Apple may replace your broken iPad 4 for a brand new iPad Air 2

The iPad 4 is way past its warranty date, but should you need to have it serviced, you may end up receiving a brand new iPad Air 2.

Apple launches new (cheaper) iPad, red iPhones and double the iPhone SE's storage

We all knew new iPads were coming, but Apple took this opportunity to simplify it's entire iPad line and make it even cheaper; while at the same time giving us (RED) iPhones and doubling the SE storage.

iOS 10 will abandon 40% of the iPads on the market

Apple is often used as a (good) example when it comes to supporting older devices, but with the transition from iOS9 to iOS10 the conditions are met to create a "perfect storm" that might leave behind nearly half of the iPads on the market.

Magick Play let's you play with wooden blocks on the iPad

Do you recall the magical Magik Blocks from Magikbee, a portuguese project that wants to combine the traditional wooden blocks with tablets, for enhanced playing? Well, it has just arrived on Indiegogo.

How to reduce screen brightness to less than minimum on the iPhone and iPad

Having a hard time falling asleep after using your iPhone or iPad to read on the bed (or just before)? You might have its screens to blame, as the brightness - even at its lowest setting - can have adverse effects on your circadian cycles. But thankfully, there way to reduce the screen brightnesse even further, and it doesn't involve wearing sunglasses at night.

Magik Blocks let's you play with wooden blocks on the iPad

If you thinks are missing the physical aspect when they're playing with tablets, you're right - and Magic Blocks is here to help, combining tablet play with the trusted good old wood blocks.

Apple unveils new iPad Pro, Apple TV and iPhone 6S

Apple had promised one of its biggest events ever, and it certainly delivered, with everything that had been rumored in the past weeks coming to light: the iPad Pro, the new Apple TV, and of course... the iPhone 6S.

What will Apple reveal at today's event?

We're just a few hours away from Apple's event; time to take a step back and consider what we're likely to see today. More precisely, will Apple really show everything that's being rumored over the last few weeks?

Duet Display can now turn an iPad into a secondary screen for Windows computers

We've talke about Duet Display before, being one "must-have" app for any Mac user wishing to use their iPads as a secondary screen for their Macs. Now, Duet Display can finally do the same for Windows computers as well.

Osmo Masterpiece teaches you how to draw

After its mixed-reality games, Osmo is now venturing into the drawing area with a new app that wants to let you draw some masterpieces - relying on the same iPad stand and camera adapter that lets you mix the real world and the digital realm.

Apple unveils the new iPads, iMac Retina and Mac mini

Apple has unveiled their new iPads, iMac Retina 5K and new Mac Mini - in an event where the new OS X Yosemite was also launched (now available to all), and iOS 8.1 (coming next monday), with Apple Pay and Continuity working as expected. But let's start with the iPad.

iOS8 to have side-by-side multitasking apps?

iOS might have been the precursor of the current mobile generation, but ever since it's inception it has been criticized for lacking features we could find in other platforms. We all like simple things... but invariably we come across things that make us want more and more. Just you try and copy-paste a few dozen fields of data from an email to an app, or between two apps, and you'll see just how ineffective iOS full-screen apps are. Thankfully, it seems Apple is working on it.

According to rumors iOS8 will have side-by-side multitasking apps, mimicking what you can do on Windows devices and some Androids as well (though in Android you can also have floating apps you can freely move around at will).

Sure, just because it's there it doesn't mean you have to use it: but it sure is nice to have it should you someday have to do something like that "copy-past" thing between two apps, and know that you can do it in just a few seconds without having to fiddle back and forth with multi-finger app switching (or even worse, double clicking the home button). The most important thing - I think - is to make these features available in a way that people will know how to use them without feeling completely lost; nor having to "read the manual". If that's the case... then will soon have tablets that instead of being the "simple computers" unlike the ones we had in our desks, will be just like the scary computers of the old days no one dared to touch.

The Card Table turns your iPad into a virtual card table and deck

Card games are still one of the most popular and fun way to spend some time with friends. Now that smartphones and tablets have become common, there are countless card game apps you can use: poker, hearts, etc... but sometimes you want to play a card game that has no app. Well, you're in luck; The Card Table is an app that doesn't enforce any kind of rules. It simply provides a card deck that players can use to play whatever they want, just like they would do with a physical deck.

Your iPad becomes the card table, and you can have up to four iPhones acting as the "hands". The app allows you to easily transfer cards back and forth, and there is no limit to what kind of card games you'll be able to play. Something that reminds us just how much there's still to be done when it comes to multi-device game interaction.

Sure, it would be best if this Card Table allowed for Android and iOS interaction (right now, it's iOS only), but it's a start. Let's hope that in the future we'll see many more apps taking advantage of this type of multiplayer/multidevice interaction. For now, you can find The Card Table in the app store (for free).

Opera Coast browser for iPad and iPad mini

There's still a lot to be done when it comes to apps taking full advantage of tablet devices. If you have an iPad or iPad mini, then you're in luck. Opera has just launched its new Opera Coast browser. A browser that has turned to iOS itself for inspiration and that makes browsing a lot closer to using any iOS app.

When you launch Coast, you'll face a screen that closely mimics any iOS home screen: a clean page with several web page icons (that you can rearrange just like you would on your iOS main screen). When you open on any site you get a full-screen browsing experience - once again akin to opening up any app. These similarities are no accident. Opera's intention is precisely to present you the web just as if it were an extension of your native apps... and the result is rather good.

Now, I just wish they won't take long to bring an Android version of this Opera Coast, because Android is desperately in need of good tablet apps - and such an app would arrive at the best possible moment, with millions flocking around the new Nexus 7. And unlike the iOS version, in Android Opera is free to use the HTML/javascript/rendering engine they want instead of being forced to use Safari. Can't wait to try it out.

eTeleporter allows eye contact calls on Facetime

It's kind of sad to see that, with so much technology available, there are still so many tiny things that are completely disregarded - but that could do wonders for us. For instance, how do you feel about videocalls? We can now do Facetime, Skype, Hangouts, videocalls from anywhere around the world... but do you feel there's still something missing? Indeed you're right. As the camera and screen are in different places, videocalls become a interaction between two people that seem to be looking at... somewhere else. Not exactly the thing you'd expect when talking to someone. This eTeleporter hopes to change that, allowing eye-contact on videocalls, and is counting on Kickstarter to make it happen.

The eTeleporter uses a clever mirror system (using a two-way mirror) to project the video image while allowing the camera behind to record your face looking directly at the image. The result is that you can actually look at the person you're talking to and be recorded as doing so.

The only drawback is that its designed to work solely with the iPad and it costs $99 (or $85 if you're fast enough to get one of the first units). But if you spend most of your time doing FaceTime calls during the day and use an iPad to do it... it may not be such a bad deal after all (though for best effect you'd also want the person on the receiving end to have an eTeleporter as well.)

iPad Status Board App

Ever wished to turn your iPad into a fully customized status board showing all kinds of info? Now you can, thanks to the Status Board App. Sure you could try and code yourself some fancy dynamic HTML5 web page, host it somewhere, and use you iPad browser to display it. But why go through all that trouble (in case you do know what you're doing) when you can do it in a much simpler drag-and-drop fashion - but still retaining full control of advanced customizations should you chose to do so?

Using this app you can easily chose the built-in panels to show data from your calendar, tweets, e-mail, weather, news, and more. You can also use the pro panels, where you have components like Graph and Table, which you can customize and display data from JSON, CSV, and HTML data - or even design your own components in HTML

When you have everything in place, you can easily share your dashboard with others, or display it in an external display via HDMI or AirPlay ( formatted specifically for HDTV's so you don't get letterboxing).

[Status Board at the App Store]

Apples Doubles Up iPad to 128GB

Coincidence or not, nearly on the third anniversary of iPad's unveiling, there's a new iPad coming to town. But you might be disappointed id you think it's a revamped model with new design. In fact, it's exactly the same as the existing iPads... the only difference being it now offers twice the amount of memory of the existing iPads: 128GB of storage space inside).

If you're the kind of user that is constantly shuffling apps and content around on your iPad, you'll certainly love the chance to carry double the stuff you already do: be it high-def videos, entire photo albums portfolios, or gigabytes of your music collection: all without requiring a wireless internet connection. The new iPad will arrive promptly and will cost $799 (WiFi) and $929 (WiFi + Celular).


Some people - myself included - find it surprising for Apple to launch such a model in an off-cycle moment. But that leads me to believe that Apple will use this extraneous event to delay the launch of a complete new iPad to later in the year. Maybe even join up the new iPhone and new iPad events - particular now that "new features" are hard to come, and people start feeling every new iPhone/iPad is just "yet another faster iDevice with nothing else to show".

As for that new iPad, one can expect it will use some of iPad mini teachings, with narrower bezels and even slimmer body - while for the new iPhone 5S one can expect an upgraded CPU, and 13MP camera). More enticing might be the chance to get an iPad mini with Retina display... or finding out if Apple does indeed plan to launch a low-cost iPhone/iPad for the emerging markets to make it harder on the Android tablet and smartphone domination.

Tablets Battery Life

If there's anything that may stand out when we use tablets, is that their larger batteries make it last and last, longer than our smartphones than can barely go a day (or two) without requiring recharging.

Now, some of the most popular tablets were put to the test and we can see just how long they can really last.

When it comes to 10" tablets, we find the iPad retina to be well ahead of the pack, with an impressive 811 minutes while browsing the web over WiFi. In second place we find the older iPad 2 (with 590 minutes), and only then do we find the Android Tablets, like the Xperia S, Galaxy Tab 2 and Google's own Nexus 10 (which trails the Surface RT from Microsoft). In the worst spot we find Asus's Transformer Prime (but it could fare better should you choose to dock it to the keyboard, with its secondary battery).

Impressive to see the difference we have from the Nexus 10 (488 minutes) to the iPad 3/4 (811 minutes)!

As for the 7", things are similar. Apple's iPad mini leads the pack with 783minutes, and the second is Amazon's Kindle Fire HD (591 minutes), followed by the Nexus 7 (550 minutes).

With this in mind, how much do you value battery life when it's time to decide wich tablet to buy? Would the longer iPad battery-life diret you to chose an Apple device over an Android? Or do you think even the average battery life is now "more than enough" for you to not to take it so seriously?

New Gmail App for iOS - What a Waste... of Space

After the recent Gmail App for Android update (sadly just for Androids 4.0+), it's time for a complete revamp of the Gmail iOS App.

There's a lot of changes, with a new look, new animations, and - perhaps best of all - support for multiple accounts (limited to 5 - who knows why!). You can now accept or decline Google Calendar and G+ invites without leaving the App, as well as "+1" and reply to G+ posts from the app itself.

However... not everything is an improvement - as this App follows the annoying trend of white spacing everything, meaning you now get less actual content. Precisely the opposite of what you'd expect!

Let's compare the old Gmail for iOS with the new Gmail:

For starters, where you could before see 8 messages at a glace, you can now only see 6.

And there's also an annoying change that I just can't believe why it was made: in the previous version the search function was always at hand, on the top menu bar. Now, it has moved to a line beneath it - that not only wastes space that could/should be user for showing content - but that also scrolls out of sight when you flick down. Meaning... if you're two or three screens down (trying to find a message) and decide you want to use the search function, you need to scroll back to the top in order to be able to use it.

I really can't think how the mobile Gmail team can do this kind of "improvements" without realizing it's making it worse. Don't they actually try these things out before pushing it out to the world?

(For reference, that's on an iPhone 5 screen - you can imagine that in the majority of iPhones out there, with the shorter screens, you'll be seeing even less emails.)

Flying iPads in Wal-mart in Kentucky

If you're to buying stuff online, you've probably already received a package in less than ideal conditions - making you wonder just what kind of "abuse" those packages withstand during its journey. But, one thing is accidental and unintended damage... another is doing it on purpose. Things like some employees on a Kentucky wal-mart decided it would be fun doing - and recording it on video - throwing iPads through the air, and event throwing them to the ground on purpose.

Sure, stupidity is not confined to a single store, or state, or even country. But it serves to show you what kind of stuff can happen "behind the scenes". So, if you're the kind of person that doesn't by online and prefer to grab hardware from a local store because you can get it yourself... now you know it may not mean that much, if the store has these kind of staff in there.

At least in this case, at least four employees involved in this incident have been fired - which will know (hopefully) allow some more considerate ones to get their jobs.