Hasta La Gadget!

Up until recently, there haven’t been all that many accessories with Apple’s tiny Lightning connector available. Today, Bluelounge released two new accessories to complement your latest-gen iOS devices. First up is the Kii, a handy USB to lightning adapter that is small enough to fit on your keychain.

Like you might have gleaned from its name, the Kii looks like a key. It even hangs neatly on your keychain. However, the large end of the Kii is a USB connector, and if you snap the top of the Kii off, you’ll find a Lightning connector. This makes for easy docking and charging of the latest iOS devices to the side of laptops, without need to carry around a cable. The center part of the Kii is flexible, which allows for a certain amount of variance in heights of laptops, desks, and iPhone cases. It’s a very handy device, though I wonder how well the exterior finish of the exposed USB connector will hold up over time – especially banging around on a key ring.

The second accessory out today is the Saidokā. It’s a unique take on the desktop iPhone dock. Instead of standing your iPhone vertically, the Saidokā keeps your iPhone at just about the same angle as your keyboard. This allows you to not only see the screen easily while typing, but to actually use your iPhone’s touchscreen while docked. This is especially handy for apps which let you use the iPhone as a trackpad or external screen for your computer.

That said, it’s pretty nice to be able to have your iPhone in such a convenient position alongside your computer. It’s a pretty neat design, and even features a removable rubber liner so you can fit your iPhone in the dock “naked” or in its case. It also comes with special “microsuction” rails which help grip the dock to a smooth desk surface without adhesive. The dock also includes the micro-USB to USB cable needed to connect it to your computer.

Both the Kii and Saidokā are available for order from Bluelounge today. The Lightning Kii sells for $39.95(USD) and the Saidoka goes for $49.95(USD). Both are available in either black or white. 30-pin versions are also available for older iOS devices, with the added bonus that each they sell for $20 less.

It’s been five years since Apple first launched the App Store, the company this week celebrating the origins of the iOS-tending software vending environment with a bit of a silent wave. You may have seen the “Apple Celebrates 5 Years of the App Store” that’ve been appearing in tubes to the doors of Apple-friendlies: it’s there that you’ll be getting the same information we’ll be running down here. It begins with the launch of the store back on July 10th of 2008, not long after the iPhone was first launched (in June of 2007) and the first 10 million downloads were reached not long after.

From there the App Store downloads grew right alongside the widespread adoption of the iPhone itself, developers deciding they’d get onboard with what would become a rather lucrative enterprise. Just before 2009 rolled around, 100 million downloads were reached – the 500 million downloads mark appeared just 16 days into the year. Things sped up quite quickly from there.

It was April 24th, 2009 when Apple announced its first 1 Billion downloads. It was 9 months after the initial launch of the store, and Apple was so proud of the milestone that they decided to send out a prize: $10,000 in iTunes cash to the 1 billionth downloader. This became a tradition with Apple and has been ever since.

Fast forward to 2013 and we’ve seen a 40 billion download mark as well as a 50 billion download mark the company was so happy about, they announced it at WWDC 2013. The first few minutes of any major keynote address has held such numbers and high water marks with Apple – and they’ve begun counting side-stores as well.

You’ll find Apple’s iTunes U to have reached 1 billion downloads for schools and learning institutions, that system having been in play for approximately a year at the time (February of 2013.)

Inside 2013, the App Store is watched by the ravenous fans of the ecosystem with extreme scrutiny. Items like Vanity URLs and Age Recommendations have become newsworthy in and of themselves.

The download marks were joined by such milestones as the first 1 million approved apps – this having been met on November 19th of 2012. While Apple has generally focused on the number of live apps – not just an app total – in the app store, the dichotomy of actual living apps and the downloads they’ve spurred brings some instant perspective on a single apps’ reach.

Next we’ll see the next big milestone in devices – it was back in 2010 when the first iPad-optimized apps were introduced. Stick around as Apple reaches the next 50 billion downloads as well – any guesses on how long it’ll take for them to hit it?

Apple celebrates App Stores’ 5th Anniversary is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

iPads replace textbooks in Netherlands schools.

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We usually associate Boston University with brain studies and bat-chasing UAVs; we’ll have to add technology patent lawsuits to the list. Following similar claims versus the likes of Amazon and Samsung, the university has sued Apple for allegedly infringing on a 1997 patent for making gallium nitride thin films used in semiconductors. The university wants both financial compensation (likely the real objective) and a ban on US sales of the purportedly offending iPad, iPhone 5 and MacBook Air. Neither side is commenting on the case, although we suspect that it will end with a whimper, not a bang. Like many big tech firms, Apple tends to fight patent lawsuits when it expects to win, and settle out of court when it doesn’t. We’d add that the patent expires in 2015 — a Boston University victory would have relatively little effect on Apple’s future.

Filed under: Cellphones, Laptops, Tablets, Apple

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Source: Boston Herald

Times are definitely changing as schools are starting to incorporate more technology, such as introducing the use of tablets in the classrooms versus more traditional tools of teaching. However instead of merely using tablets as a means to teach, 11 […]

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