iPad

Pulitzer winner's editorial-cartoon app approved

Five days after Steve Jobs reportedly called the rejection of Mark Fiore's application by the App Store a "mistake," the application is now available to purchase for the iPhone and iPad.

Fiore, if you'll recall, is the editorial cartoonist who last week won the Pulitzer Prize for his work. It was brought to light by the Nieman Journalism Lab on Thursday that "NewsToons," a collection of Fiore's cartoons, was rejected by Apple's App Store reviewers in December because it "ridiculed public figures."

This inspired a fair amount of alarm from … Read more

Win an iPad! Four contests worth entering

If you're anything like me, you'd really, really like to have an iPad--but you don't have an extra $500 lying around. (Or $600. Or $700. You get the idea.) Resorting to crime is not an option, so that leaves just one other possibility: contests.

With a little investigative legwork, I found four contests offering an iPad as the grand prize. Some require a little hoop-jumping on your part, like creating a video for YouTube, whereas others are as simple as completing a short entry form. Here are your best bets for winning an iPad:

Be a GrooveMaker on YouTube Contest&… Read more

The 404 563: Where strange things are afoot at the Circle K (podcast)

The first half of today's extra silly episode of The 404 Podcast is all about the latest updates surrounding the iPhone 4G prototype found on a bar floor in Redwood City, California--turns out the phone really does belong to Apple, and Darth Jobs wants it back. Last night, Gizmodo posted a picture of a very brief letter sent to editorial director Brian Lam asking for the device in question, validating its authenticity as an Apple product. So now that it's out on the open, certain issues need to be addressed on our show.

First, should Gizmodo have outed the Apple engineer that misplaced the phone in the first place? What's going to happen to his job--should he be let go for his folly? What legal action can, or will, Apple take against Gizmodo for paying $10,000 for the phone? And finally, who is the secret identity of this "good Samaritan" that received said $10,000 from Gizmodo? The first half of the show attempts to answer these tricky questions.

To compound the workload of Apple PR, here's another story about a guy who also lost an Apple product, and more. Fifty-nine-year-old Bill Jordan from Colorado had just come out of an Apple store holding a brand new iPad in an Apple bag tied around his wrist, when all of a sudden he noticed two young men following him to the garage where he parked his car. Just as he got to the vehicle, the assailants attacked the man and tried to grab the bag in his hand, and what happens next is not for the faint of heart:

""He was almost sitting on the ground he was pulling so hard and it was still tied around my fingers; and it wouldn't come off and then finally he gave it one big jerk; and that's when he stripped the skin off my pinky and it went right down to the bone."

The worst part of the story is that he wasn't even buying the iPad for himself; he'd been asked by a coworker to pick one up for a "colleague in Canada who is being promoted!" OK, actually, the worst part is about his left pinky getting torn off, and our condolences go out to Jordan, who we can only guess will be a big proponent of online shopping from now on.

In addition to correcting an error in Calls From The Public, we also talk about the Boy Scouts of America's newest merit badge for GEOCACHING. For people who aren't king-size dorks, geocaching is a high-tech version of "hide and go seek," where participants use GPS devices to locate hidden containers across the world. That sounds like great fun for these savvy young men, but Wilson brings up a good point- should we be celebrating this underhanded throw of an accomplishment? Isn't this the equivalent of awarding a Firestarter badge to the kid with a Bic lighter and a newspaper in his hand?

Like today's episode? Add YOUR voice to The 404 Podcast by leaving a voice mail at 1-866-404-CNET or send us an e-mail to the404(at)cnet(dot)com. Happy everything, everyone!

EPISODE 563 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

iPad 3G available April 30 in U.S.

Apple's iPad with Wi-Fi and 3G will be delivered on April 30 in the U.S. to customers who preordered the model, the company said Tuesay.

Preorder customers who opted for home delivery may have a few hours head start over those who chose to pick it up at a store. Apple said the iPad Wi-Fi + 3G will be available in its retail stores at 5:00 p.m. on the same day.

There are some advantages to picking up the iPad at one of Apple's retail stores. Apple will offer those customers a set-up service, which includes … Read more

CNET Videos: hidden iPad keyboard features, Apple Byte

There are a couple of new Apple-related videos over at CNET TV. Editor Donald Bell discusses using various hidden iPad keyboard features such as accent characters with international keyboards, using caps lock, auto-complete for Web domains, and other options. In this week's Apple Byte, Brian Tong and other CNET editors discuss the new MacBook Pro's performance, features, along with Steve Jobs' reasoning why the 13" model did not get a Core i5 or i7 chip. They also cover some iPad sales news, including some problems with the international iPad sales and Israeli customs not allowing the devices into that country.… Read more

How to find free e-books for your iPad

There are a lot of advantages to the iPad as an e-reader, chief among them its capability to be a true multiformat product supporting Kindle, ePubs, PDFs, and others.

One little difficulty remains: finding ways to get free books.

Sure, Apple and others don't exactly want you to stock up on free literature if they can help it, especially in the case of books that aren't public domain. Still, we have to try, don't we? Here are the best (legal) ways not to pay.

The iBooks Store does have over 30,000 free books, mostly from Project … Read more

The 404 562: Where we picked up an iPhone 4G at a bar, bought it a drink, and took it home (podcast)

The same thing always happens to the Internet in the months building up to a new Apple product: a random Twitter users and/or one of the big tech blogs gets their hands on a one-off photo and the entire industry blows it up speculating whether or not the image is an authentic leak. Today is one of those days.

Engadget started it all by posting these pictures of a rumored 4G iPhone acquired over the weekend, claiming that "someone" found the phone on the floor of a bar in Silicon Valley. Before you start raising red flags of disbelief, consider that Gizmodo is corroborating Engadget's story with a hands-on with the actual device! Who knows how much blood was shed in acquiring the device, but Gizmodo has it and they believe it's the real thing.

Unfortunately there's no way to confirm the rumor since it won't turn on, but the design details certainly fall in with the iPhone's natural evolution. The device moves from the 3GS's rounded edges to an entirely flat back made of a plastic-y material, has a camera on the front for video calls in addition to the one on the back (now with flash), an improved display possibly at 960X640 resolution, a secondary mic for noise cancellation, and split volume buttons. Finally, there's a slot for a micro-SIM card, which closes the door on hopes that the Apple/AT&T would relinquish their exclusive partnership with the new model.

Tune in for our own predictions on the next gen iPhone plus a story about online game shoppers getting duped into selling their souls, a new 404 theme song courtesy of a 4 year old girl, and more!

EPISODE 562 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

New iPad 3G orders to ship by May 7

Good news for folks who missed the preorder deadline for the 3G version of the iPad: Apple has finally given the device a hard ship-date: Friday, May 7.

That's three days before the company is set to announce international pricing for the iPad and begin taking online preorders for the device, which it has delayed selling abroad because of high demand in the U.S.

Incidentally, if you're among the early adopters who preordered an iPad 3G when it first went on sale, you're still likely to receive yours by late April. According to an e-mail message … Read more

How much control will Apple have over news app content?

Mark Fiore's job is making fun of political figures. And he's actually quite good at it, according to the Pulitzer Prize Committee.

Earlier this week it named him the winner of the Pulitzer Prize in editorial cartooning, but Apple rejected an iPhone app containing Fiore's cartoons in December. The reason? Apple said applications that ridicule public figures are not allowed.

That presents a problem for Fiore, and all editorial cartoonists and political satirists who'd like to submit their work to the App Store for that matter, because, well, that's what they do.

Luckily for Fiore, the Nieman Journalism Lab took up his cause and wrote about his app's rejection. A day later Apple relented, and on Friday asked Fiore to resubmit. The New York Times reported Friday afternoon that Steve Jobs himself called it "a mistake that's being fixed." That's great for Fiore, but not every political satirist is a Pulitzer winner who can get publicity for his app's unfair rejection.

So what does that mean for the future of news or editorial products on the iPad and iPhone? It's safe to assume that quashing political satire isn't Apple's goal here. But it's a legitimate concern for the journalism community that to be featured on the App Store they have to submit their news content to a company unafraid to exercise what sometimes seems like arbitrary control. The thinking goes, what if Apple finds a headline offensive? Or what if there's an unfavorable article about Apple itself even? That's not to say Apple would do that, but its inconsistent handling of App Store submissions sets a troubling precedent. … Read more

Blinded by the iPad

Editors' note: Read part one and part two of this three-part article.

"Where's iBooks?" the man was asking. "I want to see iBooks."

An older guy, one of the half dozen or so Apple sales associates on the floor, didn't know exactly what he meant at first. But then he figured out the man just wanted to see an e-book on the screen. That's why he'd come to the Apple Store: to see what an e-book looked like on an iPad.

The customer peered down through his fairly thick glasses at the James Patterson novel the sales associate had opened for him.

"Is it backlit?" he asked.

"What?"

"The screen."

"Sure," the sales associate said. "It's an LCD."

For some reason the guy seemed shocked to learn the truth.

"I will go blind reading this," he declared.

"Why?" the sales associate asked.

"It's backlit. I will go blind."

The sales associate asked him the next obvious question: Did he use a computer? … Read more