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Verizon Offers Best Deal Yet On New First-Gen iPads
If you’re still looking to grab an iPad cheap, there’s a new option that will get you one cheaper than pretty much any other, including buying used. Verizon is offering first-generation iPads starting at $299 to clear out remaining stock, according to various reports.

The deals are available at Verizon’s corporate-owned retail stores (as opposed to the franchised locations) for as long as stock holds out. As mentioned the 16 GB Wi-Fi iPad is on for just $299.99 (a full $200 off from its pre-iPad 2 launch price), the 32 GB model is $399.99 and the 64 GB model is $499.99. Stores are obviously selling out quickly at these prices, so if you’re interested, you should get out quickly to the nearest location or perhaps call ahead so you don’t make the drive for nothing.

Verizon originally began offering iPads late last year, along with MiFi devices to provide data service. The iPad deals above are for the devices alone, and don’t require any kind of contract or data plan purchase, according to reports. Verizon now offers a CDMA-equipped version of the iPad 2 with a built-in 3G radio.

The best deal to date for new first-gen iPads has probably been AT&T’s discounted 3G-capable models, but Verizon lowers the price of entry for iPad ownership further still. At this price, if I lived within reasonable range of a Verizon retail location I’d consider buying a second first-gen iPad as a gift or backup device. My girlfriend and my wallet will both be very glad that I don’t live within reasonable distance of any such stores.
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The Next 10 Years of Mac OS Will Look Nothing Like the Last
Today marks the 10th anniversary of Mac OS X, the seventh major revision of which will likely be released in June of this year. OS X has undergone major transformations over the years, and it represents a huge leap over OS 9, the operating system it replaced, but the biggest changes are yet to come.

Apple has made clear that going forward, we can expect to see a very different OS experience across all its devices, and the Mac is no exception to that rule. OS X 10.7, also known as Lion, is already available as a developer preview, so we have a pretty good idea of what we’ll see when the update gets a general release later this year. And what we’re getting is a healthy injection of iOS in our beloved Apple desktop operating system. Full-screen apps with swipe to switch; iOS-style animations, menus and navigation; app installation, organization and management taken directly from Apple’s iDevices: all of it adds up to a significant sea of change.

Of course, OS X is still OS X, with the menu bar, Finder, Dock, Software Update and many other features carrying over. But don’t expect the familiar to outweigh the new for that much longer. Apple may provide a gradual transition to avoid alienating existing customers, but iOS is the way of the future, and the numbers back that up.

iOS’ share of the overall operating system market (desktop and mobile) has already climbed to around 2 percent of global totals, approaching OS X’s 5 percent share according to NetApplications. It seems like small potatoes when compared to Windows’ 90 percent overall share, but it actually represents considerable progress when you consider how long Microsoft completely dominated worldwide OS rankings by an even wider margin. The fact that iOS’ growth has been so rapid compared to that of OS X, and that Apple continues to ship more and more iOS devices each year, while Mac sales remain relatively flat. Apple will go where the buying public wants to be, and that means iOS.

As if to seal the deal with a symbolic gesture, the father of Mac OS X, Bertrand Serlet, yesterday announced his departure from Apple. As is often the case with most high-level executive departures, it’s difficult to determine who decided it was time to move on, but I suspect Apple has decided Lion will be the last installment of OS X, and the move is intended as a clean break before the arrival of something different.

And it will be something different. Don’t expect to necessarily see menu bars, the smiling Finder icon, or even folders or a readily accessible filesystem explorer in the next iteration of Mac OS. If iOS is the model by which the next Mac OS will be cut from, look forward instead to a surface-deep computing experience that automatically handles file storage, saving and association. Expect a dramatic re-imagining (or even an outright replacement) of the concept of a windowed computing environment. Most of all, expect things to be easier, more gated, and more focused on touch-based input than we’ve ever seen before. Whether or not this is a frightening, or a promising vision of the future depends on how you use and think about computing, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s coming.

If you want to see the future of Mac OS, don’t open the clamshell of your MacBook Pro; pull the iPhone out of your pocket or take a peek under your iPad’s Smart Cover. There may be considerable hurdles to bridging the gap between traditional and post-PC computing, but no company is better positioned to tackle them than Apple.
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Sword & Sworcery EP Proves Innovation Still Wins for iOS Apps
Photo-sharing app Color is getting a lot of undeserved attention for raising way more money than it’s worth, but another iOS app was released late Wednesday that more than merits its hype. Superbrothers’ Sword & Sworcery EP (S: S&S EP for short) for the iPad is an intriguing new game that quickly rose to the top of the charts following its release.

S&S EP ($4.99) is a game designed exclusively for iOS devices, available now on the iPad and in April on the iPhone and iPod touch. It’s getting a fair amount of early critical praise from gaming outlets, owing mostly to its original visual style and unique take on storytelling, which consists of in-game, tweet-length narrative snippets like those in the screenshot above. The graphics, created by design studio Superbrothers, are all retro 8-bit in a muted palette, but still manage to beautifully convey character, personality and real vibrancy thanks to clever use of animation effects and amazing composition. I may be gushing, but zoom out and take in the scenery on any given S&S EP screen and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

The game also provides an impressive, immersive sound experience thanks to an original score by Toronto-based musician Jim Guthrie and voice-acting by Robert Ashley. It’s a title that’s best experienced using headphones, and one that luckily isn’t shy about telling you that upfront. Combined with the visuals and the compelling, oddball narrative, the sound in S&S EP results in a complete experience that will leave you momentarily dazed when you come up for air between the game’s episodic tracks.

At its core, S&S EP is a point-and-click style adventure game that provides a fairly straightforward linear gameplay experience that game studio Capy designed. Enjoyment of the game comes not from overcoming challenges or solving particularly difficult puzzles, but from marvelling at the game world and how you interact with it. An added social level, whereby the game offers you the opportunity to share certain experiences within the game with your Twitter followers, enhances that enjoyment and makes it multi-user without making it multiplayer.

It’s the simplicity of S&S EP that makes it a winner of the App Store popularity contest (it currently ranks third among paid apps in the U.S. App Store) as well as of critical praise. The game is intellectually appealing to the gaming elite as a smart indie title with plenty of panache, and it strikes a chord with general ipad users because it’s easy to pick up and play and there’s virtually no learning curve. When the game does require instruction, it helpfully pops up on-screen in the form of text directions, ensuring that there’s never really a need to open a help menu or Google a walkthrough.

S&S EP is strong not only because it brings together the talents of three Toronto-based creative entities that each excel in their own fields, but also because it melds those three distinct fields together with insight and creativity, with the ultimate goal of providing a terrific start-to-finish user experience. If you’re looking for a game (or an app in general) like no other on the iPad, this is the one to get.
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Color Proves Chasing Trends Isn't Good App Design
On paper, Color, the iPhone (and now Android) app which grabbed headlines Wednesday for securing $41 million in pre-release startup funding, looks pretty good. It’s a photo and video sharing app (those do well) with a geo-local twist (ditto) that’s built around the concept of the group (natch).

Color also has some influential people behind it. Founder Bill Nguyen is the man who sold music streaming service LaLa to Apple in 2009, and he has a history of successfully building and selling other companies, too. And Color recently brought on board DJ Patil, who was the chief scientist at LinkedIn.

The app itself works well and looks good, with an intuitively designed minimal interface, but you’d be mistaken for thinking you’re somehow not using it properly. It only really works if there are a group of people in your immediate surroundings using the app simultaneously. Otherwise, you’ll see little more than a steady stream of whatever you yourself happen to be capturing with your iPhone’s camera because the app is limited to showing images from a highly local area.

Color is playing with solid core concepts, even beyond the trend-chasing aspects I mention above. Photo and video sharing among friends is clearly a proven winner, as is evident from Facebook’s success. And the app lowers the barrier to entry (though not necessarily to actual use, as you’ll see below) more than any existing social app by making the only login requirement your first name (no passwords, no sign-ups). But even that doesn’t save it from feeling badly like an idea in search of a problem.

The app first goes wrong by requiring you take a picture before you can use it. To some degree, that makes sense since the sharing mechanism is so simple, but in contrast to the simplicity of requiring only a user’s first name to sign up, asking for a photo and not letting you choose an existing image on your handset means that many users who aren’t in a position to take one or just don’t feel like it might shut the app down and never open it again. And those who do satisfy this early requirement might be no less put-off by their next experience: Either you find that no one around you — within 150 feet — is sharing photos, and the app appears to offer next to nothing.

The alternative case is not desirable either: Nearby people are sharing photos, and you’re inundated with images of complete strangers, along with the realization that those same strangers can see the self-portrait you just snapped, too, without much warning from the app. In both cases, I think many will be put-off enough to stay clear for good.

It’s possible that Color has more appeal among the teenage users Mark Zuckerberg talked about when explaining the idea behind Facebook’s expanded messaging service, and that I’m in a category of users who just doesn’t get it. But I think it’s more likely that this is a prime example of how, when it comes to apps, 1+1+1 does not always equal 3. An app can’t just hope to profit by being at the intersection of a number of promising mobile trends. Developers still have to think intelligently about how those trends integrate, and remember that user experience, especially the one following first launch, is still the key to wide app adoption. Color fails this test, and as such, it definitely isn’t going to be the next Facebook, or even the next Instagram for that matter.
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Track Your 3G Tablet Usage With DataMan for iPad
Want to get a better idea of how much cellular data you’re using on your iPad? DataMan’s new app designed specifically for the iPad 3G can help. Back in November, Nick covered DataMan’s iPhone program. The iPad version offers a similar experience, including push notifications and granular usage tracking, but redesigned for Apple’s tablet.

DataMan for iPad with 3G ($3.99) monitors any cellular data usage (3G/EDGE/GPRS) on your device, breaking it down by day, time and location. You can set up notifications to be triggered when you hit certain limits, which you can custom define. So, for instance, you can set up DataMan according to your specific data plan (mine allows me 5 GB, so that’s what I set as the total monthly threshold) and then adjust your own weekly and daily limits accordingly. You can even input the date you receive your bill so the app knows when to reset its totals.

I’ve long suspected I’m using nowhere near the maximum allowed under my plan, and am considering stepping down to the next tier available. Rogers (my carrier here in Canada) provides me with approximate data usage information, but I have to log in to my account to check it. With DataMan, I can see exactly how and when I’m using data, and be notified when I’m approaching caps. That way, I can set caps this month as if I was already using the lower-tiered data plan (250 MB max per month), and receive push alerts when I come near my daily, weekly and monthly limits. I’m especially curious about the geographic distribution of my usage, and would like to see if I have data “hotspots” where I find myself more likely to need to connect.

As with the iPhone version, you can turn off precise geographic tracking, or geotagging altogether if you want to preserve battery life. You can also compare your current usage with your historical data, which the app stores by default. This is a great app for anyone who wants to find out more about how much data they use with their 3G-capable iPad, for developers testing data usage with their own apps, or for iOS observers or analysts looking to track usage for the purpose of reports or analyses.
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AirPlay Licensing Deal Could Be Apple's Real Living Room Play
Apple is considering offering AirPlay video streaming to third-party device manufacturers via licensing, Bloomberg reports. It’s an idea that could provide a greater presence for Apple in the living room, but also potentially cost the Apple TV its tentative foothold there.

Bloomberg cites “two people familiar with the project” as describing a new plan Apple is considering whereby it would license AirPlay to makers of televisions, receivers and other consumer electronics that allow for video playback. Currently, AirPlay tech is available for licensed use, but only for audio streaming, as in the Denon receiver Geoffrey recently checked out. Adding the ability to stream video would mean users could potentially stream content from their iOS devices or iTunes libraries directly to their TV or home entertainment setup, without the need for an Apple TV or tethered iOS device to act as a receiver.

Were the deal to go through, it could potentially allow Apple to expand its living room presence. Apple so far hasn’t been able to succeed with digital video distribution the way it has with online music sales, and a recent study found it trailing the industry leader Netflix by a wide margin. Part of that gap has to do with how Netflix is available on such a wide selection of devices, including Internet-connected televisions, home gaming consoles, computers, mobile devices and even Apple TV. Licensing AirPlay video streaming would unlock it from the confines of Apple’s own products, allowing it to begin to compete with Netflix in terms of consumer platform choice.

Greater availability of AirPlay devices would also better leverage the impressive iOS user base Apple has managed to accumulate. Right now, AirPlay is really only a value-added feature if you have an entire ecosystem of Apple products. If you only own one iPhone or an iPad, there’s very little that AirPlay brings to the table. Licensing would heighten the value of AirPlay as a selling feature for all iOS devices.

Of course, the trade-off is that consumers would have one less reason to buy Apple TV. Right now, much of the appeal of the device comes from just two of its features. First, it’s a great Netflix client. Second, it works flawlessly and without much effort for users who want to stream video from iOS device to TV. Sales would almost certainly fall if Apple made AirPlay more available from other sources.

But that could be a loss Apple is willing to accept. At last known count, the Apple TV had sold just over a million units in late December. It’s a good number, especially when compared to the sales of its predecessor, but by no means is the Apple TV the sales star that the iPhone or iPad is, and Apple hasn’t seen fit to crow about any other sales milestones for the device since, which isn’t a great sign regarding its fortunes. If the Apple TV dies but in exchange, Apple gains a broader foothold in the living room that it can use as leverage in negotiations with film and television content providers, it might be a worthwhile bargain for the Mac-maker.

What do you think? Would “AirPlay Video-enabled” stickers on TVs and home theatre receivers affect your buying decision? Does the Apple TV have legs without AirPlay exclusivity?
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A Powerful Problem: iPhone/iPad Batteries and Chargers Compared
They say you can never be too rich or too thin, and in the case of the average iPhone or iPad user, you can also never have enough power. Personal hotspots, FaceTime, and many games push your battery to the limits. Luckily, a myriad of products in a variety of styles exist to help the power-challenged. Which is best? It depends on what you want to use it for.

Battery power is generally measured in milliamp hours (mAh). The more of these at your disposal, the more battery reserve you'll have. The more power, however, the bigger the battery is generally going to be. You've got to make some choices and compromises. There are generally two styles of external chargers: integrated case-style chargers, which thicken the phone while providing power, and dongle-style chargers which hang off the phone's dock connector.

Case + Battery Backup

Dexim Super Juice for iPhone 4

If you’re interested in an integrated case and battery pack for an iPhone 4, Dexim's Super Juice ($69.99 retail) is the best mix of power and features. First, it has a 2000 mAh battery to give you six additional hours of talk time. What makes this battery stand out, pardon the pun, is a nice little kick stand in the back that allows you prop it horizontally for easy video viewing. Unlike the Mophie's version (Juice Pack Plus), the top part of the Dexim case is integrated into the design, so it can't be lost (after the first week of testing the Juice Pack Plus, I lost the top!) The Dexim also retails for about 30 percent less than the Mophie. Unfortunately, the Dexim only comes in white, while the Mophie Juice Pack Plus comes in a variety of colors — white included.

Standalone Portable Reserves

ChargeBlockXL

For smaller boosts of power during the day, I absolutely fell in love with the Chargeblock XL ($39.99 retail) from Miccus. With 1500 mAh of power, it will give you a significant boost, and its compact curved design makes it fit easily into your pocket or purse, then attach to any device with the standard dock charger. This was the only external dongle-style charger that I could keep using while holding the iPhone. Other dongle-style chargers are just to bulky or awkward to hold while connected.

However, a strong runner-up in this category is the Mophie Juice Pack Boost ($59.95). While not as compact as the Chargeblock (sized similar to an iPod classic), it does have a built-in carabiner keychain to attach it to just about anything and it doubles as a flashlight! I did have trouble with the retractable, 30-pin connector on the Juice Pack Boost keeping a stable connection to my iPhone, and it was impossible to use while holding the iPhone, which is why the Chargeblock remains my first choice for daily use.

Charger/Battery Combos

Kensington PowerLift

For charging my iPhone 4 while on a plane (or anywhere else where you won't use the phone for talking), I really liked two different Kensington products. My first choice was the Kensington Travel Battery Pack and Charger ($69.99 retail). It provides 1500 mAh of power, but its dock cap acted as a built-in horizontal prop stand (similar in function to the Dexim Super Juice) so I could watch video on the plane hands-free. In other situations, the dock cap was a nuisance, as it added too much bulk to the iPhone and fell off while talking on the phone. Shortly after Macworld, the Kensington PowerLift ($49.99) was released. This charger provides 1200 mAh of power and has a built-in vertical stand which is ideal for FaceTime. The stand is integrated and can completely fold out of the way. The PowerLift is my first choice for this style of battery pack, and I keep one in my office as a convenient iPhone charging station.

iPad Battery Backups

Given the iPad's extreme power requirements, the field is somewhat narrow for iPad users. Only two devices I tested provided enough power to truly extend the iPad's battery (and skyrocketed my iPhone power!). One was the Richard Solo 9000 mAh charger ($69.95 retail). While a great product, the design was quite bulky. I found it difficult to carry around with me, as it wouldn't easily fit into most cases and certainly not my pocket. However, 9000 mAh made it a leader in capacity. In contrast, the Miccus ChargeBlock for iPad ($99.99 retail) provided 8200 mAh of power, but did this with a design almost identical in size and shape to the iPhone 3G, and thus is very easy to carry around with you. The convenience more than made up for the loss of capacity. Cool flashing blue lights didn't hurt my love of this product.

Best Overall

Dexim BluePack S8

Overall, my favorite charger was the Dexim BluePack S8 ($79.90 retail). Although it was small and sleek (slightly smaller than the iPhone 4), it provided 3000 mAh of power and a built-in flashlight — as well as a slew of USB adapters for not just 30-pin connectors, but also Micro and Mini USB charging. However, I skipped using those and opted to carry around with me a Scoche flipSYNC ($19.99 retail), which is an iPhone charge-and-sync cable you carry around with you on a keychain. I keep both devices in my laptop bag and use them on a daily basis.

As you can tell, I got a bit obsessive with finding just the right external iPhone and iPad charger. I'm an extremely heavy iPhone user and can't make it to lunch without a bit of a boost. I guess my iPhone has become too much like its owner!

Disclosure: All devices were supplied by the manufacturers and, yes, Dave got a real charge out of all this research.
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Why an Updated iMac Is Worth the Wait
Rumors abound that Apple’s popular all-in-one desktop computer is set for an update in May. The iMac line will reportedly inherit the recent improvements made to the MacBook Pro, complete with Sandy Bridge processors from Intel and a new Thunderbolt port. It’s an upgrade that’s worth waiting for, maybe more so because the iMac is a desktop.

I’m on record as being somewhat underwhelmed by the MacBook Pro update, because the changes didn’t address my needs in a mobile computer, which include better battery life, improved display quality and instant-on capability. Those same updates in a desktop machine are a different story altogether. As an inexpensive workhorse, the iMac stands to gain quite a bit from faster, stronger guts and new connectivity options.

According to the report, which stems from Cnet’s Brian Tong, who heard the news from a reliable source, the new iMacs will be shipping soon in advance of an early May launch. As I mentioned above, they include Intel’s Sandy Bridge chip processors and the new Thunderbolt port, which was developed by Intel working with Apple and provides high-speed dual-channel I/O communication in addition to DisplayPort connectivity for external monitors. The update will be the first since the iMacs got Core i3, i5 and i7 processors last July. Tong also reports that the iMac will get no major cosmetic changes with this update.

The improvements in iMac speed and processing power are in line with what we’ve seen from MacBook Pro benchmarks and will be a welcome upgrade. iMacs also have the benefit of being less concerned with power consumption, so in theory, they should beat their portable rivals on most measures. All that extra power will really come in handy for processor-intensive desktop computing tasks like long video-encoding sessions and outputting complicated animation.

Thunderbolt, which currently doesn’t really provide much to MacBook Pro owners (the accessory ecosystem, with a few exceptions, has yet to really embrace and make good use of the standard), should find a better and more useful home on the desktop, too. It’ll be easier to set up semi-permanent hard drive arrays for backup and additional storage, and as camera manufacturers adopt the tech (Canon at least has suggested that it will), the iMac will become an even more attractive option for professional and advanced amateur video editors. Overall, Thunderbolt is a tech that makes more sense on a stationary computer that can take advantage of its high-speed, high-fidelity transfers during long and complicated tasks.

Maybe it’s just me, but I never find myself being terribly concerned over the sluggishness of my laptop the way I do my desktop. That’s probably because I use my iMac to do all the heavy lifting, and keep the MacBook light and breezy. My iMac is about due for an upgrade, too, so I’ll likely make an investment when the update comes down. What about you?
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Apple Touch Panel Deal May Squeeze Rivals
Apple could be on the verge of making touch panel supply much more scarce than it already is for the portable device market in the wake of Japan’s crisis. A new DigiTimes report Wednesday (via AppleInsider) says Apple is in talks with Taiwanese touch panel component manufacturers, and the Mac-maker is willing to pay more to secure “sufficient supply” for its products.

Touch panel capacity is reportedly limited following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan nearly two weeks ago. Foxconn, the company that makes many of Apple’s touchscreen products in China, is said to have two to three weeks worth of parts stockpiled, but it could face a shortage after that if the situation in Japan does not improve, which could lead to a production freeze. That’s something Apple wants to avoid at all costs, given the continuing success of its iPad 2, and the impending international launch of that device this Friday.

If the report is true, Apple could be paying quite a bit more for touch panels, which would hit gross margins. But the added expense would likely pay off in at least two ways. First, Apple could continue to meet (or at least come close to meeting) customer demand. Lines are good for Apple, so long as the people standing in those lines actually have a reasonable chance to get their hands on a device. Total stockouts would result in disappointment, not demand.

The second way Apple could benefit from buying up an even larger percentage of constrained stock is by reducing the availability of those same components for its closest competitors. iPad competition is heating up, with manufacturers like RIM putting firm dates and prices on their own tablet offerings. If a little extra spending on Apple’s part can generally raise prices for competitor products, and maybe even affect the ability of those competitors to bring products to market in a timely fashion, it will only help the iPad’s market position.

Apple is known for its component hedging, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see the company take that philosophy a step further in order to protect itself in a time of supply chain instability. Watch for signs of whether or not this strategy pays off in the coming weeks as the iPad 2 rolls out to more countries and competitors try to bring their products to market.
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Apple's Mac Chief Departs as Big Changes Come to OS X
Apple SVP of Mac Software Engineering Betrand Serlet is leaving the company, according to a press release issued by Apple. He will be replaced by Craig Federighi, Apple’s VP of Mac software engineering. Frederighi’s chief responsibility at Apple has been OS X development.

Serlet, who joined Apple in 1997 and worked with Steve Jobs at NeXT before that, and his key roles at the Mac-maker include helping in the initial design creation, and evolution of the Mac OS X operating system. Serlet, who has a doctorate in Computer Science from the University of Orsay in France, is said to be leaving the business in order to pursue more scientific pursuits. In his own words:

I’ve worked with Steve for 22 years and have had an incredible time developing products at both NeXT and Apple, but at this point, I want to focus less on products and more on science. Craig has done a great job managing the Mac OS team for the past two years, Lion is a great release and the transition should be seamless.

Federighi, who replaces Serlet, also spent time at NeXT with Steve Jobs, and joined Apple, too, before leaving for Ariba, a collaborative business commerce company. He spent 10 years at Ariba, eventually becoming CTO, and returned to Apple in 2009 to head OS X engineering efforts. He holds a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of California.

The departure of Serlet comes as Apple continues to move toward the type of computing represented by its iOS mobile platform. OS X Lion, which is available as a developer preview, borrows many features and much of its user interface changes from the mobile platform. In that light, it’s easy to think of Serlet’s departure as a sign that Apple is putting the desktop roots of OS X behind it. OS X is essentially Serlet’s creation in many ways, and has been the single focus of his job since Apple created the iPhone and two, distinct OS platforms. Federighi is a relative newcomer to OS X, and benefits from not having been closely involved in that operating system’s creation, leaving him with broader vision as to what it might become.

Another possibility pundits are bound to suggest is that Serlet realized he would never see top billing at the company as CEO, with so many other well-qualified candidates occupying Apple’s higher ranks. A departure now could give him the opportunity to step into that role at another organization. This isn’t too likely, though, given that Serlet has worked with Jobs for 22 years and probably had a very good idea of how high he could climb at Apple.

Whatever the reason, Serlet’s departure definitely marks the end of an era at Apple. He may not have been the company’s most public executive, but he was instrumental in creating the Mac experience that defined Apple’s approach to computing for more than a decade.
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