Stories By Grant Holzhauer

There are three kinds of jobs: easy to obtain but with poor compensation, hard to obtain but with great compensation, and then there are writers. Writing, as a profession, doesn’t fit into either of the first two categories. It’s both hard to master and difficult to secure steady work, and excluding the odd bestselling novelist, most writers don’t strike it rich. Instead, it’s a job about passion. Most writers write because they love to write. They can’t imagine doing anything but writing. Sometimes that means foregoing the comfort of a 9-to-5 job with benefits in lieu of consistent freelance work.

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Back when Apple first unveiled iOS 5, they told us it would come out this fall. Well, fall is nearly upon us, and rumors of iPhone 5 consistently point to an October release date. The iPhone 5, or whatever Apple chooses to call the next iteration, will probably also be running the latest iOS, which means that the two should come out at the same time. And the latest target date is October 10.

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The iCade, which turns your iPad into a mini arcade cabinet, is a great idea, but its high price ($99) and support for only a handful of games were issues for us. Atari is looking to change that as they plan to release their own take on the peripheral.

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The popular Android browser, Dolphin Browser, has come to iOS. Right now, only an iPhone version is available, although we're holding out hope for it to go universal in the near future. The app features unique gesture support, tabbed browsing, sidebars, desktop mode, and more. At least until iOS 5 is released in the near future, this free browser app will be worth a look. [via iTunes]

There's a new, startling development in the story of the missing iPhone prototype. Now, SF Weekly is suggesting that the home-searching investigators weren't actually San Francisco police, but rather, a private team employed by Apple. This is a big deal, because impersonating a police officer is a serious crime. We'll continue to follow this story and update you when we know more.

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A new iPad 2 ad from Apple is now hitting the airwaves. This one, titled "Learn," focuses on how the iPad 2 is being utilized as a learning tool-- especially in schools, but also for personal enrichment. If nothing else, it showcases several highly impressive medical, educational, and research apps that you might ought to look for in the App Store. Catch the full video after the break.

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Popular news aggregator Zite was purchased by major cable news network CNN today, according to an announcement by Jim Walton, President of CNN Worldwide. Read on to find out what the deal means for fans of the app and its services.

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The now discontinued HP Touchpad might be going for a measly $99 if you help by snatching up the remaining stock, but that's not the only tablet that's seeing low prices. For a brief time today, the original 16GB Wi-Fi iPad was selling for only $299 from Apple.

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One of the premier remote access apps, LogMeIn Ignition, has been discounted from $29.99 to $14.99--a 50% savings--for a limited time. If you are at all interested in using your iPhone or iPad (the app is universal) as a portal to access and control another computer over Wi-Fi or 3G, this is one of the preferred apps to do it with. [via iTunes]

The iPad seems to be at its best when it becomes your de facto, personalized news device. There are apps aplenty that seek to fill our voracious need to know everything as it happens--Flipboard and Zite, for starters, but AOL tweaks the formula a bit in a bid to entice you to their side. Are the new features potent enough, though, to make you want to switch?

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Continuing our ongoing coverage of the iPad, especially regarding earlier news that a launch this fall was unlikely, we now hear word that an early 2012 launch is the case, with production ramping up in the coming months.

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Shuffler.fm is rapidly growing in popularity, and it's soon to find a new home on the iPad. The service aggregates music from music blogs around the world, culling information from Last.fm. Choose a genre, and you get a curated playlist of sorts. The iPad app will further streamline the process for users. [via TechCrunch]

Google has unleashed another free iPad app, Google Catalogs, that gives you access to a multitude of catalogs from brands that have partnered with Google (Macy's, Nordstrom, Williams-Sonoma, and the like). There is a bit of interaction thrown in, letting you mark favorite items and quickly transport to their website to make a purchase. If you're loaded down with cash and have no idea what to buy, now you have options. [via Google]

As the iPad 2 continues to soar in popularity, selling over 9 million units during Apple's last fiscal quarter, it should come as no surprise that people are already clamoring for its successor. Apple will undoubtedly follow up the iPad 2 with the iPad 3 (or iPad HD, or whatever else they might want to call it), but it's looking less likely that it will arrive on store shelves this year.

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In February 2010, Apple filed for a a patent called "Schematic Maps," which detailed a new way to display maps for multiple styles of devices. In a nutshell, Apple wants to simply what you see to adapt it to your immediate needs, especially when using an iPhone or iPad. Considering that Apple is said to be working on their own Maps app, this is one patent that might bear fruit.

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In a bid to keep Google competitive with Apple, Google has purchased Motorola Mobility, a division of Motorola that develops and releases Android-based phones and tablets, such as the Xoom. Google acquired the company for a reported $12.5 billion in cash. From the PR announcement: "Motorola Mobility will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. Google will run Motorola Mobility as a separate business." [via TechCrunch]

The 2011 Hyundai Equus sedan came packaged with an iPad, preloaded with the car's user manual. In case you have been on the fence about buying such a car, keep in mind that the 2012 models will not come with an iPad. According to CEO John Krafcik, the iPad, having been out for over a year and selling millions of units, would be "redundant to our owner base." [via TUAW]

Following in Amazon's footsteps, who recently released a web app version of Kindle, Vudu has taken its movie store to the iPad, but not via the App Store.

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The original iPad ran on a custom chip called the A4, and the iPad 2 (and iPhone 4) are running an updated A5 chip. Now, Apple has apparently ordered production of the next generation chip, A6, which is expected to power their 2012 devices. A new report claims that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has begun trail production of the chip, which is an "ARM-based processor that includes a 28-nanometer process and 3D stacking technologies." [via TUAW]

Amazon already has a pretty terrific Kindle app, but thanks to Apple's new policies, they can no longer link to their Kindle Store in-app. To skirt these rules, they have developed a web app player designed exclusively for the iPad. Although not quite as responsive as the native app, it does provide you with quick access to the store for making purchases. You'll need an iPad running at least iOS 4.0 to make the app work. [via Amazon]