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This Week in iPad Episode #23 with Andrea Rene
Thursdays at 5pm PDT
This week, hosts Lon Harris and Loren Feldman rate the best chat apps in the Planet of the Apps segment, grab a sneak peek of the new Toshiba Folio 100 Android Tablet, look at 7 couture iPad cases and invite This Week in Video Games host Andrea Rene on to review some of the latest games to his the App Store.
Intro
- Thanks to Sam Bensalem for sending us the WedgePad. It’s a pillow on which you rest your iPad. Works well. A fun idea.
- Keep the feedback coming. I want to know your favorite cases for our big Case Shows!
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Planet of the Apps
Topic: Chat Apps
COST: $9.99
PRO
- Supports AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, MSN, MySpace, Yahoo and Facebook
- Handles links really well (can open natively or in Safari)
- Remembers who you were chatting with if you leave the app and then come back
- You can adjust the background to whatever you like, even use one of your own photos
- Push notification means, essentially, you’re always connected
CON
- Really hate the standard “honeycomb” background
- No emoticons
COST: $9.99
PRO
- Suports Skype, AIM, MSN, Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo, Google Talk, Jabber, ICQ, MySpace (2 more than Beejive)
- Emoticons
- Voice recognition (costs $0.99 extra)
CON
- Don’t get a full browser (though you can still open in Safari)…window is kind of small, doesn’t look all that good
- I also hate their pre-chosen background colors/photos, but you can use your own photos (fewer options)
- Voice recognition works pretty well, but only if you speak right into the mic (any ambient noise sort of throws it off)
COST: Free
PRO
- The price is right
- Pretty standard, universal format
CON
- Too busy
- Pulls in a ton of your “stream” unnecessarily
COST: $1.99
PRO
- Simple, straightforward and intuitive
- Keeps the keyboard up the entire time, making it faster to use
CON
- Only deals with Facebook chat
- Lots of other apps also do Facebook chat
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News
iPad Cannibalizing PC Industry
According to an analyst, the iPad is having a significant, negative impact on the entire PC industry, not just netbooks as had previously been theorized. UBS Investment Research analyst Maynard Um writes that iPads are also luring away customers from lower-end desktop PC’s, as the iPad is close enough to them in price to make them a viable alternative. Um goes on to state that “consumers who purchase iPads may be more willing to delay purchases and upgrades of existing PC’s.”
Um’s also looking for 2011 to be a huge year for the iPad, with a conservative estimate of 28 million unit shipments for the year.
Toshiba Folio 100 Android Tablet Demo
In this footage from the IFA tradeshow in Berlin, uploaded to YouTube by Mobileburn.com, we get an early look at the Toshiba Folio 100 android tablet. Let’s take a look:
CrunchBase reports that Applidium has submitted a port of the popular, open-source VLC player – which essentially plays any kind of video file – to the Apple Store for approval, and are now waiting to see if it will get through. Of course, there are video playing apps that have made it through the approval process – including the DivX player (CineX) we showed a few weeks ago on this show. But no word yet on whether or not the VLC app will make it through. It could be rejected on the grounds of duplicating functionality, even though the app would play formats iTunes will not.
Harper’s Bazaar has a feature this month about the 7 “chicest” iPad cases from some of the world’s top designers. They run from $290 for the Gucci or Oscar de la Renta variations all the way up to a staggering $1555 for the Chanel!
iPad Case Review published a list of the most ridiculous iPad mods ever made, and I wanted to share. Some of these are really awesome.
The folks at HyperMac, who previously have produced the HyperMac iPad Batteries and the iPad stand that charges the iPad while you use it, now bring us the HyperDrive. It’s a hard drive that connects directly to your iPad, comes with a touchscreen, can read up to 12 types of memory cards and allows users to store up to 750 GB of photos and videos, transferring them to the iPad as needed. It also works as a standard USB external hard drive when not connected to an iPad.
Prices range from $299 for the 120 GB version to $599 for the 750 GB ultimate.
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iPad Game Reviews with Andrea Rene
Andrea from “This Week in Video Games” stopped by to take a look at some new iPad games:
Tell Tale Games produced this narrative, comic puzzle game similar in many ways to the “Professor Layton” games on Nintendo DS. It’s a PC port, but still works pretty well on the iPad.
Cost: $6.99
Likes: It looks like a storybook come to life. It’s funny. Great use of the touchscreen to advance the action. The puzzles are genuinely challenging. I like the “collect gum to earn hints” system.
Dislikes: Too much “chatter” between puzzles. (Sometimes you just want to advance to the action). The hints make it too easy. It’s short (37 puzzles in all). The narrative doesn’t really build anywhere in intensity. Sometimes the cut scenes are a bit “herky jerky” and blurry.
It’s Pac-Man meets Tetris.
Cost: $4.99
Likes: Addictive. Easy to “get the hang of it” but takes a while to really master. Good use of the Pac-Man characters and basic concepts in a new game.
Dislikes: Pac-Man himself is really hard to control. “Points” are relatively meaningless, as there aren’t good “leaderboards” or ways to share your progress. $5 seems a bit steep.
Super-fun “tower Defense”-style game based on Medieval weaponry.
Cost: $2.99
Likes: Immediately easy to learn, challenging once you get to more advanced levels, great graphics and animation, great sound effects, controls are surprisingly tight
Dislikes: Takes a while to earn more advanced weapons, not a ton of variation once you get the idea
Closing
- Next week, we have Brett Rounsaville, designer of the Rounsa homemade iPad Cases.
- Stay tuned for This Week in Video Games with Andrea and This Week in Music with Asha K!
- http://www.jasonnation.com jasoncalacanis
- http://twitter.com/BornToCall Mohammad Ali
- Anonymous
