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- Roundup: iPad Previews Around the Web
Well, unfortunately Apple got my shipping address mixed up with David Pogue’s again and I did not get an iPad to review early. Fortunately, Pogue, Andy Ihnatko, Walt Mossberg and a lucky few others were able to talk about their experiences with the iPad starting today and there are several reviews across the web to whet your appetite for all things iPad. Here is an overview of all the lucky bums that were on Uncle Steve’s “good list” this year.New York Times
David Pogue of the New York Times wrote his review from two angles: one for the Techie crowd, one for everyone else. Even if you feel you belong firmly in one camp or the other, it will be worth your time to read both parts of the article.
“For most people, manipulating these digital materials directly by touching them is a completely new experience — and a deeply satisfying one.”
Dislikes: The onscreen keyboard is a “horrible experience” and “barely usable” (Note: not everyone hates the onscreen keyboard).
Chicago Sun-Times
Andy Ihnatko covers technology for the Chicago Sun-Times. One interesting bit from the end of his article is that he chose to cover tech instead of movies almost exactly 10 years ago. He says the iPad proves he chose the more interesting topic. Andy also revealed his iPad live on TWiT and has also posted an unboxing video to YouTube.
“In fact, after a week with the iPad, I'm suddenly wondering if any other company is as committed to invention as Apple.”
Dislikes: The iPad is “not a replacement” for a computer.
Wall Street Journal
Walt Mossberg wrote his review for the Wall Street Journal and focused a bit of time discussing if the iPad could replace a laptop.
“It's qualitatively different, a whole new type of computer that, through a simple interface, can run more-sophisticated, PC-like software than a phone does, and whose large screen allows much more functionality when compared with a phone's.”
Dislikes: Limited email and web browser apps.
Houston Chronicle
Bob ” Dr. Mac” LeVitus writes for the Houston Chronicle and generally gushes over how great the iPad is.
“Speaking of my wife, prior to our iPad’s arrival she said she didn’t understand why anyone would want or need an iPad. Now she just keeps saying, ‘No, you can’t have it back.’”
Dislikes: Not much negative in the article, but he dislikes how he can’t get it back from his wife.
Time Magazine
Stephen Fry wrote the cover feature for Time Magazine, an interview with Steve Jobs about the iPad and Apple. While the article holds back from criticizing anything Apple, I did find the quotes from Jobs and designer Jonathan Ives worth the read.
“When I switch [the iPad] on, a little sigh escapes me as the screen lights up. Ten minutes later I am rolling on the floor, snarling and biting, trying to wrestle it from the hands of an Apple press representative”
Dislikes: Hard to find anything, but here’s a stretch — “…with the release of the iPad, Apple is an overdog for the first time. The smell of backlash is in the air.”
BoingBoing
Xeni Jardin wrote a “first look” piece for BoingBoing that gives us some details on “The Elements” app that was pre-installed on all the review units. There is some good advice about JQuery performance on the iPad too.
“The Elements on iPad is not a game, not an app, not a TV show. It’s a book. But it’s Harry Potter’s book. This is the version you check out from the Hogwarts library. Everything in it is alive in some way.”
Dislikes: Can’t imagine doing lots of heavy text input on the iPad
PC Mag
Tim Gideon wrote a lengthy review for PC Mag. There’s lot of good details in here and some light testing with Exchange and other features that some will be interested to read.
“The built-in speaker surprised me—not with its excellent quality, but with its ability to get fairly loud and not sound horrifyingly awful.”
Dislikes: The iPad is an extra device that is not a full-fledged laptop.
USA Today
Edward C. Baig got a chance to write down his impressions for USA Today. His view is mostly favorable and the article covers the basics.
“Apple expects more than 1,000 iPad-specific apps to be available at launch.”
Dislikes: The video controls are buried in settings.
More From Around the Web
- Apple has put up a page of iPad ready web sites
- ABCNews posted a video sneak peek of the iPad.
- AppAdvice has a preview of the iPad App Store
- Our own coverage at GigaOM Pro (sub req’d)
Know of any others that we may have missed?
Переслать - Sponsor post: Sponsor post: Atimi Software Inc. Canucks App Hits #1
The official Canucks iPhone application has become the #1 downloaded app in the free sports app category in the Canadian App Store. Released on February 9th, the app quickly hit 18,000 downloads within two weeks; that number now exceeds 33,000.
The first and only NHL team app to achieve such success allows fans to stay connected to the Vancouver Canucks team with exclusive news, features, message boards, videos, scores and statistics.
With over two hundred 5-star ratings, the app has attracted worldwide attention, with downloads from Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Click here to download the official Canucks App to be a part of the action.
Переслать - Free CBS and ABC Shows Coming to the iPad
Companies are bending over backwards to get content onto the iPad, whether it’s by changing from Flash to HTML5 as the primary language for rich media content, or by rushing out iPad specific apps. Now ABC and CBS are taking it further still, with both planning to offer free streaming shows designed specifically to work with the platform.Both companies have different approaches, with CBS aiming to stream content via the iPad’s built-in browser, and ABC looking to provide its streaming content via a dedicated iPad application. The information comes via people briefed on the plans of the two companies speaking to the Wall Street Journal.
CBS plans to have full episodes of Survivor online and ready to stream by Saturday on its CBS.com website. That’d be great news eight years ago, but who still watches that reality fluff? In addition to full episodes of that one show, word is it will also have special previews of other shows like the terrific crime drama “The Mentalist” and popular comedy “How I Met Your Mother.” Despite the significant lack of content for Saturday, Neil Ashe, president of CBS Interactive, did make a statement promising that the iPad will have the same access as computer-based browsers over time.
ABC’s app, on the other hand, will likely have a much larger library available at launch, including shows like “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives.” The app would stream shows along with advertisements, in the same way ABC.com currently does. It’s a way to avoid iTunes altogether, where sales are slack and Apple is trying to force a 99-cent price point per episode to stimulate the market.
As for the other major networks, NBC already offers streaming content to the iPhone and iPod touch through its mobile website, including full episodes of shows like “30 Rock” and “The Office.” Fox does not, but presumably Rupert Murdoch has some kind of paid solution in the works, since he is trying to wall off all News Corp. content behind pay walls.
Interest in getting content on the iPad is strong, but it represents a monumental effort not just from content providers, but from the advertisers that make that content possible, as well. For years, the de facto format for online video has been Flash, and many advertisers work exclusively in that medium. To then convert existing or prepare new advertisements for the iPad platform, which doesn’t support Flash, will take time and money. The iPad’s success in the coming weeks will reveal whether or not the investment is worth it.
Related iPad Content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d)
Переслать - iPad + iBookstore + Smashwords = Free, Low Hassle e-Book Publishing
Have a hankering to be a published author? With the iPad’s launch expected to exponentially increase interest in and demand for e-books, a new e-book publishing and distribution platform called Smashwords could be your ticket to , if not necessarily literary fame and fortune, at least the satisfaction of authorship and perhaps a few bucks of income enhancement.iBookstore Deal
Smashwords has reportedly just inked a deal with Apple to distribute Smashwords titles on the iBookstore, with Smashwords and Apple jointly receiving 40 percent of the sale price of each copy sold, but no up front cost to the author or publisher. Apple requires ISBN (International Standard Book Number) support, which Smashwords is currently in the process of adding to its service. More details on that and how to format your e-book submission to comply with the Smashwords/Apple standards can be found on Steve Weber’s Plug Your Book website.
And of course, there are already all the “traditional” devices that support e-books such as iPhones and iPods, Amazon’s Kindle, and sundry others.
Smashwords is structured for publishing novels, short fiction, poetry, personal memoirs, monographs, non-fiction, research reports, essays, and other written forms for free with no hidden fees. Authors and publishers retain complete control over sampling, pricing and marketing of their written works. As a Smashwords author, you can charge a dollar, $10,000, or give your opus away for free.
Readers can sample most Smashworks titles for free, and in many cases, read samples from the book before committing to purchase. Smashwords founder Mark Coker says that “Smart publishers realize if a reader invests the time necessary to read 100 pages of a 300 page book, they're much more inclined to purchase the book to know how it ends.”
Content Creator Retains Rights
All author contracts with Smashwords are non-exclusive, and the content creator retains all ownership rights to his works, remaining free to publish elsewhere as they choose and with the right to remove their works from Smashwords at any time. Smashwords clients must be original authors of the work, or the exclusive electronic publisher or distributor of the work (ergo: no public domain reprinting).
Related GigaOM Pro Research:
Переслать - Why I'm Sticking With Amazon for My e-Books
The iPad will be coming out in just a few days. There's a good chance that shortly thereafter, as soon as 3G versions are available in stores, I will have my hands on Apple's newest product. One of the principal reasons that I will be purchasing the iPad is to be my e-book reader. I have been an avid reader my entire life, and as something of a technologist as well, I have been waiting for e-books for as long as I can remember.
Amazon, obviously, got the ball really rolling with the Kindle after years of stagnation in the market. Apple is going toe to toe with them with the launch of the iBookstore. So when I have an iPad in hand I'm going to be faced with a choice, use Apple's iBooks solution, or stick with Amazon's Kindle platform.
I've been thinking about this ever since the iPad was announced, going back and forth on the issue. On the one hand I have already made an investment in Amazon's e-book ecosystem, having purchased about 30 books to read on the Kindle app on my iPhone. That's about $300 invested, but even if I switch to Apple's iBooks app I can always have the Kindle app sitting next to it on my iPad if I want to read one of those titles. The iBookstore, however, offers several benefits over the Kindle app:
- The ability to purchase books from within the app
- The ability to add any open ePub format book to iTunes and sync it over
- The rumored 30,0000 public domain books that will be available
Given these benefits it might seem like a slam dunk to move over to iBooks, but I've decided against it, for one simple reason: cross-platform compatibility.For me, books are a long-term investment. If I like a book I'm going to read it two, five or even 10 times, and some of my favorite books from my teenage years I've read so many times I can't even remember how many times I've picked them up. Books, including e-books, I buy today aren't something that I'll one and done like a television episode or even a movie — these are things that I'll want to be able to access in 10 or 20 years. Given that, it's important for me to pick an e-book platform that I know will be able to follow me as my tastes and needs for hardware change. What happens if I decide in five years that I don't want to use Apple products anymore? If I invest heavily into the iBoookstore those books will be lost to me, but with the Kindle there's a good chance that I'll be able to read those books on a future Android device, or a Windows tablet or something we don't even know of today but that I might be using.
It's hard for me, as an Apple fanboy, to consider the possibility that Apple may not be able to meet my computing needs in the future. But I care more about books than I do about Apple and so I need to be honest with myself about this. When push comes to shove, it's more important for me to have my books than it is for me to have Apple's products, and that's never going to change. So when the iPad comes out and I have one in my hands I'll be reading my books in the Kindle app.
Related GigaOM Pro Research: Evolution of the e-Book Market
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