iPad

From the latest news to the most comprehensive tutorials, learn how to get the most out of your iPad with our step-by-step guides and expert tips.

IMDb iPad app updated with new features and look

Great news movie buffs. Popular online film database IMDb has just released a major update to its iPad app, bringing some new features and an all-new design to the tablet software.

You can still use the app to research your favorite actors, watch movie trailers, or look up your favorite TV and film trivia, but version 3.0 lets you do it all in style...

Popular Rockmelt social browser now available for the iPhone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaKQP-TuCgg

Rockmelt social browser has been available on the iPad for nearly two months now and today the team refreshed the app, adding the all-new iPhone and iPod touch experience. Rockmelt version 2.1 is available now as a universal binary supporting all form factor iOS devices natively. On the iPhone, the program boasts a design “optimized for the thumb alone" (they must have watched Apple's iPhone commercials) while offering the familiar feature set.

You'll still enjoy a Pinterest-like streaming interface with scrollable tiles and navigate your way around the app via gestures. As a bonus, the app keeps all your Rockmelt copies across different devices in sync, just like Google's Chrome browser does...

Google Play grows, App Store still cash king

What's better: to be taller or wealthier? Carry that debate to Apple versus Google and you have the latest on the battle between Apple's App Store and Google Play. While Google's revenue is growing, Apple's application store for iOS devices simply overwhelms the Mountain View, California firm in terms of cash, even if there's another, much darker side to app economy.

During the last four months, Google Play's combined daily revenue grew at 43 percent compared to the App Store's 21 percent, according to research firm Distimo. However, over the entire year, App Store revenue rose by 51 percent.

But wait, there's more. In November, the App Store rang up $15 million in average daily revenue. That compares to $3.5 million for Google Play during the same time...

NIBIQÜ: a Surface-like keyboard case for your iPad

Despite lackluster sales, Microsoft's new Surface has been praised for its innovations. Windows 8 RT certainly doesn't look like anything else on the market right now, and the tablet's ultra-slim Touch Cover keyboard is an interesting concept.

In fact, a lot of folks are asking if there is something similar available for the iPad. There are, actually several keyboard covers that are compatible with Apple's tablet, but none of them come closer to the Touch Cover than the NIBIQÜ...

Tumblr app finally updated with iPad support

Good news today for all of you Tumblr users. The popular microblogging platform has finally updated its iOS app to work natively on the iPad. Previously, if you wanted to access your Tumblr blog, or view the work of others, from your tablet, you either had to use the website, a third-party application, or the official iOS app in 2X mode. But not anymore...

Apple said to be moving up next-gen iPad mini production

Folks who skipped out on the first version of the iPad mini will be happy to hear that they may not have to wait a whole 12 months for the second generation of the tablet to appear. According to a new report today, component-makers for the next-gen mini are preparing for an earlier-than-expected launch...

You can now download App Store apps without leaving Facebook

Remember the App Center, a cross-platform application store Facebook launched ahead of its rebuilt iOS app? Hosted and curated by Facebook, the App Center is available as a link in the main menu of their iOS client, listing Facebook-enhanced apps and games that can be found on the App Store. Previously, tapping an entry yanked you out of the Facebook app and into the App Store.

That's no longer the case as it is now possible to install App Store software from a pop-up inside the Facebook app, which is an iOS 6 SDK feature available to all third-party developers who wish to implement it...

Microsoft’s post-PC trouble: capturing the profits of bygone days

Before PC demand dwindled, software giant Microsoft was happy with licensing its Windows software to computer makers. Now that we are taking the first steps into the post-PC era, the Redmond firm still wants its profit. But how do you charge a $50 per-tablet royalty fee when the device itself costs $199?

Enter the $499 Surface, says one independent analyst. While Google's Nexus 7 and Amazon's Kindle Fire both sell for $199, the Surface carries the much higher price tag because Microsoft stubbornly refuses to give up the 30 percent profit margin it's accustomed to receiving for Windows and Office software licenses...

Pegatron grabs the majority of iPad orders for the next three years

Always keen on never putting all its eggs in one basket, Apple has been trying to mitigate risk by sourcing components from multiple suppliers. The same goes for product assembly. Though the firm traditionally outsources manufacturing to Foxconn, the world's largest product assembler, Taipei, Taiwan-based Pegatron Technology has been rising increasingly as Apple's other manufacturing partner. According to a report from an Asian trade publication, Pegatron will now get to build the majority of iPad orders for the next three years...

Rovio launches Christmas song, adds 24 levels and new power-ups to Angry Birds Rio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwd99PfFwpw

Curl up with some hot cocoa and a holiday song from Finnish mobile games developer Rovio. The team has just updated Angry Birds Rio, its marketing tie-in with the 20th Century Fox animated film Rio. The fresh content pack brings 24 new levels and power ups, including a "special delivery" TNT Drop, Samba Burst, Sling Scope laser targeting and Super Seeds to supersize your birds.

There are twenty free power ups in total to boot from, with an additional power up added each day. Plus, you can collect stars to unlock eighteen special Star levels and earn feathers to unlock six Mighty Eagle levels. Rovio also created an Angry Birds-themed holiday song titled “Fly Me Home Tonight” in honor of the festive season...

8 out of 10 iPad owners plan to stick with Apple

In the latest round of 'is the iPad mini a cannibal?' we go to Morgan Stanley's Katy Huberty, who told investors the concern is "overblown." Huberty says nearly half of the 7.9-inch tablets are bought by new customers. While the Morgan Stanley AlphaWise survey also found slightly fewer purchases of the iPad mini are by new tablet owners - suggesting the small tablet is taking a bite out of larger iPad sales - the risk is "manageable", the analyst said...

The Rokstand: a quality stand with attitude [giveaway and review]

iPhone stands are a dime a dozen. Like iPhone cases, there are millions of iPhone stands, small and large, powered and passive, plastic and metal, cheap and expensive. However, when pulling the Rokform Rokstand out of the package, I knew this stand was unlike any other stand I had ever seen or felt, for that matter. Quite simply, it is a machine, and a very elegant one at that. It owns your desktop. Just looking at it, I feel it glaring back at me. To get the full scoop, Rokform sent over a stand for review and offered to give one away to a reader in our contest below...