Rumors are piling up suggesting the next-generation iPod Touch will get FaceTime video chat thanks to a new front-facing camera.If you’ve spent all your disposable income on an iPad and have found yourself without the funds to purchase a stand, there’s no need to fret – with a little DIY magic, you can make your own functional, cool, and inexpensive iPad stand with just a handful of pencils and rubber bands.
Julian Horsey of Geeky Gadgets is the mind behind the pencil iPad stand. His crafty design, an expansion on a pencil iPhone stand he designed last year, uses six pencils and four elastic bands that form a triangular base for the iPad to rest on. A single pencil, reinforced by four other pencils, props the iPad upright.
The pencils’ erasers provide protection and friction for the iPad and grip for the stand’s legs, while the metal parts of the pencils that connect the erasers serve as locators for the edge of the iPad. According to Horsey, these metal locators “work like a dream, providing just enough friction to keep the iPad in either landscape or portrait orientation.” He cautions that the metal could scratch your iPad’s edges if it’s not in a case, though he offers work-arounds for that dilemma as well.
You’ll find photos of the stand at Geeky Gadgets, and while assembly instructions aren’t provided, the stand should be easy enough to make on your own with a few reference photos.
The Walt Disney Company has confirmed it has bought app-based music gaming company Tapulous, the company behind the Tap Tap Revenge franchise.
Financial details were not disclosed but as part of the deal Tapulous co-founders Bart Decrem and Andrew Lacy will become SVPs at Disney Interactive Media Group.
Tapulous has over 30m users of its different games and has built bespoke versions of Tap Tap Revenge for acts including Coldplay, Lady Gaga, Metallica and Nickelback.
It has also launched the motion-based Riddim Ribbon game built around the music of Black Eyed Peas and the Tap Tap Radiation game for the iPad.
It is expected Disney will now move deeper into both mobile and gaming with its music properties such as Hannah Montana and High School Musical.
When asked by MocoNews why his company had acquired Tapulous, Disney Interactive Media Group president Steve Wadsworth said, “Because they have great talent. They have proven success with iPhone games and applications, and they’ve built a big footprint with the applications they have. And they’ve demonstrated an ability to very effectively monetize what they do.”
Last month, Warner Music signed a deal with Tapulous to build bespoke apps around a number of its acts.
Tap Tap Revenge was one of the first apps to allow in-app track purchasing and through this, it has sold over 5m downloads.
Apple might come to regret its decision not to support Adobe’s Flash.
According to a recent survey, researchers at Changewave found that the most common dislike among Ipad owners was the device’s lack of Flash support. Apple’s dear leader Steve Jobs has made it clear that he will not allow devices running Iphone OS to use Adobe’s Flash.
Given that over 80 per cent of respondents in the report claim to use their Ipads for web browsing and almost 50 per cent for viewing video, areas in which Flash is particularly pervasive, it’s not surprising that users find lack of support for the format annoying.
Those who have shelled out big bucks to get their hands on an Ipad may complain about the situation, but given Jobs’ very public spat with Adobe it’s highly unlikely that Adobe will ever see Flash support in the Iphone OS. After Jobs made a number of accusations and false claims about the software, it was revealed why he is so fervently against Adobe’s product when plans for Apple’s own Cocoa fuelled web were outed.
Few would argue that Adobe and its products are open, but given that so many aspects of the web currently depend on it, simply blocking it will, as this report shows, only leave users aggrieved.
Adobe, realising that its relationship with Apple has hit the buffers, decided to cosy up to Google and its open source Android operating system, meaning those who want to enjoy all that the web has to offer can do so by purchasing a device running Android.
The report also dismisses Jobs’ ridiculous claim that the Ipad is a “revolutionary device” by asking users what they do with the shiny toy. Aside from web browsing and watching videos, checking email, playing games and listening to music were all popular Ipad activities, just as they are on netbooks and even the firm’s Iphones and Macbooks.
As Jobs’ Mob decides whether or not to deride this report, it cannot hide from the fact that the road its dear leader has decided to take it down might lead to alienating a significant percentage of its customers.
The fruit themed toymaker is launching the Ipad on May 28 or June 7 depending on which date you believe. That is also the same time that Google is set to release Android 2.2, which features multi-tasking and Adobe’s Flash 10.1, both of which are features absent from Apple’s oversized Iphone without a phone.
Source: the inquirer
