iPad App Brings Graffiti Culture to the Digital Realm [VIDEO]

Graffiti wasn’t always recognized as an art form, nor were its practitioners recognized as artists. What once began as a criminalized and illicit activity is now gaining traction as an art form, and with that comes the inevitable shift to the virtual realm.

Graffiti artist Phetus recently created a spray can app for the iPad, which went on to garner over a million downloads in less than a month, and hit number one in the “entertainment” category on iTunes in numerous countries.

What is it about graffiti that’s causing a buzz in the virtual realm? Is it safer to do it online? Has it become more acceptable if it isn’t in your face?

Tell us what you think.

Pair Arrested for Trying to Trade iPod Touch and Marijuana for iPad on Craigslist

Earlier this week, police arrested two men in Arizona for attempting to trade a third generation iPod touch and about seven grams worth of marijuana for a 32G iPad via an ad on Craiglist, a local ABC station reports.

After receiving a tip about the ad, which included photos of both the iPod touch and marijuana (see below), police officers sent an e-mail purporting to be interested in the exchange. When the police met up under the pretense of completing the trade, 20-year-olds Jacob Walker and Jacob Veldare were instead arrested when Walker offered up the marijuana. Both now face charges for possession and the attempted sale of an illegal substance.

Not only were the two unwise enough to post pictures of marijuana on Craiglist, but they were also gullible enough to believe that anyone would trade a 32G iPad, which costs $599 for the Wi-Fi version and $729.00 for the 3G version, for a $299 32G iPod touch and a quarter ounce of marijuana of dubious quality.

Apple’s iOS 4: Here’s What’s New

One of the most exciting announcements from WWDC today was iOS 4, the iPhone’s new operating system.

The OS, which contains around 100 new and upgraded features, will be rolled out with the new iPhone 4 next month, and it will also be available as a free software update on earlier devices, including the iPad, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and second and third generation iPod touch with 32GB or 64GB storage.

In his keynote address, Steve Jobs chose to highlight a select few of the iOS’s new features, including multitasking, iBooks, advertising and file management. But there wasn’t enough time to cover all the upgrades and improvements. Some of iOS 4’s features that slipped under the radar include app gifting, wireless keyboard support and many others.

We first learned about iOS 4 back in April. At that point, we knew multitasking would be coming to the iPhone “in a way that doesn’t hinder performance or battery life.” Today, Jobs confirmed and demonstrated services such as Pandora (Pandora) and navigation running in the background while other apps were also running in the foreground.



Two other hotly anticipated upgrades for iOS 4 are the Mail app’s major facelift and the all-new app organization functionality.



Now, users can organize their iPhone apps into separate folders for better organization and easy access. iOS 4 will be able to manage up to 2160 applications on a device. Folders will feature the familiar drag-and-drop functionality that Apple device users know and love.

Email on the iPhone is also getting a major overhaul in iOS 4. You’ll be able to view messages from all your accounts in a single, integrated inbox. Messages will be threaded, and you’ll be able to open attachments using third-party apps, as well.

Apple made some significant announcements for multimedia functionality, too. iOS 4 will support custom playlist creation for iTunes, tap-to-focus video, 5x zoom for camera functions, and a Photos feature called “Faces and Places,” which allows users to sort and view photos based on where they were taken and who appears in them.

Finally, applications can now be gifted to friends and family, the background wallpaper on your home screen can be easily changed, a spell-checker has been built into Mail and other apps, and Bluetooth (Bluetooth)-enabled wireless keyboards will now play nicely with the operating system.

Apple’s New Direction: Will the Tablet Replace the PC?

Yesterday at the D8 conference in Los Angeles, Steve Jobs laid out his vision of what’s to come. While Apple’s CEO went in-depth on a plethora of interesting subjects (e.g. Adobe Flash, the lost iPhone, iAds), he spent much of the stage time talking about the future of computing, specifically the PC.

Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg of AllThingsD asked Jobs whether the tablet is going to replace the laptop. Jobs’s response was an analogy:

“When we were an agrarian nation, all cars were trucks. But as people moved more towards urban centers, people started to get into cars. I think PCs are going to be like trucks. Less people will need them. And this is going to make some people uneasy.”

That short exchange says a lot about the direction Apple could take computing over the next decade. Apple still sells the Mac and the Macbook, and while the term “PC” is now synonymous with WindowsWindowsWindows machines, the meaning of PC — personal computer — can also apply to the Mac and Macbook.

Was Apple’s CEO referring to not only Windows PCs, but Macs as well? It’s tough to say for certain, but I think it’s very likely. Jobs clearly thinks PCs are on the way out, in favor of the more portable, less complex tablet and mobile form factors. His iPad has already validated the market for tablets, and we expect many more tablets to enter the market over the next few years.

Apple lost the PC market to Microsoft years ago. If Jobs has his way though, that won’t matter — the market will shift towards mobile computing devices like the iPhone and the iPad, both of which Apple has complete control over. The tech titan doesn’t have full control over the Mac OS or its desktop, which must be frustrating to a man who relishes control.


Will the tablet replace the PC? Not in the next decade, at least. Hell, the Windows XP operating system is still the world’s most popular OS. It takes time for disruptive technologies to take hold.

For now, the tablet will be a complementary device to the PC. The PC has had far more time to be fleshed out and performs countless tasks faster and better than the iPad or any other tablet device on the market. In a decade though, we may be singing a different tune.

Apple Shows Us What HTML5 Can Do

Apple is one of the biggest supporters of HTML5, and Steve Jobs clearly states he thinks this new web standard is the future of the web. To show what, exactly, it means by that, Apple launched a HTML5 showcase, displaying what a HTML5-capable browser can do without the need to install any additional plugins.

In typical Apple style, the showcase consists of simple, elegant, and yet quite impressive demos of this technology. In one demo, you can type in some text, quickly change the font, its size and transparency, rotate it or add a shadow effect. Another lets you browse through a horizontal, vertical or grid-shaped gallery of images, while a particularly impressive demo lets you spin a 3D object by clicking and dragging.

Apple’s message is clear: HTML5 is mature enough for wide adoption, and sites which require add-ons to display content are a thing of the past. The text on the site states: “Standards aren’t add-ons to the web. They are the web.” Yes, you can definitely cover a lot of ground that used to belong to Flash with HTML5. What Apple doesn’t tell us is that one could create a similar showcase in Flash with far more advanced effects, which are way out of reach of HTML5 and CSS3.

To try out any of the demos you’ll need to download the latest version of Safari.

Amazon to Launch Thinner, Sharper Kindle to Compete with iPad

Facing increasing pressure from Apple’s red-hot iPad, Amazon intends to fight back with a thinner, sharper and more responsive Kindle that will be introduced later this year.

According to Bloomberg, Amazon will introduce a new version of its popular e-reader in August. It will boast a thinner build, sharper contrast, and faster page-turning. However, it will not be a touchscreen device, nor will it boast color.

Apple is gunning directly for Amazon’s e-book business with its iBooks store, which publishers have embraced as an alternative to Amazon’s long-standing dominance in the e-book space.

The iPad’s multitude of uses and starting price point of $499 are a threat to the Kindle, although the iPad’s LED screen isn’t as well suited as the Kindle for extended reading. The Kindle utilizes black-and-white e-ink technology to make reading on the device less strenuous on the eyes.

While the upgrade should help Kindle stay relevant, we’re likely to see color and a touchscreen on Amazon’s e-reader device at some point. In February, the company acquired Touchco, a startup specializing in color touchscreen technology. It’s going to be some time though until Amazon is satisfied with a touchscreen interface that is also easy on the eyes.

GQ’s Men of the Year Issue on iPad: 365 Copies Sold

GQ, one of the first magazine titles to appear on the iPad, has sold 365 copies of its December 2009 Men of the Year issue, according to publisher Pete Hunsinger.

The issue was priced at $2.99 per download — $2 less than the newsstand price — for a grand total of $1,091.35 in sales. Somewhat surprisingly, GQ appears to be pleased with this figure.

“This costs us nothing extra: no printing or postage,” says Hunsinger. “Everything is profit, and I look forward to the time when iPad issue sales become a major component to our circulation.”

It seems developer fees did not enter into his cost calculations.

On the bright side, sales for the iPhone and iPod touch version is steadily increasing, according to the iTunes store [iTunes link]. GQ’s latest May 2010 issue for the iPhone and iPod touch is the best-selling in the store right now, suggesting that the magazine is developing a solid base of repeat buyers.

It’s hard to put these numbers in context, as little data about iPad app sales has been released thus far. A month ago, ABC announced that its app has been downloaded more than 200,000 times, and earlier this month Rupert Murdoch revealed that the WSJ app has roughly 64,000 subscribers. Both of these apps, however, are free.

Although we need more data to make an accurate assessment, one thing seems certain — the iPad is not the savior certain major publishers had hoped it would be — at least not yet. Nevertheless, it may yet prove a profitable distribution platform for magazines in addition to other platforms, like Facebook.

Publisher Condé Nast is forging ahead with the development of iPad versions of its other popular titles. Vanity Fair appeared in the iTunes catalog this week, and WIRED is slated to launch this summer.