10 best apps to watch TV on your iPad

Some might lament the lack of Flash compatibility on the iPad, which makes it very difficult to watch video directly from websites, but that doesn't mean there aren't alternative options to watch good content by way of apps.


The apps in this story are available at Apple's Canadian Apps Store 



SlingPlayer
If you have a Slingbox set up at home with your cable or satellite box, you basically have your entire channel list and PVR at your disposal.


It can even empower your mobile phone.


If you don't have a Slingbox, enter for your chance to win one at WhatsYourTech.ca.



Netflix
The selection for TV shows may be lacking, but if you're already a Netflix (http: //netflix.ca) subscriber, you can make good use of this app to either continue a show or movie you already started watching, or start up a new one.




NHL GameCenter
If hockey is one of the key reasons you're keeping your cable or satellite provider around, consider a GameCenter subscription.


You can watch plenty of games, but your favourite local team's tilts might be blacked out.




CTV
They were a bit later to the game than their competitors, but pretty much all the shows CTV airs are available in this app.


Unfortunately, like the other networks, they limit the offering to just the last three episodes.


Global Video, CityTV Video, CBC TV


All of these are pretty much the same as CTV in that they offer a number of shows they broadcast, ranging from NCIS, Dragon's Den and Modern Family, among many others. So do you need to pay for cable/satellite service?




netTV
This app has declined in quality a little bit, but it offers channels from dozens of countries around the world. Just pick a nation and see what they got.




FilmOn
British TV fans will love this app. The main channels are available here, plus others that range from cool to just plain weird.




World TV Pro
This app is heavy on news channels, especially from European and Asian countries.




NFB (National Film Board of Canada)
This app speaks for itself, and you might be surprised at some of the interesting content in here.




VEVO
This is the ultimate app for music video lovers, and the list keeps growing.



Source : Calgary Herald | By : TED KRITSONIS
Original Content : 10 best apps to watch TV on your iPad

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Apple Updates iPad 2 Smart Cover Offerings with Color Tweaks

Alongside today's quiet MacBook Pro refresh, Apple has also updated its iPad 2 Smart Cover offerings, perhaps most notably discontinuing the orange polyurethane cover and replacing it with a new dark gray cover. 

New dark gray Smart Cover

Other changes include: 


Interior color now matches exterior color. The interior side of the Smart Cover facing the iPad screen had previously been a uniform gray color on all models with the exception of the (PRODUCT) RED version. All Smart Covers are now a consistent color inside and out.

Smart Cover showing tan color on outside and inside

More vibrant colors for polyurethane covers. Aside from the replacement of the orange cover with a dark gray one, sources indicate that the colors on the polyurethane models are now more vibrant. Polyurethane Smart Covers come in blue, green, pink, light gray, and dark gray. 


Color adjustment on navy leather cover. Apple offer five different leather Smart Covers, and sources reports that Apple has slightly tweaked the color on the navy version to make it "more navy" than the original version. All other colors (tan, black, cream, and red) remain unchanged. 


Pricing on the Smart Covers remains the same, with polyurethane covers coming in at $39.00 and leather covers priced at $69.00. While Apple's store pages have been updated with the new colors, the company's Smart Cover page does not yet reflect the changes.




Source : MacRumors | By : Eric Slivka
Original Post : Apple Updates iPad 2 Smart Cover Offerings with Color Tweaks

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Android Got More App Downloads Than iPhone, iPad & iPod Touch in Q2 2011

Android has taken the lead in application market downloads, according to reports by by market analysts. This is the first time for the platform to overtake iOS, although Apple still trumps Google in terms of revenue and per-user downloads

ABI Research recently revealed market findings during the 2nd quarter of 2011. According to the analysts, Android Market downloads have surpassed those of Apple’s App Store. During that period, Android got a 44% market share in app downloads, while Apple’s share slid to 31%.

ABI credits this trend to Google’s open approach to Android and application development, citing how the platform is open for use by multiple manufacturers, while Apple’s iOS is a closed ecosystem. Also, quarterly shipment figures point toward a decline in iPhone sales during 2Q 2011, with a 9% shipment growth compared to 15% in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, Android smartphone shipments grew 36% compared to 20% in Q1 2011.

However, ABI qualifies this trend, saying that Apple is not exactly a net loser. In terms of per-user downloads, iOS users still outnumber Android users in average, by a factor of 2-to-1. iOS is said to be a better ecosystem for developers and users. ABI attributes this to better monetization for developers and a better user experience for smartphone users. As such, Android may be overtaking iOS in terms of raw numbers, but Apple’s winning strategy is focusing its market on getting the most out of each user and out of each application.

ABI’s Mobile Applications Market Data research says the global app market is expected to reach 29 billion app downloads by end of the year, compared to 2010′s 9 billion. Meanwhile, the total smartphone install base is expected to grow 46% compared to last year’s.

Source : Nexus404 |  By : J. Angelo Racoma
Original Content : Android Got More App Downloads Than iPhone, iPad & iPod Touch in Q2 2011

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Siri Can Work on iPhone 4 and all iOS 5 Devices, claims Hacker

A developer claims to have got the voice-activated personal assistant Siri fully working on an iPhone 4 and promises that the app will be made available soon.


Siri is the headline feature of the iPhone 4S, and lets users send e-mails, conduct Web searches, find local businesses and more; the app is available exclusively on the iPhone 4S, but the developer claims he has made it work on all iOS 5 devices.


The developer, who goes by the name of @Jackoplane on Twitter, has got Siri to work on an iPhone 4 and believes that it will work on all iPod touch and iPadmodels running the recently-released iOS 5 firmware.


Previously, hackers have been able to run Siri on an iPhone 4, but the results were poor and the app was unable to contact Apple's servers, making it mostly useless. Jack states that his hack means Siri can communicate with Apple on an iPhone 4, and he promises to release the app soon.


Obtaining Siri on any device other than an iPhone 4S will require jailkbreaking - the process of installing a customised operating system onto an iDevice, letting it run unofficial apps and software. Apple states that jailbreaking invalidates the warranty of its products, so is done at the user's own risk.


Jack has not yet released a video of his efforts, which he first wrote about more than a week ago, leading some commenters to believe that he is faking

Source : Internationl Business News | By : Alistair Charlton
Original Content : Siri Can Work on iPhone 4 and all iOS 5 Devices, claims Hacker

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Ahead of the Bell: Analyst says iTV coming in 2012

A Jefferies analyst is predicting that Apple Inc. will launch "iTV," an integrated television set that lets people access their music, TV and videos stored remotely in "the cloud," in the second half of 2012.


The analyst, Peter Misek, said he thinks Apple will initially make about 5 million to 10 million of the iTV. He is basing this on quotes from Steve Jobs' new biography by Walter Isaacson, which went on sale Monday.


In it, Jobs tells Isaacson he has come up with a way to make TVs as easy to use as the iPhone or the iPad. He says: "I finally cracked it."


Jobs died on Oct. 5 at age 56 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.


Misek thinks that in addition to making money from subscription revenue, Apple could benefit from a "halo effect" of increased sales of its other products because of an iTV.


Apple did not respond to a request for comment on the analyst's prediction. The company typically does not disclose plans about new products before they are launched.


Apple's shares rose $3.53 to $396.40 in premarket trading.


Source: YAHOO! Finance
Original Content : Ahead of the Bell: Analyst says iTV coming in 2012

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Circumstances likely to see Apple push MacBook Pro refresh to November

A refresh to Apple's professional line of notebooks once anticipated for an introduction as early as September may not roll out until early next month.

The late-2011 MacBook Pros, first detailed by AppleInsider back in September, will deliver marginal speed bumps to the notebooks' Core i-Series of Sandy Bridge processors but will otherwise introduce no material changes over the existing models, according to a person familiar with the products.

That person said that the notebooks' planned introduction in late September was put on the back burner once the release dates for iOS 5.0 and iPhone 4S were solidified, as Apple pooled all available resources to support the launch -- the largest and most rapid yet in the Cupertino-based company's history.

Since then, the launch date for the Late 2011 MacBook Pros has reportedly been a moving target. However, a second person with proven accuracy in predicting Apple's product launch dates says the Mac maker is now advising its partners not to expect availability of the new models until the first week of November.

It's unclear whether the latest holdup is related to the situation over at Catcher Technology. The Taiwanese casing manufacturer of uni-body MacBook enclosures was ordered to cease operations earlier this week after the local government received complaints regarding "strange odors" emanating from one of its factories.

Catcher has since vowed to invest $2-3 million to get the plant, which is responsible for churning out roughly 60% of Apple's MacBook Pro and MacBook Air enclosures, back online by November. The manufacturer's president, Allen Horng, had previously said that total shipments would fall 20% in October and could drop by as much as 40% in November if the local government refuses to allow the plant to resume production.

The circumstances surrounding the MacBook Pro refresh are likely to see availability of existing models become increasing constrained over the next week or so. Apple is reported to have ramped down production of the 17-inch model over a month ago, with production of the higher-end 15-inch models following suit shortly thereafter. 


As such, three of Apple's largest authorized resellers -- Amazon.com, MacMall and MacConnection -- have already run out of stock of both models, leading the former to offer to fill customer orders for the high-end 15-inch MacBook Pro through a third party for $2,699.97, or more than 20% above MSRP.

Though minor, the Late 2011 MacBook Pro refresh will bridge the gap between now and the time Intel launches its new Ivy Bridge mobile platform in the first half of 2012 -- the next time the world's largest chipmaker will offer a means for notebook vendors to upgrade their designs.

The speed bumps to this year's models will be made possible through a quite refresh to Intel's Sandy Bridge lineup of processors introduced in early September. The company added four new Core i7 branded chips that would be likely candidates to advance the MacBook Pro's performance. For instance, the latest 2.4GHz, 2.5GHz and 2.7GHz quad-core CPUs could respectively replace the 2.0GHz, 2.2GHz, and 2.3GHz currently found in Apple's 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros.

As for the 13-inch MacBook Pro Intel's 2.8GHz dual-core Core i7 CPU is a viable replacement for the 2.7GHz chip currently used in the high-end model. And the entry-level MacBook Pro could benefit from Intel's 2.5GHz and 2.6GHz Core i5 chips.


Source : AppleInsider | By : Kasper Jade
Original Post : Circumstances likely to see Apple push MacBook Pro refresh to November

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Microsoft boasts patent licenses with over half of Android market

Microsoft announced on Sunday that a new patent license agreement with original design manufacturer Compal means that companies accounting for more than half of all Google Android-based devices now have agreements with the software giant.

On the heels of the Redmond, Wash., Windows maker's announcement that it had reached an agreement with Compal to receive royalties in exchange for patent coverage for the Android or Chrome platform, the company's General Counsel Brad Smith and Deputy General Counsel Horacio Gutierrez posted an official blog post touting the new statistic.

The deal marks Microsoft's tenth license agreement with an Android partner. Momentum appears to be in the company's favor, as nine of the ten licenses have come in the last four months alone. Some pundits have gone so far as to speculate that Microsoft makes more money from its patent licenses to Android than it does off of its own platform, Windows Phone 7. For instance, the company's agreement with HTC is said to bring in $5 per Android device sold by the Taiwanese handset maker.

Microsoft was also said to be seeking $15 per device from Samsung. The two companies reached a cross-licensing agreement in late September, but declined to reveal how much Samsung would pay to Microsoft in royalties.

However, Windows Phone boss Andy Lees worked to dispel the myth that Microsoft receives more revenue from Android patent licenses than Windows Phone sales during an interview last week.

"I don’t know where the, you know, one making more money than the other comes from. We certainly want to sell a lot of Windows Phone," Lees said at AllThingsD's AsiaD conference in Hong Kong.

Sunday's post included a chart entitled "Android Patent Licensing and Litigation" showing that Microsoft has reached agreements with all but a few Android ODMs and OEMs. According to the chart, the company still has pending litigation with Motorola Mobility, Inventec, Foxconn and Barnes & Noble. The graphic also depicts Apple's ongoing legal action against rivals Motorola, Samsung and HTC.


Smith and Gutierrez went on to point out that Microsoft spent roughly $4.5 billion to license patents from other companies over the past decade. Over the same period, the company reached 1,133 agreements to license its patents "to other companies that share [its] desire to respect IP rights."

The post also included a pie chart showing that 55 percent of the worldwide ODM market by revenue have Android licensing agreements with Microsoft. Meanwhile, the company claims that 53 percent of the Android smartphone market in the U.S. in terms of units are licensed.


"For those who continue to protest that the smartphone patent thicket is too difficult to navigate, it's past time to wake up," the authors concluded. "As our recent agreements clearly show, Android handset manufacturers are now doing the same thing. Ultimately, that's a good path for everyone."

Apple, on the other hand, has indicated a divergent approach to its patents from Microsoft. Court documents from a dispute between Apple and Samsung in Australia reveal that the company is only willing to license "lower level patents." The company's strategy appears to involve holding back some of its more advanced inventions as iOS exclusives in order to differentiate its products.

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs told biographer Walter Isaacson in an interview that he would spend his "last dying breath" fighting to destroy Android because he believed it was a "stolen product."

"I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on this," Jobs reportedly said.

Jobs also reportedly told former Google CEO Eric Schmidt that he wasn't interested in settling with Android makers over patent violations.

"I don't want your money. If you offer me $5 billion, I won't want it. I've got plenty of money. I want you to stop using our ideas in Android, that's all I want," Isaacson quoted Jobs as having told Schmidt.


Source : AppleInsider | By : Josh Ong
Original Post : Microsoft boasts patent licenses with over half of Android market

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Steve Jobs told biographer he 'cracked' the secret to a simple HDTV

The forthcoming biography of Steve Jobs reveals that he worked to build an integrated, easy-to-use Apple television set, and that he felt he had "cracked" the concept for such a device.

The details from Walter Isaacson's book, set to arrive next week, are the latest indication that Apple plans to eventually release a connected HDTV set, as has been rumored for some time. According to The Washington Post, Jobs's vision was for a connected TV that would be synced with all of a user's devices, and with Apple's iCloud service.

The simplified HDTV would spare users from having to use complex remotes for multiple devices like DVD players and cable boxes. Isaacson wrote that Jobs "wanted to do for television sets what he had done for computers, music players, and phones: make them simple and elegant."

"It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine," Jobs was quoted as saying. "I finally cracked it."

Rumors of an HDTV from Apple have existed for years, though before the alleged comments from Jobs, there has been little evidence to support that Apple is planning to build such a device in the immediate future. In late 2010, Apple redesigned its Apple TV set top box to run on the same ARM-based processor and lightweight iOS operating system found in the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

One recent report in July claimed that Apple will launch a total of three HDTV models by March of 2012, with three different screen sizes and price points. A recent update to the Apple TV already offers console-style gaming with the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S via wireless AirPlay


Source : AppleInsider | By : AppleInsider Staff
Original Post : Steve Jobs told biographer he 'cracked' the secret to a simple HDTV

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