It seems that how magazines will be viewed on the iPad is a big topic of conversation these days.  Everyone with the resources to do it is bringing out their version of it in the form of a demo video of a prototype or an animated simulation.  Since the iPad was announced several of these videos have been mentioned on iPad Watcher and just yesterday I posted about the videos that have been released by Viv magazine. Each of the companies to bring out these demos have a different view on how a magazine should be viewed in a device such as the iPad, we can pretty much group them into three categories: 1....

Tonight I had an opportunity to have a chat with Dan Grover, Principal at Wonder Warp Software and author of Etude. For those of you that haven’t seen the application yet, Etude is an elegant and fun way to actually see how music is read and played. It’s an iPhone application that was recently released and that has been well received by those that have looked at it. Dan is now working on creating an iPad version of the application and we discussed that version and his perspectives on adapting the interface of a beautiful iPhone application such as Etude to the iPad.  You can see some...

An article published today on MacRumors informs that Apple has sent an email to users of its iWork.com beta service stating that new features for mobile users have been added to the service.  While the email states that iPhones, iPods and iPads are supported I don’t really imagine that iPhone and iPod users are the main target of this update, with the iPad coming to store shelves next month. *Cover image:...

I’ve got lots of applications in my iPod Touch, just as most everyone else that owns one or an iPhone.   As I contemplate which ones I see as having the potential for a hugely improved experience in the iPad’s much larger display, I started to list the applications that I had to carry over. Five applications stood out head and shoulders above the rest of the pack: 1. Stanza – A great eBook reader for multiple formats and totally free.  Produced by Lexcyle an Amazon company.  I normally carry around some 30 to 40 ebooks on my iPod. Stanza makes it simple to transfer books to the...

Microsoft is supposedly working on a double screen tablet device which will be released later this year. All rumors indicate a late 2010 release date for this device which is not really clear to me yet if is supposed to be a Microsoft branded device such as the Zune or a reference model for OEMs like in the case of it’s UMPC project. Recently a video demoing the concept of the device appeared and prompted many a doom-sayer’s prediction of a still-borne future for the iPad as this device shows some really interesting interface tricks using its dual screens. Well, while some ideas are...

Google has introduced a version of its Google Reader RSS feed reader that is specially designed for tablet computers.  While I imagine that Google isn’t really targeting the iPad specifically, it can’t really be off their minds. The new service is called Google Reader Play and I’ve played around with it a bit today.  It was only a quick once over, but it truly seems like a more interesting interface for people using their fingers on the screen.   The one thing that bothered me a bit was that the suggestions it was presenting me, which were supposed to be based on things I liked in...

Over the past couple of days I have given considerable thought to how an iPad can be of use, other than in the most obvious roles.  Apple hasn’t shown us much of the Notes application other than that it looks like a notepad.  Still, I feel on of the most productive uses of an iPad in a creative role will be as a note taking device. As a device you are likely to be carrying everywhere – which I know I will be doing – as it is lighter than netbooks and much handier with its instant on behavior, you will always be able to start jotting things down, where ever you are.  Think about...

I just ran across the news that my all around favorite note taking application is coming to the iPad, in a specialized version. I use Evernote on my MacBook, my Windows netbook, my Windows notebook and my iPod.  Through a simple online synchronization service offered along with their online application, I get my notes to move with me, to whatever device I happen to be using right now. I’m looking forward to see if they come up with a good interface for the iPad.  I don’t particularly like their current interface either on desktop computers and on the iPod, though the functionality of the...

Numbers released this Friday by Flurry, an analytics firm that provides tracking services for developers of mobile applications, seem to indicate that the iPad may be attracting a lot of attention from those developers.  In January, the number of new projects being tracked was over 1600, compared to about 600 in December. Developers seem to be moving quickly to ensure their applications are released as soon after the iPad as possible.  Early movers may have a decisive advantage in grabbing mindshare with the press and future end...

In chatting with a few people over the past couple of days, I’ve been able to notice something really interesting… Many people that considered developing for the iPhone a curious novelty are seriously considering developing for the iPad. Considering how the iPhone seems to have had a much more enthusiastic reception than the iPad this got me into thinking a lot.  It makes sense, however.  The iPad is much more obviously a computing device than the iPhone was, regardless of the fact that they are running the same OS. Actually it might be even because they are running the same OS, as the...