iPad Free App of the Week: Battleship

Just like the classic Battleship game we all used to play in our living room. This time though, my brother can't cheat by moving his ships around when nobody was looking.

A great looking app, decent sound effects, and a tough one-player mode. You have to use Bluetooth to play a two player mode, it doesn't find a random opponent for you online.

From CustomerIn Systems Inc. This app came out on Aug. 18. I love it.

HP Confirms it will Take on iPad

Hewlett-Packard will ship a tablet-style computer based on the company's WebOS operating system in the first part of next year. The computer maker also plans to release a tablet that runs Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system, according to a company executive.

"You'll see us with a Microsoft product in the near future, and a WebOS-based product in early 2011, said Todd Bradley, the head of HP's Personal Systems Group, in a conference call Thursday in which HP disclosed fiscal third quarter earnings.

HP acquired WebOS through its $1.2 billion acquisition of mobile device manufacturer Palm earlier this year.

I'm looking forward to seeing the WebOS tablet, I still have doubts whether there will be a Windows 7 tablet.

HP is hoping to replicate Apple's success with the iPad in the nascent market for devices that bridge the gap between PCs and smartphones. Apple sold more than three million iPads in the first 80 days the product was on the market. Dell also recently entered the arena with the debut of the Google Android-based Streak.

Is Apple Going to Release a 7-inch iPad?

I have my doubts but...

Sources say Apple is readying another tablet similar to the iPad but with a 7-inch touchscreen for launch as early as the end of this year.

This is the second report of an iPad 2 sighting in Taiwan, and it comes from the island's Chinese-language Economic Daily News financial newspaper, which was among the first to correctly report that Apple was making a tablet when other news sources said it would be a netbook. The launch of the original iPad proved the paper correct.

Taiwan's Digitimes newspaper last week reported that Taiwanese companies were starting to assemble a 7-inch iPad for Apple.

The Economic Daily reports that Taiwanese companies have won a number of component contracts for the iPad 2. Chimei Innolux will supply 7-inch LCD screens, which use the same IPS (in-plane switching) technology found in the original iPad, which improves viewing angles and color on LCD screens. Touchscreen technology for the screens will come from Cando Corporation, the report says.

Apple has also tapped Compal Electronics, one of the world's largest contract laptop computer makers, to assemble the new iPad, the report says.

The companies named in the Economic Daily report declined to comment. Contract manufacturers and component makers normally do not reveal what products they're working on because failure to maintain secrecy can cause them to miss out on future contracts.

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.

iPad Free App of the Week: Dropbox

Have an iPad and want to get 2GB of free storage you can access anytime?

Get the free Dropbox app, you won't be sorry.  Link: http://db.tt/e0ANm9

Dropbox is the easiest way to sync and share your files online and across computers.

App features:

- View photos, videos, documents, and presentations in your Dropbox on the go.

- Save photos and videos taken with your iPhone's camera to your Dropbox, including HD videos on your iPhone 4!

- Share and send files via email, or copy and paste links to share with another app.

- Export Dropbox files to other iPhone and iPad apps.

- "Favorite" files to download them for fast, offline viewing.

- Swipe your way through photo galleries

This app makes access to your files so easy!  Get it!