Apple's News - iPad, AppleTV

There was a lot of chatter in the run-up to Apple's presser this week, mostly that there wasn't likely to be anything big, but rather important though incremental improvements.  And that's pretty much what happened, although I think that some of the AppleTV improvements may turn out to have a big impact on the TV-watching experience.

  Apple announced a better screen and faster processor for the iPad. and an upgrade to 4G cellular connectivity.  The processor and 4G will both have a noticeable impact on speed in some applications, but don't bring anything new to the tablet.  Apple improved the rear camera to the point where it's capable of recording 1080p video.  The potentially innovative feature was to add the voice-recognition component of Siri, in the form of a "voice dictation" option on the virtual keyboard; if that works well, it will make using iPads for writing easier.
  On the TV front, Apple announced an upgrade of the AppleTV box to be able to deliver 1080p content to your TV, a modest improvement needed to remain competitive with Roku and other net-video boxes and access points.  Apple also announced a software revision that they hope will offer an improved user experience, and announced plans to try to integrate the AppleTV more fully into the iCloud, which should provide users with better access to their content in the Cloud and on other devices.  The Apple TV, however, remains more of a "walled garden" than its competitors, in restricting connectivity to a very limited range of options, which is likely to continue to limit its overall impact.  Still the upgrade to full 1080p does make it more of a full competitor for HD viewing options, and will support the growing use of online video for entertainment-oriented TV viewing.

Source -  New iPad Revealed,  Canoe.ca

iPad apps for "junior broadcasters" and/or citizen journalists

From Tech & Learning website - A Catalog of iPad apps for Teachers and Students

Television and Broadcasting for High School Students
Clapper Board  $19.99 a convenient, all-in-one digital slate, clapper board, shot log, and shot notepad— designed for use in film, TV, documentaries, music videos, and interviews.
Storyboard Composer $19.99 mobile storyboard and pre-visualization composer designed for Directors, Directors of Photography, Producers, Writers, Animators, Art Directors, film students and anyone who wants to be able to visualize their story.
ProPrompter $9.99 features professional settings for fonts, font sizes, background colors, scroll speeds, mirroring, looping, landscape, portrait and automatic orientation modes, adjustable countdown, cue points for fast re-cueing, support for international language fonts, editing, direct script creation, remote control and a complete help menu.
8mm HD $2.99 capture the beauty and magic of old school vintage movies.  Dust & scratches, retro colors, flickering, light leaks, frame jitters - all can be instantly added with a single tap or swipe.
Scripts Pro $5.99 When writing in desktop screenplay programs, you forget about the program all together and are focused entirely on writing your story. The same thing is true with Scripts Pro because there is no cluttered interface or complex solutions to writing.

Rumors on iPad 3 - Gotta wait til 2012

Just to pass along, a couple of stories today indicating that Apple's started to test some of the components likely to appear in the next generation of iPads.  Expectations are that the iPad3 will feature a higher-resolution screen, with wider viewing angle and better visibility in sunlight, and a new processing chip.  With testing just beginning, the pundits don't expect the iPad3 to be available for public sale before the second quarter of 2012.

Sources: "Apple nears trial production of high-res iPad 3 coming in early 2012", Apple Insider
"Apple preps iPad 3 for 2012 launch", Fierce Cable

The New News Junkie

How can a news junkie remain informed without subscribing to any newspaper and not watching news on TV?  These days, it's easier than you might think - if you're connected.  In a piece for MacWorld, Lex Friedman writes on how he uses the Internet to keep informed, doing most of his reading through his iPad.
The article is worth a read, but the main point is Friedman takes advantage of RSS subscriptions to have headlines and stories sent from news sites as they're posted, and several apps to improve readability and archiving.  Twitter gives an increasingly good window on breaking news and stories.  These let him keep track of key focus areas.  But Friedman also recognizes that news aggregators, like newspapers and TV news, by gathering broadly (rather than more narrow RSS focus) can expose you to other interesting items.  And as they say, "There's apps for that."  Friedman notes he does have several old media news apps (NY Times, Reuters, CNN, USA Today) in a folder; they aren't daily reads for him - more a set of places to go for different takes on stories.  The story mentions a number of apps, as do some of the comments.
The Internet can certainly bring news faster than most any other medium, and can offer access to more detail and depth on stories than most media can afford to bring.  On the other hand, there's still value in news judgment and the vetting of information that used to be the emphasis of journalism.  It would seem to be a good mix, but Friedman notes that most old media news sites aren't very user-friendly - hard to navigate, too full of content to sift through, and rarely helpful in pointing to other sources of information.  Almost as if their mindset is still in the analog mass media world, rather than embracing the potential for user-customization online news could provide.

Source: "How a news junkie uses the iPad,"  MacWorld

iPad Dominance slipping

From Sean Siegel:

This article was interesting talking about apple's dominance with the iPad. They don't believe its going to last as long as people think. I know for someone who has a sister who works at the apple store, she would be happy if the lines for the iPad and new products calmed down just a little bit. I definitely think the iPad will continue to be a hot selling product and dominate the market until a competitor comes up with something better.

 

Source: "Nielsen numbers show iPad dominance slipping," RCRWireless Unplugged

More on Apple tracking

From Jennifer Sprouse:

 

The Huffington Post has released an article on Apple finally speaking up over the allegations that they've been using the iPhones to track their customers. Apple has been somewhat logging informations of where their users are. What they claim right now is that it's not tracking the user, but the phone through Wi-Fi hotspots and cellphone towers. 

 

Source: "Apple: We've 'Never' Tracked Your Phone,"  Huffington Post

Not so Fast - Conde Nast holds iPad releases

From Francesca Freed:

Conde Nast already has several of its more popular titles available in iPad versions, but it's holding off from releasing any more in the foreseeable future. It had originally planned to release all its titles in iPad format.
Apparently iPad versions of magazines, which, conceptually, have been touted as the future of magazine journalism, aren't doing as well as they had hoped.
Conde Nast still seems optimistic about the future of these versions (calling their work with them so far "a learning experience"), but the fact remains that they've totally changed course.

 

Source: "Conde Nast Slows iPad Edition Releases," Folio:

Radio Goes Social

Radio Mega-Group owner Clear Channel recently announced that it's releasing an iPad version of its fairly popular iHeartRadio app (joining versions for iPod, iPhone, BlackBerry and Android).  The app not only allows users to stream audio from 750 Clear Channel radio stations, but also to station Twitter feeds and information on upcoming songs.  The new version aims to take advantage of the iPad's larger screen to add social media features (sharing stations and a variety of audio and video content).
Last August, Clear Channel had reported that more than 10 million of the apps had been downloaded, and that 15% of all terrestrial radio listening.

Source: "Clear Channel Brings iHeartRadio to iPad" MediaDailyNews

iPads for Preschool?

From Jocelyn Blake:

The Los Angeles Times reported that "A school district in Maine is proposing to spend about $200,000 on Apple iPad 2s to get the devices into the hands of about 300 kindergartners." This article caught my eye because as we discuss our Next Big Thing, this proves that companies are producing technology that makes the public feel the need to purchase. I grew up in the poorest zip code in Memphis and I doubt that our schools system would dish out $200, 000 for iPads. In the case of Maine, it is viewed as a necessity for children to learn. Somehow the use of this mind boggling product will improve the reading of 5 year olds. I will agree that children are more likely to retain information when they are stimulated and engaged. However, I'm not sure if this was the best way to go about it. 

Source: LA Times Technology Blog

Comment from Ben Bates
There's a researcher, Sherry Turkle, (now at MIT), who's been studying how young kids can learn to play and use computing since the 1980s.  Part of her findings is that you don't need formal language skills or formal programming skills to use computers - that young kids can use a more visually-based iconic system to use computers for play and other things.  iPads make more sense than laptops in that case.

Tablets grab share of PC market

Tablets, smartphones, and other mobile devices are making serious inroads into the business computing marketplace. Tablets in particular are seen as giving employees choice and flexibility in doing most of the simpler types of business computing. A recent bulletin from research firm Gartner, suggests that business leaders are open to the potential competitive advantage that mobile applications can bring.  One result is their prediction that tablets are headed for the business enterprise "in a big way." 
This potential is also behind the recent reduction in analysts' predictions of worldwide PC market growth from 9% to 4%.  With Microsoft at least a year away from a tablet OS, and the larger PC manufacturer's having difficulty producing tablets competitive with the iPad, this gives Apple a head start on the future "business mobile" market..

Source: "Microsoft Could Lose More Than Consumer Market to Tablets," Information Week

TV for iPad app

Time Warner Cable has launched a new iPad app that extends its adoption of the "TV Everywhere" concept.  Initially, the app will offer access to 30 cable channels through a subscriber's home WiFi network.  TW indicated that over time, they will add capacity to access programming outside the home, to set a DVR to record programs, and to use the iPad as a remote control.
Comcast had offered a similar iPad app last November allowing access to video-on-demand (VOD) programs, and plans to offer access to live programs later this year, and plans to offer an Android app accessing VOD later this month.

Source: "Time Warner Cable Offers TV-Watching App,"  Online Media Daily

Upgraded iPad

Announced recently.  Adds camera, slightly faster processor and much faster video processing in a slimmer and lighter package.  With sound and video editting capabilities (and the ability to port out HD video), it offers some more flexibility, but still, it seems more an upgrade than significant improvement.  Still, it still leads the growing class of handhelds..

Comcast on iPad

Comcast is providing a new app for iPad to give its subscribers access to movies and television programs on their iPad.  The Xfinity app will let Comcast customers stream programs (including from video on demand offerings), search program listings, and program their DVRs.

Story in Broadcast Engineering

Do you want ads with that?

A research study out of the University of Connecticut suggests people prefer interactive ads on an iPad to static ads in print magazines. (Research report here),  It's a small sample of younger adults, and it's not clear that the results clearly distinquished between the positive effects of iPad vs print, or static vs. interactive advertising. 
Still, this should encourage potential advertisers thinking about buying spots in digital versions of magazines.

Murdoch's Digital Newspaper for iPad to launch 19 Jan 2011

Reuters is reporting that the highly-touted digital newspaper "Daily" for tablets will be launched at a news event featuring both Steve Jobs and Rupert Murdock on 19 Jan 2011.

Comcast to debut "TV Everywhere" on iPad

Last semester, guest speaker Jeff Behke from Turner Sports talked about their plans for "TV Everywhere" - letting you access their networks' programming on any digital device, anywhere (eventually).  Here's an update on Comcast's plans.
Comcast - TV Everywhere