The new iPad is launching tomorrow and you can bet there are tons of excited and eager Apple fans that just cannot wait to get their hands on the device. However, they might have some competition, thanks to this latest cat-friendly iPad game from Friskies.
When the iPad first launched, it became clear that it wasn’t just people that found the device engaging. Videos started popping up on YouTube of cats pawing away at the tablet, and this prompted cat food company Friskies to release a few cat-friendly iPad games for the iPad owners with feline friends. This week, the company is announcing the launch of another cat-friendly game, except this one is a bit different.
In what’s thought to be the first ever interspecies iPad game, You vs. Cat sees the human player try to ‘score’ by flicking objects past their cat, who is positioned on the other side of the iPad. The job of the cat is to stop the objects from passing, like a goalkeeper.
Check out the ad for the game below to see it in action. The video gives a pretty good idea of how it works, even if they did use people dressed as animals/mascots as the human players. Oh well, that’s March Madness for you.
Sure, you can take us on our word that the new iPad really is that much sharper than its predecessor — or, you can opt for a more scientific approach, and peek at that Retina display under a microscope. Engadget’s Richard Lai slid his 64GB WiFi iPad under a USB scope, going far beyond the naked eye for a close-up look at those gorgeous high-density subpixels.
As you can imagine, it’s impossible to distinguish one dot from the next when you’re looking at a cool three million pixels packed tightly within a 9.7-inch slab, but that view clears up quite nicely under a 230x microscope. What you’ll see is that those tiny red, green and blue dots are now significantly smaller, when compared to the iPad 2. That means text that’s easily legible without a pinch, smooth icons and far sharper pictures.
There’s a dramatic improvement for sure, but is that new display alone enough to justify the upgrade for you?
Amazon’s Kindle app for iOS has just been updated to version 3.0, bringing support for the new iPad’s Retina display, and a redesigned library that lets iPhone users see their content in a grid cover view instead of just a list of titles. The update also includes “cloud view,” which allows users to see all of their cloud content in a single combined view by selecting the cloud tab at the bottom of the app interface — previously, users had to visit a sluggish online archive to download books. The update is available now in the App Store.
No matter how you slice it, Infinity Blade II is a pretty gorgeous game, but it’ll look amazing on your third-generation iPad’s Retina Display. Chair Entertainment just updated the hack-and-slash adventure with 2048 x 1536 high-resolution graphics, ahead of the new iPad launch tomorrow morning. While you might rather have the brand-new Infinity Blade: Dungeons to play instead, we’d definitely be happy to revisit the picturesque environs of the second game in the series while we’re waiting for Chair’s dungeon crawler. Take a peek at a full-res 2048 x 1536 screenshot of the game in this ZIP, or a slightly smaller one right here in your browser window.
Today it’s all about iPad, iPad, iPad. Though the new iPad from Apple doesn’t officially hit stores until tomorrow, the NDA for reviews has just expired so the internet has been flooded with talk of the device. However, it’s not just Apple that’s perpetuating talk of all things iPad. Samsung got in on the act this week too when the company appeared to ‘confirm’ the existence of a smaller iPad.
Speaking to the Korea Times, a Sammy official apparently confirmed a 7.85-inch iPad. The piece itself discusses the amount of parts that Apple buys from Samsung despite the ongoing legal disputes between the two companies.
Last year, Apple bought $7.8 billion worth of parts from Samsung. This number is set to rise this year, and this unnamed Samsung official says it will hit $11 billion, thanks to a new iPad that has yet to be announced by Apple.
“The contract is expected to rise to $11 billion by the end of this year as Apple is planning to release a smaller iPad, probably with a 7.85-inch screen, and to sell more of its MacBook Air PCs using Samsung’s faster solid state drive (SSD) storage,” the official said.
Apple buys a lot of its hardware from Samsung and this certainly isn’t the first time we’ve heard rumors of a smaller iPad. Last we heard, Apple was working on the approximately 7.8-inch iPad already and that volume production could begin as early as the third quarter of 2012. This would put it right on track for a March launch in 2013.
It’s not supposed to launch until Friday, but it seems some people have gotten their hands on the new iPad a little bit earlier. The first glimpse of the Apple tablet (which looks just like the old one bar a few minor, barely noticeable tweaks) comes from Vietnam, where one Apple fan claims to have gotten his pre-order a few days earlier. Of course, when something like that happens, you make the most of it and post the first ever iPad 3 unboxing video. Check it out above (fair warning: It’s all in Vietnamese).
Now, perhaps you haven’t yet ordered your new iPad because you’re waiting to hear some of the details that Apple has yet to provide. Maybe you’re a little curious about that Apple A5X chip, or you’re wondering if the rumors of twice the RAM are true. Well, luckily for you, the men in the video above also had the foresight to run some benchmarks on the device.
The results were posted by user Sonlazio to tinhte.vn and reveal that while Apple doubled the RAM for the latest iPad and upped the graphics, the processor clock speed remains at an unchanged 1GHz. The iPad scored a respectable 756 running GeekBench, which measures processor and memory performance. This is pretty similar to what the iPad 2 has been scoring on GeekBench (at least, it is according to the GeekBench results browser tool), while the iPad 1 seems to score around 470 pretty consistently on GeekBench.
When Apple unveiled the new iPad (which is now designated as “third gen” from Apple’s site), it said boasted that it featured battery life that was no different from that of the iPad 2.
Having something the same as the previous generation isn’t typically something to brag about, but in this case, it is. The battery of the new iPad is 42.5 Wh, which is literally huge. The one in the iPad is just 25 Wh in comparison, making the new one 70 percent greater in capacity.
To put that in perspective, that’s more juice than in the 11-inch MacBook Air and nearly as big as the battery in today’s 13-inch MacBook Air at 50 Wh.
Obviously LTE brings a lot more battery drain, as evidenced by 4G smartphones. The real need for all that extra power is likely the upgraded screen with its 3.1 million pixels.
The new iPad may be thicker and heavier than the iPad 2, but all that heft and bulk (which is actually quite minimal) has gone to all the places where it counts.
We can’t wait to see the teardowns to show us how much of the entire device is just battery.
The first reviews of Apple’s 3rd-generation iPad are in and the general consensus is that this is the tablet you’ve been waiting for—assuming you don’t already own its predecessor.
Yes, this display is outrageous. It’s stunning. It’s incredible. I’m not being hyperbolic or exaggerative when I say it is easily the most beautiful computer display I have ever looked at. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that you hold this in your hands, or maybe it’s the technology that Apple is utilizing, or maybe it’s the responsiveness of iOS – but there’s something almost bizarre about how good this screen is. After the launch event, I described the screen as “surreal,” and I still think that’s a pretty good fit.
Let’s be clear: the new iPad is in a class by itself, just as its predecessor was. As the latest product in a lineage of devices that defined this category, the iPad continues to stand head and shoulders above the competition. With the addition of the Retina display, LTE, more memory, and a more powerful CPU, Apple has absolutely held onto the iPad’s market position as the dominant player and product to beat.
It has the most spectacular display I have ever seen in a mobile device. The company squeezed four times the pixels into the same physical space as on the iPad 2 and claims the new iPad’s screen has a million more pixels than an HDTV. All I know is that text is much sharper, and photos look richer.
If you already own an iPad 2, and like it, you shouldn’t feel like you have to rush out to buy the new one. However, for those who use their iPads as their main e-readers, and those who use it frequently while away from Wi-Fi coverage, this new model could make a big difference.
What we have is a 9.7-inch stab of aluminum and glass that when illuminated, becomes an absolutely stunning display of light and color. At first glance, the new iPad is almost indistinguishable from the iPad 2. The same Smart Covers even fit on both. But it doesn’t matter what the device looks like. What matters is what you’re looking at: the screen.
Web pages look almost as if they’re being displayed in a high-quality glossy magazine. Photos look like photos – the printed out kind. Text is razor sharp and crisp, just like print.
Yesterday, I clocked the new iPad using LTE at over 40 mbps down and 20 up on Verizon’s network. That’s about twice as fast as my current home cable broadband. For good measure, I tethered the new iPad to my iPhone 4S to compare it to Verizon’s 3G speeds. It’s about 40x faster for downloading.
If you have been holding off getting a tablet then this is the one to go for. In my view, it’s the best that money can buy. Existing iPad owners who are thinking of upgrading should take a look at this new device. You’ll see the difference very, very clearly indeed.
The new iPad is just that: The iPad, updated for a new year and millions of new iPad users. It’s not smaller or lighter, but it’s got a remarkable screen, a much better rear camera, and support for cellular networking that can run at Wi-Fi speeds. It’s the iPad that millions of people have embraced, only one year better.
Users of the iPad 2 shouldn’t fret: Their iPad investment is certainly good for another year. But they might not want to look too closely at the new iPad’s screen. Once you get a load of that Retina display, it’s hard to go back to anything else.
There are already 2,048 x 1,536 reasons to covet the latest iPad, but here’s one more: it’s the first tablet to incorporate the latest Bluetooth 4.0 “Smart” standard. Like the iPhone 4S, Apple’s new slate is ready to pair with other Smart devices that drain far less power than previous modules. Want to complement your purchase with a wireless keyboard whose batteries will last for years? Or to plaster your body with tiny low-power sensors so you can, erm, monitor yourself on your iPad? Oh yes, Bluetooth 4.0 can make that happen.
These estimates are always to be taken with a grain of salt but, if UBM TechInsights is to be believed, Apple is cutting into its precious profit margins to keep the price of the iPad flat. According to the research firm, the total cost of components in the 16GB 4G model is around $310 — not including assembly and shipping. With a final price of $629, Cupertino is pulling in about a 51 percent profit, a sizable drop from the estimated 56 percent profit margin on the similarly specced iPad 2 at launch. A large chunk of that increased cost of production is made up by the new retina display, which is estimated to cost around $70, and the LTE chipset, which UBM priced at $21. In contrast, current pricing on the panel in the iPad 2 and its 3G radio rest at around $50 and $10, respectively. We’re sure Tim Cook isn’t losing any sleep though, there are plenty of other ways to make up that lost dough — like selling more iPads.
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