First Looks: BodyGuardz UltraTough Clear Skins for iPad (3rd-Gen)


UltraTough Clear Skins for the third-generation iPad ($30) is the latest full-body film protection solution from BodyGuardz. The set comes with film for both the front and the back of the tablet, as well as two packets of application gel, a pre-wetted cleaning wipe, and a cloth. Installation involves putting a dozen or so drops of the gel on the film, spreading it around with your fingers, and then putting the film in place. Because it takes a little…

from iLounge | All Things iPod, iPhone, iPad and Beyond http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/reviews/entry/bodyguardz-ultratough-clear-sk...

Jessica Turner: How I (And Others Like Me) Discovered 'Fifty Shades of Grey'

Last October, while trolling through the erotica archives at my humble online retailer, I stumbled upon a book called Fifty Shades of Grey. I was shocked by what happened during and after I read it. I was completely and utterly hooked on the book.
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from The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jessica-turner/fifty-shades-of-grey_b_1435715.html

The best tech writing of the week, March 18th

long reads

We all know the feeling. You're sleepless in the sad hours of the night or stumbling around early on a hazy weekend morning in need of something to read, and that pile of unread books just isn't cutting it. Why not take a break from the fire hose of Twitter and RSS and check out our weekly roundup of essential writing from around the web about technology, culture, media, and the future? Sure, it's one more thing you can feel guilty about sitting in your Instapaper queue, but it's better than pulling in vain on your Twitter list again.

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from The Verge - All Posts http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/18/2881409/the-best-tech-writing-of-the-week-m...

Retina apps on iPad: don't call it fragmentation, but do call it a hassle

iphoto retina display icon app

iOS developers are quickly updating their apps with Retina graphics to support the new iPad, much like they did two years ago when the iPhone 4 launched. Xcode 4.3.1, the software required to compile Retina iPad apps, launched alongside Apple's new tablet, which gave developers just over a week to prepare their apps for launch on a jarringly high resolution 2048 x 1536 display. This means only a small number of the 200,000 iPad apps have been updated.

So what does it take to get your app ready to go in in hopes of scoring a position in Apple's coveted "Great Apps For The New iPad" section? It turns out that it's not that much work, but you have to be prepared.

Tweetbot developer Paul Haddad told us that most developers found out about...

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from The Verge - All Posts http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/16/2878199/new-ipad-retina-apps-development-fr...

New Verizon iPad can run on AT&T's 3G network with the swap of a micro-SIM card

Gallery Photo: iPad hardware hands-on

There are a number of differences between the AT&T and Verizon models of the new iPad, but for those who do plenty of travelling around America, Verizon seems to be the way to go. Not only is Verizon's LTE network larger — it covers more than 200 million Americans compared to AT&T's 74 million — but the Verizon iPad can also run on AT&T's 3G network by popping in the appropriate micro-SIM card. A member of the MacRumors forums has confirmed this by using the card from an AT&T iPhone 4S in a Verizon iPad, which, with a few tweaks to the carrier settings, managed to run on the new network — though, because of some compatibility issues, the swap won't let you connect to AT&T's LTE network. Meanwhile, PCMag even managed to get the...

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from The Verge - All Posts http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/16/2878550/verizon-new-ipad-att-3g-with-sim-ca...

New Roku 2 HD box appears in FCC filing

roku 2 hd fcc

A new Roku HD player has shown up in an FCC filing. The box looks very similar to the Roku 2 HD player, and indeed the manual refers to it as a "Roku 2" with the giveaway "HD" letters visible on the top side. There are only a few external differences that we can see: the bottom of the box is bright purple making the device look like an inverted Roku LT, the microSD slot has been jettisoned in favor of 2GB internal memory, and there's a full-sized composite output on the back in place of the old 3.5mm adapter. The last change is an unusual direction for the company to go — we don't think the number of people using composite cables is rising, exactly — but with the Apple TV essentially an HD-only affair the lower-priced Roku boxes...

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from The Verge - All Posts http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/16/2876944/new-roku-2-hd-box-fcc-filing

iPad Retina Display app roundup (updating)

infinity blade 2 retina display screenshot 2048

We're sure the first thing you'll want to do when you get that new iPad home is give the 2048 x 1536 Retina Display a workout. With that in mind, Apple has curated a section of the App Store especially for apps that have been updated with full high resolution support, like Infinity Blade II. Here are a few of the more notable inclusions; we'll be adding to this list as more updates come in.

Note: it appears that not all the apps in Apple's "Great apps for the new iPad" section actually have Retina Display support — for example, the US App Store lists Gameloft's Modern Combat 3, which is yet to be updated as far as we know. Similarly, you should expect a lot of apps with Retina Display support not to make it into the curated section.

F...

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from The Verge - All Posts http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/16/2876647/ipad-retina-display-app-roundup

Napster was better at social than Spotify, says co-founder Sean Parker

Napster

At South by Southwest this week, Napster co-founders Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning sat down for an interview about Downloaded, the upcoming film on the story behind their old company. During the conversation, Parker mentioned that he thinks Spotify really needs to step up its game in the social arena — in fact, he believes that Napster's strengths in social sharing have yet to be replicated. Parker (a board member for Spotify) feels that "Spotify is allowing us to do a lot of the things we never got to do with Napster, but Facebook-Spotify sharing needs to get better." Specifically, Parker feels that there's "too much happening in the Facebook arena, and not enough in Spotify" — it sounds like he wants to see Spotify step up and...

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from The Verge - All Posts http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/17/2880316/napster-spotify-social-advantage-se...

The Butterfly Effect, Coated In Oil

Article by Adam Levin from credit.com

Earlier this week, the New York Post shouted the headline “US Credit Card Debt Nearing Toxic Levels. ” The article was referring to the latest report from the Fed that in December, total consumer debt, which is the sum of both non-revolving and revolving debt, increased by 9.3 percent to almost $2.5 trillion. The increase in revolving debt, principally consisting of credit card balances , was at an annual rate of 4.1%. Thus, despite the fact that for a few short months in 2011 the amount of outstanding debt actually fell, the long-standing trend of strong expansion in consumer credit card debt returned with a vengeance in December, measured month over month, quarter over quarter, and year-over-year. We’re slowly killing ourselves with our oil addiction, and the dealer yet again is jacking up the prices.

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AT&T Clarifies How Limited Its Unlimited Plan Really Is

Media_httpimggawkeras_ulklv

If you're one of the lucky AT&T customers who still has an unlimited data plan, you're probably aware that AT&T hamstings the connections of its "top 5 percent" of data consumers. But it has never been clear who exactly falls into that category. Until now.

Here's what it means to be part of the top 5 percent of data users on an unlimited plan:

If you have a smartphone that works on our 3G or 4G network and still have an unlimited data plan,

- You'll receive a text message when your usage approaches 3GB in one billing cycle.

- Each time you use 3GB or more in a billing cycle, your data speeds will be reduced for the rest of that billing -cycle and then go back to normal.

- The next time you exceed that usage level, your speeds will be reduced without another text message reminder.

If you have a 4G LTE smartphone and still have an unlimited data plan, the same process applies at 5GB of data usage, instead of 3GB.

Apple moving forward with streaming TV service even as content providers resist

A new report describes Apple as "pushing ahead" with plans to release a streaming TV service by the end of the year in spite of resistance from major media conglomerates.

By Josh Ong

The New York Post spoke to sources familiar with Apple's plans to learn that the company has had trouble convincing content providers to come on board with a streaming TV service. Studios have refused to give in to Apple, which reportedly wants complete control over "all aspects" of the service, including pricing.

"We decide the price, we decide what content," one source described Apple's negotiating stance as being. "They want everything for nothing," another media executive said.


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