Mac iPad Forum News

Hello, and welcome to the new look of MaciPadForum.com. Sorry there has been a lack of updates recently, but we have been hard at work. We have upgraded the forum to the latest version, which normally is a 1 hour project. Unfortunately it took us over three days, we had issues with compatibility of our current MySQL, after some tense moments we had it up and running.

On top of that we have been working hard at getting the new skin working. As you can see its up and running. There are going to be some broken links at this time, such as the Gallery and Videos. I will remove them over the weekend. As it stands it will work like you are all used to. Any issues you have please PM us and let us know.

The other thing we have added is access to a mobile phone app called tapatalk. There are two versions of the software for your phone one is free and the other is $2.99. There are over 3000 forums on this service. What it does is allows you to browse the forum with a nice interface (no more pinch zooming). I suggest you try out the free version, as it does make accessing our site on your phone a much better experience.

Hope you enjoy the new features. Again let us know if there are any issues.

Tmart

In a previous article MaciPadForum mentioned how to jailbreak the iPad. Some people think "Great I have jail broken iPad...now what?" So here are some advantages (Special Aps) of having a jailbrocken iPad.



Backgrounder lets you mulitask

This would have to be the number one reason for iPad owners resorting to jailbreak their tablet. Backgrounder corrects one of the biggest problems with the iPad, multitasking. After all, who doesn't like to listen to web radio in the morning while sipping a java and browsing through the news via the NY Times app.

vlc4iPhone plays all video formats

This app was originally developed for the iPhone and has a few bugs that need to be worked out before its a full fledged iPad app, however it still gets the job done. What the VLC4iPhone app basically allows is for you to play just about any video format on the iPad. Using SSH (another benefit if you jailbreak your iPad), you can transfer videos over to your iPad and use the VLC player to view it.

Activator allows you to create new gestures

This app comes along with Backgrounder and for obvious reasons. It allows you to utilize custom fonts in the iPad which is extremely useful if you're a big fan of the Kindle Store. Furthermore, it lets you assign gestures for various tasks. My favorite was getting the web radio to launch everytime I shook the iPad.

MyWi lets you tether your iPad to share internet access

This is a paid app for iPad that enables tethering. What this means is that you will be able to setup a local WiFi network for other devices to connect to. This is similar to setting up a mobile hotspot. The app is also available for a free trial basis in case you wish to give it a go before shelling out the cash.

Wi-Fi Sync lets you sync to iTunes wirelessly

This is another paid iPad app however with good reason. Unlike other iPad apps, this one in particular was destined for the iTunes app store but was rejected by Apple for security reasons. What this iPad app allows is for you to sync your iPad with iTunes over WiFi. This pretty useful if you own an iPhone or iPod Touch and usually find the USB cable occupied by these other Apple products.

Categories

Categories is the last reason to jailbreak your iPad one on our list. We decided to include this in because if you're still reading this list we are going to assume you have plans to jailbreak your iPad and before long it will be bombarded with more apps than you can count. With 'Categories', you can organize the iPad apps you downloaded from Cydia, Rock and the iTunes app store into neat folders.

mevsme

[Source ozcarguide]

With the success of Apple's iPad the other personal computer makers are jumping into this hot new market. The tablet frenzy began in January with a furry of announcements from computer makers. Apple's iPad was the subject of heavy rumors long before its formal announcement Jan. 27. Other PC makers, like Hewlett-Packard Co, Dell Inc, and Lenovo Group Ltd, tried to pre-empt that news with the announcement of their own upcoming tablet devices at the Consumer Electronics Show a few weeks earlier. The only thing is where are all these other tablet devices? I think the PC makers foresee that the tablet business will eat away at the PC market, so perhaps they are waiting until the Apple iPad hype is over before they officially launch. Do you know of a tablet device that could potentially be a "iPad Killer"?

mevsme

Source The Wall Street Journal

As many Canadians await the release of Apple's iPad, controversy has swirled about Rogers data plan. I have talked to a few Canadians and they were quoted as saying "We are tired of being screwed by Rogers" for many Rogers customers who are already paying for wireless data, the added charge is seen as just too much. Their anger has only been fuelled by an aborted offer listed on Apple's website for users to add the iPad to their existing Rogers data plan for $20. A Rogers representative said the reference was an error and it was being removed.

Rogers announced two plans, one at $15 a month for 250 megabytes of data and one at $35 a month for five gigabytes of data. No contracts are required and the prices include access to Rogers' WiFi hot spots. There is no word on pricing from the competition, Bell and Telus.

Source

mevsme

Rogers has released their data plans for the iPad. The Rogers site has not displayed the information. I was able to find the prices when looking at the pre-order section of the Apple Canada site. Plans are as follows:

$15 for 250MB a month,
$35 for 5 Gig a month,
or
an Extra $20 to share your current data plan with your iPad.

There is no mention if a contract is required or if Rogers is going to offer these plans in the Pay as you Go format. Also if you order they 3G model the microsim required is offered through the Apple site for an extra 20 cents

For those of you with a good data plan for their iPhones, please read mevsme article about MyWi. It may be the best option, find it Here. And will save your $20 a month!!

Khameleon21

Edit: Rogers is not going to have the $20 add-on to existing data plans. Stating it was an error.

Today Apple has released Canadian iPad pricing and International release dates for the iPad. The following countries will get the iPad on Friday May 28th: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.

The countries with a July release date are: Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore



TIP - The pre-order date is May 10th so if you order online it puts you in the short line on May 28th, ahead of everyone who camped out overnight



mevsme
Source [iPadinCanada]

I will explain how to turn your iPhone into a Wi-Fi hotspot using an app called MyWi. The My-Wi app allows your iPhone's 3G data connection to be shared with other computers (most importantly your iPad) essentially your iPhone will look like a regular Wi-Fi hotspot to your iPad or computer.

Step 1) Jailbreak your iPhone - This can be a simple process with Spirit This allows for the installation of unapproved 3rd-party applications and voids the warranty on your phone. if you are uncomfortable with this don't do it

Step 2) You now have Cydia and within that app you will need to search for MyWi and install to your iPhone, once installed you will notice you have MyWi and a second app called Rock.

Step 3) Launch your Rock app and create a Rock ID, Rock Pass and then purchase a MyWi license for $9.99

Step 4) Launch WiFi and turn on the WiFi Tethering, then you will see your WiFi Name available as a Wi-Fi hotspot on your iPad or computer.

Some Features of MyWi

- Create WiFi Hotspot, connect laptops or mobile devices that share iPhone's internet connection
- 40 bit and 104 bit WEP Security to prevent others from accessing your WiFi HotSpot
- Ability to enable USB and Bluetooth Tethering on your iPhone as well
- Uses less battery and much faster then PdaNet due to native routing
- Shows up and down bandwith usage.

I had my MacBook and iPad running of my iPhone's 3G connection and browsing was very smooth.

mevsme

After owning my iPad for a month now, I have integrated it into every aspect of my life. With a million in sales in only 28 days, you can see that Apple once again has created a whole new market.



Today Apple announced that it has sold more than a million iPad devices over the internet and in its retail outlets, following the Friday release of the 3G version of the device, which can connect to the internet via cellular data networks in addition to Wi-Fi.

Naysayers who jokingly derided the device as a large iPhone with no phone function have been proven wrong about people not wanting exactly that — a testament to the powerful allure of these devices, which sit in a new category of computing somewhere between the smartphone and the netbook.

“One million iPads in 28 days — that’s less than half of the 74 days it took to achieve this milestone with iPhone,” said Apple CEO Steve Jobs. “Demand continues to exceed supply,” he claimed, “and we’re working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more customers.”

This 28-day figure doesn’t seem quite as impressive if you correlate the 3G iPad to the iPhone, and the Wi-Fi-only iPad to the Wi-Fi-only iPod Touch, because the iPhone and iPod Touch reached the combined 1 million mark about as fast as the iPads did. In addition, Apple said it shipped 500,000 units of the Wi-Fi-only iPad within the first week, so sales have slowed since then, relatively speaking, even with Friday’s introduction of the 3G model.

Regardless, this announcement marks a big vote of confidence by consumers. Nearly one out of every 300 Americans already owns one of these devices.

That isn’t just good news for Apple, but also for myriad companies hoping to capitalize on the iPad’s potential for e-books, interactive music, magazines, (non-Flash) video, games and so on. Its fast arrival at this milestone is an early sign that iPad adoption will reach levels where designing custom apps for the platform — and gambling on whether Apple will approve or reject them — makes sense on a business, as well as an aesthetic level.

The iPad might just be a giant iPhone, but size matters when it comes to many potential applications. For instance, who wants to read War and Peace on an iPhone?

So far, Apple says, iPad users have downloaded more than 12 million apps from its App Store and more than 1.5 million e-books from the iBookstore, via Wi-Fi or wireless data connection. In the United States, the latter means using either AT&T’s high-speed 3G network or T-Mobile’s slower 2G network with a trimmed-down SIM card.

mevsme

[Source Wired.com]

Here are a few tips from the guys at Gizmodo, this should improve your iPad experience!




The Soft Reset

The single most common thing people don't realize about the iPhone OS (from my experience) is how to perform a soft reset—which you'll find extremely useful in cases when the system freezes. Just hold the top (power) and bottom front (home) button for a few seconds. Your iPad will restart. To force quit an application, just hold the home button by itself in a similar fashion.

Cut, Copy and Paste for Experts

Copying text is as easy as double tapping a word. But when you want to copy a whole paragraph, like for an address, you have to stretch those annoying little blue knobs...or do you? Tap any editable text four times. You'll highlight the whole paragraph.

Import Your Own (Free) Books

Apple's iBooks app is your portal to reading and buying eBooks on the iPad—and it includes a section with a few free books. But don't forget, just like iTunes and the iPod can import and play music downloaded elsewhere, the iTunes and the iPad can import and display books downloaded elsewhere. Formats are limited, however. The iPad only supports ePub (with or without DRM). Your local library may be a great source for free ePub checkouts. Also, Project Gutenberg has 30,000 free ePub books you can download, all of which have fallen out of copyright. There's lots of good stuff in this collection if you read classics, and the project even has an RSS list for new arrivals. If you want to convert PDFs and other DRM-free formats to ePub, you can use Calibre.

Easy Mute

There you are, in the back row of a funeral just minding your own business when, oops, you forgot to mute those YouTube clips on your iPad! No worries. There's a quick way to cut the speaker. Holding down the volume down button for about two seconds will mute your iPad.

Never Buy a Digital Photo Frame Again

You probably know by now that the iPad doubles as a digital picture frame. You can access this function a few ways, but the easiest way? When you wake the iPad, look to the right of Slide to Unlock. You'll see a flower. Click it. The slideshow will begin after a moment. Toggle the speed in Settings—oh, and while you're at it, turn off "zoom in on faces"—it tends to just grain/muck up your photos.

Take Giant Screenshots

Another oldie but goody that many that many people don't realize you can do in the iPhone OS: screenshot anything you're looking at. And keep in mind, when this happens on the iPad, it's at 768x1024 resolution—making it potentially a lot more useful in the full-sized monitor realm than iPhone screenshots. Push the top (power) and home buttons at once for half a second. The photo will be stored in your photo library.

Super Fast Webpage Scrolling

So you're all the way to the bottom of a blog when you realize that you want to read a story back at the top. Don't do the whole repeatedly drag your finger across the screen thing. That's a horrible method for covering a lot of real estate. Instead: Tap the title bar once. WOOOOSSHHH. You're right back on top of the page. (Making "wooosh" noises doesn't expedite the process, but it does wonders for general effect.)

Preview More Of Your Mail

Did you know that you can set your mail to preview more than two lines? The iPhone has this option, too, but its smaller screen means that it's not so practical. On the iPad, however, I find the feature is pretty handy for skimming several emails without opening them. Go to Settings -> Mail, Contacts and Calendars and select "5 lines" under Preview. Also, while you're at it, you might want to update your Push email from "Manual" if you like to have your messages waiting when you open the Mail app. Of course, this will drain power a bit more quickly. Bring Up the Virtual Keyboard With a Real Keyboard
When you have a Bluetooth keyboard connected to your iPad, the virtual keyboard will cease to appear. (This is a good thing.) However, what if, for some random reason, you needed that virtual keyboard? Don't unpair your Bluetooth. Just...Hit the eject key on Apple's physical keyboard. It'll bring up the virtual one.

Downrez 1080P HD Videos...Or You Can't Watch Them

You may have 1080P videos on your computer, but the iPad can't play them—in fact, iTunes won't even let you copy them to the iPad! The easiest solution? Downrez them to 720P using an app like Handbrake.Joel gives you a full tutorial on that here. You can also stream music and videos to the iPad with StreamToMe.

Put 6 Apps In the Bottom Tray

Just discovered at Gizmodo HQ—the iPhone and iPad default to hold 4 icons/apps in the bottom tray. But the iPad can store more! By clicking and holding on any icon (just as you do to rearrange apps), you'll unlock each app's position. Then just drag any two additional apps into the bottom tray. Super handy.

mevsme

[Source Gizmodo]