Apple IPAD Owner's Thread

[rockymtnhigh]

After several years of complaining to our local Newspaper about getting an electronic version, they finally got an ipad app. It's in high resolution and has a few videos. They keep 30 days of papers in a library too. I'm impressed! Best of all it's FREE! at least for the time being.

I called last January to stop delivery of our paper for a Vacation Hold. I was assured this would be done but on the second day I saw two papers laying in our driveway using my security camera. I continued to call but they failed to put the paper on hold. I had to have my son-in-law go by the house and gather them up each day. Additionally, about once per week my wife has to call because the delivery fails so they get back here after she leaves to deliver the paper. I told my wife I'm going to cancel as soon as the subscription runs out. She was OK with that because she can buy the local paper at work and here, there is no discount for home delivery. In fact it cost a bit more. She reads the paper, I don't. I get the Wall Street Journal on my Ipad and also USA Today. Anyway the subscription ran out on April the 5th just before our last trip and it was so nice not having to worry about having papers pile up in our front lawn.

So this week I see we now have an ipad app for the paper and have loaded it on our ipads. She's not quite used to the electronic version yet but its saving us $$350 a year.

The ability to do search and occasional video makes it a bonus even if they start charging.

Our local paper is iPad- equipped, but the app is clunky. It works but not very appealing. But my wife still wants the print. I subscribe o the NY Times and the daily on my iPad. Don't read all of the daily, always ignore their op-eds but like the features, and the tech section. I devour the Times and read a lot more of it during the day compared to when I had a print subscription. Not cheap at $20/mo, but worth it.

Sent from my iPad using SatelliteGuys

 

[osu1991]

Our Newspaper, Tulsa World went from a free ipad/iphone android app to subscription versions just over a year ago. The app versions are now the same prices as a hard copy print subscription for home delivery. I find I consume a lot more news since getting tablets.

 

[harshness]

Our paper (Statesman Journal) is online version is going subscription next month as part of the paper delivery subscription. It is the only chance they will survive going forward. They promise that they're going to expand significantly (the Monday paper is only two sections of mostly syndicated content anymore).

 

[Neutron]

I don't even read the newspaper any more. Since the Dallas Morning News went to subscription for the majority of their content a few years ago I stopped reading it online as their subscription rates were expensive.

They were a good paper too....

 

[mike123abc]

My paper has a subscription for an online PDF version of the print one.

 

[Neutron]

Is it really that easy to convert PDF to book format for the iPad? My wife is trying to finish up a Ben Franklin autobiography for her final term paper and reading it on the Kindle really sucks for her.

 

[osu1991]

Download Calibre.
calibre - E-book management

It is free and convert the pdf to epub. I use it for converting my own pdf and mobi files to work on my iphone, ipad and android tablets

 

[mperdue]

You can just drop the PDF file into iTunes and read it with iBooks. After syncing the iPad to get the book loaded you can run iBooks, click on Collections and select PDFs from the list. Then you can select the PDF from the bookshelf. I do this with a lot of PDF files.

 

[osu1991]

I didn't think about just dropping it into iTunes for ibooks to read. That is the easiest way. I don't use the ipad as much as my other toys and have just got in the habit of converting everything to an epub.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

There are so many ways of getting a PDF into the iPad, its hard to narrow them down. iBooks is fine, but I prefer to be able to get them to the iPad without having to sync the device via iPad. I will use PDF Expert, or iAnnotate, or Dropbox, or GoodReader, or even the Mac to Kindle app on my mac. With the retina screen, reading PDFs on the iPad has never been better.

 

[dangue]

You can just drop the PDF file into iTunes and read it with iBooks. After syncing the iPad to get the book loaded you can run iBooks, click on Collections and select PDFs from the list. Then you can select the PDF from the bookshelf. I do this with a lot of PDF files.

Even easier: email to her iPad as an attachment. Then select the file in the email and open in iBooks. It'll save the PDF to your bookshelf. No need to sync to a computer to get it done.

 

[Neutron]

Is there any reason to sync the iPad with iTunes? We aren't going to have our music on it as our iPhones do that. We may put movies on it later. We did enable the iCloud for backup.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Is there any reason to sync the iPad with iTunes? We aren't going to have our music on it as our iPhones do that. We may put movies on it later. We did enable the iCloud for backup.

Its always good to have another backup. I backup to iClouds on a daily basis, but every once in a while I do a backup on iTunes. If you need to wipe and restore, its a heck of a lot faster.

 

[TheForce]

Had a rude warning today with my ipad3 and the Verizon LTE connection service. I got a warning that I had used 3/4 of my allotment. This really surprised me because I had only watched two SD videos about 4 minutes long and a 1 hour HD program from my sling box. The rest was only email and some forum contacts. I'm only 8 days into my billing cycle. So I log into my Verizon account and bring up the iPad data details and it seems I had used 1.1 GB at a time I wasn't even using the iPad. Here's the problem--
I had watched the sling box had program but when I completed it I exited from the app but never deleted it from the multitask bar. I didn't realize that it remained active in the background continuing to stream video even though the iPad had been shut off but not shut down ( holding the side off button down to really power down and end all activity). Or, delete the app in the multitask bar. I need to be very careful in the future to really end the iPads background running of any streaming activity.

At this point I only have 400 mb left for the next 22 days.

Another use is when I leave safari running in the background after I actually was viewing my video security cameras. It will continue to stream the video cams even with the browser off but still in the multitask bar.

Sent from my iPad3 using SatelliteGuys app

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Had a rude warning today with my ipad3 and the Verizon LTE connection service. I got a warning that I had used 3/4 of my allotment. This really surprised me because I had only watched two SD videos about 4 minutes long and a 1 hour HD program from my sling box. The rest was only email and some forum contacts. I'm only 8 days into my billing cycle. So I log into my Verizon account and bring up the iPad data details and it seems I had used 1.1 GB at a time I wasn't even using the iPad. Here's the problem--
I had watched the sling box had program but when I completed it I exited from the app but never deleted it from the multitask bar. I didn't realize that it remained active in the background continuing to stream video even though the iPad had been shut off but not shut down ( holding the side off button down to really power down and end all activity). Or, delete the app in the multitask bar. I need to be very careful in the future to really end the iPads background running of any streaming activity.

At this point I only have 400 mb left for the next 22 days.

Another use is when I leave safari running in the background after I actually was viewing my video security cameras. It will continue to stream the video cams even with the browser off but still in the multitask bar.

Sent from my iPad3 using SatelliteGuys app

That sucks, but good to know for those on LTE. I guess you'll be living the wi-fi life the next 22 days.

 

[Ilya]

To be safe, I keep wireless data turned off on my iPad and only turn it on when I am ready to use it.
However, it is surprising to me that the streaming app consumes the bandwidth when the iPad is off. I'll have to do some testing on my own to verify that.

 

[TheForce]

Heard a couple things today on the ipad-

China has now approved the ipad 3G connect for internet. Expects that in 2013 the ipad sales in China will exceed that of the US. I thought that was interesting but then its probably true because everyone in the US already owns an ipad. Only those who own a cheap imitation will be buying the real thing next year in the US.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Heard a couple things today on the ipad-

China has now approved the ipad 3G connect for internet. Expects that in 2013 the ipad sales in China will exceed that of the US. I thought that was interesting but then its probably true because everyone in the US already owns an ipad. Only those who own a cheap imitation will be buying the real thing next year in the US.

Don't be so sure about that. Apple may be popular but $630 (assuming cheapest model) is a major expense for about 90% of the people there. While I don't doubt they'll sell and Apple will make a decent chunk of change there, I expect you'll see a similar situation as what the Android phones are doing in the market.

 

[harshness]

Don't be so sure about that. Apple may be popular but $630 (assuming cheapest model) is a major expense for about 90% of the people there.

I'll bet they don't cost nearly that much in China.

China has developed quite a large class of people that can afford gizmos like these. Most of the proceeds from working is disposable income as the living expenses are relatively low.

 

[yourbeliefs]

I'll bet they don't cost nearly that much in China.

China has developed quite a large class of people that can afford gizmos like these. Most of the proceeds from working is disposable income as the living expenses are relatively low.

By cheapest model I meant the cheapest cellular model. I just checked the Chinese prices and they almost the same as America if you do a straight conversion. And while there is a decent class of people that can afford these there's a MUCH greater percentage that can't. Cost of living is low but so are wages and there is still a massive gap. Even if you discount the lower class, the middle class would still have some difficulties shelling out for Apple products. It's not like everything is 20% cheaper and everyone gets paid 20% less. Apple products are still considered luxury items and I think the majority of people will just settle for "close enough" (aka Android) as opposed to digging deep into their pockets for Apple. And honestly from what I've seen most people in China, if given the choice, seem to be much more gung ho for the iPhone than the iPad. I've had literally a dozen requests from my Chinese in laws for us to send them iPhones from America because they think they're cheaper here. And while technically they are, they're still more than they can afford or are willing to spend. In any case, time will tell.