Posts Tagged ‘e mail’

HP TouchPad Already on Sale – This Weekend Only

If price is the thing keeping you from becoming a tablet owner, HP may have the incentive you need to take the plunge. This weekend only, HP is offering a $100 price reduction on its TouchPad, bringing the 16GB version down to $400 and the 32GB version now available for $500.

This drop in price has a lot of people speculating the motivation behind it. Surely it is meant to spur sales, but it also means lower margins for HP. But with finances aside, it may be a wise move. With many feeling that the TouchPad was prematurely released, some initial reviews were harsh and unflattering. A recent update to webOS apparently stabilized and improved the TouchPad quite significantly, so if the boost to sales is successful this might be a second chance for the device.

The concept of putting tablet devices on sale is one that isn’t shared by all manufacturers. While Samsung did eventually discount their Galaxy Tab 7, their newer Galaxy Tab 10.1 is still full price. Motorola brought down the price of the Xoom but not nearly this fast. To date, Apple and RIM have stayed firm with their pricing.

Is cost enough of a reason to choose a webOS device over the more popular iOS and Android powered models? For those users looking for a personal device used mainly for web surfing and e-mail, the difference is likely negligible, but with webOS apps only numbering in the hundreds there is no comparison with the App Store and Android Marketplace –at least not yet.

This sale comes just in time for back to school, a time when many people are evaluating their computing needs –and these days tablets are becoming a near-necessity, with more textbooks and learning resources available than ever before.

I actually wonder how many people will hit the stores this weekend with intentions of picking up a TouchPad and be persuaded into an iPad or Android device?

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iPad and iPhone Mobile Devices of Choice with Small and Medium-Sized Businesses

A press release given by Intermedia revealed that the iPad and iPhone are dominating among small and medium-sized businesses. The company, responsible for hosting over 350,000 Exchange e-mail accounts, identified that 78% of their customers use Apple devices. This conclusion is based on a review of the ActiveSync smartphones and tablets activated to sync their email, contacts and calendars the showed 57% of users choose to use an iPhone and 21% using an iPad.

Activations for iPads are continuing to soar, with a rise of 102% since May when it was reported by Intermedia that the device was already the decided leader. This surge means that more users are choosing to use a tablet for their mobile computing needs than ever before, and in doing so turn to the iPad. The data analyzed shows that the the number of iPad activations is now second only to the iPhone.

While these results may not be surprising, it is interesting to look at the manufacturers that fall into the next most popular slots. While reviews and media coverage would have you expecting to see Samsung lead the pack, it is Motorola with 9% and HTC with 8% coming in next. LG, Nokia, Palm and Samsung devices combine to make up a measly 4% of activations.

The bad news for these competitors is that when it comes to being adopted by the corporate world, it is usually easier to stay on top than it is to climb to the top.

The business world of today had professionals needing to get connected and stay connected, whether they are in their offices or not. This means blurring the line between the office and home, and choosing a device that best serves that dual purpose. Results like these would seem to indicate Apple has this appeal.

Intermedia offers the largest hosted Exchange environment used by small and medium-sized businesses and boasts being a global leader in cloud services. Next week, Intermedia is expected to announce the availability of a mobile app allowing for remote management of Microsoft Exchange platforms.

Note: These results only include ActiveSync devices, which excludes BlackBerry.

[via Intermedia]

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Small Town Government Goes High Tech, Saves Money Using iPad

In Cornelius, N.C., a small town north of Charlotte, the town commissioners will now receive town meeting agendas on iPads instead of paper. According to Town Manager Anthony Roberts this change is expected to save resources and Taxpayer dollars.

The city’s government purchased 16 iPads for its department heads, mayor, board members, town clerk, police chief, the finance director and two members of its I.T. department. And, no, Apple did not give them a discount.

Even after ponying up $16,000, Roberts still expects the iPads to save Cornelius money. If it seems impossible, consider the cost and labor involved in creating an agenda for just one week. As Roberts describes it:

We have to run 20 agendas at 200 pages per agenda. That’s 4,000 pages just on that one, and that’s not including the time to put it together. And you usually don’t get it right the first time because everything changes. I would think it takes over eight hours per packet.

Roberts expects that within a year-and-a-half the town will recoup its investment in the iPads through savings on paper, copying, labor, and other miscellaneous costs.

Cornelius has already benefited from the iPad adoption in another way. Police Chief Bence Hoyle finds he can keep the town’s streets a bit safer with the iPad in hand:

Last night, I was on my iPad and I accidentally hit the wrong button and pulled up a couple of webcams at local parks, and I saw a suspicious person step out and walk toward the amphitheater. I immediately called up the e-mail and e-mailed in and watched our guys go out there. He said he was just walking around. It was 11 at night. The park closes at dusk. He ended up getting a traffic citation for not having a registration. Another thing is our supervisors can read all the reports immediately.

Only time will tell how many other municipalities will look to the iPad to shrink the size of government.

[Via New York Times]

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Small Town Government Goes High Tech, Saves Money iPad

In Cornelius, N.C., a small town north of Charlotte, the town commissioners will now receive town meeting agendas on iPads instead of paper. A great way to save Taxpayer dollars.

According to Town Manager Anthony Roberts this change is expected to save resources and Taxpayer dollars. The city’s government purchased 16 iPads for its department heads, mayor, board members, town clerk, police chief, the finance director and two members of its I.T. department. And, no, Apple did not give them a discount.

Even after ponying up $16,000, Roberts still expects the iPads to save Cornelius money. If it seems impossible, consider the cost and labor involved in creating an agenda for just one week. As Roberts describes it:

We have to run 20 agendas at 200 pages per agenda. That’s 4,000 pages just on that one, and that’s not including the time to put it together. And you usually don’t get it right the first time because everything changes. I would think it takes over eight hours per packet.

Roberts expects that within a year-and-a-half the town will recoup its investment in the iPads through savings on paper, copying, labor, and other miscellaneous costs.

Cornelius has already benefited from the iPad adoption in another way. Police Chief Bence Hoyle finds he can keep the town’s streets a bit safer with the iPad in hand:

Last night, I was on my iPad and I accidentally hit the wrong button and pulled up a couple of webcams at local parks, and I saw a suspicious person step out and walk toward the amphitheater. I immediately called up the e-mail and e-mailed in and watched our guys go out there. He said he was just walking around. It was 11 at night. The park closes at dusk. He ended up getting a traffic citation for not having a registration. Another thing is our supervisors can read all the reports immediately.

Only time will tell how many other municipalities will look to the iPad to shrink the size of government.

[Via New York Times]

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RIM Rumored to Discontinue WiFi PlayBook, Lower than Expected Sales

Barely three months after the launch of its BlackBerry PlayBook, RIM is rumored to be about to discontinue the currently available models, possibly due to lower than expected sales. While the tablet fared better than other devices such as the Motorola Xoom, with at least half a million devices shipped thus far, the PlayBook sales figures are still dwarfed by the iPad’s.

As a result, RIM might be about to discontinue the WiFi versions of the PlayBook, to focus on upcoming – and potentially more popular – 3G-enabled models.

In a note to investors Monday afternoon, RBC Capital Markets Managing Director Mike Abramsky reiterated an OTR Global report that Research In Motion is possibly planning to stop production of the BlackBerry PlayBook’s Wi-Fi model. The Wi-Fi version of RIM’s tablet is the only version Research In Motion currently manufacturers. The reasons for the discontinuation of the Wi-Fi edition, Abramsky states, could be related to a pullback in production, a move that would align channel inventory with slower than expected sell-through, in addition to RIM focusing on upcoming cellularly-connected PlayBook versions.

In a competitive tablet market, RIM has a serious disadvantage. With a huge battle royal against iOS and Android, it would be difficult for anybody else to dominate. This becomes particularly true when so many features on the PlayBook, such as e-mail and calendaring, are only available when tethered to a BlackBerry smartphone – rendering the device nearly useless to users who find themselves without one. To add insult to injury, the 3G models are yet to be released.

RIM launched the WiFi PlayBook back in April, at similar price points as the iPad, and hoped to sell more than 2 million units during the second quarter of this year. But late last month, RIM adjusted its sales target to less than a million – to put things in perspective, Apple sells about 10 million iPads per quarter.

[via BGR]

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Scan the Files that Go Through Your Device with VirusBarrier – iPad App Review

While there may not be any viruses that target iOS at this time, your device will happily be the middle-man and pass along viruses found in other locations like e-mail or file sharing services like MobileMe or DropBox.

Using Intego’s VirusBarrier X6 scanning technology, this app scans files and archives from all locations and not only detects but eliminates all threats.

Unfortunately, iOS does not allow for scheduled or automatic scans. This means all scans must be done manually. The good news is that once you have started a scan, it can be completed in the background

The purchase price for this app includes a year of updates to your malware definitions, which are done automatically. Once that year is complete, additional subscriptions can be purchased for $1.99.

What I liked: Apps like this are responsible and worthwhile. While I wish it weren’t true, there are a lot of people out there spreading malicious and damaging files, and as your device potential and capacity increases, so does your ability to spread digital disease.

What I didn’t like: The subscription for this app is renewed automatically unless you have turned off auto-renew in your iTunes account. I am not sure a lot of people are aware that this is something they need to manage separately which means many users may receive an unwanted expense a year from downloading this app.

To buy or not to buy: If you use your device for work, you receive files from locations you can’t always trust or you just can’t help yourself when it comes to opening e-mail attachments then this app is a must-have. How does that saying go? An ounce of prevention beats a pound of cure.

• App Name: VirusBarrier
• Version Reviewed: 1.0
• Category: Utilities
• Developer: Intego
• Price: $2.99
• Score:

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Study Finds Primary Frustration With Tablets is With Their Keyboard

It is a fair accusation to say that typing for any great length and in any large quantity on an iPad can be frustrating and inefficient. KeyPoint Technologies, a maker of adaptive text input software, commissioned Opinion Matters in June 2011 to poll consumers to see how they use their iPads and similar tablets. The research suggests that the awkwardness of typing prevents users from using their tablet devices in a way that would replace their need for laptops and other computers.

Their report indicated that typing was the single largest frustration for tablet users, especially with long documents of over 500 words. The second and third highest pain points were battery life and connectivity, respectively.

What is interesting is the complaint isn’t with the on-screen keyboards themselves, but rather with poor auto-correct functionality (we’ve all been caught with this one when texting and chatting with friends!), predictive text and poorly implemented copy/paste.

With their conclusion that tablets are most used and useful for tasks such as web browsing, games, reading e-mail and participating in social media –it is their suggestion that this is due to input limitations and not our consumer desires.

They could be right, but with other studies recently showing that we pick up our tablets most in the evening after our work day is done, it seems unlikely that users are curling up on the couch to write the great American novel on their iPad. Now if only we had portable computers available that had full tactile keyboards and more word processing power, and… oh wait!

Their accusation that tablets are little more than “mid-way between a smartphone and a laptop” seems much more like a reasonable, factual statement than something to complain about. Isn’t that the point?

I am prepared to sacrifice a more sophisticated keyboard and input system for improvements that mean better battery life, lighter weight and ease of portability because my primary desire is for a couch-companion and media device more than something that can do the heavy lifting for my MacBook Pro.

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Learn Numbers, Learn to Count – iPad App Review

When discussing the value of an iPad, most people mention the ability to surf the web, check your e-mail, play games and other recreational type uses, but many forget to acknowledge the potential for education. Learn Numbers, Learn to Count is an app that endeavors to teach children how to read and write numbers, count and do simple mathematics.

In order to make these concepts easy to understand for the small children learning them, this app is broken down into three main categories:

1. Writing Numbers – The app teaches children to write numbers by tracing their likeness on the screen while a counter below allows them to identify the quantity each written character corresponds to.
2. Learning to Count – With pictures being shown of animals, dots appear on each one by one allowing children to follow along and count them. This is especially helpful for toddlers who have memorized their numbers in order but don’t fully understand how to actually use those numbers to count items.
3. Introduction to Math – Basic addition concepts are reinforced with a simple fill-in-the-blank interface that allows children to slide the correct number (corresponding to the number of animals required to reach the desired total) into the equation.

What I liked: The strength of this app is in the soundtrack. The voice-overs are very easy to understand and are encouraging without being silly. If you make a wrong move, children are asked to try again and doing so is made very simple.

What I didn’t like: In the images containing multiple animals to be counted, they are all very close together. I would have liked to see more separation between each animal, making it easier for toddler aged children to count them.

To buy or not to buy: The game is very simple and offers very few bells and whistles, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I have noticed with some of the flashier apps that my daughter can become distracted and more interested in the peripheral things instead of actually learning the subject-matter. I would say this is worth the price if you have a child learning to write numbers and you want to progress into doing simple addition.

• App Name: Learn Numbers, Learn to Count
• Version Reviewed: 1.0
• Category: Education
• Developer: urbn; pockets
• Price: $1.99
• Score:

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Journal Your Dreams With The Dream Log – iPad App Review

The Dream Log describes itself as being the world’s first anachronous neuro-rhythmic interpolator. In simpler terms, this means that this app will help you to log your dreams. Performing like a diary or journal, this app gives you the opportunity to track and sort your thoughts in a meaningful way.

With design elegance, this app endeavors to make documenting your thoughts an enjoyable and productive experience. Organizing your entries by date and time, there are a few special touches that makes it particularly wonderful for recording your dreams:

• 6 themes designed for viewing in low-light situations
• Change font sizes and styles with your fingertips
• Set one of thirteen charms to remind you to begin writing (or to wake you to write)

All of the value-added features are included. You can post your thoughts to Life Journal, Blogger or Facebook as well as exporting in an e-mail, export as a PDF or print wirelessly.

One thing I loved especially was the ability to select specific text in my entry and with one click could ‘Search For Meaning’, which would bring up dream interpretation results in Google focused on what I had written.

What I liked: The Dream Log is beautiful. I loved pulling it up on my iPad and sitting down to write. It is the same feeling I used to get all those years ago when I would find a special new notebook to write in… only in digital form.

What I didn’t like: I found the descriptions in the App Store and on the developer’s website to be confusing. I believe they are trying to appear sophisticated and artistic, but I believe it is a mistake that the average person is going to require a dictionary in order to understand the purpose of the app.

To buy or not to buy: If you love to write, whether it is about your dreams or not, this is a lovely app and you will enjoy it. You could certainly use any number of note-taking apps to accomplish similar goals, but this one will turn your writing into an experience.

• App Name: The Dream Log
• Version Reviewed: 1.0.1
• Category: Lifestyle
• Developer: Corpus Collusion
• Price: $1.99
• Score:

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Review all of Your Documents with LeapDoc for iPad

LeapDoc allows you to take thousands of common file types, including CAD, text files, graphic design files and databases and effortlessly convert them to PDF for viewing on your mobile device.

This process is made especially easy with the ‘print to LeapDoc’ feature from within many of your applications or by using the desktop clients (available for free with the purchase of the LeapDoc app) for both Mac and PC as well as a web application for times when you are not on your own machine.

Promoting itself as a green alternative to printing, this app does make it very easy to carry a library of documents with you to meetings, work or school that you may otherwise have needed a hard copy to review and share.

What I liked: It is very handy that all of your documents are available from a single list within the LeapDoc app and they can be read, deleted or shared by e-mail using a very simple interface.

What I didn’t like: While I appreciate the simplicity of all documents in LeapDoc being converted to PDF, this may not be ideal in all circumstances. It would be nice to be able to maintain certain documents in their native formats even if they were converted to PDF on the fly for viewing. This could be especially relevant for those documents that you wish to e-mail out to others such as your resume.

To buy or not to buy: If you find yourself frequently moving documents around to your various computers and devices, this could be a very useful app and well worth the purchase price. In addition, if you had a reference library of any sort this would be a good way to maintain a current and easy to read version on each of your devices.

• App Name: LeapDoc
• Version Reviewed: 1.0
• Category: Productivity
• Developer: Deep Cognition Ltd.
• Price: $4.99
• Score:

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