While they’re currently selling well, the e-reader will soon be made obsolete by the tablet.

E-readers like Amazon’s Kindle and the Barnes Noble Nook are hot sellers at the moment, but experts predict they may soon be a thing of the past. Six million e-readers were sold last year, but studies by Forrester tech research company predict that by the end of 2012, more people will own tablets than e-readers.

It’s not hard to understand why, since tablets like the iPad have multiple functions, while all you can do with the e-reader is, well, read. The e-reader does have a price advantage, but that will fade as the price of tablet computers fall. The makers of the most popular e-readers seem to be preparing for the future, as Amazon is already developing a tablet of its own. The online retail giant has a better chance than most of the other companies churning out iPad wannabe tabs, because Amazon has its own ecosystem that rivals Apple’s, with e-books, music and streaming video. Barnes Noble has moved its Nook Color closer to becoming a tablet by adding the capability to run Android’s Froyo software.

But as the tablets grow lighter, less expensive and more feature-filled, it will become harder for the e-reader to compete. Consumers have become much fonder of devices that can perform multiple tasks rather than having to drag around a bagful of gadgets. Susan Kevorkian, a research director at tech research firm IDC, said, “We think there’ll continue to be a niche for purpose-built e-readers but that niche is getting smaller and smaller as it gets less and less expensive to buy a multifunctional device.”

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We don’t usually cover much international news, but this story was just too darned funny to pass up. We love the iPad 2, but is it really worth fighting over?

The iPad 2 just went on sale in China on Friday, but a melee has already broken out in Beijing’s top Apple Store. On Saturday afternoon, irate customers rushed the store after an Apple employee allegedly attacked several people he accused of jumping the queue. Somehow, I suspect this is not recommended by the official Apple employee handbook. Especially since Apple doesn’t offer combat pay.

The anger-challenged employee went back inside the store to find the enraged customers smashing the glass front door and pushing past security guards. The police were called in and four injured customers taken to the hospital.

According to the Beijing News, the store closed early on Saturday but will be open for business on Sunday after posting notices announcing that queue jumping and unauthorized sale of Apple products will not be permitted. The paper also reports that the lines to purchase an iPad 2 are so ridiculously long that people are selling their places in line and reselling the tablets after leaving the store.

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Conde Nast isn’t the first publishing giant to come to terms with Apple over iPad subscriptions for its titles, but it will be the first to rollout an issue.

It’s been an eventful week for both Apple and the print publishing industry. After months at an impasse on how to handle offering subscriptions on the iPad, three publishing giants have come on board and will be selling in-app subscriptions for the content of their magazines. Hearst and Time Inc. were the first to cut deals with Apple and now Conde Nast has joined them.

Conde Nast will actually be the first to make a subscription to one of its titles available, as it will offer the New Yorker next week to take advantage of the media frenzy over the death of Osama Bin Laden. By the end of the month, Conde will add seven more iPad edition subs for Glamour, Vanity Fair, Self, Allure, Wired, Golf Digest, and GQ.

To sweeten the deal, Conde will be dropping single-issue prices of its digital titles from the current $3.99 or $4.99 to $1.99 and offer new annual subs for $19.99. In addition, print subscribers to the eight Conde Nast titles already offered for the iPad will get free access to the digital editions.

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Today iPad.net brings you Part 3 of our series on some good accessories to go with your new iPad 2. Let’s take a look at three more types accessories.

Bluetooth mono headsets

While you may be able to pair some of the Bluetooth mono headsets with the iPad 2, you may not be able to direct most of the audio of the iPad 2’to the headset nor be able to use the microphone of the headset with those applications that allow microphone input.

However, this is may be the case with the standard mono Bluetooth headsets. Some of the Bluetooth headsets that are single ear like those from Jabra will support A2DP despite the fact that they are mono models.

In the case of the earlier iPad, the A2DP single-ear headsets could be paired to listen to music or play other audio via the headset. And it is likely that this would hold true in the case of the iPad 2 as well.

Bluetooth speakers

Like in the case of most Bluetooth stereo (A2DP) headphones, the Bluetooth speakers can be easily paired with the iPad 2. Owing to the nature of the iOS 4.1 and subsequent versions, the speaker system controls can be utilised to control the iPad’s media playback.

The Bluetooth accessories that are required to stream audio on to the stereo, like the Bluetooth Music Reciever from Belkin, will also work well. Moreover, it will easily allow you to watch videos and/or play games on the iPad’s screen and simultaneously the audio will play via the big rig.

Powered speakers and other traditional stereo systems

The iPad, like any device that has an audio output, works well with the powered computer  speakers and/or other standard stereo systems that have line level inputs. All you will need to do is run the cable through the headphone jack of the iPad to any one of the inputs of the audio system. If you tend to use an adapter or a dock, you may be able to also connect the charger of the iPad to get the device charged faster as well.

For the next set of accessories stay tuned for Part 3 of this series on iPad.net

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Welcome back to the third part of this series. Today iPad.net takes you through some more camera apps that have been made compatible with the new iPad2. These apps are available on the App store and can be easily purchased for your iPad 2.

• iMovie

iMovie leverages on the power of the doubled RAM and the dual-core processor that are in the iPad 2. As a user, you will be able to watch the entire project and edit parts that you wish to, without any choppiness or lag. You can also use the camera of the iPad 2 to capture photographs and/or videos to use for the project. Moreover, you can use the app’s library of transitions and effects to jazz it up!

For $4.99, this camera app for the iPad 2 is certainly resourceful.

• Incredibooth

This app has a brilliant interface and is an extremely friendly homepage to photo booths of former times. It is a fun and exciting way for you and your friends to get together and create strips of action photographs.

You can also, if you wish, export some (or all) images that you capture. Incredibooth also includes features like Facebook sharing, email sharing and exporting to the iPad 2’s photo roll.

For only $0.99, you can transform your iPad 2 into a fancy photo booth.

• QuickShot

When you launch QuickShot, any photo that you take on the iPad2 will automatically be uploaded onto your Dropbox account. You can access these photos from your computer. The app does not bother with things like effects or filter. It is intended to be a simple and easy to use camera app that simultaneously uploads the photos to Dropbox. Moreover, the app retains that metadata of the photos when they are uploaded.

At $0.99, this app can be of good help.

For more camera apps to spruce up your iPad 2’s cameras, stay tuned on iPad.net.

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Hearst Corp. became the second major publisher to make a deal with Apple to sell app subscriptions.

Earlier this week, Time Warner became the first major print publisher to reach an agreement with Apple over selling subscriptions to magazines through the iTunes Store. Today, Hearst Corp. became the second, and will be bringing three of its most popular titles to the iPad. According to the Wall Street Journal, Hearst will make Esquire, Popular Mechanics and O, The Oprah Magazine available via in app subscriptions this July. All three will be priced at $19.99 for a yearly subscription, or $1.99 per issue.

Apple and the major names in print publishing have been at odds for months over several issues, including Apple’s reluctance to force users to reveal their demographic information, which is very valuable to the publishers for selling advertising. Both sides must have given in a bit, because the WSJ report states, “Over the course of recent talks with Apple, however, publishers have become more comfortable with the terms under which their titles will be sold in the App Store, according to people familiar with the talks.”

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Could Amazon have what it takes to produce a tab that can compete with the iPad?

Online retail giant Amazon has already taken a step into the tablet market with its Kindle e-reader, and now the company is ready to make the leap into tablet territory with a full-fledged tablet set to debut later this year. According to a report from DigiTimes, Quanta Computer has been contracted to build a tablet PC for Amazon, with orders estimated at 700,000 to 800,000.

DigiTimes also claims that E Ink is among the partners working on the project with Amazon. E Ink supplies the electronic paper display for the Kindle, and has been developing a color version of the technology for some time. The Amazon tablet is also reported to be using Fringe Field Switching (FFS) technology from E Ink subsidiary Hydis, which allows low-power color screens to be read in direct sunlight. In its commercials, Amazon has been dissing the iPad for screen glare, so this could be one feature that puts their tablet one-up on Apple’s.

While a report like this generally makes me think, yeah another iPad wannabe that’s going to sink like stone, a tab from Amazon has more going for it than those from Samsung or Motorola. Amazon has a lot of things they don’t, like its own Android app store offering 15 million songs, streaming movies through Instant Videos, millions of e-books from its Kindle service and Amazon Cloud Drive for cloud-based storage. Unlike the other Android tablets out there, this one will launch with an existing ecosystem that rivals that of Apple.

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A year ago, the iPad was supposed to be the savior of print publishing, but discord between Apple and the major publishers has prevented that from happening. Now we’re finally seeing a positive sign of progress.

Back when iOS subscription support was launched in February, Apple had a whole slew of restrictions and demands for participating publishers, like offering better sub deals within the app than on the outside. This pretty much prevented the publishers from offering discounts on the iPad editions to print subscribers. That was a major source of dissatisfaction among both subscribers and publishers. Why should a subscriber have to pay twice for the same issue, or pay 2-3 times the cost of a print subscription just to be able to read it on the iPad?

But on Monday, there were signs that Apple and Time Inc. had finally come to an agreement on the subject. According to the Wall Street Journal, The deal allows subscribers to Time Inc. publications to get free access to the iPad version upon authenticating within the individual app. The Journal states this could “signal a possible resolution between Apple and publishers.”

While Apple has made no statement on the change, the Journal reports that Time’s general counsel Maurice Edelson and Apple vice president of Internet services Eddy Cue can take most of the credit for the subscription deal.

Welcome back to the second part of this series. Today iPad.net looks at some more camera apps available on the App store, which have now been made compatible with the cameras on the iPad 2.

• Friendly plus

This app allows you to upload and post pictures you have just taken on the iPad 2. Several people who have used this app have complimented Friendly Plus for providing one of the best Facebook experiences for the iPad 2.

You can now take photos on your iPad 2, open up this app and post the pictures directly to Facebook. You can share every moment with your friends and family. Get it for $0.99 from the App store.

• WebEx

With this app from Cisco, you can have a mobile workstation right in front of you through your iPad 2. WebEx definitely gives us a glimpse of the future of tablet computing by allowing you to share content with others and also video chatting with them through the concept of picture in picture.

Definitely one of the best camera apps for any iOS device and more so for the iPad 2, mainly because this app utilises the bigger screen better. Best part is that the app is free.

• Twitter

Yes, we all know about Twitter. But did you know that Twitter has recently updated its app for the iPad 2 to support the dual cameras? Now you can directly tweet photos and videos from your iPad 2 via Twitter.

However, there is nothing else new for the iPad 2 apart from the camera compatibility. As always, Twitter is free for all iOS devices as well as the iPad 2.

For the next set of apps capable of showing off your iPad 2’s cameras, stay tuned on iPad.net and stay ahead of the herd.

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You have probably got yourself a brand new iPad and are wondering what to do next. While there are some people who moan and groan at the thought of accessories, there are some others who cannot live without them. However, the majority of people generally have a protective case for the iPad and or the iPhone.

It is hard to imagine the damage that dropping the device could do. The outcome, in such an event, can be quite disastrous if not for a protective case. Hence, some sort of a protective case is highly recommended for your brand new iPad.

Some users may prefer and require only a light protection – for instance, an InvisibleShield.  There are several positive reviews about the scratch-proof, thin protection that the Zagg product provides.

However, what if you prefer more protection than what a thin plastic layer can provide?

You are sure to come across a range of heavy duty sleeves and cases. However, none of them can match the power of the Extreme Sleeve that is made for the iPad. If you remember the soft-shell sleeve that protected an iPad from the 8lb bowling ball, G-Form took the Extreme Sleeve’s test to new heights (quite literally!).

Recently they have uploaded a video that demonstrates the Extreme Sleeve’s achievement. The test involved a 500 ft drop from an airplane. You have got to see it to believe it. You can watch this video at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKNdknJI53Qfeature=player_embedded#at=56

The company is known for its line of protective gear for extreme sports. With the soft-shell sleeve that is designed for the iPad, it is now venturing into consumer electronics accessories.

Although this accessory for the iPad is not currently available, pre-orders are being accepted and shipping of orders is expected to start on 2^nd May.

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