Indian iPad Price gets Dropped!!!

The iPad 2 launched last week and Apple followed it up with a price cut for the original iPad. We assumed that since India wasn’t in the list of countries the iPad 2 was announced as releasing in (oh, I’m so surprised), and since the original iPad had only just released here, the Indian prices wouldn’t be affected.

That doesn’t seem to be the case though, because one look at the Apple India website will tell you that the iPad rates have been slashed, barely a month after release. Check out the new prices below (initial prices are in brackets):

Wi-Fi + 3G:

    * 16GB – Rs. 31,900 (Rs. 34,900)
    * 32GB – Rs. 36.900 (Rs. 39,900)
    * 64GB – Rs. 41,900 (Rs. 44,900)

Wi-Fi:

    * 16GB – Rs. 24,500 (Rs. 27,900)
    * 32GB – Rs. 29,500 (Rs. 32,900)
    * 64GB – Rs. 34,500 (Rs. 37,900)

Now I don’t know if that’s a foreshadowing of the iPad 2’s release here, as opposed to a Women's Day special offer, but I’m sure a few of you out there are hoping so. Either way, props to Apple India for following up on a worldwide price cut, even if they didn’t have to. Now where’s that iPhone 4 and iPad 2?

Tiny Wings, the Game that's Currently Pwning Angry Birds

The world seems to love its feathered mobile games and we at Tech2 aren't pretending to not be a shrine to Angry Birds. So when another birdy app, Tiny Wings came along and knocked Angry Birds off of its sustained top spot in the App Store, we obviously had to see what the fuss was all about.

 THIS took number one from Angry Birds

First of all, Angry Birds has been knocked off its top spot. If you've managed to get yourself together, get this, it's been knocked off by a game called Tiny Wings. Tiny Wings is a 99 cent (approx Rs. 45) game, developed by Andreas Illiger and is somewhat a runner game where you have a little bird who basically is running away from the night. The bird flutters its wings to gain height over mountains and you touch the screen to make it stop fluttering its wings when it goes downhill. The longer the bird goes downhill, the more momentum it gains when its flying and therefore it covers more distance. You're supposed to make the bird hop from island to island and sometimes solve challenges for its nest but the gameplay has been such nonsense that we haven't even gotten past the second island. 

Seriously, why is this game of all games the one to defeat Angry Birds? It's clearly designed to appeal mostly to women (unlike Angry Birds which is pretty neutral) and the objective of the game is, pardon my rudeness, kinda dumb. It seems like it's another Cut the Rope phenomenon where the game gets brief popularity because it seems cute and fun but then people get sick of it so it stays on the top 25 charts but lower down. Here's to hoping both Angry Birds Rio and the St. Patrick's Day Seasons Update knocks Tiny Wings back below the top ten where it belongs.

iPad 2 official

Apple has just made its second-generation iPad official! It features a dual-core A5 chip and, finally, cameras, both front and rear! The new CPU is said to be up to twice as fast, with graphics performance up to nine times better than on the original iPad, while power requirements have been kept the same. Battery life is, consequently, unaltered, with Apple promising 10 hours. Pricing, too, has been left unchanged, starting at $499. The new tablet will come with an HDMI output capable of 1080p -- which will set you back $39 for the requisite dongle -- but we've yet to hear any rumblings of Thunderbolt connectivity. There's an enlarged speaker grille on the back, as expected, though resolution has not budged from the original iPad's 1024 x 768.

720p video recording at 30fps will be on tap from the rear-facing camera, which can also do a 5x digital zoom if you're into that kind of thing, whereas the front-facing imager will record at a more modest VGA resolution, also at 30fps.

There's a new cover for the device, which is best defined by Steve Jobs himself: "We designed the case right along side the product. It's not a case -- it's a cover." Basically, it's a magnetic flap that protects the front and automatically wakes and puts the device to sleep according to whether it's open or closed. Guess we know what that proximity sensor was about now. These Smart Covers will cost $39 in plastic or $69 if you opt for leather.

The iPad 2 is 33 percent thinner than its predecessor, at a mind-melting 8.8mm, and a little lighter at just over 600g, while chromatic options have been expanded: you'll get a choice between white and black. It'll be available on both AT&T and Verizon, and all variants start shipping on March 11th. Apple Retail Stores will start sales at the unusual hour of 5PM, which will probably make online pre-orders the fastest way to get yours.

In terms of new software, Apple's launching iOS 4.3 alongside the new iPad and bringing with it much improved Safari performance as well as FaceTime, Photo Booth, iMovie and GarageBand apps specifically for the newly camera-enriched iPad. Personal Hotspot capabilities are also arriving in the latest version of the OS, but they'll be exclusive to the iPhone 4, so you won't be able to share your 3G iPad's connection.

courtesy: engadget

Apple Launches New and Improved Macbook Pros

It was Steve Jobs’ birthday on 24th, and as was speculated a couple of days ago, Apple did indeed release the updated MacBook Pros on their absentee CEO’s birthday. The new MacBook Pros come powered by Intel’s second generation Core i5 and i7 processors, codenamed Sandy Bridge, and either Intel HD3000 integrated graphics solutions or AMD’s 6-series Mobility GPUs.

They also feature updated front-facing cameras for Facetime, and Intel/Apple’s new optical input/output interface - Thunderbolt (previously called Light Peak) - which will allow for transfer speeds of upto 10Gbps and also support nearly every kind of digital video output interface.

The new MacBook Pros also have a few optional components you can include in your customized notebook, which include 128, 256 and 512GB Solid State Drives, upto 8GB of 1333MHz DDR3 RAM, an anti-glare display, Apple Remote, various adapters, etc.

The new MacBook Pros will be bundled with Snow Leopard and Apple’s updated iLife software suite. The prices for the various default configurations are as follows:

    * 13-inch/2.3GHz Dual-Core i5/320GB HDD – Rs. 69,900
    * 13-inch/2.7GHz Dual-Core i5/500GB HDD – Rs. 84,900
    * 15-inch/2.0GHz Quad-Core i7/500GB HDD/Radeon HD6490M – Rs. 1,04,900
    * 15-inch/2.2GHz Quad-Core i7/750GB HDD/Radeon HD6750M – Rs. 1,24,900
    * 17-inch/2.2GHz Quad-Core i7/750GB HDD/Radeon HD6750M – Rs. 1,42,900