the Apple iPad

[Blackjack]

I wonder if these iPad 2 rumors will cut into holiday sales at all.

Apple Insider had a little item this morning.
Backlight unit supplier reportedly selected for Apple's second-gen iPad
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/12/08/backlight_unit_supplier_reportedly_selected_for_apples_second_gen_ipad.html

I was hoping maybe they'd add a slot that I would insert my iPod Touch into. It would be like a star fighter docking in a space station. 

[rittchard]

I don't think I saw this mentioned, but I really like it:

http://www.algoriddim.com/djay-ipad

Even forgetting the DJ features it's a fun way to play your basic library, and I like that you can speed songs up or adjust the balance etc on the fly.  A little pricey but otherwise very cool.

[SkyLander]

I wonder if these iPad 2 rumors will cut into holiday sales at all.

Apple Insider had a little item this morning.
Backlight unit supplier reportedly selected for Apple's second-gen iPad
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/12/08/backlight_unit_supplier_reportedly_selected_for_apples_second_gen_ipad.html

I was hoping maybe they'd add a slot that I would insert my iPod Touch into. It would be like a star fighter docking in a space station. 

Everyone should know another iPad is going to be made next year.

[ydejin]

I wonder if these iPad 2 rumors will cut into holiday sales at all.

IMO doubtful.  It's now reaching consumer device stages, and most consumers don't pay that much attention to this stuff.  I don't think the rumors have reached the consumer consciousness, so this would only effect hardcore techies.  For them, I think the feature set is too nebulous to think "ooh, I have to wait for that".  As Skylander points out, all techies already know there's going to be an upgrade.  The only thing I've heard so far that might really cause one to wait is the camera, and that could have been predicated without any rumors.

[drifter]

I have an I-Pad its a neat gadget.  Did I mention that I won it...

[BuckeyeShane]

I'm planning on getting an ipad for my wife this xmas, but not sure whether to get the 16gb or 32 gb version, I know this all depends on usage.  I know for sure there will be tons of pictures put on it, but probably no movies.  Any input would be appreciated 

[Blackjack]

I wonder if these iPad 2 rumors will cut into holiday sales at all.

Apple Insider had a little item this morning.
Backlight unit supplier reportedly selected for Apple's second-gen iPad
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/12/08/backlight_unit_supplier_reportedly_selected_for_apples_second_gen_ipad.html

I was hoping maybe they'd add a slot that I would insert my iPod Touch into. It would be like a star fighter docking in a space station.  

Everyone should know another iPad is going to be made next year.

I know people who refuse to know that, even if they should.  
-----------------------
BuckeyeShane: My rule of thumb is worry less about how many apps you might install on an iPad, Touch, or iPhone, and worry more about how many photos, music files and perhaps movies you might put on it. That stuff really gobbles GB quickly. Unless you're hurting financially, I'd suggest getting the next step up from what you think might be the "minimum" you need. Keeping in mind also that the GB numbers are misnomers -- my Touches have had something like 2-2.5 GB of crap built-in so they've been more like 13.5GB or 29.5GB in terms of available storage.

I was having to delete files and stop synching certain things to make my 16GB Touch feel sufficient. My new 32GB Touch feels right and I don't think I'll ever run into that issue, though I don't think I'll hit the 32GB limit (I really think 64GB would be overkill in my case).

I know people use iPads differently. Maybe you put lots more movies and multimedia on it, etc. So I guess that's something to consider too.
----------------------
Drifter: Congratz! Provide us a couple photos of it so we can be jealous.  

[SkyLander]

I'm planning on getting an ipad for my wife this xmas, but not sure whether to get the 16gb or 32 gb version, I know this all depends on usage.  I know for sure there will be tons of pictures put on it, but probably no movies.  Any input would be appreciated 

I've been fine with the 16gig. But that's because I just stream everything which I recommend, there are several apps that stream movies to music really well. Pictures shouldn't take up to much room.

[BuckeyeShane]

I ended up getting the 32gb version instead of worring about if there would be enough space.

[kathode]

Ipad 2 rumors are heating up.  The original was announced on January 27th, so seems very likely we'll get a refresh announced at the end of next month.  According to articles the new one will have a camera, be lighter and slimmer overall, possibly a USB port, and have a higher-resolution display.  Sounds like not a major revision, but I'm excited.  I'll definitely be taking the plunge on this one.

[Caine]

Ipad 2 rumors are heating up.  The original was announced on January 27th, so seems very likely we'll get a refresh announced at the end of next month.  According to articles the new one will have a camera, be lighter and slimmer overall, possibly a USB port, and have a higher-resolution display.  Sounds like not a major revision, but I'm excited.  I'll definitely be taking the plunge on this one.

and that, plus the usual apple routine of doubling the storage for the same price has me holding back from buying one at all right now. 

[Exodor]

Ipad 2 rumors are heating up.  The original was announced on January 27th, so seems very likely we'll get a refresh announced at the end of next month.  According to articles the new one will have a camera, be lighter and slimmer overall, possibly a USB port, and have a higher-resolution display.  Sounds like not a major revision, but I'm excited.  I'll definitely be taking the plunge on this one.

The high-res display will probably be enough to convince me to eBay my 16G WiFi one and replace it.

I mostly use it for ComicZeal.  More resultion = pretty comics.   

[Blackjack]

Ipad 2 rumors are heating up.  The original was announced on January 27th, so seems very likely we'll get a refresh announced at the end of next month.  According to articles the new one will have a camera, be lighter and slimmer overall, possibly a USB port, and have a higher-resolution display.  Sounds like not a major revision, but I'm excited.  I'll definitely be taking the plunge on this one.

and that, plus the usual apple routine of doubling the storage for the same price has me holding back from buying one at all right now.  

But remember, if you get run over by a bus tomorrow, as you flit up to Heaven, and they give you your free iPad (every angel gets one now, I hear), you'll examine it first with glee, and then despair, exclaiming, "DAMN IT! I wanted the SECOND GENERATION! This just isn't FAIR!"  

As I get older I just don't give in to the kinds of electronics, computer and videogame console/handheld impulses that I used to. It's good for my pocketbook, though sometimes I wait and wait and wait and then the impulse just goes away altogether. And I too have come close to getting an iPad but I always either talk myself out of it or I keep telling myself to wait for the next model.  

Although, I finally cleared off, cleaned up and pulled my dining room table away from my condo's living room wall. And now and then I actually eat at the table instead of on my couch. And I find myself thinking, "I wouldn't mind having some sort of computer thing here. But not a desktop or a laptop. Hmmmm. I just KNOW there's something that would be just right for this location. I just can't put my finger on it."    

[Caine]

i've never been one to jump in on the first generation as it seems the stuff is always improving.  it seems to work out better than most over all.  the one time i jumped in early (the wii), i ended up losing interest in it pretty fast.

[ydejin]

...
Although, I finally cleared off, cleaned up and pulled my dining room table away from my condo's living room wall. And now and then I actually eat at the table instead of on my couch. And I find myself thinking, "I wouldn't mind having some sort of computer thing here. But not a desktop or a laptop. Hmmmm. I just KNOW there's something that would be just right for this location. I just can't put my finger on it."    

That's one of things I'm very happy about with my iPad.  I used to eat breakfast sitting in front of the computer, so I could read the morning news on the web.  Now I just bring my iPad over to the kitchen table.

Also, this may be coming in to the thread to late to help BuckeyeShane, but I agree on the previous points on memory size. It's really all about how much media you have on it.  I think I've got almost 16gb of music on mine.  Mine is also chock full of TV shows, so I've actually managed to fill up all 64gb.  Of course, I could put on fewer shows and just copy them over individually when I wanted to watch them.   64gb gives you enough space for about 3 seasons of SD tv shows or probably 2 seasons of HD tv. 

[Victoria Raverna]

...
Although, I finally cleared off, cleaned up and pulled my dining room table away from my condo's living room wall. And now and then I actually eat at the table instead of on my couch. And I find myself thinking, "I wouldn't mind having some sort of computer thing here. But not a desktop or a laptop. Hmmmm. I just KNOW there's something that would be just right for this location. I just can't put my finger on it."    

That's one of things I'm very happy about with my iPad.  I used to eat breakfast sitting in front of the computer, so I could read the morning news on the web.  Now I just bring my iPad over to the kitchen table.

Also, this may be coming in to the thread to late to help BuckeyeShane, but I agree on the previous points on memory size. It's really all about how much media you have on it.  I think I've got almost 16gb of music on mine.  Mine is also chock full of TV shows, so I've actually managed to fill up all 64gb.  Of course, I could put on fewer shows and just copy them over individually when I wanted to watch them.   64gb gives you enough space for about 3 seasons of SD tv shows or probably 2 seasons of HD tv. 

Install ZumoCast which is free and you don't need to copy tv shows to your ipad, you can stream them from your PC. And since ZumoCast also do transcoding, you can play from most video files on your PC.

I used to fill up my ipad with videos but now I only have applet and pictures on it. Photos can also be streamed from PC, but since I don't have lots of photo to take up much spaces, I just keep all my photo album on the ipad.

[ydejin]

...
Although, I finally cleared off, cleaned up and pulled my dining room table away from my condo's living room wall. And now and then I actually eat at the table instead of on my couch. And I find myself thinking, "I wouldn't mind having some sort of computer thing here. But not a desktop or a laptop. Hmmmm. I just KNOW there's something that would be just right for this location. I just can't put my finger on it."    

That's one of things I'm very happy about with my iPad.  I used to eat breakfast sitting in front of the computer, so I could read the morning news on the web.  Now I just bring my iPad over to the kitchen table.

Also, this may be coming in to the thread to late to help BuckeyeShane, but I agree on the previous points on memory size. It's really all about how much media you have on it.  I think I've got almost 16gb of music on mine.  Mine is also chock full of TV shows, so I've actually managed to fill up all 64gb.  Of course, I could put on fewer shows and just copy them over individually when I wanted to watch them.   64gb gives you enough space for about 3 seasons of SD tv shows or probably 2 seasons of HD tv.  

Install ZumoCast which is free and you don't need to copy tv shows to your ipad, you can stream them from your PC. And since ZumoCast also do transcoding, you can play from most video files on your PC.

I used to fill up my ipad with videos but now I only have applet and pictures on it. Photos can also be streamed from PC, but since I don't have lots of photo to take up much spaces, I just keep all my photo album on the ipad.

That looks pretty nifty.  All my shows are DRMed iTunes though, which I assume will not run in ZumoCast.  I'd also prefer not to leave my computer running 24-7.

[farley2k]

Some photos of iPad 2 (or mockup)

[CeeKay]

the iCade.

[CeeKay]

Thinkgeek is going to be selling a joystick for the iPad.

[rittchard]

More detailed iPad 2 rumors, including rumored release date of April 9th:

http://www.macrumors.com/2011/01/13/next-generation-ipad-to-launch-in-the-u-s-on-april-2nd-or-9th/

[Morgul]

And I find myself thinking, "I wouldn't mind having some sort of computer thing here. But not a desktop or a laptop. Hmmmm. I just KNOW there's something that would be just right for this location. I just can't put my finger on it."    

Amazing.   People don't generally understand the "need for/what is" the ipad without having one.   

I know I didn't understand.

[Thin_J]

I often wish for the ability to browse the internet while I'm sitting at my couch, but without getting up to get my laptop. A nice smallish tablet that I could just keep in the drawer on my endtable or whatever would be great.

A question for the iPad users among us, do I have to install any of Apple's software on my PC to use the thing? If I want to watch video like TV shows or whatever on it, do I have to have iTunes or whatever else installed to get files onto it?

If I do, then I'll be waiting for a clear winner in the Android tablet market instead.

If not, might end up getting myself an iPad 2.

[Victoria Raverna]

I often wish for the ability to browse the internet while I'm sitting at my couch, but without getting up to get my laptop. A nice smallish tablet that I could just keep in the drawer on my endtable or whatever would be great.

A question for the iPad users among us, do I have to install any of Apple's software on my PC to use the thing? If I want to watch video like TV shows or whatever on it, do I have to have iTunes or whatever else installed to get files onto it?

If I do, then I'll be waiting for a clear winner in the Android tablet market instead.

If not, might end up getting myself an iPad 2.

You need to have iTunes installed to start using one. iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad all need to be activated using iTunes to start using. After that you can buy and install apps using the device itself but I think you probably still want to use iTunes to backup the apps to your computer. I don't know if you can buy tv shows using the device to watch it without connecting to your pc, but if you don't have a problem with less legal method of getting tv shows then you can just torrent them to your pc then use software like zumocast to stream them to your device so you don't have to use itunes to copy them to your device.

[ydejin]

I often wish for the ability to browse the internet while I'm sitting at my couch, but without getting up to get my laptop. A nice smallish tablet that I could just keep in the drawer on my endtable or whatever would be great.

Couch web browsing is one of my main uses of my iPad.  Works great for it.

A question for the iPad users among us, do I have to install any of Apple's software on my PC to use the thing? If I want to watch video like TV shows or whatever on it, do I have to have iTunes or whatever else installed to get files onto it?

If I do, then I'll be waiting for a clear winner in the Android tablet market instead.

If not, might end up getting myself an iPad 2.

To expand on Victoria Raverna's post.  I have a good dozen or so TV seasons purchased on iTunes.  You can buy them directly on the iPad, but as Victoria Raverna says you should get iTunes on your PC so that you can back them up.  I'm not a big iTunes fan, but you can pretty much just continue using whatever you're using for your regular music and videos, and only use iTunes for transferring data to and from the iPad.

There are some media programs that will transfer music to and from iPads, such as Media Monkey (at least last time I checked).  I don't know if they work with iTunes DRMed TV and Movie though.

If you do end up getting one, I'm pretty happy with my AppleTV.  It's only $99 and it lets me stream movies and music directly from the iPad to my television.  Plus it acts as a Netflix box and also can display Youtube, Flickr, and a few other services.

Warning for unknown reasons iTunes seems to heavily throttle their downloads.  I've got a super-fast university connection which can download a Gig in less than a minute for a regular website.  Downloading a TV show via iTunes takes about 8-10 minutes and downloading an entire season of HD tv basically means starting it up before I go to bed, and having it downloaded when I wake up in the morning.  Very annoying.

[Thin_J]

Yeah, that's not gonna work for me. I record TV shows on my PC, and then use a batch converter to re-encode the files at a lower bitrate and 480p so they don't take up tons of storage, and I watch them over the network on my PS3. As far as TV watching goes, it's a very convenient and the PS3's media streaming abilities are pretty great. No interest in altering my setup or the way I use things to suit one convenience device.

I also despise iTunes, so there's that.

Android tablet it is.

Thanks for the info!

[Victoria Raverna]

Yeah, that's not gonna work for me. I record TV shows on my PC, and then use a batch converter to re-encode the files at a lower bitrate and 480p so they don't take up tons of storage, and I watch them over the network on my PS3. As far as TV watching goes, it's a very convenient and the PS3's media streaming abilities are pretty great. No interest in altering my setup or the way I use things to suit one convenience device.

I also despise iTunes, so there's that.

Android tablet it is.

Thanks for the info!

If you don't want to buy tv shows from itunes then you don't need itunes other that once to activate the ipad. So you can just install itunes then activate and remove it from your system, but I really don't understand the hatred on itunes. You don't need to use it for anything else on your pc. Think of it as a program to backup your ipad, you don't need to use it for anything else.

As for streaming tv shows, you can do the same thing you're doing with iPad. Zumocast that I recommended in my last post is an application that run on ipad and a streaming server that run on your pc. ZumoCast is free and you can stream video and other files to ipad so you don't need to transfer tv shows to ipad using itunes. You can just leave them on your pc and you can use ZumoCast to stream any episode that you want to watch.

[Thin_J]

I don't need to stream them from my PC to the iPad. If I was doing that it would mean I'm at home, at which point I just stream said video to my TV through the PS3.

Only time I would ever watch video like that on it would be when I'm out, either traveling or maybe on lunch hour at work or whenever. But not at home. I have plenty of things to watch video on at home.

[gellar]

You'd also need iTunes to update the iPad software (when new versions come out).

[Kevin Grey]

I don't need to stream them from my PC to the iPad. If I was doing that it would mean I'm at home, at which point I just stream said video to my TV through the PS3.

Not sure about Zumocast but there are several apps that will let you stream video from your home PC to your iPad when you are away from the house. 

[Victoria Raverna]

I don't need to stream them from my PC to the iPad. If I was doing that it would mean I'm at home, at which point I just stream said video to my TV through the PS3.

Not sure about Zumocast but there are several apps that will let you stream video from your home PC to your iPad when you are away from the house. 

ZumoCast can do that.

[ravenvii]

I don't need to stream them from my PC to the iPad. If I was doing that it would mean I'm at home, at which point I just stream said video to my TV through the PS3.

Not sure about Zumocast but there are several apps that will let you stream video from your home PC to your iPad when you are away from the house. 

ZumoCast can do that.

ZumoCast is dead.

I use Air Video. IMO, it's superior.

[Thin_J]

I don't need to stream them from my PC to the iPad. If I was doing that it would mean I'm at home, at which point I just stream said video to my TV through the PS3.

Not sure about Zumocast but there are several apps that will let you stream video from your home PC to your iPad when you are away from the house. 

My home internet is way too slow, particularly on the upload, to stream video at any reasonable quality rate. I'd rather not watch TV shows at Youtube 360p quality levels, and I'm not even sure it could maintain that.

[rittchard]

More (rumored) info on the A5 chip (for iPad 2 and iPhone 5), with supposedly 4X graphics power:

http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/17/more-details-emerge-on-apples-a5-chip-for-upcoming-ipad-2-and-i/

[Roman]

Check this out - thumb controller for the ipad - http://tenonedesign.com/fling.php
looks very promising.

[CeeKay]

More (rumored) info on the A5 chip (for iPad 2 and iPhone 5), with supposedly 4X graphics power:

http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/17/more-details-emerge-on-apples-a5-chip-for-upcoming-ipad-2-and-i/

I don't need one, but the more I hear the more I want one, especially if they do pull off the retina display on it.

[CeeKay]

apparently Apple is hinting at a February 9th announcement.  there are also rumors going around that the retina display won't be part of it until the third generation.

[SkyLander]

Not surprised with the retina display I mean, desktops have issues doing 2560xwhatever screens, I don't see how mobile hardware could do it smoothly.

[Morgul]

You guys seen this?
I am missing something.   I do not get it, but I wanted to check.   News is free all over the internet right?

Are any of you guys going to pay for news?

http://www.bgr.com/2011/01/26/news-corp%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%98the-daily%e2%80%99-ipad-newspaper-to-launch-in-two-weeks-cost-0-99-per-week/

[ravenvii]

You guys seen this?
I am missing something.   I do not get it, but I wanted to check.   News is free all over the internet right?

Are any of you guys going to pay for news?

http://www.bgr.com/2011/01/26/news-corp%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%98the-daily%e2%80%99-ipad-newspaper-to-launch-in-two-weeks-cost-0-99-per-week/

I don't know really, but I'm in a wait-and-see mode about this one. They've been talking about how the iPad is replacing print newspapers/magazines since last year, and now they're finally coming out with a realistic way for the iPad to do it.