Apple's
(AAPL) iPad tablet computer will be available in March starting at $499, but it
already has sparked a range of questions about how it will work. The
touch-screen multimedia device uses the same operating system as Apple's
popular iPhone and can access the 140,000 apps available to the iPhone and iPod
Touch. USA
TODAY reporter Jefferson Graham offers some answers:
Q: There's no USB or SD
slot. How do I convert video
to ipad?
A: Through iTunes and
your PC or Mac computer. Think of the iPad as a giant iPhone or iPod (which of
course, it is). Apple hasn't changed the transfer system. You need to connect
the iPad to your computer and sync the video, music and photos through iTunes.
But here's a potential
time-saver: Apple will release a 30-pin adapter - think of the wide end of the
cable that syncs your iPod to your computer - to connect digital cameras and
the iPad. Apple says it will work only with digital cameras, but can a hack for
all sorts of media really be far behind?
Q: I already have my
photos and videos stored online. Can't I access them in the same way I do on
the iPhone?
A: Photos on sites such
as Facebook, Shutterfly and Phanfare will be easy to pull up - and even quicker
if you go through one of their apps - but videos stored on Facebook and
Shutterfly won't play because they're in the Flash format, which the iPad
doesn't support.
Q: The iPad is billed as
the ultimate multimedia device, but I can't play most Web video or animation?
What's up with that?
A: The iPhone and iPod Touch
leave big white holes when you try to access video and animation on popular
websites such as Hulu, Vimeo, Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon, which are
displayed in Flash video.
Apple says it supports
HTML5, a new Web video standard, and not Flash, without giving any reason.
Forrester Research
analyst James McQuivey says that with all of the criticism about the strain on
AT&T's 3G
network, Apple is better off not offering Flash support.
"It would kill the
network," he says. "People would be watching all day. Maybe two years
from now, they could handle the traffic, but not now."
There is a work-around
for watching Web video: Use an app. YouTube, Break.com, CNN.com, MSNBC.com and
many other big video sites have apps that let you watch video.
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