Free Republic

Prisoners are streaming Hollywood hits, curating Spotify-style playlists and getting access to popular video games thanks to an explosion in iPad-style tablets inside institutions across the country. One company alone is providing devices to 600,000 inmates, nearly one-third of estimated 1.9 million people in US jails and prisons. The ubiquitous tablets, which are still growing in popularity, were highlighted by a series of topless pictures of South Carolina murderer Alex Murdaugh, who used the device to make video calls directly from his cell. California – the nation’s second-biggest state correctional department – became the latest this month to complete a...

A federal grand jury indictment was unsealed today charging fourteen alleged members of an international criminal organization with dozens of fraud, conspiracy, identity theft and money laundering charges related to their multi-million-dollar counterfeit iPhone and iPad scheme. During a coordinated takedown that began early this morning, investigators executed 11 search warrants - including at two businesses plus several homes and vehicles located in Mira Mesa and Mission Hills - and seized an estimated $250,000 in cash plus 90 iPhones which are being evaluated to determine authenticity. As of today at noon, 11 of 14 defendants are in federal custody. Three...

Children are struggling to use and pencils because the excessive use of touchscreen phones and iPads is damaging their dexterity, specialists have claimed. Pediatric doctors, handwriting experts and orthopedic therapists are warning that although youngsters can swipe a screen, they no longer have the hand strength and agility to learn to write correctly when they start school. Increasingly, the use of digital screens is replacing traditional skills such as drawing, painting and cutting out, which boost fine motor skills and coordination. “Children coming into school are being given a pencil but are increasingly not be able to hold it because...

While resolving a flaw that could allow an attacker to execute code on your iOS device, the update also neuters the latest jailbreak to Apple's mobile OS. Apple's latest iOS update resolves another security flaw. Apple's latest update to its iOS software fixes a security hole that could have been exploited to take control of your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Released on Thursday, iOS 9.3.4 addresses the problem as one in which an "application may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges," according to an Apple support page. That means an attacker could execute virtually any command,...

CNN's partnership with Bing and Microsoft was going great until someone switched the camera angle. From the front, all midterm viewers could see last night was an immaculate row Microsoft Surface Pro 3 tablets: ...But like a Playboy resting comfortably in a geometry textbook, there were iPads lurking...

“So, your kids must love the iPad?” I asked Mr. Jobs, trying to change the subject. The company’s first tablet was just hitting the shelves. “They haven’t used it,” he told me. “We limit how much technology our kids use at home.” I’m sure I responded with a gasp and dumbfounded silence. I had imagined the Jobs’s household was like a nerd’s paradise: that the walls were giant touch screens, the dining table was made from tiles of iPads and that iPods were handed out to guests like chocolates on a pillow. Nope, Mr. Jobs told me, not even close....

All textbooks on iPad at my child's high school, computers for all from K-12 in the school district where I live. This even though most kids already have one and some have more than one computer of their own, the schools private and public have purchased from Apple zillions of MacBook Airs and iPad Airs to bestow upon their students. Students are to use a program called Noteability to write on the screens with the stylus that came with the "device" and use Google connect to send in to their teachers. Did anyone ask the parents for input on any...

Moscow — Russian government officials have swapped their iPads for Samsung tablets to ensure tighter security, the telecoms minister told news agencies on Wednesday. Journalists spotted that ministers at a cabinet meeting were no longer using Apple tablets, and minister Nikolai Nikiforov confirmed the changeover "took place not so long ago." "We are not proposing any sanctions," he said

The Obama administration on Saturday vetoed a U.S. trade body's ban on the sale of some Apple AAPL +1.28%iPhones and iPads, a rare move that upends a legal victory for smartphone rival Samsung Electronics Co. 005930.SE +0.47% U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman made the decision to veto the ban on the Apple devices, citing concerns about patent holders gaining "undue leverage." He said Samsung could continue to pursue its patent rights through the courts.

Deep down inside we all regret the fact that we have turned Christmas, originally a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, into a feast of consumption. Americans view themselves as being the worst example of this attitude and behavior. But are they? Perhaps there are nations even worse. Below, a report from an American ex-pat living in my home country, Sweden. The article; "Rampant holiday consumerism is hard to avoid, writes US-native and parent Rebecca Ahlfeldt, as she struggles to reconcile competing Swedish and American Christmas traditions in finding gifts for her children. Our family has entirely too much...

TAMPA — Every year on every NFL team, the Turk nervously ambles next to players in the locker room, dorm room or cafeteria, his role a designated dream killer whose only job is to signal the death knell to somebody's career. He delivers two messages: The coach wants to see you, and bring your playbook. Well, never again in Tampa Bay. Instead, he'll ask them to bring their iPad. That's because rather than producing thick periodicals the size of the Yellow Pages, the Bucs have downloaded their playbooks on iPad 2s and distributed them to each of their 90 players....

AUBURN, Maine — Moments after her daughter worked on writing and pronouncing letters on an iPad 2 Thursday, Natasha Landry said she was happy the Auburn School Committee voted to give kindergartners the tablet computers in the fall. “It makes it easier for teachers to teach a larger group of kids, one on one, without having more teachers,” Landry said in the hall of Washburn Elementary School. Rhianah Landry, 5, a kindergarten student at Washburn Elementary School in Auburn, works with literacy instructor Mauri Dufour on a borrowed Apple iPad 2 tablet computer Thursday. Educators were excited about a School...

While it can perform many of the functions of a PC or Mac, Apple's iPad— including the new iPad 2—lacks two of the most common and frequently used features of a traditional computer. It has no standard USB port for connecting a flash drive or external hard disk, so you can't move files into and out of it from these devices. And it doesn't have a systemwide, user-accessible file system like those on traditional computers. The iPad lacks a USB port and can't accept a flash drive or external hard disk. So how do you get your files on it?...

By the pricking of my thumbs,something tablet this way comes... Apple tablet definitely coming in 7" size? by Boy Genius Blog on December 23rd, 2009 at 9:41am We’re really going out on a limb here, but one of our very connected sources let us know that they’ve heard very solid information about Apple’s upcoming tablet. It has been widely reported recently that the size of the tablet is 10″, but there was also talk about a 7″ model. Our connect said there is 100% a 7″ Apple tablet, to be announced in January, and whether this is in addition to...