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Still looking for a cheap shield or skin for your favorite device? ZAGG, the company behind the ZAGGmate and InvisibleShield products, is running a large sale, with most products sold for half their normal price.
Via a press release earlier this morning, Apple confirmed that its CEO Steve Jobs will indeed be on stage at the opening keynote of WWDC 2011, next Monday.
Amongst other things, iOS 5 will be introduced to the public, alongside Mac OS X Lion and iCloud, Apple’s upcoming cloud-based storage service.
After the keynote, WWDC 2011 will offer several sessions focused on the new features offered by Apple’s upcoming operating systems, and potential synergies between them.
According to Egyptian website iPhoneIslam, 3G-enabled iPads will soon be able to place regular calls and send text messages, just like an iPhone. The video above shows a jailbroken first generation iPad 3G running an app extremely similar to the iPhone phone app, and surprisingly, the device indeed seems to work.
iChromy, a Chrome clone for the iPad, hit the App Store earlier today. While the new browser does not use any of the code available over at the Chromium project, the end result surely looks like Chrome anyway – even the app icon is inspired by Google’s browser.
Just like Chrome, the browser is focused on tab browsing, and blurs the line between searching and browsing the web, as the address bar doubles as a Google search box. The app still has a ‘beta’ feel to it, as it does not allow you to perform basic tasks such as re-organizing tabs, but still, the browser is worth a try, especially given that iChromy is free.
As you must have noticed, while the iPad speaker works well in a quiet environment such as a bedroom, it doesn’t pack enough punch to perform well outdoors. As a result, most of us use headphones while on the go.
To help enhance the iPad 1 & 2′s speaker performance, Matthew McLachlan, an iPad aficionado, is working on a neat accessory: the SoundJaw, a new device designed to boost the power of the sound coming from your iPad.
For some strange reason, people love to trash their iPads. We’ve already shown people smashing them with bats, setting them on fire, blending them, shooting them, using them as a skateboard, running over them with a truck, and blasting them.
If you’re still looking for a cheap iPad 2 case that doubles as a stand, ChiTek currently offers the iPad 2 Acase EZ-Carry Ultra Slim Case with Cover for $16, with $4.50 for shipping – a $14 discount when compared to the lowest total price we could find.
The EZ-Carry Ultra Slim Case will protect your device (from dust, scratches, oil, fingerprint, and small impacts), and also works as a two ways stand. The case is light-weight, and features all the necessary cut-outs for the various ports and buttons available on the iPad 2.
Over the last couple of months, a team of researchers based in France has been working on an innovative glasses-free technology to bring three-dimensional effects to the iPhone and the iPad. The technology uses head tracking mechanisms to calculate what the picture on the device’s display should look like, based on the location of the user’s head.
As a result, both iPad and iPhone are able to offer 3D, without the need of a special screen, or glasses.
If you’re still in the market for a case that doubles as a stand for your brand new iPad 2, you might want to add the Lounge Case from incase to your list of potential candidates.
The Lounge is a hardshell case with a soft padded back, to protect your device. The back doubles as a stand that can be shaped to adapt to any situation. No need to fold, open, or secure any tabs or flaps, the padded back is designed to let you easily adjust the iPad 2 to the viewing or working angle of your liking.
Earlier today, an explosion destroyed parts of an iPad manufacturing plant in Chengdu, China. The plant, owned by Foxconn, is a polishing plant designed to clean iPads once assembled, before being packaged to be shipped across the globe.
Alas, two employees were killed, and several others were injured. While the root cause of the explosion is unknown at this stage, production at the plant has been halted for an indefinite time period.
Earlier this year, Hugh Hefner, founder of the magazine Playboy, made a lot of noise by announcing that the March issue of the iPad version of his magazine would come uncensored, a first for an iOS app – so far, like with every apps in the App Store, the content within the Playboy iPad app was restricted.
As it turns out, the app was released as a webapp optimized for the iPad, and not a full blown iPad app, to get around the restrictions imposed by the App Store.
Fans of the Final Fantasy game series, rejoice, as Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions is finally coming to the iPad. While the iPhone version of the game was announced a while back at E3 2010, Square-Enix never officially communicated on the availability of the iPad version, and its release date, until yesterday.
Via its Facebook page, Square-Enix confirmed that the iPhone version of the game will be available around June-July 2011, and that the game should be released on the iPad shortly afterwards.
As reported by PadGadget earlier this week, Apple retail stores will be shrouded in black during the overnight hours from Saturday May 21st into early Sunday May 22nd.
While the reasons behind the temporary shutdown are still unclear at this stage, it would appear that Apple is about to launch a new concept for its retail stores, with employees now using iPads running a custom app named RetailMe, to record and finalize transactions without having to use traditional registers.
Late last week, several independent iOS developers woke up to a bad surprise, as a company named Lodsys threatened to sue them over the use of in-app purchasing mechanisms, which are supposedly covered by patents owned by the company. Earlier today, another wave of legal notices from Lodsys hit several indie iOS developers, including development shops such as Iconfactory, which is behind the Twitterrific app.
While Lodsys claims that its request is valid, Apple’s legal department finally decided to investigate the issue, as after all, if iOS devs start to pony up to be able to legally use Apple’s in-app purchases mechanisms, it would most likely mean the end of it.
Deal800.com is currently offering smart covers for the iPad 2 in blue, green, or pink for $20.99 with free shipping, thanks to coupon code “IPAD2COVERDEAL2″ – a $19 price drop when compared to the Apple’s own smart covers, which retail for $39 a piece.
The online store also offers a two folded black smart cover for $18.99, using the same coupon code, and $17.99 each, if you buy more than one.
[via dealmac]
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