Whether you’ve just switched from an iPhone to an Android phone or own multiple devices, you may feel frustrated to own iPod and iPhone audio accessories (alarm clocks, audio docks, car stereo, etc…) which you can’t use with your brand new Android, Blackberry or Windows Phone 7 device. Although it doesn’t seem to work with every accessory (ex my Parrot Zikmu by Stark), here is a quick and illustrated step-by-step guide to make your own 30-pin iPod connector to audio jack and micro USB charger adapter. If a little bit of soldering doesn’t freak you out, you may continue reading… Read more…
Ever since I got my first iPad in April 2009, I have been obsessed with finding the ultimate keyboard solution to turn it into a versatile notebook. I even shared my own DIY solution but have to admit that I actually never used it as it couldn’t really hold your iPad upright. Apple’s very own keyboard dock could only operate in portrait mode and was clearly not portable enough. Until very recently, the best alternatives were the Origami case combined with Apple bluetooth keyboard, Zagg’s keyboard case (acquired by Logitech) and the Logitech Tablet Keyboard. I have bought all three but never truly adopted them. None of these met the portability and stability required to turn your iPad into a sleek notebook you’d actually want to use. Well, it seems that Logitech’s 3rd attempt – the Ultrathin Keyboard Cover – might be the right one. They seem to have finally come up with the ultimate keyboard for your iPad.
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The official release of Mac OS X Lion (10.7) is just around the corner (AppleInsider reports that it might be launched tomorrow Wednesday together with the new Macbook Air) and I thought I’d share three very quick tips that could help you get around Apple’s new system once you’ll hit the “buy” button on the Mac App Store.
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In just 24 hours, Steve Jobs will be opening the 2011 edition of Apple’s yearly developer conference (WWDC) which will focus on:
- Lion: the new version of Mac OS X (10.7), Apple’s desktop/laptop operating system (OS);
- iOS 5: the 5th major edition of Apple’s mobile OS (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad);
- iCloud: Apple’s 3rd attempt to crack online services and cloud computing (after Mac.com and MobileMe), as well as, should the rumours be correct, a new online music service.
As much as I love Apple’s products and my iPhone(s) (I believe I’ve owned them all since the very first one in 2007), I have recently surprised myself using Android devices as my everyday phone (my two favorite ones are the Nexus S and the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc). Two main reasons:
- I never got used to the edgy and squarish design of the iPhone 4 (I miss the curved line of the 3G/3GS)
- I got bored of using the very same user interface for 4 years.
I therefore have very high expectations of tomorrow’s keynote, hoping that iOS 5 will finally feature some key functionalities which I believe have been missing. Make sure to read further to discover which ones. Read more…
Update: editing this post with the WordPress iPad app completely screwed up the HTML code in it (images and links). Proof that a real netbook still does the work better!
Since the iPad was released last year and despite its huge success (10-15 millions have been sold in 2010), there has been lots of discussions with regards to using the iPad as a work/productivity tool. It certainly rocks as a family and traveling entertainement device (music, web, movies, games, etc…) but it seems to lack a few things to act as your perfect work companion. If multi-tasking (introduced with the latest 4.2 iOS update) has helped, here is another way to bring that iPad closer to your business need: a keyboard. Read more to see how I have attached one to the slim Apple iPad case.
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Steve Jobs just revealed the long awaited iPhone 4 during the opening keynote of the WWDC 2010 conference. Despite creating no surprises with an external design leaked all over the net for the past few weeks, Apple has once again designed an amazing product, well ahead of its competition: highest screen resolution ever (retina display), thinest body, HD video recording, huge battery life, etc… (check out the iPhone 4 product video on the Apple website).
Apple may have failed (intentionally or not) to protect the secrecy around this iPhone 4 (lost/stolen in a Silicon Valley’s pub and disclosed in Vietnam), they remain nevertheless famous for religiously keeping their products from being disclosed before Steve Jobs himself gets a chance to reveal them to the world with his very own set of “amazing”, “great” and “fantastic” superlative adjectives.
Such secrecy around Apple’s truly amazing products contributes to creating huge expectations and rumours about the next big launch. Now that the iPhone 4 is here, we surely should expect geeks and techies of the world to start blogging about what they expect or believe the next iPhone (and iPad) will be made of.
As far as I am concerned, I honestly believe that this iPhone 4 doesn’t leave much space for an iPhone 5 and I can hardly come up with innovative features that next year’s iPhone could bring (Apple has been releasing a new iPhone every year since the initial 2007 launch). But there again, we can probably count on the Cupertino’s gang to surprise us.
We could however easily expect the next iPad (there will be an iPad revision 2 one day) to bring:
- High resolution retina display
- Front camera and FaceTime video calling
- iMovie for HD video editing
- iOS 4 (with groups, multitasking, etc…)
What’s your take ? Let us know what you either wish or think (or know?) the next iPad (revision 2) and iPhone (revision 5) might bring.
