Macgasm

Google announced today that they have updated the user interface of GMail for the iPad. Instead of having a split-view while composing a new message, a full editing screen overlays the inbox to allow you more working space.

If you’d like to try it out on your Mac, go to the Develop menu in Safari, and change the User Agent to “Mobile Safari 3.2 — iPad.” Once that is done, just load GMail like you would regularly, but now you’ll get the iPad interface. Pretty neat, eh?

Do you like this upgrade to the web interface? Do you prefer using mobile GMail to Apple Mail? What would you like to see implemented in the future? Hit me up in the comments or on Twitter.

Article Via 9 to 5 Mac
Photo Credit: Google

AppleInsider is reporting that 1.2 million iPads are being produced every month. Because of the ever-growing demand, Apple is recruiting Samsung to manufacture the LCD displays alongside of LG to increase production.

In May, there were between eight hundred thousand and nine hundred thousand iPads being produced. Back in February, only three hundred thousand iPads were being produced. It is mind blowing how fast the iPad is being embraced by consumers. One can tell just by these numbers what a success the iPad has been thus far. I can’t wait to see how much the iPad market grows in the second half of this year.

It makes me curious as to what the heck Microsoft and their partners have been doing for the whole last decade. Bill Gates himself was a huge proponent of tablet computing, but it had failed to achieve any substantial success until Apple entered the market. It seems to me like other computer companies just don’t have a strong direction. They just kind of meander around until a company like Apple shoves past them to create something worthwhile, and then they scramble to play catch-up for the next five years.

What do you think about the iPad’s success? Are you surprised? Let us know in the comments, on Facebook, or on Twitter.

Article Via Just Another iPad Blog
Photo Credit: Veronica Belmont, Jon Åslund

The day has arrived. People are receiving confirmation that their orders have been shipped. If you’re among the group who managed to get their orders in before Apple started pushing back the delivery date on their website, there’s hope yet.  Apple says you’ll still be receiving your iPhones by June 24. That’s excellent news.

But everything is not turning up Millhouse for everyone. There are reports that some customers are starting to receive cancellation emails randomly, and it appears that there’s no rhyme or reason to the changes. Some have been told that the system somehow managed to place orders for two phones on their account, and others are being told that there was a traffic glitch, that the system never actually placed an order.

So what does this mean? Well, you may want to double check your order status, then check it a third time. Don’t assume that your order is secure. Some AT&T customers have noticed their accounts have gone from “in progress” to “back ordered” overnight. It looks like there may be a supply issue that’s very real, and pre-order customers could be facing wait times, despite being told that they had secured an order for release day.

Article Via Information Week

Though I have never owned a video game console to play the ever popular Guitar Hero on, I have had the pleasure of playing a few times — always so much fun, though I can never seem to play at the higher levels successfully. As most of you know, the video game comes with extra hardware — the guitar — to play it. So, how do you translate this experience into an iPhone app? Well, Activision seems to have it all under control.

The graphics are familiar when you open the app — true to Guitar Hero fashion. You have the option of going backstage, embarking on challenges, checking out the GH community, or going to the store. When hitting play, you can search for tunes by song, artist, rank, or intensity. With just a handful of songs to choose from, I opt for Say It Ain’t So by Weezer. The game is set up with the colours (the amount depending on level of difficulty of course — for me, it’s Medium level, so 4) along the bottom, and you just tap on them as needed, just like you would if you were playing on an XBox. There isn’t much to explain about the app — if you’ve ever played Guitar Hero, you should know what to expect – if you haven’t, then it’s a simple game that will keep you entertained for days.

I *love* this app — at only $2.99, this app saved me from having to buy the console, the game, and the equipment — phew! Definitely a winner app, and something you won’t get bored with. I strongly recommend you spring the three bucks and download it.

For those of you looking forward to getting your hands on the iPhone 4 at Best Buy on launch day, I am sad to say that it will not happen.  Last week I wrote an article entitled – “Where will you be buying your iPhone on June 24th?”, in which I list all five stores that will have the iPhone 4 available on launch day.  Out of the five stores mentioned, Best Buy was one of them.  At the time, the word was that they will have them in stock on launch day.  Well, that has changed according to a piece from Cult of Mac.

Cult of Mac’s David W. Martin is reporting that iClarified has Best Buy’s leaked playbook for the iPhone 4 launch day, and it does not include selling you an iPhone on launch day:

“The  most interesting information revealed in the document, according to iClarified, is that Best Buy will be offering pre-sales on launch day for people standing in line waiting to buy an iPhone 4:

Since inventory availability is expected to be minimal, stores may open up a limited time pre-sale window as an option for customers on launch day who have not previously pre-purchased.
- Pre-sales may only occur up to 11:00 am local time
- Customers who pre-purchase on launch day will be added to the store’s pre-sale cue based on time of pre-sale and will get their pre-sale fulfilled in priority order
- Do not provide customers who pre-purchase on launch day timing on when a device may be available”

This is a total let down for people who decided to go with Best Buy as their store of choice for getting their iPhone 4 on launch day.  I had written earlier that I was going to get my iPhone 4 at Radio Shack.  However, I decided to go with the Apple Store instead.  I was able to only reserve one of the two iPhones I need.  Both my wife and I tried during the day, with no success in reserving one.  Then we found out in the evening that Apple was no longer taking reservations.  However, they said that they will have iPhones on launch day for those that were not able to reserve one.  They will be available on a first come, first served basis.

My advice is get to your local Apple Store as early as you can and prepare to wait in a long line.  That’s where I’ll be on launch day.  Where will you be to get your new iPhone 4?  Were you lucky enough to reserve one, or perhaps you’re having yours shipped to you?  Let us know how you’ll get your iPhone 4 by leaving a comment in the comments section below.  By the way, if you’d like to know more, you can also read  more about the full iClarified Best Buy leak.

Photo Credit: New iPhone 4 Details, Features & Specs

Article Via Cult of Mac

Canabalt, the game that’s been described as ‘pure genius,’ has now been made into a universal binary – meaning we can play it on the iPad natively without having to enlarge it! Yup, the folks at Semi Secret Software have been busy with this update, making it playable on the iPad, adding another soundtrack and an iOS 4 fix.

You can also connect to your iPhone account and highscores in the iPad version, so no need to worry about losing all that hard work (play).

If you haven’t come across this game before, there really is very little needed to describe it. All you need to do is tap your screen to jump to avoid obstacles and to get to the next building. It’s so simple you can play it right away and it’s one of those games that when you pass it to your friends to play, you don’t need a huge explanation.

You can also tweet out how far you ran before hitting a wall and tumbling to your death. As simple as it sounds, it’s addictive and one of those games where you say, ‘Just one more try to see if I can go further!’ The graphics are great too, simple greys and uncluttered with nice minimal animation effects.

I hope that this means more and more developers are getting their apps into shape for the iPad. Although some of them don’t look too bad at 2X, it just isn’t the same. I’m hoping to see Sentinel as soon as possible.

Tron’s pretty big again, in case you haven’t noticed. E3 has been full of Tron stuff. For instance, PDP showed off some Tron controllers for the XBox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii. The fine folks at IGN noticed something buried “deep” in the PDP meeting area that wasn’t available on the conference floor—a Tron inspired iPad case.

There’s no news on whether the case will eventually be released for consumption, but we have to say, we’re pretty excited about it anyway. Would you buy one of these?

Thanks to Oscar for sending this in to us!

Article Via IGN

Thanks to the combined Voltron-esque power of a bad back and some loopiness-inducing pain pills, your Uncle Scott wasn’t able to throw down a review last week. Have no fear though kids, because to make up for it, this week we’ve got a double heaping of iPhone photography apps to run through their paces. It’s because we care! Also, many photos of my cats are included. For this, I am not sorry.

Photonasis

Yay! Effects!

If you’ve ever used Adobe® Photoshop®, Photonasis is, essentially, Photoshop’s Filters dropdown menu. You select a photo from your library (or take one directly from within the app), and choose one of 34 effects to apply to it.

That’s it. That’s the entire app. There are no options, no sliders to set just how much blur or distortion or whatever to apply to your picture. You pick a filter and save. As far as I could tell, the only way to apply multiple filters to an image is to save and then open the filtered photo as a new image and go from there. Most of the effects are gimmicky at best (the “Bathroom Door” filter as shown in the bottom right corner above, for example), but a couple of them could be useful for slightly touching-up an image that’s a bit too dark or sharp, or converting an image to Sepia tone or Black & White. However, if that’s what you want this app to do, you’re better off using something like Adobe’s Photoshop Mobile, which allows you a measure of control over your filters instead of a simple on/off toggle.

Polarize

Now THIS one, man oh man, I’ve had some fun with. Essentially, Polarize simply takes your photos, converts them into looking like they came from an old Polaroid camera, and then allows you to scrawl a title on them with a magic marker. Seems pretty simple, but sometimes that’s where the best ideas lie! Like Photonasis, you don’t get any control over how the image is affected, but that’s not really the point of this app anyways.

Author's note: the top of my head is 3 inches higher than the top of the sign ABOVE the door. THAT'S how tiny it is. Also, my cats are nowhere near this door. Unfortunately.

Choose your photo. Choose your text. Save. Easy. I’ve seen a number of blogs using this effect lately and wasn’t sure which program they were using to pull it off, but there you go.

Both Photonasis and Polarizer are free of charge in the App Store, so go nuts. Let your inner Ansel Adams go hog wild!