iPad Live hits the air tonight at 9pm ET, 6pm PT, 2am GMT

Place: http://www.tipb.com/live/

If you have any questions or topics you’d like us to discuss, just leave them in the comments then come be part of the show!

(And yes, you can watch from iPhone via Ustream Viewer app (here’s how) and iPad (we recommend Duet Browser.)

Chat with you soon!

iPad Live podcast tonight 9pm ET! Come chat! is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Speaking of John Siracusa, he has an interesting post up on his Fat Bits blog concerning the Apple strategy tax — whether Apple’s increasingly divergent interests, from iTunes to iOS to App Store to iAds, will inevitably lead to compromise, contention, and/or conflict.

Apple’s recent App Store changes, however logical and empirically justifiable they may seem, all point strongly to a company that has started to believe that what’s good for Apple is good for America. And indeed, this may be the only way to reconcile the inherent conflict of interest. The alternative is philosophically and practically untenable. Apple can try to be a good platform owner and ensure that popular apps like Kindle and Netflix thrive on iOS, and it can also try to advance its own competing services, but both efforts cannot succeed to their fullest potential.

So the new 30% subscription policy can increase revenue but drive out companies like Amazon and Netflix, hurting the platform. Having AdMob on iOS it improves the platform but hurts Apple’s own iAds. If they try to dominate everything it stifles competition and Apple risks stagnating and becoming non-competitive (as Microsoft did with Internet Explorer 6.) If they keep their own software and services modest they aren’t producing the best possible products they can and suffer in a similar fashion.

If Apple were only making the platform it wouldn’t be a problem. If they were only doing content it wouldn’t be a problem. If they were only handling content delivery it wouldn’t be a problem. But by trying to do all three successfully, it divides Apple against itself.

What’s the answer? Perhaps Apple shouldn’t have entered into so many businesses, especially the ones increasingly outside their core competence like online ads and subscriptions. But they have entered them, so what now? Can they balance all interests fairly and profitably? Could anyone?

[Ars Technica]

Can an Apple, divided against itself, stand? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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When Steve Jobs announced the dual-cored Apple A5 System-on-a-Chip (SoC) at the iPad 2 event, I assumed it was using an ARM Cortex A9 dual-core processor as its CPU. Last year’s Apple A4 SoC used a single core, 1 GHz Cortex A8 after all, so why wouldn’t the Apple A4’s successor use the Cortex A8’s successor? However, John Siracusa of Ars Technica raised an interesting alternative on this week’s Hypercritical podcast — what if Apple is instead use two Cortex A8 cores instead?

His argument was that, with the Cortex A9’s architecture, it should be more than the 2x speed boost Steve Jobs claimed at the iPad 2 event. If it was more than 2x the speed, Apple would certainly have said so. 3x, 4x — all look better on stage and on websites (much like the 9x graphics claim).

With previous year’s 13-inch MacBook Pro, Apple stuck with old Intel Core2 Duo processors and Nvidia chipsets and when questioned about it, Steve Jobs replied that Apple thought major battery life and graphics improvements were more important that relatively minor CPU speed boosts.

Could the same be true with the Apple A5? Could Apple have stuck with the older Cortex A8 and shifted performance increases to the GPU (PowerVR SGX), all to keep that 10 hour battery life?

We’ll have to wait for the teardowns to find out.

[Hypercritical]

Is iPad 2 an ARM Cortex A9 or two Cortex A8s? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they're iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they're fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Ally’s pick: Digitally Imported

I’ve always been a huge fan of Digitally Imported, more lovingly known to many as di.fm. I’m an even bigger fan of almost any type of electronic music. It’s the main thing I listen to. I have always streamed from Digitally Imported from iTunes at home and work.

The iPhone app for Digitally Imported makes it even easier to listen to all my favorite di.fm stations. I love the fact I can use it in my car or pretty much anywhere that has a sound system I can plug into. And it has multitasking support so even if you close it out, your music will continue streaming.

For those of you not familiar with Digitally Imported and love electronic music, make sure you check it out. It is available for free but does offer a premium subscription. Current premium subscribers simply log into their accounts. If you aren’t premium and would like to be, you can always purchase a premium membership in-app as well. Premium members enjoy a much higher bit rate (you really can hear a huge difference). You’ll also be able to access channels like sky.fm that free users can’t access.

Even if you decide to stay free, it’s an amazing source for electronic music 24/7!

[Free, with in-app purchases - iTunes Link]

Alli’s pick: Firefox Home

Firefox 4 is out in Beta for both Windows and Mac. While there are still a few things missing and add ons not yet working, the one thing it does superbly is sync bookmarks with your iPhone or iPad.

Setup takes about 12 seconds. If you haven’t already signed up for a Firefox Sync account, it’s as simple as putting in your email address and copying the encryption key for safe keeping. From your Mac or pc, you then click add a device and you get to enter a sync code that comes up the first time you run Firefox Home on your iOS device.

While strictly speaking, this is not a browser, Firefox Home does give you all your saved and recent links. If you have 5 tabs open on the desktop and sync, you can then see these 5 tabs from your iPhone, and go to any of them.

You can even search your browsing history from your iPhone – an awesome feature when you’re away from home and can’t remember the link you were browsing recently and really want to show someone, or go back for some reason.

If you are a Firefox user (and who isn’t?!), this is a must!

[Free - iTunes link]

Chris O’s pick: Set up as a new phone

Ok, this is not an app but it is something I have wanted to do for a while. I have been restoring from a backup with every software update since as long as I can remember. In between I have jailbroken and restored many times and I was starting to get problems. Signal strength issues, Bluetooth glitches, freezing apps etc etc.

Yesterday I decided to install iOS 4.3 GM and this time set it up as a new phone. It took ages but it gave me the opportunity to rake through my apps and delete the ones I never use. I re-synched all my media and the had to input all my usernames and passwords into apps that needed them.

This was a lengthy process from start to finish but I now have an iPhone thatt is far more responsive and less cluttered. Downside all my saved games and text messages are gone, I knew that but it was still worth it.

Chris V’s pick: Little Things

Little Things is a “Where’s Waldo” style game. Despite the simple concept and design, it is surprisingly fun to play! In Little Things, you are presented with a large image (a dog, wheelbarrow, scissors, sailboat, etc). You then zoom into to find out that the picture is made up of many, many smaller items, and you have to find some specific ones (such as finding 8 different sheep, or finding a watermelon and horse). You must scour the picture to find the items, tapping on them when you see them. The goal is to finish as fast as possible using as few hints as possible (the hints just sort of zoom you in to the general location where the object is hidden). Once you complete a scene, you get a puzzle piece (which you then need to arrange in the correct position to unlock further puzzles). The game keeps track of both your overall progress as well as the speed at which you are completing the puzzles. As with many games there are achievements (or badges) you can unlock – such as finishing a stage with no hints, or finding ten objects in a row with now mistakes. You can play this on your own, or with a friend, child, or spouse (or compete against someone to see who can get a faster time). It’s a fun game that I have found is taking more and more of my free time recently.

[$2.99 - iTunes link]

George’s pick: glif

As an amateur video-blogger, I wanted something cheap and affordable to film with, yet I still wanted HD quality. Luckily, I already had my iPhone 4 which shoots at 720p HD video – which is great, however, I couldn't attach it to my tripod because it didn't have the necessary screw required.

That's where the glif comes in. The glif is a simple accessory that has 2 functions. The most important of which is, the ability to screw onto a tripod, allowing you to film or shoot with your iPhone 4 stabilised. The groove is made to exactly match the iPhone's measurements so its a great sturdy fit, however this does mean you can't use the glif with a case on your iPhone 4.

The glif also acts as a stand, in both portrait and landscape, and because its so sleek it fits perfectly on any desk or bedside table

[$20 - theglif.com]

Leanna’s pick: 2Do

As a mom of a 6 month old, wife, writer, and math teacher, I am rather busy and I can no longer keep track of what I need to do in my head. 2Do has come to my rescue. I’ve never been the type to have a to-do list and actually look at it, but 2Do has such a beautiful UI that I actually enjoy looking at it. I can organize my list into separate color-coded lists for home, school, and TiPb. Setting tasks as special types of recurring items is easy and convenient. I also love how you can assign an action to an item. For example, every Friday I email TiPb staff asking them to send in their Picks of the Week, and not only do I list this in 2Do, but a quick tap opens a new email addressed appropriately to make sending the email quick and painless. 2Do is a universal app for iPhone and iPad, so with the help of Toodledo, I’m able sync data between both devices.

Seriously, I have been less stressed since introducing 2Do into my life. Now excuse me while I cross “Picks of the Week” off of my list.

[$6.99 - iTunes link]

Rene’s pick: Inkpad

Developer Steve Sprang makes a bitmap painting app called Brushes, famous for being used to make several covers for the New Yorker. What’s not as famous is Sprang’s vector illustration app, Inkpad. Unlike painting apps which are based on pixels, vector illustration is based on paths. Blow up a bitmap painting and you get fuzzy, chunky pixels. Blow up a vector illustration and… the paths stay nice and smooth. Both types have their strengths and weaknesses — which is why Adobe makes both Photoshop and Illustrators, and it’s why Sprang makes both Brushes and Inkpad.

I found out about it from Marc Edwards of Bjango and could see instantly why he liked it. You can easily lay down paths with the pen, square, or circle tool, manipulate points and the handles that control the curves, add vector text, etc. It’s not Illustrator by any stretch of the imagination but it works well and using your fingers to control vectors is loads of fun. If you want to illustrate on iPad, check out Inkpad.

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You're part of the team as well, so jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

TiPb Picks of the Week is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog