Macgasm

We’ve heard a lot about Apple bringing printing capabilities to the iPad and iPhone lineup, but for the first time we are hearing from HP just how much the printers are going to cost.

First, we should point out that you will be able to use other printers that have been shared on the network. If you’re already able to print across multiple computers in your home, you should be able to take advantage of the AirPrint technologies. But, if you can’t, and your printer isn’t networked in any way, shape, or form, you’re going to be out of luck unless you either take some time and invest it in setting up a printer on the network, or if you go out and buy an AirPrint-friendly printer.

How much do those fancy new printers from HP cost? Currently the cheapest model seems to be $249, and the most expensive one tops out at $499, but we have a hard time seeing that being the norm for much longer. As the technology gets included in more and more devices, we’ll surely see AirPrint compatible devices drop in price to something more wallet-friendly.

We’re not sure how easy it’s going to be to setup. I haven’t printed anything in over a year, but the next time I’m on a network with a shared printer, I’ll be sure to pass along the information. Or better yet, if you’re lucky enough to have iOS 4.2 on your iPad already, and a networked printer nearby, let us know how the experience has been for you in the comments.

A lot of people are dying to know how it all works.

Article via CNET

Most of you know the VLC desktop application. If you don’t, it’s a movie and video player that pretty much supports every filetype under the sun. If QuickTime and Perian can’t get your videos playing, there’s a good chance that VLC can. Between these two applications, and the Perian plugin, you rarely have to go looking for codecs so that your movies will play, which is great if you’re on a laptop, but what about the iPad?

Up until recently, you’ve been forced to use Apple’s favourite filetypes. If they weren’t supported by Apple, you weren’t going to be able to play them, which was a shame, but now the fine folks at Applidium have put together a VLC Player (free) for the iPad and iPhone. Early reports and reviews indicate that the application is a little jittery and has some bugs. Our first run through with the app definitely picked up some bugs—the application says that there’s no audio available for every movie that we’ve tried to add.

Now, before you get all excited and try to play a flash video (.flv) on the iPad, you should also know that it’s being reported that the videos with that filetype aren’t showing up in the application. You’re still out of luck, and Apple still hates Flash.

Other applications have also popped up over the last couple weeks that let you play other filetypes, outside of the traditional iTunes formats. Both OPlayer ($4.99) and CineXPlayer ($3.99) are available on the App Store already, and the Plex application lets you stream various filetypes from your desktop or laptop directly to your iPad. So, there you have it, some extra choices for your video watching needs.

When it comes to “docks” for our iPhone and iPad, we prefer to have stands that hold up the dock and then fade into the background. In our opinion, they’re there to hold up our devices, not de-emphasize the devices we’re using. It was for this reason we were pretty excited to test out both the iPad and iPhone MoviePeg stands, they fade into the background, and they should provide enough support to hold up the device.

Both of the devices work in a similar manner, having a “peg” for you to place on your device, letting you lean the device back on the stand at an optimal viewing angle for movies. While the iPad edition comes with two pegs, the iPhone model only has one, which makes sense given the footprint difference, and weight differential between the two devices. Two pegs should mean that the device is a lot sturdier, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here.

The iPhone Version

The one pegged, MoviePeg stand for your iPhone is a neat little piece of rubber, it’s got the perfect notch for an iPhone, and it will hold your device up admirably in both landscape and portrait settings. The MoviePeg fits snugly, and doesn’t relent to gravitational forces. I have no reservation leaving the iPhone unattended while it plays movies or music, at no point did it seem like it was going to crash to the desk.

The iPad Version

The weight difference here was obviously at play with the iPad MoviePeg. While the iPhone version was secure and easily unattended while I was busy doing other work, I wasn’t met with the same reliability with the iPad edition of the MoviePeg. Despite trying to use the iPad edition in the exact same manner as the instructions showed on the back on the MoviePeg packaging, my iPad continued to split out of the pegs until it was on the brink of crashing into my desk. I intervened every single time, but I have no doubt that my iPad would have crashed into my desk. A fall from the landscape layout wouldn’t have been too terrible, but from a portrait position it would have done some damage.

This might be the case of two pegs not being better than one, but it’s more likely a result of the peg notches being cut to big, or the materials for the peg not creating enough friction to hold the device in place.

Suggestions for a fix

Changing the material used, or added some kind of rubber in the spot where the notch is would help stop the slipping of my iPad. It seemed like the slipping was caused in two places, in the notch of the MoviePeg, and where the MoviePeg meets the desk. Maybe my desk is slipperier than most, but it took between ten and twenty seconds for me to start to feel uncomfortable with my iPad crashing down onto the desk.

A non-slip material for the MoviePeg, and a tighter fit would easily rectify the problem.

Final Thoughts

Both the iPad and the iPhone version of the MoviePeg work extremely well in landscape mode, when they’re not slipping, but once you switch your iPad into portrait view, it becomes a bit of a gamble, your device could slip or fall at any time.

With the iPad edition, it seems like our test unit’s slots were a little bit too big to securely keep our iPad in place. The iPhone edition, which we tested on our 3G iPhone, fit a lot more snuggly, and didn’t make us nearly as paranoid about leaving the phone unattended on our desk.

As it stands we can easily recommend buying the MoviePeg for the iPhone, but we have to caution you about the iPad edition. It seems like the brushed metal is just too slippery for the MoviePeg to hold.

You can buy both devices from their website. The iPhone edition is 4.99, and the iPad edition is 12.99. Both come in an array of colours.

If you were holding out for refurbished iPads before you make the leap to this new technology, now’s the moment you’ve been waiting for. Apple’s now offering certified refurbished models in their online Apple Store. With the huge demand for iPads, we’re not surprised that a couple of them found their way back to Apple for repairs.

You can now get an iPad at a $50.00 discount. As of this writing, the 3G models are not available yet, but we’re sure it’s only a matter of time before the devices show up. Apple’s provided a nice little touch, adding a brand new battery and outer shell for the iPad, so you don’t have to worry about getting a scratched up device. It’ll look brand spanking new.

SMS tones aren’t exactly something you think about too often, but now that Apple’s made it possible for users to assign customized Text Tones for SMS messages in iOS 4.2 for the iPhone, we’ll be using them all the time.

Not all text messages are created equal, and it’d be nice to know that select family and friends can be easily distinguished from amongst the onslaught of  incoming message.

If you’re lucky enough to be running iOS 4.2 on your iPhone already, you can set a custom SMS tone by:

1. Go into a contact in your address book
2. Tap on the Edit button
3. Click “text tone”
4. Change it from “Default” to another alert tone

Image credit: 9 to 5 Mac

“I’m sorry, Josh. I’m afraid I can’t do that.”  That’s what I’ve been bracing for since technologies that let you talk to your computer have started popping up over the last couple of years. Sure, Dragon Naturally Speaking has been working on similar technologies for well over a decade, but it hasn’t been until recently that I’ve been able to see the possibility for a 2001: A Space Odyssey reenactment. Now that SiteRider XL is coming to an iPad near you, I’m preparing for a revolt by my Apple products.

The futuristic SiteRider XL web browser lets you speak commands to it, and then it replies to you. Sure, the woman who’s taking your commands sounds bored and disinterested in anything you ask of her, but so did HAL, so think about that for a second before you download the app.

Instead of writing up what’s going on, we’ve attached a YouTube clip instead. It’s pretty cool, and also scary at the same time.

Facebook is pretty much in the news cycle constantly, but rarely does it cross our desks as Mac news. Over the weekend, however, there was some interesting rumours floating around that we thought we should address and debunk at the same time.

First, FaceBook’s iPhone application hasn’t been ported to the iPad just yet. Instead, most of us have been using their mobile website, or worse, the iPhone application. While the functionality is still there, not having an iPad optimized application is starting to get irksome for some. So it comes with some hope that Cyril Moutran, co-founder of Oecoway and developer of an unofficial Facebook for iPad application, isn’t yanking our chain a little—FaceBook is working on an iPad app.

That’s great news.

Facebook’s working on a phone? Say what?

This rumour was debunked by Facebook, as fast as it came up in our RSS reader. But first, here’s the rumour, in case you missed the second half of the news that came along with this “breaking” story yesterday. CNET reported that Facebook had reached out to a bunch of hardware manufacturers t to gather some information about the possibility of a Facebook-branded device. On top of that, Business Insider also had a source saying that Facebook is planning on using Google’s Android OS for the device.

The rumour lasted all of an hour before Facebook denied it. They had this to say: “The story is not accurate…Our approach has always been to make all phones and apps more social, not build a phone. The bottom line is that whenever we work on a deep integration, people want to call it a “Facebook Phone” (even internally) because that’s such an attractive sound bite, but our real strategy is to make everything social and not build one phone or integration.” It makes sense that they’d deny it, and we’re not 100 percent sold on the fact that they’re not remotely kicking tires about the possibility of bringing a Facebook phone to the masses. But, at the very least, it sounds like they might be bringing an interesting product to Android.

Article Via iPad in Canada and PC World

GV Connect appears to be the first Google Voice application let back into the App Store. The more popular GV Mobile is still absent from the party, but we’re now more confident than ever that Google Voice has finally made its way back to the iPhone.

As we’ve talked about in the past, GV Mobile as well as other Google Voice applications found themselves in the precarious position of having an application yanked from the store under the curious guise of “duplicating functionality” already on the iPhone. There’s been a lot of speculation as to whether Apple would allow the applications back into the store after they re-stated their Developer Agreement terms last week. After a bit of back and forth between GV Mobile and Apple, there was renewed optimism that they would let the Google Voice applications back into the fold. It seems to be happening right now, and hopefully we’ll start to see more of the applications let back into the store in short order.

Just for clarity’s sake, GV Connect is available on the App Store currently, but GV Mobile and others have yet to make a return. This could be a sign of things to come or it could be an application that slipped through the review process’ cracks. Only time will tell. We’ll be keeping an eye on this as it develops, but our gut reaction is that Google Voice is finally on the best phone in the market, again.

Article Via Electronista