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You’ve seen the new iPad and your sold but the problem is…..you haven’t even had your iPad 2 for a year. I know, first world problem! Regardless, you want to get some cash for your old hardware, which you can turn around and buy that new iPad – not surprisingly, Apple is here to help. Using Apple’s recycling program will get you $205 for your used 16GB WiFi iPad 2 – that’s something. Apple’s not the only choice out there for trade-ins, you could always go with Gazelle or Amazon. In fact, Amazon will give you $300 for a near perfect condition 16GB/WiFi iPad 2 – Amazon cash that is. Either way, if you want the new iPad, there are plenty of ways to recoup some of the cash you just recently burned on that cool iPad 2.

For all of you wanting to give Apple your money, looks like March 16th (Friday) is your day. Apple released a press release stating that the new iPad will go on sale at their retail stores this coming Friday.

Apple® today announced the new iPad®, the third generation of its category defining mobile device, will arrive at Apple’s retail stores and the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com) on Friday, March 16 at 8:00 a.m. local time in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland and the UK; along with Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands….

Just a reminder, you can find our whole iPad article here or read on for the short version: the “New iPad” has added HD cameras (front & back), a beautiful retina display (2048×1536 display, that’s 264ppi), a A5X processor (clocked at  1Ghz/Quad-Core GPU & 1GB RAM_) and LTE connectivity (AT&T & Verizon). For all of you not really bothered about the new specs, Apple has also kept around the iPad 2 (Previous Gen) and it now starts at $399 – which is a great price for the hardware/ecosystem. The “New iPad” pricing is below – if you live outside of the states, you can find pricing here. Full Apple Press Release Here….

Source: Apple

BGR has posted what it claims are leaked specs from Apple’s upcoming iPad 3 and if the info is correct, Cupertino’s next tablet is going to pack some serious horsepower. The source providing the information to BGR has said that they have an iPad 3 production unit and have used a system utility called iBoot to record its internal specs. How about these specs:

 …the model numbers are J1 and J2 (iPad3,1 and iPad3,2), and while DigiTimes reported this a few weeks ago, these two models are not different devices, just a single iPad available in two versions — one with Wi-Fi only and one with Wi-Fi and embedded GSM/CDMA/LTE for all carriers. Also included in the photos is, for the first time, confirmation of which processor Apple will be using in the iPad 3: an A6 processor with model number S5L8945X. For reference, the Apple A4 model was S5L8930X and the A5 is S5L8940X. The new processor will also apparently be a quad-core model, making the upcoming iPad 3 the fastest iOS device ever….

So, what does this mean for us? Well, from the above specs, it looks like Apple’s next iPad will sport an A6 quad core processor – adding additional horsepower. Additionally, it looks like Apple will use a new broadband chip, allowing it to make one iPad, which will be able to use GSM (AT&T/T-Mobile) CDMA (Sprint/Verizon) and LTE (GSM/AT&T) high speed mobile data. One iPad to rule them all! If Apple can add a high resolution screen and sell the iPad 3 for $499 – lights out for the competition! If it also decides to continue to make and sell the iPad 2 for $399 – God help Samsung, Motorola and the lot.

Source: BGR

If you’ve never herd of Skitch but work with web graphics, especially sharing screenshots within your workgroup or business, you need to get Skitch. Up until now, Skitch was just an OS X app but recently it was bought by Evernote (Another Great App) and made free! So what does Skitch do: It easily allows you to edit, alter and share you screenshots with anyone – now available for the iPad and Android. Check out this video for more info:

I find myself using the desktop version of this all all day, whether it’s for this blog or for web design, it’s an extremely versatile app…..and it’s free.

Source: 9To5Mac

On the very day Rimm announced availability (April 19th) and pricing (16GB -$500) for its BlackBerry tablet, Apple counters with its own press release stating that the iPad 2 will go ahead and push into 25 more countries without delay on Friday, the 25th of March. This is what is called a ball-breaker! Apple will essentially have global distribution of the iPad 2 before the Playbook is even released in the States – Check & Mate!

Are you living in a lucky country? Have a look:

“…iPad 2 with Wi-Fi will be available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK on March 25 for a suggested retail price of $499 (US) for the 16GB model, $599 (US) for the 32GB model, $699 (US) the 64GB model. iPad 2 with Wi-Fi + 3G will be available for a suggested retail price of $629 (US) for the 16GB model, $729 (US) for the 32GB model and $829 (US) for the 64GB model. iPad 2 will be available in Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and additional countries in April, and in many more countries around the world in the coming months. Further international availability and pricing will be announced at a later date….”

One thing is for sure, don’t expect such low prices, especially for my brothers living here in Europe. Higher tax rates and import duties have sealed our faith and our price points but for the die hard iPad fans, I’m sure you’ve already sold your first born.

Source: Apple.com

This last Friday marked the first day Apple’s iPad 2 became available and four days into Jobs “third post-pc era”, we’re beginning to get some user reviews. From comments I’ve read across the blog-o-sphere, people seem to be very satisfied with the overall speed, thinness and graphics performance but one thing or should I say, “two things,” people are getting worked up about are the cameras. That’s right, Jobs & Co have placed two extremely low quality cameras (front/back) in their next gen tablet.

How bad are these cameras? Well, so bad that Apple didn’t even make mention about their specs at the iPad 2′s unveiling, nor can you find anything on Apple’s website. The chatter we’ve heard goes like this: The back side camera is upscaling 720p (like the 4th gen ipod touch) and the front facing camera (you know, the one meant for facetime) is less than 1 megapixel. If you want to sell us the full package Apple, go the distance – we don’t like foreplay.

So, first we had the iPad 2 tear down, courtesy of ifixit and now we have the heavy hitter – Anandtech’s graphics benchmark test for Apple’s new Tab. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand the results – The Cupertino Tab destroys the competition handedly. So where is this raw power coming from? Jobs and Company bragged about the iPad’s graphics prowess during its unveiling on March 2nd, stating that it had 9x the graphics horsepower of the first gen iPad but nothing was said in terms of where/how/why.

Enter AnandTech! It looks like the massive performance boost came from the PowerVR SGX543MP2 graphics core used by Apple, as part of their custom SOC – i.e. A5 processor. Apple has been using custom PowerVR chips from Imagination Technologies for years and their massive graphics power, combined with the custom ARM Cortex A9 (Dual Core 900Mhz) processor make Apple’s SOC A5 the heavy weight champ in mobile computing – because seriously, these are becoming very powerful mobile computers.

Ok, so if the iPad 2 beats the crap out of the first gen ipad and its main competitor, the Motorola Xoom, why didn’t Apple exploit this little fact at their March 2nd unveiling? Seem only logical…..right? Well, maybe the wanted third party benchmarkers to do the bragging/dirty work for them? Jobs did plenty of finger pointing and dissing during the event – why over state your position, when someone else can unbiasedly praise your Tab! HP, bring the heat!

Source: Anandtech.com

“If you build it, they will come.” Apple released the iPad 2 to the world on Friday and by limiting pre-orders, has generated lines at many of its retail locations – was this premeditated by Jobs & Company for the line-less Verizon iPhone 4 launch? Regardless, the faithful and non-believing lined up early Friday for their slice of the slate. Many organizations are already predicting 600,000+ ipad 2 sales just for this weekend, Apple’s stock price…..up 4.82 as of this article.

Source: BGR.com / Image Source: Cnet.com

Like clockwork, the Apple Store has been taken down, ahead of the rumored iPad 2 event this morning. Apple’s San Francisco event starts at 10am (PST) and shortly after it concludes, we should be able to see what goodies have been added the big A’s store front. Rumored: iPad 2, free-expanded version of mobileMe and iOS 5 – should be interesting. While it is unclear if Apple will live stream the event but if they do, it will be posted on Apple.com.

Source: Apple.com

Apple has started sending out invites for a March 2nd event in San Francisco and from the image above – it’s all about the ipad 2. We knew this was coming, we just didn’t have a date and from the ridiculous amount of rumors over the last two weeks, there were even chances of a release push back. Now that we now when, we still need the specs and……whom is going to host the event? My guess is that Jobs will not be there and that the iPad 2 will come in wifi – 3G – CDMA flavors with storage starting at 16GB. If they can hit a $499 price point – lights out Android. NEXT!

Get out your wallets, book your tickets and get ready to stand in line  because rumor has it that Apple’s having an iPad 2 preview event next week. What could this event tell us, well the rumors so far hint at the same resolution display, front/back cameras, 720p video recording, 1.2 Ghz A5 chip Dual core, larger speaker, new iOS, NFC, face time, mini display port and possible dual core graphics. It’ll need to be able to hang with the tabalanche of slates coming out and those specs sound about right. When can this possible event happen, how about Feb. 13! NEXT!!

Source: Appleinsider.com / Image Source: Devicemag.com

9 To 5 Mac has posted pictures of what appear to be the iPad 2′s display – ordered from ifixyouri. While the resolution is not known this much is: “we cannot tell if the resolution is higher (or “Retina”) but it is definitely higher quality in terms of its build. The iPad 2′s display is also lighter, and over a mm thinner than the current iPad’s display with a smaller surrounding frame.”

I foresee a flood of leaks if parts can already be ordered or had from China, so it’s only a matter of time before we know if the “retina” display rumors are true. Click Here to read the whole article.

Source: 9To5Mac.com