iPad

President Obama today cited Apple CEO Steve Jobs' product success as an example of a person who Americans should "expect to be rich" as an incentive for others.

Responding to a reporter's question, the president prefaced his comments about Steve Jobs and Apple by saying, "What is...a fact is that people in the top 1 percent, people in the top one-tenth of 1 percent, or one-hundredth of 1 percent have a larger share of income and wealth than any time since the 1920s. Those are just facts. That's not a feeling on the part … Read more

If you're a big fan of The Daily Show, it shouldn't take a lot of arm-twisting for you to grab the new The Daily Show app, which will set you back $1.99. The app offers a lot for rabid fans, starting with a shareable quote of the day (and accompanying show segment) for roughly the last eight weeks' worth of shows.

Tap the Topics button and you'll see a spinning word cloud (or an alphabetical list if you switch views), with each item leading to handfuls--if not buckets--of clips related to that topic. These appear to … Read more

Apple has posted job listings for engineers specializing in voice technologies such as speech recognition, iOS software development for speech applications, and speech research.

Apple recently filed for patents related to greater integration of voice commands throughout iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch apps, including a customizable API that developers could use to include voice control in their software.

The recent job postings on Apple's Web site suggest that this patent, along with other voice control technologies (such as the purchase of Siri earlier this year), are being taken seriously. Each of the four open positions relate specifically to sectors … Read more

Amazon likes to keep its Kindle sales figures pretty close to the vest, so it's been a mystery just how many e-readers the company has sold. But according to a report by Bloomberg, which cites "two people who are aware of the company's sales projections," the company is likely to sell more than 8 million Kindles this year. That's at least 60 percent more than the 5 million units analysts had predicted Amazon would sell in 2010.

Those anonymous sources indicate that the projections show Amazon is "adding share in the e-reader market," … Read more

'Tis the season to score iPhone, iPod, and iPad games on the cheap. First, Electronic Arts cut some 70 games to 99 cents each, a promotion that's likely to run through the holidays.

Next, Gameloft and Namco got in on the 99-cent act, as CNET's Joe Aimonetti reported earlier today.

Now, even indie developers are extending some 99-cent love, as evidenced by the Indie iPhone Holiday Sale. But in this case, there's more to it than just a price drop: the six participating developers plan to donate a third of the proceeds to charity.

The games on … Read more

Switzerland prides itself on its neutral sense of justice.

Its definition of neutrality, of course, might not mesh with yours, especially should you have strong feelings about Nazi gold or women not being allowed to vote before 1971. Still, it's a neutrality that sometimes rears its beautiful head to quite bizarre effect.

So might I offer you an ad for the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation's iPad app? For reasons the corporation has tried to explain--reasons you might be tempted to doubt--at the 39-second mark of the ad, up pops a little green android standing among the throngs.

Now, you might be wondering whether this android is portrayed as a bad guy, a club-wielding, club-footed neanderthal trailing in the iPad's wake.

Yet, no. This very strange--one might almost call it very Swiss--iPad app ad suggests that the android is one in the army of good guys.

I thank AndroidGuys.com for quoting SBC and its artistic motives for this motif: "The android is here as part of the details we wanted to include, in this case a hint to the fact that we cover both platforms (Android fans might want to have a look at the swissinfoandroid channel)."… Read more

November was a bad month for me and my gadgets. My trusty Pentax K10D got janky and quit recognizing memory cards, and I took a header on the icy hills of Seattle and crunched my iPad, though I was impressed it still worked.

At home, I've got a whole drawer full of busted electronics. I've done some repairs myself (installed hard drives, changed out power supplies, and fixed bent battery pins), but some tasks are beyond my skill set. I love both my camera and my iPad, so relegating them to the drawer of broken toys didn't appeal to me, and I sent them in for repairs. I've never used a tech repair service before, so I was a bit hesitant at first. Here's how it all panned out.

Pentax told me my camera was covered under warranty and had me send it to its repair vendor for the West Coast, CRIS Camera Service in Arizona, with a description of the problem and a copy of my purchase receipt. I was told that it would take up to four weeks to repair my camera and ship it back. It took two, and it's now good as new.

What's great about CRIS is that it has a repair-tracking system on its Web site. It assigns you a customer number and work order number, and you can see exactly where your gear is in the process, from examination to cleaning to waiting for parts. It was really great to be kept in the loop.

Hopefully, I'll never need its service again, but if I do, I won't be a bundle of nerves like I was this time about getting my shooter fixed. And CRIS doesn't just repair Pentax; it can work on pretty much any major brand of camera.

The iPad was a different story. Apple's warranty doesn't cover dumbly slipping and landing on its products, so I knew I was going to have to pony up and just go for it. I took it to Apple, which quoted me $350--plus shipping--to fix the dented case, slightly discolored LCD, and bent glass. I cringed at that, especially when I was told that the repair process could take up to two weeks, depending on parts. Even broken, my iPad couldn't be out of my reach for that long. … Read more

It's the final new show of 2010, and we use it to host a relaxed roundtable discussion about last-minute holiday shopping; check out some holiday cards sent by video game companies; and tune into the perfect iPad app for cats.

It's also a perfect time for an end-of-year office clean out, so there are tons of video game goodies to give away. Leave a comment on our Facebook page and we'll randomly pick some stocking-stuffer recipients this week.

Bonus: You can download the show's theme song as a free MP3 here for a limited time!

… Read more

Motorola is already trying to elevate its unannounced tablet above the iPad in a promotional video released Sunday.

Of course, it's easy to claim just about anything when promoting a product that hasn't been formally announced and subjected to the rigors--and possible slings and arrows--of independent reviews.

But that hasn't stopped Motorola from denigrating the iPad by calling it a "giant iPhone" in the ad (above). That statement implies that Motorola's tablet isn't just a giant Droid X. We'll see, when Motorola shows its cards at CES next month.

What do we … Read more