Tablets

Look at the prevalence of Wolfson's audio chips today, in everything from audiophile DACs to smartphones like the Exynos-powered Galaxy S III and Galaxy S 4, and it's hard not to be impressed. Factor in the company's humble beginnings in 1984 as a university offshoot in Edinburgh, Scotland, and the growth story becomes even more dramatic. The company shipped its billionth chip in 2008, its 2 billionth in 2012 and now expects to sell a billion per year by 2015. It's ironic, then, that at the start of its journey into mobile devices Wolfson actually failed to grow quickly enough, resulting in the loss of its biggest and most high-profile customer. With Apple using its chips in a number of iPods, the Scottish company just couldn't scale up to meet a sudden rush of demand. It missed some deadlines and Cuptertino left it out of the iPod Classic as it shifted its loyalty to Cirrus Logic, where it has stayed ever since. How did it recover? Where is it headed next? And how will it break Qualcomm's continuing grip on smartphone audio in the US? Read on for answers from CEO Mike Hickey. Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio/Video, Tablets, Mobile Comments

Accessory maker ZAGG has introduced a pair of keyboard covers for the iPad Mini that work great in low light, as both come with backlit keys. A physical keyboard is a great accessory to have for anyone who does anything constituting work on their iPad, and these new options from ZAGG look promising. The ZAGGkeys Cover claims to be the thinnest iPad keyboard on the market, coming in at just 6.3mm. Coming with a 'unique hinge' that allows the iPad to be positioned at virtually any viewing angle, as well as being reversible for a kickstand like effect for viewing. The backlit keys come with 7 different color options and 3 different lighting levels, and the cover boasts battery time of 3 whole months. And, as is the norm for iPad cases, it's magnetic so it snaps shut over your iPad Mini's display. Retail price for the ZAGGkeys cover is set to be $99.99 and will be available in silver or black. The ZAGGkeys Folio takes the same ideas as the Cover, and turns it into a full body protecting case. It features the same hinge design, colors for the backlight on the keys, and it too will carry you through 3 months on a full battery charge. The price is also the same, at $99.99. Both are expected to be available sometime during the summer, though no indication exactly when. If you've been looking for a great keyboard for your iPad Mini, would you be considering picking one of these up? Source: ZAGG (Businesswire)

For today’s Daily Deal we’ve found 10 great apps to add to your iPad collection.  We have 5 productivity / entertainment apps and 5 game apps in today’s bundle. We used our PadGadget Apps Tracker to find these great deals and we’ll continue to look for the best app deals as they pop-up. Some of these apps are up to 80% off, several are even free, so be sure to check them out because they are on sale for a limited time. Game Apps Battle of the Bulge – This popular WWII board game has a 4.5 star App Store rating and is now on sale for $6.99 instead of $9.99. This app weighs in at 250 MB so please be sure that you have enough space on your iPad before downloading. DreamWorks Dash n Drop () – This very popular game has a 4.5 star App Store rating and is now available for Free instead of $1.99. PipeRoll 2 Ages HD – This cool strategy game has a 4 star App Store rating and is now available for Free instead of $1.99. PipeRoll HD – This is the original of the PipeRoll game series and it’s now available for Free instead of $1.99. Tortilla Soup Surfer () – This fun action game has a 4.5 star App Store rating and is now available for Free instead of $0.99. Productivity and Entertainment Apps Color Blast! HD – Photo Color Effects for Faceboo – This handy photography app has a 4.5 star App Store rating and is now on sale for $0.99 instead of $1.99. ComicBook! () – This comic book  app has a 4.5 star App Store rating and is now available for Free instead of $1.99. Flickr Studio – This Flickr app has a 4.5 star App Store rating and is now available for Free instead of $4.99. FlickStackr for Flickr () – This very popular flickr photo app has a 4 star App Store rating and is now available for Free instead of $1.99. TiltShift Video – Miniature effect for movies and photos () – This cool video effects app has a 4.5 star App Store rating and is now available for $0.99. That’s a savings of 80% off the apps’ normal price of $4.99. Also be sure to check out yesterday’s Daily Deal to find more great savings. = Indicates app is Universal and will run on an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. We use our PadGadget Apps Tracker to constantly monitor the App Store to find the biggest price changes on iPad apps. Our editorial team goes through the data, picks the best deals on the most interesting apps and then brings them to you on a regular basis. All app prices are checked at the time of posting but prices are subject to change without notice. When developers put their apps on sale it’s usually for a very limited time, often 24 hours or less, so be sure to check pricing on iTunes before making a purchase. » Related posts: PadGadget Daily App Deal – 12 iPad Apps on Sale PadGadget Daily App Deal – 14 iPad Apps on Sale PadGadget Daily App Deal – 12 iPad Apps on Sale

Leo Laporte, Andy Ihnatko, Alex Lindsay, Chris Breen, and I talk about Tim Cook testifying to congress, new Macs made in the USA, perhaps a Retina MacBook Air, and more. Download and subscribe: TWiT.tv

Google is a company with many stated ambitions. They want to catalog the world's information. They want to bring you info before you know you need it. They want to build the Star Trek computer. That kind of omniscient service requires an omnipresent awareness. Google's presence is felt just about everywhere. Google is the dominant search engine on desktops and in mobile. Google builds the operating system that powers an increasingly percentage of smartphones. Google offers an email service and a social networking service and instant messaging so much more. Google has fingers in every pot they can reach, though how far they've successfully plunged said fingers varies. When it comes to the living room, however, where Google's fingertips have just barely grazed the surface of the stock, Microsoft is ladling out the soup like it's their job. And with the newly-announced Xbox One that ladle is getting even bigger. A picture of you To build that omniscient Star Trek computer, Google needs buckets and buckets of data about you. They get a lot of that just by your using Google's services. Your search queries are tabulated and your email contents are collated, and your friend patterns are analyzed. Even just using Google services through a desktop yields a tremendous amount of data about your being. If you're using Google services on your mobile device, such as an Android device or by using Google Now on an iPhone, Google learns even more about you, including where you go, how long you stay there, what you search for on the go, and more. Of course, those settings can be switched off, but the default behavior is for Google to know. Google's picture of you can be stunningly accurate and prescient. Google takes all of this data and builds a picture what it thinks you as a person look like. With some massaging of that data - telling Google that, no, I am in fact not interested in more on that topic, it was just a search for article research, thanks - Google's picture of you can be stunningly accurate and prescient. I carry both an iPhone and an Android device (specifically, a Nexus 4) on a regular basis, I use Gmail for work and personal, I search with Google dozens of times a day, and so forth. Google Now has built an interesting picture of me. It knows when I'm going to be flying, it knows when to offer up nearby restaurants and what I'm likely to like, it knows how far it is to my house and how long it will take thanks to traffic, and it knows that the weekends are the most likely time I'm going to go to the theater, and when I do I'm likely to check out the latest science fiction or mindless action flick. But the behavioral tracking offered by a smartphone only extends to when I use it (excepting location tracking when I'm just carrying it around, of course). To be as omniscient as Google aims to be, more data is required. There's never enough data to accomplish what Google wants to accomplish. That means Google needs to know more about you. By and large what Google knows about us are things that we either tell Google directly (by way of our searches) and what we let Google know (Gmail, smartphone location tracking, etc). Google's getting more personal with experiments like Google Glass, but even that requires that you be wearing the device for it to be collecting more information. And really right now the Glass experiment seems to be more focusing on delivering content directly to your eyeball than pushing more data about yourself to the Google cloud. That could change eventually, but it's not the reality of Glass right now. Frankly, as with many Google projects, the end game with Glass isn't exactly clear for us, and we aren't certain it's clear for Google either. Your couch, the beachhead Where Google has failed to make its mark, though, is beyond the smartphone and the desktop. The holy grail in Google's hardware trifecta isn't Glass - it's the living room. Google has tried time and again to make Google TV a success, but they've

So, you hope to soon own an iPad? Getting one of these is a large choice, but it is a decision that can help you personally and professionally. First, consider these things about your iPad. These tips help to make the right iPad decisions. Streaming, gaming, or music can cause battery life to deplete faster. Adjust the brightness of your screen if you would like to extend the battery’s life. You’ll probably see that you’re not going to need the brightest setting to see your screen. Have you accidentally launched a noisy app? You are able to mute volume right away by simply pressing and holding the – volume button until sound is off. If you mute a lot, you may configure your lock button into a mute button. You can change alert notifications that you get for Wi-Fi networks with ease. Opt out of the Ask To Join setting. Turn that setting off, and you will finally be rid of the constant notifications. You can adjust your email settings to allow you to increase the number of lines displayed in preview. Go to your mail settings under the general heading. Change this setting to show however many lines you want. Now you’ll be able to see every email that you have in your inbox, which really speeds things up. Failed Password Attempts If you want to prevent anyone from stealing your information stored in your iPad, you can change the settings to delete all information after many failed password attempts. By using this setting, all of your information will be erased after 10 failed password attempts. Your iPad can easily copy, cut, and paste text similar to a home computer. Tap the text and hold down on it if you wish to copy it. A menu will pop up allowing you to select that sentence. If you tap once more, you will be presented with the option to copy. You are then able to paste by tapping, then holding and then selecting the paste option. The iPad is pre-loaded with lots of apps you have no use for. Many unwanted apps cannot be deleted. Simply put all these apps into one folder, and keep the folder away from where you will see it often. This frees up space so that you can easily access apps you actually use. If you have music stored in the cloud on iTunes, you can listen to it on your iPad. There is a simple way to access your iTunes account without having to reinvent the wheel on your new device. Just use Home Sharing, enabled on the computer and the iPad. Next, enter the Music app on your iPad, select More and then Shared. Enjoy! Make sure your iPad contains a security feature, even though you may think this is unnecessary. If you happen to lose it, you wouldn’t want those with nefarious intentions having access to your personal information. So, take the necessary precautions to keep your info safe. Use the notification settings feature. If you have a lot of apps, things are always alerting you and popping up. Make some changes in the “Notifications” area of the settings. This lets you choose which apps can alert you and which cannot. This will keep your alerts for things that actually matter. It is easy to use the iPad to take a screenshot. Just push both the Home and Sleep button together. The screen will flash and you will hear a click. Your photo has been taken. Your screenshots are automatically saved and located in your Photos gallery. Did you ever consider connecting your iPad and television? Purchasing a separate adapter will allow you to do this. The AV digital adapter will do this, or you can also use the VGA Apple adapter. Each one works well. Are you aware that you do not need to use the keyboard on your iPad? It can be pretty hard to type on a small keyboard projected on your screen. Just buy a BlueTooth keyboard for use with iPad. You can type as easily as you can with a laptop by using this method. Screen Shot Have ever needed to take a screenshot? Well, it’s really [...]

The iMore show has been an overwhelming success, reaching more of you, in more ways, then many of us here on the site could have possibly imagined. However, it didn't include you as much as any of us have wanted. Increasingly the iMore show had become more about awesome interviews and less about our even more awesome community. So, tomorrow, we're changing that. A lot. Now, the current iMore show isn't going to go away. It too will change. It'll get a new name, and become something closer akin to Dubug and Iterate. More on that later, though! For now, here's what's happening with the NEW iMore show: We're changing the day and time. We're moving it back to Wednesday and we're moving it to the afternoon, Eastern Time. We're still working out the details, and we'll announce the exact time tomorrow. That's right, no more conflict with Game of Thrones, Mad Men, or whatever else you were watching! Peter Cohen will be our new, fairly consistent co-host, but other members of the iMore and Mobile Nations families will be joining us from week to week as well. Also, we're not going to be abandoning guests entirely. We aim to have some fantastic folks join us as well to help round out the shows and keep up the variety. And yes, that mean's we're changing the format. As much as being able to do a one man show is important as a last-ditch backup, and as much as I enjoy interviews, what makes iMore great are the many voices we have here. So, we're switching back to the panel-type format we used to use, and that our other site-shows like Android Central and CrackBerry use. The subject matter we cover will expand from mostly news and hot topics to a better balance of news, apps, accessories, and... Q&A. Yours, the communities, is the most important voice we have and part of our new panel will be YOU. What that means is that we'll be using the chatroom more than ever before, but what's more -- you'll be able to send us audio and video questions or comments and we'll play them live during the show. Want to be on the new iMore show tomorrow? Here's what you need to do RIGHT NOW: Grab your iPhone, iPad, or the device of your choice and record a short (30 second) video asking us your question. Upload it to the internet, and send us the link -- Don't send the video file itself, just the YouTube, Dropbox, or other video hosting link -- to imoreshow@imore.com. While we prefer video -- it's a video show! -- audio is fine as a fallback. Just use Voice Memo on iOS, or whatever recording app you like best, ask the question, and email the audio file to <imoreshow@imore.com). That's it! That's all you need to do to be on the all new, all encompassing iMore show! We'd also love to hear any other suggestions you may have for the show as well. So, run -- don't walk -- to the comments and let me know. If you could have your dream iMore show, what would it be? What segments would we include? What guests would we invite on? What kind of Q&A would we do?

Remember that iCEO plush toy that was all the geek rage awhile back? Turns out there are a few hundred of the little jobbies left, but the only way you can get one is by backing Throwboy's new Chat Pillows on Kickstarter. Supporting us doesn’t come without geeky perks. From a handwritten note direct from Roberto to our insanely great iCEOs out of our secret stash(!), you’re in for amazing rewards as a Throwboy backer. Check em’ out below! iCEO comes in at the $100 mark, and, of course, I just backed exactly that. But there's a wide range of options and price points, and some fairly awesome pillows to be had, so check them all out and then tell me which one, if any, you went for. Source: Kickstarter

People love to gold plate things. Whether it is a tooth, a car, or a suit, gold is the epitome of luxury. Yes, we even like to gold plate iPads. In Dubai, India, the “world’s only 7-Star hotel” knows how to show off its riches in style. Every guest that stays at the Burj Al Arab gets his or her own 24-carat gold plated iPad. According to the Huffington Post, the iPad serves as a sort of, “virtual consierge” that will offer personalized information to guests about what the hotel offers. Burj Al Arab’s general manager, Heinrich Morio, was quoted as saying, “Our exclusive Burj Al Arab 24-carat gold iPads epitomize Jumeirah’s philosophy of ‘stay different’ and further enhance our guests’ experience during their stay.” Daily rates for Dubai’s finest luxury hotel start at nearly $1,500 with the Royal Suite costing $18,700 per night. Gold & Co. in London made the gold plated iPad. The company’s CEO, Amjad Ali, described this product as the “ultimate in luxury accessories.” There is no information as to how much the special iPad costs, but hotel guests can purchase one in the gift shop when they leave. Amosu recently designed a gold-plated iPad that Wired reported sells for approximately $4,300. If that is too rich for your blood, why not just stay at the hotel instead. You’ll be able to play Angry Birds, post on Facebook, and check the weather all without having to buy an iPad. » Related posts: Book With Hotel Tonight And Save Big On Last Minute Travel- iPad App Review Urban Outfitters Replaces Cash Registers with iPads Reuters Olympics London 2012 Brings Home the Gold via iPad

Unity, the multiplatform game engine, has gone free to use for iOS and Android. The company made the announcement at its Unite Nordic conference in Malmö, Sweden, according to Keith Andrew of PocketGamer. Unity started life as a Mac-specific development platform, but nowadays developers can also create content using Windows PCs, and deploy on a total of ten different platforms including the Web. Up until now, delivering content onto iOS or Android platforms has required you to pay $800, regardless of which license you're using. Unity said it plans to offer the same deal for developers interested in deploying to Windows Phone 8 and BlackBerry 10 platforms as well. Unity helps game developers create 2D and 3D games alike. It's the engine that powers games like Madfinger's Dead Trigger 2, Rovio's Bad Piggies, Imangi's Temple Run 2, and many others. The company has long offered "Unity Free" and "Unity Pro" licenses in order to accommodate indie developers. Unity Free is a "no strings attached" deal - you can use the tech to develop your game without paying any royalties or license fees. Once you start raking in money, you're required to upgrade to the Pro license, which costs money. The Pro license also includes access to a number of functions and features that aren't accessible for free - graphics and audio improvements, 3D modeling enhancements and more. Developers who have recently forked out the cash to deploy to iOS and Android will be eligible for discounts to help recoup their costs.