Total iPad

Doodle Jump HD is an iPad only game. It is a terrific and highly addictive game with super easy controls that will keep you jumping all day and all night long. Doodle Jump is one of the all-time best selling games on the iOS platform. Doodle Jump HD is the iPad only version and it is optimized for the iPad screen size. Doodle Jump HD was updated about a week ago and brought the highly popular 'Ninja Theme' to the iPad gameplay. The game play is fairly simple, you can tap on the screen to shoot upward at monsters who are trying to block your path. To move you simply tilt the iPad to the left or right to move to the left or right side of the screen, tilt in the direction you want to move. That is it, this is the type of game play I love on the iPad because it utilizes the gyroscope and the device’s accelerometer to make gameplay much more enjoyable than actual on-screen controls. Doodle Jump also features some social integration, you can Tweet your high scores or post them to your Facebook wall. I just got up to 21,629 in #DoodleJump for iPad!!! Beat that! bit.ly/nE5Nn0 twitter.com/iCrizzo/status… — christopher rizzo (@iCrizzo) October 3, 2012   Doodle Jump also features a few In-App Purchases for coins that can be used for power-ups or additional outfits. The IAP are not needed to enjoy the game and you can gather coins in the game that will allow you to purchase the same items at no additional cost. What are you waiting for? Go buy it. Now. You can thank me later. You can purchase Doodle Jump HD in the App Store for only $2.99: Doodle Jump HD - Lima Sky LINKS: Lima Sky Website Follow Doodle Jump on Twitter Become a Doodle Jump fan on Facebook

A quick demo of Bad Piggies HD for iPad. Bad Piggies HD is from Rovio the fine folks behind the awesome Angry Birds franchise. The game play is different then Angry Birds but the concept is the same. It is still physics based game but you control the bad piggies instead of the angry birds. You do not flick them the piggies you build wooden carts to try to get over obstacles to collect map pieces that are scattered over the island. If you enjoy Angry Birds you will enjoy Bad Piggies because it is a more challenging game but just as much fun. Bad Piggies HD for iPad is only $2.99: http://j.mp/R0zFvA Bad Piggies for iPhone is only $0.99: http://j.mp/R0zHDS Bad Piggies is also available on the Mac for only $4.99: http://j.mp/R0zJLU

Jasmine is an awesome YouTube client application with a clean interface and fully functional YouTube experience for the iPad and iPhone. You can log in with your YouTube credentials and comment, save to favorites, subscribe to YouTubers, much more. Jasmine also features 2 themes: Night and Day. You also have some spam prevention tools built right into the application. This application is free, no advertising, to support the application you can use the In-App purchase to send the developer only a $1.99 for further development and it will also unlock some parental control features within the application. Jasmine is a free download, you can download it from the App Store: Jasmine - YouTube Client - Morrissey Exchange Pty Ltd

Tap tap tap released their popular iPhone application on the iPad. The iPad version is a separate application so you will have to purchase it again for your iPad if you already own the iPhone version. It is a terrific application and my favorite camera app on my iPhone. They have added a new "Lightbox iCloud sync" feature which will sync your iPhone photos to your iPad or vice versa. They have also added some new features to the iPhone version of Camera+, if you do not own Camera+ you should buy it now for both your iPad and your iPhone. We partnered with professional photographer Lisa Bettany to bring you a slew of stunningly beautiful effects. With a single tap, you can transform a lifeless pic into a work of art. Make your photos shimmer with “HDR”… get down and dirty with “Grunge”… fill your pics with emotion and despair with “So Emo”. There are dozens of 1-touch effects for you to experiment with so that you can get the perfect result every time. Camera+ for iPad is available in the App Store for only $0.99: Camera+ for iPad - tap tap tap Camera+ for iPhone is available in the App Store for only $0.99: Camera+ - tap tap tap

Today I am reviewing an awesome iPad sleeve called the Aerosphere made by an Australian company named Cygnett. The Aerosphere is a unique iPad sleeve with rubbery bubbles on the outside and faux fur on the inside. With most sleeves you cannot use the iPad while it is in the sleeve, you do not have this problem with the Aerosphere. The Aerosphere features double zippers and will unzip allowing the sleeve to be folded open like a book exposing the iPad stored safely inside. The outside of the case is a rubber foam material which is known as EVA it features raised bubbles that will help absorb impact. This will help keep your iPad safe from damage all the while featuring a unique look to it. I have a solid black sleeve for review but a quick trip to the Cygnett website shows that they also offer different colors for this particular model. The interior of the case is lined with super-soft fleece material or as Cygnett refers to it “a silky soft layer of plush faux fur”. The design of the Aerosphere is very unique and the bubbles not only look great but do a terrific job of protecting your iPad. The raised bubbles will protect your iPad from bumps to the case. I feel confident the bubbles with absorb most of the shock if it were to take a moderate blow. I love the fact that I can use this sleeve in what I like to refer to as ‘book mode,' I can open the sleeve leaving the iPad intact and use my iPad. Also when I fold the front of the sleeve back it elevates the iPad a couple of inches and feels more comfortable to type on the soft keys of the iPad. The iPad fits nicely into the sleeve but the elastic bands are not very tight around the iPad. This is not a huge downside but you will want to be extra careful with lifting the case with the iPad inside. The Aerosphere will easily fold in half and will allow you to use your iPad while it remains in the sleeve. When the iPad is sealed in the Aerosphere it does not add much weight to the actual iPad. Nor does it add much bulk, it is about the height of 2 iPad’s stacked on top of each other. Pros: You can use the iPad while it is in the sleeve The bubbles on the outside will protect the iPad Sleeve fully unzips Cons: The elastic bands are not strong Final Thoughts This is a really nice iPad sleeve and I love the look of the bubbles. It is a well made iPad sleeve and I would have no problem recommending it to anyone. The retail price of the Aerosphere is only $24.99 and easily worth every penny to protect your iPad while it looks good in the process. Links: Purchase the Aerosphere Cygnett website Cygnett on YouTube Cygnett on Twitter Cygnett on Facebook

This week we discuss how Apple created a huge market for tablets, Duke basketball using iPad’s, the total non-issue of iOS 6 maps and shared Photo Stream. Show Notes: Creating a tablet market Duke Basketball using iPad’s Google+ Post about Maps Bad Google Maps directions Report iOS 6 Maps problems Shared Photo Stream Assistive Touch and Guided Access App Review: Wipeout Product Review: Cygnett Aerosphere iPad Sleeve Cygnett Website You can follow Total iPad on Twitter.

With iOS 6 Apple introduced a new feature that not only works well in OS X but also terrific in iOS for the iPad and iPhone. On the iPad side of things shared Photo Stream works great in the Photos app that comes preinstalled on the iPad. Shared Photo Stream is a great way to share your photos with a private album for your family and friends. If you don’t want a private album you can also create a web album for public sharing, just remember it is public and anybody with the link can view the photos if you set it up as public. Setting up a shared Photo Stream on the iPad is very easy to do. Oddly though you can only use the Photos app to actually create a new Photo Stream album. For some odd reason Apple decided not to add the functionality to iPhoto on the iPad which leaves me totally baffled. I can use iPhoto on the iPad to view my albums, I can also edit the photos in the album but I cannot add anything to the album from the app nor can I create a new shared Photo Stream album. I am not sure why Apple would cripple their most powerful photo app on the iPad? To add insult to injury you can actually create albums to share to Facebook and Flickr which really leaves me more baffled. Not sure what Apple is aiming to accomplish here but it is a head scratcher. To set up a new shared album to share you will need to do the following: Open the Photos app In Photos view, tap the edit button on the top right Tap on each photo, you will see a blue checkmark appear on your photos After selecting each photo, tap the Share button on the top left Choose Photo stream Choose New Photo Stream Name your Photo Stream, Add email recipients, choose Public or not Tap Next Type a comment for your Photo Stream if you like, if not tap Post on the top right That is it, you have now created a shared Photo Stream that is either available publicly or if private to those you have invited to view the photos. If you invite someone who is on iOS or OS X they will get a notification on their iPad, iPhone or Mac if they are using the latest versions of the OS (iOS 6 and Mountain Lion). Also others can leave comments or ‘Like’ the photo by tapping the smiley face icon. Another cool aspect for OS X users is the fact that if you are using Photo Stream with either Aperture or iPhoto the updates to the albums shared by others happen seamlessly. You will get a nice notification in Mountain Lion that will open up either Aperture or iPhoto depending what you are using for Photo Stream. You can easily add new photos in the application to your own Photo Stream album. A few downsides to Photo Stream are the fact you cannot add your own photos to a Photo Stream created by someone else. I am sure that feature will be added in the near future. As well as the ability to use iPhoto on the iPad and iPhone to create Photo Streams. Shared Photo Streams that are set to private can only be viewed in apps that have access to iCloud such as Photos app or iPhoto, private Photo Streams do not work on iCloud.com, they will also show up in Aperture or iPhoto on OS X depending which app you are using for Photo Stream. This is probably my favorite feature of iOS 6 and I am glad to have something to finally replace my MobileMe Gallery. Check out my public Total iPad Photo Stream. Have you tried shared Photo Stream? Do you plan on using shared Photo Stream? If so please let me know via Twitter. For more information about Photo Stream please visit Apple.com.

Wipeout by Activision is a terrific universal iOS game for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. It is based on the hit ABC television series, Wipeout. Wipeout is an obstacle course themed, time trial based, action game. Wipeout is highly addictive and rather nerve-racking at the same time. The obstacle courses presents an extremely tough challenge when racing against the clock, especially those pesky Big Balls. That is the addictive part, even though I wanted to smash my iPad into 20 pieces, I also wanted to keep trying to get past each level as they are very challenging. Gameplay Wipeout is similar to Pitfall, another Activision title that also appears on iOS devices. In Pitfall, the game moves forward for you, but in Wipeout you control the players forward and backward movements. In Wipeout, you compete against computer players in a race against the clock to make it through the obstacle course with the quickest time. If you get knocked on your fanny during the game, the game is not over. In fact, you get rewarded with Style Points as long as your player doesn’t take a splash in the water below. If you do get knocked in the pool, you will start from where you took a dive at. Once out of the pool your player will be dripping wet ready to take the course head on again. When you get wiped-out into the pool, below you have the option of watching the super slow motion replay of your worst nightmare. Reach the end of the course in record time and receive the game coins that can be used to purchase unlocks and new courses. There is also a Time Trial mode in Wipeout where you can compete to finish courses in record time and earn some Ballsy Bucks to purchase even more unlocks. The Controls I have never been a huge fan of the on screen controls of the iPad to move the players forward or backwards.  It always feels like my thumbs are sliding over way too far and sometimes it makes the iPad uncomfortable to hold because of that. So when I first downloaded Wipeout and watched the tutorial on how to play, I was skeptical of the controls. After playing 5 or 6 rounds of Wipeout though the controls started to feel natural and I realized that the controls didn’t require much thinking at all, and the maneuvers performed fairly easily. To control your player, you use the lower left portion of the screen to move your player forward or backwards. Push your thumb slightly forward to move forward and slide your thumb backwards to move backwards or to stop running. You can also slide your left thumb down to get your player to duck under obstacles. Your right thumb is used for jumping and diving. You can swipe upward with your thumb to perform a jump or slide down to perform a diving maneuver to get under obstacles that appear in your way. The Players Wipeout features 5 unlockable characters that you can purchase using either Ballsy Bucks or Smallsy Coins earned from playing the game. When you first start Wipeout, you have 1 character already unlocked bringing the total number of characters to 6. You start off with Josie Burton (a female character).  Out of the 6 characters, 3 are female and 3 are male. Each of the characters feature a different skill set that will help you depending on which course you are running, so choose wisely. You can also purchase helmets for your characters using either Ballsy Bucks or Smallsy Coins, the same as buying new characters. The helmets can be used in-game to give you an added boost, helping you score better times and giving an upper hand against the clock. Some of the hats will put you into slo-mo mode or give you super jumping powers to help you soar like an eagle, if you activate them during the game. Tidbits You earn coins during the game that help you unlock new characters and allow the purchase of helmets to boost your player. There are also In-App purchases in the game if you do not feel like earning the coins and want to immediately get an advantage in the game.

Today we talked about the only thing that made any difference today. Take one guess? The first five do not count, of course it was iOS 6. Transform your 3rd generation into a completely new device with the iOS 6 update. Siri? Yep, she is included. I discussed a couple of ways to use Siri on your iPad and how it may help your workflow in allowing you to Tweet or send an iMessage while never having to leave the current application you are currently using. Google leaving iOS 6 with the removal of Google Maps and YouTube but don’t worry, we have a nice list of alternatives plus Apple Maps ships with iOS 6. Sit back and have a listen. iOS 6 iOS 6 Maps YouTube replacement applications Follow Total iPad on Twitter @TotaliPad. Like Total iPad on Facebook.

Craigslist Pro+ by Escargot Studios is an excellent native Craigslist application for the iPad. Recently Craigslist officially licensed this application. I have tried several other Craigslist applications on my iPad and this is by the best of the bunch. Some of the features of the application include: Post from multiple Craigslist accounts Multi-City searches Bulit-in Google Maps Save your favorite listings Post to Craigslist with Photos GPS auto-location Multiple views (image or text) Email seller from the application Sort by date, best match, location and price Much more.. If you enjoy Craigslist either as someone who sells on Craigslist or someone who buys on there and you are using an iPad this the app you want. Craigslist PRO+ is an iPad only applicatoin, it is only a $1.99 in the App Store. DOWNLOAD: cPRO+ craigslist client with Notifications for iPad - Escargot Studios, LLC

Be sure to read the Pitfall written review. PITFALL!™ - Activision Publishing, Inc.

Quotebook by Lickability is a fantastic universal iOS application that allows you to keep a notebook of quotes. Quotebook is $2.99 in the App Store and is money well spent if you are always bookmarking things you find online. I use Quotebook a lot with things I come across on Twitter as I follow some very interesting, witty folks, who are always saying very clever things. I also use it to highlight things I may find online when reading my news feeds in RSS. If I am reading an iBook I can easily highlight something I see in that book, tag it, refer to it later. For me Twitter is what I quote the most. If I see something on Twitter of course I can ‘star it’ and add it to my favorites, but I do not have an easy way to find that particular Tweet. I can scroll through my saved favorites but after a couple of weeks that may be a lot of scrolling. With Quotebook I can link to that Tweet, highlight the text, tag it with keywords or even the author. Open Quotebook and search by the author, tags or even the source which in this case would be Twitter. When I read my news via RSS I will use Quotebook as a way to link back to a particular article I am reading. Depending on which iPad reader you are using you may not be able to tag that particular feed in the reader app. Enter Quotebook. I don’t always read news in just an RSS reader if I am on a website I will highlight things and with Quotebook I can again quote, tag, link to author and source of the article. I just gave you a couple of the ways I use Quotebook and you may not read RSS feeds or for that matter even use Twitter. Those definitely are not the only uses for it, they are just the way I happen to find it useful for myself. Quotebook has a ton of ways to be useful on your iPad. Check out my video demo above to get a better idea of how it may help you with your workflow on your iPad. I would love to hear how you find Quotebook useful, reach out to me on Twitter @iCrizzo. Features: Syncing. Sync quotes between your iPhone and iPad via iCloud. Sharing. Send a quote via Email, iMessage, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. Auto-Detection. Add new quotes from your clipboard instantly. Search. Powerful full text search of all your quotes, authors, sources, and tags. Wiki-Powered. Easily learn more about authors on Wikipedia and find more of their quotes on Wikiquote right from within the app. Add from Instapaper

Today Apple had their big keynote announcement introducing the new iPhone, of course Jennifer and I decided to spend way to much time talking about the iPhone 5. We also discussed some of the new features of iOS and what you can expect with installing iOS 6 on your iPad. Show Notes: iOS 6 Features 5by5 Specials iOS Dominates Over Android When It Comes To Usage Prepping your iPad for iOS 6 How to restore from iCloud Backup How to restore from iTunes Backup Blue Snowball Microphone Review LogMeIn Thanks to roCkerChick As always you can find Total iPad and more great podcast on the Tech Podcast Network.

Several months back I wanted to try to record a podcast on my iPad, so I plugged in my white earbuds that came with my iPhone 4S and opened Garageband. To my dismay, the quality of the recording was just terrible, you could hear the mic rubbing up against my shirt as well as my breathing into the microphone. I then tried to use the built-in microphone on the iPad and that recording turned out even worse. If I moved my head the slightest, I sounded far away.  It also picked up every background noise imaginable. I decided to do some research on USB microphones that did not need an additional power supply to work with the iPad. Enter the Blue Snowball microphone. I found a few other microphones when searching for USB microphones, but something about the Snowball attracted me to it. Price and the design were the likely candidates. I wanted something I know was going to be a great microphone, but I didn’t want to pay through the roof. Trying to podcast on the iPad is tricky though, the quality of the recording is not the same as it would be on the Mac, but that should have been obvious to me. On my Mac, I can open System Preferences, tap on "Sound," and navigate to "Input" to adjust my Input Level. I cannot do that on my iPad. On the iPad I am stuck with only application settings, yet on the Mac can adjust microphone levels in the application. I am currently using Amadeus Pro on the OS X side of things. I can adjust every aspect of my recording with numerous “Effects Settings.” With Garage Band on the iPad, I only have a couple of settings: Solo = On/Off Track Volume Echo Level Reverb Level What happens then is the microphone does 2 things, it will pick up a ton of background noise and it will pick up any heavy breathing. After you record on your iPad in Garageband, you do have the option for a few additional effects such as: Small Room Large Room Dry Several other sounds You can also adjust the Compressor and Original Volume of the recording as well in Garageband, but honestly the quality of the recording is still just “okay." The recording leaves a lot to be desired. You can really get a sense for how bad the recording sounds if you have a decent set of headphones on. If you are listening through your computer speakers the sound is decent, but with headphones on you can really tell a huge difference in quality. Back to the Blue Snowball, if you are looking for a great microphone at an affordable price, then you can’t go wrong with the Snowball. It is designed beautifully, very sturdy, and offers an overall great sound on your desktop/laptop and your iPad. You will get a much better sound quality with the Blue Snowball than you will with the built-in microphone or earbuds with microphone. Features: Condenser, Pressure Gradient Omnidirectional or Cardioid Frequency Response: 40–18kHz Sample/Word Rate: 44.1 kHz/16 Bit Weighs 460 grams OS X or Windows XP, Vista, 7 Pros: Plug n’ Play Great sound quality Use from all angles Adjustable stand Works great with the iPad or Mac Cons: USB cable was cheaply made Bulky on the desk Final Thoughts: I am very impressed with the overall sound of the Blue Microphone.  The iPad has a few limitations as far as settings go, but that is not the Snowball’s fault. It does perform much better than the built-in microphone.  Since I can also use it on my iMac, it delivers a higher quality sound. If you are wanting to do YouTube review videos or start your own podcast, the microphone should be the first thing you upgrade.  If you do upgrade, I'd highly recommend giving the Blue Snowball a look. I am sure you will be just as impressed as I am. The sound quality is terrific. The microphone is lightweight and comes apart easily if you need to travel with it. The stand it comes with is built of a high quality plastic and has rubber bumpers on the feet that keep it from sliding on your desktop.

We sat down with Talos Tsui, co-founder of the Iconfactory. We discussed how the Iconfactory got started in the industry, changes to the Twitter API and how it may affect Twitterific going forward[1]. Thoughts on the App Store. Some of the other terrific applications the Iconfactory has for the Mac as well as their great iOS Apps. It was a terrific discussion and we thoroughly enjoyed having Talos as a guest on Total iPad. If you are curious about how these new changes to the Twitter API may affect your favorite 3rd party Twitter client then have a listen. Talos did an excellent job in helping us understand how things will work for Twitter clients moving forward. You can find Talos on the web: Iconfactory Twitter You can subscribe to Total iPad in iTunes. Talos wanted to make sure I noted that he made an error discussing authorizing apps in Twitter, Twitterrific and Twitterrific for Mac are two separate authorizations.  ↩