Another Reason to Buy an iPad: Office For iPad Coming in November

According to reports circulating today, Microsoft will release their Office suite for the iPad (and perhaps the iPhone and some Android devices) this fall. The Daily, an internet only publication, reports that the product will release on November 10, and will contain the standard office apps minus Outlook.

Rumors of the Office suite coming to the iPad are not new, but this is the first word on a definitive date. Though the date could be off, it seems certain that Word, Excel and PowerPoint are coming to the iPad.

Time For iPhone 5 Rumors

It's a couple of weeks from Apple's World Wide Developer's Conference, the annual meeting where Mac and iOS programmers meet to learn the latest and greatest, and the rumors are beginning to flow about the iPhone 5 (or whatever it will be called).

We have collected the best and brightest of the rumors (via osXDaily.com) for your entertainment. Here they are:

1. It will have a 4″ Display – Since virtually every Android phone has a larger screen than the iPhone, it's assumed that Apple will opt for a larger display. Reuters, WSJ, and Bloomberg have all piled in with reports that appear to confirm the 4″ display is a reality.
2. It won't look like an iPhone 4 – With a larger screen will be a redesigned case, too. Apparently, Steve Jobs was very close to the design, so expect another leap forward in industrial design. 
3. It will definitely have 4G LTE – The iPad has it, and it's a certainty that the new iPhone will, too. 
4. Expect a 10 Megapixel Camera – Not really needed, but many sources are claiming that there will be a bump from the current 8MP to 10. The best smartphone camera will apparently get better.
5. The iPad's A5X CPU & Quad Core Graphics – It will have at least what the iPad currently has, which is plenty for a smartphone.
6. A bump to 1GB RAM – The iPad has it, so will the iPhone, almost certainly, though it won't mean much to users.
7. It will run iOS 6 – iOS6 is a tighter secret than the new iPhone. Almost nothing is known about it, except that it may be announced at the conference in two weeks. Possible improvements include Facebook integration, a much expanded Siri, better notifications and a very much improved Map app. iOS6 will probably be more exciting than the new iPhone.
8. It won't be called the iPhone 5 – The new iPad isn't called the iPad 3, so Apple is apparently dropping model numbers, a la the iPod, and going generic with the names. 
9. It will come out in September or October – It it follows the release of the iPhone 4S, then the phone release cycle for Apple has been moved from summer to fall. 

Here are some rumors which are more groundless, but are bubbling up from sources anyway:

• The base model will be 32GB – It's possible that the offering this time will be 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB. But the iPod didn't go that way, so it's anyone's guess.
• New Dock Connector – maybe magnetic, like the MacBooks?
• T-Mobile – Though this is in the vague rumor section, expect it to slide up to the "hot" rumor section soon. The T-Mobile noise is growing louder regarding the iPhone.

Stay tuned. We will have more information after the WWDC early next month.

Apple Releases iOS 5.1.1

Apple just released an update to the operating system for iPhones and iPads. It appears to address some minor bugs, but since not all changes are documented, it's always a good idea to grab the latest operating system, even if your phone or tablet is working fine. 

The new version, 5.1.1, can be downloaded directly on the device. Just to to Settings, then press Software Update and download the update. It might be a little safer to plug in the phone or tablet if the battery seems low.

Get the Amazon Kindle Fire for Only $139 - Today Only!!!

This is a GREAT deal! You can get a refurbished Amazon Kindle Fire tablet for only $139. Refurbished items are usually just returned items which can't be sold as "new" anymore. In any event, they carry the same warranty as a new item, so there's no purchase risk. The purchase is directly from Amazon, so there's also no risk of fraud or bait and switch.

If you've been thinking of getting into the world of tablets, the Fire is a great gateway purchase. It's no iPad, but it's also only $139! The Fire can play music, show movies, read your Kindle ebooks, show you your email via its built in wi-fi, and run thousands of Android apps and games. It's a great little tablet, arguably the best Android tablet on the market.

We just bought one. It's a great deal.

Here's the link to Amazon.

Update on Monday, May 7, 2012 at 12:54PM by Bob Penn

Update: returned it the next day. While it worked just fine, I couldn't see anything it did that the iPad didn't already do, and better. I didn't like the smaller screen, and the device was definitely more "sluggish" than an iPad. The lesson is: is you don't have an iPad, it's a good deal and a nice little tablet. If you do have an iPad, you will never use it. Not even to read books, because the screen looks downrigt blurry compared to the latest iPad.

So Many Music Apps ... Which One is the Best?

The title says it all. There are many, many apps for listening to music these days. From Pandora, to Spotify and all points in between, selecting the best value for your money is getting harder and harder to do.

Basically, there are two types of music apps. First, there's Pandora and Slacker. They are free apps which allow you to select an artist or a style of music, and the app will create a radio station based on your selection. Like a radio station, the experience is passive: you can't call up specific tracks ... it plays what it thinks is music which you would like. That's why it's free! If you pay a small fee, both services have a premium version, but they don't allow you to select the songs (Slacker has a second tier of premium service which does allow you to select). The premium versions allow you to skip tracks you don't like and offer a higher quality sounding music stream, along with no commercials.

The other type of app allows you to call up any song in their library. There are many apps which fall into this category, the most famous being Spotify, MOG, Rdio, the premium version of Slacker, and Rhapsody. They all offer a free version of their service, but the user is limited as to how much music they can listen to. If you want to hear these services on your smartphone or tablet, they all charge $10 per month for unlimited listening.

So, Pandora and Slacker (basic) are programmable radio stations, and Spotify, etc. are like breaking into an record store and listening to whatever you want.

So which one is the best?

Well, that a great question!

Our mandate is to serve you, our loyal readers, and assist you sorting out the field and making observed and informed recommendations. The problem is, that takes a long time to do, and a lot of work! And, well, it's sweeps month on TV, so there's a lot of good viewing to do. And it's raining. 

Fortunately, the folks over at iMore.com did the effort for us. And we are very happy to give you this link to that article. 

They only compared Pandora, Slacker and Spotify, which is a little odd, since Spotify is a very different type of service from Pandora, but they did a great deal of research, and the article is a good read.

Update on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 at 9:31AM by Bob Penn

Spotify for iPad was released today. It's long overdue and adds a nicely designed interface to this powerful service. Here's a good review of the iPad app: from CultofMac.com.

Update on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 at 9:33AM by Bob Penn

BTW, if you want the Penn's Den recommendation as to which apps are the best, here we go:

Streaming app: Slacker, because it seems to offer a better music selection and more features for either free or for the low premium cost. Yet ... I still find myself using Pandora more. Old habits, I suppose.

On demand app: Spotify, particularly now that they've released the iPad app. Spotify has the best sound and the best selection. But their user interface has many, many problems, but they have been addressing them over the past few months. Best thing about Spotify: when you hit play, the music starts almost immediately. No other service has been able to do this. Worth it for that alone.

And don't forget about iTunes Match, the $25 service from Apple which puts your entire music library in the cloud. It's a great deal, and makes loading your music to your iPhone or iPad a thing of the past.

Free Software. Free Software. Until Tomorrow!

The blog Cult of Mac has arranged for its readers to get two pieces of useful software for free. 

One allows you to rip DVDs to your Mac. The other will convert any video file to a format which will play on an Apple device.

This type of software usually costs $20 or more per item, so it appears to be a great deal. 

I say appears, because I haven't actually used the software. But on the surface, it looks like a very good deal.

Click here for instructions how to get the software. But hurry. The deal expires on May 1.

Side Moon of the Dark Tip: Make Your "Concept" LPs Play As One in iTunes

For those who remember LPs, there was a time when they were considered an emerging art form. Experimentation was the rule, and groups were outdoing themselves to break down the barriers and produce a unified work of art, rather than an collection of tracks.

One side effect of this now forgotten attempt at experimentation was the notion of the LP where the tracks blended into another, giving the illusion that you were listening to something really, really important. The Beatles did it for some of the tracks on Sgt. Peppers, and by the time Pink Floyd did it for the entire LP on Dark Side of the Moon, everyone was blending songs into each other. Rock music had reached it's artistic peak. Long live the concept album.

This new way of blending transitions between tracks presented no technical challenges to the LP, since there was no way to program or shuffle the tracks. The little needle in the groove was very happy to seamlessly play back the transition.

But that was then. Today, with playback on iTunes, the notion of one track blending into each other doesn't always play well with your mobile device, or your computer. It's not uncommon to get a silent gap between the tracks, or worse, have it make no sense if you have shuffle on.

But worry no more. The OSXDaily blog published a very easy way to have your digital LP and hear it too. With just a couple of clicks, you can assure that your tracks will blend together on playback, just like it were a real LP, and even better, if you press shuffle the entire album will move as one unit.

Here's how you do it.

Go to iTunes on your computer and select the tracks you want to assign as a continuous LP. Make sure they're all selected and that they're in the correct playing order, track by track.

Then right click on one of those selected tracks, and pick "Get Info" from the menu.

Finally, click the check box for "Part of a compliation" and select "Yes." Then do the same for "Gapless album."

From now on, when you play the album on your PC, Mac, or iPhone or iPad, the music will blend into each other, and if you shuffle the player, when it comes to the album, it will play intact.

Religious Leaders Around the World Relieved: Tupac Resurrection Was a Trick!

Tupac Shakur, long thought deceased from a gunshot wound in 1996, made a surprise appearance last Sunday at the Coachilla Music Festival. His apparent resurrection confounded religious leaders around the world, who were clearly taken by surprise at this apparent miracle. 

It can now be revealed that Tupac's unprecedented performance was, in fact, a trick. It was not, however, as reported, a hologram. In fact, the only thing resurrected was an old stage trick dating back to the mid 1800's. 

Tupac appeared via a technique called Pepper's Ghost, named after John Henry Pepper who first demonstrated the technique in the 1860s.

Here's how they did it:

The effect was created by Tempe, Arizona company AV Concepts. They projected an computer animated version of Tupac onto a screen that could not be easily seen by the audience.

A projector above the stage is directed to a mirrored surface hidden on the floor. The reflection is seen on a clear screen which is angled so that the audience sees only the image, and not the actual screen.

If this all feels somewhat familiar, most of us have already experienced Pepper's Ghost. It's the technique used extensively in Disney's Haunted Mansion. In fact, it's used virtually every day in television, as the modern teleprompter uses the Pepper's Ghost technique.

Perhaps the most amazing part of the performance wasn't the use of Pepper's Ghost, but the fact that Tupac was reproduced digitally with a great deal of realism. Take a look at the video. You'll see it's a fake Tupac because the movement seems a bit artificial, but the technology is moving along at an impressive rate.

New iPad? Here's Some Tips and Tricks

For those of you who have picked up the new iPad, we found this article full of must-know tips and tricks. It's worth a peek. Click here to read.

Nerd Alert: Pebble Watch is Coming!

The Pebble Watch is a smart watch which uses e-ink, the same technology in the black and white Amazon Kindles, to display the screen. But the ability see the screen perfectly outside isn't really the story.

It's a bluetooth watch which connects to your iPhone or Android phone. And because it talks to your smart phone, the Pebble can do some amazing things.

It can tell you who's calling on your phone. It can show your emails and texts to you. It can act as a remote for your music. Oh, and it's also a watch, too. They're also making the specification public so developers can write apps for the watch.

So where do you get one? You can't! Not yet. 

You see, Pebble is a Kickstarter project. Kickstarter is an amazing website which allows inventors and artists to present their ideas to the public for funding. If enough money is collected, the project is funded. For Pebble, they are asking for $120. For this, if it gets funded, you will get a Pebble watch.

So where are they? Their goal was $100,000. As of today, they've received $4,464,105 in funding, making it the most successful Kickstarter project ever!

Here's the web page which has the information on Pebble. I like Kickstarter, and I like the Pebble, so I bought one. I'll report on it when it comes out, which is currently targeted for September.