The Japan Sumo Association has carried out their decision to hand out 60 iPads to 51 wrestling club in the country. The idea was to improve communication between the wrestlers themselves and the sports body. The Association decided that the wrestlers’ fingers weren’t small enough for ordinary mobile phones and that iPads might help them not to miss the information sent by fax or phone – something that had often happened before.

However, first of all the Association’s princely gesture was aimed at making amends after some scandals that involved gangsters, match-fixing and illegal gambling. Sumo came under harsh criticism for the lack of investigation and control, which was partly due to poor communication.

Both Windows 7 Tablet and Apple iPad look great. Here is a video with each of them being tested in email, video, browsing, mapping, etc.

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Here’s an interesting video from MuscleNerd, who jailbreaks an iPad using JailBreakMe in a plane (over New Mexico via “Gogo Inflight Internet” wifi). Nice!!

Yesterday Silicon Alley Insider reported that Palm had a chance to be acquired by Apple, but eventually HP’s bid was higher. Referring to an anonymous source that was familiar with the negotiations, author Dan Frommer wrote:

“Apple was mostly interested in Palm’s huge library of intellectual property and patents (450+ patents on file, another 400+ applications on file). And unlike some other bidders, Apple even seemed committed to funding Palm’s operations, perhaps to challenge RIM’s dominance in the keyboarded segment of the smartphone industry, our source says.”

It is reported that Google also wanted to purchase Palm to spite Apple, but the company didn’t know whether Apple was actually bidding for Palm, so no moves were made in that direction.

Eventually HP acquired Palm and now has plans to use its webOS in company’s future tablet devices that will compete with Apple’s iPad.

Today Taiwanese newspaper DigiTimes released another article which reveals that the producing of next-gen iPad will be started in the last quarter of 2010. New tablet will have 7-inch and 5.6-inch OLED displays supplied by Compal Electronics. Both of these small (compared to the current 9.7-inch model) devices will “target the e-book reader market, separating them from the 9.7-inch model, which mainly targets multimedia entertainment”.

Choosing the OLED panels is explained by the assumption that its costs will be dropped soon, as LG display and Samsung Electronics are currently devoting resources into its development.
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Thermaltake Technology company has a devision called LUXA2, which has many interesting luxury products. The recent interesting one is LUXA2 H4 – the Apple iPad solid-aluminum holder.

The holder looks really nice and is well manufactured. The main material is aluminum. The design is great and reminds us different Apple products, especially the iMac stand. LUXA2 H4 holds the iPad with two short and two V-shaped arms, that have six rubber nubs. The nubs tightly grip the iPad without scratching it. The user is able to adjust the width of the stand by pulling these arms. That’s why LUXA2 H4 fits not only for the iPad, but can hold Amazon Kindle and many other eBook readers and tablets. This gives the H4 additional advantage over other stands on the market.

The holder also allows 360-degree rotation and 300-degree vertical adjustment. So there is no problem putting iPad at the right angle. Setting the iPad in portrait or landscape orientation is really very easy. However be careful rotating the device, since there are no V-shaped arms on the top.

LUXA2 H4 is great for internet browsing, ebook reading, watching movies and even gaming. It looks especially good when used with iPad and external keyboard.

Specifications:

• Height: 206mm (8.12 inches)
• Width: 151mm (5.98 inches)
• Depth: 138mm (5.44 inches)
• Weight: 446g / 0.98 lbs.
• Adjustable Angle: 360° (Rotated) and 300°(Vertical)

LUXA2 H4 costs around $59.99. The list of distributors is available here.

Here are more photos and video with LUXA2 H4:

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According to Mobile Mix Survey, conducted in May by advertising agency Millennial Media, 56% of all developers in the USA write software for Apple’s mobile platform iOS. This is almost as twice as more than Google’s Android developers. 5% goes to Nokia’s Symbian and 4% of devs work on software for RIM’s BlackBerry OS.

But there are more surprising facts unveiled in the survey.
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This Tuesday Adobe revealed its new digital viewer technology for creating e-magazines that can be viewable on touchscreen devices like Apple’s iPad.

The technology was first demonstrated when the iPad version of Wired magazine was introduced. We wrote that Adobe had to rewrite the software in Objective-C for Apple to approve it. Since the release iPad Wired edition stays near the top of the App Store sales chart with its price $4,99.

Here’s what the vice president of Creative Solutions at Adobe David Burkett said about new technology:

“We aim to make our digital viewer software available to all publishers soon and plan to deliver versions that work across multiple hardware platforms. It’s safe to say that if you are already working in InDesign CS5, you’ll be well on your way to producing a beautiful digital version of your publication.”

Judging by the Wired iPad edition, new digital viewer technology can offer integrating videos, 360-degree rotatable images, slide shows and more directly into the magazine.

Here’s a new nice and easy tutorial from CNet specialists. Today they will teach us how to turn an iPad into a second monitor for our Mac. Let’s watch:

Here’s a little iPad magic video (it’s not in English, but is worth seeing):

iPad USB Camera Connection Kit is much more useful as it seems. Max Sha, an experienced user, was able to access external hard drive with this kit. All you need is a jailbroken iPad, an external drive, a split-USB cable to give the drive some power and a terminal of some sort (f.e. MacBook) to mount the external storage. While it is a little unwieldy, it shows that Terabytes of external storage for iPad is possible.

Here is a complete step-by-step guide from Max Sha:

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Chad Knight and Jeff King, who are professional skateboarders, purchased a brand-new Apple iPad and decided to check if it can replace the standard skateboard. Another crazy test – on the video above!

Recently Oprah Winfrey declared herself a fan of iPad in the front of millions of TV viewers. She called the device “amazing” and said that its hardware will “change the way kids learn.” TV host admires its backlit touchscreen and thinks it has great opportunities for reading, playing games and sharing photos.

Some time ago Oprah has been promoting Amazon Kindle on TV, and once the sales of this device were boosted so strong the company had problems with keeping up with demand. When she has been speaking about iPad she also mentioned Kindle in the past tense, like she “HAD a Kindle”. But later her spokesperson said she still uses both devices.

Oprah’s Book Club may be viewed in iBookstore for iPad, and its books may be purchased for a standard fee.

Monte Vista Christian School in California has purchased sixty Apple iPads for use in its classrooms. The devices were introduces last Thursday to those of the students who will participate in an experimental project. If the results will be successful, Monte Vista’s headmaster Stephen Sharp will replace textbooks with interactive e-versions.

“There are many academic advantages. They provide new access to photos, videos, daily newspapers and resource material that enhance the curriculum.”

Marcus Scwager, who is an English teacher, is excited about the function of pop-up word definitions while reading Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”. Science teacher Cynthia Armstrong used an iPad to show a cutaway of female body with a zoom function for closer look.

As the iPads are used only for classroom use, students e-mail their notes to a previously created account that they can access later at home. They can use a special app for copying graphs from the board, SoundPaper app to record lectures for listening it later where they want.

Alyssa Villanueva, who is a 15-year-old student, also enjoys the iPad:

“It’s a little easier to use. You can really focus on where you’re studying.”

Apple provides a $50 school discount for its tablets. The company has also developed a special program for teachers to train them to use the new technology.

Few days ago Lang Lang, who is a famous Chinese pianist, had a concert at San Francisco’s Davies’ Symphony Hall. At one moment he amazed audience with playing The Flight of the Bumblebee on an Apple’s iPad! He made this possible with Magic Piano iPad app that is available for download here.

It is amazing how apps can make a device so functional. But some people say it is impossible to play like this on an iPad because its touch screen is not sensitive enough for such a fast play. You can even notice the moment when Lang Lang gives a device to conductor without skipping a beat. So probably it’s just a record that was made before.