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Tag: ipad

  • Lingual Jailbreak Tweak Turns Siri Into A Translator

    Last week we brought you news of the release of the long-awaited jailbreak for the iPhone 4S and iPad 2. Now it looks like jailbreak developers have wasted no time in preparing some amazing tweaks for the iPhone 4S’s most notable feature: Siri. A tweak has appeared in the Cydia app store that turns Siri into a translator.

    Lingual is a free tweak that allows users to say an English phrase to Siri and have it translated into whatever language they choose. At present Lingual supports more than 30 languages, including French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Russian, Vietnamese, Ukranian, Estonian, and more. Lingual requires that the AssistantExtension tweak already be installed.

    While Lingual isn’t quite a Star Trek-style universal translator, it’s a step in that direction. Here’s a video of Lingual in action, courtesy of iJailbreak. Check it out and let us know what you think in the comments.

  • EFF Petitions Copyright Office To Keep Jailbreaking Legal

    In 2010 the U.S. Copyright Office sided with users and developers when it issued a declaration exempting jailbreaking/rooting from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The exemption meant that the jailbreak community could come out into the open without fear of legal action for copyright infringement.

    Now, however, the exemption granted by the Copyright Office is set to expire, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation is working to make sure that doesn’t happen. The group has set up a page with information on the situation, and instructions for contacting the U.S. Copyright Office in order to petition that the exemptions be renewed. They also want the exemption expanded to include tablets and video game consoles.

    The site does not say when the exemption is set to expire, however the Copyright Office will stop accepting comments on the issue on February 10th at 5 pm Eastern time. So if you have a jailbroken iPhone or iPad, or a rooted Android device, you’ll want to head on over and make your voice heard.

  • Happy 2nd Birthday, iPad

    Today marks the two year anniversary that techno-Buddha demigod Steve Jobs floated across a stage in San Francisco at Apple’s annual conference and told everybody, “Hey, you didn’t know you wanted something called an iPad, but you do – and I’m your pusherman.” And just like that, iPad was the device that launched a thousand-times-a thousand Ooooohs and thus commenced the age of the tablet. In fact, here’s the birth video of iPad as we all originally saw it:

    The crew at Pingdom put together a graph that illustrates how sales of iPad unites have steadily climbed in the past two years. The new need for an iPad, it would appear, has spread like a contagious addiction.

    Expect to see those bar graphs shoot up as the subsequent financial quarters of 2012 are added on. But enough of the future, let us take today to commemorate the anniversary of the iPad infecting our imaginations forever and take a stroll down memory lane so as to reflect upon some of the adventurous moments that iPads have seen over the past two years, as told by WebProNews.

    iPad To The Face: How Apple Revolutionizes Sibling Rivalry (included video clip below).

    .

    iPads Are Now Being Used To Assist Cerebral Palsy Patients.

    Fleshlight iPad Case Takes Forever Alone To A Whole New Level [NSFW] (sadly, there is no video to accompany this piece).

    Canadian Man Enters U.S. With Scanned Passport on iPad.

    iPad 3 To Ship In March (Rumor).

    iPad Survives 100,000 Foot Fall (included clip below).

    .

    iPad 2 Worth a Kidney to Chinese Teen.

    ZooGue Dips iPad In Lava To Give You Free iPhone 4S Cases (included clip below).

    I love how all of the greatest hits of the iPad are people either abusing other people abusing the iPad itself. In that case, look forward to the greater adventures of iPad with the imminent arrival of the iPad 3 later this year.

  • Putting Your Mobile App On Sale Boosts Revenue, Study Finds

    If you’re a developer who doesn’t want to shell out money for ads, there’s one reliable tactic you can employ that will not only boost your notoriety but also improve your revenue: put your app on sale.

    Despite the concept sounding counter-intuitive – lower the price of your product and then make more money – the numbers have been crunched by people in the know. In a study across the three main app stores – Apple’s App Store for iPhone and App Store for iPad, and Android Marketplace – Distimo found that despite selling an app at a reduced price, the “surge in downloads makes up for the loss in price,” enough to actually turn a profit on the less expensive app. Selling an app not only encourages more downloads from users, but being on sale will also get you a featured spot within the app store.

    But before you run off on a price-slashing frenzy, don’t think you can reduce a price on your app and immediately see a boost in your revenue. For instance, while apps on sale generated an overall increase in revenue, only two-thirds of iPhone apps gained rank in the first three days after being featured. Lesson: having an app featured doesn’t automatically guarantee a boost, but it still is likely to help.

    Even then, the average revenue increase for iPhone apps was 41% on the first day it was on sale. Anything will sell expediently on the first day of a discount, but Distimo found that within the entire period that the app was on sale (which they defined as a maximum of 15 days) the revenue generated by the app was up 22%. A similar trend was observed among iPad apps and apps downloaded from the Android Market. Android apps, in fact, generated the greatest revenue during the entire sale period despite having lower first-day increases.

    Although developers can benefit greatly from putting their apps on sale, you can’t just slap a sale onto any old app and expect it to haul in money like gangbusters, Distimo warns. 44% of iPhone apps, they found, lost revenue during the sale “and 23% actually saw a decline in revenue by more than 20%.” Distimo offers an explanation as to why some apps did not benefit from being on sale:

    Offering a discount of one dollar on an application that normally costs $7.99, lowers the revenue, whereas offering a discount of three dollars on average increased the revenue by 131%. In general, we noticed that the tipping point happened when the price was cut in half or the application was offered in tier 1 ($0.99) or tier 2 ($1.99).

    As you can see below, there’s a refined matrix involved when predicting whether putting an app on sale will produce an increase in revenue:

    So putting your app on sale will general higher revenue, but only if you discount it a certain amount depending on what the standard cost of the app is. Got it. So now the question you’re probably wondering: how much should the app be sold for?

    It all depends, Distimo says. You have to take into consideration what type of app it is, work invested into the app, how much demand there is for the app, and so on (what, you didn’t expect a singular Midas answer, did you?). Given all of this criteria, the table graph below should give you an idea of how much the top grossing apps cost among different categories.

    Again, though, there is not one magic bullet to put a hole in the wallets of all of your customers. You still have to use that organ between your ears to benefit from discounting the price of your app.

    Other fun observations made by Distimo:

  • Being featured in the Google Android Market yields an average rank gain of 828%.
  • Optimum sales occurred when the price was cut in half or the application was offered in tier 1 ($0.99) or tier 2 ($1.99).
  • The average gain in the first three days after getting featured was highest in Google Android Market (+42 ranks), followed by Apple App Store for iPad (+27 ranks), and Apple App Store for iPhone (+15).
  • Android Tablets Grab 10% Market Share From Apple’s iPad

    Android Tablets Grab 10% Market Share From Apple’s iPad

    The past year has been pretty good for Android OS, according to tablet figures released by Strategy Analytics.

    Global shipments of tablets hit an all-time high at 26.8 million units in Q4 2011, and Android snagged a substantial piece of the pie. Last quarter, Android snagged 39.1% of the market share, a 10% increase from Q4 2010 where they only had 29% of the market share.

    Shipments of Android tablets more than tripled year-over-year from 3.1 million to 10.5 million.

    Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, added, “Android captured a record 39 percent share of global tablet shipments in Q4 2011, rising from 29 percent a year earlier. Global Android tablet shipments tripled annually to 10.5 million units. Dozens of Android models distributed across multiple countries by numerous brands such as Amazon, Samsung, Asus and others have been driving volumes. Android is so far proving relatively popular with tablet manufacturers despite nagging concerns about fragmentation of Android’s operating system, user-interface and app store ecosystem.”

    As you can see, Apple still maintained a strong lead in tablet sales, more than doubling their shipments in the last year. They did lose about 10% of market share to Android OS, however, falling to 57.6% worldwide.

    Apple’s shipment numbers are made even more impressive when you learn one little caveat of this study. The Android sales numbers refer to “sell-in” figures, meaning they include “sales” to retailers. Those may of may not actually translate to sales to customers. The Apple number (15.43 million) refers to actual sales to customers, not just iPads and iPad 2s that were shipped to be sold.

    But on the flip side, the study doesn’t include e-readers, even ones like the Nook Color that straddle the line between e-reader and tablet (and operate on Android OS).

    When you see reports like this, it’s always amazing that Apple is able to maintain such a hold on market share with basically one device (split into two forms). Are you warming up to Android OS tablets? Or do you think that iPads are still the king? Let us know in the comments.

  • MacWorld iWorld: Creston Lets You Control Your House From Your iPhone

    Creston has been showing off their new home/business automation system at MacWorld | iWorld. Creston’s system allows users to control lights, entertainment systems, electronic window blinds, and more, all from their iOS (or Android) devices.

    Of course, the system doesn’t come cheap. The full home or business automation hardware setup runs in the neighborhood of $2,000. On top of that, the control app for the iPhone is another $99. At that price tag, the system is going to be of more interest to business customers than to most homeowners. Homeowners with Creston’s system installed can use their iPhones to perform all sorts of home-related functions, though. In addition to turning lights on and off, they can also use the system to check the status of their home alarms remotely, as well as a host of other options. The interface is also customizable, allowing users – whether enterprise or home users – to perform a series of complex actions with just a tap on their screen.

  • Macworld iWorld: Video Camera App Lets You Record, Edit And Share

    Macworld iWorld: Video Camera App Lets You Record, Edit And Share

    You could create a movie on the iPhone before, but you could never really make a movie. i4software wants to remedy that.

    At Macworld iWorld today, the company announced their new cleverly titled Video Camera app. It aims to simplify the process of shooting, editing and sharing video by combining all three processes into a single application.

    But wait, there’s more! Video Camera’s built-in networking capabilities, so graciously provided by the iPod that it’s running off of, let groups of people share the video recording experience together in real time.

    “I always enjoyed making movies, but while shooting was quick, editing became time consuming,” software architect Michael Zaletel, i4software’s CEO, and Video Camera’s creator, said. “The concept of combining acquisition and editing is revolutionary.”

    The app sells itself on being easy and powerful. It works with the front and back cameras of recent iPhones, but it reportedly works on the 3GS model as well! The app’s live editing tool allows users to add, rearrange, trim and delete clips as they see fit. As you choose and trim clips, the app creates a timeline where you can refine, reorder and add transitions to your creation. You’ll be the next Steven Spielberg in no time!

    The app works with the iPhone 4 and 4S, fourth generation iPod touch and iPad 2. It lets you shoot video in 1080p, 720p and standard definition, or as my friends like to call it, 360p.

    Triple tapping the the screen offers more experienced users the ability to control exposure, focus and white balance. The app also has full zoom control.

    The app also includes the convenient features found in every other video editing program such as intros, background music and transition choices. You can now shoot a skateboarding video set to Drowning Pool’s classic rock hit “Bodies” on your iPhone.

    With Video Camera, you can also use a range of actual cameras using the iPad Camera Connection Kit. The list of supported cameras include GoPro Hero, Panasonic GH1 or GH2 and more.

    When you’re done filming your masterpiece worthy of an oscar, you can upload it to Facebook, YouTube, and Vimeo in two resolutions.

    Video Camera remote camera feature takes the concept of movie-making as a social experience and turns it into reality. Groups of up to eight shooters can simultaneously record an event from different angles and combine the scenes into a single masterpiece worthy of Tommy Wiseau.

    The current group shooting functionality requires all the phone to be on the same Wi-Fi network, but soon the developer will tap into 3G networks via a secure server to deliver worldwide simultaneous shooting. Finally, my dream of shooting a 1930s crime mystery thriller that suddenly cuts to live footage of a giraffe grazing on the savanna will become a reality.

    Video Camera is now available on the iTunes store for the low price of $8.

    All the World’s a Stage from i4Software on Vimeo.

  • MacWorld: App Lets Users Track Rocket Launches

    MacWorld: App Lets Users Track Rocket Launches

    Vito Technology announced today at Macworld the ability to track rockets into space with their Solar Walk and Star Walk apps.

    The apps have been out on the market for a while and have recently added satellite tracking to their list of features. Speaking at Macworld, they announced that they soon will be adding the ability to track rocket launches from the SpaceX program.

    Star Walk is an app that lets users locate and identify objects in the night sky. Solar Walk provides a 3D model of the solar system. Star Walk has a dedicated iPhone version along with an iPad-optimized version. Solar Walk is compatible across both devices.

    Vito Technology has signed an agreement with the European Space Agency. The first technology to come from their cooperation was a spectrum bar for their Star Walk app. It allows users to view the sky in different wavelengths.

    They are also working with the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or SpaceX, to provide live space rocket tracking to both devices.

    Vito Technology is using Macworld to showcase the education opportunities of their apps to coincide with Apple’s education initiative revealed in New York last week.

  • Foxconn’s Brazilian iPad Factory To Begin Production As Government Grants Tax Breaks

    Foxconn will soon begin production of iPads in Brazil, as the country has approved specific tax incentives designed to aid Apple’s popular tablet.

    The Brazilian government will give tax breaks to Foxconn for the production of tablets specified as weighing under 750 grams and lacking keyboards. The taxes that will be affected are the Excise Tax (IPI), Social Contribution Tax (PIS), and Federal Contribution Tax (COFINS)

    Here’s the relevant chunk, as reported by Brazilian newspaper Folha (google translation):

    According to the ministerial decree published Wednesday in the “Official Gazette”, the company will be entitled to the benefits provided for in Decree 5906 of September 2006. The determination provides for exemption or reduction of the IPI (Excise Tax), PIS and Cofins for companies investing in research and development of technology products.

    According to the ordinance today, the rule will apply to tablets with touch screens, no keyboard and weighing less than 750 grams. Also included as accessories, cables, power supplies and manuals that are related to the tablets.

    The expectation is that Foxconn start producing devices – especially the iPad from Apple – the factory in Jundiai, São Paulo.

    The $12 billion deal to bring Apple manufacturing to Brazil hit some roadblocks in 2011. From Foxconn’s end, it was the ridiculous bureaucracy and high tax rates in Brazil that held up production. From the Brazilian government’s end, Foxconn was simply demanding insane tax breaks.

    iPad production was supposed to kick off in July 2011, but these differences of opinion held it back. With the passing of these new incentives, it follows that Foxconn’s Brazilian plant should start pumping out Apple tablets in no time.

    [Via AppleInsider]

  • Fleshlight iPad Case Is Real And In Development

    Earlier this week, we told you about a somewhat creepy yet undeniably intriguing concept that was sure to take forever alone to a whole new level.

    A concept design called the FLESHLiPad Holder generated a lot of buzz around the interwebs, unsurprisingly, considering it’s an iPad case that mounts a Fleshlight to the bottom of your device. Fleshlights, or faux-vagina flashlights, are quite the popular item, as are iPads, porn, and sex, naturally.

    Because of this, we speculated that it was only a matter of time until this little concept became a reality.

    It turns out, that’s happening sooner than we thought. Gizmodo obtained the following quote from Fleshlight COO Brian Shubin:

    It’s another exciting product we have in development at the moment. We are always looking to improve our user experience and this will be a way to take it to another level. Continue watching Fleshlight.com for it.

    Another level indeed. Soon, denizens of the internet, you will have the option to have sex with your tablets, if you so choose. And not just any sex, but sex brought to you by the AVN 2012 winner for “Best Sex Toy Company.”

  • Kindle Fire doesn’t even dent Apple’s sales

    There is no doubt tablet ownership is on the rise. In fact, just this past holiday tablet ownership nearly doubled. Leading the trend most certainly is Apple with the iPad.

    But consumers may wonder, with products like the Kindle Fire available at such a low cost, are iPad sales being hurt? The Kindle Fire can be purchased for around $200 and the iPad can range from $500 – $900. That’s a pretty steep jump for most consumers. I would think it would hurt Apple sales but, they are not really the same products. Do consumers even consider the Kindle Fire a viable option if they aspire to an iPad? If not, we shouldn’t see any impact on iPad sales.

    Apple CEO Tim Cook reports:

    “I looked at the data – particularly in the US – on a weekly basis after Amazon launched the Kindle Fire, and in my view there wasn’t an obvious effect on the [iPad sales] numbers”.

    When asked about Kindle customers taking the next step to iPad because of the inherent limitation’s of Fire and disregarding the price jump Cook commented:

    “Whether that’s happening on a very, very large basis, I don’t know, again, my own view is – looking at our data in the US – there was no obvious change“.

    Cook elaborates further regarding e-readers and other tablet computers:

    “There’s clearly customers that will buy those and I think they’ll sell a fair number of units, but I don’t think that people who want an iPad will settle for a limited-function [replacement]”.

    So from Apple’s perspective at least, there is no substitute yet on par with the iPad. But I think there is more competition on the way. This marks the third year since the iPad was released. Let’s see what comes out this year though I know there’s a great deal of brand loyalty for Apple products so it’ll take some pretty outstanding innovation to entice perspective buyers away from the iPad.

  • Apple’s iCloud Service Is Really Popular

    Apple posted big profits yesterday and their iCloud service was one of the biggest winners.

    AppleInsider is reporting that iCloud usage has jumped to 85 million subscribers. Sign-ups for the service have far out outpaced device sales.

    During the conference call, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said, “iCloud is off to a great start with more than 85 million customers signed up as of today. With iCloud, customers can store their music and photos and documents and keep their personal information and content in sync across all their devices, automatically and seamlessly.”

    The numbers don’t come from just new users signing up for the service, but also from MobileMe, Apple’s old data storage system, users.

    AppleInsider states that iCloud is much more convenient than Apple’s previous two attempts at storage with .Mac and MobileMe which forced users to sync data manually across all platforms. The prior services also featured a clunky interface and users had to pay for storage. iCloud lacks all of those with its free easy-to-use interface.

    “It was a fundamental shift recognizing that people had numerous devices and they wanted the bulk of their content in the cloud, and easily accessible from all the devices,” CEO Tim Cook said.

    The service launched in October 2011 and as we reported then, iCloud synced users’ contacts, calendar and mail across all devices. It also allowed users to store personal data and purchased apps so they could access them across all devices.

    Cook went on to say that iCloud is not just a product, but a “strategy for the next decade.”

  • Tablet Use May Be Associated With Neck Pain

    Tablet Use May Be Associated With Neck Pain

    Do you get neck and shoulder pain while using an iPad? A recent study from Harvard suggests that you might.

    The latest in a long line of studies that seem to stem from the utter boredom of university researchers comes this study from the Harvard School of Public Health that says users may experience shoulder and neck pain from prolonged tablet use.

    In the spirit of fairness, the study used both an iPad 2 and a Motorola Xoom. This made sure that fanboys from either camp couldn’t call out the other as being a leading cause of neck and shoulder discomfort.

    The four user configurations used in the study were holding the tablet in one’s hand while on the lap, the tablet in a case on the lap, the tablet in a case on a table and the tablet held upright on a table for the purpose of watching a film. The tablets were outfitted with various cases and stands that users are generally seen using in everyday situations.

    The study found that users of tablet computers in all four configurations run a higher risk of “neck and shoulder discomfort” compared to normal desktop or laptop users. This stems mostly from poor posture users exhibit when using tablet computers since their posture and head/neck angles are much more strained.

    The study concludes that the use of tablet computers is associated with much higher head and neck postures compared to “desktop computing scenarios.” The postures are affected by the type of case as well as the location of the device.

    They say that this data is valuable to tablet and accessory manufacturers to make their products more ergonomically designed to “promote neutral postures” and “increase the comfort of users.”

    The entire study can be viewed here for your reading pleasure.

  • DLD: iPad Popularity Leads To E-Textbooks

    DLD: iPad Popularity Leads To E-Textbooks

    From the Digital Life Design conference, a welcome announcement was made for students.

    Textbook publishers saw it coming: an e-textbook revolution is imminent and it will change learning forever, said Osman Rashid, co-founder and CEO of Kno.

    The software company based in Silicon Valley currently offers 150,000 textbook titles to be used on a computer or iPad, and they cost for 30 to 50 percent less of the regular price of print version.

    And what’s most striking is the interactivity of the content, as graphics become 3D and illustrations with labels (for example, one of a cell which has the labels of all its parts) become quizzes to test the student’s knowledge.

    One particularly attractive feature Rashid demonstrated at DLD was the flashcard feature, which measures the student’s confidence his or her own knowledge.

    Journalist Spencer Reiss of Wired asked Rashid why, if people have been talking about this shift in textbooks, it has taken this long.

    “User experience has so far been bad, it was not conducive… but now the innovation in education is better because of the tablets”, he said, adding that tablets and the iPad have allowed to better usability.

    Publishers are really starting to embrace the new model, said Rashid, but the next big step should be taking heavy, print textbooks out of the students’ backpack and putting in a tablet device instead.

    A Day in the Life of Kno from Kno on Vimeo.

  • Fleshlight iPad Case Takes Forever Alone To A Whole New Level [NSFW]

    Steve Jobs was all about changing the way the world does certain things, so in that respect, I guess he would have to be impressed with the ingenuity at work here. And let’s be honest, in some ways, it could change the way that people interact with porn.

    What I’m talking about it a concept design that takes forever alone to a whole new level. Meet the FLESHLiPad Holder.

    What you’re seeing is a Fleshlight device attached to the bottom of an iPad. For those of you unfamiliar with Fleshlights, you can check out the site (a tad NSFW). As you can see, it’s basically a male sex toy that simulates a vagina. It’s actually a pretty huge industry, as prospective users can build their own or purchase toys modeled after famous pornstars – and yes, they are anatomically accurate.

    It doesn’t take a genius to see why a person would want to have one of these devices attached to an iPad – and the mockup makes it pretty clear as well. I must reiterate, this is simply a concept design, but do you really think that this idea will sit around untapped for very long? I don’t think so.

    [TvMiller via Geekologie]

  • iPhone 4S, iPad 2 Jailbreak Gets A Million Downloads In 24 Hours

    Last week we brought you news that Absinthe, the long-awaited jailbreak for A5-powered iOS 5 devices – iPhone 4S and iPad 2 – was finally available from Greenpois0n. The rush to download the new jailbreak was so great, in fact, that the Greenpois0n site was down for much of the day, and users had difficulty downloading the Absinthe. Moreover, those who did manage to download it had couldn’t install it, because it required contact with Greenpois0n’s servers to activate.

    Server difficulties notwithstanding, though, Absinthe was a hit. Joshua Hill, jailbreak developer from the Chronic Dev Team, told Cult of Mac that Absinthe was downloaded over a million times in the first 24 hours of availability. What’s more, all of those one million downloads came before the Windows version of Absinthe was even available, meaning that the amazing first day numbers only account for Mac users. This makes Absinthe the most popular download-based jailbreak tool ever.

    Since the initial release of the Mac version of Absinthe, we’ve seen the release of the Windows version and an update. Download numbers for the Windows version are not available at present, but it’s safe to say they are probably pretty high also.

    If you’re interested in jailbreaking your iPhone 4S, check out Greenpois0n’s website to download Absinthe.

    Are you one of the million who downloaded Absinthe on the first day? Have you downloaded it since? Let us know what you think of it in the comments.

  • Evi: Siri Competitor Comes To iOS And Android

    Ever since the iPhone 4S launched last October, owners of other devices – including older iPhones – have been drooling over Siri, the 4S’s integrated voice-activated assistant. The iPhone’s “killer app” has prompted quite a bit of imitation and a few outright ripoffs. At the end of last year we brought you a story about Speerit, an Android app that egregiously copies nearly everything about Siri except the name. At the beginning of this year, a similar app, Siri For Android, was pulled from the App Market. Meanwhile, there are also legitimate apps that offer Siri-like functionality, including at least one for the Windows Phone operating system.

    Most of these apps have one thing in common (apart from imitating Siri’s functionality): they are only available for non-iOS phones. To date there are precious few iOS apps that bring Siri-like functionality to non-iPhone 4S devices. Now, however, there is a new app that promises to do just that. Evi is a personal assistant app billed as “revolutionary artificial intelligence here to help with all of your everyday information needs.” Promising plain English search (like Siri), Evi offers to help you look up just about anything. Options include location-based searches, trivia, and a wide array of others.

    Evi is available for both iOS and Android. The iOS app is compatible with iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches running iOS 4.0 or later, however it is not a universal app, which means it will display as an iPhone app when run on the iPad. The Android version is free, while the iOS version is $0.99. Check it out and let us know what you think in the comments.

    Evi for iOS

    Evi for Android

  • Apple Sells 350,000 Textbooks In Three Days

    Apple’s announcement on Thursday that they were entering into the textbook market was generally met with enthusiasm, despite controversy over the EULA for their new iBooks Author tool. The program promised to deliver textbooks as interactive ebooks for $14.99 or less.

    Now it looks like positive buzz isn’t the only reaction Apple has gotten to the announcement. According to Global Equity Research (via AllThingsD) Apple sold 350,000 textbooks in the three days following the announcement. The report also showed upwards of 90,000 downloads of iBooks Author.

    Though these numbers could be a surge due to the newness of the product, if they remain consistent it could be a major boon both to Apple and to textbook publishers, as well as to education in general. Much depends on Apple’s ability to persuade schools to adopt their textbook program, though. It will be interesting to see how this progresses in the coming months and years. The timing of Apple’s announcement is helpful, however, as it gives school boards and teachers plenty of time to weigh implementation before the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year.

  • How To Create An iPad App Using Adobe Captivate

    How To Create An iPad App Using Adobe Captivate

    Adobe is sharing a video demonstrating how to create an iPad app using Adobe Captivate, the company’s eLearning software.

    It shows how to publish the project to a Flash file, convert it to HTML5, then convert it into an iPad app and test it using Adobe PhoneGap.

    Adobe is also hosting a Captivate HTML5 contest. “This is a great opportunity to showcase your skills in authoring HTML5 based eLearning content, and to win yourself one of three 32GB iPads!” says Adobe’s Shameer Ayyappan. “Even if you aren’t quite ready to create your own content, check out some of the great submissions thus far- to get an idea on what HTML5 based eLearning has to offer.”

    Here’s another video on publishing Captivate to iPad:

  • iPad Textbook App For Algebra Boosts Student Math Scores 20%

    Apple may have re-invented the wheel this time, insofar you can consider the wheel as an algebra textbook.

    Over the past year, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, publisher of textbooks that you and me and everyone else we know have used since time immemorial, have been conducting a pilot study to test the effectiveness of an iPad-based algebra textbook (i.e., an app) to see how it might affect the quality of education for students. They recently concluded the study and the results show that their iPad algebra textbook app worked wonders for students’ math scores.

    Houghton Mifflin Harcourt provided a video of the launch of the HMH Fuse program at the school where the study was conducted:

    The app, HMH Fuse, isn’t just a regular textbook inside of an iPad. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt had the app specifically designed to “full utilize the functionality of the iPad and provide students with a comprehensive, multimedia education experience.” To see if the app would float, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt took their product to a middle school in California and where students were randomly assigned one of two conditions: the HMH Fuse: Algebra 1 app (with a slick new iPad, I imagine) or a textbook version of the same program.

    By the way, all you technophobes out there, get this straight: it’s not even like the students using different materials, okay? It’s the same content, just one’s gone all 2.0 with an iPad and is a lot more interactive whereas the control condition, the textbook, has the same information except it’s in book form.

    So anyways. How’d it work out?

    @HMHFuse
    HMH Fuse    Student Math Scores Jump 20% with HMH Algebra Curriculum for Apple® iPad®; http://t.co/z7oHJStb #edtech #mathchat 22 minutes ago via HootSuite · powered by @socialditto

    The discrepancy between the two groups’ test results are pretty staggering because the students who used HMH Fuse Algebra 1 scored 20%% higher on the state math exams. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt explains, “Comparing student performance, over 78% of students using HMH Fuse scored Proficient or Advanced on the state math test, compared to only 59% of their fellow students” who used the textbook version of the program.

    Houghton Mifflin Harcourt explained the difference in math scores, saying students who used HMH Fuse Algebra 1 “took the initiative to do their work, read the chapter repeatedly, watch lesson videos when they did not understand, and take notes and study, while also being free to leverage the technology for personal use – namely, games and entertainment – in their free time.”

    Somewhere, Apple is very pleased with themselves right now.

  • SoulCalibur Comes To iOS

    SoulCalibur Comes To iOS

    Namco has brought their popular fighting game SoulCalibur to iOS devices today. The game is available as a universal iOS app in the Apple App Store as of this morning. It currently sells for $11.99 thanks to a 20% off release sale (making the regular price $14.99). There is no word on when the price will go back up.

    SoulCalibur for iOS

    SoulCalibur was originally released in 1998 as an arcade game. It was ported to the Sega Dreamcast the following year, and has since spawned six sequels, including the planned SoulCalibur V, which is due to release later this year. The iOS version is getting pretty good reviews in the App Store, though some are complaining about the lack of multiplayer. If you feel like ponying up twelve bucks for it, check it out and let us know what you think in the comments (iTunes link).