iPad

Colorado Rockies adopt iPad for video and reports

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Last season, the Rockies were the first MLB team to adopt PlayerLync’s technology to automatically push and control videos, scouting reports and more to the teams’ iPads.”

“It used to be difficult and time consuming to distribute video and scouting reports to anyone outside our building,” says Brian Jones, video coordinator for the Colorado Rockies. “Now, with PlayerLync’s technology, we are able to automatically disperse those videos and reports to the iPads of any player, coach, or scout, no matter where they are. PlayerLync has revolutionized our process, and there’s not another technology solution like it.”

Great use of iPads.

Apple: iOS 7 on 74% of devices

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Apple on Thursday answered a question that many people have wondered: How is the adoption of iOS 7 going? According to data on Apple’s Web site, I’d say pretty well. […]

Life on iPad

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Apple’s new iPad page. Definitely worth a look to see all of the different ways people are using iPads.

Switch to HP tablets an “unmitigated disaster” for school

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“The HP Elite Pad has proved to be an unmitigated disaster. We have met with HP representatives on a number of occasions to address the issues.

The story says the switch to e-books was a disaster, but the disaster was HP.

Principal Gleeson said it was “an informed decision” to choose the HP Elite tablet.

“A year and a half’s worth of research was put into choosing the right device for us.

Bullshit. Anyone that did research wouldn’t have the chosen an HP tablet—they would have gone with an iPad that is working in classrooms around the world. If I was a parent in this school district, I’d be out for the principals head.

NBA relies on iPad

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Quite an embarrassment for Samsung considering the NBA just signed $100 million deal with them to use their tablets.

Customize the iOS Music app

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Did you know you can customize the tab bar at the bottom of the iOS Music app? By default, it offers tabs labeled Radio, Playlists, Artists, Songs, and More. Want to replace the Radio tab with a Genre tab? Easy. Follow the link and Kirkville will show you how.

iPad stand you can fit in your pocket

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The TwoHands iPad stand from Felix is like a long, thin hair clip. Squeeze the short end and the legs grasp the sides of the iPad. Works on most tablets, in portrait and landscape. Love this design. Also love the domain name. Presumably felix.com was already taken. This is a good second choice.

The real story behind tablet market share reporting

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This is some incredible compelling analysis. I would urge anyone interested in the methodology behind PC/tablet/phone market share “reporting” (and I do use that term loosely) to read this top-to-bottom.

Things start off with a bit of history.

Following a routine that began in the 1990s, Gartner and IDC spent the 2000s noting that Apple’s Mac market share was virtually irrelevant, afloat in an ocean of PC sales without giving much regard to the fact that Apple enjoyed very high share in some market segments (such as education and graphic design) and essentially none in others (such as enterprise sales, kiosks and cash registers).

Then came the iPod, then the iPhone, then the iPad, with Mac sales rising as the Mac-iOS ecosystem evolved and expanded.

And that’s when this article really gets interesting. In a nutshell, a case is made that IDC, Gartner, and Strategy Analytics (the big three) set out to torpedo Apple’s perceived market share.

There’s little mystery of who shot down the iPad’s market share or what weapon they’re using: all three major market research firms rapidly fire off headline bullets clearly aimed at wounding the perception of Apple’s tablet. One can, generally, only speculate about why this is occurring.

However, Strategy Analytics has offered some unusual transparency regarding its motive for carving out a very specific market and then stuffing the pie chart with “tier two” volume to the point where the world’s best selling tablet is crushed down into an embarrassing statistical sliver of shrinking “share.”

Read the article. Fantastic.

John Gruber reviews the iPad mini

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Last year left me with the impression that choosing the Mini meant accepting numerous trade-offs. That is no longer the case. This is the same device as the iPad Air. The only significant differences between them are size and weight.

Exactly.

Former Microsoft CTO builds an iPad-exclusive app

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This is a pretty interesting story, one that goes beyond the headline. Former Microsoft CTO Nathan Myhrvold did indeed build a beautiful cooking app, bypassing Android and, more notably, the Surface, to focus exclusively on the iPad. Makes sense to me. Android is a tough nut to crack and the iPad has that beautiful Retina display.

But there’s more to Myhrvold than that.

In addition to crafting culinary literature, Myhrvold cofounded Intellectual Ventures, a patent acquisition and licensing business that’s earned him the pejorative of “patent troll” from his critics over the past decade.

Yup. Those guys. Here’s a link to the wiki page. Hard to reconcile these pieces. Microsoft CTO, founder of Microsoft Research, founder of IV, and cooking genius who loves the iPad. Who’da thought?

BIAS amps for iPad

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BIAS starts with stunning replications of 36 of the most sought-after vintage and modern amps in rock ‘n’ roll history and then lets you customize them to respond perfectly to your unique touch and feel. Swap out the tubes, preamp, transformer, tone stacks, cab and mic—even change the tube’s bias—to create your dream amp and distinctive signature sound. Tap once to open your BIAS amp in JamUp and add awesome multi-effects.

A number of people have mentioned this to me in the last couple of days. It looks really nice, so I downloaded it. I’ll get back with my thoughts in a few days.

Some iPad Mini Retina WiFi models available for in-store pickup

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This morning, no models were showing as available for in-store pickup. That has now changed. For example, I’m seeing the 64GB and 128GB Silver and Space Gray WiFi models as available for pickup in my local Apple Store, even though both show 5-10 day shipping.

As always, check with your local store, your mileage may vary.

First Look: iPad mini

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The time for compromises is over. No longer do you have to choose between the iPad you may want and the iPad with the Retina display. The new iPad mini is just as powerful as the iPad Air, both have a Retina display, long battery life, and many other features that make the iPad the best-selling tablet on the market. […]

iPad Mini now on sale, not for in-store pickup

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Ran a little Twitter survey this morning. The new Retina mini appears to be available for purchase now in the US, Australia, Canada, Singapore and throughout much of Europe. That’s who I’ve heard from so far. Poll results show shipping in 1-3 days for the WiFi model, 5-10 days for the cellular model, though Belgium, Denmark, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland show shipping as 5-10 days for both models. The models range from 16GB up to 128GB.

In the US online Apple Store, as of 6:30 am ET, the 16GB and 32GB WiFi-only models show as ready to ship in 1-3 days and everything else is marked to ship in 5-10 days.

Review of the iPad Air personal hotspot

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Took the iPad Air personal hotspot for a spin this morning. Could not have been a more positive experience.

I travel a lot, and frequently find myself without a net connection. Some of what I do can be done on a cellular iPad, but there are many times when I need to work on my laptop. In the past, I’ve turned to personal hotspots from various carriers, but I’ve never been happy with the reliability and the cost is high for the bandwidth you get.

The iPad Air data plan is $50 per month for 5GB of data. My previous data plan was $30 for 3GB and I rarely used more than 500MB. I look at this as paying an extra $20 per month for the hot spot. Not quite right, but close enough. I’m used to paying between $45-$75 per month for other cellular hotspot solutions. On the cost side, this is a bargain, assuming you can live with the 5GB limit. For me, this is not an issue.

Setup is a breeze, far simpler than any hotspot I’ve ever used. On your iPad, go to Settings / Personal Hotspot and tap the switch to turn it on. That’s it. You’ll have the choice of using the hotspot over WiFi, USB (plug the iPad into your computer) or Bluetooth (you’ll be prompted to enable Bluetooth – I did not do that). Your hotspot will come with a default password that is different for each iPad. Tap on the password to change it.

Back on your computer, the iPad WiFi will appear in the list of WiFi networks as the name of your iPad. For me, the iPad appeared as “Dave Mark iPad Air”. I joined the network, typed in the password, and I was in.

The network speed is fast. I ran a benchmark and found the speed to be about 9MB download and 2.25MB upload. Not as fast as FiOS but still pretty zippy. I did not notice any slowdown when sending emails or browsing the web. Obviously, file downloads will be slower, relative to my broadband connection, but that’s to be expected.

I had a friend log in with a Windows machine and her experience was just as positive. She was able to play World of Warcraft and not notice a bit of difference between WoW on broadband and WoW on a hotspot.

Bottom line, the personal hotspot on my iPad Air is a home run. Simply brilliant.

iPad activations increase 200% at AT&T

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Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO, AT&T Mobility:

“iPad activations on AT&T increased more than 200% over the past three days compared to last year’s launch weekend, driven by consumer excitement around the new iPad Air and the popularity of AT&T Mobile Share, which lets customers add an iPad to their existing data plan for just $10 a month. We also saw strong demand for AT&T Next, which offers customers an iPad for $0 down on the nation’s fastest and most reliable 4G LTE network.”

I wish they would give some numbers—that statement feels like something Amazon would do. The obvious question is 200% of what?

T-Mobile and the confusing iPad rollout

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I applaud T-Mobile’s efforts to make their way into the already crowded iPhone and iPad space. But this iPad rollout just strikes me as ham-handed:

T-Mobile CEO John Legere tweeted today to clarify his company’s free 200MB monthly plans for iPads on its network. He reiterated that “everyone” gets 200MB of free data with no strings attached.

Earlier today, customers trying to buy iPads on T-Mobile were told they would have to pay a $10 monthly fee to access the “free” data, contradicting an offer from last week.

That is a sure way to squander any good-will gained. If your plan is to buy your way into the market using the iPad data plan as a loss-leader, then get the word out to your staff, make sure everyone is on the same page.

Belkin’s iPad Air keyboard cases

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Ever since I posted on Twitter about looking for a keyboard for my iPad Air, I’ve had a lot of suggestions for Logitech and Zagg. I saw these Belkin ones tonight and thought I’d post those too.

I call bullshit on JD Power’s explanation

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Matthew Panzarino:

Parsons confirmed the percentage, but said that the differential between the prices of the iPad and the prices of the Samsung tablets that were included in the survey was large enough to “more than offset” the score in the other four categories. Parsons says that the price category contributed to a full two-point difference between Apple and Samsung.

B U L L S H I T!

There’s no way it explains the tablet numbers.