Build your own LEGO iPad stand

I don't normally share videos on Total iPad that are not my own, I prefer to try and keep everything original but this LEGO iPad stand was just too awesome to pass up not sharing. I am a huge LEGO fan and last summer I got to visit LEGO Land while I was in Florida on vacation with my daughter. I am not sure if I will order this or try to buy the pieces and build it on my own. Either way if you are a LEGO fan and own an iPad or an iPad mini then you may want to check out this video and consider buying this awesomeness for yourself!



Buy it: http://www.thedailybrick.co.uk/lego-sets/custom/lego-custom-ipad-dock-black.html
Build it: http://www.thedailybrick.co.uk/lego_instructions/viewer?i=custom_LEGO_iPad_Dock_Instructions

MLB At Bat 2013 - UPDATED

This morning MLB At Bat 2013 was updated to version 6.1.0, this was a major upgrade to the At Bat application. I am most excited about the new video section for the iPad, I believe this was already in the iPhone version before this update. I am glad to see At Bat getting updated on the iPhone with all the features that make the iPhone version so great. If you are an Android user I almost feel bad for you, the At Bat app on Android is nowhere near as robust with features as it is on iOS.

New features:

• Multi-platform live audio access for At Bat 13 subscribers (portable to Mac/PC with a valid MLB.com account)
• Universal support for At Bat 13 subscribers, accessible on iPhone, iPad and other supported smartphones and tablets
• New video section featuring more highlights and search (iPad)
• Sortable batting, pitching and fielding statistics (iPad)
• Re-designed individual team pages (iPhone)
• Updated news section interface (iPhone)
• Classic games library featuring more than 60 historic games dating back to 1952 (iPhone and iPad)
• Re-architected navigations (iPhone and iPad)
• Additional push notification options (iPhone & iPad)
• Closed captioning availability for live video (iPhone and iPad)



You can download MLB At Bat 2013 free in the App Store (subscription required for some features):
http://goo.gl/E5PXP

Find my full review of MLB At Bat '13 here: http://totalipad.com/baseball1/

Two-step verification for Apple ID

Apple today announced two-step verification for your Apple ID. I just hope it works as good as it does with my Google login. I don't have as much confidence in Apple when it comes to stuff like this as I do with Google. Even though I personally feel Google does security better it is great to see Apple offer this to its users. This is a step in the right direction and a much needed feature. Currently two-step verification is only available in 5 countries.

If you are not sure how to set-up 2-step verification then please read the Apple FAQ: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5570

When you set up two-step verification, you register one or more trusted devices. A trusted device is a device you control that can receive 4-digit verification codes using either Find My iPhone notifications or SMS to verify your identity.

Then, any time you sign in to manage your Apple ID at My Apple ID or make an iTunes, App Store, or iBookstore purchase from a new device, you will need to enter both your password and a 4-digit verification code as shown below.


After you sign in, you can manage your account or make purchases as usual. Without both your password and the verification code, access to your account will be denied.

You will also get a 14-digit Recovery Key for you to print and keep in a safe place. You will use your Recovery Key to regain access to your account if you ever lose access to your devices or forget your password.

Google Now for iOS?

Could Google Now be coming soon to iOS? It sure looks like it. This video was posted on YouTube then quickly removed, I grabbed a cached copy of it and uploaded it myself. Hopefully I don't get in trouble for that. :)

It looks as if Google Now will work inside the Search app for iOS. Now is a terrific feature on Android, I am not sure how terrific it will be on iOS. Having to open an app and then swiping up to get the weather takes much more time than just swiping down from anywhere to access the weather widget built into iOS in notifications. Google Now does much more than that but honestly I have used an Android phone for 2 months now that is all I ever use Now for, a quick check of the weather. Most of the other information I get from Now has not been really useful to me, it is cool that it is learning my habits but the information I was getting was not really useful to me on a day to day basis.

Have you tried Google Now? Are you excited to see this on iOS? Let me know via Twitter @iCrizzo.

Tablets outpacing laptops

Yesterday on Episode 34 of Total iPad, I mentioned how I thought tablets would soon outsell laptops and it seems we might already be there. There is an interesting article on All Things D stating exactly what we where just talking about.



I guess the thing that stuck out to me was the fact that the smaller iPad and smaller tablets in general were going to be the projected big sellers.

In 2013, the research firm expects it to account for 45 percent of the market, surpassing the 9.7-inch size pioneered by the original iPad, which will account for about 17 percent.

I still do not think we are at a point where tablets can replace laptops for serious work yet but I do think people who are buying new devices are looking at tablets first and maybe hanging on to their older laptops. For me personally, I use my iMac as my main computer and my iPad has replaced my Macbook as my mobile computing device. I guess it depends what you need a computer for, I use my iMac mainly for video editing so what I can do on my iMac blows past any video editing app that I have on my iPad. I guess for the general public who are only using a computer for Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, etc., the iPad or iPad mini would be perfect for them.

What we need is a Macbook Air that can run both OS X and iOS, or an iPad that can run OS X and OS X applications. One can dream right?




Image via: All Things D

Clash of Clans - Updated

Today Clash of Clans for iOS was updated with a huge update bringing forth some new features to the game.

CoC introduces heroes to the game play. You can unlock the 2 new heroes in the Army section of the Shop. As you can see the barbarian king cost ten thousands dark elixir. Dark elixir is also a new feature added to the game, to use the dark elixir you will need a town hall of level 7 and two mine dark elixir you will need a town hall of level 8.

 

 

Also, this update removes to snow and all of the Christmas bonuses and surprises.

 

 

Not sure what Clash of Clans is? Check out my video demo of the game:

 

Also check out my Clash of Clan strategies 

Jones on Fire

An interesting new iOS game in the works. A Minecraft style 8-bit game about saving cats. Either way, this looks awesome and of course it has cats. Who doesn't love cats? Anyway, check out the teaser:



For more information about Jones on Fire and the development team behind it:
http://www.glassbottomgames.com/

How FaceTime saved my holiday

Some of you who read this site may have noticed that I have not been very active these last two months. You may have noticed that the weekly podcast has not been recorded lately and I am not doing nearly as many video demos, etc. I have a very good reason as to why my production on this site as come to a stand still. My father.

My father has a rare type of Leukemia, seems weird to refer to it as such. I mean isn't any type of Leukemia rare? Either way he has been battling for about 5 years now and he has been doing pretty good up until about 3 months ago. The last couple of months I have been driving to upstate New York to visit him in the hospital every few weeks and it has really started to take its toll and has become very mentally exhausting. Not that I mind or don't want to be there for him, but it has ruled my life and Total iPad is just a hobby that has been put on the back burner for the time being.

Anyway, the reason for me writing this is about the iPad and more importantly it is about FaceTime and how I used it to spend Christmas day with my father.

A couple of weeks before Christmas my father had a doctor appointment and his doctor told him he was too weak to travel. So my uncle asked about video chat and was that possible if he bought my father a laptop. Me being an iPad guy told him to scratch that laptop idea and lets get him an iPad instead. Both my uncle and my father are computer illiterate, neither of them own a computer or even a smartphone for that matter. So I knew the iPad would present the least amount of challenge as far as setting up the device etc. So my uncle went and bought him an LTE 16gb iPad mini.

Like I said my father didn't own a computer or a smartphone as matter of fact he didn't even have an email address. Could you imagine living in 2012 and not even having an email address? Anyway, I wasn't sure if FaceTime was available over cellular data with AT&T for FaceTime, so my uncle got the cable guy to come over there and install broadband internet and hook up a router for him.

My uncle goes and purchases the iPad and leaves the setting up an Apple ID to me. I go to Walmart and buy a $50 iTunes gift card. I then take one of my older iPads and wipe the Apple ID account info on it and then create a new Apple ID and an iCloud email address on the device and use the $50 gift card as my payment option. Now all my uncle had to do was power-on the iPad and go through the setup of the new iPad. When he got to the Apple ID part he just used the ID I created and that was it. My father was now the proud owner of not only an iPad mini but also an email address.

Christmas day is here. I am sure some of you may already be asking yourself why didn't I just go and visit my dad on Christmas day. Long story, short: I have a daughter who lives with her mother and our deal is I get her on Christmas evening. I am sure I could have made arrangements but I wanted my daughter to have a normal Christmas or as normal as possible. Anyway, I get my daughter that afternoon and called my father on FaceTime and we celebrated Christmas using our iPads. FaceTime worked flawlessly, the video quality was superb, and even though my father was hundreds of miles away he was still in my living room on Christmas day with me and my daughter. Matter of fact all of my family came over to his house that day and we ate dinner at the same time while we talked via FaceTime.

I know there are plenty of other technologies that work the same as FaceTime, but FaceTime was in my opinion the best option for my father to use. He didn't need to download or install any apps. He didn't need to create any additional accounts to use the service. I am very thankful for all these new technologies in general but I am super thankful for FaceTime for easing our time of pain and enabling my daughter and I to enjoy our holiday season as much as possible.

While I didn't use FaceTime that often before, I am glad FaceTime was there for me when I needed it the most. I now use FaceTime everyday to call my father and check in on him. Something that I didn't see much of a need for before has now become a Godsend. My father has fallen in love with is new iPad, so much so he is looking at buying an iPhone 5 now. Who knows, if he can get through his chemo and is able to put a hold on his sickness maybe next year he will be calling me on FaceTime from his new Macbook Air. Hopefully he will be sitting in the living with me and we won't need FaceTime on Christmas. My fingers are crossed!

Why developers should focus on iOS

The App Store℠ has over 500 million active accounts

Yesterday Apple released a press statement with some very impressive numbers attached. I am rather impressed at how well Apple has done but I am not surprised in the least. I think this year we will see the 1 millionth application in the app store. Currently that number resides at more than 775,000 app in the App Store.

"The revolutionary App Store offers more than 775,000 apps to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users in 155 countries around the world, with more than 300,000 native iPad apps available. App Store customers can choose from an incredible range of apps in 23 categories, including newspapers and magazines offered in Newsstand, games, business, news, sports, health & fitness and travel."


I wonder if any other "App" store can claim 500,000 active accounts? 500,000 active accounts with credit cards on file? Okay so maybe not 500,000 credit cards but I am assuming most of the 500,000 have credit cards attached to them.

COOKOO watch

It is with the greatest pleasure and excitement that we announce the availability of the COOKOO App on the Apple App Store, ready for download with immediate effect. The COOKOO App works with the latest Bluetooth Smart Ready iOS devices, including iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S, and iPad (4th generation) and iPad (3rd generation) that run on iOS 5 or 6.

Grab the App in the iOS App Store: COOKOO™ - Time to Connect - ConnecteDevice Limited

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

I would like to wish everyone who may read this site a Merry Christmas and hope you have a Happy Holiday.  I look forward to improving what I do with Total iPad in 2013 and I hope you will come back and visit me next year. Be safe.

 

Christopher

Tweetbot is now on sale

Tweetbot, the fantastic Twitter client and my favorite way to experience Twitter on my iPad is now on sale in the App Store for only $0.99.

If you do not already own Tweetbot go ahead and download it now:
Tweetbot for Twitter (iPad edition) - Tapbots

EA Games on sale

Right now in the App Store you can grab FIFA '13 for $0.99.



Link: http://j.mp/VReYDn


You can also take advantage of some of the other great EA titles which are also on sale for both the iPad and iPhone. Games are up to 90% off currently during this holiday sale. I believe EA does this every year, I know they did something similar last year. Anyway, there are some great titles to be had!

Happy Holidays! Get this game for less in the EA Big Holiday Sale. Over 55 games on the App Store are up to 90% OFF. It’s #31 on EA’s Holiday Play List.

Total iPad changes

I get a lot of traffic on Total iPad, sometimes as a result of all that traffic it causes the site to go down. Last night the site was down for an 1 hour and 45 minutes. I have decided to try SuperCacher on Total iPad to see if it helps with future downtimes. I am really hoping this improves the sites performance so that I can keep my current hosting plan and I will not need to buy a much more expensive plan.

You may have also noticed a few advertisements in the sidebars, I really hate advertisements but the cost of keeping up with this site have started to get expensive each month. I have to pay for hosting, Blip.tv, Vimeo, software for the videos, and more. I just bought a new camera and some other video equipment in hopes of creating higher quality video reviews of products. That set me back around $2000. So I have the advertisements in the sidebar hoping it will help generate a little extra revenue to help offset some of these cost each month as well as allow me to get better hardware to create better videos. I thought of just putting a donation button in the sidebar but asking for money is not in my nature, so instead of asking for money I figured advertisements would suffice for a while.

Instead of advertisements I thought of maybe a "Shop Amazon" affiliate link, where you could click the link and it takes you to Amazon and anything you buy I would earn a small credit. I may try that for a couple of months and see how well it works. Instead of cluttering the site with advertisements I could just create an Amazon shop page with a link at the top or bottom and the site would remain clean. If I end up going that route and you want to help me then you could use the links if you planned on buying something on Amazon. It would be greatly appreciated. I do have a couple of Amazon links already on the site, I was doing this as a test to see how well they would do, so far they are much better than the other affiliate links.

Total iPad is a hobby for me, something I do for enjoyment. I love talking about the iPad, I love posting video reviews of products and applications, tips and tricks videos, etc. I love helping people who are having issues with their iPad, as always if you have a problem you can send me message an @ message on Twitter or send me an email and I will be more the glad to help.

Last but not least, the weekly Total iPad show is over with. It is not that I do not enjoy doing it but I have some current family health issues that I am dealing with and I honestly don't have the time to do it each week. Just to be honest I am not in the right frame of mind for it. I think taking a break from it is the best thing to do at the moment, but it might be something I decide I want to continue at a later date. I will however continue to do my video reviews and I am going to try to post more iPad related opinions and news links on Total iPad in the future.

Enjoy this info graphic of the new SuperCacher I will be using, feel free to comment as well:




Created by SiteGround Web Hosting

Vinyl Tap update coming soon..

Looks like a nice update to one of my favorite music applications is coming soon.

There will be some new features, including colored vinyl. I hope you'll enjoy the update, which will be out on the app store as soon as we can get it there.

Checkout a couple of the screenshots:





 

 

Not sure what Vinyl Tap is? Check out my review here: http://totalipad.com/app/vinyl-tap-for-ipad-review/

YOU DON’T KNOW JACK LANDS IN THE APP STORE TODAY

“In May, we launched the Facebook version of YOU DON’T KNOW JACK looking to combine the party-atmosphere of console and PC gaming to the asynchronous social gaming space where people could play wherever they want,” said Harry Gottlieb, founder of Jellyvision Games and inventor of YOU DON’T KNOW JACK. “After six months of tweaking the Facebook game, we’re ready for the small screen, starting with iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.”

YOU DON’T KNOW JACK on Facebook, six months past launch, has been received with great critical acclaim and won the “Best Social Game” category for the 2012 SPIKE TV Video Game Awards last week. The iOS version will have persistent play with users of the Facebook version and all key functionality remains the same between apps.

Players of the mobile version can choose to play in guest mode or via Facebook Connect, the latter of which brings party-style play to mobile in three important ways. First, players are automatically matched against their Facebook friends who have already played that specific episode, either on iOS or Facebook. Second, a player is provided a direct option to challenge other Facebook friends at the end of every episode. And third, all players may share results, brag and taunt friends through Facebook, bringing the same fun experienced during a game of YDKJ on the couch into the gameplay experience.

YOU DON’T KNOW JACK will constantly produce new content that engages players with questions on current pop culture and news players are discussing on Facebook, tying gameplay into the social experience more than any previous game.

Players on iOS will access the same content as those using the Facebook version. Cookie Masterson, the game’s popular and sassy host is back, as is the game’s core structure, with outrageous questions that range from Mozart to Psy. The game will be free-to-play with free games provided frequently. Users can also win free games through achievements, and multi-token packs are available for purchase.

This new version of YOU DON’T KNOW JACK represents Jellyvision Games’ latest in a history of innovations within the interactive trivia space. When YOU DON’T KNOW JACK first launched in 1995, it was the first game to truly immerse the user into a fully interactive game show experience, making players feel like the game’s host was talking directly to them. The company also created Who Wants To Be A Millionaire for PC, which at the time was the fastest-selling PC game in history, and the TV game show Smush, which aired on the USA Network. To date, the YOU DON’T KNOW JACK franchise has sold more than 5 million units and generated $100 million in revenue with versions for CD-ROM, consoles, iOS and tabletop.

You can download You Don't Know Jack for free:
YOU DON’T KNOW JACK - Jellyvision Games, Inc. (iPad)
YOU DON’T KNOW JACK - Jellyvision Games, Inc. (iPhone / iPod Touch)

Splash and Style Come Together In New Wipeout Update

Activision and The Blast Furnace’s Wipeout, the smash hit iOS game based on the hit ABC television show, has been updated with new content with its latest title update. Today’s free update comes packed with new accessories and features to make Wipeout even more fun.

Customize your favorite contestants: Helen, Russell and Aaron with new costumes including: Pirate, Superhero and Football outfits. The new Amaze-O-Helmet lets you walk right through obstacles, and the Slo-Mo Helmet has been improved so that only the obstacles slow down around you as you blaze through the course! Helmets also now have improved indicators showing a full charge when ready to use. Compare character stats with friends with a revised character interface and enhanced course intros and outros. The Game Center has been improved; posting your most epic Wipeout moments to Facebook is even easier!

If you are not sure what Wipeout is, you can check out my review of the game: http://totalipad.com/wipeout/

Wipeout is available for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch for only $1.99 in the iOS App Store:
Wipeout - Activision Publishing, Inc. (iPad)

Wipeout - Activision Publishing, Inc. (iPhone/iPod Touch)



[box type='info']
Wipeout now fully supports the iPhone 5 which makes wiping out look even better on the big screen.[/box]

Tim Cook critiquing competing tablets from Samsung and Microsoft

Tim Cook talking about tablets from the competition.

What I see, for me, is that some of these are confusing, multiple OSes with multiple UIs [user interfaces]. They steer away from simplicity. We think the customer wants all the clutter removed. We want the customer to be at the center of everything. I think when you start toggling back and forth between OSes and UIs, etc., I don’t think that’s what customers are looking for. I think that customers want tablet-optimized apps. You know, we have 275,000-plus apps that have been optimized for the tablet. If you just stretch out a smartphone app on a tablet, it’s an awful experience. It’s not what customers want. I think it’s another reason that usage is so low on these other tablets.

I don’t doubt that there will be units sold in other tablets. It’s happening today. It will happen in the future. But what I strongly believe is that many people that are doing so might feel good initially if they pay a low price, but will bring it home and start to use it, and they’re no longer satisfied. That good feeling is gone. And those people don’t repeat purchases.

Let me give you an example of this. I was thinking about this the other day. Look at netbooks. Many people thought netbooks were the coolest thing ever. Many companies hyped them. In fact, the sales boomed, and then what happened? They crashed, because they were awful! They were flimsy products with crappy, cramped keyboards. They were underpowered. They were just awful.

So we never went into that category. We never put any time into it. A great product doesn’t mean an expensive product. It means a fair price. The iPad mini is all the way down to $329. This isn’t an expensive product. So when we can do great products and achieve a great price, we feel great. But what we wouldn’t do is say, “We’ve got to have something for this price, and then let’s see what we can do for it.” That’s not how we think. We think about the product and making a great product that we want to use. When we can do that and achieve another price point, that’s great. But our customers have a high expectation, and we’re not going to try to pass off something—we would never do that. That’s not how we think.

You can read the entire article on Mashable.

YouTube now iPad ready

Yesterday Google updated a few of their iOS applications including Gmail and YouTube. YouTube is now finally a native iPad application, sporting a new logo and Google+ like feel to the application. I have really missed having a nice native YouTube application on my iPad as I have been using iOS 6 for quite a few months now, since the summer time when it was in beta. It is nice to have YouTube back on my homescreen where it belongs.





YouTube is a free application and you can download it in the iOS App Store:
YouTube - Google, Inc.

Be sure to follow me online elsewhere..

I would love to have any of my fellow readers follow or friend me on any of my most used social sites. My new YouTube channel desperately needs some subscribers and the videos sure could use a few 'Thumbs Up', my Tumblr is my personal spot on the Internet and I don't always post the most family friendly stuff on there so be forewarned. My Twitter is is about the same as my Tumblr, it is not iPad related at least not my personal Twitter account, I post anything from games I am playing, music I am listening to, or the mood I am in currently. The Total iPad Twitter and Facebook pages are just that, most of what I post on there are things that I post from here. Every now and then I will Tweet interesting iPad related things on the Twitter page but for the most part it is just an easy way to read Total iPad without actually having to visit Total iPad.

My YouTube
My Tumblr
My Twitter
Total iPad Twitter Page
Total iPad Facebook Page

Next up I will be reviewing the Cygnett Enigma for the iPad mini. I hope to have it up in the next couple of days. In the meantime checkout a pictures from the gallery of the Enigma.

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