Apple Announces Oct. 20 "Back to the Mac" Event

I see a lion.

This week Apple sent out invites to an October 20 event dubbed "Back to the Mac." Few details are available at this time, but many are trying to read the tea leaves.

The invitation picture for the Apple event features a picture of a lion, which could mean that Apple is prepping some sort of new operating system upgrade. Each previous Mac OS X update has had a big cat as a code name, and Apple has yet to use "lion" as a moniker. It released its last update to the software – Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard – in August of last year.

Other potential announcements could be a new MacBook Air, Face Time to the MacBook line, and more possible information about AirPlay.

We'll have to wait until the 20th to see what happens.

iPad Hits Target Stores, Is Walmart Next?

Head on out to your local Target store and what will your see?  Plenty of iPads for sale leading up to the holiday season.

Walmart, never one to be left out of a good fight is possibly next to get Apple's iPad.

MacRumors obtained some photos of some e-mails sayng Walmart will sell the iPad as early as next week.

The initial stock at Walmart stores will be 5 units of each iPad model and 10 units each of Apple's official iPad accessories.

The iPad will roll out first to 1,000 stores beginning "week 37" through the end of October, with more stores receiving the device in "the first few weeks of November," the report noted. Store displays will reportedly feature a covered "live demo unit" with a continuous video loop highlighting the iPad's features.

Most Walmarts have a small Apple secion in their electronics department right now.  Those could quickly be used to sell the iPads while still offering iPods and other Apple products.

iPad free App of the Week: Nightstand Central

Nightstand Central is an app that turns your iPad into a beautiful alarm clock.  Nightstand Central combines all the functionality that you need in an alarm clock into one intuitive app (and it works on both the iPhone and the iPhone). It's also the perfect use for an older iPhone or iPod touch that doesn't see as much use as it used to.  It really looks great on the iPad.

The free version features include:

-Automatic Vertical and Horizontal modes
-Customizable auto-lock time. If your device is running on battery, you can set it to sleep earlier than if it is plugged in, or not.
-Adjustable brightness: Slide your finger up or down to change.
-12 or 24 hour time format
-Show / Hide seconds
-Current and accurate weather conditions, updated however often you'd like, for almost anywhere in the world.

- Alarm choices

Don't rely on hotel alarm clocks or a wake-up call when you are on the road.  Try this app, you'll love it.

iPads Now Shipping in 24hrs

Since the iPad’s initial launch on April 3rd and the 3G iPad’s launch on April 30th, customer demand for the product was exceptional and even beat Apple’s expectations.

Up until a couple weeks ago the shipping times for all iPad models stood at 7-10 business days or even more, until recently changing to 3-5 business days. Up until yesterday the iPads shipping time read 1-3 business days and finally today iPads are said to ship “within 24 hours.”

Good news for those who want their iPad and want it now. 

Apple has a music event slated for next week in San Francisco.  No new iPad announcements are expected at this time.

iPad Free App of the Week: Flipboard

I've been using the free iPad app Flipboard for about a week now and although many questions remain, I've come to two conclusions.

After about a week's wait to get an invite, I can say the app is cute and fun.  That doesn't mean it will be a keeper app for me, but I do like using it, and use it daily.

Flipboard an iPad app that turns your social media feeds like Facebook and Twitter into an attractive, printlike magazine.  I use it for keeping up with Twitter and it works.

My second conclusion is this app is useful, but its so beautifully put together it might become a novelty.

Is this totally legal?  Flipboard has also faced questions about copyright. The service displays photos and the beginning of articles that people link to on Twitter and Facebook.

Co-founder Mike McCue said that Flipboard is only showing as much as content providers include on their RSS feeds. If a publication does not include images on its RSS feed, for instance, then Flipboard will not show that publication’s photos. If a publication is concerned about how much information Flipboard is showing, the company will adjust it, he said.  I think they are showing more than the RSS feed.

Ultimately, he said, Flipboard wants more people to read the articles that friends link to on social networks, and that they are more likely to do that if they see pictures and text instead of an anonymous bit.ly link.

“The main goal of Flipboard is to cause people to visit the content provider’s Web site, to basically make these links a lot more appealing,” he said.

This is an app that is taylor-made for the iPad. 

Sometimes I check it out just out of curiosity to see how they organize the Twitter posts I usually receive on Brizzly or on Twitter itself.  I usually come away impressed.

Sometimes the page is loaded with informative short articles and images, sometimes it's simple and to the point like below.

It's always something interesting and different.  It's not available for the iPhone or anything on Android yet.  I expect it to be big on the Android platform tablets once they start coming out.

I like it, it's not my sole soure of news and doesn't replace a Twitter client, but it's exciting to try and play with.