Provided this is just a preview of the upcoming biology digital textbook, you’ll get a sample chapter “Introduction to Ecology” and a glimpse of (maybe) the best iBook around.
Sponsored by the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation and Professor Wilson himself, this iBook is so well done you’ll want to learn everything about Biology!

Anyway, besides the topic and content, this 51-pages iBook is one of the very best examples of what can be done with iBooks as an educational tool.
It’s so full of widgets, not just high-quality video, but plenty of javascript …

Karaoke comes to the iPad – so you can sing, record, share and have fun – all with the magical touch of your iPad!
With your iPad as your karaoke stage and studio, you can sound like a pro, record your stellar performances, and share your favorites with one touch!
Soulo’s innovative features get you inside the song like never before.
SING with built-in pitch enhancement so you’re always in key.
Turn the lead vocals up if you want to hear them or down if you’re ready to take the …

According to an IBM report, iPhone, iPad rose up to 13 percent of all online purchases on Christmas.
More figures show that on December 26, online sales rose by 27.8 percent compared with 2010.
Eyeing online sales across 500 retailers on December 25 and 26, IBM’s latest holiday benchmark report found a surge in cybershopping from mobile devices.
A full 16 percent of all online traffic recorded by IBM came from mobile devices, a surge of 109 percent from last year.
The great – and strange news come from the fact that purchases …

In July we wrote about Flipboard for iPad and this social media aggregator has become huge since then.
Today, Flipboard becomes available for iPhone and with a stable release too!
A new personalized-reading app for the iPhone is being launched by Flipboard, the design-centric company that led the customized-news charge with its app for iPad.
News can be rapidly browsed with a thumb flick from the hand holding the iPhone, like a digital Rolodex.
As you may expect, signing up a (free) account on Flipboard bring the same content, RSS-feeds and windows arrangements and …

Sting’s app: celebrating 25 years of solo career, Steve Jobs and… a “message in an iPad”?

Flipboard has been a long-time favorite here at theiFile.com.
Today they’re announcing the new content guide!
Tap on the red ribbon at the top of your Flipboard to open the Content Guide. Here you can quickly browse great content, add social networks, or use the search bar to find any topic, blog, or person you want to check-out on Flipboard.

Business Insider reports in detail on iPad usage, hours per day, user experience, other mobile device comparison etc.
Some interesting facts:
28% users have promoted their iPad as primary computer
31% of computing daytime is now spent on iPad (vs. other devices)
36% is browsing time on iPad
more than 70% use between 1 and 10 apps (almost always the same app…)
3G iPads are slightly more than 54% (and 3G users are keen on buying some data plan)
iPads are not directly seen as ‘competitor’ to MacBook Air
Guess what? No iPad 2 competition – yet!
[Via BusinessInsider]

Here at TheiFile.com it’s all so quiet now…
We’d like to wish a Merry Christmas to everyone out there!

iPad has become important enough to deserve attention from Altec Lansing, that on November, 16th released Octive Stage (MP540), its first iPad-oriented audio system.
At US$149.95, Octiv Stage features a cradle that holds the iPad in either horizontal and vertical position, or a iPhone or iPod touch as well.
The cradle recharges the device while docked.
In the box you will find also an infrared remote; on the cradle You’ll see a 1/8-inch stereo input jack for connecting other audio sources.
According to Altec Lansing, audio from movies has been optimized as well as …

Our search for the dream workplace has landed in Britain, precisely at that curious newspaper for finance moguls and hat-wearing gentlemen from Lombard Street, the Financial Times.
Their CEO, John Ridding, announced that every staff member (hey, 1,800 people) will get a £ 300 (US$ 480) rebate against the purchase of an iPad before June 30th, 2011.
Ridding said the the rebate is either a reward for the good job done on the iPad and an encouragement to get skilled and experienced about tablets.
The free Financial Times app made one million English …

Did you read all that bullshit about the iPad being a consumption device, neither good for work nor content production?
Well, Damon Albarn told NME to have recorded his new Gorillaz album on an iPad.
I’ve made it on an iPad – I hope I’ll be making the first record on an iPad, Damon said. I fell in love with my iPad as soon as I got it, so I’ve made a completely different kind of record.
Now it’s clear that whatever you read in the past about iPad not being able to …

IMDb, the Internet Movie Database, is an online movie central that offers largest collection of movie, TV shows and celebrity information. Now you can access this information right on your iPhone device via latest IMDb app.
The app provides you with every detail of movies and TV shows: lose yourself in Hollywood!
The IMDb iPhone & iPad app brings the whole mobile viewing IMDb experience at your fingertips. The app provides you information on a widest range of movie and TV titles, celebrities, movie showtimes, TV listings, trailers, photos, box office results, …

Although in Chinese, the video below well deserves a look: a fake Steve Jobs, a chinese one namely, holds a press conference yesterday in Hong Kong to celebrate the launch of the MTR Mobile (Hong Kong’s transportation ) subway app (check here the app, if you dare!).

The clone at the conference was local celebrity Law Kar-ying; Law seems to have studied the man he was emulating quite well: he gets everything right, from the gulps of bottled water to the Levis and turtleneck.
Great!
[Via Tuaw and winandmac.com]