Posts Tagged ‘iPad’
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Monday, August 22nd, 2011
Vidabox iPad/iPad2 On-Wall Mounting Frames
Front view of frame shown with a white iPad2Vidabox has been in the digital entertainment and control business for a while now and offers media extenders to complete home automation control systems. They have a product and/or solution for almost every A/V need — even turning your iPad into a wall mountable picture frame.
The Vidabox iPad On-Wall Mount Frame is actually a pretty good idea allowing you to add an on-wall control interface pretty much anywhere at a very economical price.
USB to Cat5 power extension kitWhen I first opened the box the first thing that popped into my head was, “why didn’t I think of this!”. A genius concept, put an iPad into a high-quality contemporary picture frame and hang it on the wall. The kits come complete with everything needed to power the iPad using only a single Cat5 cable. The installation takes literally minutes after you get the cat5 cable fished through your wall. The frame design is clean and simple and great for anyone that wants a semi-permanent wall installation of an iPad (I call it semi-permanent because you don’t need to cut a hole into the wall) — that’s great because it makes swapping out iPad versions in the future very easy! The kit is available for both the original iPad and the iPad2. The frame kit retails for $99 and comes in a variety of finishes.
iPad On-Wall Frame Kit
Back view of iPad frameFor more information and to order the frame kit visit VidaBox.…
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Wednesday, August 4th, 2010
iPort Control Mount Series – Turns Your iPod Touch/iPad Into An In-Wall Panel
Apple has pretty much killed the wireless touch panel for the home automation market with the iPad and iPod Touch — and if you feel like they haven’t, then let me rephrase the previous sentence with, “Apple will soon kill the wireless touch panel…”. It’s really hard to sell a wireless panel these days that costs more than triple the cost and in most cases, of less quality and has 10x’s less battery life than the Apple devices.
Now, I understand the limitations of using an iPod Touch and iPad for home control and I have heard the argument that a touch panel that is dedicated gives the user quicker access than powering up the i-Device, sliding to unlock, then either launching or resuming the application, wait for a slight delay of the wifi to connect and a few seconds later, controlling the system.
Sure, I agree.
I also agree that some in-wall panels also act as an “embedded” server which needs to be on all the time — something the Apple device isn’t designed to do — those are all valid points. However, for casually controlling your lights, music, security, viewing cameras, adjusting temperature, and so forth, the Apple mobile devices are a home run!
That’s why I got excited to see the NOW SHIPPING touch/iPad in-wall mount system from iPort. The iPort CM-IW100T (CM100) Control Mount for the iPod touch encases an iPod touch in a wall-mounted chassis with a magnetically attached, rectangular bezel, as does the iPort CM-IW2000 (CM2000) for Apple’s iPad, transforming the handheld devices into in-wall touchscreens running apps from any control system over WiFi. The device is powered over CAT5 — audio output is also carried over the Cat5 cable which can be fed as an audio source into a whole house audio system — think Pandora App or even the iPod Player, however, that will require you occasionally pull the iPod/iPad out of the panel to sync as Apple doesn’t offer wifi syncing.
The iPort CM100 retails for $250.00, while the iPad version retails for $499.00. I’ll try to get one in for review soon…
- iPort – CM Series
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Thursday, April 8th, 2010
Apple iPad Review
I’ve had my iPad for a few days and compiled a Pro’s and Con’s list as part of my review. I’ll try to be subjective but keep in mind that this device has been hyped a lot and may come across more critical than normal.
PROS
- Sexy, slick device — Apple is great at that. They always have been. They, again, have nailed it!
- Fast! — the iPad is very fast and responsive. I would say it feels faster than my 3GS.
- Screen is crisp, bright and vibrant — while the screen is not great for reading books, it is excellent for watching videos and playing games! The pixel density of the screen is probably the best I have seen to date — as is the viewing angle.
- Bluetooth keyboard support — Apple is finally allowing you to pair a bluetooth keyboard with the iPad. This alone makes it easier to write emails and surf the web than the iPhone.
- Loud Speakers — the speaker on the iPad is LOUD!
- Multitouch Screen — the screen is very accurate and responds well to the touch.
- Amazing Battery Life — this is one of the most impressive aspects of the iPad. The battery life lives up to what’s advertised!
- Love Native Apps — I find myself using services (Twitter/ABC) more because they offer native iPad apps versus hitting their website via the Safari browser. I’ll take a nicely designed iPad app over a web page version any day. However, there are some services that lose functionality in their native app. This is bad, but not the fault of Apple.
CONS
- Device is too BIG — too big to take with you all the time. I would have liked a small notepad (7″) sized iPad.
- Device doesn’t feel right in the hands — while it’s solid and looks good, it’s slippery and weird to hold. The nook is the right size and the arched rubberized back feels soft and “warm” to the hand. The iPad feels cold and fragile. Which, I believe, if you drop, will do a lot of damage to the iPad, as well as mar it’s elegant aluminum finish. I should also mention, the Apple case does change the feel and makes it a lot better to hold. However, it does add $39 to the price of the unit.
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Friday, March 12th, 2010
Did you pre-order an iPad today?
Just pressed submit and placed an order for a 16gb iPad… it’s been a pain developing applications via the simulator so I can’t wait to get this device in my grubby hands. Did you guys order an iPad today? Why or why not? How do you plan on using it? I’d love to hear — lurkers, now’s your time to post a comment…
- Apple — Pre-Order iPad…
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Thursday, January 28th, 2010
Debating the merits of Apple’s iPad…
CNET has a pretty good balanced article about the iPad. I know there are heated debates going on about the iPad and it’s purpose/uses. What do you guys think? Does having no Adobe Flash really hurt the iPad — my opinion is no — hasn’t really been a issue on the iPhone since there is an app for everything and I rarely launch Safari for surfing (here is Adobe’s response). Does the size of the device make this unusable for daily use? Would you use it as a work device? I’d love to hear your thoughts…
CNET - Debating the merits of Apple’s iPad…
About the archives
Welcome to the archives here at MAVROMATIC.
These are a collection of our previous posts. If you'd like to read about the latest and greatest, click here.
Welcome to mavromatic! My goal is to bring to your attention the latest DIY projects, the greatest home automation and home theater products. As well as, the occasional offbeat entry, to spice things up a bit.
