Instead of simply scaling up the existing iPhone app, the folks from Panelfly put their heads together with the  dev team and brainstormed. With all the talk of the iPad and how it could restore comic books to their former glory, they realized that they needed to revamp the app and make a version specifically for the iPad. This way they could take full advantage of the device’s screen size and provide a new way of purchasing and interacting with the content.

For the full story and more screenshots, check out the story on Gizmodo.

The band’s self-titled debut album, was released on February 2, 2010. Richard Christy does some great drumming on this album. Some of the stand-out tracks include “Ghost Town”, “Blood on Wood” and “Voices Within the Walls”

For more information visit their MySpace, Metal Blade Records or Richard Christy’s official website.

There’s no lack of Apple iPad related news. It’s only been a week since it’s was announced, and there’s no lack of speculation, rumors and news.

• Major Textbook and educational publishing companies have all made deals with the ScrollMotion to develop textbook apps and test-prep / study guide apps for the Apple iPad.  [Source: Wall Street Journal]
  
• Rupert Murdoch says “We don’t like the Amazon model of $9.99… we think it really devalues books and hurts all the retailers of hardcover books.” He prefers Apple’s new pricing flexibility for it’s upcoming iBook store. Expect all the “big six” publishers prices to soon follow suite. [Source: AllThingsDigital]
  
• Apple’s iPad May Gain an Intelligent Bezel in the Future. Today, the US Patent and Trademark Office officially published two major granted patents of Apple’s covering tablets and advanced touch technologies.  [Source: PatentlyApple]
  
• iPad was (maybe) supposed to contain a camera? [Source: Gizmodo]
• iPad apps to cost more than iPhone apps.  [Source: TechRadar]

The Lost 2-hour season premier of the final season kicks off tonight. The show notorious for raising a handful of questions for every 1 question it answers is back to finally wrap-up everything into one neat little package? Right? I hope so. I can’t count the amount of times I’ve yelled out “WHAT?” at the end an episode. I realize it’s just a TV show but there are so many loose ends that need to be wrapped up that I’m almost watching in disbelief that it’s possible to make sense of it all. What is all that crazy jungle whispering? How did John Locke come back to life? What’s up with Walt’s have special powers?  Why does Hurley see dead people? How does Hurley remain to be 300lbs on an island with limited food resources? Where is Claire? How is the island connected to Egyptian mythology? … I could do this all day.

The producers have said they plan to wrap up long-standing mysteries, such as the nature of the smoke monster, the four-toed statue of Taweret, the identity of the Adam & Eve skeletons from the season one episode “House of the Rising Sun”, and the reason the Dharma periodic resupply drops continue after the purge. Let’s hope they don’t disappoint.

It’s only been a few days since Steve Jobs came out and announced the details for the much hyped Apple tablet — which we now know has been officially titled the iPad. Rumored for years to be a revolutionary multi-touch tablet PC with an equally revolutionary operating system. Let’s just say, the actual product was far less impressive than the rumors. The overwhelming response amongst fans and the media are disappointment and scepticism. The most common complaints are “This is just an oversized iPod Touch”, no flash support, no camera, no multitasking, no USB ports, some have even called it lazy engineering on part of Apple.

The naysayers are right in many ways — the iPad is running on a modified version of the iPhone OS on a much larger screen.  But let’s be honest, how often do expectations meet reality? Not very often. People just want to be wowed. And I can’t blame them; it’s easier to criticize than to innovate. But let’s not forget, even the original iPod was criticized by some as overpriced and unimpressive when it was announced. The reality is this is still an impressive product with a very large customer appeal. I’ll tell you why — I personally know alot of people who are technologically inept. They hate computers and complicated technology BUT, almost ALL of them eventually purchased either an iPhone or an iPod Touch. Why? It’s user-friendly technology. From launching programs, to purchasing apps, games, music and videos — it’s all simple. People love simple, alot of technology is driven by the desire to simplify everyday actions.

So is the idea of a larger iPod touch really all that ridiculous? Games, movies and applications all look better on a larger screen. Internally the iPad has much more powerful hardware in comparison to the iPhone/iPod Touch — applications and games now have a greater potential on this new device. Apple has dismissed books and e-readers in the past. In 2008 Steve Jobs even went as far as to say “People don’t read anymore” . Amazon and its successful e-reader device The Kindle have forced Steve to eat his words. One of the impressive features of the iPad is the new iBook store and electronic book reading software. Apple has made deals with almost all the major publishers to bring their books to the iPad. Many major newspapers, magazines and even school textbooks are also rumored to be coming the way of the iPad. Like many iPhone users I have tried reading large articles and books the tiny screen.. It’s not easy. The screen is simply too small. Twitter, RSS and iPhone optimized websites make it bearable.. but long form text on such a small device was not meant to be.  The ipad solves this problem.

Now let’s go back and touch on some of those other criticism. We’ll start with the lack of flash support — there are a few reasons it’s missing. The problem is flash is a bit of a resource hog and can be very unstable. Apple doesn’t want to use a technology that will potentially drain your battery and crash your internet browser on their device. Steve Jobs was recently quoted saying “Apple does not support Flash because it is so buggy.  Whenever a Mac crashes more often than not it’s because of Flash. No one will be using Flash, he says. The world is moving to HTML5.” iTunes is also in the business of videos and games (flash’s main uses) — so I’m sure Apple isn’t happy about giving you access to free flash content over selling it to you and turning a profit.

The lack of Multitasking hasn’t really hurt the iPhone and ipod touch sales. So what incentive does Apple have for implementing it? It is also too early to dismiss the possibility of multitasking in future OS updates. Their next OS update for the iPhone, iPod Touch and undoubtedly the iPad (as it runs virtually the same OS) is due out soon (probably March). This will line up pretty nicely with the launch date of the iPad. Perhaps there is a laundry list of new features for the iPad that were not demonstrated during its announcement because the same features are slated to be on the iPhone/iPod Touch update.

The iPad also capable of running the some 133,000 apps available in the iTunes App store. Sure some of the apps look silly on upscaled on such a large screen (alternatively, you can use them within a window) — but some look very good. This backwards compatibility and interface will be familiar and comforting to existing iPhone and iPod touch users, and those who aren’t familiar will be using an interface already adored by many.

I’m not an Apple fanboy, I don’t own stock in the company and the only Apple product I own is an iPhone 3GS — so I have no dog in this fight but I have a hard time seeing the iPad  failing. Will it be as widely adopted and famous as the iPod or iPhone? Doubtful — atleast not as the iPad is now. The iPad still has alot of room to grow, I think as it stands now it will be a great device for media consumers who want a simple UI. I think Apple has some tricks up it’s sleeve. We’ll have to wait until the product launches to see.

Well it’s finally out! The new Microsoft OS — Windows 7, or as the critics would call it  “the what Vista should have been” OS. I never really understood all the Vista bashing that went on. Although I was not an early adopter of Vista, I did install it and had been running it (after the first major service pack) for about a year and I found it to be a perfectly stable OS. However, I have been running Windows 7 beta for a few months now and have found it to be great product. Again, with any new OS you probably don’t want to install it on older hardware — older hardware seems to operate smoother with an OS of the same era.

So here’s a quick roundup of some great Windows 7 Related articles & Reviews to celebrate the launch.

7 Reasons To Get Windows 7 Today (and 6 Reasons Not To) – Extreme Tech

Microsoft launches Windows 7, eyes PC sales rebound – Reuters

What you need to know about Windows 7 – MSNBC

TR’s Windows 7 system guide -  Tech Report

Reviews:

Here’s a huge round-up of Windows 7 Reviews that should give every type of perspective review.

CNET
Windows 7 Home Premium | Windows 7 Professional | Windows 7 Ultimate

Various Sites:
PC World | NYTimes | IT Pro | bit-tech | Guardian | Slate | Maximum PC | Tech Radar | PC Mag | Wall Street Journal | ElectricPig | Engadget | Telegraph |
Hexus | Digital Trends | AP | V3 | Federal Computer Week | PC Pro UK | Technodorm | Laptop Mag | Cult of Mac | The Inquirer | Computer World | TechWorld |

Gizmodo
“…if you’re coming from Windows XP, Windows 7 will totally feel like a revelation from the glossy future. If you’re coming from Vista, you’ll definitely go “Hey, this is much better!” the first time you touch Aero Peek. If you’re coming from a Mac, you’ll—hahahahaha. But seriously, even the Mactards will have to tone down their nasal David Spadian snide, at least a little bit.”

The Blu-ray release for the week of October 20th, 2009 include: 100 Feet (2008), Adoration (2008), Objectified (2009), The Crew (2008), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Two-Disc Special Edition) (2009), UFC 100: Making History, Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead (2009), Blood: The Last Vampire (2000), Escaflowne (2000), Freedomland (2006), Monsoon Wedding (2001), and Waterworld (1995)

What do you get when you put Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, David Zayas, Giselle Itié, Terry Crews, Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger in a film together? Exactly what you’d expect — a huge budget, lots of explosions, non-stop fighting and mostly mediocre acting talent. All the ingrediants for a great cheesey, mindless action film.

It’s called The Expendables. It’s about a team of the world’s most dangerous and highly-trained mercenaries who go on a mission to South America to overthrow and assassinate a powerful, evil dictator and his army, who has been causing devastation, chaos and torture for the last twenty years.

Check out the new trailer:

Were you pissed off when it was announced the new iPod Nanos have a FM radio feature implemented — meanwhile your expensive iPhone or iPod touch didn’t have this simple feature? We don’t normally report on rumors — however, there is a pretty solid rumor that an iPhone radio.app is being developed in-house by Apple for use on the iPhone and iPod touch. From what we’ve heard, the app will be allowed to operate in the background like iPod.app and will offer the same functionality as the FM radio in the new iPod Nanos.  The source mentioned that this application could also be incorporated into the iPod.app before release.

The holdup on this app is that Apple is trying to integrate the Mobile iTunes Store purchases into the functionality of the program.  For instance, if you like a song you are listening to on the radio (and that station supports tagging and you are in the US), you will be able to push a button and see the song (and all of the information around it) in the iTunes Mobile store.  With another click, you’ll be able to make a purchase.  This is an extension of the Song Tagging feature used in the iPod Nanos.  Perhaps they could even add some Shazam-esque technology to help with those stations that don’t support tagging.

Though it wasn’t specified, the app will likely have the same Live Pause functionality that the Nanos currently enjoy.

Apple’s iPods and iPhones have been able to receive FM radio signals for some time now.  The latest generation of iPhone and iPod touch can even broadcast FM signal, for instance to a car stereo.  The ability of the iPhone and iPod touch to receive FM signals has been used solely in the implementation of the Nike+ ecosystem to this point.

This wouldn’t be the first time Apple awoke sleeping hardware functionality from its mobile products.  Apple sometimes chooses to leave hardware features dormant in their products until they feel the time is right.  For instance, Apple didn’t enable Bluetooth in its 2nd generation iPod touch until 9 months after it was released.  Apple also hasn’t enabled the 802.11N +5GHZ wireless networking (which we also hope to see updated shortly) in its latest iPhone and iPods.

Only time will tell — but this sounds like good news for iPhone and iPod Touch users.

The Blu-ray release for the week of October 13th, 2009 include: Adoration (2008), Drag Me to Hell (2009), Land of the Lost (2009), Midnight Movie (2008), Easy Rider (1969), Hardware (1990), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), Natural Born Killers [Unrated Director's Cut] (1994), South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut (1999), and The Craft (1996)