Ozaki metallic iPad covers

Taiwanese computer peripherals company Ozaki prides itself on producing computer accessories with attitude, and whilst that’s an easy thing to say, it stopped us in our tracks during the rounds of the IFA showiPad covers are a dime a dozen, but the metallic finish on these items is extraordinary – they have a silvery pewter surface and look like something the knights of King Arthur’s court would carry. No price yet but … yuuuum! floor in Berlin this week with a range of stunning metallic shells for the iPad. Now

Sanyo set to release

Since introducing its eneloop rechargeable battery technology in 2005, Sanyo is reported to have shipped over 130 million cells. Now the company has announced some new additions to its eneloop universe series which provide a power boost to a host of mobile devices including Apple's iPad, Sony's Xperia smartphone and Nintendo's DS series portable gaming devices.

 Sanyo's new eneloop mobile booster (KBC-L2BS) offers double the power output of the company's previous model (KBC-L2AS), now able to provide up to 5V/1A high-power output for about a couple of hours. The lithium-ion battery pack also gives users the option of simultaneously powering a couple of devices at a reduced output of 5V/500 mA for a couple of hours via a couple of USB ports or hooking up a single device at the same rate for a four hour power boost.

 

The portable battery pack can be used with mobile phones, portable media players, portable game consoles, and various other mobile devices but is also capable of providing an energy boost for tablets like the iPad and smartphones like Sony's Xperia range. The booster itself can be charged up using either the AC adapter – which takes about seven hours – or can receive power via connection with a computer's USB port using the included cable – which takes around 14 hours.

 

The pen-like eneloop stick booster (KBS-D1BS) has just the one USB port available, is 0.787 of an inch (20 mm) thick and weighs just 2.68 ounces (76 g), including the pair of AA-size NiMH eneloop batteries within its aluminum tube. It is said to offer around 90 minutes of 5 V/500mA output for mobile phones, smartphones, portable audio players, portable game consoles, and various other mobile devices. The batteries are reported to be good for at least 1,500 recharge cycles, after which users have the option to change the batteries themselves.

 

A couple of charging adapters have also been announced especially for Nintendo's DS series handheld games consoles, which have non-standard charging requirements. Sanyo says that the KBC-DS2AS (for the DS Lite) provides 5.2V/450mA of power for about 100 minutes and the KBC-DS3AS (for the DSi/DSi LL) comes in at around 65 to 70 minutes of extra gameplay at 4.7V/600mA. Both sport an aluminum body which houses a couple of AA-size eneloop batteries. The tube is the same diameter as the stick booster but comes in a little heavier at 94 g.

  

The new additions will go on sale in Japan this coming October for an unspecified price, with the mobile booster scheduled to break out internationally shortly after that. More information is available from Sanyo's eneloop website.

iPad with NASA

The i Pad, not Space: the final frontier.  These are the thoughts apparently running throught the minds of the fine people at NASA, as they have today launched a free iPad app, NASA HD.

If you enjoy exploring space, remember from “Saved by the Bell” what the acronym “MVEMSJNUP” means (it’s the order of our solar system’s planets, and yes, I know Pluto may no longer be considered a planet), or are looking for evidence of another form of life, this is the app for you.

 What does NASA HD feature?

• Thousands of images from NASA IOTD, APOD and NASAImages.org
• On demand NASA Videos from around the agency
• Live Streaming of NASA TV
• Current NASA Mission Information
• Launch Information & Countdown clocks
• Current Visible Passes for the International Space Station (ISS)
• ISS and Earth Orbiting Satellite Tracker
• NASA Twitter Feeds from around the agency
• Facebook® Connect and Integrated Twitter™ client for easy sharing
• Map and links to all of the NASA centers
• Quick links to the NASA topic areas
• Featured content section

That means you get information beamed straight to your iPad on all of the goings on at NASA, the on demand videos, live streaming NASA TV and countdown clocks, and are especially neat features.

Whether you enjoy your iPad usage in portrait or landscape mode, the app has you covered, and with built in Twitter and Facebook features, including Twitter feeds from NASA agencies, rest assured that you can share your space experience with anyone on this, and any other inhabited planet.

Get your copy of NASA HD here and begin exploring the Milky Way.

Do you believe in life on other planets?  What’s your favorite planet?  What other planet-themed thoughts would you like to share?

Source:NASA HD.here

Righting your writing That’s Tactilis.

Tactilis is an innovative drawing tool that lets you use your iPad for drawing in the same way you would use pencil and paper.
Love It: Perfect for quick hand-written notes, diagrams, figures, hand-drawn maps or doodling.

Hate It: If you say so.
Overall: 5/5
The Details:

Increasingly I have moved away from using paper and pen/pencil to taking notes on my iPad, laptop or smartphone.  Reasons for this vary depending on who I am talking to regarding the subject.  If I happen to be speaking to a fellow tech geek, my reasoning for shunning paper is obvious; the iPad is the new paper.  If I happen to be shouting a conversation to someone perched in a Redwood Tree, my reasoning is again obvious; I’m going green and reducing my carbon footprint.

Irrespective of the reason, for me, paper and pencil are going the way of cars using leaded fuel.  That’s why I love Tactilis (free).

Tactilis allows one to use an iPad to draw in the same way you would use pencil and paper.  Using one of your digits, meaty or no, Tactilis offers an interface where the user can focus on smaller details of any entry made on the app. Moreover, the app lets one write using smaller print without having to blow-up the entire page.

Features :

* Innovative Interface: Frequently used tools are initiated with finger gestures with less frequently used tools arranged on a tool-clip that appears with a swipe of the finger. The size and opacity of the tools can be changed by scrolling over them. The page style (plain, ruled or squared) can be quickly changed by scrolling over the page style box in top right hand corner
* Drawing details: Tactilis has innovative detailing popover to let you draw the smaller details while viewing the entire drawing. Use the pinch to zoom to magnify the area you wish to draw in detail. Tap outside the drawing area to dismiss it.

* Writing popover: Tap with two fingers on the iPad where you want to write with smaller text. You could adjust the writing area horizontally by scrolling on the scroll strip at the bottom. Dismiss the panel by tapping in the area above the panel.

* Virtual ruler : Press and hold two fingers to create a line-guide similar to a ruler. Then just draw over the guide with your finger.Tactilis adjusts your finger movement to draw in a straight line and features commonly used angles (0, 30, 45, 60, & 90 degrees).
 * Virtual compass :Rotate two fingers on the iPad to create the circular-guide. Draw over the guide to draw arcs or complete circles.

Tactilis is an app of the highest order.  For anyone that writes, draws, diagrams, or anything else that I cannot think of at this moment right now, Tactilis is for you, and you and you.

iPad ten tips for taking

Everything is pointing to this school year being the year of the iPad, and while there are lots of articles on what apps to get, I haven’t seen any on the stuff you need to take your iPad to school with you. And since I’ve been carrying around my iPad for some time now, I thought I’d pass onto you my top 10 tips for taking your iPad back to school (or even just out and about):

1. A good case. Myself, I like the thin and functional case from Apple, but it is limited in how you can use it as a stand. Other cases offer more options, but also add bulk to the case.
2. The right bag. I have a small bag from Mountain Equipment Co-op (they actually call it “small bag”) that I purloined from my wife. It fits everything I have on this list and plenty more if needed. Yes, I carry a man-purse, man-bag, murse, satchel, whatever.
3. Cable and charger. I always have an iPod/iPhone/iPad cable with me. It started when I got an iPod and then found that iPhone owners tended to forget theirs so… As for the charger, well you just never know when you might run low, better to have it than not. You can also charge your iPhone with it too!
4. Pogo sketch. Sometimes it’s easier to draw,what you’re thinking or describing than to type it. I use several apps like Penultimate, etc to sketch an idea or map out something I’m thinking.
5. iPad Camera Connection Kit. I’ll admit I’m a late-comer to the whole camera connection kit, but beyond using it for importing photos there are lots of things like connecting keyboards, headphones, even hard drives (jailbreaking required) that you can use it for (see MacLife).
6. Apple Wireless Keyboard. I tried the keyboard dock first and returned in within 24 hours. The dock is just too limited. The wireless keyboard is awesome and perfect when you want to tap out something a little more long form (like this post, in fact). One tip here: flip one of the batteries backwards to keep it from turning on in your bag.
7. Extra batteries. Yeah keeping a couple of extra AAs in your bag might seem like overkill, but you never know, and they are small. Plus you can lend them to friends in need.
8. SD cards & flash drives. Just keep one or two extra in your bag. You can use the SD cards to transfer more pictures and movies to your iPad. Flash drives? Well they are just plain handy.
9. Microfibre cloth. Face it, iPads get smudgy fast. Since I wear glasses I always have a cloth in my pocket, except I found the larger, fuzzier cloths that we have for the house are so, so much better.
10. Earbuds. Doesn’t matter if they are the basic Apple ones, fancy noise canceling (I love my Shure’s), or what, just have them to both let you listen to music and keep from bugging people with beeps and stuff from your iPad.

Those are my main tips. Sure, as you can see from the picture, I carry a lot more in my bag (pens, mechanical pencil, gum, notebook, bus passes, shopping bag, USB cable), but those are the 10 things that I think are must haves for being out and about with your iPad. If you’re like me, you might find that with the right stuff on hand (like the keyboard), you can forgo carrying your laptop most of the time. The one thing that I haven’t tried, and just might soon, is if your school has those “traditional” desk/chair combos, getting a smal spring clamp to clamp your iPad case to the desk might be a good idea. I’ve found that standing in landscape mode the whole thing to be a little tippy, but maybe clamping it to the table might help.