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Filed under: iPad

During our live iPad 3G first look this afternoon, TUAW readers were able to confirm that Skype calls still cannot be placed over the iPad 3G's cellular network connection. The Skype application will not connect those calls, telling users that, "You need WiFi to call over Skype." So what's the reason for this? "Skype calls over 3G networks are currently not allowed due to contractual restrictions."

This should not come as a surprise. Skype has yet to release an iPad version of their software, and the iPhone-specific application has not received an update since early April. Testing the software on the iPad only confirmed that the same old things continue to work the same old way, regardless of the platform they were run upon.

So why the big interest?

TUAWSkype calls not allowed over iPad 3G connections originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Internet

Cellular technology has been evolving since its invention. With the first cellular telephone networks, developed by Bell Labs and AT&T, cellular technology began to make leaps forward in ease of use, voice quality, and data communication. The miracle of technology we know today as the cellular phone was made possible by a steady stream of innovation that continues on into the future.

The history of cellular technology starts at Bell Labs in the 1960's and 70's where they began to iron out the details on what a commercial cellular network would be. A cellular network is a network of base stations, or antennas, that form large pockets (cells) of radio signal coverage that overlap. With a technology called "handover," if you made a call using one base station, and you then moved out of that base station's range and into another base station's area, your call could be "handed over" to the base station that was closer to your location. These base stations allowed you to make calls to other cellular phones or to wired landline phones.

Over the years, the evolution of cell phone technology has been broken up into "generations." It started with the first generation (1G), and it continues to the upcoming fourth generation (4G). In the beginning, cell phones weren't much more than huge walkie-talkies. Over time, though, they evolved into the data powerhouses that we carry around in our pockets.

TUAW3G technology: Yesterday, today, and tomorrow originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: App Review

Sonic the Hedgehog has had a presence on the iPod since before everything "app" lived on the iPhone / iPod touch. Even today, old-school iPods like the 3rd- and 4th-gen Nanos, the iPod classic and the 5th-gen iPod can enjoy the original Sonic the Hedgehog game with some scrollwheel fun. The newly released sequel to the original game, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 [US$5.99], was just released for the iPhone and it's kind of like having a Genesis in your pocket. This is a good thing if you have fond memories of that 16-bit system, but if you're looking for a smooth, modern game with the little blue bomber, it's not. For you, we recommend keeping an eye out for Sonic 4.

We're guilty of falling into the former camp, so we're kind of pleased with the same Sega emulator the company uses in its other iPhone games (e.g., Golden Axe). This means that anyone who played the first Sonic game on the iPhone will be instantly at home with this sequel. Read on to see if it's worth investigating if you don't have any sort of history with the game.

TUAWReview: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: iPad

You waited, you waited, and you waited. And now some of you finally got your new iPad 3G. Sure, most of you had to remain patient while us Wi-Fi owners preened and showed off our new babies. And some of you are still waiting for the next ship date (the "arrives by" in May).

For some of you, though, your "magical" treasure is now on hand.

Whether you're waiting or a happy new owner, please join us to ask questions about your new iPad, or just share your iPad buying experience. This live TUAW community events will let you jumpstart your ownership experience and connect to other new 3G (and, yes, Wi-Fi) owners.

Want to review the chat? Click the link below to read!

TUAWChat live during the iPad 3G release originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: iWork, App Review

TUAWPinball HD for the iPad: It doesn't get much better than this originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: iPad

Today you fall into one of three camps: you're buying your first iPad and you waited for the 3G-enabled model, you're NOT buying an iPad today no matter what or you bought a Wi-Fi iPad only to cash it in and upgrade to the 3G edition. So which one are you?

View Poll

TUAWAre you buying an iPad with Wi-Fi+3G? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: How-tos

In general, Mac hardware is very reliable. Like any complex gizmo, a Mac will have its quirks, but only rarely do those quirks turn into a full-on, machine-killing meltdown. When that does happen, as it recently happened to my wife's MacBook, there's a few things you can do to keep the death of your Mac from becoming more of an ordeal than it has to be.

Before your Mac dies:

Back up your data. Your Mac is humming along nicely now, and if you've never had a computer die on you before, you might think it'll go on crunching binary bits forever. Unfortunately, it won't -- eventually, something on the Mac is going to fail. And when it does, it'll take all your music, documents, games, videos, and family photos down with it... unless you have those things backed up in another location. At a bare minimum you should be using Time Machine to back up your entire Mac to an external hard drive. Considering that Apple bundles this simple-to-use backup software in OS X, and considering how cheap even terabyte-capacity external hard drives have become, there's really no excuse for not backing up your data. Having all of your data backed up to another drive makes a dead Mac an inconvenience rather than a full-blown catastrophe. There are other third-party tools you can use, like CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper, but if you're looking for a solution that doesn't require an additional download (or much conscious thought to implement), Time Machine is the probably simplest backup tool available.

More suggestions, both pre- and post-death, after the link below.

TUAWWhat to do when your Mac dies originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Apple

Patently Apple reports that Apple has picked up a major patent from the USPTO for a long list of mutitouch gestures. The gestures all involve moving two or more fingers on a multitouch surface, and cover everything from cut and copy shortcuts to global search and find and replace motions. I'm sure creative types could probably come up with at least a few other ways to ways to move your fingers on a surface, but this one's pretty far-reaching. PA also notes that almost all of these gestures were picked up by Apple as part of their Fingerworks purchase -- while (as far as I know) not all of these gestures eventually made it to the iPad, we can probably expect to see them show up in the future.

Also picked up from the USPTO includes a patent for adjusting the tempo of music played by an iPod, possibly even according to some body metric (like putting a strap on your arm to measure your pulse by using Nike+), one patent for antenna structure, and a few different patents dealing with digital files and folders. As always, just the fact that Apple is patenting these ideas doesn't ever mean that we'll for sure see them in future updates of software or hardware. But watching these patents is a good way to keep an eye on what's coming out of Apple's R&D departments.

TUAWApple patents multitouch gestures originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Humor

Did you ever have one of those days where it seems like everyone is getting an email from Steve Jobs but you? Well, worry no more! The Joy of Tech has created the Steve Jobs Email Reply Generator. Using a series of drop-down menus, you can compose an email to Steve Jobs, like mine to the right. Then you can create Steve's reply and choose which device he sent it from.

Reading through all of the drop-down menu options is pretty funny. However, the thing that stops short of making this gag really funny is that you can't actually send the email to yourself (or any gullible friends). You can only look at it on the screen -- which kind of defeats the purpose of an "email generator."

Anyway, props to the talent at Joy of Tech, and thanks for reminding me how much I loved Mad Libs as a kid!

TUAWJoy of Tech creates Steve Jobs Email Reply Generator originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: iPad

Thinking Screen Media is a content platform developer, putting together a content delivery system designed to bring information to "millions of connected screens worldwide." Now, it seems that many of those screens might be iPads. TechCrunch reports that they've raised a whopping $2 million just to switch their development aim to the iPad. They currently have an iPad app up and running in the store, and they've got a number of other investment sources already. However, according to the report, this money is specifically for the iPad.

Of course, in the larger scheme of things, this is small potatoes. A content channel is pretty useless unless it's delivering content that people actually want, and $2 million is loose change for some of the larger content companies. This is a significant investment in terms of its scope, though. Even a smaller company like this is heavily investing in the iPad and Apple's platform as a major part of their business.

TUAWContent company raises $2 million to develop for iPad originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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