40Tech is pleased to present this guest post by Simon Butler from Rental Tablets.
More people buy WiFi-only tablets than tablets with 3G or 4G capability. This is partly because WiFi-only tablets are cheaper; in the case of the iPad it’s £100 (UK) or $130 (US) cheaper. In addition to this, if you want to actually use 3G or LTE on your iPad you’re looking at between £10 to £15 (UK) or $15 (US) a month extra for the data plan. So it’s easy to see why some users would just opt for the WiFi-only option.
However, all is not lost. There are many ways you can make the most of your WiFi-only tablet when away from a WiFi hotspot.
What a crazy world we live in, thanks to the copyright police. An article over on Ars Technical shows just how screwed up our copyright system is here in the U.S., thanks to the DMCA. One example – it is legal to jailbreak your iPhone, but not your iPad.
If you hadn’t already heard, Google Chrome for iPhone and iPad was released this week — and it promptly became the #1 free app on the app store. This is something that we’ve been waiting for with baited breath, and something that I, personally, was never sure would happen properly due to the rivalry between Apple and Google.
Have no doubt, though, it’s here — and it takes the best of Google Chrome’s desktop browser and jams it neatly and prettily into your pocket.
One of the best features of Google Chrome for iOS is the integration of Chrome’s sync technology. If you have ever wanted the ability to open up any device — iPhone, iPad, Android, any computer that you’ve signed in to Google Chrome on — and pick up browsing from where you left off (again, on any of them), then you have reason enough to love Chrome for iOS app as the final piece in that puzzle.
It syncs your browsing history, open tabs, omnibar searches (yep, all that omnibar instant search power is in there, too), passwords, bookmarks, etc., etc., etc. Chrome was always great for being able to hop from computer to computer, but now you can hop from computer to computer to mobile and back again — and seamlessly, at that.
That’s just the tip of it, though. Google Chrome for iPhone and iPad is blazingly fast, has an intuitive interface, and comes with niceties like easy, swipe-based tab switching, tracking of recently closed and most-visited web pages, voice-based search capability (Google’s not Siri’s), search within web pages, and the ability to request a switch to desktop mode for entire sites at the touch of a button.
Google Chrome for iOS also includes Incognito Mode, and allows you to have as many open tabs in the browser as you damned well please. Chrome for iPhone is beautifully designed and extremely intuitive, and Chrome for iPad is the closest thing to a desktop browser that you will find on any tablet.
As with anything, though, Chrome for iOS is not perfect. There is no read later functionality, which you may miss if you love it in Safari, and heartbreakingly, there is a fairly consistent lag issue. Don’t get me wrong… when it works, it’s stupidly fast — but there are times, especially on pages with Javascript, that you will be typing or touching a button and nothing will happen for a few seconds. This can be an extreme pain in the ass, and may even be a deal-breaker for some. There may not even be much Google can do about it, because it could be related to Apple not giving other browsers on iOS access to their Nitro Javascript engine.
If you can get past the occasional (if persistent) few seconds of waiting, though, Google Chrome for iPhone and iPad could be your go-to web browser replacement for mobile Safari (it’s certainly more stable than Safari for iPad). The possibilities excite me to no end. I’m thinking some version of Chrome extensions would be a logical next step! Either way, Chrome for iOS gives me yet another reason to jailbreak my iPhone and iPad: to cull Safari out of default browser status, once and for all.
40Tech is pleased to offer a guest post by Carlina Yepinski
Even though rising industry costs are pushing tickets prices higher and higher, movies are still one of the cheapest forms of entertainment in America. There are tons of free apps that provide any kind of movie information you seek.
Whether you want to know what movies your favorite star is likely to appear in next or get recommendations on your next DVD rental, there’s an app for that. Here are a few free ones that will provide you with an instant movie fix on Android or iPhone.
IMDB – The Internet Movie Database app offers all the search features of the full site, including names, shows, movies, and even TV schedules. The front page displays two or three of the latest news stories and allows you to keep up with things you want to see with “Watchlist.”
Hitfix – This entertainment news site’s app offers the latest in movies, TV, music and sports as well as feature articles. You can view by category or date posted and can even check out local stories.
Movies by Flickster, With Rotten Tomatoes – Find movies near your current location, check our trailers and read reviews courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes before heading to the theater all in one app. You can even rate titles you’ve seen.
Fandango – As long as your theater uses Fandango for online ticketing, you can find show times and order tickets directly from your phone. Don’t forget to double check the theater’s official site to verify show times.
Get Glue – This social network app lets you share all of your entertainment interests with your friends. Check in to TV shows, movies, music, podcasts, books, even video games. For movie fans, in particular, you can get recommendations for what to watch next based on your likes.
Redbox – The Redbox company, famous for its $1 DVD rentals, now has an app that does for rentals what Fandango does for theatrical releases. The app searches for kiosks near you and lets you browse each kiosk’s inventory. While you cannot watch trailers, you can view ratings, runtimes, genres, cast and plot. Reserve the title you want on your phone to make the checkout process even quicker at the machine.
Carlina Yepinski is the primary researcher and writer for networkmonitoring.org. Her most recent accomplishments includes graduating from Kentucky State with a degree in communications and computer science. Her current focus for the site involves server monitoring tools and application monitoring.
One of the limitations of the iPad is that it normally can’t print to just any old printer. If you want to print from your iPad, you usually need an AirPrint compatible printer. If you’re like me, and bought your printer before Apple introduced AIrPrint, or if you just own a printer that isn’t AirPrint compatible, there is a way to print from your iPad to your current printer.
