iPad posts

Now that the proverbial floodgates have opened at the App Store, we're starting to see some apps showing up that were previously denied entry. Internet TV provider PlayOn was one of those companies that had tried to get their iPhone app approved months ago, but was told by Apple that their service needed to be a Web app instead. The company complied with an HTML5 solution, but a native app wasn't available... until now.

PlayOn Mobile is a free app that works with a subscription service ($39.99 for first year, $19.99 after that or $79.99 for a lifetime subscription) to stream content from a number of providers to your device over Wi-Fi or 3G. Before you get too excited, though, note that you need to be running PlayOn PC on a Windows PC to get that streaming goodness on your iDevice -- there's no media server software solution for the Mac.

The PlayOn content providers include Hulu, MLB.tv, Netflix, Comedy Central, CBS, MTV, TV.com, PBS, SpikeTV, and The Ultimate Fighter, as well as others. Plug-ins can be developed for PlayOn's media server to grab other content -- my personal favorite, The Food Network, is listed on there.

[via MacNN]

You may already know all about Weather HD -- the app made a nice splash when it was released early in the iPad's life. But Vimov has just released it for the iPhone, and even on the smaller screen, it leaves quite an impression. The idea is that instead of a tiny little icon or a big number telling you the weather, you get a full, bright screen of whatever the weather's like near you (or what it's going to be like in an hourly or daily forecast).

The app is super simple on purpose, so if you're looking for full maps, video, or more detailed information, you'll have to go elsewhere (I usually use the free Weather Channel app for more in-depth weather updates). Still, for just 99 cents, Weather HD is worth having around if all you need to check every once in a while is the temperature and forecast.

And heck, if you already bought it for the iPad, the new version is universal, so you've got iPhone and iPod touch support anyway.

Here's some good news about a few popular apps on the App Store:

• Square Enix has dropped the price on retro titles Final Fantasy I and II. The games were originally released at US$8.99, but to celebrate more widespread localization, the apps have dropped down to $3.99. Great games, nice price.
• ESPN's Scorecenter XL app for the iPad has gone completely free. The app provides news and scores from around the sporting world -- it was $4.99, but the network has apparently decided to go free for good.
• And Firemint is putting its Real Racing title on sale for the iPhone next week -- as of September 30, the app will be available for just $2.99. That's a rare occurrence for them. It's the first time this game has ever gone on sale, probably because the title has been so popular. It offers a quality racing experience, with full Game Center integration.

These are all great deals on really popular apps. If you've been waiting to pick one of these up for cheaper than usual, now's your chance.

9to5Mac has been digging through the brand new iOS 4.2 beta, and they've found a few new features hidden in the mix. First up, the build offers some new YouTube uploading options -- you can now choose to make your uploaded YouTube videos public, unlisted, or private upon upload. Honestly, I've had hit-or-miss luck with uploading to YouTube straight from my iPhone, but it's nice to know the process is being worked on. Maybe we'll have some optimization come along with the new options.

Second, as you can see above, the iPad has gotten itself a brand new multitasking animation. Instead of just pulling up whatever app you're switching to, it'll actually spin the windows around (this functionality is already up and running on the iPhone, but now it'll be available on the iPad as well). And finally, last but definitely not least, it looks like iTunes will be getting some Game Center indicators -- you'll be able to see directly from the App Store listing when an app is compatible with Apple's official Game Center features.

That last one is a big one, given that Game Center integration seems to be selling games lately. It's unfortunate that we probably won't have any other icons like that. It would be cool to browse the App Store and instantly see whether a game is compatible with OpenFeint or Plus+, or whether it has local or online multiplayer or just leaderboard functionality. But Apple's probably not interested in that other stuff -- it's just selling Game Center integration for now. You can look forward to all of these features in iOS 4.2, which is scheduled to come to the public in November.

It must be 'iPad Remote Week' because hot on the heels of Apple releasing iTunes remote control for the iPad, Sonos has delivered a very nice, free iPad remote that is feature complete, and elegant in execution.

Previously, Sonos owners had to make do with the iPhone version of the app, which only ran in portrait mode and had to upscale to fill the iPad screen. That's all fixed now, with the delivery of the Sonos Controller for iPad. I gave it a run through last night, and it is a pleasure to use. The larger iPad screen means most functions are right on the front page, so there's no hunting around for hidden functions. You get album art, zone control, and music source selection at the tap of a finger.

Installing the app requires a software update to all your home controllers and Zone Players to version 3.3. That can be accomplished right from the new iPad remote, and the software will notify you if you need to update.

The 3.3 update adds support for AAC streaming radio stations, and for European countries, it adds the popular Spotify service. The iPhone version of the Sonos app has not been updated since May, and Sonos says an update to that app is pending approval from Apple.

The Sonos system is not inexpensive, but it is a bargain compared to wired whole-house systems. For your investment, you get a very easy to set up entertainment center that you can add to as your desires dictate. The audio is very high quality, and the company commitment to the Mac platform is very strong.

Check the gallery for some screenshots.

First, let's take a look at PlainText (see screenshot above). Hog Bay Software is the same company that publishes the wonderful WriteRoom application for Mac and iPhone, which we've covered many times here on TUAW.

Once PlainText is installed on your iPad (it also works on iPhone and iPod touch), you can tap the settings button to change Dropbox settings, turn on TextExpander support, or lock the screen orientation. Since I wanted to test several of these text editors with Dropbox but did not want to have a ton of new folders created in my Dropbox, I loved the fact that I could link to an existing folder. As soon as your Dropbox credentials have been verified, more settings become available. Most of those are related to when synchronization takes place.

According to a note from Grosjean, there can be an issue when files are not saved on a computer using UTF-8 encoding. If a file is opened with PlainText and appears blank, the computer didn't save the file with the proper encoding. What's interesting is that I had this issue with another text editor app, and the developer of that app didn't seem to know what the problem was.

Apple has posted several new betas for members of the paid iOS developer program. Point your browser to the developer site, and use your credentials to log in. You'll find new betas for iOS 4.2 as well as several other items that we're not sure we can specifically mention without breaking NDAs.

Download. Enjoy. Have fun.

Thank you everyone who pinged us!

The Guardian puts to words something I've been thinking for a long time: that iTunes is actually Apple's weakest link. You'd be forgiven for believing the opposite -- iTunes is arguably Apple's strongest brand, given that it encompasses all of the "mobile device company's" products, and remains the springboard for all iPhones, iPods, and iPads, even across into Windows-land. I'm sure there are even non-Apple customers that use iTunes to organize and share their music. So, there's no question that iTunes is a powerful component of Apple's success so far.

But at the same time, it's become a crutch. As John Naughton says, this is "feature creep on an heroic scale." The application was started as SoundJam, meant specifically for music playback, but at this point, iTunes serves as a movie and TV rental service, a music recommendation service, a phone activation service, the largest mobile software platform in the world, a contact sync app, a media sharing app, an e-book marketplace, a podcasting service, backup software, and oh yeah, now it's the home base for what's supposed to be a scalable music-based social network. When you think about it that way, the new logo wasn't nearly different enough.

Apple's walking a tightrope here -- on the one hand, why not put all of your eggs in the basket that's free to download and easy to use? Why not allow the piece of software everyone has to do everything you want everyone to do? It's a Trojan horse writ large -- give the software away, and sell the hardware that works with it.

But on the other hand, the name "iTunes" doesn't stand for half of what that app does these days, and anyone who's ever tried to organize or update a couple hundred apps from within iTunes itself knows that there must be a better way.

[via Cult of Mac]

You hear about interesting uses for the iPad all the time, and many times, those uses are merely theoretical. Sure, using an iPad at an archeological dig sounds cool and practical and all, but does anybody really do it? As it turns out, the answer to that question is "yes."

In some of Apple's online promotional galleries, the company highlights a team of archeologists making use of the iPad for tasks such as text and graphical data entry. One of those in charge of the dig says that using the iPad for this work has saved countless hours of data entry that would have otherwise been done back at the field office.

Sure, the iPad needs to be sufficiently protected from the elements (such as, y'know, flying hunks of rock), but that's likely a small price to pay vs. paper notebooks with one's chicken scratch that someone needs to translate. I bet these archeologists were wishing there was an on-board camera for the iPad right about now.

[via Cult of Mac]

As we reported earlier, Apple has updated the free Remote app for iPhone and iPad. It's about time. The new version looks fine on the iPad since it is not up-scaled. To pair the Remote software to your iTunes library, you must enter a 4-digit code* into iTunes on your Mac. From there, you are on the way. You only need to pair once.

Control over Wi-Fi is fast and responsive. The iPad makes a really nice remote for controlling media. Sonos will also soon offer an iPad remote (to join its popular iPhone app) for its whole house music system, and there are a few more solutions out there.

On the iPhone or iPod touch, the app looks quite nice, and it supports the Retina display if you have appropriate hardware. The new version supports the new Apple TV, but one doesn't adorn my media room, so I can't comment on how well it works.

While testing the app, the only thing that I felt is missing is the ability to stream from your iTunes library back to your iPhone or iPad. Plug in some headphones or powered speakers, and you have a really nice, well-stocked music system. Sure, there are other solutions to this problem, but it would be nice if Apple offered a direct one and not just AirPlay. Criticisms aside, it's nice to see this app updated after all these months.

*Several readers have pointed out that Home Share eliminates the need to enter the 4-digit code when pairing iTunes Library and the App. -Ed

Could Lowtide be targeted towards playback on the iPad? That's what indications in the application's Info.plist property list seem to hint at. As TUAW continues to explore the new Apple TV iOS disk image, all kinds of interesting hints keep bubbling out. The property list in question lists two entries for its UIDeviceFamily property.

UIDeviceFamily = (
3,
2
);

In human terms, those numbers refer to both Apple TV (the 3 device family) and the iPad (the 2 device family). As you might guess, the 1 device family includes the iPhone and iPod touch. These device families generally group related physical form factors. All iPods and iPhones use a similar 320x480 base geometry, even though units with new Retina displays physically enhance the addressability of that screen size with more pixels per point.

Click the Read More link to see more about what we've found in the disk image.

Apple has released an all-new version of its long-untouched Remote app for iOS devices, which has been well overdue an update for some time now. It has a number of significant new features, including Retina Display support, an all-new iPad UI, gesture-based remote control support for the new Apple TV, and (perhaps most significantly for some people) the ability to use Home Streaming to stream content from an iTunes library on your local network to your iOS device (UPDATE- please see note below). This last addition will be really useful for people with music libraries that are too large to fit on their device.

We'll have more coverage of the app soon, but in the meantime, get your download via iTunes.

UPDATE: Numerous commenters are pointing out that the Home Sharing feature does not allow you to stream from iTunes to the iOS device, although that would sound like a logical thing for it to do. Instead, it merely allows an easier way to "pair" your iOS device and iTunes without entering the four-digit codes required by the previous version. The overly enthusiastic writer of the original story conveyed his deep regret about this error as he was taken out and shot.

The iPad, and the wonderful iPad music app called Seline HD (US$9.99), are making a splash in the music world. Last month, Alex Shpil showed us The iPad Orchestra, which was a quartet using the same software to make beautiful music. This month, he shows us a street musician playing sitar-like music on the iPad.

Enjoy the music, which Alex captured in full stereo.

CineTap for Netflix (US $0.99) is the newest and nicest Netflix management app that I've seen so far. It won't replace the Netflix app, since you still need to have that installed in order to instantly watch movies. But CineTap adds some great features to the experience that the Netflix app doesn't include. The app is amazingly fast and absolutely gorgeous, taking full advantage of the iPad's screen real estate. Instead of lists, it uses posters to represent movies that can be scrolled left or right, or if you tap the Show All button, the line expands to fill the screen with posters that can then be scrolled up or down. In Show All mode, you'll see 20 posters plus a navigation bar in landscape mode, or 25 posters in portrait mode with an optional navigation bar that covers up some of the posters, which is no big deal since it's easily dismissed.

The Canadian Broadcasting Company is reporting that 18 Canadian cabinet ministers and five senior staff members in the province of Saskatchewan are receiving iPads in an attempt to get a handle on the costly consumption of paper. With the cost of the 64GB 3G iPad running about CDN$879 plus fees and taxes, the initial cost of the iPads will run about CDN$23,000. However, the government expects that double that amount will be saved in the first year alone, since paper and printing costs will be cut drastically, and fewer courier runs will be required to deliver physical documents.

One senior official in the premier's office noted that he'll save 68 boxes of paper in his office alone in the first year. He noted that a single cabinet minister can often be loaded down with six to 10 kilograms of paper in a typical week. The government officials believe that the security provided by the iPad is sufficient for their needs. Unfortunately, there's no information available on just how much money will be wasted by all of the ministers playing Angry Birds HD during cabinet meetings (we kid!).

Thanks to John for the tip (and sorry about the blatant display of Canadian stereotypes in the picture at the right).