Apple : Apple evokes 'religious' response from fans |
- Apple evokes 'religious' response from fans
- New MacBook Airs to debut in June/July
- Updated: Top 40 best iPad apps - paid apps
- Apple job posting hints at iCloud streaming service
- Updated: Top 170 best iPad apps
| Apple evokes 'religious' response from fans Posted: 18 May 2011 12:50 PM PDT  A team of British neuroscientists have shed light on the cult-like devotion of Apple fans by revealing that images of iPhones and iPads evoke a religious response from followers. The comments arise from a BBC Three documentary, Secrets of the Superbrands, which investigates how different brands influence our lives. The show focuses on the manic scenes from a London Apple launch. After the Bishop of Buckingham admits that Apple is becoming a religion, the theory is put to the test by using an MRI scanner on the mind of an Apple fanboy when he is exposed to Apple-based stimulus. Stimulating Results showed that the same part of the brain was stimulated as when people of faith are greeted by religious imagery. Series producers Alex Riley and Adam Boone wrote: "When a team of neuroscientists with an MRI scanner took a look inside the brain of an Apple fanatic, it seemed the bishop was on to something, "The results suggested that Apple was actually stimulating the same parts of the brain as religious imagery does in people of faith." The show's producers also referred to the frenzy of an Apple launch at London's Regent's Street store as being like an "evangelical prayer meeting." Secrets of the Superbrands, which also shines the spotlight on Google, Microsoft and Nokia, can be viewed on the iPlayer for the next month. |
| New MacBook Airs to debut in June/July Posted: 18 May 2011 02:42 AM PDT  Amid rumours of delays to other Apple products, sources in Apple's Taiwanese supply chain have said that the new batch of MacBook Air notebooks are on track for a summer launch. The anonymous sources told Digitimes that shipments of the Airs will begin in late May, ready for a commercial launch in June or July. According to the same suppliers, the new slimline Apples will feature Intel's Sandy Bridge chipset as well as Thunderbolt, the high-speed fibre-optic file transfer system developed by Apple and Intel. Thunderation Thunderbolt first made an appearance in the latest round of MacBook Pros, and is strongly mooted to make its way to all new Mac products. The new Airs will be available with 11.6-inch and 13.3-inch displays, if the anonymous suppliers are to be believed. None of this comes as much of a surprise to anyone, but it's nice to hear that at least one set of upcoming Apple products seems to be on track. |
| Updated: Top 40 best iPad apps - paid apps Posted: 18 May 2011 01:44 AM PDT  The iPad already has loads of great apps available for it. Some are universal, optimising themselves accordingly for your iPad or iPhone. Some are 'upgrades' of iPhone apps, reworked for iPad. And some are entirely new apps, designed specifically for Apple's table. We worked our way through the App Store and furiously tested a huge (digital) pile of apps, before coming up with our 40 best paid-for iPad apps. 1. 1Password for iPad (£5.99) Online security is increasingly important, and it's recommended you use 'random', complicated passwords for logins. The thing is, they're tough to remember, which is why 1Password is a handy app to install. It enables you to store website names and passwords for automatic login. Unlike the Mac version, 1Password for iPad doesn't integrate with Safari, instead using a built-in browser, but it's a no-brainer for safeguarding details you don't want anyone else to have access to.
2. Air Display (£5.99, universal) If your iPad's sitting unused in your office while you work on your Mac or Windows PC, Air Display enables you to turn your tablet into a second display. It's likely using VNC, so updates aren't fast enough for video, but the app's fine for palettes, inspectors, IM apps and browser windows, and although you can move your mouse cursor to the iPad, you can also control your computer's windows via the touchscreen.
3. Air Sharing HD (£5.99) Apple seems to think email and iTunes are the best ways to get documents on and off your iPad. If you want something better, Air Sharing HD enables you to wirelessly copy across files via Finder or Windows Explorer, or to grab attachments from email accounts. Items within the app can be managed, viewed, opened in another app, emailed, or printed via a shared printer on your network.
4. Air Video (£1.79, universal) Air Video Free grabbed a slot in our best free iPad apps feature, but the paid-for Air Video release is even better. Lacking restrictions, it enables you to browse full playlists and folders from computers on your network running the free Air Video Server, enabling you to stream video. The app uses live conversion when necessary and works with AirPlay if you have an Apple TV.
5. FlipTime XL (£1.19) In our opinion, FlipTime for iPhone is the best clock app ever designed. The iPad version is pretty much identical, aping old-school flight info boards and including alarms and a 'flickable' calendar. Luckily, this means it's still utterly brilliant.
6. FTP On The Go PRO (£5.99, universal) FTP On The Go PRO is used to view web and office files on a server, and to resize and upload images from your photo library. There's also a built-in editor and browser, making the app almost resemble a 'lite' iPad version of Panic's Coda.
7. GoodReader for iPad (£2.99) If you want a good PDF reader for iPad, it makes sense to buy one called GoodReader! Luckily, the app lives up to its name. You can connect to various services (or dump documents into the app via iTunes file sharing), and the app is effective for reading PDFs (and also other text files, such as Office and iWork documents). The app now also enables annotations.
8. Instapaper (£2.99, universal) If you often find yourself thinking "I'll read that later", but you never do, you need Instapaper. It enables you, with the help of a bookmarklet, to fling web content to the service, which then syncs with the iPad app. This provides you with a focused, high-quality reading experience on a device that's great for reading. A number of iPad and iPhone apps also offer 'send to Instapaper' support.
9. Korg iElectribe (£5.99) If you're lucky, you might be able to pick up an Electribe-R on eBay for £100. By contrast, Korg iElectribe costs six quid and yet it's essentially the same piece of kit that's revered by dance musicians. While it's great fun for mucking about with, the app also has serious potential for live performance and recording duties.
10. LogMeIn Ignition (£17.99, universal) Yet another universal app that suddenly makes sense on the iPad's larger screen, LogMeIn Ignition enables you to access and control computers remotely. Set-up is simple and the app is usable, assuming you've a reasonably fast internet connection. The iPad version also helpfully includes Command+Tab and Command+' shortcuts for Mac users, assuming you have the slightly cryptic 'Alt=Command, Windows=Alt' setting selected in LogMeIn Ignition's 'Remote Control' preferences.
11. Numbers (£5.99) The best of the three iWork apps for iPad, Numbers feels right at home on Apple's tablet. The intelligent keyboard is a joy to use when entering data, and you can create forms that make adding data to tables a cinch. If your needs are modest, this app can rival Bento for data management, and it's capable of exporting to Numbers for Mac, Excel and PDF.
12. OmniGraffle (£29.99) OmniGraffle feels right at home on the iPad, using the touchscreen as a canvas. The diagramming tool - which you can use to create flowcharts, sketch out ideas, and even plan an office floorplan - is intuitive and straightforward, enabling you to make full use of multi-touch gestures to draw, drag and style shapes.
13. Pages (£5.99) Another iWork app converted to the iPad, Pages is a successful word processor, offering some interesting multi-touch gestures for editing content. In combination with a keyboard dock or Bluetooth keyboard, it's possible to do real work on the iPad using Pages, even if the app lacks some features from the desktop version.
14. Photogene for iPad (£1.79) Photogene is similar to the iPhone version in being a simple tool for making quick image edits: cropping, resizing, straightening, levels adjustment and sharing. Usefully, the app includes session restore and the ability to revert any section's edits, ensuring you can experiment without fear.
15. Pianist Pro (£2.99) This upgrade of MooCowMusic's iPhone app is a useful tool for musicians. On the iPad, the piano keys on Pianist Pro are large enough to actually play a real song. There's a selection of sampled piano, organ and synth sounds included, along with an arpeggiator, a basic drum machine and recording functionality, making this a suitable app for laying down quick demos.
16. SketchBook Pro (£2.99) We're big fans of SketchBook on the iPhone, and this high-def version, SketchBook Pro, makes it even easier to sketch out an artistic image. The tools are amazingly advanced, mirroring what you might see in Photoshop, Painter or in a real artist's shop. (Image credit: Michael Heald, fullyillustrated.com)
17. Soulver (£3.49) It's hard to categorise Soulver - the app is a mixture of calculator, spreadsheet and the back of an envelope. It enables you to make calculations in plain English, using a multi-line display. The large, friendly keyboard includes useful features such as percentages and user-definable variables, and Soulver for iPad therefore comes recommended as an alternative, superior take on a calculator.
18. Things (£11.99) Things is a task manager for iPhone and Mac, well-regarded due to its innovative, efficient means of filing items, which helps you focus. New to-dos are collected in your inbox, and you define what you want to achieve today, soon (via the 'Next' category), soonish (via 'Scheduled') or at some point in the distant future ('Someday'). On the iPad, Things boasts an intuitive interface, making using the app almost effortless.
19. Twittelator for iPad (£2.99) Twittelator for iPad is a Twitter client which makes full use of the iPad's screen space. On the left is your feed; on the right is everything else: messages, mentions, searches and drafts. This means you don't leave your feed to do other stuff. There are also loads of options for power users, but the default set-up's fine for anyone who doesn't like to tinker.
20. Weather Station Pro (£1.19) It's not the most feature-packed weather app, but Weather Station Pro is one of the best-looking ones. It provides current conditions for user-defined locations; for one selected location, you also get a five-day forecast, sunrise and sunset times, and local time information, making the app suitable for use as a clock when your iPad's docked.
21. Comic Zeal Comic Reader (£4.99, universal) Comics remains our favourite comics app for iPad, but Comic Zeal is great if you've comics in CBR, CBZ, RAR, ZIP or PDF formats, lurking on your hard drive. It deals well with large images, and the interface has useful customisation options.
22. Weather Pro for iPad (£2.99) Without doubt the best weather app for Europeans, and still a good buy elsewhere, Weather Pro provides a great interface for at-a-glance forecasts for the week ahead. You can store as many favourite locations as you wish, and cloud and rainfall radars are included.
23. miniSynth PRO (£5.99) miniSynth PRO is another app that shows the iPad isn't just for content consumption. This full-featured synth offers plenty of sliders and settings for retro-oriented keyboard players. The arpeggiator is particularly impressive, and the ability to save presets and output audio for the likes of GarageBand and Logic makes this app well worth the outlay.
24. The World Factbook for iPad (£1.19) The CIA World Factbook, with information on over 250 countries, comes to the iPad. The content is updated regularly, but works offline, and the interface provides fast access to succinct, informative facts about chosen countries. Built-in comparison charts are also available, appearing in context as pop-ups.
25. Reeder for iPad (£2.99) Not just the best iPad RSS reader, Reeder is the best RSS reader for any platform. Forget the gimmicky 'zoom to peek' gesture for checking out a feed's latest articles—where Reeder truly shines is in its sheer usability. So much care has gone into making navigation simple and effortless, and aesthetic decisions taken by the developer have resulted in clear, readable content throughout.
26. My Writing Spot for iPad (£2.99) With Apple's Pages available, you might question the reasoning in buying another word processor. However, My Writing Spot takes things back to basics, concentrating purely on writing, not presentation; it offers auto-save, automatic word count, and a choice of font style, and keeps everything simple and focussed.
27. Flowpaper (£0.59, universal) A painting tool of sorts, Flowpaper supplies you with a handful of complex, sweeping, flowing brushes that you can use to make abstract paintings. The results can be shared and often make good home screen backgrounds, although whoever added an undo button but no redo needs a slap.
28. OmniFocus for iPad (£23.99) It's been a long time coming, but Omni Group's task manager has hit the iPad, and in style. As you'd expect, OmniFocus for iPad happily syncs with OmniFocus for other platforms, but it also works nicely as a standalone product. The interface is workmanlike but highly usable, enabling you to efficiently detail, edit and review tasks and schedules; a standout feature is the new 'forecast' view that bundles overdue items and provides an overview of the week ahead.
29. Photo fx Ultra (£2.99) The iPad's fairly large screen makes it ideal for adding effects to your photos. Photo fx Ultra offers a wide range of digital optical filters, enabling you to enhance your images and add effects. Its layers feature is weak, but for applying one or two filters, straightening and cropping, this app does the job ably.
30. FlickStackr (£1.19, universal) FlickStackr deals with two major concerns of regular Flickr users: browsing and managing photos. On the former task, FlickStackr makes it a cinch to browse Flickr as a whole, or view slideshows of your contacts' images. For uploading, there's a user-friendly interface for grabbing images on your iPad, adding tags and sending your selection to Flickr.
31. GarageBand for iPad (£2.99) Apple's music studio comes to iPad in a cut-down but still surprisingly feature-packed form. For guitarists, GarageBand for iPad boasts plenty of amps and effects; for newcomers, there are smart instruments aplenty. Only for electronic musicians is GarageBand a little weak, but for three quid it's a decent investment, and the ability to export to the Mac version boosts its value.
32. Korg iMS-20 (£9.49) Another recreation of a classic Korg synth that costs a fraction of the real thing, Korg iMS-20 includes a sequencer, drum machine, mixer and effects, along with touch-based Kaoss pads. With support for the Camera Connection Kit, this is a first-rate software synth for professional musicians.
33. Brushes - iPad edition (£4.99) Steve Sprang's Brushes app became famous on the iPhone when it was used to create covers for the New Yorker. On the iPad edition of Brushes, the larger screen makes for a better experience, and while it doesn't offer the depth of some of its rivals, Brushes remains a highly usable and responsive painting app.
34. AmpliTube for iPad (£11.99) If GarageBand doesn't satisfy your iOS needs as a guitarist, AmpliTube is the app you should check out next. There are presets to choose from, but braver guitarists can mess with myriad settings; and if you find the content you get with the app restrictive, further effects and features (including an eight-track recorder) are available via IAP.
35. iA Writer (£0.59) Writing app iA Writer has a real penchant for minimalism, with its grey-on-grey visuals, take-it-or-leave-it set-up and 'focus mode', which enables you to concentrate more heavily on only a few lines of text in your current document. For 59p, iA Writer is a bargain and highly recommended, even if you already have a couple of writing apps installed.
36. iMovie (£2.99, universal) Apple's iMovie was a big deal on the iPhone, but the iPad version of iMovie takes things some way further. The interface is similar to the impressive iMovie for Mac, and while there are limitations (notably regarding audio and footage import), it's a great app to own if you want to knock rushes into shape before fine-tuning an edit later on your computer.
37. Inkpad (£2.99) From the team behind Brushes, Inkpad is a vector-based drawing app, with tools and an interface that resemble a stripped-down Adobe Illustrator. Although a little lacking in tools that enable precision art to be created, export to SVG means Inkpad can at least be used for sketches and ideas that can then be continued on your Mac or PC.
38. TuneIn Radio Pro (£0.59, universal) This first-rate internet radio player removes any reason for you to buy a digital radio - just pay 59p for TuneIn Radio Pro and output audio to an AirPlay device or to an amp (using one of those old-fashioned wire things). With multitasking support and plenty of options (including recording), you won't find a better radio app for your iPad.
39. Penultimate for iPad (£1.19) There's a laudable sense of focus in Penultimate, which has fine-tuned its handwriting app without shoving in unnecessary features. To that end, you get a robust writing tool (with palm recognition), alternate paper types and PDF export.
40. The Elements: A Visual Exploration (£7.99) Still one of the few digital books that fully takes advantage of a touchscreen interface, The Elements: A Visual Exploration gives you serious insight into the periodic table. Behind the gloss are plenty of facts, and the only negative is the app's huge size (1.71 GB), which might put off anyone with a 16GB iPad.
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| Apple job posting hints at iCloud streaming service Posted: 17 May 2011 01:41 PM PDT  Speculation that Apple plans to launch a cloud-based music streaming service continues to gather pace following the latest job posting on the company's official website. The advertisement for a "Media Streaming Engineering Manager" seems to confirm multiple reports that Apple has completed its work on the service and is preparing for launch. The posting, first noticed by AppleInsider, is asks for "an excellent engineering manager to join our team and help develop our media streaming engine for our iOS, Mac OS X, and Windows products." The successful candidate will join Apple's Interactive Media Group (IMG) in Santa Clara Valley, which works on QuickTime, Safari and iTunes among other pieces of Apple software. Media streaming The job posting requests applications from those who have experience designing media streaming systems. Apple is thought to have finished building the cloud-based music streaming service and already has two of the main music labels signed-on. It is believed that Apple's music storage service will, like Music Beta by Google, offer users the chance to store and stream their own music, while also offering a Spotify-like subscription service The company is also rumoured to have bought-up, the iCloud.com demain name. |
| Updated: Top 170 best iPad apps Posted: 17 May 2011 05:00 AM PDT  Whether you have an iPad or iPad 2 that means deciding which apps you should purchase and download right away. We tested the launch apps when the first iPad became available in the US and we ranked them below based on how they test out, if they make use of the larger screen, and any added perks. When the iPad became available in the UK, we trawled the UK App Store to pick our favourite free iPad apps, paid-for iPad apps, free iPad games and paid-for iPad games. You'll find links to all those round-ups at the end of this article. 1. Kindle for iPad Why list a free e-book reader as the top pick when Apple's own iBook is included? Ask anyone who owns a Kindle - with this free app, you can download every book and magazine you have ever purchased for free and read them on the iPad. The Kindle reader doesn't have the annoying grayscale book spine of the iBook reader, and books through Amazon are cheaper. There's also a much wider selection. And, one of the best ways to use the iPad is for reading books, mags, and newspapers.
2. Blackboard Mobile Learn The second free app that tops our list, Blackboard Mobile Learn is a classroom learning tool where teachers can make assignments, interact with students, write blogs, and post grades. It requires a backend infrastructure. Currently available only for higher-ed schools, Blackboard will add K-12 support by June.
3. Scrabble Scrabble is another app that is just an ideal fit for the iPad. The classic word-cross board game is well-designed with wooden tiles that look realistic. With the accurate touchscreen control, it is easy to slide tiles around on screen.
4. Groovemaker Groovemaker is like having a DJ on your iPad. There's an easy to way to record and mix loops, add drum parts, and adjust sound levels to make a song. Samples clips sound great, especially on earbuds. The app is ideal for live music at parties as well.
5. Things We know all about Things - the well-regarded task manager for iPhone and Mac. On the iPad, once again the app just has a new life because it's like carrying around a clipboard with all your to-do items in one easy-to-access bucket.
6. Fieldrunners Fieldrunners - the classic tower defense game for iPhone where you drop cannons to shoot advancing armies - has always needed some extra screen real estate. On iPad, the game looks crisp and colorful, but most importantly there is more room to plan out your strategy and divide up your units in a logical array.
7. Netflix Netflix is on so many devices it is becoming a legitimate standard for streaming movies over the internet. (It's on the Roku player, Samsung BD-C6500 Blu-Ray player, and many others.) Now, it is on the iPad, and it works: you can even set up a movie queue and search for films and shows, unlike other embedded devices that force you to add instant movies to your queue on your PC only.
8. Pianist Pro MooCowMusic got an early jump with its iPhone port of this useful piano tool. On the iPad, the keys are large enough to actually play a real song. There's plenty of sampled piano sounds - even a church organ - and a quick way to record.
9. WeatherBug Elite WeatherBug Elite is a perfect example of why the iPad is changing computing: it shows a well-detailed map of your exact location, forecasts, video, and even camera feeds from your area. There are even contour maps for wind speed and temp.
10. FlightTrack Pro This iPhone port works exceptionally well on the iPad, mostly because you can see a large map that shows your flight departure and arrival. Pop-ups after you enter the flight info remind you about when the flight is ready to take off.
11. Pages Apple knew full well that Microsoft would not move an inch to support the iPad, so Pages is the best (and only!) word processing app. Combined with the iPad Dock with an Apple Bluetooth keyboard, it is possible to do real work on the iPad, even if Pages lacks some key features - such as HTML mark-up support.
12. Tweetdeck Another brilliant port to iPad, Tweetdeck shows you the feeds of your Twitter friends, your own mentions, and your direct messages. It works well because there is enough screen space to actually read all of this content.
13. Keynote Keynote is worth the price of admission if only because you can set up an attractive slideshow - using Apple's templates and stock artwork - and run it on the iPad's crisp screen - which is viewable from side angles during a meeting.
14. Mirror's Edge The PC and console versions of Mirror's Edge never really caught on due to minimalistic gameplay mechanics. On the iPad, the story is still confusing (is she running from enemies, trying to collect info about them?) but the action is better. You flick and jump to avoid obstacles in a side-scrolling window, and there's a few interesting additions - such as tilting the screen to run faster.
15. ABC Player The ABC Player on the iPad is a must download - it provides the best way to watch TV shows from the US network for free. Most importantly, it works quite well over a Wi-Fi connection without some of the latency problems on the desktop.
16. Labyrinth Lite HD More than just a simple wood-block puzzle where you move a marble from one end of the box to another, Labyrinth Lite HD has expanded to provide a tougher challenge with switches, rotating dials, and other obstacles. The iPad version is just right: it really feels like you are playing the classic puzzle game.
17. Yahoo! Entertainment We were surprised to discover this colorful, well-designed app - which shows you TV listings for your area as well as video snippets and news.
18. SketchBook Pro We're big fans of SketchBook on the iPhone, and this high-def version just makes it even easier to sketch out an artistic image. The tools are amazingly advanced, mirroring what you might see in Photoshop or in a real artist's shop.
19. OmniGraffle OmniGraffle has never quite fit a device like it fits the iPad. This diagramming tool - which you can use to create flowcharts, sketch out ideas, and even plan an office floorplan - is just pick-up-and-go easy on the smooth touchscreen.
20. AIM AOL still exists? Yes - in theory. On the iPad, this instant messaging client looks great and, coupled with the responsive soft keyboard, is actually one of the best ways to communicate with friends, short of a video chat in a future iPad version.
Best iPad apps for UK buyers Top 50 best free iPad apps Many great free iPhone apps cost 59p or more in their iPad incarnations, and the quality level of what's still free is often ropey. But among the dross lie rare gems - iPad apps that are so good you can't believe they're still free. Of those we unearthed, here are our favourites.
Read Top 50 best free iPad apps Top 40 best paid-for iPad apps We worked our way through the App Store and furiously tested a huge (digital) pile of apps, before coming up with our 40 best paid-for iPad apps.
Read Top 40 best paid-for iPad apps Top 40 best free iPad games The App Store offers plenty of iPad gaming goodness for the (unintentional or otherwise) skinflint. Our pick of the 30 best free iPad games are below.
Read Top 30 best free iPad games 30 best iPad games worth paying for With the iPad, the larger screen and extra clout from Apple's A4 chip creates a gaming experience markedly superior compared to that on the iPhone, and already there are plenty of fantastic titles for the system. Here are our ten current top 30 paid-for iPad games.
Read 30 best iPad games worth paying for
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