Now that the new iPads have launched, it's time to begin the next rumor cycle. And already there are increasing rumors Apple will introduce a larger-screened iPad in 2014. According to a post on AppleInsider, drawing on a Chinese website, the new iPad is in a late stage of testing and will have either a 11.4- or 12.9-inch display. The rumor has been around for several months, and even the Wall Street Journal has reported that Apple was working on an iPad with a display slightly less than 13 inches. Of course, when Apple announced the iPad Air, many speculated that the name change was part of a plan to introduce an "iPad Pro," following the naming conventions of the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro.

The speculation is that the larger iPad would be geared toward business, and would compete with Microsoft's Surface tablet, possibly even having a keyboard/cover option similar to that of the Surface. One thing's for sure. The new 64-bit A7 processor certainly gives the iPad the oomph to run powerful business-related apps.

According to a website I've never heard of, KpopStarz, Apple is targeting a March 2014 launch date, and Foxconn is now putting the final touches on the device. 

Competition is starting to heat up among the larger tablets. Microsoft's new Surface 2 Pro tablet has a 10.6-inch display. Sony's newly launched VAIO Tap 11 has an 11.6-inch display and is only .39 inches thick. And the just-announced Dell Venue 11 Pro has a 10-6-inch display. All run Windows 8, and all have add-on keyboards.

It will be interesting to see how this area of the market develops.

A friend of mine recently bought a new car. To unlock the doors, she just walks up to the car with her key tag and it automatically unlocks when she is close enough. Mesh Motion Inc., is using this same idea to turn your iPhone into a key for a high-tech bike lock. 

The BitLock is touted as the world's first keyless bike lock. It can be used for individual purposes or for community bike sharing.

To use BitLock, you simply walk up to your bike, and when you are close enough BitLock automatically connects to your phone. You don't even need to take your phone out of your pocket or bag for it to work. Press the button on BitLock to open it. Press the button again to close the lock and walk away.

Your phone's GPS can be used to locate your bike with the BitLock app. You'll never forget where you left your bike and, if you're sharing,  you can let your friends know where it's parked. You can manage access to the bike through the BitLock app, set access time, and specify a drop-off region on a map for others who you let borrow your bike.

Another cool feature of the future app is the ability for you to map your ride. It gives you statistics on how far you've pedaled, how long you've ridden, and your average speed. It's very Strava-like in that it also shows you elevation gained and calories burned.

For those who bike for environmental reasons, the app shows the total amount of CO2 you've saved by riding instead of driving.

If you're like me and have spent a pretty penny on pedal power, it's nice to know that BitLock is made of reinforced, heat-treated, and cut-resistance steel.

The company also claims to rely on the same security protocols used in online banking systems. The encryption is based on open and published standards. Whether you're facing a computer hacker or someone wielding a hacksaw, no one is getting away with your bike.

Bitlock is now in a time crunch on Kickstarter. The campaign has until Thursday, Nov. 14, at noon EST to come up with another $2,000 before it can be funded. You can pledge any amount. Seventy-nine bucks gets you the BitLock and a nifty T-shirt. 

If you've managed to get your hands on a rare gold iPhone 5s, as I was finally able to do, you probably don't want to cover up that rare metal exterior with a boring case. However, you probably do want to protect that phone. A Ventare A (for aluminum) case from Draco may be just the solution.

These cases are really bumpers, made of metal and polymer and they screw in to protect your iPhone 5s (or original iPhone 5) while leaving the iPhone's back exposed to the world. Because of the screw-in nature of these bumper cases, you will not want to remove and reapply the cases frequently. The Ventare A case is licensed by Ducati and matches the elegant, race-inspired design of those high end sportbikes.

My neighbor happens to own a Ducati, while I just have a couple of Vespa scooters. This case lets me finally say I own a Ducati! And with the open back design, it also lets me tell the world I have a gold iPhone 5s!

Eton has a great lineup of solar products available to charge and work with your iDevices. Two that I have had the pleasure of using are the rukus XL and BoostSolar charger. 

rukus XL ($199.99) 

The rukus XL solar sound system is perfect for all of your music needs. Use it at the beach, in the car, or by the pool, or carry it around with you while cleaning the house. This stereo is easy to use and as loud as the description boasts it is (22 Watts), making the rukus XL our new favorite toy for outside. 

We took the rukus XL to the beach with us and it lasted all day in the hot sun. The USB port compartment protected my iPhone from the sand and sun while allowing easy access to change playlists. The USB compartment is also where you can charge your device using the stereo battery. The stereo easily connects through Bluetooth to access your music. 

You can charge the rukus XL using solar power or the included AC adapter. After the sun goes down the battery will last approximately 8 hours off of the charge. 

BoostSolar ($99.99) 

The BoostSolar is a lightweight 5000mAh solar charger for your iDevices. The BoostSolar quickly charged my iPhone 5 twice during use, and charged my first-generation iPad 75 percent with the 2.1A USB. This rugged splash-proof solar charger (with an IPX-4 rating) has built-in fastener loops to easily attach it to a duffel bag or backpack. Extra battery packs are sold separately so you can be sure to never run out of juice while out and about.

We have used the Boost Solar while in the car (the dashboard is the perfect place for it), at the beach, and out by the pool. It's been rained on and dropped without damage.

I love that these products are so portable and durable, and Eton has thought of everything with regard to charging on the go. I feel confident allowing my 9 and 13 year olds use them without concern that they'll easily break. 

Humans use only 10 percent of their brains. Actually, that's a myth, but it's probably not a myth that many of us utilize only about 10 percent of our iPhone's capabilities. In this weekly column I share tips and tricks for beginners, or anyone who wants to make use of the other 90 percent of their iPhone's abilities. This week, I'm going to give you some tips for swipe gestures and switches.

1. Go Back or Delete Web Pages in Safari

To see previous pages in your browser history swipe from the left edge towards the right, or from right to left to go forward to the next page. You can also easily delete your browser history by tapping on the two overlapping squares on the right bottom of your screen, then swipe the page to the left.

2. Delete Last Digit in Calculator App

I hate it when I'm balancing my checkbook and I hit the wrong number on the calculator app. Now I've found a way to correct the mistake without starting over. Just swipe your finger to the left or right to clear the last digit. Each swipe will remove a digit until the number reaches zero.

3. Peek at Messages or Mail

If you'd like to go back to your list of Mail or Messages without leaving the email or text you are looking at, swipe back slightly from the left and you'll get a peek of your Mail or Message list. Swipe from left to right completely and you'll go back to the full list.

4. Control Gestures

A cool new trick in iOS 7 is the ability to create custom gestures that activate specific features, such as launching Siri or adjusting your volume up or down.

To do this, go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Switch Control. Turn Switch Control On. Here you will get a warning that enabling this changes the built in gestures used to control your iPhone. Give it a try, if you don't like it you can always turn Switch Control off and it will go back to normal.

I decided to create a switch to launch Siri by tilting my head to the right. I did this by tapping Switches from the Switch Control window. Then Add New Switch > Camera > Right Head Movement > Siri.

Then, I held my face about 12 inches from the screen and tilted my head to the right. Siri opened and I gave her my command.
It is a pretty neat trick, but I eventually turned Switch Control off. I think it's much easier just to hold down my Home button to access Siri.

The new iPad mini with Retina display is now on sale in the online Apple Store. It became available early this morning, and then Apple sent out a press release later in the morning. The Apple Store shows shipping times as 1–3 business days for the 16GB and 32GB models, and 5–10 business days for the other models. According to the press release, if you want to buy the new mini by going to an Apple Store, you'll need to buy it online and then pick your purchase at the Apple Store. The press release says it's also available via authorized resellers such as cell phone carriers. A post by AppleInsider says that Apple Stores hadn't yet received stock of the mini as of this morning.

The availability today took everyone by surprise, since Apple had said in October that the new device would be available in "late November." However, it remains to be seen how plentiful Apple's supply is, and whether availability will quickly be constrained. In fact, Apple earlier acknowledged that it will have a hard time meeting demand for the Rretina iPad mini during the holiday season.

According to the press release, Apple is hard at working trying to meet demand. “The response to iPad Air has been incredible, and we’re excited for customers to experience the new iPad mini with Retina display,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “We think customers will love both of these thin, light, powerful new iPads, and we’re working hard to get as many as we can in the hands of our customers.”

The retina iPad mini starts at $399 for the 16GB WiFi model, with each additional memory increment adding $100. If you want a model that connects to the cellular data network, the cost is an additional $130.

According to Apple, a retina display was the most-requested feature for the mini. The resolution is at 2,048 x 1,536 pixels, which is the same as the iPad Air. That means that, because of its smaller size, it actually has greater pixel density than the iPad Air. In fact, other than the screen size and the overall size and weight, the iPad mini is identical to the iPad Air.

The retina iPad mini and iPad Air both have the new 64-bit A7 processor and the M7 motion coprocessor. The new mini is four times faster for CPU tasks and eight times faster for graphics tasks compared to the first-generation mini. That’s a big jump. In fact, most people didn’t expect the mini to get the A7 chip, assuming it would get the A6. Fortunately, though, Apple skipped a generation and went with the A7.

When Apple touted the new A7 64-bit processor in the iPhone 5s, some critics said it was a gimmick that wouldn't mean much in terms of user experience. The critics were wrong. Subsequent testing showed that the iPhone 5s is the world's fastest smartphone. Everything simply works faster, from running apps to downloading videos. So it's big news that Apple is now using the chip in the new iPads.

The cameras have also been improved. The FaceTime camera has a new backside illumination sensor with larger pixels, which creates a brighter image and works better in low-light situations. In addition, the image signal processor in the new A7 makes many adjustments on-the-fly to automatically improve the quality of the iSight camera photos and videos. 

Other upgrades include dual microphones for better sound capture. Not only is recording enhanced, but Siri will be better able to understand you thanks to reduced background noise. The new mini also has dual-band wireless for faster WiFi speeds (if you have a dual-band router).

And finally, your purchase of a new mini will entitle you to download Apple's iLife and iWork suites for free.

Fortunately, Pelican has released the ProGear case for 13" Ultrabook Laptops. Like many of their other cases, it offers waterproof rugged hardshell protection. The case is waterproof to one meter for 30 minutes, has adjustable pads to accommodate a variety of laptops, and an optional shoulder strap. I would prefer a more comfortable padded strap, and perhaps a handle to hold it like a briefcase, but you could just shorten the slack on the strap and use it as a handle.

The iPad and tablet computing revolution is changing not only how we work and play, but also how we live—as we decorate our workplaces and homes with functional yet stylish furniture designs to match this new lifestyle. While several manufacturers have produced iPad stands and holders that bring the iPad and iPad Mini up to hands-free eye level, none of them have yet made an elegant piece of furniture intended for the living room or bedroom with just as much importance as a floor lamp or table. The Flote m2 Floor Stand intends to change that perception. Read on to see if it succeeds.

The Flote comes delivered in two boxes, one containing the heavy base and the other containing the remaining pieces. Assembling the Flote only took me a few minutes and consisted of screwing the center pole into the base and attaching the tablet cradle into the surprisingly powerful magnetic socket at the end of the boom. Then it was just a matter of placing the iPad into the spring-loaded cradle and positioning the angle of the boom and cradle to match the preferred hands-free viewing angle of the iPad. Since the center pole does not have the ability to adjust its height, the seated iPad can be raised and lowered by angling the boom and cradle respectively. I thought that this approach might limit the overall height of the Flote; but because of the length of the boom and the range at which it can be angled, I was able to adjust the Flote to accommodate a variety of scenarios—standing, sitting at a desk, relaxing on the couch, and lying in bed.

The center pole effortlessly glides to bring the cradled iPad closer to or farther from your eyes. There is no clicking or friction-induced stuttering, just a silky smooth rotation with a minimal push or pull on the boom. Check out the original Kickstarter video on the Flote website to see this fluid gliding in action. It is simple yet effective features like this that help emphasize that the Flote is a high-quality product. It’s also modern and attractive with its S-curved center pole and high-grade medal construction. However, the exposed metal edges on the cradle could be a problem for careless individuals. A hasty iPad seating or removal might scratch the iPad’s rear surface. Additional padding in the cradle would eliminate such a scenario. When I discussed this concern with Dave Cutler, the designer of the Flote, he mentioned the Flotes will have flat screws to minimize the risk of scratching a naked tablet. At least the cradle is large enough to easily accommodate a standard full-body iPad cover and that’s the configuration I used. As a bonus, I didn’t have to remove my iPad from its cover—a nice contrast to other iPad stands I’ve reviewed.

Speaking of inserting and removing the iPad or iPad Mini, it was initially a cumbersome process until Dave told me the proper way of doing so. The right way to insert or remove your iPad is to grip the finger tab on the back and press downward on the upper jaws with the thumb.

One last issue I encountered was while typing on the iPad when it was suspended in the Flote’s boom. Depending on how much force was applied with each screen tap, the boom would undulate or begin swinging away from me. Holding the iPad in place with one hand while typing with the other kept the problem from recurring, but it also made me an even less efficient typist on the iPad than I already am. It would be nice for future iterations of the Flote to have some elegant locking system that prevents this unwanted movement.

Even with these issues, the Flote is the best iPad floor stand I have reviewed to date. It might not be perfect, but it’s much further along on the road to perfection than any other purpose-built tablet floor stand. While you could build your own iPad floor stand using a microphone stand and a clamped iPad holder (such as IK Multimedia’s iKlip), the end results of this DIY effort might be functional but not very elegant. Conversely, the Flotem2 is both functional and elegant. It’s also a graceful work of industrial design that adds a touch of class to any room that it resides in.

Product: Flote m2 Floor Stand

Manufacturer: CRC Innovations

Price: $299.99

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

You've no doubt heard about the terrible typhoon in the Philippines and the desperate straits faced by the many thousands of people there who have been left without food and water. Apple has made it very easy for you to contribute to a Red Cross relief fund.

Click here, and you'll get a page in iTunes that lets you make a donation with a single click.

Modern smartphones house a gold mine of private information, from contacts and pin numbers to photographs and emails. Taking simple preventative measures while you own the device and choosing a secure cell phone buyback and recycling company when it is time to retire the device, is imperative to safeguarding your sensitive mobile data.

1. Keep Security Software Current. Make sure your mobile device has the latest security software, web browser, and operating system installed.

2. Lock Your Phone. Use a password to lock your cell phone. Strong passwords are longer than five characters and contain upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. You can change the normal four digit pin codes typically found on iPhones and other devices to accept more advanced security passwords.

3. Think Before You App. Review the privacy policy and understand what data (location, social networks, etc.) an app can access before downloading. Many times it is accessing the private information of your family, friends, and business contacts as well.

4. Get savvy about Wi‐Fi hotspots. Limit the type of business you conduct on your cell phone while connected to public or unsecured Wi-Fi networks. Knowledgeable criminals can access your private data without you knowing it. Stick to your 3G or 4G network when in public spaces.

5. Protect your Wallet.When banking and shopping, be sure the site is security enabled by looking for web addresses beginning with "https://" or "shttp://.” An "Http://" address is not secure and could expose your confidential credit card and banking information to thieves.

First, does the wireless recycling company make data security a priority? Find out if they test for active lines and perform data wipes beyond a simple factory reset. Many mobile phones have known vulnerabilities that cause residual data to remain on the device after a factory reset is performed. For example, after a factory reset is performed on an Android, photos and other personal information often remain on the device. Ensure your chosen recycler utilizes multi-step deletion processes and quality assurance checks when removing your data—especially if they purchased your phone for resale.

Second, are they e-Stewards certified? e-Stewards certified recyclers adhere to stringent data security and environmental standards for reusing and recycling electronic devices. They undergo extensive audits to guarantee none of their toxic e-waste is being exported overseas or sent to a landfill.

Taking these precautions during cell phone use and end-of-life management will protect your sensitive mobile data from ending up in the wrong hands. For additional mobile and cyber security tips, visit staysafeonline.org/ncsam/resources/.

Image: flickr, Steven Tom

The Korea Herald today published a report saying that Apple's iWatch will come in two sizes: 1.7 inches for men and 1.3 inches for women. The information comes from a Taiwan conference presentation by a market supply chain analyst who cited sources from within Apple. Of course, nothing is officially known, though Apple CEO Tim Cook has indicated that new products are coming. The article also says the watch will possibly have a flexible display and could launch as early as the end of this year (which seems a bit optimistic).

It will be interesting to see what develops. This is yet another instance in which Apple lets other companies explore the territory and then attempts to disrupt the market with its own superior product. There were MP3 players before the iPod, but Apple did it better. There were innumerable smartphones before the iPhone, but Apple did it better.

Among the big players so far are the $150 Pebble and the recently released $300 Samsung Galaxy Gear (a picture of which accompanies this post). Pebble began life as an extraordinarily successful Kickstater project, and the reviews have been so so, with CNET saying it lacks killer features but is wearable and fun. It has a black-and-white display. The Galaxy Gear has gotten mediocre reviews but certainly doesn't lack features, which include a touch-sensitive color display, voice recognition, and even a camera in the band and a speaker in the buckle. CNET's bottom line: "It's too much for most people, and yet, it doesn't do the basic things well enough."

In general, the smartwatches being sold so far act as companions to your phone. You can receive calls, emails, and text messages on your wrist rather than having to take your phone out of your pocket or purse. Your phone sends these communications to the watch via Bluetooth.

The Galaxy Gear not only has these phone-connected functions, but also standalone functions as well, such as the camera, a microphone for voice memos, and a pedometer. The Pebble is agnostic regarding platform, working with both Android and iOS devices, but the Galaxy Gear is more limited, and is, as the CNET article says, mainly a Samsung accessory.

What will Apple do? They've made it clear they're focusing on wearable computing. And their patents show a deep interest in those wearable devices having a wide range of sensors. Plus, their new M7 motion coprocessor shows they have the technology for tracking sensor data. It seems likely their watch will communicate with your iOS device, and that it will have a range of health and fitness features. Plus, it's likely that it would display the sort of contextual alerts that Apple is focusing on developing. For example, their M7 chip is smart enough to know you're in  your car, and of course your phone uses GPS to know your location. So if there's a traffic jam up ahead, imagine your watch beeping and then displaying a message that you need to take a different route to avoid a traffic jam.

It's all speculation of course, but it seems likely the iWatch will do these sorts of things. Assuming we see an iWatch. I'm guessing we will, but one never knows. There had been lots of rumors of an HDTV from Apple, but news reports the past few days have suggested that Apple has put their plans for an HDTV on hold.

I recently discovered Quingo, a trivia game that offers a bunch of twists. Of course you have to answer trivia questions, but there are also objectives to meet. Each question has five correct answers, and you have to identify them quickly, out of a pool of as many as 25 potential answers. There is also a time element as well as "power ups" or "cheats" that you can earn to build your score.

Building your score is important, not just for bragging rights, but because the more you score, the more real world benefits you can earn for a number of charities. For example, I chose a charity that builds water wells for the needy. The more you play, the more the app developers, Game It Forward, donate to these causes!

The game itself is free, and with 500 questions it provides hours of entertainment. You can select from assorted in-app purchases for a variety of bonuses, including unlocking answers to questions you missed. So it's educational as well as fun. And it helps an assortment of worthy causes, which is a great idea.

I’m not a smoker, but when I got the prototype for the world’s first smartphone case with a built in no-flame, no-fuel cigarette lighter to review, I appreciated the usefulness of such a thing immediately. The Lightercase is not currently in production yet since it’s still gathering funding on Indiegogo, but the makers are hoping to get it into production in time for the holidays. It’s a perfect stocking stuffer.

Since I can’t really make use of the cigarette lighter, to test it, I sent it out for a night on the town with a few folks from my office. This review is based both on my own observations as well as a few vicarious ones.

But first, let’s look at the specs:

• Heat-resistant, Childproof Lighter with protective latch
• Bright LED Flashlight
• Durable Polycarbonate Case
• Works safely via a heated metallic coil
• Ignites up to 500 cigarettes per one hour of charging time
• Built-in USB port provides easy recharge
• Comes in four color combinations: Black with black metal accents, Black with blue metal, White with white metal, and White with pink metal.
• Designed for iPhone 4, 4S, 5, and 5s.

How it works

The Lightercase does its two jobs very well. It lights cigarettes quickly and easily, and it has a bright LED flashlight that makes navigating things like door locks and stairways a lot easier in the dark.

I was a little worried about having a heated coil hanging out so close to my phone, but it really is very safe. The coil only heats after the protective switch is pulled back and held there for two seconds. After that, the coil produces a little less than five watts of heat, which is just enough to light one cigarette, but not enough to mess up your phone. It shuts off automatically after four seconds.

You might be wondering what happens if you slide your phone into your back pocket and the protective latch is accidentally activated. Will your pants catch on fire?  This was a concern for me as well, but after repeatedly putting it in and out of my pocket to test it, I never caught the slider and opened it. My co-testers had it inside of a handbag with no problem either. You have to be very deliberate to get it to light, so an accident isn’t very likely.

The flashlight is a nice touch and makes the case useful for more than just lighting smokes.

There is a cool factor

My co-testers reported that after taking the case to happy hour, fellow smokers thought it was pretty slick. You don’t see many folks lighting a cigarette with an iPhone! People seemed to be impressed by this magical idea and asked where they could get one.

This is a neat gadget that people will like and find useful. I’d prefer they quit smoking of course, but if they insist, this is a nice thing to have.

I give the Lightercase a 5 out of 5 stars. It serves a simple purpose and does so reliably. What more could you ask for?

While walking through a lovely New Jersey Park with my wife, we came across this lovely scene. I quickly took the (color) picture and we continued along. Many lovely photos were taken that day.

When I came home I liked this one in particular. The problem was that while it was a nice picture, it just wasn't as good as I'd like it to be. I tried some simple color enhancements and still wasn't satisfied. I even tried a psychedelic look, but it just looked silly. So I put it to the side. 

While preparing a recent iPhoneography workshop for a local camera club I revisited many of the photos I took this past summer and stumbled across this one. It came up just after I was looking at the Dramatic Black & White ($0.99) app. I hoped that the change from color to black and white would be beneficial. When I opened the image in Dramatic B&W this is how it looked. Although I could have made alterations, I decided to leave it alone. Sometimes, less is more. 

This image is a reminder that black and white photography is far from dead. An application like Dramatic B&W can change a nice photo into one that looks really striking. Although it may not be up to Ansel Adams standards, I like it.

When looking for interesting black and white apps, I came across several that I had forgotten about and some that I'd never encountered before. I'll be writing about some of them in upcoming posts. It's a lot different from the days of using the old Beseler Enlarger, trays full of chemicals, and the rest of stuff in the old darkroom. I must admit, it wasn't the good old days. The iPhone has eliminated the odors and mess of the traditional darkroom and substituted a virtual darkroom that is just as good...if not better!

Dear iPhone App Developers,

I love experimenting with iPhone apps…the photo apps are my special interest. I wish you all the best of luck and hope that you sell millions of copies. You deserve as much as you can make for spending the hours that you do creating your nifty stuff. But some of you (far too many of you) need to alter the way you do things. Although you know how to code, your business skills are lacking. Here are some suggestions. I hope that they are helpful.

The halo surrounding Apple for many years has begun to slip down as the security holes in the supposedly infallible defenses of iOS and bugs in the flagship features of the iPhone have started to gain more prominence. The myths regarding the phone’s robust technical fortress have long been busted by security experts, though a considerable amount of iPhone users continue to hold on to the illusion of security. Considering the implications of such ignorance, it has become more important than ever to highlight the major security holes that every iPhone user needs to be aware of.   

The many Security Holes in iOS 7

Apple was aiming to set new standards in performance and security with iOS 7. Whether it was able to do that in performance is an entirely different debate, but as far as setting new standards in security is concerned, it has clearly misfired. Since releasing iOS 7 two months ago, Apple has released three security updates, or rather security fixes. The first update was released for iOS 7.0, which allowed access to the notification center even when the screen was locked. The second update became necessary after it was discovered that anyone can bypass the screen passcode through the Control Center. The third and most recent update was released to deal with the lock screen bug, which allowed anyone to access the iPhone user’s address book, communication, and other data through Siri from the home screen. If you are not on the latest version of iOS, i.e. 7.0.3, then you may very well consider yourself a sitting duck. The window is left wide open for anyone to sneak into your iPhone and install some app for spying on text messages and other data.

Safari Browser AutoFill Feature and Cookies

In order to offer convenience to iPhones users in the fast-paced world, Safari has the AutoFill feature enabled by default, thus saving passwords so that users can access their accounts swiftly. It also stores cookies to make the online experience somewhat smoother. This convenience, however, can become a huge threat if the phone lands in someone else’s hands, someone with malicious intentions. The saved passwords can give that person an easy access to the social networking, mailing and even bank accounts of the users, whereas the cookies can reveal their online behavior and interest. Both the identity as well as the money of the user can be stolen.

The Safari Fraudulent Warning Feature

It is indeed very thoughtful of Apple to protect its users from phishing scams using the Safari Fraudulent Warning feature. But the idea that every single URL requested by the users is first scanned by the company is pretty unnerving, since it allows the latter to get a pretty good idea about the users’ browsing habits. Who is to say when or how this information may become a security threat for the user.

The Ad Tracking Feature

The Ad Tracking feature in iPhone bears a strong resemblance to spyware in the sense that it too keeps track of users’ cyber activities and phone habits. The intent, however, is not to harm the users, but instead, use the information to deliver them target ads. While this may appear harmless, don’t forget that Apple stores all the gathered information in its internal servers, which the likes of NSA can and have been snooping in.

The Location Feature in Map-app

The location feature introduced in iOS 7 allows the Map app to remember the places that the iPhone user visits on a frequent basis. It then uses this information to deliver traffic information to make the commute convenient. However, the fact that the feature is letting the Map app and consequently Apple keep track of users’ location and traveling habits can become a huge security risk on its own, especially if this information somehow falls in the wrong hands.

The Implications of Jailbreaking

Exclusivity is not the only thing that an iPhone loses when it is jailbroken. The process blows up a big hole in the robust fortress around the iOS, enabling the installation of third-party, unsigned apps, but at the heavy price of making it vulnerable to all sorts of security threats that were originally being kept at bay by the walled-garden mobile operating system.

Apple’s commitment to bolstering the defenses of iPhone is evident from its swift response to the security loopholes that have been discovered in even its latest operating system. While not quite there yet, the company is clearly aiming to get to a point where it will rightly be identified as the securest cellular option in the world.

I love my new gold iPhone 5s, and I want to keep that gold-tone finish scratch free—but I don't want to hide the phone in a bulky case. Fortunately, there's the ThinShield from HyperShield. The case is available in assorted colors. Naturally, I chose the nearly clear version (technically called "white") so the gold color shows through.

The ThinShield is indeed thin, at 0.3mm thick (or should I say "thin") and weighs next to nothing. The case snaps on and to see how it looks with your phone, the folks at HyperShield have created a plethora of videos showing the case being applied to different color iPhones. At $20, it's a small price to pay to keep your iPhone looking new.

Do you have an idea for an app but lack the programming knowledge to begin building it? In this weekly blog series, I will take you, the non-programmer, step by step through the process of creating apps for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Join me each week on this adventure and you will experience how much fun turning your ideas into reality can be! This is part 30 of the series. If you are just getting started, check out the beginning of the series here. 

For the vast majority of apps that you build, it makes tremendous sense to make sure your app can be sold to as many iOS users in as many countries and languages as possible. The App Store is available in over 150 countries in 40 languages and automatically handles international payments and current conversion for you. All you need to do is make sure your app can support a variety of languages. I'll show you the basic steps in this post as we make the iAppsReview project multi-lingual. 

Internationalization and Localization

Before we begin, let's get a few terms straight. Internationalization is the process of designing your app in such a way that it can support multiple languages. Localization is the process of adapting the app for a specific language and culture.

Basically, you internationalize your app once, but you localize it for each separate language and culture that you support.

What Does Localization Include?

When you think about localizing an app, you most likely picture the process of translating the visible text to another language. Although this is certainly a big part of the process, localization includes:

1. Translating static text in the user interface.
2. Formatting and translating dynamic text generated by your app at run time.
3. Providing multiple versions of images that contain text or culture-specific content.
4. Recording sound files for each supported language.

In this post, I'm going to address the first three items in this list.

Internationalizing Step by Step

Let's dive right in and internationalize the iAppsReview project. You can get the latest version of the project from this link. If you get stuck as you follow the steps in this post, you can get the completed version of the project from this link.

Note that if you create a brand new project in Xcode 5, all the steps in this section are already performed for you. However, since we have moved iAppsReview from iOS 6 and Xcode 4 to iOS 7 and Xcode 5, we need to perform these steps manually.

1. First of all, I'd like you to look at the folder structure of the project before we make any changes. If you launch the Finder app and examine the project you will see the folder structure shown in Figure 1. Notice there is only one subfolder, en.lproj, that contains an InfoPlist.strings file. The first part of the folder name indicates my default language (english or "en"). We'll learn more about the strings file later in this post. Also notice the Mainstoryboard file is located in the project's root folder.

Figure 1 - The project folder structure

2. Since my entire app's user interface is located in the storyboard file, we need to internationalize this file so we can later localize it for specific languages. To do this, go to Xcode's Project Navigator and select the MainStoryboard file.

3. Next, go to the File Inspector by selecting the button on the far left in the Inspector toolbar, and then click the Localize... button (Figure 2).

Figure 2 - Localizing the storyboard

4. Pressing the Localize... button displays the dialog shown in Figure 3. Confirm the operation by clicking the Localize button.

Figure 3 - The localize confirmation dialog

5. If you go back to Finder, you will now see the folder structure shown in Figure 4, where the storyboard file has been moved under the en.lproj folder.

Figure 4 - The MainStoryboard file has been moved to the en.lproj folder.

6. Our next step involves setting up a base internationalization. This is a relatively new mechanism for internationalizing your app, introduced in Xcode 4.5. Rather than having a separate storyboard file for each language that you support, you create a single base storyboard file and simply create separate string translation files for each language that you support.

To set up this base, click the very first node in the Project Navigator to display the Project Editor. In the list box at the top-left of the Project Editor, under Project select iAppsReview, and then select the Use Base Internationalization check box (Figure 5).

Figure 5 - Select the Use Base Internationalization check box.

7. Selecting this option launches the dialog shown in Figure 6. By default, it selects the MainStoryboard file to create the base localization. Click the Finish button to continue.

Figure 6 - Choosing files to create a base localization

When you do this, you can see a new Base language has been added under the Localizations section of the Project Editor (Figure 7). The original-language storyboard will now be used as the base language for all other localizations.

Figure 7 - A new Base language has been added to the Localizations.

8. If you examine the project's folder structure in Finder, you will see a new Base.lproj folder has been added and the MainStoryboard file has been moved to the new folder (Figure 8).

Figure 8 - A new Base.lproj folder contains the MainStoryboard file.

This completes our basic internationalization setup. Now we're ready to localize the project for a specific language.

Adding a New Language

Let's add support for the Spanish language to the project.

1. Go back to the Project Editor, click the plus sign below the language list as shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9 - Add Spanish as a language supported by the project.

2. When you do this, a dialog appears asking you to choose the files and reference language (Figure 10). Accept the default selections and click the Finish button.

Figure 10 - Select the default selections and click Finish.

When you do this, Spanish is added to the list of Localizations in the Project Editor (Figure 11).

Figure 11 - Spanish is added to the list of Localizations.

3. If you go to the Finder app, you can see the new folder structure shown in Figure 12. As you can see, there is a new Spanish es.lproj folder that contains an InfoPlist.strings and Mainstoryboard.strings file. All of the files that are specific to the Spanish language will be located in this new folder.

Figure 12 - The new Spanish es.lproj folder

4. Next, go back to the Project Navigator. Notice there is now an arrow to the left of the storyboard file. If you click on this arrow, it expands to reveal the files shown in Figure 13. There is now a Spanish MainStoryboard.strings file. Let's take a closer look at this file.

Figure 13 - The Spanish MainStoryboard strings file.

5. In the Project Navigator, click on the MainStoryboard.strings (Spanish) file. This displays the contents of the file in the Code Editor as shown in Figure 14.

Figure 14 - The Spanish MainStoryboard.strings file

Xcode searched through the entire storyboard file and found each instance of text and wrote it out to this strings file. Each entry in this strings file is a key/value pair. The first part of the key is the object ID of the user interface element from which the text was extracted. You can see an object's ID by selecting it in the design surface and going to the Identity Inspector's Document section (Figure 15).

Figure 15 - You can see a UI object's ID in the Identity Inspector.

Localizing to a New Language

Now we're ready to perform the actual translation of the user interface text from English to Spanish. Since I'm not a Spanish speaker, I used Google Translate to convert a few English phrases to Spanish (my apologies to Spanish speakers!). This is definitely not the recommended approach in a real-world app. You need to find someone who is fluent both in your base language and the language you are translating to so you can provide your users with the best possible experience. However, we'll use this brute force technique for now.

Search the MainStoryboard.strings(Spanish) file for the keys shown in Figure 16 and replace the English text with the Spanish text shown there.

Figure 16 - Translate the English text to Spanish.

The nice thing about this newer localization model is that translators only need to work with the files that are in the language-specific folders. They don't need to change the storyboard files (although they should certainly look at the context in which the text is used to provide an accurate translation).

Testing the Spanish Localization

Now we're ready to test the Spanish localization in the Simulator. To get this to work, you typically need to remove the app from the Simulator, clean the project, and reinstall the app again.

To do this:

1. Launch the Simulator by selecting Xcode > Open Developer Tool > iOS Simulator from the Xcode menu.

2. Click to the right of the page control (the white dots) at the bottom of the screen to go to the second screen of icons.

3. Hold your mouse down on the iAppsReview icon until all the icons begin to shake. 

4. Click the X in the upper-left corner of the icon (Figure 17).

Figure 17 - Remove the iAppsReview app from the Simulator.

5. When the confirmation dialog appears, click the delete button to remove the app from the Simulator.

6. Next, press Shift+Command+H to get out of edit mode.

Now we're ready to change the default language of the Simulator to Spanish.

1. Click to the left of the page control in the Simulator to go back to the first screen of icons.

2. Click the Settings app icon.

3. Select General > International > Language.

4. In the Language list, select Espanol (Figure 18).

Figure 18 - Select Espanol from the Language list.

5. Click the Done button and you will see a message that says "Cambiando idioma...", which translates to "Setting Language...".

6. You will know the selection has taken effect when you see the Home screen icons with Spanish names (Figure 19).

Figure 19 - The Home screen in Spanish

7. Go back to Xcode and select Product > Clean from the menu.

8. Next, click the Run button and you should see the updated Spanish text in the first scene of the app (Figure 20)!

Figure 20 - Spanish text in the Simulator!

Handling Storyboard Text Changes

This all works great once the dust has settled on your storyboard. However, what happens if you change text in the storyboard at a future date?

Apple has a command line tool called ibTool that you can use to update the strings files. To run this tool:

1. Click on the Applications folder in your Mac's dock and then click on the Utiliities folder.

2. Select Terminal.app.

3. When Terminal launches, type a change directory (cd) command to navigate to your project's Base.lproj folder. For example, Figure 21 shows the cd command I used to navigate to the Base.lproj folder on my developmenet machine.

Figure 21 - In Terminal, change directories to the project's Base.lproj folder.

4. Next, you need to run the ibtool command in the Terminal app as shown in Figure 22. 

Figure 22 - Run ibtool from a Terminal command line.

Just to be clear, this command is:

5. You can now go to the Base.lproj folder, copy the new strings from the file and then paste them into each storyboard strings file. 

For more information, check out Apple's Preparing Your Nib Files for Localization help topic under the section Using ibtool at this link.

Localizing Images

You don't necessarily need to localize all of your app's images, but you definitely need to localize the images that contain text or have a specific cultural context. As it turns out, there is an image in iAppsReview that contains English text that we need to localize.

1. In the Project Navigator, expand the Supporting Files group and select the AddImage.png file and you will see the image contains the text Add Image (Figure 23).

Figure 23 - Images containing text need to be localized!

2. Go to the File Inspector by clicking the button on the left in the Inspector toolbar. 

3. Click the Localize... button shown in Figure 24.

Figure 24 - Localize the AddImage.png file.

This displays a confirmation dialog (Figure 25). 

Figure 25 - Confirm the localization of AddImage.png.

4. Click Localize and then you will see multiple languages listed under the Localization section (Figure 26).

Figure 26 - Multiple languages are listed for the image file.

5. Select the Spanish check box. This adds a copy of the image file to the project. To see this, go to the Project Navigator, click on the arrow to the left of the AddImage.png file and you will see the Base and Spanish versions of the file (Figure 27).

Figure 27 - The Base and Spanish images.

6. If you go to the Finder app and check out the project folder structure, you will see there is a copy of the AddImage.png file stored in the Base.lproj folder and another in the es.lproj folder. 

Figure 28 - New copies of the AddImage.png file

As you might imagine, these new images are not localized, they are simply copies of the original image file. We need to create a version of the image file that works well in the Spanish language. Rather than translating the text on the image, I decided to create a button without text that I can use for the Spanish language version as well as other languages. It's simply an image of a plus sign. We're going to delete the existing AddImage.png file under the es.lproj directory and replace it with a new one.

1. Go to the Finder app and delete the AddImage.png file from the es.lproj folder.

2. Drag the AddImage-es.png file from the root folder of the project and drop it in the es.lproj folder.

3. Rename the image file to AddImage.png. This replaces the original file.

Now follow these same three steps for the AddImage@2x.png file (this is the version of the file that is used when running on a device with a Retina display).

To test the new image:

1. Press Xcode's Run button.

2. When the app appears in the Simulator, select the Write a Review option.

3. You should see the plus sign image shown in Figure 29!

Figure 29 - The Spanish plus sign image at run time.

Internationalizing and Localizing Dynamic Strings

Often, apps contain program code that dynamically sets the text of controls or other messages at run time. Obviously, if you have hard-coded strings in your app, you need to make sure you provide translations of these strings for all the languages your app supports. Let's check one case of this type of text in iAppsReview.

1. In the Project Navigator, select the SettingsViewController.m file. Note the hard-coded Done and Cancel English strings shown in Figure 30.

Figure 30 - The Done and Cancel strings are hard-coded to English.

2. Change the code in the file as shown in Figure 31.

Figure 31 - Use NSLocalizedString for any hard-coded text in your app.

The NSLocalizedString function gets a localized string from a strings file for the current language. It takes two arguments:

• A key
• A comment

At run time, NSLocalizedString uses the key to look up the translation for the current language in a strings file. The comment is important! It's used by translators to provide context for the text being translated.

By performing this step for all hard-coded text in your app, you are internationalizing these strings, and getting them at a place where they can be localized. Let's do that now.

3. Go to the Terminal app and run the commands shown in Figure 32.

Figure 32 - Run the genstrings command.

For the sake of clarity, you first need to run a change directory (cd) command that takes you to your project's root directory:

Next, you must run the genstrings command. This command line tool reads through all of your app's implementation (.m) files, searches for the NSLocalizedString function and places all strings that it finds into a file named Localized.strings. Here's the command:

4. If you go to the Finder app, you can see the Localizable.strings file which has been added to the project's en.lproj folder (Figure 33).

Figure 33 - The newly generated Localizable.strings file.

5. Let's add this new file to the project. Go to the Project Navigator, right-click the Supporting Files group and select Add Files to "iAppsReview"... from the popup menu. In the Add Files dialog, select the Localizable.strings file and then click Add (Figure 34).

Figure 34 - Add the Localizable.strings file to the project.

6. Let's take a look at the contents of this strings file. Go to the Project Navigator and select the Localizable.strings file. You will see the contents shown in Figure 35.

Figure 35 - Localizable.strings contents

So the genstrings utility found the two occurrences of NSLocalizedString that we added to the project, extracted the comments that we added as well as the base translation for each. On the left side of the equal sign, the key is "Cancel" and the base text is "Cancel", and in the second line the key is "Done" and the base text is "Done".

Now we're ready to create a Spanish version of this file and translate, or localize it.

7. With the file still selected in the Project Navigator, go to the File Inspector (the button on the left in the Inspector toolbar) and under Localization, select the Spanish check box (Figure 36).

Figure 36 - Select a Spanish localization of the Localizable.strings file.

8. This creates a Spanish version of the Localizable.strings file. To see this, go to the Project Navigator, expand the Localizable.strings file and you will see the files shown in Figure 37.

Figure 37 - The Spanish Localizable.strings file

9. Click on the Localizable.strings (Spanish) file to displays its contents in the Code Editor. Translate the text to Spanish as shown in Figure 38.

Figure 38 - Translate the strings to Spanish.

Now let's run the app to see how these Spanish strings work at run time.

1. Click Xcode's Run button.

2. When the app appears in the Simulator, select the Settings & Feedback option.

3. Click the Edit button and you should see the Cancelar and OK buttons shown in Figure 38!

Figure 39 - The Cancelar and OK buttons at run time

You have succeeded in getting three of the main tasks performed for localizing an app!

Conclusion

Once you get the hang of the internationalization and localization of iOS apps, you will find that you can master the process and provide a high-quality experience for users of many different languages. Rather than giving your users the impression that the app was translated from another language, you can help them feel the app was written specifically for their language and locale.

I dropped my iPad mini about a month ago, cracking the screen. It took a couple weeks to get it repaired, because the local person I took it to ran into some unexpected difficulties. I used my first-generation Google Nexus 7 for those two weeks, and it was painful. It's a great device, and Android is great software. If I had never owned an iPad, I'm sure I'd love the Nexus 7. But it was inferior to my iPad. The screen was smaller, which made it less convenient to read web pages and email. Aspects of the user interface confused me. And I couldn't find apps that I needed. Overall, it just didn't seem as refined or elegant or friendly as my iPad.

Nevertheless, Android tablets are getting increasingly popular. In the third quarter, Apple had 29.6 percent of the tablet market and Samsung 20.4 percent. Of course, that was just before the new iPads were released, so everyone was likely holding off on buying an iPad. No doubt Apple will crush Samsung's share in the fourth quarter. Still, these other tablets are becoming more competitive.

Of course, the biggest advantage of the iPad is the software: over 475,000 apps engineered specifically for the iPad, compared to just tens of thousands for Android tablets.

In any case, I was curious about the competition and took a look to see what's out there. 

Large-screen tablets

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 and Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 (10.1-inch display): The Galaxy Note 2014 Android-based tablet may be the iPad Air’s biggest competitor. It’s roughly the same price, but has more features. Most notably, it comes with a stylus that lets you draw or write on it by hand, and it translates your handwritten words into typed text. (Its conversion of handwriting is less than perfect, but the software has been improving.)

Unlike the iPad Air, the Note also comes with a MicroSD slot, so you can inexpensively add a lot of storage. It’s just slightly thicker at .31 inches compared to the iPad Air's .29 inches, and heavier at 1.2 lbs, compared to the Air's 1 lb. It comes with an 8-megapixel camera while the new iPads still have 5 megapixels, but megapixel count doesn’t always translate to quality. The Note has a 2560 x 1600 display, with a pixel density of 298 pixels per inch. This is greater resolution than the iPad Air's 2048 x 1536 display, which works out to a pixel density of 264 pixels per inch.

It's a bit more expensive for the base 16GB model, $549 compared to the iPad Air's $499, but the 32GB model is the same, at $599. There are no 64GB and 128GB options, as with the iPad, but it does have MicroSD for adding storage. Like the iPad, expect to pay an additional $100 for the cellular data model.

Also available is the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1, which is lighter (1.12 lbs) and cheaper than the Galaxy Tab Note 3, but still slightly heavier and thicker than the iPad Air. The components are based on previous models and haven’t kept pace with other tablets. The screen is lower resolution than most, at 1280 x 800. Reviews say its performance is sluggish and that the older Google Nexus 10 is a better choice, with a better screen and faster performance.

The price for the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 is $359 for the 16GB model. There’s no cellular data model.

Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 (8.9-inch display): This is the least expensive large-screen tablet. It’s actually lighter than the iPad Air, at 0.84 lbs compared to the Air's 1 lb. It’s only just slightly thicker than the iPad Air, at .31 inches compared to the iPad's .29 inches. The 8.9-inch display has a resolution of 2560 x 1600 resolution display with a pixel density of 339 pixels per inch, which is certainly higher than the iPad Air's 2048 x 1536 display and pixel desnsity of 264 pixels per inch. Like the Galaxy Note, it has an 8-megapixel camera compared to the 5-megapixel camera on the Air.

The Kindle Fire HDX runs a modified version of Android, and you can only download apps from Amazon’s app store, which has a more limited selection than Google’s app store. An interesting and unique feature on Amazon’s HDX models is the “Mayday” button that lets you immediately get live expert help 24 hours per day.

The 16GB WiFi version starts at $379, compared to $499 for the iPad Air. In fact, it's even cheaper than the iPad mini, which starts at $399. If you want more storage, you can add incremental memory upgrades (32GB and 64GB) for an additional $50 per increment, half the price Apple charges. The cellular data model will cost an additional $100.

Smaller-screen tablets

Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 7 (7-inch display): With a starting price of $229, this is cheaper than the iPad mini, even the first-generation mini, which Apple continues to sell at a starting price of $299. But there’s no rear camera, and again a limited number of apps. Also, the casing for both HDX models is made of plastic compared to the iPad’s unibody aluminum casing. The 1920 x 1200 display has a pixel density of 323 pixels per inch, almost identical to the new iPad mini with Retina display and much better than the original iPad mini.

I find that although on paper it doesn't seem like there'd be that much difference between the iPad mini's 7.9-inch display, and a 7-inch display, in fact the difference in usability is significant. There's actually 35 percent less viewing space, due to its smaller size and the fact that part of the display is taken up by Android's navigation icons.

The price is $229 for the 16GB WiFi model, with incremental storage being just $40 per increment up to 64GB. The cellular data model adds $100.

Google Nexus 7 (7-inch display): Google came out with the second generation of their Nexus 7 this fall, and like the Kindle Fire HDX, it has a 1920 x 1200 display with 323 pixels per inch, which is about the same as the iPad mini with retina display. Unlike the first Nexus 7, this one has a 5-megapixel camera for shooting photos and video. However, the processor wasn’t updated, and certainly won’t be as speedy as the iPad mini.

It’s a bit thicker than the iPad mini, at .34 inches compared to the mini's .29 inches, but is just slightly lighter at .64 lbs compared to the mini's .73 lbs. Unlike most tablets (including the WiFi-only iPads), the WiFi-only model includes GPS. It runs Google’s Android and can access the Google Play store, which has the largest selection of Android apps. Plus, being a Google tablet, you’ll be able to immediately update to the latest version of Android.

The Nexus 7 starts at $229 for the 16GB WiFi version, and jumps to $269 for the 32GB version — significantly cheaper than the starting price of the 16GB original mini's price of $299 and the cost of the retina mini at $399. The cellular data model comes with 32GB and costs $349, compared to $629 for a similarly configured iPad mini with retina display.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 and Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 (8-inch display): The Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 includes the same stylus feature as the Galaxy Note 2014, but overall the components aren’t nearly on par, nor is the software. It comes with a 5-megapixel camera and a lower resolution 8-inch display of 1280 x 800, which is only 189 pixels per inch. This resolution is similar to the original iPad mini and inferior to the 2048 x 1536 display of the retina iPad mini, which as a pixel density of 326 ppi. It weighs .74 lbs and is .31 inches thick, which is just a tiny bit more than the mini's .73 lbs and .29 inches.

The price begins as $399 for the 16GB version, similar to the retina iPad mini, and jumps to $499 for the no-contract cellular data model, which is cheaper than the retina mini's price of $529 for the base cellular data model. Reviews suggest the Nexus 7 may be a better choice.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 is actually thinner and lighter than the iPad mini, at .7 lbs and .27 inches, and has a similar-sized screen. The display is lower resolution, at 1280 x 800. It has a 5-megapixel camera, and MicroSD slot for adding more storage. This is pretty much the same tablet as the Note 8.0 but without the stylus.

The price starts at $279 for the 16GB WiFi model. There’s no cellular data model.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0(7-inch display): Finally, on the low end is the Tab 3 7.0 with a 1024 x 600 7-inch display. This is a lower resolution than the mini or just about any other tablet. It’s similar to the Tab 8.0 in other respects, including 5-megapixel camera and MicroSD slot. MicroSD is an inexpensive way to add storage, and a feature that's lacking in the iPads. The price is $179 for the 16GB WiFi model. There’s no cellular data model.

You can also find earlier versions of some of these tablets in the sub-$200 price range, such as the Amazon Kindle HD. But I focused on the latest models, since they have the best screens and best feature set.

Some additional thoughts

Note that even if you have an Android tablet, it may not be compatible with all the Android apps available. Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablets, for example, only run a subset of Android apps. Also, tablets from companies other than Google may be delayed in getting the latest version of Android, or in some cases may not get it at all. Those wanting the best Android experience will do the best with a Google Nexus tablet. 

Those who use Amazon for movies, music, and books, and use a tablet mainly for consuming media, are the ones who are most attracted to the Kindle Fire HDX. It's completely integrated with Amazon’s shopping and media ecosystem.

The Samsung, Google, and Amazon tablets seem to be the leading competitors to the iPad right now. Microsoft just came out with the second generation of their Surface tablet, but the first generation sold so poorly that they had to take a $950 million write-down on the loss. It runs Windows 8.1 RT, and not much software is available.

These are worthy tablets, but in the opinion of many, the iPad is still the best. There's just no comparison in terms of apps. Even though Android may have tens of thousands of apps, compared to the iPads. over 475,000, many tablet apps for Android are simply phone apps stretched to fit the larger screen. In the case of iPad apps, developers typically give them a complete redesign for the larger screen.

Plus, the amazing depth and breadth of iPad apps is without comparison. You can do a level of video and music editing on the iPad way beyond what's available on Android. 

In addition, although the 5-megapixel camera of the iPads doesn't sound that impressive, the camera works in concert with the powerful 64-bit A7 processor to make a lot of automatic adjustments, significantly raising the quality of photos. And no other device can match the power of the iPads' A7 processor. It's robust enough that we'll likely be seeing desktop-level software on the iPads, making them an even more powerful tool.

Plus, in my experience iOS 7 is simply more intuitive and more elegant than Android.

Finally, there's Apple's ecosystem—a well integrated store for apps, music, videos, and books, and cloud services that make everything work together fluidly. Android has stores, and Google and Amazon have cloud services, but I feel that Apple's services are a step above. Everything just always works, and is always intuitive.