Apple’s iTunes music store is offering dowloads of “Songs for Japan“, featuring 38 songs from world-renowned artists including John Lennon, Queen, Katy Perry, Lady GaGa, Justin Bieber, Foo Fighters, Shakira, and others for a total of 38 songs. At just $10, with all proceeds going to the Japanese Red Cross, this is not just a great way to get some good music at a great price, you can feel good providing a bit more support to those in need.

geek

As if all the exciting iPad 2 announcements weren’t enough Apple for the day, Apple has released iOS 4.3.1. Fire up iTunes and download the hefty 666.0 MB upgrade.

Some of the highlights:

• Fixes an occasional graphics glitch on the iPod Touch (4th generation)
• Resolves bugs related to connecting and activating on some cellular networks
• Fixes image flickering with Apple’s new Digital AV Adapter
• Resolves an issue authenticating with some enterprise web services

Curious to hear if you find anything else, but there you have it for today’s excitement.

geek

Good news, and more good news!. The good news is that Apple is launching the iPad 2 today in 25 other countries. The more good news is that domestic delays (when ordering online) have moved into the 3-4 week range. This is an improvement over the 4-5 weeks that Apple.com was quoting purchasers, although that may change with the additional demand being added to Apple’s already taxed assembly-line.

From everything I’m reading on Twitter and from my overseas friends, the lines in other countries are as long or longer as they were in the united states. I’m guessing the big difference is that people in other countries probably aren’t scalping iPads quite as frequently as they have been here in the US, although the flipping of products in the US has created a very lucrative aftermarket for iPad 2 models in nearly every configuration. If you have any comments on the foreign gray-market for Apple iPads, please do share.

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I am totally amazed at how many different reviews of the iPad 2 there are – and so quickly, too – and every one of these seems to have a different take on how great Apple’s second iPad (the iPad 2) really is. Having finally received mine I’m agreeing across the board, but believe that most are missing the importance of a feature that will revolutionize how people can use their iPad – video mirroring.

Video mirroring is the ability to show the iPad 2 screen on an external display – regardless of application. The first generation iPad had the ability to output some things (presentations and video), but for the most part if you wanted to play Angry Birds you were relegated to the relatively compact iPad screen. Not so with the new iPad. When connecting your new iPad 2 to an external display using the Apple VGA Adapter or the Apple DIgital AV Adapter it is possible to completely mirror all functionality on the iPad 2, including the home screen itself. This works equally well with projectors, big screens, and, to that end, everything I’ve tried to this point. Interesting, though that there isn’t currently a way to connect the iPad to Apple’s own 27″ monitor.

Update: Please check out the bottom of this post for a second way to complete this process and avoid a call to AT&T in the process.

It would seem to me that anyone that had been an early enough adopter to jump on AT&T’s $30 unlimited bandwidth wagon would be an early adopter in the iPad 2 race, so imagine my surprise at seeing and hearing so many different solutions to the “how to move my service” from the old iPad to the new. Hopefully those of you that do manage to find this will save a step and the frustration of trying to do this yourself.

First:

• DO NOT create a new account on your iPad 2.  You will be moving your existing account to your new iPad.
• DO NOT change the AT&T SIM from your old iPad to your new iPad.

I made the trek – not too far mind you – to MacWorld 2011 and found myself wondering whether MacWorld can survive another year and more importantly, after so many came back from CES disappointed, whether the technology trade-show itself can survive. Seriously, how many different iPhone cases does that average trade-show attendee really want to see? Considering how many Blackberry and Droid phones I saw, my inclination would be far fewer then were really there.

Of the products that were there, many seemed to be “coming soon,” and far less than ever before was really available to buy at the show. Overall, I walked away most of the cash that I came with, a couple of stickers, and a feeling of disappointment. I told my wife via text message that MacWorld was a lot like going to Fry’s, same size as the store, a lot of stuff that you would never buy, and shelf space showing stickers for stuff that you really wish you could buy.

Hewlett-Packard has announced a $1.2 billion deal with Palm, Inc. that would allow HP, the highly successful technology mega-company to expand further into the smartphone market.

With Apple set to release their iPad 3G on Friday it’s about time that AT&T got in on some of the action and for those eagerly awaiting their iPad the news is actually pretty good.

I’ve been thinking for some time now that the biggest changes for the iPhone are going to come from iPad developers, simply because there are things that users will want/need to do on the iPad that I am hopeful will trickle-down to the iPhone – take printing, for example. With Apple’s announcement that they are now accepting iPad apps, I am hopeful that some of these hopes will come to fruition.

Based on what Apple is leaking, applications submitted now will have a shot at being reviewed and approved before the iPad launch next month, but I would expect, since almost all apps have been developed with only the simulator, that many apps will experience problems on day/week one. Only time will tell, but I am hopeful that some good will come out of this and not a new round of fart and beer guzzling parodies.

~geek

Apple’s iPad is on the tip of many tongues – good and bad – and the only remaining question is what market is this serving or is the iPad still looking for a market?