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First of all, let me just state – I love my iPad! I use it more and more as a replacement for my Macbook Pro. My iMac works perfectly as a hub for all my electronic content and of course as a workstation for all my designwork, photo handeling and creative work. However, the iPad is truly the ultimate portable device. I use it when I hold keynote presentations, which I actually make on the iPad, with transitions, animations and simple but more-than-you-need effects.

I have a cousin who got his hands on an iPad as well, and we’ve been chatting a lot about different apps, and things we find useful, interesting or just fun. So based on our conversations, I asked him to set up a list of his top 5 apps for the iPad, and I must say – I agree with him, they are pretty good. Just take a look:

Wired Magazine

The media business has been struggling for some years with respect to falling income since most people these days read news for free online. The Wired Magazine app is a take to try and redefine the magazine for the digital age. The inclusion of multimedia (clips from Toy Story 3) audio connected to articles, together with a quick way to navigate inside the magazine, really gives it a unique and sexy experience. Viva la revoluzione!

Air Video

With this application you can enjoy your video collection anywhere. Air Video can stream almost any format to your iPad. In addition, you don’t need to copy your videos to the device, you can just convert them on-the-fly and watch them simultaneously. Air Video offers a bunch of features – folders sharing, live conversion, offline conversion, customization of conversion settings, zooming and cropping of video. It’s a must-have for all video enthusiasts!

Dropbox

Have you ever been in a situation where you needed to access some of your private or business documents on the go? Dropbox offers functionality to synchronize and share your files online and across computers. Now you can always access, for instance, your airplane tickets, CV, photos, and corporate presentations in just a few clicks. In a world full of content chaos, Dropbox is perhaps the best application to give you instant access to your favorite documents.

VNC Viewer

Have you ever been in a situation where you needed to access one of your computers, without actually being in the vicinity? With the VNC Viewer app for iPad, you can connect to a computer anywhere in the world, display its desktop, and take full control. It enables you to run applications, change settings, and access data exactly as you would be permitted to do if you were sitting in front of it, and using the keyboard or mouse.

Math Magic

I know that this iPad app is perhaps not the most people’s number one choice to download from the App Store. However, if you have kids that are 4 years or older, then this application may be just what you are looking for. Math Magic combines having fun and education at the same time, and can give your kids positive reinforcement to learn mathematics. All this for the price of one dollar.

(Bonus) The Cat in the Hat – Dr. Seuss

Children should be read to from a young age. This will help children to develop their vocabulary, become confident early readers, and encourage them to ask questions about what they heard. The Cat in the Hat app combines professional narration, interaction, background audio and enlarged artwork, and thereby provides a better reading experience for both young children and adults.

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Life is fast paced, being on the go always, and having tools that enable us to be productive and efficient is important. I am one of those who needs to keep track of things synchronized on mobile and my computer.   Good thing their is an iPhone application that has made this possible.

Simple Note is an application that enables you to replace the Notes on your iPhone or iPod Touch.  What it does is when you type in notes using your mobile device, it also automatically synchronize it on your computer, simple, fast and easy.  Here are its features:

• sync with a secure web app wirelessly and automatically
• create and edit notes without a net connection
• instantly search notes as you type
• add email, phone, and web links to your notes
• sort your list in a variety of ways
• customize the size of note previews
• type in portrait or landscape mode
• email notes from inside the app
• write text quickly using TextExpander snippets
• sync with desktop apps and other extras
• use optional premium features

You can download the app HERE.

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Google Goggles is a visual search app for Android phones. Instead of using words, take a picture of an object with your camera phone: we attempt to recognize the object, and return relevant search results. Goggles also provides information about businesses near you by displaying their names directly in the camera preview.

Google is tapping into the growing popularity of social networking by integrating tweets and Facebook updates into its search results, as it enables users to screen for the web’s freshest content.

The new feature, launched Monday, is called “real-time search” and allows results to be sorted by when they were posted online, which puts more emphasis on new content such as news articles, blog postings and Wikipedia updates.

Updates on social networking sites will only make their way into search results  if Facebook users, for example, have flagged their profiles as public, Google said  The search engine also made announcements about how it hopes to further entrench itself in the mobile search world with features that will do away with the need to type in a query.

A team of Canadian Google employees, out of the company’s Waterloo, Ont., office had a hand in creating the new Google Goggles feature, which allows users to take a photo with their mobile phone and use it as a search entry.

Google is also tailoring its search results on mobile phones to take into account where a user is located.

SOURCE

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Here is a brilliant way a designer has incorporated movement and expression with fashion.

Based on a window display he first presented in 2004, the japanese designer tokujin yoshioka has now restructured it using a Japanese actress currently being presented at Maison Hermès,   Japan. the installation will run from now until january 19th, 2010.

‘on designing a window-display of Maison Hermès, I intended to express people’s daily ‘movements’
with a suspicion of humor. there are moments when I perceive a hidden presence of a person in
the movements born naturally in daily life. I created a design where one can perceive someone
behind the scarves as if life were being breathed into them.
the window is designed with an image of woman projected on to a monitor. the scarf softly sways
in the air in response to the woman’s blow. ‘ – TY

SOURCE

Maison Hermès Window Display
Nov 19, 2009 ~ Jan 19, 2010
Maison Hermès (ginza5-4-1, chuo-ku, tokyo)

©Satoshi Asakawa / Courtesy of Hermès Ja

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A form of waterbed was invented in the early 1800s by the Scottish physician Neil Arnott. Dr Arnott’s Hydrostatic Bed was devised to prevent bedsores in invalids, and comprised a bath of water with a covering of rubber-impregnated canvas, on which lighter bedding was placed. Arnott did not patent it, permitting anyone to construct a bed to this design.  The modern waterbed was created by Charles Hall in 1968, while he was a design student at San Francisco State University in California. Fellow SFSU students Paul Heckel and Evan Fawkes also contributed to the concept. Hall originally wanted to make an innovative chair. His first prototype was a vinyl bag with 300 pounds (136 kg) of cornstarch, but the result was uncomfortable. He next attempted to fill it with Jell-O, but this too was a failure.

Water beds seem to have gone out of fashion and quickly as they came in. And yet, many of us still cling to the idea is something cool, unusual and unique. While traditional beds filled with water might not be as functional or comfortable as we had hoped, designers are still experimenting with the potential combinations of liquid volumes and relaxation objects in the home.

A water bed surrounded by a moat – what an interesting way to wake up in the morning. Still, it is certainly not something for sleep walkers. We like to relax in water though, right? So how about taking water and applying it to another piece of furniture … such as a couch? Probably a crazy idea, but it does get you thinking about the other strange and interesting ways we can mix water with furniture design.

SOURCE

Main Image Source

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The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck colloquially (informally) includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fictional spokespeople for consumer products, such as the rabbit used in advertising and marketing for the General Mills brand of breakfast cereal, Trix.

In the world of sports, team mascots are often confused with team nicknames While the two can be interchangeable, they are not always the same. For example, the athletic teams of the University of Tennessee are nicknamed the Volunteers, while their mascot is a dog named Smokey. Team mascots may take the form of a logo, person, live animal, inanimate object, or a costumed character, and often appear at team matches and other related events. Since the mid-20th century, costumed characters have provided teams with an opportunity to choose a fantasy creature as their mascot.

Found this cool Mascot routine and I hope it makes your day too.  Great way to entertain and give the audience something cool to watch.

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If Twitter asks “What is Happening? Sprouter asks What are you Working on? Here is a microblogging site for entrepreneurs. Sprouter facilitates networking and collaboration between entrepreneurs globally. Providing a platform for users to connect with other innovators, entrepreneurs can expand their networks as well as discover and join events in their local areas, start discussions and follow topics of relevance to their business.

The team at Sprouter happily dishes about new start-ups, great small business resources, must-attend events and of course, upcoming features for the Sprouter community. Looking for something you can’t find? Let them know and they will  see about adding it.  And if you check out their blog you will see that they even have Sprout Up.  Its an event where people in different fields come together and discuss business, start ups or just meet up.

You can sign up HERE.

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Creating awareness is one thing but engaging people is another.  Brands are getting more involved with making sure that they also speak with their consumers, not just create ads.  One good example is the IKEA Facebook Application.  The strategy here is quiet simple yet powerful. What better place to engage consumers? Do it where they are already involved and are a captive audience. FaceBook.

What they did was to create a profile page for Gordon Gustavsson, the Store Manager.  Then they uploaded 12 pictures of the showrooms then invited the people to tag the pictures with their names.  The person who tags an item first wins the furniture.  Very cool.  So many participated and the demand for more items grew.  Ikea’s brand was seen all over facebook, via links, newsfeed and people just sharing.

The promotion worked, because the idea was simply brilliant.  It was a win – win situation for both consumers and the brand.

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For those who make presentations during business meetings, I am sure most of you like me hate carrying the big bulky projection system.  But its a machine that we can’t do without, specially if you are speaking to large crowds.  Good thing a lot of designers and manufacturers think about these dilemma.

Here is a great piece of equipment.  Th HypnosEye Projector is one of the smartest little gadgets we’ve seen coming out of Japan in a long time. This one stands out from the recent wave of portable projectors in that it’s completely wireless, and doesn’t even require a power supply.  How does it work? It’s simple. The projector uses a lens and a mirror to reflect images from your mobile device which you insert in the tray underneath. HypnosEye works especially well with an iPhone or a Touch, but will also work with any other backlit mobile phone that allows you to adjust the brightness. But rather than use an ordinary mirror which would result in an unclear image, HypnosEye has implemented a special mirror with a reflection agent on top of the glass surface (rather than behind). As a result, you can show media from your portable device almost anywhere at anytime.

The HypnosEye Projector and Screen Set features:

• Portable wireless projector with screen and stand
• Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, mobile phones etc
• Projection distance: 0.5-2m
• Projection area: from 17-45″ (43-114cm)
• Projection focus is adjustable
• Material: Polycarbonate (screen) + ABS (stand)
• Screen size: 250 x 360 x 1mm (9.8 x 14.2 x 0.04″)
• Stand size: 70 x 40 x 25mm (2.8 x 1.6 x 1.0″)
• Weight: 80g (screen), 400g (projector and stand).
• Manual: Japanese

HypnosEye – A nifty little projector for iPhones, iPods etc. Example usage with the iPod

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TubeRadio.fm is a web application that looks & feels like a music player where users can quickly find, listen to, build, and share playlists of their favorite artists’ music. Since TubeRadio based on the music library of Youtbue, it makes it easy to find just about any songs you want – Millions of them.

What is Tuberadio fm? It’s the internet music video player. Think of it as iTunes meets YouTube meets Spotify. It’s absolutely free and there’s nothing to install.

Cool feature includes: Discography Search

The quickest way to find music videos by your favourite artist and add them to your playlist is to use the Discography Search.
Start by entering the artist name you want to search for into the search box and then click “Discography”. Click the albums to select the ones you would like to add. You can unselect an album by clicking it again. When you are happy with your selection, click “Add Albums to Playlist”.

Responsible for the site are Ben Osborne - Ben is a fervent late-night caffeine high enthusiast and is responsible for fiddling with the clicky bits in TubeRadio, which he co-founded. He also likes the lounge, which he sometimes visits after a long day of finger wiggling. Millions of brain cells gave their lives willingly during the making of TubeRadio. and Rogerio Mota - Rogerio is a proud carnivore who feels like something’s been left out when he buys something that’s ‘suitable for vegetarians’ like orange juice. Whatever your take on food, no pixels were harmed in the making of this website, which he co-founded, and does all the visual feng shui.