially been released in the App Store. Sporting the expected $29.99 price tag and not being a universal app, it's pretty much what we expected. If you have a Slingbox and an iPad, this purchase is a no-brainer.

Collecting autographs is an interesting phenomenon. You could argue that our fascination with celebrities and the cult of personality is equally fascinating, but what it is about collecting the signature of a famous person that gets people so excited? After a fan of the president nabbed his autograph on an iPad, though, a new question has been raised: is a digital autograph just as good?

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For the first time in a long time, I'm taking a lengthy vacation. And by vacation, I don't mean a sight-seeing extravaganza that will leave me breathless and worn-out by the time I return. I'm retreating up to a cabin on a lake in Canada: just me, my wife, and the iPad. Here's how I've prepared my little tablet for the big trip.

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The iPad, despite strong launch window sales, is still struggling to find its niche. "Okay, I bought an iPad. Now what do I do with it?" Apparently "whatever you want" is too vague. It's also untrue. The device does have limitations--potentially severe ones if you haven't done your homework (more on that after the break). These limitations usually favor the iPad is a device built for consumption. But what about creation?

A friend, for instance, is trying to sell her iPad because she bought it for her online classes, several of which require Flash for presentations and activities. The...

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When game designer Peter Molyneux first unveiled the game Fable, he had lofty goals in mind. As the game was about you controlling a hero as a fable unfolds, with plenty of personal freedom mixed in, one of these goals was to record your deeds and travels in such a way that at the end, you could read about your exploits in the form of a book. That never happened, obviously. Leave it to Apple to pick up where he left off.

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I'm sure at one point in time, the mouse was considered awkward. Of course, so was a visual interface. It may or may not surprise you, depending on your knowledge of computer history, that Apple was a pioneer in both of these areas. You certainly shouldn't be surprised, then, that Apple has been at the forefront of the touch revolution, and what better expression of their vision is there than the iPad? And if the mouse should go extinct, shouldn't Apple be the one to kill it?

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Perhaps we were right, after all. Just a few days after posting our thoughts on 3D and the iPad, a company called 3D Eye Solutions has announced support for the iPad. Their claims are bold, so we will have to wait and see some finished results before passing judgement.

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Earlier this week, we asked whether the introduction of the iPhone 4 would overshadow the iPad. Considering that DigiTimes just declared that Apple is shipping 1.2 million iPads per month to keep up with demand (and could reach 2.5 million units per month by the end of the year), the answer to that question seems to be no. On the flip side, then, just how might the iPhone 4 make the iPad better?

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We're okay admitting that we were wrong. In this case, being wrong is a very good thing. We originally posted this story on Friday, and by Monday, Google updated Google Earth to be a universal app. Stay tuned for our forthcoming review!

The iPhone is getting a robust OS update this summer, possibly even next week during the WWDC. The jump to OS 4.0 will provide a slew of new features and once again put Apple either in line with the competition or in some ways ahead. But the iPad is not getting the same firmware update until the fall. Why is that?

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Despite the popularity of handheld gaming devices, there are still only a handful of key players. Apple is relatively new to the market, but it has quickly gained a strong foothold with the iPhone and iPod Touch. The iPad has once again raised the bar and in ways that give it a dramatic edge over its closest competition: it does everything.

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I've had an iPad in my possession for a little over a month now. I've lived through the insurmountable amount of hype, played with the early launch apps, and continue to anxiously await the next major firmware update that greatly adds to its feature set. I've seen good reviews and bad reviews of Apple's magical and revolution device, and I've seen phenomenal sales in just a month's time. But, looking back, has it dramatically changed my day-to-day life?

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This week, we leave you with some impressions of Apple's Component Cable. We have been curious as to how the cable works with the iPad, and longtime STP/PV reader Scott Bedard has provided us with his insights and a video of what's in store for you should you pick one up. We hope you have somewhat low expectations, as it doesn't yet do enough to satisfy our desires for viewing iPad content on the big screen.

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Just shy of a month ago, Apple ushered in a new era for the company and tablet computers in general with the launch of the iPad. As of today, that staggered launch is completed with the introduction of the iPad 3G. Readers from other countries are still waiting for the iPad to launch in their respective homelands, but at least in the United States, the iPad launch is now accomplished.

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It's been a busy week at Padvance, with lots of news and reviews that we hope have helped make your iPad experience more rewarding. As we head off into the weekend, we want to leave you with an interesting keyboard concept that we think would make a great addition to the iPhone OS.

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