IPad app is gift of techies to autistic kids

A group of techies has come out with an iPad app that would allow autistic children with extreme communication challenges to connect with the world around them.

The app, called Bhol (in Hindi), is specifically designed to “suit the requirements of autistic children in Indian conditions”.

Since autism is a developmental disorder that varyingly affects a person’s communication and social behaviour, care givers often find it hard to understand the needs of children with the condition.

“Especially when they are at the lower end of the spectral disorder, it is harder for them to communicate their needs. Technology such as the app comes in handy for such children,” said Kavita Sharma, executive council member of Autism Society of India (ASI), who worked with the group of techies volunteering from SAP Labs to create Bhol.

Created on the lines of a photo album, the app allows non-communicative autistic child to display a picture on the iPad accompanied by audio or text captions to convey his/her needs.

The picture book can be enhanced as the child can take pictures of things he needs and add to the app and index it based on the frequency of his needs. “If the child needs to eat dosa, for instance, he has to point to the picture of the dosa on the app. This can be customised to the extent that any specific variant of dosa he/she likes can be saved in the app for ready communication,” Sharma added.

Project Prayas Idea for the app was born when a group of techies volunteered with the ASI. The NGO had partnered with SAP Labs in Bangalore to establish Project Prayas, a technology lab for Autistic children. “There are several apps available for non-communicable persons, but they were either costly or were very difficult to use,” said Ruchit Mathur, a techie volunteer from SAP Labs.

“It then occurred to us that we can create an app which not only suits Indian conditions, but also is easy to configure and use for the autistic children.” The team of three senior techies spoke to the parents of autistic children at the labs to identify the requirements for the app.

Ruchit said the app will be initially released for children in the labs before the wider availability. “We want to ascertain the iPad apps work fine and then release it. Based on its success, we would make it available in other (mobile) operating systems like Android and Windows,” Ruchit said.

Good for early intervention Kavita Sharma said the app is particularly useful for early intervention.

“Using technology solutions at an early stage has an impact on the child’s communicative abilities. The younger children are certainly taken to an app like this much faster than the older ones.

Hopefully, it improves the way they communicate as they grow up,” she said.

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iPad App Development

Not just iPhone, but iPad too uses Wi-Fi more often

With unlimited data plans soon to be history, it seems Wi-Fi will soon become key to the growth of not just iPads, but also iPhones. A survey released by ComScore shows that of smartphone owners in the U.S. and U.K., iPhone users are far more likely than their Android-toting counterparts to take advantage of Wi-Fi networks when available.

The study shows that in the U.S. 71 percent of iPhones and 32 percent of Android phones connect to Wi-Fi and cell networks. In the U.K., the divide was a little narrower: 87 percent of iPhones and 57 percent of Android phones connect to both types of networks.

ComScore points to increasingly scarce spectrum and, of course, carriers moving away from unlimited data plans as reasons for this behavior:

“The scarcity of unlimited data plans and higher incidence of smartphone pre-paid contracts with a pay-as-you-go data model likely contributes to data offloading among users wanting to economize their mobile usage. In addition, the current lack of high-speed data networks in the U.K. might also lead users to seek out higher bandwidth capacity on Wi-Fi networks. In the U.S., the increased availability of LTE, 4G and other high-speed data networks currently make it less necessary for smartphone users to offload, but it’s also possible that the diminishing availability of unlimited cellular data plans will eventually push more usage to Wi-Fi.”

Wi-Fi’s popularity among mobile devices isn’t limited to iPhones: Tablet users are overwhelmingly in favor of Wi-Fi use too. Two weeks ago mobile analyst Chetan Sharma released a report noting that in 2011, more than 90 percent of tablets in the U.S. connected to Wi-Fi instead of mobile broadband. While sales of tablets shot up last year, the percentage of 3G- and 4G-capable tablets stayed relatively low. And it’s safe to assume that the iPad is what we’re talking about when it comes to tablets: It accounted for roughly two-thirds of all tablets sold in the U.S. in 2011.

So while iPhone users are relying heavily on Wi-Fi, so are iPad users. It’s not clear what exactly accounts for the difference in behavior between iOS and Android users — it could be something as simple as that Wi-Fi is just easier to set up on iOS devices.

But it also may have something to do with the amount of content users are downloading. And with the new iPad, it’s likely that this reliance on Wi-Fi will only increase. Its shiny new high-definition display makes watching videos on it easier on the eyes than ever — and that can eat through monthly data plans pretty quickly.

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iPad App Development

5 great-looking apps for your new iPad

The biggest selling point for Apple's newest iPad is its high-resolution screen, which packs more pixels in a 9.7-inch tablet than you've got in that big HDTV in your living room.

But if you ran out and bought the new iPad, you may notice that not all of your apps look as good as you thought they might. That's because the programs designed to run on the original iPad and the iPad 2 have graphics scaled for the lower-res displays on those tablets.

It's up to the developers of those apps to update them so they look better on the latest iPad. But even when they do, there may be other issues.

For example, The Guardian Eyewitness is a wonderful app showcasing the best news photos from around the world. The app's buttons and menus have been updated, but the photos are not being dispatched in high-res format. They looked beautiful on the older iPads. On the new one, not so much.

Here's a look at five apps that show off what the new iPad's so-called retina display can do. Some of them aren't new, but their high-res updates inspire a second look.

iTunes Movie Trailers - Free, Apple. One of the biggest threats to your productivity is now even more of a temptation for epic time-wasting. The Trailers app, which features both movies available in iTunes as well as those now playing and coming to theaters, now delivers movie previews in high-definition video on the new iPad.

The new hardware can display up to 1080p HD video, but the quality will vary depending on the speed of your Internet connection Find a zippy WiFi or 4G connection before you settle in to watch.

Flipboard - Free, Flipboard. One of the best things about the new iPad's display is how good simple text looks on it. Flipboard, which is easily my favorite iPad app, is even more readable with its razor-sharp fonts. The app uses social media and RSS feeds to generate a customized digital magazine.

Flipboard recently added cover stories - highlighted content with large photos - and these look beautiful on the new iPad. The app won't do much for low-res images coming out of Twitter and Facebook, but when the content providers offer high-res pictures, they really shine.

iPhoto - $4.99, Apple. While the iPad 2 had a notoriously lame rear camera (and the first iPad had none), the camera on the new iPad is quite good. For that reason alone, you'll want to get this beautifully designed image editor that's easy to use and pretty to look at.

The iPhoto name is about all it shares with the original OS X version for Macs. It uses lots of analog references for tools - colorful paintbrushes to designate tweaking of images and negative strips to signify various effects. The overall look of the app is richly detailed, and you'll find yourself staring at its components as much as you will looking at your own pictures.

ABC Player - Free, ABC Digital. More and more networks and cable channels are letting iPad owners access their content through apps, and the ABC Player is a standout. It's fast, responsive, with a rich look and slick animations.

The shows are the stars here, playing in full HD when, of course, the speed of your connection allows for it. But it's a great way to get your "Grey's Anatomy," "Dancing With the Stars" or "Modern Family" fix.

Tweetbot - $2.99, Tapbots. If you're a Twitter user with a new iPad, you'll want to investigate this app, which has been a big hit on the iPhone for a while. Tweetbot makes innovative use of multitouch taps and swipes to provide access to a slew of useful ways to work with tweets. It's also gorgeous to look at, with textured backgrounds, borders and buttons.

Now that you've got some things to put inside your new iPad, next week I'll concentrate on the tablet's outside with a case roundup.

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iPad App Development

Ex-Microsoft group creates hit iPad app

 

A tablet app born out of a project at Microsoft became an instant hit when it debuted last week. Too bad for the software giant, Microsoft had nothing to do with it.

The app, called Paper, has been the most downloaded iPad app since its launch on Friday. It's also No. 3 on the list of top-grossing apps, behind Angry Birds Space HD and Quickoffice Pro.

Paper was co-founded by Georg Petschnigg, who worked at Microsoft for 11 years. He led development on a project called Courier. That was Microsoft's code name for a touchscreen computer that folds like a book. Courier was regularly in the news in 2009 and 2010 because of leaked videos and screenshots that were received favorably.

Concept videos showed a touchscreen operating system that worked with fingers or a pen, allowing users to clip Web pages by outlining images or create to-do lists from handwritten notes.

Then Microsoft said in April 2010, just weeks after Apple released the iPad, that it would not build Courier.

Today, five of the folks who worked on Courier are at FiftyThree, the New York-based startup that makes Paper. The six-person, year-old company doesn't have any outside investors, not even Microsoft, Petschnigg said.

"You're starting to see new consumers emerge and new problems," he said. "It doesn't always make sense for a large corporation to go after those customers."

A spokeswoman for Microsoft declined to comment on FiftyThree, but said in a statement that the Redmond, Washington-based company "is always looking at new ideas, and testing and incubating them, and Courier was an example of this."

Petschnigg, FiftyThree's CEO, dresses like a Microsoft executive but speaks in the grandiose style more typical of the Apple faithful. "We think productivity should be beautiful," he said.

When asked about Courier, Petschnigg referenced an Oscar-winning comedy that starred Greg Kinnear and Steve Carell.

"In 'Little Miss Sunshine,' the quest failed," but the experience was rewarding, he said. "Sometimes projects don't work out. That's the name of the game, but that's the path. We have to look forward." 

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ipad App Development

Facebook For iPad Gets Retina-Ready

Facebook rolled out an update this morning that adds support for the new iPad’s Retina display to its iPad application. According to the release notes in iTunes, users with the new iPad will now see “a crisp, high resolution interface.” The update (version 4.1.1) brings other bug fixes, too, as well as support for additional languages.

The Retina-ready version of the app was hinted at last week, when someone spotted a teaser for the upcoming app in the iTunes App Store’s “New and Noteworthy” section. The message displayed at the time read “Enhanced for the New iPad,” presumably meaning it would soon add support for Retina graphics.

As sure enough, that’s just what it did.

The update brings a number of other bug fixes, too, including the following:

• You can go offline in chat
• The right profile picture appears for everyone
• Your list of friends always includes all your friends
• In sets of photos, your name is displayed correctly
• Photos of people who like Facebook Pages load correctly
• Your friend-request notification only lights up if you have a request

In addition, Facebook users can now change their language to Czech, Danish, Greek, Indonesian, Malaysian, Norwegian (Bokmal), Portuguese (Portugal) or Thai in the updated app.

However, as much as new iPad owners may be excited to see one of their most heavily used apps updated with Retina support, perhaps a more highly anticipated feature (or rather feature request) is support for the Facebook Timeline. As the boldest revision to the Facebook user interface to arrive since the News Feed, the Timeline offers a new way to both display and consume Facebook content. And given the iPad’s screen size, it doesn’t seem like it would be a problem to migrate that interface to the iPad.

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ipad App Development

Air Display for iPad and Android: Great cheap 2nd monitor (review)

Turn your iPad or Android tablet into a wireless second monitor for any laptop for just ten bucks.

Air Display Android setup

Having enough screen real estate while working on laptops can be challenging, especially for those used to multiple monitor setups back in the office. Having a second monitor can be especially beneficial when working on laptops on the go. Owners of iPads and Android tablets have a cheap method at hand to turn those slates into wireless monitors for both Mac and Windows laptops.

The Air Display app is available for the iPad for $9.99, and the Android version costs the same. Both apps turn the appropriate tablet into a second monitor for Mac and Windows that connects to the laptop via Wi-Fi. Once the app is installed on the tablet, it directs you to the appropriate web site to download either the Mac or Windows app for the laptop.

After only a couple of minutes, the Air Display local service can be toggled on which initiates a search on the local Wi-Fi network for tablets running Air Display. The tablet running Air Display is selected from the search window and Air Display connects the laptop to the tablet.

The iPad or Android tablet is treated by either OS X or Windows 7 as an external monitor, with full OS control over the display. This allows user control over the location of the tablet in relation to the laptop. The tablet display can either mirror the laptop screen, or extend it to provide additional display space.

There is a slight lag due to the Wi-Fi connection, but it is so small to not be a factor. You probably won’t be streaming video to the tablet due to this latency, but everything else works very well.

Displaying Sparrow (Mac) on the iPad

Air Display turns the tablet and laptop into a two monitor setup without compromise. It provides a second monitor for ten bucks, and that is an outstanding value. The benefits are fully realized when working in a hotel room at night as productively as back at the office with the two monitor configuration.

I use both the iPad and the Android versions of Air Display regularly, and have experienced no problems with either. The iPad with the Retina Display is especially impressive used as a second monitor with Air Display. Using this next to the MacBook or Windows PC shows without a doubt how superior the new iPad display is compared to that of the laptop.

Air Display permits rotating the iPad or Android tablet at will, and reconfigures the display on the fly. I find it particularly useful to put a document on the tablet in portrait for easy reference while working on the laptop.

TweetDeck Mac (Transformer Prime) and MacBook

I have tested Air Display for Android on both the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Transformer Prime without problems. Other Android tablets may not work as well according to the people behind Air Display.

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ipad App Development

New iPad vs. iPad 2: Which is the Better Deal?

Should you go with the new model and its better screen and processor, or save some cash on the smaller, lighter iPad 2?

We've raved about the new Apple iPad's display. We've gauged its graphics prowess in benchmark testing. But it's not the only iPad in town: Apple continues to sell brand-new iPad 2 models, and at a very compelling price--$399 for a 16GB model. So if you're in the market for a tablet, which one should you buy?
The right answer to that question depends on who you are. See if you can find which camp (if either) you fall into in our two lists below.

Buy the New iPad If…

 
High-quality images are important to you. The foremost argument for the new iPad is its gorgeous, high-resolution display. It's sharper and brighter, and offers more compelling color and detail than the display on the iPad 2. If you appreciate the difference in image quality between standard-definition and high-definition content, you'll want a new iPad.
You love to play games. The new iPad blew its predecessor away on our PCWorld Labs graphics tests.
You need to use a fast connection everywhere. The new iPad is the first Apple tablet that can connect to 4G networks. (You can buy a new iPad that works on either AT&T's 4G network or Verizon's 4G network.) If you go with Verizon, you can also use the iPad as a hotspot, allowing other devices to piggyback on its wireless connection. And Apple now sells only the Wi-Fi version of the iPad 2, so if you need an anywhere connection, the new iPad is your only option among Apple tablets.
You like to keep lots of video and music on your tablet. The iPad 2 is available only with a 16GB capacity. If you need 32GB or 64GB, you're looking at a third-generation iPad.
You love to take pictures with your tablet. The new iPad's camera may not replace your point-and-shoot, but it is far superior to the camera that the iPad 2 carries.

Buy the iPad 2 If…

Weight and size are important to you. The iPad 2 is slightly lighter than new iPad: 1.33 pounds to 1.4 pounds. Though that difference may not sound like much, but it's noticeable when you hold the tablet in one hand.
You hate recharging. In PCWorld Labs tests, the iPad 2 lasted 7 hours, 37 minutes while playing a video continuously. That's nearly two hours longer than the new iPad, which held out for just 5 hours, 41 minutes on a charge.
You're, well, frugal. You'll save $100 by buying a $399 iPad 2 instead of the baseline new iPad. That Ben Franklin can buy apps, music, movies, and then some; or you can sock the extra bucks away for the next version of iPad, which is likely to arrive in 2013.

The App Conundrum

You might expect apps to look much better on the new iPad than they do on the iPad 2. But in most instances they don't. If you're viewing an app that hasn't been optimized for the new iPad's high-resolution Retina display, your experience may range from acceptable to unsatisfying.
So far, few of the 200,000-plus iPad apps have been optimized for the new iPad. And Apple doesn't make finding these apps easy; you just have to hunt for ones that brag about being redesigned for the new tablet. It may be months before most app developers catch up with the new iPad's hardware capabilities. So that's a reason to buy an iPad 2 and save some cash, right?
Not so fast. When developers do update their apps, the revised versions will have higher-resolution images and more-demanding code. The images will eat away at your iPad 2's limited storage, and the apps will feel more sluggish running on the iPad 2's older processor. Buying the new iPad today means you'll be less likely to feel that your year-old tablet is obsolete 12 months from now.

Bottom Line

I strongly believe in the value of the high-resolution Retina display. The visual improvement over iPad 2 is visceral and significant, and a great reason in itself to buy a new iPad. Overall, the new iPad is the best tablet on the market today.
Nevertheless, the iPad 2 is a strong lower-cost choice. In a few months it may start to feel underpowered, but by then the rumor mill will be talking up the even better 2013 iPad refresh. And with the $100 you saved, you might be in a better position to afford the new model.

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ipad App Development