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5 Useful Things You Can’t Do On Apple iPad

Admin — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 13:20:07 +0000

The Apple iPad is an amazing device that will truly revolutionize the way people use computers. It’s light weight, small dimensions, big screen and great operating system make it perfect for a truly wide variety of applications, from home and mobile computing to replacing a lot of other devices in the house and backpack to specialized applications like cash registers or information pads for doctors and engineers (like you’ve probably seen in a lot of Sci-Fi movies and TV series).

The iPad is the ideal device for people who don’t know how to use computers (including old people and children), due to its very simple, uncluttered interface. It can also be the perfect replacement for notebooks and books in schools, as all the information can be held inside it and downloaded instantly from the Internet. The main problem is price, which is a bit too high for everyone to afford.

But, of course, as with all the great devices in the world, there are some things that the iPad can’t do. And I’m not talking about tasks like making you coffee or writing your documents for you, which are obviously still impossible. I’m talking about tasks that the iPad can technically do, but it lacks the necessary software or hardware (like an USB port on the device itself, support for Flash, a front facing camera, a more ruggedized case and other things that Apple could’ve easily integrated).

Here are some of the most important things you may want to use the iPad for, but unfortunately, can’t.

View Flash

This is the main beef of a lot of users and iPad buyers with the device. Nobody understands why Apple decided to leave out support for Flash content in their web browser, when it’s clearly possible, as demonstrated by 3rd party utilities for the iPhone. No flash means that not only thousands of sites can’t be viewed, but also a lot of videos and music files that are in .flv or .swf formats. There are a lot of great video sharing sites like Youtube and Metacafe that can’t be viewed directly from the browser and need to have a separate app installed (and right now, only Youtube has one on the iPad).

Multitask

Sadly, the fears of many users have become a reality: the iPad can’t be used for multitasking. For a universal computer, this is quite a disadvantage, as a lot of people may want to chat on Skype while taking notes and having a Word document and a browser window open in the background. The HP Slate will surely take advantage of this and cater to those users, which will result in lost sales for the iPad. On the bright side, iPod, Safari and Mail can be used and remain open in the background (which is sort of like multitasking), and you can switch between them. Also, the lack of multitasking means better battery life and more simplicity for new users.

Apple iPad

Use a 3rd party browser

As much as you might like Safari, you have to admit there are other, better and faster browsers, like Firefox and Chrome. Unfortunately, you can’t install them on the iPad, because it uses a custom ARM processor (not x86, which most desktop software need) and Apple’s custom OS. SO if you thought you could have the same Internet browsing experience as on your desktop, you will be disappointed, and if you really like or depend on a certain desktop utility (not necessarily a browser, anything else counts, too), you may be better off waiting for the HP Slate to be released. Its specs are the same as the iPad, it’s lighter and smaller by an inch, and it runs any programs that a desktop can run.

Print documents

This is another obviously useful feature that for some reason hasn’t been implemented. I’m sure it will be present in the next OS update, but a lot of users need it right now. With the iPad, you can’t use a printer to print your files via USB, Bluetooth or Wifi. That is too bad, as it would be a great feature. Strangely enough, you can use the iPad to output slides to a projector, which means it’s the only device you may need to carry with you on various events and presentations.

Use it in tough conditions.

OK, this one can be forgiven, as the iPad is a lightweight, slim and small device, and there aren’t many materials that would make it tougher without increasing the price dramatically. But, the iPad is very sensitive to drops, flexes and liquid spills. You can easily break the screen glass (and the screen itself) when you accidentally drop or bend it. The touch screen can also stop working completely if you spill anything on it, so you have to be very careful (and preferably have something to wipe it clean with you at all times .

Even with the above disadvantages, the Apple iPad is still a wonderful device that can be used for a wide variety of things. I’m sure that in time, Apple will address these problems and fix them, so the next releases of the iPad will be able to do everything including the things listed above.

PowerPoint Presentation Tool – 280 Slides Review

Admin — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 13:47:26 +0000

280 Slides is an online tool that allows you to create your own PowerPoint presentations without having to use PowerPoint itself. Access to the site’s resources is free.

You do not have to download anything, because this presentation software works right from your browser.

In case you are not sure how your presentation should look like, you can make use of 280 Slides’ library of themes. Another option is to transfer PowerPoint files from your computer to the site’s server, so you can use your own previous works as templates for the new presentation you want to develop.

Once you have loaded one of 280 Slides’ built-in templates or imported your .ppt files, you can enhance your new creation by adding videos and images to it. For this purpose, the Web app offers you the ability to search for appropriate files on sites like YouTube and Flickr. Just select the ones you need and add them to your new presentation.

280 Slides-PowerPoint Presentation Tool

Thanks to 280 Slides’ autosave feature, you can rest assured that you will not lose your files. The site will save your work automatically. If something goes wrong, you will be able to restore and view the latest version of your presentation later on.

After finishing your presentation, you are left with two basic alternatives. One of them is to download your work; the resulting file will be available in your desired format. Another possibility is to share your presentation on the Internet. You may do so by embedding it on your own Web site, or sending the file by email to a friend or co-worker, or even publishing it on SlideShare.

If there is one small negative point about 280 Slides, it is the site’s name. For a first-time visitor, it may be a bit annoying to browse the site and see the term “280 slides” being used all the time, for it conveys the (wrong) impression that all presentations made with this online tool will have to include 280 items. Still, after you get used to ignoring this minor issue, you should not find any difficulties in using this online alternative to PowerPoint.

Sony Ericsson Vivaz Review

Admin — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 05:13:42 +0000

The Sony Ericsson Vivaz is the Swedish company’s latest edition into the Smartphone market after its previous release of its Satio. Smartphones bring our entertainment hub right to the palm of our hands and the Vivaz is no exception. Its HD video capability marries well with its preinstalled Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter applications making staying in touch while on the go a breeze.

Front View- Sony Ericsson Vivaz

With its slight ergonomic curvature, the Sony Ericsson Vivaz is pleasant to hold, though it does feel overly plastic. Surprisingly light at 3.4 oz with a 3.2” screen, the Vivaz is available in Cosmic Black, Venus Ruby, Moon Silver, and Galaxy Blue. It comes loaded with features.

Sony Ericsson Vivaz Screen

Even though it’s a phone, you’ve got to take notice to its 8.1 mp camera and its snazzy HD video capabilities. The camera switches on at the touch of a button and moving from horizontal to vertical is simply a case of turning your camera in the view you want. Complete with face detection and smile recognition, the Vivaz also has a built in light meter. It’s an understatement to say that taking quality photos is a cinch. Uploading to Facebook or Picasa takes seconds so your friends don’t need to feel they are missing out on the fun.

The HD video recorder with 720p produces crisp, high quality images, and, great audio – all of which is fantastic given this is a camera phone. Better yet, you can immediately upload to YouTube and send your videos viral. A TV out slot also lets you send your video and pictures to your TV so you can watch your latest productions on the large screen.

8.1 Megapixel camera in Sony Ericsson Vivaz

Upgrading from any phone is simple as the Sony Ericsson Vivaz has a mini-usb to connect to your pc. Moving your contacts, emails, and stored media can be done by drag and drop. And better still, if you delete files by accident you can retrieve them from the web.

The Vivaz also serves as an FM radio and an MP4 player. Perhaps in response to customer feedback about the lack of 3.5mm jack on the Satio, the Vivaz has one installed. The sound leaves a lot to be desired if you are a music aficionado but this is improved drastically if you ditch the supplied earphones and get a better set.

The phone is simple to use and shouldn’t cause any problems for anyone. Everything is easy to set up via the drag and drop as mentioned earlier, and text messaging, SMS, and email are all painlessly setup. Onscreen customization allows you to get quick access to your frequent contacts. Expanded contact boxes also allow you to store much more information for each contact so you can have names, several email addresses, home, work, and alternative contact information as well as a picture for each contact. The qwerty keyboard is easy to use however, if you have the phone in vertical mode you may want to use the stylus unless you are nimble fingered.

Sony Ericsson Vivaz

The resistive screen is large and well laid out, and, if you feel overwhelmed by menu icons you can customize the menu to show your five most used interfaces. What makes the resistive screen problematic is the poorly performing key lock button. One would expect to click once to close down a feature but the Vivaz requires you to click twice. It’s not a major inconvenience on its own, however, if you haven’t secured your key lock the resistive screen can be bumped in your pocket or bag and activate menu functions and applications. Just something to watch out for.

The only shortcomings of the Sony Ericsson Vivaz are the poor quality ear phones and double key lock requirement. They’re quite insignificant when placed alongside the superb HD video and 8.1 Megapixel camera quality. At the price, it’s worth it just for these.

Why Should I Buy an iPad?

Admin — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 04:07:20 +0000

Apple iPad is a minicomputer with a touch sensitive screen. It is approximately 10 inch thick and weight 1.5 pound. The iPad is extremely versatile and can be used to play games, video, run apps and browse the internet.

There are a number of functions in iPad that are similar in iPod Touch. The difference between the Apple iPod Touch and iPad is $100. With iPad, you will have a bigger screen. iPad can be used as an reader for all sorts of literature including ebooks, magazines, and newspapers. The iBook store allows you to browse and purchase books on iPad. The books depend on an ePub standard rather than the standard Apple format. iBook is also affiliated with five major publishers including Penguin, Harper Collins, Macmillan, Hachette Book Group, and Simon & Shuster. The biggest advantage of iPad is that it offers an on par reading experience with the Amazon Kindle.

iPad uses a LCD backlit display instead of an e-paper or e-book so that it won’t strain your eyes. If you plan to use iPad for reading books, then it is only better than laptop except it does not has a physical keyboard. If you want to read novels and newspaper, you should buy Amazon Kindle.

The music apps in iPad allow you to store and play all your favorite music. The song collections are organized properly based on the albums. The dockport in iPad allows you to connect it to a larger audio playing device if you want your music to play through a speaker with higher sound quality.

iPad From Apple

Although Kindle is $10 cheaper than iPad, there is no match. iPad has a color screen and can perform many functions compare to other ebook reader. The iPad has a built in 802.11n wireless device which allows you to download book from the internet. Although the book prices are higher on iPad, they are in color. The multimedia apps in iPad allows you to watch video, color charts and browse pictures. The onscreen keyboard is an advantage of iPad because it saves more space on the screen.

The iTunes LP feature in iPad allows users to hear an album and view lyrics, watch videos and browse photos. Users will get to see the interviews, exclusive clips and photo galleries of the movie.

The tablet screen take advantage of the LED backlit and offer a better and bigger resolution compares to iPod touch. The tablet is larger than the iPod Touch so it may not be comfortable for watching the entire video. However, there are all kinds of the stands that enable you to dock the iPad at the height of your chest.

The lifespan of the battery can last up to 10 hours. iPad users can import images via the Apple SD card or camera which is perfect for those who don’t want to use their computer for their imaging needs.

Apple iPad can be used to watch 720p HD video; however, the video output via the external device is restricted to 480p. The olephophic coat makes the screen free from fingerprints. In addition, the iWorkapp helps to make it a powerful and slick device where the iPod touch is unable to compete.

As a conclusion, the iPad was created by Apple to be an alternative to other Apple products such as iPod Touch, and iPhone.

iPad Features

Admin — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 03:50:04 +0000

The large multi touch screen allows you to browse the web pages one at a time. Whether you are viewing in portrait or landscape, you will be able to see every in a readable size. Users can use their fingers as a natural pointing device to browse the web pages. To scroll a page, you simply have to tab on the scrollbar to scroll the page up or down. You can zoom in an image by pinching on it. The thumbnail view will shows all your pictures in a grid so that you can easily browse from one website to the other.

The mail application in iPad allows you to browse your inbox in a portrait or landscape orientation. The split screen displays the open messages in front with a faded background. If you want to see the opened email as a whole, you can turn iPad to portrait so that the email can automatically rotate to fill the screen. You will be able to perform all sorts of activities in your email inbox, including composing new mail, on screen keyboard, delete messages, whether in the portrait or landscape orientation. If someone sends a photo attachment to you, you will be able to view it in the message body. The photos can be saved and stored in the built in Photos app. The iPad email app is compatible with the major email service providers including MobileMe, Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, Bing and AOL.

The photos app in iPad can display sharp and vibrant photos quality. The photos are displayed as a stack based on the available photos in the album. To open the album, you must tap on the stack. Once you have opened the album, you will be able to browse the photos, zoom in or out and watch them in a slideshow. The iPad can also be used as a digital flash photo frame that can display picture slideshow while you are recharging the battery on a dock. There are many ways which you can import photos into the iPad, including sync through computer, download from email or through a camera.

iPad from Apple

The high resolution screen allows you to watch any kind of video including HD movies, TV shows, podcasts, and music videos. You can easily switch between widescreen and full screen via double tapping. The iPad screen allows you to watch the video in one big screen without any pop up keypads or buttons that distracts the view.

The YouTube app allows you to organize the videos so that you can easily browse the videos and watch them. To watch the YouTube videos in full screen, you must turn the iPad into landscape mode. The high resolution display allows you to watch HD videos in their original resolution.

The iPod app allows you to browse all your music with a simple flick. If you want to listen to a song, you simply have to tap it. iPad can also display the album art in the original size. The powerful built in speaker allows you to listen to music in high quality sound. The Bluetooth in iPad makes it possible for you to listen to your music via a wireless headphones.

The iTunes allows you to browse and buy music, videos, and podcasts from the iPad. The app store contains more than 140,000 apps from the App store. The iBook app allows you to read and buy book. Users can use the map apps to view the satellite images of a country from above. With the map apps, users can watch the street up close or with topography in a new terrain view using Google services. The notes app makes note taking easy. The calendar displays the schedule by week, month, or list views. The contact apps store the names, numbers and other important information of your friends and relatives. The home screen allows you to access everything on iPad with one tap. The Spotlight Search can be used to perform a search in iPad and the built in apps including Mail, Contacts, Calendar, iPod and Notes.

Apple iPad vs Amazon Kindle: Which Should You Buy

Admin — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 06:13:22 +0000

There is a lot of hype surrounding the new Apple iPad due for release later this year, but is it really worth the money? Are there better options available? For example, the Amazon Kindle. With the iPad, Apple hopes to beat its rival Amazon and offer a better alternative to the Kindle, but have they managed it? Is the iPad really better than its rival? Let’s see how the two compare.

Display:

Amazon Kindle

Offering a 6 inch display diagonally, the Amazon kindle looks promising, and this would probably be perfectly fine for reading any eBook, but why make-do with a 6 inch display when you could have a 9.7 inch one? This is where the iPad comes in. The iPad clearly betters its rival in this department with close to double the screen size of the Kindle, so no more squinting trying to read your eBooks as on the iPad’s 9.7 inch screen everything will look crisp and clear and offer a much easier reading experience than on the Kindle. Also, the iPad has a touch sensitive screen which supports Multi touch (as seen with the iPhone). This will surely give the iPad the edge by offering much easier navigation than its rival and functionalities including the ability to zoom and navigate with a simple touch of the finger. We mustn’t forget that Amazon does also offer the Kindle DX which has the same size display as the iPad (9.7 inch), but once again this is not a touch sensitive screen so will not offer the ease of use the Apple iPad should offer.

Apple iPad Tablet

Hardware:

The hardware is where the kindle really comes into its own. Weighing just 10.2 ounces the Kindle is clearly beating its rival Apple weighing less than half the weight of the iPad. At 24 ounces the fear is that the iPad will just feel too bulky and heavy in the user’s hands. The iPad is also slightly thicker than its competitor being 0.5 inches thick whereas the Kindle is a mere 0.36 inches.

Features:

The Amazon kindle has very limited features compared with the Apple iPad. Sure, you have the ability to subscribe to magazines and newspapers, and even a Web Browser and PDF reader should you need it, but the iPad offers so much more. It is more than just an eBook reader, you will have access to the full iTunes store, giving you access to everything iTunes has to offer, including all the Apps available for the iPhone, MP3 downloads, Movie rental’s and more, all available straight from your iPad. Apple also plans to release a whole new variety of apps that will be made specifically for the iPad, giving even more possibilities for the device in the near future. As with the iPhone it also has the Safari Web Browser, Email, iPod, YouTube and much more already factory installed.

Connectivity:

The Kindle offers only 3G connectivity, which is available with US network AT&T, but once again the apple iPad appears to offer more. As well as the 3G connectivity (also available in the US with AT&T) that the Amazon Kindle offers, the iPad also has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, increasing its usability and making it a clear winner over the Kindle once again.

Battery Life:

The battery life with the Amazon Kindle is impressive with Amazon claiming to offer one week of life with wireless and two weeks without wireless. The iPad doesn’t even come close to comparing to this offering a shocking battery life of just 10 hours use, although Apple do claim it will last a whole month on standby, but what use is it on standby?

Price:

Compared with the iPad the price of the Kindle is much lower, costing just $259 for the Kindle and $489 for the Kindle DX. With the iPad it’s a whole different story, there isn’t just the one fixed price, there is a variety of models available each with a completely different price tag ranging from $499 to $829! We’ll try and simplify the details for you, here it goes: iPads with Wi-Fi only are $499 for 16GB, $599 for 32GB, and $699 for 64GB. iPads with WiFi and 3G are $629 for 16GB, $729 for 32GB, and $829 for 64GB. 3G data costs $15 a month for 250MB and $30 a month for unlimited.

So, which should you buy? This is what we set out to answer and ultimately the part that is down to you, although we believe if you are just looking for a simple eBook reader and not much else, then the Amazon Kindle is probably the best product for you. However, if you want all the features we’ve seen earlier from Apple with their iPhone, such as Email, Web Browsing, Wi-Fi and of course the cool factor then the iPad is definitely the product for you.

How To Download Videos From Online Video Sharing Sites

Admin — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 05:12:35 +0000

Youtube is one of the top popular websites online (it ranks 2-5 in different rankings). It’s a video sharing site where people are free to express their thoughts and emotions. It’s the place where you can find latest music and music videos of your favorite bands, the latest movie trailers, funny commercials and useful information, and much more. And it seems that a lot of people want to be able to download these videos to their computer. They want to play their favorite videos without being connected to the Internet or use the videos and sounds for school presentations. But Youtube’s policy forbids that.

Fortunately, there are ways around that which allow you to download any video you want, and not only from Youtube, but also from other video sharing sites. The only problem is that when you download a video from Youtube, the file format is .flv, which can’t be played by all media players without installing special codecs. So you have to find a video convertor software and convert the video to another format like .wmv, .mpg, .avi or other video format that will work with your player. That’s not very easy to do, especially for newbies.

This is where Youtube Downloader comes into play. It’s a program that automatically downloads any Youtube video and converts it to a universally playable format. From the name of this program, you can see it was made to be simple.

Youtube Downloader

And it is! It is very good. First (and best) of all – it’s completely free. Second – it’s easy to use and simple to understand. And lastly, it’s got everything you need to download any Youtube video you want.The quality depends on what type of video you want to download, HD or SD. This has been recently replaced with the width of the video in the Youtube player and it’s shown as 360, 480 and 720, the latter being the best quality. 360 isn’t that bad either, it’s enough for most people (and definitely enough for phones) and the size is small, so it saves precious bandwidth.

When you open Youtube Downloader it asks you for the url of the Youtube video, which is easy to get – just copy it from your browser’s address bar. Then click Download and it’s going to start downloading. The speed of download depends on your Internet connection speed. After it has finished downloading, it will ask you whether you want to convert the video to another file format, which is .avi by default. You should select Yes and wait. After it’s done, you can watch, copy, edit and share the video as much as you want. As I said, it’s very easy. It’s a very simple tool which I recommend to everyone that wants their favorite Youtube videos on their computer.

ShaswatPatel.com » YouTube

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