iPad Live, the live recording of the best damn iPad podcast on the planet hits the ‘net again tonight.

Be there, or get hat-sorted straight to Azkaban.

Time: 9pm ET, 6pm PT, 2am BST.

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!

Xinhuanet reports that future iPads and iPhones might just be built by robots, that is if manufacturing giant Foxconn goes ahead with plans to replace workers with up to 1 million mechs:

[Foxconn] currently has 10,000 robots and the number will be increased to 300,000 next year and 1 million in three years, according to [Foxconn founder and chairman, Terry Gou].

Gou announced the robotics initiative during a company dance party, which presumably they’ll have less of in the future. Unless, of course, they’re replacing workers with dancing robots.

[Xinhuanet via MacRumors]

Speaking with IndustryGamers, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello puts the previous Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony-led console market into post-iPad perspective:

Consoles used to be 80% of the industry as recently as 2000. Consoles today are 40% of the game industry, so what do we really have?

We have a new hardware platform and we're putting out software every 90 days. Our fastest growing platform is the iPad right now and that didn't exist 18 months ago.

So consoles are down by half, and iPad has come out of basically nowhere to become the hottest thing in gaming? Hard core gamers would argue you can’t play Call of Duty or World Of Warcraft on an iPad, just like hard core geeks would argue you can’t run Xcode/Visual Studio and otherwise use an iPad as a “real computer”.

That’s true. It just turns out the hard core base is much smaller than the mainstream, and Apple — and Angry Birds and a host of other, casual titles — is democratizing the gaming platform just as much as the computer.

And iOS 5 AirPlay mirroring, where you can play your iPad games on the big screen via Apple TV, hasn’t even launched yet.

[IndustryGame]

Missed a compelling piece of iPad news, a great review, or a killer how-to? We’re not collecting absolutely everything in iPad here — you can hit up TiPb.com/iPad for that! — but we’re carefully picking what we think is the best of the last 7 days and presenting it here for your review.

And hey! — these double as show notes for our iPad Live! podcast tonight at 9pm Eastern. So join us and follow along!

Meta

• Superfunctional 4: Footwear
• Iterate 3: Prototypes

The competition

• Is that a Galaxy Tab 10.1 in this iPad podcaster's pocket?

iPad 3

• iPhone 5 to launch in second week of September, iPad 3 to follow later in the year?

News

• EA: Fastest growing gaming console is iPad
• Apple now owns 66% of mobile profits
• AT&T to throttle top 5% of "unlimited" data users
• Florida school scrapping textbooks and rolling out iPads to its students
• Grand Central Apple Store design looks beautiful, it could even be open for the holidays

Apps

• Facebook for iPad found hidden in the latest iPhone app update?
• NASA Visualization Explorer for iPad hits the App Store
• Google tweaks iPad search experience
• Amazon updates Kindle app, adds new features, removes link to web store [Updated: Nook and Google Books too]
• Netflix for iPhone, iPad updated to support iOS 4.3.4 (and iOS 5!)

Lake Minneola High School has adopted the iPad as its future learning device of choice. When students return next month they will have access to a shiny new iPad for school time and home use. Lake Minneola will be the first public school in Central Florida to buy Apples iconic tablet for all of its students.

“Students learn differently now because of the technology,” said Kathy Halbig, innovative learning manager for the Lake school district who is overseeing the project. “Students are used to having multiple sources and being able to have more social collaboration in their learning process rather than just doing it sitting quietly and reading.” “Rather than have a child have five tools on his or her desk they’ve got one tool that will function as the textbook, the Slate, the Internet access, note taker, calendar,” she said.

The school has invested around $700,000 buying up 1750 iPads for its students. Teachers are already planning lessons using the iPad as the focal point complete with selected educational apps. The school believes that it will save them money in the long term.

The iPads will be locked down to prevent students installing apps that are not appropriate to the school learning process. Each iPad will also be supplied with a rugged case to protect it from everyday school life.

[Orlando Sentinel]