It is no secret that the next generation iPad is coming next month. Not everyone is going to pick up an iPad 3 when it hits the market. Some Apple fans have been waiting a long time for iPad 2 prices to drop. The rumors we have heard suggest Apple will start offering older iPads at a significant discount once the iPad 3 is launched. But you don’t have to wait that long to get iPads for cheaper. Meijer, a regional retailer in the U.S., has slashed the in-store price of the 16 GB iPad 2 by $70. The deal will be available for the week of February 12-18.

Credit: Apple Insider

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We have heard for quite some time about Apple’s plans to bring iOS apps to Apple TV. Optimizing existing iOS apps for Apple TV could take some work. But so far, Apple has not even started accepting third-party apps for this device. Steve Troughton-Smith has developed a hack that lets the Apple TV run popular iPhone and iPad applications on big screen TVs at 720p resolution. Not surprisingly, you are going to have to jailbreak your device to take advantage of such a hack.

Most Apple TV owners are familiar with AirPlay technology. It is what you need to stream content from your iOS device to your Apple TV box. But the technology does have some limits. Troughton-Smith used Seas0nPass jailbreak and MobileX to create a window manager that replaces Springboard and lets Apple TV run iPhone and iPad apps. Of course, you can’t control Apple TV apps with your fingers. You are going to need your Apple remote to do the job. Read the rest of this entry »

We first heard rumors of Apple making TVs a couple of years ago. It has been one of those projects we all have wanted Apple to take on for a while. For one reason or another, the company has not done that yet. But as Steve Jobs’ biography suggests, Apple may have cracked the code in that regard:

I’d like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use. It would be seamlessly synched with all of your devices and with iCloud. It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it. Read the rest of this entry »

Many Apple fans purchase their products right from Apple. Having the option to purchase them from Amazon would not be too terrible. Amazon has just started shipping Apple TV units. Amazon Prime members can get their hands on this tiny device in as fast as 1 day. It took Amazon a while to ship new iPod Touch (Amazon fans had to wait a while for it to carry the iPad). The wait time has not been that long for Apple TV. Amazon currently ships it much faster than Apple (Apple takes as much as 2 weeks at this point).

Those of you who have tried iPhone battery extenders in the past know how useful these accessories can be. It seems the iPad will be getting its own battery extenders. Kensington PowerBack Battery Case for iPad is a hybrid accessory that can act as a case, stand, and battery extender for iPad. It can not only keep your device safe against scratches and bumps but also adds up to 5 hours of battery life to your device (has a 4400mAh internal battery). It has just started shipping.

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Apple TV is already a pretty hot device, especially among those who want to have more control on the content that shows up on their TV. Can you imagine how popular it can get if Apple allows apps on it. As Forbes reported earlier this week, a teardown of Apple TV has revealed that it is more than capable of running the apps we have come to love:

It’s going to happen — everything is there technologically to make it possible… We’re still in the early phaes of apple evangelizing the iPad, perhaps it makes sense for Apple to delay for focus purposes,

says Small Society’s president Raven Zachary. Apple TV has enough space (8 GB flash memory) for apps to be installed. If we have learned anything from Apple, Apple TV models with more generous levels of memory will make their way to the market next year. It has 256 MB of RAM too. That’s more than enough to run apps. Apple does have some challenges if it intends to bring apps to its TV box. It is a big jump going from iPhone to Apple TV when it comes to apps. This will most likely take a bit of time for Apple to pull off.

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