Stay in touch with Isotoner’s SmarTouch

The iPhone and every other smartphone on the market today are developed to work with our fingers. The problem is that this works great for every season except for winter (and particularly cold autumns) when we it is nearly impossible to get out of the house or office without wearing gloves. The problem is that operating the touch screen of any smartphone including the iPhone, becomes very difficult. At times it boarders around frustration induced rage! That is why SmarTouch from Isotoner is bound to make our lives slightly more bearable when the cold sets in. It seeks to give us the ability to operate the iPhone and keep our hands warm, which neatly solves the dilemma of a tech-geek who hates the cold.

 
The SmarTouch gloves work by embroiling the thumb and index finger with a conductive thread that conveys an electrical impulse to the touch screen. This increases the level of accuracy when you are navigating through your iPhone and reduces the chances of actually have to try multiple times to execute a particular instruction. In addition, it also features a non-slip palm and is water repellent. Overall, the gloves are also very flexible and comfortable. This is important because when it comes to winter wear it is not easy to simply compromise on functionality.
 
The SmarTouch gloves come in a variety of colors and sizes for both men and women. In addition, you can buy them from a variety of stores including Amazon, Target and Wal-Mart. Prices range from around $19 – $32. Overall, this is a great investment because you can use it not just for the iPhone or iPad but also for a variety of other gadgets and purposes. The Isotoner SmarTouch just might make your winter iPhone/iPad experience the best one you have ever had.

Facebook for iPad found hidden in the latest iPhone app update?

Facebook for iPad has been uncovered in the recently updated Facebook for iPhone. A twitter user discovered a hack to make it visible — editing a file on your iPad to change the UIDeviceFamily ID in the apps plist file to get the iPad interface up and running app, but you do need to have a jailbroken iPad to be able to do this.

It is not just the iPhone version blown up to fill the iPad’s screen either. This is a totally different interface with slide out navigation menus and a separate chat menu too. Techcrunch has spoken with one of its sources who claim that this is the actual Facebook app for iPad and it will be officially launched soon.

I have tested the app with my iPad and it does seem to work very well. It looks and feels totally different to the iPhone version of the app and navigation is very well done. I also tested uploading photographs and it is seamless and offers access to your photo library as well as the camera on the iPad 2. It does have a few little rough edges that will need to be ironed out but that, sadly, won’t come as a shock to users of the beleaguered Facebook for iPhone app!

It will be interesting to see if Facebook expedite the launch of its iPad app now that this has leaked out.

[@AeroEchelon via Techcrunch]

Apple’s New iPad 2 Commercial “We’ll Always”

Apple has yet another excellent iPad 2 commercial. The theme being we’ll never stop doing the things we love, but the iPad allows us to do them in amazing new ways.

src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/v_gQHtXsLtU" frameborder="0" width="560" height="349">

What’s amazing is how they are able to communicate so much in a clear, concise manner in just 30 seconds.

Apple airs new iPad 2 commercial — We’ll Always

Apple is continuing their series of Peter Coyote voiced iPad 2 commercials, this time with We’ll Always, which shows why “We’ll never stop doing the things we love, but with the iPad we’ll do them in amazing new ways.”

We’ll never stop sharing our memories or getting lost in a good book. We’ll always cook dinner and cheer for our favorite team. We’ll still go to meetings, make home movies and learn new things. But how we do all this will never be the same.

No “magical” mentions but Photos, iBooks, a recipe app, MLB, a video conferencing app, iMovie, and an educational writing app get the spotlight. It’s another solid spot, filled with “Kodak moments” that show why Apple is moving tens of millions of these devices through a combination of brand, build, and pitch-perfect advertising.

Video after the break.

ZENandTECH 9: Avoidance

Georgia and Rene talk viewer tips on perfectionism when it comes to email and task management, including “getting one thing done”, and then tackle avoidance — why we do it, what we get out of it, and what it costs us. This is ZENandTECH!

Will the next generation iPod touch have 3G data connectivity?

An interesting iPod touch screen shot has been uncovered from the just released iOS 5 beta 4. The screen shot shows a toggle switch for cellular connectivity. Could this mean that the iPod touch will be getting a 3G data option when it is refreshed later this year?

The iPod touch would benefit hugely from data connectivity, especially with the introduction of iMessage in iOS 5. An always on messaging device, without the need for a costly voice and text plan would definitely be a hit for parents with younger children.

Personally I think this is just some code left over from the iPhone version of the beta and nothing more than that. However it would make a lot of sense for Apple to offer it as an option!

[9to5 Mac]

 

Not Even the Verizon CEO Knows Anything About the Next iPhone

Apparently even less people know about iPhone 5 (or whatever you want to call iPhone 4′s successor) than most would assume – it is basically on a strict need-to-know basis, as in exclusively necessary people know about what is required for their job in the device’s creation. Does Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam need to have knowledge of exactly what is in store for the carrier’s best-selling phone? Arguably no considering how he would be forced to keep tight lips anyway, and that would not even translate to marketing preparation if nobody else within Verizon has the same information. Apple executives seem to think that as well since Lowell apparently does not know much more than customers.

In a CNBC onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.macrumors.com/2011/07/22/verizon-ceo-we-expected-iphone-5-in-early-summer-now-planning-for-fall/');" target="_blank" href="http://www.macrumors.com/2011/07/22/verizon-ceo-we-expected-iphone-5-in-early-summer-now-planning-for-fall/">interview on Friday, Lowell mentioned how he assumed that the next iPhone would be released during early summer simply because that was Apple’s release history. Diligent consumers not paying attention to rumors would have thought the same. Thus Apple was misleading and uninformative to a major player in the mobile industry. Well, in the technology industry silence is golden so that a disruptive leak does not occur, which would compel competitors to take note sooner and rush similar products to market.

Apparently Lowell is now listening to rumors and still does not have concrete information about Apple’s future mobile plans, as he had indicated:

“We are probably what I would view as maybe a quarter behind what we had talked about in January, primarily because we expected an iPhone 5 refresh sometime this summer.

We don’t know when the next one is going to come out. You will have to ask Apple that, but we expect that probably sometime in the fall, and I think you will see a significant jump there when we get to that point.”

The secrecy leaves only anybody working on or designing the new iPhone to know crucial details. Since Apple prefers to work independently as a company minus direct outside influence, carriers are kept in the dark. So no, if the rumor is not on the Internet, your friend who swears to know all about the iPhone’s future is blatantly wrong.

News like this makes us extra curious about what happened at Apple headquarters the day that iPhone 4 made its way onto Gizmodo months after an engineer accidentally (drunkenly?) left it at a bar before its official introduction.

You can watch the interview yourself below:

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