Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

Be sure to register in our forums and post your comments - we want to hear from you!


Zune Thoughts

Loading feed...

Apple Thoughts

Loading feed...

Laptop Thoughts

Loading feed...





All posts tagged "ipad"


Monday, May 28, 2012

PicFrame For Making Photo Collages

Posted by Michael Knutson in "Apple Software (OS X)" @ 02:30 PM

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/picf...7528?mt=12&ls=1

"PicFrame helps you combine multiple photos into amazing looking frames that you can save to your computer or share to Facebook. With 34 adjustable frames, rounded corners and plenty of patterns, you will always have a unique look."

I added this to my iPhone a few days ago, and a version is now available for Mac OS X. More from the App Store:

"Since PicFrame was released on the iPhone and iPad we have often been requested to create a Mac version for people to use on their desktop, well here it is! PicFrame on the Mac is just as easy to use, select a frame, drag and drop your photos in, tweak the border size, give the photos rounded corners, add a color or pattern, resize the adjustable frames and save the photo or share it to Facebook.

Main Features:- 34 adjustable frames- Support for up to 5 photos- Rounded corners- Change the border size- Zoom and drag the photos around- Easy color picker for border color- Multiple patterns to use for the border- Ratios 1:1, 3:2, 2:3, 4:3, 3:4, 16:9- High resolution- Share to Facebook- Drag and drop photos into the frame "

Pretty nice for a couple bucks on each platform ... and really, really easy.


Thursday, May 26, 2011

IK Multimedia's Amazing Music Tools for Your iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Laptop Thoughts Accessories" @ 11:30 AM

http://www.ikmultimedia.com/Main.ht...tware/index.php

For some of you, none of this will be new - but if you're like me and hadn't heard of these impressive products before now, check out these videos...

There are three products that are particularly exciting for musicians/vocalists who own an iPad or iPhone/iPod Touch: the iRig Mic, the iRig, and the iKlip. They also have some impressive software that goes along with these products. Any Laptop Thoughts or Apple Thoughts readers using this hardware or software? What do you think of it? I play bass guitar and sing, but no longer have an amp in my home...so the idea of being able to plug into my iPad and play is really appealing, not to mention being able to lay down a vocal track if inspiration hits!


Vogel's RingO: A Universal Tablet Mounting System

Posted by Eric Juillerat in "Apple iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad" @ 10:00 AM

There are 15,873,213.5 iPad cases and stands, and dozens of iPad mounts. While that statement may not be completely accurate, it would be fair to say there are a lot. So what's with another review of the same old stuff? In a word, "System". A complete and comprehensive eco-system of compatible cases, stands and mounts for tablets. And as far as I can see, there may only be a few tablet "Systems" in existence. We're going to look at one - Vogel's RingO Universal Mounting System. Welcome to the Pros, my friend.

Read more...


Wednesday, May 4, 2011

DisplayLink iPad App Gives You An Extra Monitor

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Apple Software (iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad)" @ 08:00 AM

If you're an iPad owner, you should check out the DisplayLink iPad app. I downloaded it last week but didn't get around to checking it out until now - in short, it uses your iPad's WiFi connection to turn your iPad into another monitor on a Windows 7 computer (sorry OS X users). I had it up and running in about 90 seconds - you simply install the Windows 7 desktop application, it adds a virtual display, and on the iPad your computer will show up as a location that can be connected to. That's right, you can have an extra monitor on multiple computers (not at the same time of course). Under Windows 7, you can manipulate your iPad as if it were a connected monitor. Read more...


Wednesday, April 27, 2011

A Real iPad Photography App: Photosmith

Posted by Lee Yuan Sheng in "Digital Home Software" @ 01:30 PM

http://www.macworld.com/article/159...l#lsrc.rss_news

"Professional photographers who use Lightroom have one more excuse reason to swap an iPad for their MacBook while traveling. Squared Enterprises has released Photosmith, an iPad app for organizing your photos on the road before importing them into Lightroom."

When people talk about photography apps for the iPad, they tend to talk about apps that control the miserable thing that is in the iPad2. For us people who take photography seriously however, this is what we mean by a useful app. In this case, it is the ability to apply your Lightroom cataloguing workflow out in the field before hitting your desktop. My only concern is memory space; even a 64GB iPad may not be enough if one is out in the field for a long long time. That and the fact you need Lightroom as your Digital Asset Management (DAM) software. So if you have both an iPad and Lightroom 3, go check this out!


Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Tekkeon’s New Dual Port Power Pack, Certified by Apple for iPod, iPhone and iPad, Charges Two Devices at Once

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Laptop Thoughts Accessories" @ 09:00 AM

http://www.tekkeon.com/products-tekcharge1860.html

"TekChargeTM MP1860A, a dual port power pack with two USB outputs, simultaneously charges and powers your iPadTM, iPhone®, iPod® nano or iPod® touch, and a second small portable device. With mobile power at your fingertips, this high-capacity, lightweight battery lets you enjoy hours of extended play time on many of your small portable electronic products. Most portable devices are often in need of recharging after a few hours of use. By taking advantage of the TekCharge MP1860A rechargeable lithium ion battery, you can enjoy hours of extended play time on your iPad, iPhone, iPod, mobile phones, smartphones, Zune® and MP3 players, portable routers, e-readers, and other small portable electronic products. As an added bonus, TekCharge MP1860A includes a flashlight so you have emergency light at your fingertips."

Got an iPad or another tablet that needs a hefty bump of juice to charge? The Tekkeon MP1860A might have a uninspired product name, but it offers plenty of power - up to 2.1 amps, enough to charge an iPad or iPad 2. It's also been officially certified by Apple, so you know it will work. The battery holds 4400 mAH of power, which should be enough to recharge several smaller devices and partially recharge the iPad or another tablet device. I'm working on a review of another Tekkeon battery pack and it's quite impressive. Tekkeon really knows their batteries!


Monday, February 14, 2011

A Quick Rundown of Several iPad Photography Apps

Posted by Jeff Campbell in "Apple Software (iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad)" @ 09:00 AM

http://blog.digitalrev.com/2010/04/...-ipad-reviewed/

"Way back in January, I posted on the blog 5 reasons why I think the iPad will be great for photographers. So now that I've got the chance to play around with the new iPad, what do I think of it? Will I be eating my own words or am I right?"

Kai went through (quite quickly I might add) 18 free apps and two paid ones for the iPad that related to photos and photography. Some problems with all of them, but there were several stars in the bunch such as the PhotoPad by ZAGG and SmugMug that each got 4 stars. At the very least, this will help you decide what NOT to buy from the App Store, plus the reviewer is actually quite fun to watch. What are your favorite apps for the iPad?


Thursday, January 13, 2011

Everki Track Laptop Messenger Bag

Posted by Chris Baxter in "Laptop Thoughts Accessories" @ 09:00 AM

Product Category: Laptop Bag
Manufacturer: Everki
Where to Buy: Amazon (affiliate link)
Price: $59.99
Specifications: Length: 16.54 in., Width: 7.09 in., Height: 12.99 in., Weight 1.98 lbs.

Pros:

  • Handy compartment designed for Apple iPad or any other similar sized tablet computer;
  • Lots of additional compartments to store other electronics, including power cords;
  • Small enough in size to take anywhere, yet can hold a lot more equipment than you would think.
Cons:
  • Clasps on front flap are difficult to manage while on the move;
  • The bag only accommodates up to a 15.6" laptop.

Summary: The Everki Track Laptop Messenger Bag, is a bag with a twist. It comes with a compartment especially designed to carry an Apple iPad. Given the wildly popular reception the iPad has received since its debut, there have been a lot of products designed to carry and protect it, but this is the first time I have seen a solution designed into a laptop bag, and that makes it rather unique. While some people might argue that the whole reason they bought an iPad was to ditch their laptop, for other people, myself included, that just isn't realistic. As handy as my iPad is, there are just some things that are done more efficiently with a laptop. So how do I easily carry both? Everki attempts to answer that question with their Track Laptop Bag. Just how successful are they? Let's see!

Read more...


Friday, December 31, 2010

What The Geeky Got for Gifts

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home News" @ 05:30 PM

http://mashable.com/2010/12/31/ipad...-mashable-poll/

"If you got an iPad as a gift during the holidays, you certainly weren't alone. In a recent poll of holiday gift recipients, iPads accounted for a full 22.7% of all gadget or hardware gifts, making iPads the single largest category in our gift poll, outstripping the nearest runner-up by nearly 14% of votes. That runner-up was Amazon's Kindle - not surprising considering that the Kindle is the best-selling product in Amazon's history."

It's a relatively small sampling size - less than 2400 votes, and only from people who read Mashable - but among the geek-set, there are a couple of stand-out points: the iPad was the #1 gift, more people got Macs (60%) than Windows machines (40%), Android phones let the way in the smartphone category with a hefty 50.3% figure (iPhones were 30%), but Windows Phone 7 devices at 10.3% just eeked out Blackberry devices (9.4%). Not bad for a brand new platform that most people still haven't heard about! Lastly, the Xbox/Kinect one-two punch clobbered the PS3 with a 54.3% figure versus only 11.9% for the PS3. The Kinect really is driving the Xbox 360 to new heights of popularity!


Wednesday, December 22, 2010

piRAWnha Processes RAW Images on iPad; Fills Your Pun Quota for the Next Decade

Posted by Lee Yuan Sheng in "Digital Home Software" @ 02:00 PM

http://www.photographyblog.com/news...es_on_the_ipad/

"piRAWnha is the first RAW image developer for the iPad. In piRAWnha, the raw data can be edited and once the settings have been optimized, a high‐quality JPEG image file can be exported to the Photo Library. Currently, piRAWnha supports raw images transferred to the iPad with the Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit. piRAWnha works with all raw files supported by Apple."

The iPad's IPS screen makes it a natural fit in the photographer's bag. Upon the iPad's announcement most photographers saw its potential as a portable electronic portfolio. Others have since used it for a second monitor for photo editing on the notebook while out in the field. Now there is an app to process raw images on the iPad. Besides the awful pun, I am just curious if anyone would really want to use the iPad to process anywhere from 12 megapixel to 24 megapixel raw images.


Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Netflix Changes Their Pricing Structure

Posted by Jeff Campbell in "The Competition" @ 07:00 AM

http://www.macworld.com/article/155...l?lsrc=rss_main

"Netflix on Monday excitedly announced a new streaming-only, DVD-less plan, and then, while staring down at the floor, quietly murmured something about a price hike for all other plans."

This was bound to happen as more and more people stream content from Netflix, and find no need to even order the physical disks. According to the Netflix Blog, you can get a streaming only plan for $7.99 USD. The other plans will increase by $1.00 USD, so if you had the one disk plan before, it will go up to $9.99 USD. I prefer the option to have at least one disk sent to me as not all the content Netflix offers is available to stream. Once that happens, I'm streaming only.


Thursday, October 28, 2010

Is Microsoft a Dying Consumer Brand?

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home Articles & Resources" @ 03:30 PM

http://money.cnn.com/2010/10/27/tec.../microsoft_pdc/

"Consumers have turned their backs on Microsoft. A company that once symbolized the future is now living in the past. Microsoft has been late to the game in crucial modern technologies like mobile, search, media, gaming and tablets. It has even fallen behind in Web browsing, a market it once ruled with an iron fist."

This is your typical link-bait article in some ways, and I'm complying by linking to it, but I felt it was worth discussing. Windows 7 is selling like gangbusters, and it's the best OS Microsoft has ever released, so it's hard to blindly say that somehow Microsoft is losing in the consumer space...but I think the author has a point that Microsoft has no answer to the next wave of consumer computing: instant-on appliance-like devices. I don't own an iPad, but I understand what that device represents and why it resonates so powerfully with an increasing number of people. Read more...


Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Can The Kindle Survive In a Tablet World?

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Laptop Thoughts Articles & Resources" @ 08:00 PM

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/...pr_levy_kindle/

"We can read books on our phones, laptops, and tablets. So why would we throw in a dedicated e-reader like the Kindle when packing our already cramped carry-on bags? As you might expect, Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos is happy to supply an answer: angry birds."

An interesting perspective, and one that I ultimately agree with. Although the Kindle and the iPad look similar on the surface, when one weighs 1.6 pounds and the other 8.7 ounces, one lasts hours on a charge while the other lasts weeks, and one is $139 and the other is $499, you start to realize they're very different sort of devices. I'm planning on getting a Kindle this holiday season - the cheap Wi-Fi one - and am hoping I'll like it quite a bit. I love reading, but devices have never reached the price point where I was willing to take the risk of purchasing digital, DRM-protected content. I think that point has finally come...and, yeah, I'm still thinking about buying an iPad. I think I'll wait for v2 there as well...


Wednesday, September 29, 2010

iHome iB969, For All of Your Charging Needs

Posted by Jeff Campbell in "Apple iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad" @ 10:00 AM

http://notebooks.com/2010/09/28/iho...toys-and-tools/

"iHome has just come out with the iHome iB969 Charging Station to help you "Charge Your World!" The charging station is a compact device that will charge up to four devices."

The hard thing to find these days, with so many electronic devices that have different connectors, is a charging solution that works for anything. But it appears iHome has come up with one. The iHome iB969 [affiliate link] is truly an all-in-one solution, with capability to charge just about anything, from iPods to Kindles in a compact device. It will also, depending on the type of protective covering, charge devices without having to remove the case. And it comes with two Apple docks built in that can also be used for iPods or iPhones, to allow for charging and/or syncing. The device is supposed to be available later this month for $59.99 USD, which seems pretty reasonable to me for an all-in-one device such as this one.


Friday, September 17, 2010

Long Exposure + iPad + Creativity = Amazing Effects

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home Articles & Resources" @ 02:00 PM

"This film explores playful uses for the increasingly ubiquitous 'glowing rectangles' that inhabit the world. We use photographic and animation techniques that were developed to draw moving 3-dimensional typography and objects with an iPad. In dark environments, we play movies on the surface of the iPad that extrude 3-d light forms as they move through the exposure. Multiple exposures with slightly different movies make up the stop-frame animation."

Nothing like seeing creative people at work! Though I do have to wonder if all the work is cost-effective versus simply creating the same effect via computer graphics in post-production...


Wednesday, August 4, 2010

The iPad Will Rule The US Tablet Market

Posted by Hooch Tan in "Digital Home News" @ 03:00 PM

http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/08/0...-ebook-readers/

"But did Apple just destroy the US tablet market in the same way? Are manufacturers really going to invest millions upon millions of dollars in R&D and marketing when consumers are buying the iPad by the millions? Is the US tablet market dead?"

Tablets, even slate tablets, have been around for a very long time, so I do not think that the iPad has preemptively killed the US market in any fashion. I believe that the iPad will certainly dominate for quite some time, as the tablet market was about as stagnant as the phone market was when the iPhone was introduced, but competition for the iPad already exists in the form of netbooks, and I am fairly sure that other major manufacturers will also look into entering the market with their own slates. The iPad certainly has a lead in the market but just as they drew from the resources and lessons learned with the iPhone, other manufacturers already have numerous tools, largely from the phone market, which can be used to compete.


Wednesday, June 9, 2010

The Future of Magazines? This Could Be It

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home Talk" @ 03:00 PM

Ignore the fact that it's an iPad - look at the way they've designed the user interface, the flow, the feeling of browsing through the information...this is the future of magazines right here. Not the hardware - the iPad is too expensive, too big, and too heavy to be a true replacement for a magazine - but the concepts are all there. This is the future of magazines...


Monday, April 5, 2010

With the iPad, What's Old is New

Posted by Hooch Tan in "Digital Home News" @ 11:00 AM

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/...844&ft=1&f=1006

"Although Apple is marketing the iPad as a replacement for a netbook or a laptop, Sweeting says Apple's control over the iPad makes it very different, because on most computers, you can choose any software or application you like. "This is not an open platform where you can create a lot of content, or other people can create a lot of applications and content that you can then access and use and incorporate into what you're doing," he says."

So the iPad has now been officially released in the United States for several days now, and the whole tech world has been inundated with reviews and comments about the device. As I do not have one of my own, I cannot make an honest comment about the experience it provides. However, NPR has tried to put their own spin on the slate, noting how the iPad (and Apple) are shifting things even more towards a gated community. With Apple fiercely protecting the App Store, this is no surprise. The same thing applies to the iPhone and iPod touch, and to a much lesser degree, Macs. That is part of the business model, and they are doing really well at it. However, I am reminded of another company who almost two decades ago also acted very much like a gated community. It offered custom content from large companies, and begrudgingly offered "limited" Internet access and was very openly and commonly derided for its simplistic and limited service. That company, of course, is AOL. I have to wonder how gated communities, mass promotion (I think I still have ond of their floppies, yes, that's FLOPPIES, not CDs.) and simple usage philosophy has changed in the public perception over the years. What happened?

Tags: hardware, apple, aol, ipad

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Watch Out Amazon! The iPad Might Just be a Kindle Killer

Posted by Hooch Tan in "Digital Home News" @ 03:00 PM

http://www.tgdaily.com/mobility-fea...e-reader-market

"“We took a close-up look at the budding e-Reader market and found the iPad is all but certain to have a transformational impact on it going forward. While a handful of e-Reader manufacturers - most prominently Amazon - clearly have a major head start, the survey findings show the iPad is poised to profoundly shake up this market,” explained Paul Carton, Director of Research at ChangeWave."

I for one hope that the iPad is able to put a good dent in Kindle's market. While I am not personally thrilled about the walled garden nature that the iPad offers, the Kindle really is no different. What is more important to me is that there are more large competitors in the ebook market. The problem I see with a single large distributor of ebooks, as convenient as it may be, is that that distributor would have a significant amount of say in what gets published. I recall hearing rumors of how Walmart, what was one of the largest CD distributors in the United States, could have lyrics or the content of CDs changed. Under the guise of being "family friendly" I can understand their rationale, but it means there's a controlling interest in what we are able to access. Sure, we have the Internet to access most anything we want, but when a publisher will only publish a certain version of an ebook because Amazon, or Apple, or whomever says so, I shudder.


Saturday, March 6, 2010

Engadget Has the Scoop on Microsoft Courier

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home Hardware & Accessories" @ 11:36 AM

http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/05/...ictures-and-de/

"We've been dying to know more about Microsoft's Courier tablet / e-book device ever since we first caught wind of it last September, and while our entreaties to Mr. Ballmer went unanswered, we just learned some very interesting information from an extremely trusted source. We're told Courier will function as a "digital journal," and it's designed to be seriously portable: it's under an inch thick, weighs a little over a pound, and isn't much bigger than a 5x7 photo when closed."

Courier is shaping up to be a really interesting product - I was initially pretty hesitant about how real it was when I saw the first leaks, but this is looking pretty legitimate. Engadget says that it will run on Tegra 2, and use the same OS as the Zune HD and Windows phone 7...meaning Windows CE 6 at the base, and a custom UI on top. I think that's fantastic, because Windows 7, as much as I like it, simply isn't made for a great tablet-type experience. Courier on the other hand, seems built to function radically different than any other computing device we've seen - the dual screens and the ability to flick items between the screens is like geek sci-fi. If Courier turns out to be real, it will blow the iPad away in terms of sheer functionality in my opinion. There's so much we don't know yet, but I'm fascinated by what we're seeing - and to lend an air of credibility to this whole thing, one of the videos says it was created at Pioneer Studios...that's the same group at Microsoft that created the Zune HD and Windows phone 7. Interesting, no?


Featured Product

The Canon PowerShot S100 - The incredibly fun and small camera that offers you 12.1 megapixels with a bright f/2.0 lens and full 1080p video recording . MORE INFO

News Tip or Feedback?

Contact us

Thoughts Media Sites

Windows Phone Thoughts

Digital Home Thoughts

Zune Thoughts

Apple Thoughts

Laptop Thoughts

Android Thoughts

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...