Hasta La Gadget!

Pure gimmickry, but undoubtedly beautiful. And despite its name, the Levitatr ships with all vowels intact

James Stumpf dreamed of an iPad with physical keys which would rise, magically, from the glass itself. Of course, this is a ridiculous dream, but that didn’t stop James from striving to make it real. The result is the Levitatr, a sleek slab of aluminum and polycarbonate from which — you guessed it — the keys magically rise.

The $80 keyboard (currently seeking funding on Kickstarter) is activated by pressing down a knobbly button on one side. This pops up the keys which were previously flush with the surface. Two more buttons — one for power and one to connect via Bluetooth — are hidden around back, and there’s a fold-out kickstand to hold the iPad at the appropriate angle.

The only problem I see is that it’s thick, at 9.8mm (0.4 inches). That only makes it a little bit smaller than Apple’s own aluminum keyboard inside a case.

Still, it’s neat-looking, and James has hopes for this to be incorporated into the screen of an actual tablet in the future. Although that sounds pretty difficult, if he can crack it, then he might genuinely be onto something that would differentiate a tablet from the iPad.

Levitatr: A keyboard with elevating keys for iPad, Tablets [Kickstarter]

See Also:

• Fat, Folding Logitech Keyboard Case for Slim iPad 2
• Writer, an iPad Keyboard Case for Pros
• Clever Stand Clamps Keyboard to iPhone, iPad
• ZAGGfolio for iPad: Great Keyboard, So-So Case

One sure fire way to make sure you never lose your iPad? Stick the thing in your wall. Now available in North America from Bracketron, the iRoom iDock is a motorized dock for your Apple tablet that can be flush-mounted into your wall. Once connected to your power supply, the system’s proximity sensor will open up when you’re around to accept your tablet into its docky clutches, for some serious wall-charging action — and if there’s a power outage, the thing will open up automatically, so you can grab your slate back. The dock is available in landscape or portrait orientation and comes in black, aluminum or white — or you can get a custom color to match your home’s walls, because why not go all out with your wall-mounted iPad dock thing? Press release after the jump.

Continue reading iRoom iDock imounts your iPad to your iwall

iRoom iDock imounts your iPad to your iwall originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Sep 2011 12:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A new update for DirecTV’s official iPad app just showed up in iTunes, adding the ability to manage recordings on all of your connected HD DVRs. As seen in the screenshot above, v1.2.6 ties into the company’s whole home DVR setup by letting a user control one box directly, then browse recordings stored elsewhere and play them in the room in the room where they are. Also new is the ability to delete DVR’d shows straight from the iPad, and readers tell us that after the upgrade the app has begun working with the revamped HDUI beta that DirecTV started testing a couple of weeks ago. Hit the source link below to grab it for yourself from iTunes.

[Thanks, SV & Stuart]

DirecTV iPad app upgrade adds easy multiroom DVR control, HDUI compatibility originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Sep 2011 21:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon’s FiOS on Demand app brings Flex View streaming to iPad, iPhone originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Sep 2011 11:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While we’ve had access to Adobe’s Flash Player 11 in beta form for months, the company announced it will finally get official, along with Air 3, next month. Among the many new features included are support for accelerated 2D and 3D graphics with a claimed 1,000 times faster performance than Flash Player 10 and Air 2. That’s enough to enable “console-quality” gaming on both computers and connected TVs and on mobile devices (Android, iOS, Playbook) with a pre-release version of Flash 11 (a production release you can take on the go is expected in “the near future”). Other new options include allowing developers to package Air 3 along with their apps in a single install, HD video quality on multiple platforms including iOS, DRM for video rentals, 64-bit support and more. Check out Adobe’s pitch to developers with a press release and demo videos after the break, including a look at the hit iPad game Machinarium which was built with its tools.

Continue reading Adobe’s launching Flash Player 11, Air 3 bringing HD video and 3D gaming to all

Adobe’s launching Flash Player 11, Air 3 bringing HD video and 3D gaming to all originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Sep 2011 07:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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