In many ways, Facebook for iPad looks the same as it does on any other device (download it here!). But it feels different. It’s immersive, and visual and intuitive and takes advantage of the unique capabilities tablets provide. More »
Facebook's iPad app is available today. Image: TechCrunch
It seemed like it would never arrive, but at long last, Facebook has released its iPad app.
One of the key features of the iPad-specific app is its integration with other iOS apps: The Facebook app will send you straight to other apps when you navigate to them from a friend’s news post or status update. For example, if a friend posted a link from The Daily, clicking the link would take you to The Daily app itself. The app also supports high-res photos that you can flip through like a photo album, as well as the ability to see where friends are located via with the Nearby mapping feature.
Facebook’s iPad app was rumored to debut last week at Apple’s iPhone event, but was a no-show. Earlier this summer, the app was discovered hidden inside the iPhone app. By tweaking a setting when running it on your iPad, you could access the iPad version — until the hack was disabled.
We’ll soon have a hands-on with the new app to let you know how it works, but in the meantime, you can get the app yourself from the App Store.
Kind of like eating a peanut butter sandwich with no jelly, the most obvious app missing from the iPad has been Facebook — until today. The New York Times reports that the site has finally confirmed the app’s availability just in time for eager social networkers to like, subscribe and stalk from their slates. According to software engineer Leon Dubinsky, the app will highlight the multitouch awesomeness of the iPad, something that’s unavailable from the website alone even from a touchscreen device. The folks at FB also added that some of the newly released features will be integrated into the iPhone app as well, making it a win / win for iOS fanatics. Consider it liked. Check out the brief PR after the break.
Continue reading The iPad gets a Facebook app, finally
Filed under: Tablet PCs
The iPad gets a Facebook app, finally originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Oct 2011 16:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Child’s 50-year-old classic will launch as an ebook this week
When it comes to media, these days I’m pretty much all digital, all the time. Books, TV, movies, music — nothing sinks into my brain without first running through an iPad or a Kindle. But in one area, I’m as much of a Luddite as my friend Jimmy (who “doesn’t believe in GPS”): cook books.
Why? Paper books are still way easier to browse than electronic. They’re also more resilient to splashes. And I must admit that even thought I’m not a “page sniffer” like Jimmy, I still like the physical nature of a pile of cookbooks. Maybe its because it signals to guests that I take cooking seriously.
But as with everything, cookbooks will end up on Kindles and iPads. This week, Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking will launch in electronic form. The publisher — Alfred A. Knopf — has tried to digitize the classic 1961 text once before, but internal politics and layout problems led to the project’s cancellation.
Child’s famous book isn’t the first electronic cookbook, of course. It’s not even the first of Child’s books to make it to the Kindle. But as a loved classic, it signals the final stage in the conversion of books from print to e-ink (or LCD screens).
It also highlights one of the big problems with bringing old manuscripts into the modern age. Despite being in print since the 60s, the publisher has never had the book in electronic form. The entire 762 pages had to be retyped.
Mastering the Art of French Cooking will launch Wednesday, for $20.
Adapting Julia Child for E-Readers [NYT. Thanks, Mr.Abell!]
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Rock out with your, ahem, phone out
GhostGuitar is an app that will revolutionize the air guitar industry. No longer do you have to imagine the awesome sounds that you’re pumping out of your imaginary axe. Instead, you can use your talented hands to pump out actual power chords. As the promo blurb says, “Finally. A real air guitar.”
The app uses the front-facing camera in your iPhone or iPad 2 to track your hands, and then you strum with your right hand whilst fretting chords with your left. Sometimes, you can even pick individual strings.
Once you get used to it, the tracking works surprisingly well. It is most accurate at a couple of feet away – I had trouble getting it to see my hands from, further away, although if I put on a black t-shirt (the official air-guitar uniform) then I’d probably be ok.
You can pick guitars, choose chord progressions, use effects pedals, and there’s even a “Ghost Band” to accompany you.
There’s more. If you can sing (or not, I guess) then you can also record vocals on your masterpiece. Did I say “record”? Yes. You can record your work, and if you make a particularly excellent performance, you can save it as a sound or video file and then share it with whoever you love (or hate) the most.
I was a complete skeptic coming in, but the game turns out to be pretty awesome. It’s no Garage Band, but you’re pretty much guaranteed to get more than $2 worth of fun out of it. A bargain.
GhostGuitar [App Store. Thanks, Jessie!]
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Real Racing 2 shows off iPhone 4S’ graphical chops, brings split screen gaming to iOS (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Oct 2011 07:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
As an Engadget reader, you’ll gain extra street cred if you’re using an iPhone and, well, a non-iPhone at the same time; or maybe you’ve got all your media content on an iPod instead of having everything on your non-Apple smartphone. Either way, this means that you’d need to carry at least two types of cables for emergency charging on the go. To save the hassle, PANS Ltd. from Japan has come up with a neat solution: Umiushi Smapho 2800, which is apparently the industry’s first external battery with a built-in iPod dock connector and a micro-USB plug, both of which can be used simultaneously to sip on the 2,800mAh reservoir with 5V 1A output. Sure, you could alternatively just get hold of Apple’s micro-USB adapter and keep one micro-USB cable with you, but if you’re also looking for an external battery anyway then the option’s there, too. Expect to see the Smapho 2800 in various markets in two months’ time.
Gallery: Umiushi Smapho 2800 portable charger
Umiushi Smapho 2800 portable charger hands-on: one plug for iPhone, another one for micro-USB originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Oct 2011 14:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The next version of XBMC isn’t ready for prime time yet, but the team behind it is already talking about what’s being added and tweaked in v11.0, a.k.a Eden. This is the first major release since the media player app added iPad, iPhone and Apple TV support and as such improved touchscreen support is high on the list. We can also expect a new “Files” view in the video library, a different default skin, improved CPU / GPU efficiency, customizable home screens and other UI tweaks as seen above. Now that the list of features is pretty much locked down we’ll be expecting a beta, and eventually final release, but you can hit the source link to dive in early and help test everything out.
XBMC teases new features coming in 11.0 ‘Eden’ release originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Oct 2011 20:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apple: 250 million iOS devices sold, 18 billion apps downloaded originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Oct 2011 13:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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“Thanks, but no thanks.” That’s essentially what Apple told Samsung today, in rejecting an offer to end their ongoing patent dispute in Australia. Samsung’s proposed settlement, presented on Friday, would’ve allowed the manufacturer to sell its Galaxy Tab 10.1 within Australia as early as this week, despite Apple’s contention that the tablet infringes upon a handful of its patents. The agreement would’ve also resulted in a speedy court decision, but today, Cupertino told an Australian court that the proposal was simply unacceptable. “It is one we don’t accept and there is no surprise,” Apple attorney Steven Burley told reporters. “The main reason we are here is to prevent the launch and maintain the status quo.” Samsung’s lawyers, meanwhile, acknowledged that the rejection now lessens the chances for any settlement at all, arguing that a truce “is not going to be achievable… given the positions advanced by each party,” and that the litigation may extend well into 2012. One of the Samsung’s attorneys, Neil Young, added that his client isn’t in a rush to conclude the dispute, speculating that it may take until March to prepare its defense. “If we can’t get a decision out by mid-October, there is no urgency,” Young explained. Neither Samsung nor Apple have offered official comment on today’s developments, but we’ll keep you abreast of the latest.
Apple rejects Samsung’s settlement offer in Australia, seeks to ‘maintain the status quo’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Oct 2011 04:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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