Cars from Disney coming to an iPad near you

Disney cars racing on the iPad

As company called Venturebeat that have created an application which works on the iPad. The game actually interacts with small toy cars which you run across the top of the iPad. The iPad will recognise which car is sitting on top of it, so if for instance is the broken down old type of vehicle that only ever has one headlight working, only one headlight will show within the application. The application has a night-time view as well as a daytime view.

Well you don’t have to be a small child, boy or girl, to think this is really cool and want to have this app and a couple of these cars anyway. The video shows that there are 4 cars available, and it seems that you buy them in packs of 2 for about $20. You can drive these cars around in the landscape provided by the application, going on the road or going off-road. As part of the environment in the game you will be invited to take part in races. That is a natural the film was all about an old racing car that’s found himself in a different environment, good old Lightning McQueen.

Lightning McQueen take the lead and wins the race

When you are taking part in the race with one of the cars it is a bit like a demolition derby. You can crash into or bump other cars taking part in the race, as well as run into various things around the racetrack. You’ll find that there are 6 different races available in the application when it launches, so it looks like you will have quite a lot of fun playing with your toy cars on top of your iPad. You would hope of course that the cars are going to be safe, so that the top of the iPad doesn’t get scratched.

When your car wins a race it will be awarded points and with these points you can buy special fuel which will make it go faster in the next race. You can even trick out your car with some rocket power. How on earth are you going to lose a race when you have rocket power available, unless it makes it impossible to control of course. And with some of the cars is even possible to add a missile launcher, so that you can shoot things and blow them up.

More to come in future versions of the app

In future versions of the game the designers will be adding stories that come from Cars 2. In the version that will be launched the environment is all about Radiator Springs and you will see that the game reacts differently depending on whether it is day or night. The only thing to say about this game is – I want it and I want it now.

Let the iPad Applications Tell You What Does the iPad do

What does the iPad do – For the new iPad user

To check out what does the iPad do, aside from borrowing an iPad with a huge number of applications already installed on it, by somebody else, then one way to find out would be to have a look in the App Store in iTunes. If you click on the App Store drop-down list you will see the way that the iPad apps are divided up into types of application based on areas of use. Apple does have a section at the top of this list, that has sections for iWork iPad apps, business class apps, games centre, apps starter kit and the games starter kit. For somebody totally new to using the iPad, this would be a good place to start with your research into what does the iPad do.

iWork iPad apps in the iTunes iPad App Store

Pretty simple, in this area you have the office type applications for the iPad as produced by Apple. Numbers which is a great looking spreadsheet, Pages for your word processing, and to a certain extent it will do your basic desktop publishing, and Keynote for your presentations. In many ways these applications are preferable to the office applications that you would get from Microsoft. The iWork apps will work well and synchronise with your desktop applications of the same name. Apart from Numbers the applications are suitable for ordinary users as well as the power user. The Numbers application is great for what you might expect to do on the iPad with a spreadsheet, but don’t expect to be able to run fancy macros.

What does the iPad do iPad business class

Fllight Track Pro

In this section you will find applications which will be applicable to the business user. Upon opening this area you will see applications such as WebEx for iPad, Flight Track Pro, Go Docs for Google Docs, Voice Memos for iPad, Dropbox for iPad and Office squared HD. All of the usual suspects really, with regards to business type of applications, covering areas such as finance, travel, general business usage including database and the business utilities. There are also a few reference applications such as Wolfram Alpha, Wikipanion plus for iPad and the Wall Street Journal newspaper.

Apart from the business applications, which could be useful to almost any business user, you will find some suggested applications in business class that are a little bit specific to a task. One such application in the feature list is teleprompter plus for iPad. This is an excellent application if you want to speak into a camera and look more professional while you’re making that sort of talking head video.

What does the iPad do

App Store essentials – apps starter kit

With regards to what does the iPad do, this list of applications covers a wide variety of applications which are a testament to the adaptability of the iPad to so many different tasks. You will see applications here suitable for artists, education, lifestyle, such as cooking, music and just about anything that you can think of.

For example, in this section you will find an app for Marvel comics. The aficionados of comics have been raving about the comic applications for the iPad, because of the excellent reading experience of the graphic novels. You are able to carry around a large number of comics with you, to read while you are travelling on the bus, aeroplane or train. The comics application allows you to zoom into sections of the comic for better readability, as well as being able to see the whole page to enjoy the full experience.

Game Centre

Games starter kit – It’s playtime

The featured games applications in this area in the version of iTunes I am looking at, I can see Plants versus Zombies, Flight Control, Real Racing and Scrabble for iPad. It is only showing a small selection of games and you would need to look into the full games section of the iPad store to get the full picture of all of the games that are available for the iPad. As you might expect the games area for the iPad is huge. There is everything in there from the simple five minute game, to play while waiting in a queue, to the massive game like Infinity Blade that you would need to sit down and devote a lot more time to.

What does the iPad do – How long is a bit of string

To get an answer to the question of what does the iPad do, have a look at the list in the App Store and you will see everything in there from books to weather, business to games, finance to sports, social networking to medical and entertainment to productivity and even more than that. In future posts on the Amazing iPad website we will have a look at each of these areas in more detail.

What is an iPad Used For? Depends on Who You Ask!

What is an iPad used for? – good question

It is a very good question, what is an iPad used for, and the answer is going to depend largely on who you are asking. For example, if you are asking me the question, then I’m likely to say that it is good for finding information, such as the name of actress in the film, that I am watching. I was also say that is good for doing some work with a mind map, for getting some ideas out of my head and into some manageable format. Then I’m quite likely to use that set of ideas, that have been turned into text in an application, that is a note taking application, good for dealing with text, either in straight text format or in perhaps the outline format as used by something like Omni outliner.

I am really not too much into playing games, but every now and then I might fling a few birds around in Angry Birds. I do have Infinity Blade installed on the iPad, and I keep promising to have a go at it, quite soon. If you get talking to the sort of persons, that are really into playing games then it seems that the iPad really is a good device for playing games on. There are a large number of games in the Apple iPad application store to choose from. So when you are wondering what is an iPad are used for, and you are looking for some entertainment, it could be that you are into the wandering around shooting zombies, type of game, and then again maybe you are looking for something that is more like a puzzle.

Using an iPad for business, and the answers you get to your question, of what is an iPad are used for, will be different again. There are a large number of applications that have been built especially for a business. It is economically feasible for a large business to have an application created that specifically solves a problem for that business. Quite possibly could be a database that is accessed from the iPad, so that the business people using the iPad will be able to have access to the information required to be successful. Some of these applications will not necessarily be found in the Apple iPad application store and will be distributed locally within the company.

There are some applications such as Bento for iPad, which are general-purpose applications, which can be turned to a variety of tasks. Bento for iPad is a database that is extremely versatile, although it is not a fully relational database. If you need a fully relational database then you can get an application which will work with MySQL and there are others that will work with the big databases like FileMaker.

Quite likely a business user with the iPad will also be interested in spreadsheets. Dealing with the data that is contained with sets of numbers, and turning them into good-looking charts, that can be used for organising the business. Note taking applications will also be high on the list for business users, Phatpad for handwriting recognition for within meetings and straight note taking applications such as Nebulous Notes or PlainText.

What is an iPad used for – Getting social

Whether you are a business user, iPad on the sofa user, or a gamer, you going to be quite interested in the social networking applications. Many businesses these days are looking for ways to increase the amount of business and sales by using social networking. It seems that just about every day, I receive an e-mail telling me about a webinar that has all the information, about everything required to use Facebook for business purposes.

There are a mountain of Twitter applications, my favourite would be Twitterrific, although I also have TweetDeck, Twitbird Pro on the iPad and I also have tried a few others. An application that I really enjoy using, which is great for a number of different social networking applications, is Flipboard. With Flipboard you can use it to see what is happening in Facebook, the best thing about Flipboard, is the way that it takes your feed from Facebook and presents it in a almost a newspaper like fashion, on the screen and makes it very easy to read. It is in some ways a kind of like a book and you can swipe from right to left to move to the next page. It will have the first part of the story and images that have been included, if you tap on the first part of the story in Flipboard, it will take you to the full article. Then you can tap on the small arrow in the top left-hand corner to get back to the Flipboard interface.

You can also use Flipboard to show RSS feeds, for instance from your favourite blog or from Google reader. It will also bring in a feed from a search in Twitter, so that for instance if you are interested in tech, it will bring in all the tweets on that subject and arrange them in Flipboard, so that you can read it really easily.

What is an iPad are used for – Consuming information

When you are asking what is an iPad used for, the answer of consuming information from various sources, has to be a popular answer. On my iPad I have the BBC News application, net newswire, which is an RSS reader and there are now a large number of magazines that are available either through the Apple iPad store or as HTML 5 magazines. If you want to see how good an HTML 5 magazine can be, have a look at the aside HTML 5 magazine, and I’m sure you will be impressed.

The reason that the HTML 5 magazine format, is popular with some publishers is because it gets around the Apple taking a part of the payment for the magazine, their commission, for including it in their Apple Store. A number of newspapers such as the London Times are experimenting with this way forward. Another reason for doing it this way is because the magazine or newspaper gets more information about who their customers are. And also perhaps, more importantly, it gets to know what their credit card numbers are, too, it makes it easier for them to up sell with other products.

Creating Content with the iPad

There are a lot more things that could be said about what is an iPad used for. There are content creators start making videos completely within the iPad using the camera on the rear of the iPad, and iMovie as the application of choice for editing the video. For consuming the video you have the video application, there is also the YouTube video application. Watching videos on the iPad is an extremely popular way of using the iPad. We have audio experts that will be using applications such as Garageband, to create music or podcasts. Then you can also be using applications such as Stitcher, for consuming the audio content.

I am sure that with this article I am only scratching the surface of what is an iPad used for. Please send me an e-mail using the form below, to let me know how would you answer the question of what is an iPad used for. I am looking forward to hearing what you have to say and I would be pleased to put your answers into another article and credit you with what you have to say about how you use your iPad. I will also put a link back to your website for you, if your information is included in the article.

Comments or questions are welcome.

The Life of an iPad User – Playing Games or iPad Productivity

I just got caught, by my self playing games on the iPad when I should have been working writing posts and articles. Well I could say it was research, which it was, so that I would have something to write about in this post which is day 27 of the 2011 Blogathon. The idea is to write a blog post every day for the whole month. For the most part is has been pretty easy in terms of what to write about as there are always topics coming up. I have a couple of ideas for the next couple of days. What I should do though is to write a couple in advance and be ready. I can sent the date of posting in WordPress to the next day or whichever day I like. In fact I did do that in the first week when I was always a day ahead of myself.

What happens though is that other areas of life get in the way a little. Today was the research which was about playing a game which is an iPhone game so I had to run in 2X mode on the iPad, but is better for me on the bigger screen, The graphics on the game are good enough for it anyway. Shame that MacHeist didn’t make the game a universal iOS application, as it would then have looked spectacular on the iPad and not just great.

MacHeist is a thing that happens usually each year where a talented group put together a set of games puzzles and quizzes that eventually lead to applications for the Mac given away for free and then on to a Mac Bundle of applications that is hugely reduced in price. I have had some very good applications for my Macs this way. Apps that I use daily and would be lost without. Most people enjoy the whole process but some complain about the method of getting people to send out tweets to advertise the MacHeist in order to unlock a next level or something. Personally I think it is well done and not spammy.

So there I was investigating and I got totally sucked into the game which is the starting point this year. You have to buy the app and it cost me 79 €cents. I have enjoyed the game so far and seem to have got my moneys worth. When I get to the end of the game there is some sort of giveaway. let you know when I crack it. For me I do like these puzzle types of game. I played Duke Nukem 2D for ages when that was the rage, some years ago.

What is your favourite game for the iPad?

I like Sudoku, Words HD (Scrabble type game), this Mac Heist game has been fun, Angry birds is another I have tried. FlightControl is fun and World of Good is brilliant. My mom got hooked into Bejeweled2 on her last visit. One I still have to try that many have raved over is Plants vs Zombies.

Tempted by Infinity Blade – Price lowered by 50%

I don’t play many games on the iPad but I am seriously tempted by the Infinity Blade game which has just been updated to version 1.3. I have heard a lot of good things about it and the images I have seen of it looks very good indeed.

In the new version there is new content, new achievements, leader-boards and even a surprise or two.

Theft of my iPad

On a daily basis this week my iPad is getting stolen. My mom is here to visit and because she didn’t bring her Mac Book with her she is taking my iPad. At least I keep getting it back after the theft but still, what a cheek? I am just teasing really I don’t mind her using the iPad so long as she remembers to turn the sound down when she is playing one of the games. She is quite a fan of Bejeweled. That game is a little addictive sometime,s as are the best games, not too much thinking to do to make the game work, but enough that you keep playing it.FlightControl and Angry Birds would be in that category too.

I am still trying to get my head around ThinkBook for outlining, taking notes and some of the To Do type things. I have found out that there is a way to drag things to the slider in the order that you want them to appear in the note book and then with one swipe off the slider they are arranged just the way you want them. You can make something called finders, which is some sort of search setting, but I have not worked out how to create them to use in the Dashboards that you create. It seems that a dashboard can be populated by the things you tell it to find. They are not moved to the Dashboard you have created but show up there as well. You can have things found from a number of places all coming together in one place. You might have it show all of the questions that have not been answered yet, or the ToDo’s that have not been completed.

Seeing as I have been using tagging on my Macs using the Open Meta and an application called Tagit, I have been interested in the tagging that is possible within ThinkBook too. It is another tool to help you categorise things and have them found. So far I have been playing with the notes in the app which show how it works. I think to really start to make head or tail of the ThinkBook application I might have to delete all of that and put in my own data.

Took the iPad to the beach with me yesterday, but never got it out, too sunny.

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Using the iPad as a second Screen for Full Immersion

Instead of using the connector from the iPad to the TV, so that what you see on the big screen is only a mirror of what is on the screen of the iPad, you can have a second screen with extra information. There are now applications being sold that will use the extra screen real estate to provide a more immersive experience for the user. The main body of the application residing on the larger screen as you would expect. Starting with games that are selling well on the iTunes AppStore, I expect there will be other apps that manifest themselves to better use the available technology.

One such application that is riding high in the AppStore at the moment is Real Racing 2 HD. The media have picked up on this gaming application that connects up the screen of a HD television for example. You get extra, useful information on your iPad, which also acts as a gamepad motion controller using the gyroscope and accelerometer. The main racing action takes place on the big screen of course, but without it seeming to be superfluous or distracting you, the driver getting more information to give the game more interest.

Photoshop touch applications are being released where the iPad can be used in the same way that you could use a Wacom tablet to control the editing and manipulating of the photo or graphic design. You could be dealing with layers, filters and touching up red eye on the iPad 2. A DJ might be able to control virtual vinyl disks on the iPad while the large screen could be used to visualise what is going on better in the application.

I could see that happening with the software like the FinalCut X where you might be able to move clips and do a lot of the editing of a movie. Depending on how well it is implemented will determine if it gets used for the top applications like Final Cut Pro or if it gravitates to usage in iMovie instead. Garageband would be another candidate for this approach too. The only problem is when the application developers start making applications that have to be used in this way and then not work well enough on the iPad by itself.

All the iOS application developers companies are looking for ways to get products that are that little bit special, in order to stand out from the crowd. We can expect to see major and possible surprising steps forward in the iOD applications world.

Games on the iPad

iPad Game Reviews

I have to admit that I am not really one for gaming, I am usually too busy writing and If I am chilling for a while I will be in front of the television. But I do have a few games on my iPad and I am not averse to a bit of fun. Here is what I have on the ipad this morning. Which do you think is the best iPad game?

Bejeweled
BeeCellsLite
FlightControl
Orba
We Rule
World of Goo
Sudoku Tablet
Words HD
Game Center

Best iPad Game Apps

Flight Control, BeecCellsLite and Bejeweled followed me from the iPhone games and I have to tell you that I got a little addicted to the game Flight Control. Also I have played the other two games a fair bit too. Orba is a simple game also where you have to clear the baubles when there is a set of three together. You get more points if you clear a complete colour. It does take a bit of doing to join together as many links of the colours. I get bored with it quickly but is entertaining in a mind numbing sort of way. Not bad if you just want to lose yourself for a few minutes while waiting for something.

World of Goo

This is a great game that have won a few accolades for best iPad game development, I even saw it mentioned on the Channel Five Gadget Show last night. You have to build up the Goo so that the other bits of goo can get out past the blockage. One of the levels really had me cursing until I found out how to do it.

Words HD

This is a Scrabble game against an opponent somewhere out on the internet. I played it and had fun doing it. There is no rush to fill in the words so you haver time to even do a bit of research if you want to. I like the game and making the brain work and struggle to come up with good words.

Sudoku Tablet

You are set a puzzle to complete and the levels vary, including Sudoku Samurai and Sudoku Plus which break out of the standard shape of the nine cells with nine numbers within. You can choose the level from simple to easy to hard. There is a bit of a cheat in there with the pencil mode which put in the possible inside another inner grid. A double tap on the hint button tells you the number. SO be tough on yourself and you brain cells or make the grey matter sing for its supper, it is up to you.

There is a pencil mark mode and there is an option to have it colour a wrong number in red immediately. That makes it a bit easy, doesn’t it. I like the highlighting of the row and column, just makes it easier on the eyes when you are looking at the puzzle.

The other games on my iPad

The rest of the games on the iPad are just there for me to have in case I get bored one day and decide to have a play with, for something different to do. I never got into Plants vs Zombies but I know a lot of people have had great fun with it. Right then – It is time to go and play some games on my iPad.

What is your favourite game and why? Which do you think are the best iPad game apps that you have seen or played so far? Have you been impressed by iPad game development? I think there have been some amazing iPad games apps created so far and there will be lots more great iPad apps to come.

Leave a comment below or fill in the form to send an email and I will collate all the answers to post in another blog post in a few days.

iPad availability in Spain and buying one

I wanted to order a 32GB wifi only model this week and I called the local premium reseller to see what models that had in stock. I don’t really need the 3G because I am nearly always with WiFi and so is my wife who will also be using the iPad. I was not too surprised to hear that there were no iPads in stock at all in the shop. Although in the Apple Store online there are iPads and the delay time for getting sent out is only 1 day.

So there was only one thing to do and to order online. I did get a email to say it would be sent out in 24 hours and that is nearly up and no sign of it being on its way to me yet. I am so impatient!

I also ordered the camera connection kit and the VGA connector because my wife will be connecting it to the projectors in the school and I want to use the USB of the camera connector to attach a microphone. We went for the 32GB because I have a 16GB iPhone and it is getting full and we expect that there will be more media put on to be used on an iPad.

No case ordered for it yet, that could be something good to get from the local Apple Premium reseller in Girona. Not sure which case to lay out the cash for

How have you found it has worked out with the GB available on your iPad. Do you run out of space quickly?

Comments or questions are welcome.

Applications to get for the iPad

I have some iPad software already in iTunes. I have Flipboard and Inkling which are iPad only applications plus about 25 universal applications. I will be buying the Keynote application of course and I may well also get the Bento iPad version.

Of course I will have Evernote on the iPad, Dropbox will be loaded up straightaway, 1Password is ready to be used there too. Textexpander and SimpleNote are universal applications and in iTunes.

iBooks is ready and waiting and for games I have Beecells. I may get flight control for the iPad or Plants vs Zombies perhaps.

Disney cars racing on the iPad

Lightning McQueen take the lead and wins the race

More to come in future versions of the app

What does the iPad do – For the new iPad user

iWork iPad apps in the iTunes iPad App Store

What does the iPad do iPad business class

App Store essentials – apps starter kit

Games starter kit – It’s playtime

What does the iPad do – How long is a bit of string

What is an iPad used for? – good question

What is an iPad used for – Getting social

What is an iPad are used for – Consuming information

Creating Content with the iPad

iPad Games For Free

What is your favourite game for the iPad?

iPad Game Reviews

Best iPad Game Apps

World of Goo

Words HD

Sudoku Tablet

The other games on my iPad

How have you found it has worked out with the GB available on your iPad. Do you run out of space quickly?

Applications to get for the iPad