Watchup is a great video news app for the iPad and a recent pick for our Best Free iPad App of the Week. The app received another substantial update yesterday, to Version 1.11.0.

One of the most notable items in this update is the addition of ESPN to the channel list. For sports fans this is very good news – as most of the app’s channels have been more general news up to now. It’s good to see the leading sports network added. Other new channels added in this update include the New York Daily News, This Week in Startups, and local channels from Boston and Portland.

There are also some nice UI changes in this update:

All-new interface:
• Subscribe to up to 20 channels.
• Just turn the app on and your automatic newscast will play continuously.
• Swipe to the next video, just like a magazine.
• While watching, you can now see and manipulate all your queue:...

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The Feedly RSS service has taken a leading role in providing a replacement sync solution for when Google Reader is shutdown on July 1. They are now reaching the final stages of their migration from the Google Reader backend over to their new Feedly Cloud – and yesterday they published some advice for users on how to make sure they’re prepared for the upgrade.

The first and most important step is to make sure you are running Version 16 on all your devices – current versions are 16.0.513 on the desktop, 16.0.1 on iOS, and 16.0.5 on Android. Their guidance is that if you’re unsure of your version number on a mobile device, you should uninstall and reinstall it.

Here’s more of the advice and guidance on the upgrade:

Sync’ing via the cloud

Over the next 2-3 days you should expect to receive a green banner message (desktop) or a green card (mobile). This is the...

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ARTcloth is a line of cleaning cloths for the iPad that brings some artistic flair to the decidedly unglamorous task of cleaning your iPad touchscreen. As many of you know, I’ve become a big fan of cleaning cloths for the iPad and my other touchscreen devices. They’re all terrible smudge (and germ) magnets and a good cleaning cloth is an unheralded but essential accessory for them.

I’m not against having a cleaning cloth that looks nice, as long as I still does its job well – and I’ve been trying out ARTcloth with all my devices for quite a while now. So now I’m ready to share a few notes and thoughts about them.

The ARTcloth is made of 100% ‘deluxe’ microfiber. I really couldn’t tell you what the difference between just microfiber and deluxe microfiber is, but it sounds good. These are anti-bacterial and ‘dual-textured’ – with a soft side used to clean and a...

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Towards the end of last week Microsoft brought a version of Office to iOS for the first time – while leaving out an iPad version. Office Mobile for Office 365 subscribers (catchy name!) is an iPhone only app for now, and is ‘the official Office companion optimized for your iPhone’.

Here’s a little more of the App Store description for this new Office Mobile app for iPhone:

You can access, view and edit your Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint documents from virtually anywhere. Documents look like the originals, thanks to support for charts, animations, SmartArt graphics and shapes. When you make quick edits or add comments to a document, the formatting and content remain intact.

The one big catch on this app is that it requires an Office 365 subscription to use it. For home users those start at $100 per year. Compared to the $20- 30 range for a number of...

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As of last night I hadn’t yet chosen an image or images to use for this weekend’s iPad Art post. I often have some ideas on the theme for the weekly post but leave my final selection until Sunday morning. Well, this week that approach couldn’t have turned out any better – because I spotted this striking image in the iPad Art Google+ community that I run.

I think it is just perfect for Father’s Day – especially since these are the words that accompany the painting:

Holding your hand, I can cross river of fire…… Happy Father’s Day….

This iPad painting was created by Google+ user Rohit Bhardwaj.

I hope all the dads out there are having a wonderful day.

© patrickj for iPad Insight, 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iPad art, iPad paintings

Two of my favorite Photos apps for the iPad were updated this week – TitleFx and PhotoToaster, both by East Coast Pixels.

TitleFx helps to make a statement with your photos by adding text and some great text effects. I did a review of TitleFx last December and I was already a big fan. Of course I used it to add text to the images in this post. It was updated to Version 2.0 this week. Here are the notable changes in this update:

We’ve added a transparency control, which is great for creating creative text layouts but also for watermarking.
There’s a crop editor, so you can crop square for Instagram or just crop to improve a photo.
You can save your own default starting state, which is perfect for water marking or saving a preferred layout.
We added a second set of 24 new fonts and some new FX.
There have also been a bunch of performance improvements and a...

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It’s pretty clear that Apple are running a bit behind in the development of iOS 7 for the iPad. In their WWDC 2013 keynote event unveiling of iOS 7 there was hardly a mention of iPad and not a single image of the new OS version running on an iPad.

The clearest evidence that iOS 7 for iPad is running a bit behind is that there was a developer beta for iPhone released on the day of the keynote event; while the first iPad beta is said to arrive ‘in coming weeks’.

In the meantime, the image above is about all we have to go on in terms of iOS 7 on the iPad. It’s an image that 9to5Mac is calling an ‘official’ look at iOS 7 on the iPad and iPad mini. It’s taken from the very bottom of Apple’s page on iOS 7 and its key features. I’ve shared this image once here already in my post about which iOS 7 features are compatible with which iPad models.

I don’t have any strong...

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Great apps and a huge selection of great apps are a big part of what makes the iPad such an amazing device. There are excellent apps for just about any purpose you can think of – from serious productivity to pure entertainment. Better still, there are lots of great free apps for the iPad. Our Best Free iPad App of the Week posts highlight these apps.

This week’s pick is Yahoo! Sports. This app used to be called Sportacular, has been updated this week with the new name, and is looking great. Here’s a little of the App Store intro for the app:

Yahoo! Sports is designed to be incredibly fast while still providing the in-depth sports coverage every true fan needs. Easy access to scores, news and stats in a clean, simple layout. Get personalized live scores and information on your favorite teams, player, and leagues.

I’ve been an avid reader of Yahoo! Sports (along with SI.com) for...

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One of the featured app collections in the App Store this week is titled ‘Father’s Day Gift Guide’. So if you’ve got a dad in your life who’s partial to a great iPad app you may want to give it a look and get some inspiration.

The collection has 8 sections: Gifts for Music Lovers, Gifts for Photographers, Gifts to Get Stuff Done, Gifts for Foodies, Gifts for Casual Gamers, Gifts for Hardcore Gamers, Apps for Kids, and Games for Kids. Each section features 10 apps.

One notable thing about the collection is that it highlights a number of Apple’s own apps – including GarageBand, iPhoto, and Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.

There are plenty of good app choices in each of the sections, so this collection should offer some good ideas for all the dads out there who aren’t looking for a new pair of socks or a fancy new drill for Father’s Day.

You can find the Father’s Day...

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I am a little ashamed to admit that I have been neglecting my iPad 3, a lot, over recent months. I got an iPad mini on its launch day morning last November and it quickly won me over with its wonderful lightness and form factor.

Like others, I was initially skeptical about the 8 inch (or near enough) tablet form factor, but after just a day or so with the iPad mini I was a big fan of it. All these months later, I still am and it’s easily my most used device. I’d say my usage pattern on tablets recently has been around 60% iPad mini, 30% Samsung Galaxy Note 8, and only 10% iPad 3.

This past Monday I wanted to get a multi-screen setup going while taking in Apple’s WWDC 2013 keynote event. I decided to view Apple’s live stream on the iPad, follow the Engadget liveblog in Chrome on my iMac and use Evernote on the iMac to take quick notes during the event.

The iPad 3 screen was the...

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Today is the second day of this year’s US Open Golf Championship at Merion Golf Club and there’s an official iPad app for it: 2013 US Open Golf Championship for iPad.

The app offers a number of good features for helping you follow along with the second major of the year. These inlcude:

– Live Video of ‘marquee’ groups. I tuned in just a short while ago and the Tiger Woods, Adam Scott, and Rory Mcilroy group was featured. The live video is available in the US only and over cellular data as well as WiFi.

– Leaderboard – with stats leaders and some excellent breakdown views for individual players when you tap on their names.

The Course and Hole Insights: Hole Insights shows, for example, how missing a fairway or landing in a bunker will impact a player’s score. The Course section also offers photos and video flyovers for each hole.

...

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Here’s a problem that all iPad users have experienced at one time or another: you open an app and it closes right away and returns you to the home screen. Sometimes it’s just a fluke and the app opens properly when you try again, but sometimes the app just quits right away each time you try.

Luckily, there are several relatively easy potential fixes for this issue. Here they are, starting with the easiest and fastest method and going from there:

– Restart the iPad: Quite often that’s all it takes to resolve this problem and it’s quick to give it a try and either be done and good to go, or move on to the next possible fix.

– Open the Multitasking Bar and manually close the troublesome app. Double-press the home button to bring up the Multitasking Bar, which shows all recently opened apps. Tap and hold on any of the icons in the bar until you see the icons start to...

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Quiz Apps: World Football is a World Cup trivia quiz game for the iPad and iPhone. I’m a huge football fan and I rate the World Cup and the Summer Olympics as probably the two greatest sporting events ever. So I’m pretty much always in the mood to tackle some World Cup and football trivia.

This game promises to be challenging and fun – here’s a little of its App Store description:

Are you ready for the challenge? Test your knowledge about football with Quiz Apps: World Football. World Football is a fun and fast game in which you can find everything about football including players, teams, coaches, goals, championships… 3 different game modes will challenge you whether you are relaxing at home or just need a short fun break on-the-go. The rich content will provide you with months worth of entertainment.

I was keen to see if the game is as challenging as it claims, and I gave it...

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iOS 7 is the next generation of the iPad and iPhone operating system, due to be released to the public this fall. It will be compatible with the iPad 2 and above, but … there’s a little more to compatibility than just that.

Apple has made clear that not all features of iOS 7 will work on all compatible devices – and there are some stark differences between features available on latest gen devices and those that are a couple of years old. The iPad 2 is a clear example of this – according to a features table put together by Gizmodo it will be getting only *one* of the major new features of iOS 7 – iTunes Radio.

The table also shows that the iPad 3 will not get the AirDrop feature (for easy sharing of photos and documents with nearby friends). Here’s the table showing which features will be available on which iPad model:

If you’re an iPad 2 owner and you’re excited about iOS...

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Here’s some very good news for iPad and RSS fans. The Feedly iPad app has been updated today, and the updated details are a sight for sore eyes (emphasis mine):

What’s New in Version 16.0.1

Now powered by the feedly cloud. Let’s all wish a happy retirement to Google Reader.

Last week I posted about good news from Feedly about their backend sync service to replace Google Reader, which Google is about to shutdown on July1. This service will power not only their own apps, but also some other leading RSS apps like Reeder and Press.

And going by the wording of that update, that service is ready to rock and no longer relies at all on Google Reader. Good stuff.

© patrickj for iPad Insight, 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iPad Apps, iPad RSS apps

Apple has announced the 2013 Apple Design Awards winners at WWDC. These awards recognize apps ‘that raise the bar in design, technology, and innovation’ and there are some superb selections this year.

The awards cover iPad, iPhone, Mac, and student entries. Right at the top of the winners list is one of my all-time favorite iPad apps, WWF Together – a winner in the iPad section.

Other notable winners include:

Letterpress: The popular, fun, and innovative word game from Loren Brichter, the creator of Tweetie and the official Twitter app – in the iPhone and iPad category.

Procreate: The popular painting app used by so many great iPad artists – in the iPad category.

Evernote: The feature-rich and powerful notes app – in the Mac, iPhone, and iPad categories. I have to admit, this one surprises me a little. Much as I love the power of Evernote, I’ve never thought of it as a...

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As expected, Apple previewed iOS 7 at yesterday’s WWDC 2013 keynote event and announced that it will be released to the public this fall. iOS 7 is of course the next generation of the operating system for iPad and iPhone.

I watched the entire keynote via Apple’s live stream, and looked on most intently during the section devoted to the iOS 7 preview and demos. Now I’ve got a few quick thoughts on iOS 7 and its impact on the iPad in particular.

These are just my very quick reactions to what we learned at the keynote, and they may change drastically once I actually spend time with iOS 7 on the iPad.

The Good

Multitasking for All Apps: With some intelligent scheduling and other clever functionality built in – this all sounds very impressive.

New App Switching Method: Looks a lot like webOS cards and nicely done in most ways.

Control Center: Quick access to services toggles and...

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Apple announced iOS 7 yesterday at their WWDC 2013 keynote event. iOS 7 is the next major generation of the operating system that powers the iPad  and iPhone, and it offers some impressive new features.

Here are some of the important details you may want to know about iOS 7 and the iPad:

– Notable new features in iOS 7 include:

Multitasking (the ability to continue running in the background) for all apps – with some intelligent scheduling in the mix as well.

Control Center: A new method providing quick access to controls for some common services (eg toggle WiFi on and off, set Airplane mode, adjust brightness) with just a quick swipe up on a home screen or the lock screen.

Improvements to Notification Center: A new Today section provides useful information on birthdays,weather, traffic and more.

Photos App Changes: The app now automatically creates Collections and Moments based...

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One thing you can always rely on at Apple events is that some crazy, large numbers will be thrown around. Today’s WWDC 2013 Keynote event didn’t waver from that tradition. Just in the first few minutes we heard that there are now 6 million registered Apple developers, 50 billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store, and that WWDC itself sold out in just 71 seconds this year.

And of course there were some crazy iPad numbers shared during the presentation as well. Here are a couple that stood out for me:

– There are now over 375,000 apps designed specifically for iPad. I’m surprised there was no comparison slide for this one, because it certainly seems like this is an area of huge competitive advantage for the iPad. It’s also worth noting that the 375k figure seems a little old. I’ve heard it mentioned before at least once, and the Appshopper.com today list the...

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Apple unveiled iOS 7 today at their WWDC 2013 Keynote event, and of course there’s a lot to be excited about in the upcoming new version of iOS. I’ll collect my thoughts a little and share some on iOS 7 a little later.

One thing I wanted to comment on right away is how iPad seemed very much in the back seat during all of the talk about iOS 7. Almost every image shown on slides and in demos was an iPhone image. The iPad got an almost in passing sort of mention towards the end of the iOS 7 section of the event – something along the lines of ‘and of course all these features will come to the iPad too’.

More importantly, the first iOS 7 beta for developers is out today for the iPhone; while the betas for iPad are expected ‘in coming weeks’.

It almost feels a little like the iPad was relegated to a second class citizen compared to the iPhone today – which is pretty odd...

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I wrote last week about the Smart Cargo for iPad – an upcoming iPad accessory that offers on-board magnetic storage for all the other little iPad accessories. It looks like a neat way to carry things like a stylus, headphones, and charge cables for the iPad.

Here’s a little more intro information on it:

The Smart Cargo sticks magnetically to the iPad Smart Cover and doubles as an ergonomic grip when carrying the iPad as you can see in the video. And with its sleek aluminum look that matches the back of the iPad, the Smart Cargo looks like it was always meant to be on the iPad.

The product’s Kickstarter project is now live and there are some early bird type backer options to get the Smart Cargo for $15, lower than its retail price.

You can see lots more detail, including a demo video, and become a backer at the Smart Cargo Kickstarter page.

© patrickj for ...

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Apple’s WWDC 2013 keynote event is today, starting at 1:00PM Eastern. If you’re ready to be on the edge of your seat waiting to hear all the news on iOS 7, updates to OS X, and whatever other news Apple has for us, there are several good ways to follow the event live.

Here are the 3 main sources I’ll be using to follow the WWDC keynote event:

– Apple’s own Live Stream of the event. You can watch it live via Apple’s own stream here: http://www.apple.com/apple-events/june-2013/ . Apple notes these requirements for the live stream: Safari 4 or later on Mac OS X v10.6 or later; Safari on iOS 4.2 or later. Streaming via Apple TV requires second- or third-generation Apple TV with software 5.0.2 or later.

– Engadget Live Blog: These guys have been doing these liveblogs for a number of years now, and they’ve got it down to a pretty fine art. ...

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Here’s another example of wonderful art created on an iPad. Sticking with this weekend’s summer theme, this is another image that brings to mind all the best of being near water or out in the water.

This one is titled ‘Seascape’ and was created by Helene Goldberg, using the ArtRage app. I’m a huge fan of Goldberg’s work. It’s often abstract and always has fascinating colors.

This seascape image is enticing and serene all at once, and it also brings back lots of good memories of lazy afternoons on a catamaran.

Check out more of Helene Goldberg’s incredible iPad art at her hgberk Flickr photostream. And of course take a look at our iPad Insight Flickr group for lovely iPad art and iPad wallpapers.

© patrickj for iPad Insight, 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iPad art, iPad paintings

It’s been an odd year for Apple fans. No new iPad in the Spring, no big new product announcements, court cases left, right, and center – and even the rumors cycle has got quite boring.

Apple’s WWDC keynote event is tomorrow and hopefully there will be some exciting news after such a quiet first half of 2013. In the weeks leading up to it the vast majority of the speculation I’ve seen has been all about an expected design makeover for iOS 7 – the by now infamous ‘flat’ design, that’s taken to be all but confirmed by the look of the banners up at the Moscone Center where the keynote will take place.

The more I read about the expected new flat design for iOS 7, the more I think I have on big wish for the new version of iOS: that Apple is focused on improvements in features and functionality, not just on design. Great design tends to bring great functionality alongside it,...

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Great apps and a huge selection of great apps are a big part of what makes the iPad such an amazing device. There are excellent apps for just about any purpose you can think of – from serious productivity to pure entertainment. Better still, there are lots of great free apps for the iPad. Our Best Free iPad App of the Week posts highlight these apps.

This week’s pick is CC: Stand-Up by Comedy Central – which offers free access to Comedy Central’s huge library of stand-up from top comedians. Some of the featured comedians include Louis CK, Kevin Hart, Amy Schumer, Aziz Ansari, Patton Oswalt, Chris Hardwick from Talking Dead, Mitch Hedberg, and plenty more.

These are the app’s main sections:

- The CHANNEL is the ultimate place to sit back and laugh, get hours of the best stand-up without interruption. Like TV but better. No need to fight grandma for the remote.
- Our...

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