Fresh Apple: GigaOMApple (10 сообщений)

GigaOMApple

http://gigaom.com
рекомендовать друзьям >>

Getting an iPad 2 Outside the US Ahead of International Launch
Bad news international iPad 2 fans: it looks like you’re in for a wait. Apple Stores are sold out across the U.S. (despite a slow trickle of occasional stock), online order shipping times are at four-to-five weeks, and now analysts are saying the Mar. 25 launch date is in jeopardy. But if you’re really serious about getting an iPad 2 as early as possible, there are alternatives.

Craigslist or Kijiji

Local classifieds are a veritable addiction for many, and for good reason. Often you can pick up great deals, people are amenable to trades, and you decrease your chance of getting completely screwed when you meet people face-to-face in a highly visible public location to do your deal. I used cragislist to secure my own iPad 2, and even though I maybe paid a bit more than I should have by the time you factor in taxes and customs charges at the Canadian border, the hard-to-quantify advantage of having the device long before many of my professional peers, has me feeling like I still got a good deal.

Checking out sales here in Toronto, Canada on craigslist (Kijiji may be more popular and have more listings depending on where you are), it looks like the absolute minimum you’d be paying for an iPad 2 would be around $750, and that’s for the Wi-Fi 16 GB model. Some are asking completely outrageous prices, including $3000 for a 64 GB Wi-Fi + 3G (the AT&T model does indeed work internationally on GSM networks, contrary to what Apple’s site originally indicated), but pickings are admittedly sparse, and I’ve heard of people paying as much as $2000 for that model in the past few days. Finding middle-of-the-road models like the 32 GB iPad Wi-Fi + 3G is more difficult on local classified sites in my research, but that may just be because sellers anticipated they’d be less popular or command less profit than models at either extreme of the spectrum.

Local classifieds won’t work so well in countries where U.S. access isn’t just a short drive or train ride away (iPads may be offered, but they’ll likely be much more rare and expensive), or in more rural areas, unless you’re happy to make the trip in to an urban center to pick up your iPad 2.

eBay

Before I decided to go the craigslist route, I seriously considered picking up an iPad 2 on eBay. As with local classifieds, you’ll definitely pay a premium to get your hands on the tablet early, but eBay is probably a much more realistic option for those hoping to purchase in markets outside North America.

Pricing is currently topping out at around $5,000 for the 64 GB iPad, and goes down from there, with plenty of listings in the $2,000 range. Many options include free shipping within the U.S., and almost all offer international shipping (at various prices), too, since eBay sellers are probably keenly aware that out-of-country buyers will be most eager to pay a premium. Some sellers are offering additional incentives, like included Smart Covers, or, in one special case, the autographs of various notable sci-fi celebrities and a pledge to donate the proceeds from the sale to Japanese relief efforts.

As always with eBay, you have to exercise a fair amount of caution when choosing a seller. Always pick one with a high reputation score, and plenty of feedback. eBay marketplace vendors are often a good choice, since they’ll have a long history of sales on which to stake their reputation. When it comes specifically to buying an iPad 2, there are a few additional things to keep in mind when making your choice. First, make sure if you’re buying a 3G model that it is definitely the AT&T version if you plan on using it in your home country. GSM is by far the more popular global cellular network standard, so chances are that’s what your local carrier uses, too. Second, make sure the seller actually has a device on-hand and ready to ship. They should say so in their listing, but sending a message and asking for a confirmation of current stock levels is never a bad idea.

Ship From U.S.

If you think the iPad 2 will be shipping from the online U.S. Apple Store before local availability in your country of residence, then you might want to opt for the services of a U.S.-based mail forwarding company. MyUs.com, for example, will set you up with a U.S. street address for Apple to ship your iPad 2 to, and then it’ll forward the shipment on to your actual address in your home country.

MyUs.com also offers the option to use its Personal Shopper service to purchase from retailers that only accept U.S. credit cards as a method of payment. You just tell them who to buy for, what type of payment to use, and what and how many to buy. They charge a service fee for this on top of whatever the cost of your items are, but it’s a nice workaround for non-U.S. residents.

Of course, MyUs.com also charges a fee for maintaining a U.S. address for you, but a basic membership is only $10 for setup with no monthly fee, and then you pay a different one-time fee for each shipment depending on the weight of the package.

Remember that Apple is estimating a wait time of four-to-five weeks for online shipments, so this may end up not being the best option, unless you’re living in a country that’s not even in the first batch of international release candidates. You can also always try to find the iPad 2 shipping from another online U.S. retailer sooner and use it with MyUs.com’s forwarding service.

Wait for Launch

Of course, if you’re not terribly impatient, you could always just wait for the iPad 2′s launch in your own country. It’ll be cheaper, and there’s still a chance Apple could stick to its original release timeframe. You’ll probably still face lines on launch day depending on where you are, but there are always broke college students for that.
Related content from GigaOM Pro (subscription req'd):
Переслать
Get Quick and Easy iPad App Recommendations With Forage
Last Friday, Janko covered a cool little web app called Forage that taps into your Twitter account using the Hunch recommendation API to provide personalized YouTube playlists based on who you follow on Twitter. Today, there’s a version that recommends iPad apps, too.

Just navigate over to http://forage.com/ipad.php in your iPad’s mobile Safari web browser to get started. You’ll encounter a bare-bones site with a field for entering your Twitter username. All you need to do is enter your handle (no password required), hit the “Go” button, and the app returns a list of 20 popular apps you might like, and 20 apps recommended “Just for you.”

Forage was created by Hunch co-founder Chris Dixon, and taps into the Hunch recommendation engine, which works by asking Twitter and Facebook users about their preferences and tastes. When you enter your Twitter name to get your app recommendations, Forage uses the Hunch data to make recommendations about apps based on the tastes of users known to Hunch that you’re connected to.

The app may be little more than just a rough tech demo at this point, but when I tried it out, it proved surprisingly accurate about the types of apps I’d like. And I tried a few different Twitter handles to make sure it wasn’t just serving up the most popular apps in a random order, too. I’ve tried and enjoyed about 80 percent of the apps on this list for my own personal account, and considered buying or downloading most of the others at one point or another. Then again, trying out apps is part of my job, so I’m curious to see what readers think about the recommendations Forage provides.

At any rate, it’s better than what I generally see in the App Store’s own Genius-based recommendations, which leaves me pretty excited about how existing apps and services might leverage the Hunch API to provide smarter, more personalized advice to users.
Related content from GigaOM Pro (subscription req'd):
Переслать
What Are Apple's Options in the Video War With Netflix?

According to NPD, the iTunes Store accounted for just 4 percent of video downloaded or streamed through February of this year in the U.S., making it just one of many also-rans trailing Netflix, which dominates with 61 percent. Twisting the knife, at least part of Netflix’s success is a direct result of Apple. More than a hundred million iOS devices can stream Netflix content, and in January Netflix announced that the Apple TV “in just four months has passed the also-growing iPad in Netflix viewing hours.” How did a company as savvy as Apple end up opening the back door to such strong competition in the digital video space?

It is the success of the company’s music strategy (the iTunes Store accounts for about 66 percent of retail music in the U.S.) that has arguably done the most to hurt Apple’s video efforts. Fairly or not, music industry executives, not to mention aging rock start Jon Bon Jovi, see Apple’s success as at least partially “responsible for killing the music business.” Movie studio and television network executives are no doubt wary of being victims of a similar success.

Last fall with the introduction of television rentals for the iTunes Store, Jeff Zucker, then CEO of NBC, asserted NBC did “not think 99 cents is the right price point for our content.” Since then, ABC and FOX remain the only networks renting television. The situation appears even worse for Apple’s long-rumored video streaming service. Going back to 2009, a plan for offering network content for around $30 per month has repeatedly failed to materialize, despite the fact that this very similar to what the dominant Netflix offers. And that could be how Apple turns the situation around.

By appealing to the concerns of network and television studios, Apple could position itself as an alternative to the dominance of Netflix, a strategy similar to the one it used against Amazon’s Kindle with the iBookstore. Unfortunately, that would likely mean more favorable deals for content providers than Apple seems inclined to offer, but that difference could be partially made up by applying subscription fees of 30 percent to Netflix accounts originating on iOS devices. If Netflix then pulled its app from the App Store instead of complying with new subscription rules, consumers would have the iTunes Store offering equivalent streaming content (if, of course, it can convince studios to come on board). Apple risks alienating users by forcing Neflix to make a choice between leaving and complying with its subscription fee structure, but it can always backtrack if it starts hemorrhaging a significant number of users.

If that sounds like a huge risk, it is, but the stakes are high. At least some Android devices will soon be getting Netflix, and it’s already available on a wide variety of different platforms, including all major home gaming consoles. Netflix is also a much better value than iTunes rentals or purchases, with $8 granting users unlimited access. If Apple can’t come up with a better, cheaper way to sell its own video wares, it may be better off concentrating its efforts on making sure partners like Netflix continue to feel welcome in the App Store ecosystem, lest they abandon the platform and take a considerable number of users along with them.
Related content from GigaOM Pro (subscription req'd):
Переслать
Wi-Fi iPad 2 Gets GPS With iPhone 4 Connection Sharing
Still haven’t decided which iPad 2 to buy? A new report claims the iPad can get GPS info in addition to a network connection from an iPhone 4 via the iPhone’s new Personal Hotspot sharing feature. That could factor into which model you end up deciding to buy.

I argued in a previous post that the iPhone 4′s Personal Hotspot sharing feature (and similar sharing on other smartphone devices) were making a 3G-capable iPad less of a necessity for users. Geoffrey Goetz recently pointed out that along with 3G capabilities came true GPS, a feature not natively available on the Wi-Fi-only iPad. But according to TabletMonsters.com and multiple commenters at Cult of Mac, GPS does make the leap from iPhone to iPad when sharing your iPhone 4′s connection either with Personal Hotpspot or the jailbreak-only app MyWi, which for most users might be enough incentive to opt for the Wi-Fi model over the 3G variety.

I tried this out on my 3G-capable iPads by turning off cellular network services and connecting to my iPhone via Personal Hotspot. It definitely seems to make a difference, and looks like it’s just as accurate as the GPS on the iPhone 4 that’s sharing the connection. As a result, it might even be a viable option for use with turn-by-turn navigation apps. At the very least, it provides much better data for finding your exact location in spots where mapping via Wi-Fi towers alone won’t provide accurate results, which could considerably improve the experience of a number of iPad apps. Reports suggest it works on first-gen iPad devices, too.

Does this affect your iPad buying choice? How often do you find yourself using GPS on your iPad?
Related content from GigaOM Pro (subscription req'd):
Переслать
Quick Fix: iPad or iPhone Dropping Wi-Fi Connections
Whether you’ve recently updated to iOS 4.3, or if you just received a new iPad 2, you may have experienced some Wi-Fi connectivity issues on your device that you haven’t run into before. The days where we could simply adjust our iPad’s brightness in order to resolve network issues should be long behind us. Apple has published an updated troubleshooting guide that will walk you through the steps to resolving most if not all of your iPad connectivity issues, but the following quick tips should help you get up and running again quickly:

Renew Your Lease

To renew your DHCP lease, open the Settings App and select Wi-Fi. Choose the configuration for the network you are currently connected to and click on the “Renew Lease” button. With this solution, all of your existing network settings will remain intact. There should be no need to re-enter any of your wireless network information at this point.

Forget the Network

If renewing your lease did not solve the issue, try establishing a fresh connection with the wireless network again. This solution will only remove the network configurations for what is likely the one problem wireless network you are having trouble with. Open the Settings App and select Wi-Fi once again. Choose the configuration for the network you are currently connected to and click on the ”Forget this Network” button. Once completed, you will need to re-configure your wireless network settings for this particular network.

Reset Network Settings

Still having issues? This time reset all network settings and configurations from all established wireless network connections. Once you perform this operation, all of your network configurations for all of the wireless networks you have ever joined will be lost. Open the Settings App and select General > Reset. From the collection of reset buttons, click on the “Reset Network Settings” button. Once completed, you will need to re-configure all of your wireless network settings for all networks you need to connect to.

Restart the Device

You may think that restarting the device, being the last resort, is the one remedy that will cure all ills. In this case, it isn’t true. Simply restarting the device will not clear out the IP address assigned by the DHCP server as the first remedy will do, and it will not remove the network configurations from memory as in the second and third solutions. Only after releasing and renewing your lease, and removing all network setting from your device will a restart make much difference. To turn the iPad or iPhone off, press and hold the Sleep/Wake button on the top of the device for a few seconds until the red slider appears, then slide the slider. To turn it back on again, hold the Sleep/Wake button briefly.

If the above quick tips do not resolve your network issues, and all other devices attached to the problematic wireless network are all behaving just fine, then it may be time to call AppleCare or stop in and speak to an Apple genius.
Related content from GigaOM Pro (subscription req'd):
Переслать
New MacUpdate Bundle Includes Parallels, Civilization IV
The Mac App Store may offer some great deals on software for OS X, but the bundle is still where it’s at in terms of best value for your money. And there’s a new MacUpdate Bundle out today that offers a pretty amazing collection of apps for the price of one.

The new $49 bundle includes Parallels Desktop 6.0, which allows you to run a Windows installation in a virtual machine on your Mac without rebooting. It won’t be as powerful as if you opted to create a Boot Camp partition to house Windows, but it will run without a reboot, and in a window on your OS X desktop, allowing you to drag-and-drop files between operating systems and more. Parallels is normally $79 on its own.

MacUpdate is also offering Civilization IV as part of the deal. It’s the predecessor to Civ V, which is the most recent installment in the world-domination strategy game series, but it wears its age well. I lost huge chunks of my life to Civilization IV, but it was well worth it.

Other highlights from the pack include TechTool Pro 5, which Dave Greenbaum recently recommended as one of the essential hardware diagnostic and repair tools for Mac owners.TechTool Pro 5 normally retails for around $100. 1Password is also included, which is a great app for managing your various online accounts, logins, bonus point memberships, credit cards and more, and which also works with an iOS app for cross-platform syncing.

The MacUpdate Bundle also includes its own desktop app, which provides a nice third-party alternative to the Mac App Store when it comes to keeping your app collection organized and up-to-date. In total, there are 11 apps included in the bundle, so head on over to the deal site to check out the complete list. As always, the MacUpdate Bundle is a limited time offer, so you have two weeks to decide whether or not you’re into the deal.
Related content from GigaOM Pro (subscription req'd):
Переслать
Report: Tablet Market Is Apple's Until 2013
Apple will remain firmly seated at the head of the table when it comes to the sale of tablet devices through 2012, according to new analyst estimates. Research firm DisplaySearch predicts Apple will continue to control the tablet market for at least the next two years, and the segment will continue to see rapid growth. But might Apple’s dominance in this space be of an even longer-lasting variety?

DisplaySearch estimates the iPad 2 will sell approximately 40 million units in 2011, which represents significant growth over the 15 million original iPads sold in the first year following its launch. That will be out of a total of 60 million tablet devices sold during all of 2012, which would mean competitors to Apple’s platform will gain little traction in 2012.

The research firm also predicts a massive explosion in tablet market growth by 2016, when it expects to see 260 million tablet devices shipped worldwide. Consider that 351 million PCs shipped in 2010, and by 2016, tablet sales may have cut into that number considerably, and we could see a market where tablets match or even exceed traditional PC sales.

DisplaySearch believes that beginning in around 2013, Apple’s tablet competitors will have finally have caught up to Apple and be nearing their sales volume (though that’s all competitor sales added up, not taken individually, so Apple will still be the dominant force in the market). While competitors may yet gain a significant foothold, I have to disagree with DisplaySearch’s assumption that the market will eventually open up as much as it predicts.

The research firm is laboring under the impression that the iPad’s growth trajectory will mirror that of the iPhone, but a more apt comparison is the iPod. As with its media player, Apple entered the tablet game when there was relatively little competition, and none that already had considerable market presence. The iPhone came into a cell phone market already rich with strong competitors, like Nokia and BlackBerry. The iPod still had a 73.9 percent share of the media player market in 2009, according to NPD. The iPad may have made some space for competitors in the most recent market share surveys, but it doesn’t follow that it will continue to cede ground at that rate.

Apple will win the tablet market for another two years, as DisplaySearch predicts, but don’t expect it to stop there. The iPad is a category-defining device, just like the iPod, and failing to account for that in any projections will lead to gross underestimations of its ability to continue to succeed.
Related content from GigaOM Pro (subscription req'd):
Переслать
How You Can Help Japan on Your Mac or iOS Device
The situation in Japan isn’t getting better, it’s getting worse. Luckily, the number of ways you can help is increasing, and some of those relief efforts are available quickly and easily through your Mac or iOS device, so failure to act isn’t an option.

Donate Through iTunes

Apple is accepting donations through the iTunes music store on behalf of Japan. Just open up iTunes on your Mac, navigate to the Store in the source menu and click on the “Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Donate Here” button, or simply click this link to be taken to the donation page. You can contribute anywhere from $5 to $200 here, and 100 percent of your money goes directly to the American Red Cross’ disaster relief efforts.

Donate Directly From the iPhone

If you’re using your iPhone or iPad, unfortunately the above link doesn’t work and Apple isn’t offering a donation page on those devices as of yet, but you can text REDCROSS to 90999 from your iPhone to give $10 to the American Red Cross.

Support App Developers Helping Out

Some App Store developers and publishers are donating the entire proceeds of sales of their apps to the Japanese relief efforts for a limited time. Capcom is donating all proceeds from the sale of Super Street Fighter IV for the iPhone, which currently sells for $0.99 in the App Store, from Mar. 15 to Mar. 21. Japanese developer Motion Portrait, which has 12 iPhone apps for sale, has reduced the price of each to $0.99 and is donating 100 percent of the proceeds from all sales to relief efforts between now and Mar. 31. Tunemark Radio for the iPad is also donating all proceeds of the sales of its $0.99 app to the Red Cross and Salvation Army in support of Japan through Mar. 20. Zynga is turning in-app purchases into donation tools, by donating 100 percent of the proceeds from various in-game items in its FarmVille, CityVille and FrontierVille titles to relief efforts.

AppRelief.com operated as a central hub for disaster relief efforts originating from App Store sales last year when Haiti was struck, raising more than $30,000, and the site’s organizers have announced plans to put together a Japan-focused campaign soon, so watch that space for more apps joining in.

Apple itself is helping directly, too, as you can read in this amazing story from an Apple Store employee living in Japan posted on Kevin Rose’s personal blog. If you have any other relief efforts you know of, or just other ways for people to help, let us know in the comments.
Related content from GigaOM Pro (subscription req'd):
Переслать
How to Turn the iPad 2 Into App Store Success
The iPad 2has arrived, but so far it’s only brought a slow trickle of apps that really show what the new device can do. That means this is a great time for developers looking for some time in the spotlight to step up and deliver high quality content that takes advantage of what the new iPad has to offer.

The Camera

If you’re a developer looking to entice iPad 2 buyers, the camera is a great place to start. That doesn’t mean churning out a Camera+ or Hipstamatic clone and calling it a day. No doubt those apps will appear and some of them may even do well, but the iPad is not the iPhone or the iPod touch, and users won’t do the same sorts of things with a tablet camera as they would with those more portable devices.

The iPad is a device that spends a lot of its time on the couch or at a Starbucks. It isn’t something people pull out on impulse to capture a magical moment or spontaneous tableau. Camera apps designed solely around taking pictures aren’t really going to catch on with iPad users the way they have with smartphone owners.

Augmented reality (AR) could be a good avenue to explore with the iPad 2. Overlays that make creative use of indoor spaces for games and other entertainment apps could do well, for example, and the gyroscope should add a layer of accuracy to device plane and position detection. Another prime area will be apps that use the camera in tandem with the iPad’s expanded real estate, like video conferencing tools. It’s an area that will quickly become crowded as major players join in, but agile early movers could grab the attention of early adopters and set themselves up with a quick lead, especially by offering multi-participant clients that facilitate group chat. For example, check out what developer Mataio is doing with AR on an iPad 2.

Finally, consider that the iPad 2 is a pretty capable mobile vlogging tool. The iPhone can be used for recording video blogs, no doubt, but the iPad is arguably better at this task since it makes it much easier for the vlogger to watch what they’re recording.

Full OS Mirroring

App developers would do well to treat the iPad 2′s new mirroring function, which allows the device to output in 1080p (except video, which is 720p) exactly what’s on the iPad’s screen as a feature to develop for, not just one to keep in mind as an afterthought.

Users have confirmed that FaceTime does indeed work using the iPad mirroring function, meaning the iPad 2 can easily be used as a quick and dirty big-screen videoconferencing solution. Refining that experience is a prime example of where a developer specifically building an experience optimized for the big screen could make a big splash.

Gaming is another prime example of where this feature can be used to maximum effect. Build in a control scheme that complements connected displays, maybe by using other iOS devices as controllers for the iPad 2. If this is done with a focus on quality, it could be even put established consoles on notice, given the improved graphics capabilities of the iPad 2.

Push the Power

The A5 that powers the iPad 2 is a beast, as recent teardowns show. If you want to attract app-hungry iPad 2 owners, push the limits of what’s possible on the platform. Remember that you’ve also got another 256 MB of memory to work with, too. That doesn’t mean creating a slick tech demo that does little beyond showing just how much the iPad 2 is capable of. Instead, it means envisioning and crafting experiences that just weren’t possible on the original iPad.

If you don’t want to cut down your potential customer base, then take a page out of Epic Games’ book and create an app that scales to meet the platform’s available resources.

The iPad 2 may offer the temptation to fire off a quick Photo Booth clone or gyroscope-boosted pinball game, but remember that while taking advantage of new features will reel in some app purchases, providing a great top-to-bottom experience is what will make those customers loyal fans in the long term.
Related content from GigaOM Pro (subscription req'd):
Переслать
AT&T Offering One Free Month of iPad 3G Service
AT&T is now offering a free 30-day trial of its 3G iPad data service. The offer is being circulated via email according to TUAW, and allows you to sign up for a free month of service with no additional commitment required. Clearly, it wants to provide every reason it can for potential subscribers to avert their gaze from competitor Verizon.

While the free trial comes with no minimum commitment period or additional service fees, if you plan on taking advantage of the offer you should note that you have to cancel prior to the end of the 30 day period or before using 2 GB of data in order to avoid being charged. Also note that the offer is only available over the phone at AT&T’s customer service line (1-888-237-5888) or by visiting an AT&T retail store. If you activate using the built-in interface in your iPad’s settings, you’ll be in for normal charges effective immediately, with no trial period.

Remember that the iPad 2 comes in two distinct flavors, a GSM model for AT&T and a CDMA-capable version for Verizon, so you can only take advantage of the offer if you have an AT&T iPad 2 or any 3G-capable original iPad. There’s probably a lot of 3G-capable second-hand iPads in the hands of new owners right about now, so this is a smart move by AT&T to win some of those users over. Any international iPad owners visiting the U.S. right now might want to see if they can take advantage of the offer, too. Free service is never a bad deal.
Related content from GigaOM Pro (subscription req'd):
Переслать

Увлекательные игры для всех и каждого

Игровой журнал для любителей всех видов игр. Читайте новости о новых играх, подробное описание игр от Alawar и Gameboss, которые можно бесплатно скачать. У нас можно играть в бесплатные браузерные игры, скачивать мини-игры, читать новости игрового мира.
Присоединиться →

rss2email.ru

отписаться: http://www.rss2email.ru/unsubscribe.asp?c=6893&u=24004&r=311667163
управление подпиской: http://www.rss2email.ru/manage.asp

Fresh Apple

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

GigaOMApple (10 сообщений)

Craigslist or Kijiji

eBay

Ship From U.S.

Wait for Launch

Renew Your Lease

Forget the Network

Reset Network Settings

Donate Through iTunes

Donate Directly From the iPhone

Support App Developers Helping Out

The Camera

Full OS Mirroring

Push the Power

Blog Archive