Tuyen's Blog

Posts for Tag: apple

Cool iPad 2 Smart Cover knock-off and how Apple can improve their own case

via techcrunch.com

This is a pretty blatant knock-off of the iPad 2 Smart Cover. Designed for the Galaxy Tab, it isn't designed by Samsung but is being sold in their stores. All the flaming aside from the Apple camp, one part of the design I did like is the addition of the back cover. Because, I assume, the Galaxy Tab doesn't have the same magnet system, it required a snap-on back to hold the cover in place. The unexpected (or expected) by product is that it also protects the back of the tablet. Apple's Smart Cover is cool but I find myself wanting some type of protection for the back of the iPad. Maybe an enterprising person will develop something similar for the iPad 2...

Steve Jobs at the Cupertino City Council Meeting


Steve Jobs spoke at a Cupertino City Council Meeting tonight re: the building of the new Apple HQ on land they previously purchased from HP.  Interesting tidbit re: his early interaction with Bill Hewlett and his connection with the city where he grew up.  Given Apple's importance to the area, I'm sure his presence wasn't required at this meeting so it's a good sign that he was able to attend given his recent health issues.  Still looking physically frail, it's clear his mind is still as sharp as ever as he answered questions from the council members.  At times he looked somewhat perplexed at the questions asked which it was clear had no bearing on anything of true importance.  I loved his response to one council member who questioned whether this new building would be "good for Cupertino".  
Council Member Wang:
"People are curious as you know what city residents could benefit from this new campus?"

Jobs:
"Well as you know, we're the largest tax payer in Cupertino.  So we'd like to continue to stay here and pay taxes... Because if we can't then we have to go to somewhere like Mountain View...  And the largest tax base would go away."
How's that for an answer?  Typical Steve.  Get well soon.

Beware of speed loss tether-ers...

I'm sitting at the cafe (which doesn't have WIFI) and doing some work. For instances like this, I use a non-sanctioned tethering app - HandyLight (one of the best $0.99 apps ever). Don't bother looking for it - Apple yanked the app on July 20, 2010. It takes a few semi-complicated steps to get everything setup but once you've gone through it a few times, it takes less than 30 seconds to tether your iPhone to your laptop. One thing I did notice was that things seemed to be slower than usual when surfing on my tethered laptop. I did a quick speed test and noticed that the download speed on my tethered laptop was almost 33% slower than directly to the iPhone itself. Upload speed was almost 40% slower. Not sure if the physics behind tethering means there will always be this speed degradation no matter what method you use - sanctioned or unsanctioned. If so, the value proposition of paying $20 EXTRA a month to tether your laptop to your iPhone seems much less appealing.

Awesome iPad 2 functionality

So I bought an iPad 2 recently (yeah yeah... I'm late to the whole tablet computing game).  So far, it's a really good device.  I do find myself having to come up with excuses to use it versus using my laptop.  I might have to force myself to keep the laptop in the bag for an extended period of time to see if I can go exclusively with the iPad.

On another note, some amazing functionality from some enterprising individuals using the iPad 2's front facing camera.  This is inspired by Johnny Lee's original head tracking project for the Wii (equally cool).  Apple and its developers need to find a way to incorporate this into the new apps.