Posts Tagged ‘iPad’

New creative design tablet apps: Adobe Touch Apps

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

Six new apps for Apple iPads and Android tablets have been announced by Adobe at its MAX 2011 technology conference.

At US$9.99 each, the six apps address different areas of the creative process: image editing; ideation; sketching; mood boards; website and mobile app prototyping; and presenting finished work.

Adobe Touch Apps are essential components of Adobe Creative Cloud, a major new company initiative also announced today. Adobe Creative Cloud will allow subscribers to access desktop and tablet applications, find creative services, and share their work.

Files created via Adobe Touch Apps can be shared, viewed across devices or transferred into Adobe Creative Suite software for further refinement. Adobe Touch Apps are designed to work with both finger and stylus input.

Adobe Touch Apps will be available for Android devices in November 2011. iOS availability will likely be announced only in early 2012, although Adobe Ideas is already available for the iPad.

Access to the file viewing, sharing and transfer functionality of Adobe Creative Cloud is included in the price of each Adobe Touch App. Details regarding pricing of the Adobe Creative Cloud and its expanded capabilities around applications, services and community will be announced in November 2011.

Single Edition of Adobe Digital Publishing Suite for tablets

Monday, October 3rd, 2011

The Single Edition allows freelance designers and small design firms to publish interactive content created with Adobe InDesign CS5.5 software on the Apple iPad for US$395 per application.

Adobe Publishing Suite, Single Edition at US$395 per iPad application.

Adobe Publishing Suite, Single Edition at US$395 per iPad application.

Single Edition allows designers to publish a single-issue application for sale or distribution through the Apple App Store, without writing any code, focusing on creative design.

The Professional Edition of the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite was released in May for publishing houses, business publishers, and education institutions that require an off-the-shelf tablet publishing solution.

Single Edition allows users to publish single-issue content such as a brochure, highly-visual book, annual report or personal design portfolio as an application for the iPad.

The Digital Publishing Suite family which now includes Single Edition is used to publish content beyond traditional magazines and newspapers. These include sales tools, brand and customer engagement materials, merchandising deliverables, employee communications and corporate collateral published to tablets.

Pricing and Availability

Single Edition for iPad is expected to be available for purchase online at the end of November 2011. From InDesign CS5.5, users can publish through Single Edition to the iPad for US$395 per application. Single Edition will support additional tablet platforms later in 2012.

Setting up and using the Seagate GoFlex Home storage system

Monday, September 26th, 2011

GoFlex Home is a consumer network attached storage (NAS) hard drive for the home. Easy to set up and use, it allows the access, sharing, streaming, and backup of files and media for computers, network TVs, media players and game consoles connected to the home wireless network.

The Seagate GoFlex Home comprises a drive dock and a hard drive.

The Seagate GoFlex Home comprises a drive dock and a hard drive.

Secure access can also be opened to computers and iOS/Android tablets and smartphones over the Internet.

Over the weekend, I helped my friend set up an NAS drive for his desktop, netbook, two laptops, iPhone and Android tablet. He had bought the Seagate GoFlex Home 3 TB storage drive during the recent COMEX 2011 but hadn’t had the time to set it up yet.

I helped by using eye-power because he decided to give it a go himself and actually got the thing working in less than 15 minutes. That was the reason why I recommended the drive in the first place, it works with most consumer home Wi-Fi routers with little set-up or configuration needed.

The GoFlex Home comes with two cables and an software installation CD. The following steps were all that was needed to get the personal storage cloud going:

1. Connect the GoFlex Home drive dock to the Wi-Fi router by using the provided Ethernet cable.

2. Pop the GoFlex hard drive into the GoFlex drive dock and plug the power supply into the drive dock and the wall outlet. Switch on the GoFlex Home by pressing the Power button on the drive dock.

3. Pop the CD (or download from Seagate’s website) into the computer (can be a Mac or Windows PC) to install the software needed to access the hard drive. Simply select a language, key in the product information found on the drive, give the drive a name and register it. The name has to be unique globally since it will be used to identify the drive should you access it from the Internet.

4. Install the software on other computers that require access to the shared drive. Up to 5 people/computers on the home network can access the GoFlex Home. By paying to subscribe to the Seagate Share Pro, you get access for an unlimited number of people/computers to the GoFlex Home.

There are three ways to access the drive. One is to use the installed Seagate Dashboard software (on Windows PCs), which allows all features of the drive to be configured and managed. You can add computers and user accounts, backup, access and share files as well.

Use Seagate Dashboard software to configure and manage GoFelx Home

Use Seagate Dashboard software to configure and manage GoFelx Home

The other way is to use a browser-based Seagate Share either for a computer in the home network or out in the Internet.

Seagate GoFlexAccess App

Free iOS/Android app

Both are easy to use with a simple interface, using drag-and-drop or standard dialog boxes we’re familar with.

The third method is via the appropriate free app on a iOS/Android smartphone or tablet, also over the Internet.

The GoFlex Home comes with a USB port which is very useful. You can connect an additional external hard drive to expand the capacity of the original GoFlex hard drive. You can also connect a USB hub for connecting more than one USB device.

In my friend’s case, he connected his printer to the USB port and all his computers on the Wi-Fi network got to share that printer. USB port on the drive dock for a HDD, printer or USB hubNo more plugging/unplugging the old printer from one computer to another.

The included backup software allows up to three connected computers to be automatically backed up to the GoFlex Home. Upgrade to Premium Backup ($49.95) to back up an unlimited Seagate GoFlex Home home network attached storagenumber of computers on the GoFlex Home network. You can upgrade at the Application Store that can be accessed through the Seagate Dashboard software.

For each user account set up on the GoFlex Home, three folders are created – a Public, Personal, and Backup folder. The Public folder holds files that can be stored and accessed by everyone on your home network. The Personal and Backup folders can only be accessed by the the user.

What I like about the sharing is the granular control available for the files shared. You can specify who you want to share files with, choose to share just certain files or entire folders, set passwords, and set expiry dates for the shares. Administration is intuitive and easy to pick up. You can send a URL of a shared file via email.

Stream media to other computers and media players on the network.

Stream media to other computers and media players on the home wireless network.


Music, photos and video can also be shared and streamed to media players, game consoles or network TVs that support UPnP-AV, DLNA or Windows Media Connect. A wide range of file types are supported.

The GoFlex Home is available in 1TB (S$179), 2TB (S$239) and 3TB (S$339) capacities.

Setting up a home shared network hard drive

Sunday, September 25th, 2011

Over time, as we get new computers and leave the old still-functional computer as a second or third machine, and we still utilise the different machines, the files we create and work on can get distributed amidst the hard disk drives of the various computers.

A shared network hard drive can bring order back to an increasingly chaotic situation.

A network attached external hard drive can share files and media amongst computers and media players in the home

A network attached external hard drive can share files and media (illustration modified from www.buffalotech.com)

The above scenario was what happened to some of my friends and me. Computers and laptops today can last for a long time (if you look after them well) and most often then not, they’re still perfectly functionable when we get a new machine so it seems quite a waste to get rid of the old machine, especially since it can serve as a back up.

And if a member of the family is on the new laptop, others can use the spare computer. So over time, working files, photos, music and video can get distributed over a few computers. At first, it’s easy to remember and keep track of which file is in which computer and do the occasional transfer using an USB thumbdrive.

But over time, as the number of files grow, things can get out of hand – the convenience of being able to work on a few computers turns into a bane.

Now that cloud computing is catching on and we can save files and media on the Internet, this mess can be ameliorated. But those personal and confidential files and humongous video files are still best kept in local storage.

The NAS solution

Schematic of an NAS solution

Schematic of an NAS solution

So over the weekend, I helped my friend rig a similar solution that I use at home – set up a simple external hard drive that can be shared and accessed by a few different computers at home over a local Wi-Fi network.

Those files that are stored on the network attached storage (NAS) drive can then remain accessible no matter which computer you’re working on. It can be used to back up the computers connected.

Some NAS drives allow you to stream media to TVs, media players and game consoles connected to the home network.

In fact, some even enable access to be opened out to the Internet, so that when you’re outstation – in the office, on the road, or overseas – you can still securely access the files stored in the hard drive. This can be done via a browser on a laptop connected to the Internet, or via an app on a smartphone or tablet.

It’s like setting up your personal cloud storage. There are many consumer NAS drives in the market from makers such as Seagate, Western Digital and Buffalo.

They’re all designed to be easily set up by the layman who does not have a PhD in computer science. These NAS drives are connected directly to the router rather than a specific computer acting as a file server.

Any computer connected to the network via the router can access the NAS drive at any time.

Because these NAS drives are more intelligent than the regular dumb external hard drive, they do cost a slight premium over the latter. The NAS drives can manage network access by computers on the network and implement security, access and rights control as well.

Seagate GoFlex Home comes in capacities of 1TB, 2TB and 3TB

Seagate GoFlex Home comes in capacities of 1TB, 2TB and 3TB

Since I’m familiar with the Seagate GoFlex Home, that was what I recommended my friend, who brought home a 3 TB version from the recent COMEX 2011 for S$299.

Tomorrow we’ll see how he managed to tame his growing diaspora of media and files.

TomTom navigation app for iPhone optimised for iPad

Tuesday, September 13th, 2011

The new iPad App was showcased at the TomTom exhibition stand during IFA 2011 in Berlin and will be available in Q4 2011.

“… we have optimised our TomTom App for the iPad. Now customers have one App for all iOS devices.” said Corinne Vigreux, Managing Director at TomTom.Customers who already have the iPhone version of the navigation app will be able to download the new version to their iPads for free.

This latest version will feature enhanced screen resolution, sharpened graphics and more intuitive controls specifically developed for the iPad.

Apple suit delays Samsung launch of tablet in Australia

Monday, August 1st, 2011

Samsung has agreed not to sell its latest Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet computer in Australia until Apple’s patent lawsuit against it in Australia  is resolved.

Apple told the Federal Court in Sydney yesterday that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 infringes ten Apple patents, including the “look and feel,” and touchscreen technology of the iPad.

Galaxy Tab 10.1 from SamsungThe Cupertino, California-based company sought an Australian injunction to stop Samsung from selling the tablet in Australia because Samsung has had “announcements of an imminent launch of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 device ongoing since July 20,” Bloomberg quoted Apple’s lawyer, Steven Burley, as saying. It also wants to prevent Samsung from selling the tablet in other countries, although Burley did not name the countries.

Samsung Electronics Co LtdSamsung has agreed to stop advertising the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia and will not sell the device until it wins court approval or the lawsuit is resolved. The accord between lawyers from both companies were reached during a break in the hearing.

If Apple eventually loses its patent infringement lawsuit, it has agreed to pay Samsung unspecified damages.

Apple first sued Samsung in the U.S. claiming that the Galaxy tablets “slavishly” imitated the designs and technologies used for its iPad and iPhone. Samsung retaliated with lawsuits in South Korea, Japan, Germany and the U.S.  The Suwon, South Korea based company  supplies memory chips to Apple.

As part of the agreement submitted in court, Samsung will provide Apple three samples of the Australian version of the tablet computer at least seven days before any plans to launch it in Australia so Apple could review it, according to the agreement submitted in court. This was because Apple’s claim in Australia was based on a U.S. version of the Galaxy tablet, which is different, Neil Murray, the lawyer representing Samsung disclosed.

The Federal Court Justice Annabelle Bennett has scheduled a hearing for August 29 to review the status of the case and set a trial date if necessary.

China sales of iPhone and iPad helps Apple profits beat estimates

Wednesday, July 20th, 2011

Apple’s stock price surged past $400 for the first time, after record sales of iPhones and iPads pushed third-quarter profit beyond estimates. Net income during the period was $7.31 billion ($7.79 per share), which is more than double of last year’s $3.25 billion ($3.51 per share). This was helped by iPhone sales in China, where total revenue jumped sixfold to $3.8 billion.

Apple's Q3 2011 Unaudited Summary DataOverall sales jumped 82 percent to $28.6 billion. Analysts had predicted a profit of $5.87 per share and a revenue of $25 billion. Apple sold 20.3 million iPhones and 9.3 million iPads in the third quarter, which ended June 25. Mac computer sales were 3.95 million

Having overcome supply shortages for the iPad 2 after its March debut, saw sales of the iPad soar, reported Adam Satariano of Bloomberg. The tablet is now Apple’s second-largest source of revenue – behind the iPhone – less than two years after its initial launch.

After the results were released, Apple shares shot up 7.5 percent to $405 in extended trading. The stock is up 17 percent this year.

The report eased investors’ concerns that sales would suffer from the lack of a new iPhone, which isn’t expected until September. The Cupertino, California-based company also has been operating without the day-to-day attention of Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs, who has been on medical leave since January.

“China was very key to our results,” said Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, who has been handling day-to-day leadership at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, since Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs’s medical leave in January.

Apple’s results assuaged worries by investors that sales would suffer because a new iPhone will only be available in September. Its foray into China and other fast-growing economies helped compensate slower growth in the U.S. Sales in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong accounted for $8.8 billion in the first three quarters of the fiscal year, Apple revealed.

The Wall Street Journal has cited unmamed sources familiar with the issue that since Jobs went on leave, some members of Apple’s board have discussed CEO succession with executive recruiters. The talks included at least one head of a high-profile technology company, the Journal added.

The results also substantiated the belief that tablets are cannibalizing sales from traditional personal computers. Apple claims that 86 percent of Fortune 500 companies are testing or deploying the iPad, and disclosed that sales of the tablet beat those of the Mac computer among primary and secondary schools.

Apple previews iOS 5 at WWDC 2011

Tuesday, June 7th, 2011

The new version of iOS for Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iPod touch includes Notification Center, iMessage, Newsstand, Twitter integration among 200 New Features.

iOS 5 for Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod touchAt the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2011 today, Scott Forstall – Apple’s senior vice president of iOS – paraded 10 of the promised 200 new features for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. Although customers will only be receiving the update in autumn, developers will get their version of iOS 5 today.

Main new iOS 5 features

Notification Center, a new way to easily view and manage notifications in one place without interruption.

iMessage, a new messaging service that lets users easily send text messages, photos and videos between all iOS devices.

Newsstand, a new way to purchase and organise a user’s newspaper and magazine subscriptions.

PC Free feature, iOS 5 users can activate and set up their iOS device right out of the box and get software updates over the air with no computer required.

“iOS 5 has some great new features, such as Notification Center, iMessage and Newsstand and we can’t wait to see what our developers do with its 1,500 new APIs,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Perhaps iOS 5’s paramount feature is that it’s built to seamlessly work with iCloud in the Post PC revolution that Apple is leading.”

The details

With iOS 5 and iCloud, you just enter your Apple ID and password and iCloud will seamlessly integrate with your apps to automatically and wirelessly keep all of your mail, contacts, calendars, photos, apps, books, music and more, up-to-date across all your devices without ever having to connect to a computer.

Notification Center in Apple iOS 5Notification Center provides iOS 5 users with an innovative way to easily access all notifications―text messages, missed calls, calendar alerts, app alerts and more, all in one place, from anywhere in iOS 5. When they arrive, notifications appear briefly at the top of the screen without interrupting what you’re doing. With one swipe you can see all your notifications, and a simple tap will take you right to its app for more detail. Notifications also appear on the lock screen, with the ability to be taken to the notifying app with just one swipe. This is similar to the consolidated notification alert bar and window on newer BlackBerry devices like the Torch.

Newsstand in Apple iOS 5Newsstand is an easy-to-organise bookshelf displaying the covers of all your newspaper and magazine subscriptions in one place. A new section of the App Store features just subscription titles, and allows users to quickly find the most popular newspapers and magazines in the world. For subscribed titles, new issues appear in the Newsstand and are updated automatically in the background so you always have the latest issue and the most recent cover art.

Safari gets new features in iOS 5Safari sees new features for the browser in iOS 5. Safari Reader will strip down poorly formatted pages into an RSS-like view, and provides a link that allows you to e-mail the entire text of a story from within Safari. Reading List lets you save articles to read later and they automatically show up on all your iOS devices. Tabbed browsing is now available on the iPad making it easy to flip between multiple web pages on the tablet.

Twitter integration in Apple iOS 5iOS 5 includes built-in Twitter integration, so you can sign in once and then tweet directly from all your Twitter-enabled apps, including Photos, Camera, Safari, YouTube and Maps with a single tap. New APIs give third party developers the ability to take advantage of the single sign-on capability for their own iOS 5 apps.

iMessage in Apple iOS 5iMessage in iOS 5 brings the functionality of iPhone messaging to all of your iOS devices―iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Built right into the Messages app, iMessage allows you to easily send text messages, photos, videos or contact information to a person or a group on other iOS 5 devices over Wi-Fi or 3G. iMessages are automatically pushed to all your iOS 5 devices, making it easy to maintain one conversation across your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. iMessage also features delivery and read receipts, typing indication and secure end-to-end encryption.

The new Reminders app helps you manage your tasks; create and group related tasks together; and set time or location-based reminder alerts, priorities and due dates, so you can be reminded of a task as its deadline approaches, or when you arrive or depart a given location. Reminders can also be viewed in iCal and Outlook and are updated automatically.

New features in the Camera and Photos apps give you instant access to the camera right from the lock screen, and you can use the volume-up button to quickly snap a photo. Optional grid lines help line up your shot and a simple tap locks focus and exposure on one subject. The new Photos app lets you crop, rotate, enhance and remove red-eye, and organise your photos into albums right on your device to share them on the go.

PC Free feature in Apple iOS 5With the new PC Free feature, iOS 5 users can activate and set up their iOS device right out of the box with no computer required, and iOS software updates are delivered over the air and installed with just a tap. Wi-Fi Sync in iOS 5 transfers and backs up your content securely over SSL and wirelessly syncs purchased content from your device to your iTunes library.

Additional new features in iOS 5

Game Center in Apple iOS 5Game Center, now with the ability to add photos to your profile, purchase new games from within the Game Center app and easier ways to find friends and new games.

Mail enhancements which include the ability to compose messages using draggable addresses, and a new formatting bar with bold, italics, underline and indention controls; and

• a system-wide split keyboard to make it even easier to type on your iPad.

Availability

Beta software and SDK for Apple iOS 5The iOS 5 beta software and SDK are available immediately for iOS Developer Program members at developer.apple.com. iOS 5 will be available as a free software update for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, iPad, iPod touch (fourth generation) and iPod touch (third generation) this autumn. Some features may not be available on all products.

Steve Jobs unveils Apple’s new Mac OS, iOS 5 and iCloud at WWDC 2011

Monday, June 6th, 2011

As planned, Steve Jobs – who is currently on a medical leave of absence from Apple – made an appearance to host the WWDC 2011. He unveiled the personally unveiled iCloud and left the briefing on Mac OS X Lion and iOS 5 to his staff.

The 5-day Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2011 is being held at San Francisco.

Steve Jobs put in an appearance at WWDC 2011 to unveil iCloudiCloud

Steve Jobs personally unveiled the much anticipated iCloud services from Apple. The set of free cloud services promises to work seamlessly with applications on the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC to automatically and wirelessly store a user’s content in iCloud and again automatically and wirelessly push it to all of the same user’s devices. When anything changes on any one of the devices, all of the user’s other devices are wirelessly updated almost instantly.

The iCloud beta and Cloud Storage APIs are available immediately to iOS and Mac Developer Program members at developer.apple.com. iCloud will be available this autumn concurrently with iOS 5.

New iCloud services from AppleUsers can sign up for iCloud for free on an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch running iOS 5 or a Mac running Mac OS X Lion with a valid Apple ID. iCloud includes 5GB of free cloud storage for Mail, Document Storage and Backup. Purchased music, apps, books and Photo Stream do not count against the storage limit. iTunes Match will be available for US$24.99 per year (US only).

iOS 5

iOS 5 for Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod touchScott Forstall – Apple’s senior vice president of iOS – paraded 10 of the promised 200 new features for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.

Main new features include: Notification Center, a new way to easily view and manage notifications in one place without interruption; iMessage, a new messaging service that lets users easily send text messages, photos and videos between all iOS devices; Newsstand, a new way to purchase and organise a user’s newspaper and magazine subscriptions; and PC Free feature, where iOS 5 users can activate and set up their iOS device right out of the box and get software updates over the air with no computer required.

iOS 5 beta software and SDK are available nowThe iOS 5 beta software and SDK are available immediately for iOS Developer Program members at developer.apple.com. iOS 5 will be available as a free software update for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, iPad, iPod touch (fourth generation) and iPod touch (third generation) this autumn.

Mac OS X Lion

Mac OS X LionPhilip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, briefed WWDC 2011 attendees on the eighth major release of Apple’s desktop operating system, which features more than 250 new features and 3,000 new developer APIs.

Main new features of the Mac OS X Lion includes: new Multi-Touch gestures; system-wide support for full screen apps; Mission Control, an innovative view of everything running on your Mac; Launchpad, a new home for all your apps; and a completely redesigned Mail app. The Mac App Store will now be built right into the OS.

Mac OS X LionMac OS X Lion will be available in July as an upgrade to Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard from the Mac App Store for US$29.99. At about 4GB, it is the size of an HD movie from the iTunes Store. Mac OS X Lion Server requires Lion and will be available in July from the Mac App Store for US$49.99.

Steve Jobs to unveil Apple’s new Mac OS, iOS 5 and iCloud at WWDC 2011

Saturday, June 4th, 2011

Steve Jobs will make an appearance at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) to unveil Lion – Apple’s eighth major release of Mac OS X. He will also unveil iOS 5, the next iteration of the mobile operating system for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. The much anticipated iCloud – Apple’s upcoming cloud services – will also be revealed.

Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference 2011 (WWDC)The sold-out conference WWDC 2011 will be held from June 6 – 10 at San Francisco’s Moscone West. Apple CEO Steve Jobs and a team of Apple executives will kick off the annual conference with a keynote address on Monday, June 6 at 10 am (PST).

WWDC 2011 will feature more than 100 technical sessions presented by Apple engineers. Mac developers can see and learn how to develop Mac OS X Lion applications using its latest technologies and capabilities. Mobile developers will be able to explore the latest innovations and capabilities of iOS and learn how to enhance the functionality, performance and design of their apps. All developers can bring their code to the labs and work with Apple engineers.