Hace un par de días, Apple presentó en San Francisco, en una de sus famosas Keynotes que hace sonrojar los miembros viriles de tantos fanboys a lo largo del globo, algunas actualizaciones del hardware de sus productos más cuestionados y también actualizaciones software para los ya existentes.
But leaving aside useful products, questioned or not questioned, it seems that Apple has finally decided to announce the long-awaited update for the iPad that will include the long-awaited multitasking. And why should we kid ourselves? As a recent user of an iPhone 3GS with iOS 4, every time I pick up the iPad I have a feeling of antiquity, as if the Apple tablet was already outdated.
Multitasking
I don’t understand who had the wonderful idea of selling a tablet with an office suite, but that doesn’t allow you to run two applications at the same time (for me, for example, it is essential to surf the Internet looking for information while writing an article). Luckily, although with some delay, update 4.2 will solve this problem since it will add the precious multitasking to the iPad as it can now be enjoyed on the newer iPhones. We can finally have programs in the background!
WI-FI printing
But also, this update will bring folders to organize the applications as we please and many other new features. One of them will be the ability to print via WI-FI the documents that we save on the iPad. This gives me some doubts, since today the percentage of people who have a printer with WI-FI is very low, although it is likely that Apple will choose to make a connection with a computer on the same local network to print through it using it as a gateway.
###AirPlay
Although possibly my favorite feature (of the unexpected ones) is AirPlay, but as long as it does what I think it should do. Apparently, AirPlay will allow video and audio streaming between Apple devices, which means that from a Mac we can broadcast a video and receive it on the iPad or iPhone to view it, which together with the iPad’s processor and an HDMI cable can turn this device into a great computer for the living room. The problem is that I don’t know if it will work like this or the other way around, and the streaming will be done on the Mac (it wouldn’t make much sense since to watch the videos on the iPad, you would have to have previously streamed them from the computer.
The success of this invention will depend on the formats it supports, the direction of streaming and Apple’s prudence when it comes to using this technology on third-party hardware.
Ping…
Although this doesn’t have much to do with the iPad (to say nothing), it is quite curious. Apple has decided to continue expanding iTunes by adding its own music social network, called “Ping.” After trying “Ping” for 10 minutes I can say that if I had my way I would tie an anvil to it and throw it into the sea, because if there is anything it resembles it is not a social network, it is a showcase for artists to send us more publicity. If I stopped using Last.fm a long time ago because its usefulness was null for my needs, I’m afraid that those of “Ping” are going to be much less, especially considering that there are only 5 artists that can be added.
A social network that, if it did not have the Apple seal behind it, would not have even had the opportunity to end up online given its limitations and approach.