Apple iPad

The iPad Makes For A Busy UPS Saturday

When I was with Elana yesterday expressing my exuberance over my anticipated arrival of the iPad, she suggested that I spend some time with the UPS driver since, according to all reports, there was an amazing amount of logistics involved in getting all the iPads out. I thought it was a good idea. So when my iPad finally arrived late this afternoon — okay actually it was early this afternoon but it felt like late this afternoon — I asked the UPS driver if he could spend a few minutes talking with me. He responded that he would be happy…

eBooks, Editorials

Agency Model Cometh; Be Prepared for Speedbumps

(underlying image courtesy Amazon) The agency model is slowly kicking in, and it’s causing some disruption across the ebook world. Unfortunately, there’s really no way to dodge it; if you want to buy ebooks, you are at the mercy of the publishers. Even worse, the retailers who sell ebooks are also in the same position, and in the span of less than three months, they have been attempting to completely overhaul their method of doing business. So what kind of changes should we be expecting? We already know that Kobo and Fictionwise have been forced to give up their incentive…

Editorials, News

First BIG iPad Surprise- Many Apps Universal- Translation- Rebuilt For iPad Free Update For Prior Owners

I just got my first big surprise with regard to the iPad. The iPad App Store went live and I started shopping. I bought Pages and Keynote. I bought the Scrabble app. Then I saw something odd. In my iTunes account it suddenly showed a bunch of updates that weren’t there a few minutes before. I went to look and saw the following I checked a few more apps and saw the same thing. The app was updated for the iPad and was available for download. But it looked the same. Then I noticed the small Toggle button above the…

News

Breaking News- Come And Get ’em. iPad Apps Now Live On iTunes

The above image says it all. Apple just turned on the iPad portion of the App Store. Time to spend some money…

News

Apple Should Have Used FedEx

photo credit: hellabella To anyone who was holding out hope that there might be an Easter miracle regarding their iPad order in areas without Saturday UPS delivery … you can stop holding your breath now. 😉 To Our Valued Apple Customer: Thank you for your recent purchase of the magical and revolutionary Apple iPad. We would like to advise you Saturday delivery is not available in your area. Your order will be delivered on Monday April 5th. For up-to-date information on your order, please visit our Order Status website at http://www.apple.com/orderstatus. And again I’ll say that Apple should have used FedEx;…

Editorials

Same Device + Different Users = Totally Different Perspectives.

One of the new apps that I am most looking forward to on the iPad is the Keynote application. The reason is simple. The app looks amazing, and I have been using Keynote more and more over the last two years. Having it available for both creating and presenting material on the über-mobile iPad will likely be a terrific step forward for me. It all started two years ago when I was playing around with iWork. I looked at Keynote and thought it might be interesting to use it to teach instead of printing up a series of handouts. I…

Editorials

Expecting April 3rd Delivery of Your Apple iPad? Yeah, Good Luck With That!

Judie: When the April 3rd iPad release date was announced, there were more than a few of us left scratching our heads, although none of us thought too much about it … yet. At first glance, a Saturday release coupled with Saturday delivery didn’t warrant much conversation; either you would go wait in line to get your iPad, or you would pre-order and have it delivered straight to you. But if you live in an area that doesn’t have an Apple store, much less one that doesn’t have Saturday delivery, it meant that a little bit of logistical planning might…

Editorials

Zinio Poised to Bring eMags to the Mainstream

I discovered Zinio’s electronic magazines when I first started using Tablet PCs In the mid-00s. The company has been in existence for 10 years, so I was a fairly early user. I found that despite the Tablet PC’s relatively significant weight, short battery life and tendency to get hot, somethings VERY hot, the experience of using Zinio to read was a pleasant one. The magazines looked good on the relatively high resolution screens. The links in ads and some articles jumped you right to the product’s page. And I often got notice of my Zino downloads a day or two…

eBooks, Editorials

State of the eBook: Is Apple Going to Own Content?

Only a few days away from the iPad release, and we still have many questions and very few answers. It seems like nothing can happen in the ebook world without everyone wondering if Apple’s cannonball into the bookstore pool is going to be a tidal wave or a tiny ripple.

eBooks, Editorials

Where Is the Dedicated eBook Reader Market Headed?

(photo courtesy Engadget) Kobo today announced they will be selling a lower-end, dedicated ebook reader for $149 at Indigo in Canada and Borders in the USA. The unit itself is pretty basic; you transfer your books via USB, and it has some nice UI flourishes, but that’s about it. All day various websites have crowed that this is the start of the slide to a magic $99 ebook reader, and I agree. The bigger question, though, is what market does a cheap ebook reader serve? Kids: This is a fairly easy one; you wouldn’t necessarily expect a child to take…

Editorials

Will High News and Magazine Pricing Hurt iPad Adoption?

Everyone and their cousin is reporting that a subscription to theWallStreet Journal on the iPad will run around $18. Ouch. While it is certainly cheaper than the current “dead tree” , is much more than people are usually used to paying for digital content. Think about it this way, if you get the 3G iPad and a subscription to the WSJ, you’ve just added about $50 to your monthly nut. That’s not peanuts. Moreover Engadget is reporting that when prices are announced for iPad content, “magazines to be at or near newsstand prices”. All this raises a few thoughts/questions for…

eBooks, Editorials

Amazon, the iPad, and Why iBooks Might Not Be So Great

Amazon has been proudly showing off their iPad app today and made it clear they’re looking to develop for tablets as a category. Since there’s really only one category of Apple tablet-esque devices, it’s safe to assume devices like the HP Slate, and possibly, hopefully, Android tablets, will also be blessed with a big-screen and finger friendly version of the Kindle. Compare this to the iBooks app, which, if it has any portability at all, will most likely only move between the iPhone and the iPad, and possible on Macs. If you had to tie your data up in a…

eBooks, News

What Does It Mean That We All Assumed Apple Pulled Stanza?

On Wednesday morning, if you searched on the iTunes App Store for Lexcycle, the makers of the top-rated Stanza ebook reader, you would see ‘no matches found’. I was alerted to this on the MacRumors forums, and did my own quick check and confirmed that Stanza was no longer available. While the news didn’t spin out of control as has happened in the past, it certainly raised a red flag – why is the best ebook reader, owned by Amazon, suddenly unavailable on the iTunes App Store?

News

Just Another iPad Blog Helps You Make the Case to Buy an iPad

Are you trying to justify that iPad purchase? Trying to convince your spouse that an iPad is an absolutely, positively, must-have tool that will enable you to be far, far more efficient, inventive, and creative than said spouse has ever imagined you capable of being? Or are you just looking for something to occupy your thoughts and help while away the long, long, seemingly never-ending, (and did I mention long?) days until that iPad arrives on your doorstep? If any (or all) of the above is true, you should head your way over to Just Another iPad Blog and check…

How to Do It Yourself!

Seagate DockStar + iPad = Limitless Storage On The Go

I ordered a 64 GB iPad because I have long subscribed to the belief that you should always order and purchase the device with the largest amount of memory that you can afford. (The only exception to this comes into play when you’re purchasing a new notebook. In that case I believe that you should only order an SSD drive, but still… the largest solid-state drive that you can.) So I ordered a 64 GB iPad. It should be a good amount of space, and will likely hold me for quite some time. Then again, if I end up loading…

eBooks, Editorials

Ides of March eBook Edition

Welcome to this week’s “State of the ebook”. As usual, we’re diving in with news, then looking at a few major stories that have been floating around the ebook world. Apparently the eInk/Android mashup is becoming very attractive these days, as on the heels of the Entourage Edge and the Alex Reader we have yet ANOTHER similar device. This one is the 1Cross Tech MIDHybrid, and it has an LCD screen with Android and a QWERTY on one side, and an eInk on the other. Sort of like the cousin of the Entourage Edge. There’s no info on pricing, but…

eBooks, Editorials

eBook Bundles, Interactions, and More!

I recently started re-reading one of my favorite books of all time: “Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping“. It was my bible when I worked for Borders, and even on the consumer side of retail, I find it fascinating. The author, Paco Underhill, runs a company that studies how people shop. Everything from how much time people need to acclimate to entering a store to sightlines, signage, and spacing of aisles is scrutinized and tweaked for maximum impact based on Underhill’s team’s observations and suggestions. In this newer, updated version, he also touches on the internet and e-commerce. Somewhat…

Reviews

Whoomp! Review: Boost Apple’s Ear Buds for Even Less

It’s not a big secret. The ear buds Apple provides with all of its iPods & iPhones aren’t great. Okay I was being kind, they suck! They do a decent job of providing sound but they often fit poorly. Apple used to provide the ear buds along with two sets of those foam covers which help keep the buds seated in your ear but they stopped doing so. While traveling last week I came across the Whoomp Ear Bud Enhancers by Comply. The Whoomps claim to better the fit of your iPod or iPhone ear buds along with offering a…

News

PC Magazines Gives Us 42 Reasons Netbooks Are Better Than The iPad

Are you tired of all the negative backlash from last week’s iPad announcement … or still tired from all of the hype leading up to the announcement? Probably some of both. Well, as Dan noted, Steve Jobs took an unwise swing at netbooks in his pitch, so naturally we now have a nice list from PC Magazine of things that make netbooks better than the iPad. Of course, since the iPad isn’t shipping, nor are the specs even final, such stuff is largely a useless exercise in … well, something. But it is still good fun to look at these…

News

ipad Early Adopters, Time To Ready Your Credit Cards?

Red alert, red alert. Now hear this, now hear this….. The Apple online store is down! Yes, Apple’s web store is currently down for maintenance. Now we’ve seen this happen on Sunday before and it has turned out to be nothing more than behind the scenes work. But with the recent announcement of the iPad perhaps this time it’s something more. Sunday maintenance, iPad pre-order prep. or something else entirely? Stay tuned….. UPDATE: 5:30 PM EST – it’s back up and so far nothing new noticed. Sigh…

eBooks, Editorials

Did Apple Change the eBook Market?

(photo courtesy Engadget) Weeks of rumors and fevered speculation are finally over, and the iPad has been released. You can check out Gear Diary’s liveblog, and listen in as Judie, Dan, Larry and I discuss the iPad in our podcast. Of course, there was one area of the iPad announcement that, while rumored, is still a bit shocking: Apple will be opening an iBookstore on the iPad. But what does this mean for ebooks? Should Amazon be sweating bullets? Has the whole ebook market changed with the sweep of a keynote slide? Read on to find out!

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