Hasta La Gadget!

The iPad 2 is coming. We told you what’s likely to happen when Tim Cook takes the stage to show off the next-generation iPad. Tomorrow you can see it unveiled live, right here on live.gizmodo.com, as we provide meta liveblog coverage of the ceremonies. [Gizmodo Live] More »

After three months of testing, the Federal Aviation Administration has approved the use of iPads as an alternative to paper maps and charts for pilots.

Currently the ruling only applies to private airline Executive Jet Management, but could potentially spread to others in the the future as well. The approval process saw iPads tested on 10 different plans across 250 different flights. To help with navigation, pilots can utilize Mobile TC, a map app developed for the iPad by map maker Jeppesen.

The news means that Executive Management pilots won’t have to lug around large files of paper, and it could also be a potential boon for Jeppesen, provided other airlines get aboard the iPad train as well.

“We’ll be able to reuse a lot of the documentation and the lessons learned working with Executive Jet Management to help our commercial customers as they now begin to pursue FAA authorization,” Jeppesen’s Tim Huegel told Wired.

The Freedom Mount will stick an iPad (and soon the Galaxy Tab) to almost anything

The Freedom Mount tablet holder from MountMe will let you mount your iPad (and soon your Galaxy Tab) on almost anything. Its seeminglly ridiculous levels of practicality are only matched by its aesthetic shortcomings.

The rather suggestively named Freedom Mount is a plastic case with a large appendage on the back. When not getting in the way and making it hard to put in a bag, this appendage can be used as a prop or multi-angle kickstand to prop the iPad up on table, leg or couch-arm. But It’s the range of included accessories which really make it flexible. First, there’s a strap which hooks into this rear assembly and wraps around your leg, or the headrest of a car or airplane (or bus or train) seat.

Second are the four suction cups, which hook into the keyhole-shaped cutouts on the Freedom Mount and let you secure the iPad onto mirrors, windows, bathroom tiles and other unsuitable places. Finally, you can opt to screw the mount direct to the wall for a more permanent solution. The mount will tilt and spin in place, so you still have some movement.

Almost every part of this willfully utilitarian design makes me want to ignore it, but it’s the plain bulkiness which seems to be the worst aspect. Right now I can slide my iPad into any bag and not notice it. Adding the MountMe to the setup makes it more like taking a baby out for a trip, which apparently can’t be done without a couple of holdalls worth of “baby stuff.”

The Freedom Mount costs $50 and comes in red, silver and black.

Freedom product page [MountMe. Thanks, Jennifer!]

See Also:

• Fast Work: In-Car, Dash-Mounted iPad
• Gadget Lab Reader Makes iPad Kitchen Stand, Starts Business …
• Photo: iPad Powers BMX Bike-Stereo

The Federal Aviation Administration is moving with the times, it would seem, as it has just granted the first approval for the use of iPads instead of paper charts for informing airline pilots while on duty. There are already a number of EFB (electronic flight bag) devices in use, however the iPad is by far the cheapest and most portable one that’s been validated yet. Executive Jet Management, a charter flight operator, went through three months of testing with the iPad, wherein it was used by 55 pilots on 250 flights, in order to obtain its FAA license to rely exclusively on the Apple tablet for its in-flight mapping data. Other airlines will have to go through the same process in order to dump their big stacks of paper charts for a slinky slate, but the important thing is that the precedent has been set. As to redundancies in case of failure or a software crash, the likeliest scenario is that pilots will carry a spare iPad with them, though there wasn’t even a single (software) crash during the trial period — which also included rapid decompression and electronic interference testing. So there you have it, the iPad’s found itself a grown-up job just in time to retire from its throne as consumer sales leader.

[Thanks, Andrew]

iPad gets approval from FAA to replace paper flight charts and maps originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Mar 2011 09:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’d like to give your iPad the same cosseting your posterior receives when you slot into the sport buckets in your Continental GT then you, good chap, are in luck. Bentley’s “luxury leather partner” Ettinger, which ensures no surface of the vehicles is bereft of animal hide, is releasing a line of gadget cases to cover your iPad, iPhone, or BlackBerry — though it’s unclear exactly which model for the latter. Prices? You’re looking at £45 for either of the phone holsters or £89 for the iPad-sized model. That’s about $73 and $145, respectively, and a lot of cash for a little hide. If you’re still not dissuaded there’s another image of the tablet-sized version and a press release below. Those, at least, are free.

Continue reading Bentley Collection iPad, iPhone, and BlackBerry cases are made of rich, non-Corinthian leather

Bentley Collection iPad, iPhone, and BlackBerry cases are made of rich, non-Corinthian leather originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Feb 2011 20:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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