8/05/2010

Air Video

This is a great application for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. We got this for our iPad two weeks ago so we can watch video in iPad.

To watch all kinds format of video in one of your PC or laptop, you need to install Air Video server in PC or laptop and add video folder(s). There is two Air Video application available in iTune - free version or $2.99 full version.

Those streaming video can be watched in real time(live) or convert to mp4 format. You can convert all videos in large format such as AVI to mp4 to save space. Those mp4 video can be keep in PC or laptop or load to iPad or iPod Touch using iTune for travel.

6/21/2010

Apple releases iOS 4 for iPhone, iPod touch Today

Apple's latest operating system upgrade for the iPhone, iOS 4, was released Monday, packed with over 100 new features including multitasking and folders.




iOS 4 is compatible with iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G, as well as recent generation iPod touch. Multitasking is only available with iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS. iOS 4 also comes preinstalled on the new, $99, 8GB iPhone 3GS, as well as the next-generation iPhone 4, set for release this Thursday.

These are the new features of iOS 4 highlighted by Apple:

* Multitasking: Now you can run your favorite third-party apps —- and switch between them instantly —- without slowing down the performance of the foreground app or draining the battery unnecessarily.

* Folders: Organize apps into folders with drag-and-drop simplicity. Get faster access to your favorites and browse and manage up to 2160 apps.

* Even better Mail: See messages from all your accounts in a unified inbox, organize messages by threads, open attachments in third-party apps, and more.

* iBooks: More than a great ebook reader, iBooks is also an amazing place to browse and shop for books, day or night.

6/07/2010

New iPhone 4 and iOS 4 are here

Today, Apple got a new keynote and provided us good news about new iPhone and iPhoneOS(iOS) 4.

iPhone 4 features:
Multitasking
FaceTime - video call
HD Video Recording and Editing
5-megapixel camera with built-in LED flash
Folders for Apps

5/09/2010

iPad Makes Our Life Easy

iPad 3G version is here. For one month, there are over 1 million iPad been sold.

Why so many iPads have in people hands in such short of time?

People pointed out:

"Mainstream desktop PCs and notebooks do more -- a lot more -- than iPads. They have more input options, more applications, more screen real estate.

They give you more, but they demand more. They require more troubleshooting of problems, more general system maintenance, more file management. They require more and constant learning, just to keep them running. Laptops require more frequent charging. They have more "stuff"connected to them. They cost more money.

This constant embrace of "more" has made life way too complex. Just paying bills, getting kids into college and surviving in the modern world feels like a war against a bombardment of increasing complexity.

As a result, people have begun to gravitate toward simplicity. And that's what's going on with the iPad. iPads do less, but demand much, much less from you."

4/25/2010

钢琴家用iPad当琴弹奏



日前有报导:

"华人钢琴家郎朗,上周一在美国三藩市演奏时,突然拿出苹果iPad平板电脑,用软件来“演奏”一曲。一向在黑白琴键上飞舞的指尖,这回变成在显示屏上跳动,但效果同样技惊四座,博得全场掌声与笑声".

"27岁的郎朗站在台上,用左手拿着iPad,右手好像上了马达一样,在显示屏上劲弹,逗得台上的乐师和台下的观众哈哈笑。这软件是由美籍华人王戈创立的Smule公司研发,它预录了多首歌,使用者只要触碰显示屏上不断闪出的光点,就能“演奏”出名曲"

"郎朗是钢琴家,即使在电脑上弹琴,也特别精彩。《野蜂飞舞》节奏极快,但他不用看着显示屏来弹,弹了6、7秒,软件好像追不上他的手指速度,中间有些音不清楚。郎朗于是举起手、停一停,然后再弹,就弹得很顺了。郎朗一下子换成左手弹,然后又将iPad放在钢琴上,用左手弹真钢琴与右手弹iPad合奏。之后他又将iPad拿给指挥家艾森巴赫弹,极尽视听之娱,全场鼓掌欢呼"

It is called "Magic Piano" made by Smule at price of $1. I got this after reading above news and found it is a great game.

4/23/2010

iPad Camera Kit is here





This camera kit for iPad is working very well. For SC card reader, when it is plugged into iPad, Photo will be up automatically. Camera will show up other than Photos, Albums and Places on the top. All the pictures in SC card will show. Any pictures can be selected(a check mark will show). On the right, a blue color Import can be selected to import pictures. On the left, red color Delete Selected can be clicked to delete selected pictures. During the import, a pop-up window will show us with two options: Import All, Import Selected. After import completed, a question window pop-up with this message: "Import Complete (next line)Would you like to delete imported photos from the attached camera?" with two options: Delete or Keep(as default). After import, under Albums, there are two new Albums related to this import: Last Import containing all newly imported photos and All Imported which contains all imported pictures.

For USB camera connector, it is used to connect iPad with new digital camera(supporting PTP - Picture Transfer Protocol) with a USB cable. As I see, it is for digital camera not using SD card or people like to download pictures from camera to iPad directly without taking out SD card. Once I pluging this connector, digital camera is in play mode so iPad will show all the pictures in the digital camera. Import process is the same as using SD card connector. Other than connect to digital camera with this connector, it can be used to connect iPhone or iPod Touch to import photos to iPad. Another way(from iPad to iPhone or iPod Touch) will not work since I am getting "iPod is not supporting this" message.

This is a nice camera kit to download pictures to iPad without a Mac or PC. It is good for field or on site use.

After reading news about using this USB camera kit connector with USB keyboard, I tried it. It is working! Now, I can use my USB PC keyboard with USB connector in this USB camera kit with iPad.

4/20/2010

iPad Camera Connector Kit is on the way

This camera kit contains two things - USB connector to connect camera to iPad, SD card reader to read SD card in iPad. It was shipped out from China yesterday. We will see how this works.