Chris's blog

Oliver Drobnik has just pointed out via Twitter that the ring/vibrate toggle has been replaced on the iPad with a screen rotation lock switch. Many people had criticized the iPad for supporting rotation in all orientations when Jobs first demoed it in January. For example, the screen rotation lock will make it easy to read content while lying on your side in a sofa or on a bed without having it rotate to landscape mode.

How exactly Apple will be using their new data center in Maiden, North Carolina is still a speculation, but however it is, it's going to be big. The company is expected to roll out the 500,000 square foot, $1 billion facility later this year. Here's a aerial video courtesy of billwagenseller:

[via DataCenterKnowledge]

Remember the iControlPad? Yup, it was nearly two years ago (June, 2008), that the iControlPad project, a d-pad accessory for iPhone was started. After going through many iterations and overcoming various roadblocks, the product is now finally ready for mass production. While the final product is nothing close to what we initially conceived, we're just glad it is finally here!

Facebook Chat now supports the open Jabber/XMPP protocol that is supported by most IM Clients including iChat and Adium. Here is a quick step by step tutorial to get your Facebook Chat working in iChat.

Apple has put together this quick video to explain why you should move from iPhoto to Aperture. Are you sold?

Chillingo in collaboration with Traplight Games has sent over some info on their new side-scrolling adventure title, The Hero. While we didn't get any details about the storyline, we know the game surrounds the life of an unknown patient at a mental institution that has some cool superhero powers (If you don't believe me, read his Psychological Evaluation Report). It is a casual playing game with a killer soundtrack and lots of action! Check out the video below for a sneak peak at what gameplay will be like.

As soon as the iPad was announced, many people began to voice complaints/disappointments about the lack of features, and just like the first iPhone release, the usual suspects began prophesying that it will be a failure. However, Apple may have deliberately held back on announcing some new features because they will ultimately be major selling points for iPhone OS 4.0 this summer.

Features such as multitasking and advanced voice-over integration may still be in the works! Yesterdays announcement was mostly to show off new applications for the iPad, the new powerful hardware and provide developers with the fundamentals to build and start porting their applications to the iPad. When the iPad ships however, Apple is expected to announce iPhone OS 4.0 and provide developers with an advanced beta preview.

During Phil Schiller's demo of iWork for the iPad today, he explains that with the iPad you can create and save documents and easily sync/access them back up from your Mac. This is big. We have confirmed that Apple will indeed be allowing developers to include new file sharing capabilities within their apps. The first benefit is that they will be able to make files saved in their app accessible from inside other apps. Secondly, when the iPad is connected to your Mac, a "shared drive" will pop up in Finder in which users will be able to manually add and remove files. Files that are added to the folder will automatically be recognized from within the app when it is launched.

Hey guys,

I really liked the invitation Apple sent out for their media event tomorrow, so I made a quick wallpaper for my 15" MBP. When I have some time I will make a more detailed wallpaper and include multiple sizes. There are two wallpapers in the download - one with a white background and one which is clear (it will come out as a black background). Currently, there is only in one size 1440x900. For now enjoy.

Who knows, maybe I can use it as a wallpaper for the tablet ;)

Download Apple Canvas Wallpaper

EA has returned with a second and even more exciting iteration of their Spore Franchise for the iPhone called Spore Creatures. While Spore Origins was just a water based game, Spore Creatures has twenty levels spanning four zones with different climates. Here are the details: