While up until this point Twitter has been hands-off with the iPad they have decided to build a first-party app: Twitter for iPad. And it looks like it has all the trappings to become the Twitter iPad killer app. From the hands-on article at PCMag, The free Twitter for iPad app expands the functionality of previous iPhone Twitter clients by introducing "Panes," or fly-out panels that offer a spacious reading experience without blocking your feed.When you tap a tweet, a separate panel slides in from the right side of the screen, which displays a user's most recent update, bio, Web site link, number of followers, the number of people that person follows, and other typical Twitter information. The app also lists a handful of similar Twitte

Today brings us a small slew of mobile related acquisitions. Starting with atel-Lucent who look to extend their range of mobile applications through an acquisition of OpenPlug through the company’s ELIPS Studio. This product is a developer tool, which allows developers to write an application once and have it translated automatically across multiple platforms. From the Alcatel-Lucent, While demand for mobile apps is peaking, so is the fragmentation of mobile development platforms and tools,” said Michael Cote, analyst for Redmonk. “This makes it very expensive to target all devices and can lead to putting all your eggs in one, often tightly controlled basket, like Apple's, or doing a least-common denominator, mobile web app that c

Cloud storage and services provider OpenStack has launched an iPad app to boost clients tools. Based on the Rackspace Cloud Pro iPad app, the new OpenStack iPad app presents a mobile access point for managing certain aspects of clients’ accounts (read more about Rackspace's backing of OpenStack here). The OpenStack iPad app is a front-end project for clients, allowing them to receive updates on the status of your servers, the ability to ping your compute nodes from various global locations, and emailing files from your OpenStack Object Storage. OpenStack explains the app’s integration with Chef and the Opscode Platform, noting “Our newest feature, made possible by working with people from Opscode, is integration with Chef

A new survey on consumer attitudes toward mobile devices from Forrester Research reports that 14% of U.S. consumers plan to buy slate computing devices this year, according to MediaBistro, even though many seem confused about exactly what a slate computer is. The report, by Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps, attributes this level of interest among early adopter consumers to Apple's brilliant marketing of the iPad, although it notes that not all of these potential buyers are Apple users, implying that competitive devices, if marketed well, will attract part of this market. The report says that they are “voracious media consumers” and own multiple PCs and connected devices. This is the second report from Forrester and Ms. Epps pred

Appolicious already provides resources for iPhone and iPad users to discover apps for those platforms have decided to diversify further into the app market by adding the Android and Yahoo! platforms. They write over at the Appolicious Adviser, Leveraging the technology and institutional expertise of Appolicious - which combines social networking, journalism and a cutting edge federated search tool - AndroidApps.com and yap.appolicious.com will help consumers source and share mobile and web-based applications that are most relevant to them. Appolicious features including Curated Lists, the app Library Builder and the ability to rate and write reviews for individual apps are all available on AndroidApps.com and yap.appolicious.com. As w

With the advent of the Internet, digital media, and ebooks print media has been looking for a way to stay connected to and garner more consumers. Time Inc. and Apple have gotten together to provide a model for bundling both print and digital sales for subscribers. Jeremy W. Peters of the New York Times writes, The question of whether media companies should charge for their digital offerings and risk having fewer people view their content is one of the most urgent issues facing the business today. Other magazine publishers, like Condé Nast, have no plans to give digital content away as part of a print subscription. Condé Nast is devising a pricing structure for print-digital packages, but the prices are expected to exceed current subscri

Apple has announced the closing of Quattro Wireless network for advertisements till September 30th, the mobile ad network it acquired within the past year.  The purpose of this move is to concentrate on the iAds mobile advertisement.  Andy Miller, VP of iAds at Apple describes the product and Apple's policy about it, in a letter as follows : iAds are captivating viewers with high-quality video and rich media experiences, engaging customers like never before and already delivering dramatic results. Advertisers are seeing a huge spike in the amount of time customers spend watching and interacting with ads, making them more comparable to television advertising than traditional online ads, and developers are thrilled with this new sourc

We can get streamed television shows on our computers and iPhones through various services, but Verizon wants to take it to the next level and stream live television. GeekTech over at PCWorld gives us this scoop, The Verizon app would be similar to the Hulu and Netflix apps in that it would help bring television to the iPad--the difference, of course, is that it would bring live TV, including news and sports broadcasts. Over the past few months, Comcast, Cablevision, and Time Warner Cable have also demonstrated iPad app prototypes--though most of them involve remote control and DVR options, not live streaming. The only issue with this offering I see so far is that users will be tethered to their own homes—no taking video on the run or t

When the story of the 7” iPad clone first appeared in my inbox, I was thinking of doing a story on current tablet trends. It seems everyone is out to get their iPad clones on the market, especially as the back-to-school season gets under way, and the holiday season approaches. But after thinking more about the purpose behind the 7” iPad clone, I began to consider the implications it had for the education sector, as well as for mobile app developers. When it comes to education, certain devices are hailed as problem-solving gifts to dole out to students, particularly when that device is priced far below the average consumer electronic piece of hardware, making it more accessible in developed and developing countries alike. Bill Nort

Diversity is key for mobile advertisers, as operating systems and devices become more attuned to consumer needs. The July 2010 Mobile Mix report from Millennial Media notes this trend, witnessing a widening sea of advertisements, applications and verticals across a number of mobile operating systems. Android Takeover The days of Apple iPhone domination have ended for the time being, and this is reiterated with the persistent adoption of Android’s mobile platform. It’s not just a fad—Android has now become the second-largest OS on Millennial Media’s platform for the first time since the mobile advertising network began reporting the OS mix in August 2009. Even more interesting is the growing domination of the Motorola