This is a quick review of my newest iPad case acquisition- the Incipio Premium Kickstand in sand/beige ($30). Made of durable ripstop nylon, this is a great case that quickly and easily converts to some great viewing angles and also into perfect typing position! Click the video above to see this case in action.
How to make your iPad 1 feel like an iPad 2
So, it’s the beginning of June, and all around you people are carrying around the newest iteration of the iPad while you are still toting the ever so clunky first generation model. Yes, you may be using last years hardware, and yes, your beginning to develop back pain from the extra weight of the iPad 1, but alas, you don’t have the extra cash to upgrade to that ever so slim sliver of aluminum and your medical insurance does not consider the upgrade a medical expense even though the .2 lb difference would mean worlds of relief for your sciatica. What to do, what to do?
Well, first of all, realize that you are not the only one in this situation, and actually, you may be ahead of the game in ways you’d never expect. After all, since you were thrifty and didn’t splurge on iPad 2, you can justify the expense of iPad 3 at next years launch! Okay, not making you feel any better? Luckily there are a few things you can do now to save yourself the money of an upgrade while also making your iPad feel shiny and new.
1. Wash your iPad head to home button
Maybe your screen is a bit dingy, or your aluminum has lost it’s sheen, but many of the superficial ailments your iPad is susceptible to can be cured with a good cleaning. Make sure to use iPad compatible cleaning solutions and cloths and also check with Apple support on proper cleaning methods before undertaking this task.
2. Give your iPad a facelift with a new case
One of the benefits of having a previous generation device is that the cases and accessories for it are usually deeply discounted. Take advantage of that fact and perk up your iPad with some new swag. Make sure to check popular sites like EBay and Amazon for even better deals as 3rd party retailers will usually give bigger discounts on last generation items to get rid of back stock. A new case and a fresh screen protector can make a big difference on an old iPad.
3. Refresh your iPad with some new content
Although you may not be able to change the physical appearance of your iPad 1 to that of an iPad 2, one thing you can change is your user experience. Splurging on a few new games, apps, books, and movies will make your iPad seem fresh and new. Find yourself some interesting new images to use as your background and lock screen to give your iPad a new look. Rearrange your apps and create a new filing system with folders to clean up your home screen. Only use your iPad for web surfing or reading? Try utilizing one of your iPad’s many other features to maximize your iPad experience.
Using any one or all of these tips will certainly add a little pep back to your old iPad, and remember, since it is an Apple device, it still has years ahead of it, so you will have to decide for yourself which price you would rather pay; the upgrade to the newest generation or the stigma of carrying around an old device.
Happy iPad-ing everyone!
{Image via Flickr}
Case In Point
Miss Trenchcoat and I love iPad cases… and by love I mean we are obsessed. At last count, we have eight cases and two body sleeves for our grand total of two iPads in the household. It is a little excessive, we know, but our cases are used for a plethora of reasons. Some are folio cases with covers to protect the screen which are perfect for when we travel, some are cases with built in stands for watching movies together, and some are minimalist back cases to keep the sleek feel of the iPad intact.
Lately I have found myself using one of those sleek cases for the past few weeks and I am loving it. But this case is special and very very different then any of the other cases we have. While The Pink Mac regularly features cases that we love, most of those cases range from the $50 – $70 range. Now these cases are amazing and have a great level of craftsmanship, however it is obviously a lot of money to invest in a case. This case I am using is different because it cost me a grand total of five dollars (tax not included). I got this case on a whim, it had a nice design, nice feel, and Miss Trenchcoat was getting a pink one so I wanted to match! It really impressed me with the simple design and how it protects the iPad. The rubber feels perfect for gripping and holding, and it surrounds the iPad totally from the back to around the front edge, so it is very hard for dirt and dust to get under the skin of the case. It doesn’t protect the front at all, but with a screen shield on I feel moderately safe leaving the iPad around on a desk or in a drawer. The upside to having no front protection is the iPad is still super thin as intended.
But the point of this article isn’t to review the case, but to remind everyone that those cheap-looking knock-off cases you find in dollar stores may actually turn out to be perfect for your needs. You don’t need to go out spending over $50 for some designer case that you spent hours online researching product reviews of – sometimes it is good to be spontaneous and give the $5 case a shot, because who knows you might end up liking it after all. And at the end of the day, the reason you buy a case for you iPad should be first and foremost: protection. So if it does the same job for less, why not give it a try?
Like New
For the last few weeks, my iPad has been acting a bit sluggish. Page turns delayed, apps were slow to open, and the touch screen was hesitant to react to my touch. I have also been having problems with syncing my iPad apps in iTunes. Trying to remove an unused app or trying to sync back on an app I had removed earlier resulted in random apps being removed and added from my iPad. My itunes and my iPad’s settings were both reporting that my ipad was close to full, no matter how many apps I removed from the device. So, this morning, I decided I should try restoring my iPad to see if that helped. I read through the process on Apple’s support site, made sure to backup the documents and images that were saved on my iPad in various programs via dropbox or if necessary, through email. Then I made sure to back up my iPad one last time before taking the plunge and restoring.
The process of restoring and updating took about half an hour in total, and once my iPad was up and running, despite the general disarray of my apps on the desktop, I found everything were it had been before the restore. All my documents were still in place, along with pictures, notes, sketches, etc. The best part was that my iPad and iTunes we’re now reporting that only half of my storage was used, where it has before claimed my iPad was at nearly full capacity.
Overall, I was very impressed with how easy it was to restore my device without loosing a bit of my stored data. I realize that whenever you undertake a restore on any device, there is a risk of loosing information, but in the case of my beloved iPad, I didn’t have to transfer back any of the files I stored in case of emergency. Now, of course, my iPad is running like new again, which is a great feeling!
Image via Flickr
Moleskine New 2011 Collection
About a week ago, Moleskine released it’s new collection of goods which included not only new versions of their popular journals, but also a travel collection consisting of laptop/work bags, a writing collection consisting of notebook attachable pens and pencils, and a reading collection featuring reading glasses and a book/ereader stand. Their new collection, geared towards the “modern day nomad” blends the elegant styling of the Moleskine brand with the digital vs analog dichotomy faced by the creative and intellectual journalist. As an avid Moleskine enthusiast, I was eager to try out a few items from the new collection and immediately ordered myself the classic rollerball pen and refill, as well as the book/ereader stand.
The Classic Rollerball Pen ($15) is a bit more expensive for it’s quality than I expected. From the images online I would have thought the pen to be a sturdy or solid feeling pen, however, it is very lightweight and feels a bit cheap. It writes effortlessly, which is a plus, but the real reason the pen may be worth its high cost is the custom metal cap that holds the pen to the hard cover of a Moleskine journal. I denote hard cover here because this pen does not seem to be meant for the thin cover of the soft Moleskine collection. However, the pen does sit very nicely on the Moleskine when attached to the hard cover, and is the length of a pocket sized Moleskine. The pen attaches nicely on both the pocket and large sized journals and stays put via rubber lining on the metal clip. Overall, the pen is a bit expensive, but I believe worth it for the convenience of having a well designed pen always attached to my Moleskine.
The E-Reader Stand ($18) is much more of a disappointment to me than the pen. It isn’t that the stand feels cheaply made, on the contrary it feels sturdy in the hand, made from a thick molded plastic with a textured finish that aims to mimic the exterior of a Moleskine. My problem with the stand is that its design is overly simplistic. When it comes to using my iPad with this stand, which is what this was clearly designed for as evident in the stock photos of the product, its very hard to do so with certain cases on the iPad. Now, the iPad in the photos are without a case, but I think that it is a bit unrealistic to create a stand without taking iPad cases into consideration. The only cases that really work with this stand are very simple hard shell type cases, and as someone who prefers the use of folio cases, I was very disappointed. The only one of my folio cases I could get to work with this stand was ironically my Moleskine inspired Portenzo case. Now, iPad cases aside, their is one other gripe I have with this stand and it is that it is also being marketed as a book stand, and in the photos Moleskine shows the stand holding up a large sized hard cover journal. I tried to get the stand to hold up my large sized journal, but it just did not work the way you see it in the pictures. Instead of holding the journal at a nice angle for reading, the journal seemed to slip through the stand. However, when I tried this trick with a pocket journal the stand did hold it up properly, and when I tested some other books, things were either hit or miss, but mostly a miss. Overall, I am very disappointed with the functionality of this stand. I purchased it because I liked the idea of a dual iPad and journal stand for work, but it is not living up to the reputation of a Moleskine product.
Gaming For Under $1 – Collision Effect
Basics: The goal of any level is to bring all the orbs of the same color together, without any hitting each other while on their way! You tap one of the colored orbs and all the orbs of the same color fly towards the one you touched. There are two modes, Action and Puzzle each with their own difficulties. In Action, colored orbs come in from off screen and you must quickly tap an orb before any hit each other. You have to be careful of the paths all orbs take since are all moving and no orb but the ones you touch remain stationary. In Puzzle mode the atmosphere is more calm as all the orbs aren’t moving, but the challenge lies in a more complex arrangement of the colored orbs mixed around.
Gameplay: Either fast paced or slow and steady depending on your game mode. In Action, the orbs come in from off the screen and you have to survive wave after wave of managing when to have them combine. Gets very hectic very fast and panic will rush many times as you see two orbs come within pixels of hitting. In Puzzle, it is much more calm but much more difficult to solve. Complex weaves of orbs blocking other paths cause you to have to think and experiment for a while before you finally get it right.
Controls: You see an orb. You touch an orb. It literally couldn’t be more basic. Working the menu system is more complex then the controls.
Graphics and Sound: Graphics are beautiful with vivid and bright colors and nice particle effects. The sounds and music are very space-themed and remind me ALOT of any Bejeweled game you might play
Overall: This is a steal for .99 cents. I cannot stop playing this even after reviewing it. Whether you want to play it for five seconds or spend half an hour trying to figure puzzles out, you’ll never be bored. With the choice of a mindless, fast paced Action game or the mindboggling, time consuming challenges of the Puzzle mode, you can play Collision Effect for whatever mood your in. Buy it now before the developers realize the goldmine they are sitting on and raise the price!
Cousy’s Grade: A+
Email Jail
Like most bloggers, I have a separate email address for my blog correspondences. This would be my Miss.Trenchcoat at yahoo address that I keep listed on my blog and use for all sorts of websites, etc. Well, because I throw this email around all the time, it has become a sort of repository for tons of junk email, so I have gotten into the habit of just never checking it anymore for fear that it will one day explode. This morning, however, I actually went in to see the status of my inbox, flooded with spam and such, but also I discovered that I had a ton of emails from people who had written to ask me questions about my blog and videos, etc. So, I spent the morning cleaning out the inbox and replying to some very old messages that dated back to September. I just wanted to apologize to anyone who reads that may have emailed me a question and never received a response until today. I am going to make an effort to check that email more frequently to clean it out and reply to my readers questions in a timely manner. I did want to put out one idea, however, and that is, if you have a question about a blog post, for the benefit of others, perhaps it would be better to post a comment on my blog, because I always reply to those, and it would be good for others to see the question and my answer in case they were wondering the same thing. Thanks everyone!
Incase Origami Workstation for iPad
I think I have found the perfect solution for writing on the go. The Incase Origami Workstation for iPad is a simple but unique Apple Bluetooth keyboard case that folds into a stand for the iPad. Not only does it lock your keyboard in place for a secure fit, but it also allows you to use your iPad while it is in another case. I am really enjoying the simple factor about this, and also the fact that it does double duty as a case for my bluetooth keyboard. All in all, this case is a great option for those who want to turn their iPad into a mobile workstation with the help of a case/keyboard/stand solution, and for only $30, it may be one of the better deals on the market right now! (Keyboard not included!)
Gaming For Under $1 – Solipskier
Basics: Solipskier is a fast paced skiing game where you draw the slopes to pick up speed and do jumps. Paint your own cliffs, do tricks and slalom through games to get huge scores. Currently 66% off for a limited time only.
Gameplay: You place your finger on the screen and draw a line for your skier to ride along. Every hill, dip, jump, and gap is created with your hand movements. Along the way you build up speed and make jumps to build up your score. You can go through gates to increase your speed and can go through a tunnel of gates to get your speed WAY up. You have to watch out for red gates which will kill your skier and jumps where for a moment you are not allowed to draw a path. Keep going fast and jumping high to set your own high score for each run you try. There are no levels, no achievements (That really needs to be added), and no real goals – just go as long as you can and rack up as much points as possible.
Controls: Amazingly simple – you just place a finger of your right hand on the screen and start going up and down to draw out the path for your skier to go along. Think of Line Rider, but your rider is moving while you draw. One way to build up speed other than the speed gates is to make a short up and down motion to create constant rolling hills. When you do make a jump, take your finger off the screen and your skier will automatically do tricks to boost your score, just watch out for his height indicator so you can make a landing for him! You have to be careful with your path too, since if you make too sharp of an angle upward or somehow create a wall, your skier will crash into the ground. Alerts come up on the right side of the screen with a distance indicating what is coming up, such as a gate or a jump. A bit tough at first to see some of them if your hand is blocking that part of the screen, but with some time you develop your own way to notice them and the little cues they give.
Graphics and Sound: The graphics are good for this game with crisp lines and nice colors. The skier is just a white stick-man and the graphics are rather cartoony, but it works well for the game. One thing I love is when you build up speed, a very stylized rainbow shoots out your back to give you the feel of speeding along the ground. The most noticeable thing of this game is the music! A heavy guitar rock solo plays which just pumps you up to go fast and pull of big tricks. It is very cool! In addition, the music playing after you inevitably crash and die is such a somber piano solo that I felt sad for my little guy every time he passed away.
Overall: This is an awesome game! It is a perfect time waster for when you have nothing to do for 5 or 10 minutes. It’s controls are great, music is amazing, and the concept is simple and pulled off well. Get this game while it is on sale and you wont regret it. Even if you are viewing this post later and it is back at the normal sale price is $2.99, it still maybe worth it to buy this game. Although a bit of research shows me it’s been on sale “for a limited time” since December 21st, 2010 – so you may not have to worry too much of a price increase.
Cousy’s Grade: A-
Gaming For Under $1 – Tiny Planet
Hello folks, I wanted to let you all know I am launching a (hopefully!) regular article highlighting new games for the iPad! Best of all, for those on a budget, all of these games will be .99 cents! For this first installment of Gaming For Under $1, I will review ‘Tiny Planet’Basics:
This is your basic defend the tower game, however instead of a tower – you are faced with alien invaders swarming down, trying to attack your very own planet. You rotate your player around the outside of the planet, shooting the whole way and repealing the baddies and keeping your skies clear.
Gameplay:
Pretty basic – you spin your player around and he shoots the invaders. As time goes by minor upgrades will pop up, and later you can unlock different and more powerful upgrades. Also more and more invaders will come and come, until your planet is too damaged (3 hits, and your dead but you can regain health through power-ups). There are no levels, completions, anything – just survive for however long you can.
Controls:
I have a problem with most iPad games, since the controller will inevitably take up and cover much of the screen where the action is happening, and that problem plagued this game. You are supposed to use two thumbs to rotate your player around, (I found myself abandoning that for one finger) and because you finger(s) are covering parts of the screen and invaders come from all corners, you often miss a few until they are seconds away from crashing into your planet. Also, as the player rotates, he shoots automatically and to be honest randomly, with no real way for me to control. I would just put him in position under an invader and just waited for a shot to go off. It was pretty fast to shoot, but still out of my control.
Graphics and Sound:
The graphics for this game are cartoony style, but it does it well. It is hard to do any graphics on an iPad badly, so I have no complaints for the cartoon style chosen and any “realistic” graphics would not have fit the feel the game was intended to have. The game has a very nice and simple melody going on while you play, and it will be muted if you have your music playing. Invaders make a very satisfying squash sound when you hit them, and as your health decreases, a heartbeat sound gets louder and louder – both for indicating your health and to induce a panic in the player.
Overall:
A simple game with no ground-breaking gameplay elements. I would hope further updates increase the amount of upgrades to make the gameplay a bit more diverse, and hopefully the cost to unlock those upgrades goes down. (After one game I got 12 stars to use to unlock upgrades, however the cost of the upgrades were 15 stars, 100, 150, 200, 300, and finally 400 stars, so it is going to take awhile to get them all) If you want a game to pass 5 minutes, then by all means spend the money on it, but if you are looking for a more long term game to get invested in, then maybe pass this one up.
Cousy’s Grade – C+