I just wanted to let you guys know of a brand new site launched by H.U.G. called ShipMyPad.com

If you’re looking for an iPad to be delivered to Qatar (since Apple doesn’t allow shipping Aramex forwarders anymore), and you don’t want to pay extortionate prices (shops are selling them for 4,500 QR for a 32GB wifi iPad) and would prefer to pay something reasonable like 2,700 QR -3,300QR (depending on the model), then this is the site to get it from.

It’s also delivered via special delivery and insured so it’ll be received in 3-7 working days

Enjoy!

If you know Mr. Q, you know he loves Apple products. Wait, why am I talking like that…?

Apple’s designs are amazingly simple and at the end of the day, ILQ shares the same love for simplicity. We’re trying to make things look as simple as possible for our users.

So I now need a great case to protect my iPad and make me look like… a.. man in a…. thobe with an ipad in a…. case…. (I couldn’t think of anything smart to say alright?!)

Searching on Google, I couldn’t really find a nice collection of cases (especially slim ones) so I took it upon myself to provide you all with…..

So click on to read more!

Read the rest of this entry »

Oh Apple why do you do this to me? Where’s the company that inspired us all to ‘Think Different’. If an Apple employee ever reads this, shrugs, and says “Yeah right”; it’ll be a true tragedy.

So I had ordered some iPads from the US store to be sent back home to me here in Doha. Most stores don’t send internationally, so Aramex’s Shop&Ship’s service comes in handy. For those that don’t know Aramex, it’s basically the Arabian FedEx, but more importantly, it’s our link to the West’s fantastic world of shopping.

What Shop&Ship gives you is a US and UK address so that you can order stuff online, send it to your new address and they’ll forward it off to you.

Sadly though! After ordering everything for the Apple store, I just received an email telling me that they don’t ship to P.O.Boxes OR Forwarders. They also told me that I had a day to change the address or the order would be cancelled. What’s more, they’re enforcing a ‘two per person’ policy.

*sighs* why oh why.

Anyway, so I posted on twitter and facebook that I needed a US address and luckily I had 9 people offer to help out. (Thanks everyone!) but the point is, I’m almost tempted to just cancel my order and give up on Apple…

*twiddles thumbs*

Edit: Want an iPad shipped to Qatar or anywhere?! Visit www.shipmypad.com and grab an iPad. (It’s around 1,000 QR cheaper than most shops in Qatar.

Part 1: The iPad. It’s finally announced. Silence.

Let’s use a visual. Imagine you’re a person who’s decided to go bungie jumping. You stand on the edge of a bridge. Your heart is racing; it actually almost feels like it’s going to burst out of your chest until you finally take that jump. Serenity. After the first few seconds after that leap everything is quiet. You hear the wind going past your ears and for a moment, you start to think “this kind of feels nice, I wish I could keep falli-” YANK, the cord’s extended and your finally shocked back (somewhat unpleasantly) into reality.

That’s what Apple did here. iPad, OMG WTF BBQ!!!11!ONE!! Some people shouted. Looking around twitter I saw that people were more concerned with the fact that they thought it was funny it was named after a tampon. I’m sorry… what?? Notepad wasn’t funny… rappers say “Pen and a Pad”… it’s only one letter different from iPod! (ok that sounds like a G.W. Bush argument).

Point is, to me, it’s near perfect for my needs. Why? I want something thin, light, and can do the basics. I love the fact that it’ll make my life so much more easier when it comes to management. Have you seen the email client? It’s amazing! I’m working all the time and I’d love to have a device which I could pick up, throw in a breifcase or backpack and just use

The biggest scream seems to be that people aren’t happy that there is no flash support. Who cares about flash! Even YouTube is moving over to HTML5 which is much efficient. Have you heard your fan speed up whenever a flash video is playing?

Potential:

There’s just so much potential to this device. It could be used as a great DJing app, a simulator, store management device, home control unit, a project management app, and so much more. I think it’s more exciting to see what the developers are going to be bringing to this device. Having said that, THAT is what makes this a great device. It’ll always be updated.

Marketing:

I think it’s fair to say that the iPad is useful for people who know what they’re looking for.

• It’s an eBook reader, with MORE functionality and a color screen.
• It’s a management tool, with an intuitive interface
• It’s a great browser, with a media player built in
• It’s a Video player, with an option to do something else
• Photo manager, with iWork inside.
• etc….

What I’m trying to come to is that the iPad isn’t this one great fantastic device that does everything amazingly. It’s a device that does just simplifies necessities. It’s got to have at least ONE thing that’s useful to you and the rest are bonuses

What I hate:

• The bezel is too big. I don’t like how it makes the device look so square and closer to a digital picture frame.
• No camera…. No not one for snaps, but for video calls. Would be a great conferencing tool.
• Micro-sim… WHY?! I’m still trying to figure out whether I can just ‘cut’ a regular sim card or not.
• The homescreen is… empty… why?! This should be used with valuable information like how LockInfo provides to the iPhone….
• No multi-tasking is a disappointment
• No ‘linking’ or ‘syncing’ with iPhone via Bluetooth

On a side note, is it an oleophobic screen like the 3GS? I hope it will be so I can wipe off fingerprints easily.

Final question? When will the iPad arrive in Qatar? (it’ll take 2 months for the wifi version and 3 months for the 3G enabled in the US, I’m sure we’ll see imports but 3 months is enough to make me lose the excitement )

Update: So you’re looking for an iPad in Qatar? I helped set up http://www.shipmypad.com ! So go ahead and grab yours now for 1,500-2000 QR CHEAPER than the rest.

I was surprised that a blog like Engadget didn’t cover this yet.

Geoff from the office sent me over this http://blog.flurry.com/

Using Flurry Analytics, the company identified approximately 50 devices that match the characteristics of Apple’s rumored tablet device. Because Flurry could reliably “place” these devices geographically on Apple’s Cupertino campus, we have a fair level of confidence that we are observing a group of pre-release tablets in testing. Testing of this device increased dramatically in January, with observed signs of life as early as October of last year. Apple appears to be going through its cycle of testing and polish, which is expected from any hardware or software company as it nears launch.

Read more on that post to find out what they discovered about the apps that are on the device itself. Seems like there’s plenty of games! So go on, click the link above!

I’m so excited whenever Apple wants to announce something. They hardly disappoint (except when they don’t actually announce something except for a software update). At the moment, Apple’s done a great deal of rumour mongering (whomever thinks that the rumours are not planned doesn’t know Apple’s game).

So what are people saying? Some are point to a touch screen device (a giant iPhone), some are saying that there’ll be a new iPhone announced, some are saying it’ll be just a 4.0 update announcement, some are saying they’ll be either adding something to iLife or updating it.

We’ve seen people using words like iSlate, iPad, and iTablet when refrencing this new device. Mainly because Apple registered all three words. My opinion is that it’s probably a decoy. I’m not saying there wont be a device, I’m just saying that there might be another name. iPad sounds too much like iPod, iTablet is a mouthful, and the Apple iSlate could be an inside joke ‘Apple is late’. Apple’s always been late in the game but they’ve always done something fantasmagoric.

Let’s see what happens in a week though when it’s time to announce it!