Ipad

WOULDN'T it be great to have Wi-Fi wireless Internet connectivity everywhere for our gadgets? Someday maybe we will - if big guns like Google and Comcast and forward-thinking municipalities ever decide to build hot spots to totally blanket the town. But at the moment, we can make do with freedom-breeding, Wi-Fi signal-spreading devices such as the D-Link DAP-1320 Wireless Range Extender and Novatel's aptly named MiFi Liberate mobile hot spot.   Plug 'n' Play Designed for home use, the tiny D-Link plug-in booster does a pretty decent job of extending the signal range of your current wireless router, which improves the speed and stability of signal reception at "fringe" zones far removed from the wireless router.

By Leonard Boasberg After Steve Jobs, with his usual hypismo, introduced Apple's phenomenal new iPad to an eagerly awaiting world, hordes of fans swarmed to Apple stores. According to the company, more than 300,000 iPads were snatched up on the first day of sales. Since then, the number has reached three million. This ultra-advanced gadget can do everything except wash windows and take out the garbage. It streams videos. It browses the Web. You can use it to telephone your friends, download movies, listen to music, watch ball games, play video games, and read e-books.

ORANGUTANS, it turns out, love the iPad and its games just as much as some humans do. A budding program at the Milwaukee County Zoo is working to place iPads into the giant, gentle palms of its orangutans. Two of the zoo's orangutans already look forward to weekly sessions with an iPad. They even have favorite apps, shows and games, but they haven't yet been given free rein with the Apple device because keepers worry they might get frustrated and simply snap one in half. "One of the biggest hurdles we face is that an orangutan can snap an iPad like you or I could rip cardboard," said Richard Zimmerman, executive director of Orangutan Outreach, which hopes to extend Milwaukee's iPad enrichment program to zoos around the country.

HERE'S the nitty gritty on "the new iPad" announced by Apple in San Francisco yesterday and going on sale worldwide on March 16. What it costs: To keep the "post-PC revolution" going, prices will still start at $499 for a 16GB Wi-Fi-only version, bumping up to $599 for 32GB and $699 for a 64GB tablet, in your choice of black or white case. Also, the older 16GB iPad 2 will be priced at a more "school-friendly" $399, said Apple CEO Tim Cook. Screen improvements: The new screen maintains the familiar 9.7-inch size but now boasts QXVA 2048x1536 resolution.

The shoppers who lined up Saturday to inspect Apple's latest i-invention envisioned a device that would help cut back on recycling, give a courtroom lawyer an edge, and bring a husband and wife closer together. "I think it's cute," said Tricia Strohmetz, 40, of Moorestown, I can play with this while he's watching TV, and we won't have to be in separate rooms. " Strohmetz was among the shoppers - tech-savvy and otherwise - who descended on Apple and some Best Buy stores Saturday to check out the 9.7-inch iPad, a sliver of a computer with a portable touch screen.

PALO ALTO, CALIF. - An iPad stolen from the home of the late Steve Jobs ended up in the hands of a professional clown who said Friday that he had no idea it was pilfered from the Apple co-founder's house. Kenneth Kahn, also known as Kenny the Clown, said he unwittingly received the stolen tablet from a friend who was later arrested for breaking into the Jobs residence in Palo Alto, the San Jose Mercury News reported Friday. "It would be like getting a football from Joe Montana that was stolen out of his house," Kahn said.

After months of speculation and rumor, Apple jumped into the small-tablet market Tuesday with the iPad Mini, a downsized addition to its line of iPads that in less than three years has spawned an entirely new consumer niche. Apple CEO Tim Cook took to the stage at San Jose's restored California Theatre, where Steve Jobs once shared the spotlight with Bono to unveil new iPods. Although Cook led off with other impressive advances in Apple's product lineup, the iPad Mini was clearly the star of the show: a 7.9-inch iPad small enough and light enough to fit into a hand.

The breakfast bustle is in full swing at Conshohocken Cafe and the waitresses bounce from table to table - chatting, refilling coffee, clearing plates. When they step into the kitchen, it's only to fetch orders, not put them in. In fact, you won't even find pads and pens at the cafe. Staffers key in orders on iPods and iPads linked to the kitchen through the cafe's WiFi network. SEE VIDEO Meanwhile, from anywhere in the world, the owners use their iPads to monitor the operation - seeing which tables are turning over when, and noting that, say, cheese omelets are the day's best seller.

Two taken in Craigslist iPad scheme * Island Avenue near Lindbergh Boulevard, Southwest Philadelphia Two men were robbed at gunpoint Sunday night after traveling from the suburbs to meet with men who posted ads on Craigslist claiming that they had iPads to sell for $300. A 45-year-old man met with two men at the Penrose Plaza Shopping Center about 10:20 p.m., thinking that he would return to Sharon Hill with an iPad, said Lt. John Walker, of the Southwest Detective Division.

Comcast Corp. made available to its cable-TV subscribers the WatchESPN service for iPhone and iPad devices, part of the TV Everywhere initiative. The WatchESPN app is free and allows Comcast subscribers to stream ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3 and ESPNU to the mobile devices. Comcast subscribers also can watch the channels on WatchESPN.com if they provide their Comcast credentials. Later this week, Comast says WatchESPN will be available on XfinityTV.com. Comcast acquired the mobile-streaming rights to ESPN content in a 10-year rights deal, valued at about $26 billion, with the Disney Co in January.

  Maybe it was the inflated claim of $1,500 for a stolen iPad that first caught the attention of insurance investigators. Or the report that there had been more than $116,000 in jewelry in a Louis Vuitton purse left on the backseat of the Lexus parked in Chester that was later reported stolen. But what sealed the case against Latrell Taylor of Morton, officials say, were her claims that the jewelry came from a store that had yet to open, and that the diamonds were a gift from her then-boyfriend who was in jail when the purchase was allegedly made.

WOULDN'T it be great to have Wi-Fi wireless Internet connectivity everywhere for our gadgets? Someday maybe we will - if big guns like Google and Comcast and forward-thinking municipalities ever decide to build hot spots to totally blanket the town. But at the moment, we can make do with freedom-breeding, Wi-Fi signal-spreading devices such as the D-Link DAP-1320 Wireless Range Extender and Novatel's aptly named MiFi Liberate mobile hot spot.   Plug 'n' Play Designed for home use, the tiny D-Link plug-in booster does a pretty decent job of extending the signal range of your current wireless router, which improves the speed and stability of signal reception at "fringe" zones far removed from the wireless router.

The German-style beer garden Brü Craft & Wurst is expected to open March 23 at 1318 Chestnut St. (215-800-1079), enlivening the quiet block between Juniper and 13th Streets. The location previously was the Mitchell & Ness retail shop. Brü is actually two joints in one: a wood-clad bar with 32 taps carved into a tree, with table service, as well as a beer garden with bench seating, walk-up counter, an oversize garage door facing McGillin's on Drury Street, and a six-tap computerized beer system on the wall.

It's early on Saturday evening, and South Philly's own Rocco Palmo emerges from what he calls "the bunker" after a week of hunkering down and heads toward Center City. It's time for a breather. Time for a change of scenery. Grab it while you can because on Monday, "the craziness" will simply grow in intensity. Palmo, 30, hair already thinning, body all angles, conversation careering from baseball to Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua to iPads and back again, is smack-dab in the middle of something no one alive has seen: what happens when a pope resigns.

WHAT MAKES Apple so hot - and the envy of all other electronics brands? Its ecosystem, largely. Apple-branded products don't just work well together; the goodies play even nicer when enhanced with accessories made by third-party vendors. Nowhere is this synergy demonstrated better than with the new Logitech Bluetooth Easy-Switch Keyboard ($99.99) and matching Rechargeable Trackpad for Mac ($79.99), which Gizmo Guy has deployed to compose this piece. Apple users like to line up several of the maker's devices on a desk.

I giggled last week when Betsey Johnson led models through a mock workout routine wearing froufrou sportswear - carrying champagne bottles as weights. The next day, I dreamed of owning my own cap-sleeve sheaths that Badgley Mischka sent down the fall runway. And the day after that, I was surprised that the collection by the usually light and airy Nanette Lepore was edgy and black. During New York Fashion Week, I tweeted about clutch bags, blogged on hairstyles, and didn't have to guess whether any of the models were wearing red or pink lipstick.

Glass markers with personality Wine markers are great for stemware, but we've been to one too many gatherings where we try to remember where we set down our stemless glass. Solve the problem with these colorful figures that stick with tiny suction cups. And have fun assigning markers to your party guests. Who is Sneaky? Macho? Curious? Vacu Vin Party People Glass Markers, $6.95 for 12 at Sur La Table stores, or www.surlatable.com . - Ellen Dunkel iPad slipcover   Many a cook has discovered the joy and convenience of cooking with an iPad, with literally millions of recipes and images at your fingertips.

Apple Inc.'s customers have downloaded more than 40 billion applications from the company's App Store, with almost half occurring last year as use of the iPhone and iPad surged. More than 2 billion apps were downloaded in December, a record, Apple said in a statement. The company, which has more than 775,000 apps available for its iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch devices, said it has paid more than $7 billion to the developers of those applications. Apple is counting on apps to help woo consumers who are choosing amid an increasing array of lower-price tablets from competitors, including Google Inc., Amazon.com Inc., and Microsoft Corp.

WE DON'T NEED a crystal ball to predict the future of high-tech gadgetry and the ways we'll interact with it. Not when we have CES - the giant annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas - to reveal all. The show opens Tuesday, and this Gizmo Guy will be blogging CES sights, sounds and wonders all week. In anticipation of the event, I've previewed some of the hottest new items. The year of ultra-HD: Pricey new televisions offering four times the clarity of today's high-definition screens are the biggest (or at least loudest)