Hasta La Gadget!

Ever since I found out about Tactus a couple of years ago I’ve been looking forward to trying out its tactile touchscreen technology. It looks like that time is close at hand. Tactus’ first consumer product is a case for the iPad Mini that adds its retractable buttons to the tablet.

The image above does not show the upcoming iPad Mini case; it’s a screenshot from Tactus’ 2013 CES demo, which you can watch below.  According to Business Insider, the iPad Mini case will have a switch that lets it “push out transparent, physical buttons over the iPad’s standard keyboard. The keys can appear and disappear almost instantly.”

If you’re hoping for Tactus’ technology to appear on other touchscreen devices as well, don’t worry. The company is working to have its product appear on as many devices as possible. Check out their 2014 CES concept video to see what they hope to accomplish:

Tactus’ iPad Mini case will be released later this year and will cost around $80 to $100 (USD). VentureBeat reports that Tactus will release its own tablet as early as next year.

[via Business Insider & VentureBeat via BGR]

Recently KGI Securities analyst, Ming-Chi Kuo, released a research note that revealed some information regarding Apple’s upcoming plans for the rest of the year. Some of those plans were shown briefly in a slide in our previous post that revealed what Kuo thought could be Apple’s roadmap for the year.

According to the roadmap, Kuo believes that Apple could be refreshing the iPad Air and iPad mini in Q3 2014, but what sort of upgrades could we be looking forward to? Well for starters we’d expect that both tablets will be getting a boost in performance, naturally, but in addition to that, Kuo reports that both the iPad Air and the iPad mini are set to get Touch ID fingerprint sensors as well.

Touch ID originally debuted with the iPhone 5s and thanks to alleged photos leaked at that time, it was rumored that Touch ID could be making its way onto the iPad as well, although that did not turn out to be true, but it is possible that Apple wasn’t ready yet at that time. Kuo also states that he believes the A8 processor will also debut in both tablets and that the iPad Air 2 could include an upgraded 8MP rear-facing camera as well.

Kuo also touched briefly on the rumored iPad Pro which will allegedly come with a 12.9-inch display. The rumored device was left out of Kuo’s roadmap because he expects that the tablet will only debut in 2015 and that Apple is currently working on a new interface that has been designed for the larger tablet.

Once again we have to state that these are an analyst’s opinion and they are not necessarily facts, but given Kuo’s track record, which has been pretty spot-on, perhaps some of it might prove to be true after all.

Touch ID Rumored To Arrive For The iPad This Year , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Apple, Rumors, Tablets, iPad, iPad mini, touch id,

Apple has just made an announcement that could help it gain more ground in China. It has just made available a new version of the iPad Air and the iPad … Continue reading

Photo: Josh Valcarcel/WIRED

Now that there’s a version of the Microsoft Office suite available for the iPad, it’s a decent time to make sure your tablet’s case looks like it means business. From the makers of the much-loved Cord Tacos, This Is Ground’s Cargito iPad cases combine simple design with hidden treats. They’re loaded with mobile charging options and compartments for sidecar necessities.

The Cargito Air Charging iPad Case comes with a 7000 mAh battery in a zip-up compartment and an integrated Lightning cable that lets you give your iPad a full recharge in transit while it’s tucked inside the full-leather sleeve. There’s also a smaller and cheaper version — the Cargito Mini Charging iPad Case — made for the iPad Mini.

Both sizes include a strap that’s fitted to hold a Pencil stylus, a compartment for your business and/or credit cards, and a zip-up pocket. In the charger-equipped versions of each case, the rechargeable battery goes in that zip pocket; there are also non-charging versions of each sized case that free up that zip compartment for spare change, hard candy, or a pocketable amount of what-have-you.

These high-end cases come with some high-end price tags. The Cargito Air Charging case costs $165, and the Cargito Mini Charging case goes for $155. If you want to supply your own battery pack, you can save a little bit: $109 for the larger non-charging version, and $99 for the non-charging Mini version.

Color options abound. Each case size comes in eight colors, including various shades of brown, black, white, and gold.

Naturally in a family there are those who use Android, those who use iOS, some who prefer BlackBerry, some might prefer Windows Phone, and so on. There really isn’t a right or wrong answer her since it all boils down to personal preference, but one dad thought he would be able to convince his daughter to get a Microsoft Surface tablet instead of an iPad mini. (more…)

Microsoft Convinces 12 Year Old Girl To Get The Surface 2 Over The iPad Mini original content from Ubergizmo.