The third generation of the iPad came out last week and it was an instant hit for Apple as the company managed to sell no less than 3 million units in the first weekend, not taking into consideration those customers that made a preorder for the new tablet.

The new model is a combination of futuristic and familiar, with a design that is basically the same as the one we’ve seen on the iPad 2, while on the inside the hardware components have been slightly upgraded. Not taking into consideration the display, there aren’t any huge differences between these two models.

Now, let’s do take into consideration the screen which for most is considered to be the heart of a tablet. Apple has decided to double the resolution of the display to an impressive 2,048 x 1,536 pixels. You won’t be able to find another screen with this resolution in your home, because your desktop computer or a laptop doesn’t have it, nor does a 1080p TV. Taking into consideration that the tablet costs as little as $499 and will fit in your lap, the inclusion of such a screen is remarkable. Since we have mentioned the price tag of the device, it has remained the same as the first generation of the tablet which came out in 2010. The entry-level variant will set you back $499 and comes with 16GB of built-in storage which for most people is enough. If you’re not one of them, you can opt for the 32GB variant which costs $599, while the bigger 64GB version carries a retail price tag of $699. Regardless of the storage available, all three iPads are capable of accessing the Internet over a Wi-Fi connection and can be ordered in white or black. If you’re willing to spend $130 more you can gain access to the Internet over a 3G or a 4G cellular network. If you haven’t owned an iPad and you are on a strict budget, you should know that Apple is still offering the second generation of the tablet (16GB version) for $399, while the model with 3G support costs $529. This is a great price tag taking into consideration that it still remains one of the best tablets on the market. Moving on to the design, you can easily see that it looks virtually the same as the iPad 2. The glass and aluminum construction of the new model still measures 9.5 inches tall and it is 7.31 inches wide. The thickness has changed a little bit as it now stands at 0.37 inches, while the curb weight has slightly increased to 1.44 pounds. Other than that, the home button can still be found on the screen’s bottom, while on the right spine you will have access to the mute switch/rotating lock and the volume rocker. On top of the iPad (2012 model) you have access to the headphone output and the sleep/wake button, while at the bottom edge sits the same 30-pin port.

The new iPad is not one of the lightest and thinnest tablets on the market as more and more other companies have launched such products, a relevant example would have to be the Excite X10 LE from Toshiba. Apple bets that the top notch screen of the new iPad will grab all the attention. Up until now, they were very right on this one.

Welcome back to the second and final part of our article about useful Apple iPad 2 tips, and we begin by recommending that you can make your passcode a little bit more complicated taking into consideration that iOS defaults to a 4-digit passcode. You’re able to turn this off by going to Settings > General > Passcode Lock > Simple Passcode and now you’re allowed to use any password that you prefer in order to lock the tablet.

Another thing that you might want to do is set your tablet to erase all of the data after ten failed attempts of entering the passcode. To do this you must check the Erase Data option which you can find in Settings > General > Passcode Lock.

For enabling the AutoFill feature in Safari you will have to browse through Settings > Safari > Autofill. Once you get there you can select that Safari will fill the forms automatically by remembering the names & passwords that you have previously used for logging into websites, or by using you specified contact info. You also might want to synchronize your bookmarks. For doing this you will have to use iTunes to sync the bookmarks in Safari with the web browser on your computer. You must open iTunes and tap on the iPad tab and after that click on the Info tab. Next, scroll down to the “Other” heading and then make sure that you check on the “sync bookmarks with”, choosing the web browser that you use. For those of you that want to e-mail photos, the easiest way to do this would be via the Photos application. What you have to do is select the photo that you’d like to send and after that click on the button located in the upper-right corner and then select Email photo. As you most know, you are able to see the attachments in an e-mail with the default application, but if you don’t like it you can change this app. To modify it you’ll have to press & hold and after that wait for a menu which will allow you to choose the desires application. For showing traffic conditions you must open Maps and on the lower right of the screen press the dog-eared page icon. Next, turn on the Traffic overlay and if your tablet has an Internet connection, Maps will be able to display real-time traffic conditions.

Red means that the traffic is stop-and go; yellow means that the traffic is slower in comparison to the posted speed limit, whereas green means that the traffic is at posted speed limit. Some users might want to find out if their accounts in iTunes are due for any upcoming downloads. To find this out you’ll have to open iTunes on the computer and then click on the Store menu. After that you have to Check for available downloads.

Setting up your Apple TV is a fast and straightforward process as all you need is a HDMI cable for connecting the device to your TV, and in this article we will provide some useful Apple TV tips. Once you have finished setting itup, turn on the device and choose the language, Wi-Fi network and after that enter your iTunes user and password. In order to utilize the device as an iTunes extender there are a bunch of steps that you need to follow.

On your Mac you will have to make sure that you’re running the latest version of iTunes. To find out if you have the newest version you must go to the menu bar and select “iTunes” and after that choose “About iTunes” or you can select “iTunes” and then “Check for Updates” to find out if the version you’re running is the latest one.

Another step that you need to take is to turn on the Home Sharing feature in iTunes. In order to do so you will have to click on “Advanced” and after that select “Turn on Home Sharing”. In this step you must provide your iTunes userid and password. For those of you that would like to see the photos on the Apple TV in iTunes, you must go to “Advanced” and after that select “Choose Photos to Share”. Now you will have to check “Share Photos from iPhoto” as well as “Include Videos”. Keep in mind that if your Mac puts itself automatically to sleep, the Apple TV won’t be able to see the iTunes library. You might want to go to the Settings and select “Energy Saver” and make sure that “Wake for network Access” is turned on so that when the Apple TV will start looking for the Mac, your computer will automatically wake up. On the Apple TV you must navigate to “Settings” and after that select “Computers” and then “Turn On Home Sharing”. Now you will have to provide the same userid and password as you did before on your Mac. Those who want their photos to appear in the screen saver must go to the “Settings” menu and after that select the computer that has the photos. The user has the possibility to choose a certain album which will be displayed.

There are other Apple TV tips that we can give you, like the fact that you can control the device with the help of your iPhone or an iPod Touch. The great thing is that you won’t have to turn on the TV if you only want to listen to music, assuming the fact that you have connected the Apple TV to the stereo with the help of an HDMI cable or an optical cable. For setting this up you must download the Apple remote application which is free on the App Store. Now, start this app on your iPhone or iPod and then click on “Home Sharing” to turn it on. In the Apple TV you will have to go to “Settings”, then “General”, then “Remotes”, then “Remote App” and after that click on the OK (Select) button. In the remote application you must choose the Apple TV and then you’re good to go. If you want to reset your Apple TV you will have to get the remote control and press both the “Menu” and “Down” buttons right until you will notice that the LED on the device flashes rapidly.

This is the second and final part of our article about Siri for the Apple iPhone 4S and we will continue to offer some tips that you should consider in order to make better use of what Siri has to offer. It is highly recommended that you give the full command in one shot. Siri is fully capable of understanding run-on sentences so you should try to give full details about a command at once.

Another valuable tip that we can give you is to speak full names clearly. If Siri is not capable of understanding a proper name the first time you tell it, usually it will show you some options grabbed from your Contacts. Needless to say, you will now have to select the right person, and Siri (supposedly) is going to learn from your input. The more you say the same name for several times and the more you choose the corresponding option; Siri will learn how you are pronouncing the names that are in your phone’s Contacts list so it won’t make these mistakes as often in the future.

You also might want to consider adding relationships words such as “daughter”, “son”, “dad” and “wife”. If you say “call my dad” Siri is going to ask you who your dad is and once you select it from the Contacts list Siri is going to know the next time who your dad is.

If you have used Siri before you probably have realized that it is imperfect. If you are unable to look at the screen of your iPhone 4S, you have the possibility to instruct Siri to read back your transcribed message before it will send it in order to prevent confusing, embarrassing and awkward errors. When Siri is going to ask you whether to save or send the message, you should say “read it to me” first, and now Siri is going to tell you the message that you are about to send. If you hear any mistakes, you can tell Siri what needs to be changed.

Once you tap on the mis-transcribed text, this will become editable. Fix what’s wrong with a word and then Siri will reprocess the corrected instruction, which means that it will understand what you wanted to say in the first place. Another way to go would be that when the on-screen keyboard appears for editing the message, you have the possibility to use the microphone button to activate the 4S to start taking dictation.

The only method that you have to obtain Siri at the moment is by purchasing an Apple iPhone 4S. However, if you don’t have the money for this smartphone but you are still curios to find out how it works, on the App Store you will find two similar (free) applications: Vlingo and Dragon Go! for iPhone. These will work regardless of the version of the iPhone that you have, but keep in mind that these do not have some of the features that Siri comes with.

In addition, if you don’t have an iPhone, chances are that you own an Android device (since Windows Phone 7 is not very popular at the moment) which is why you might want to have a look at a similar application developed for Google’s operating system which is called Speaktoit, a software that will offer you a taste of what Siri is capable of doing for you.

Launched back in 2009, the third generation of the Apple iPod Classic comes with a generous 160GB hard drive which sits inside the same enclosure as its predecessor (which had a 120GB HDD) that measures 2.4 x 4.1 x 0.41 inches. When it came out, it was the only device left from Apple that had a plastic screen, whereas the other ones went for a resistant glass screen.

Just like the model it replaced, the iPod Classic 3G offers support for creating instant Genius playlists which consist of developing instant 25-song playlists based on the music characteristics of one song. Not only Genius is very easy to use but the results are quite impressive and fun, that is if you have a lot of music files stored on the hard drive which probably won’t be an issue since you get so much storage space to store your audio files. You have the possibility to create and save these playlists directly on your iPod and you also can transfer them to your computer by using the iTunes software application.

This third generation of the Apple iPod Classic also offers support for recording voice memos. The device offers support for M4V, MP4, MPEG-4 and H.264 formats at a maximum resolution of 640 x 480 pixels at 30 fps. Videos can be bought or rent via iTunes or you can import your own and iTunes will convert them so that the iPod Classic will be able to play them.

As far as the audio support is concerned, this has remained the same as before, and you can manually add and delete your music and video files, but taking into consideration that you have 160GB of available storage, most likely you will prefer to sync your media library automatically. The sound quality is not only crisp but also clear, but the bad news is that you won’t be getting a lot of enhancement options. You get to choose from 20+ equalization presets but keep in mind that about half of them are either indistinguishable from one another or they are basically useless.

Even though it comes with a small 2.5-inch display, video playback on the Apple iPod Classic 3G is excellent and it has a decent 320 x 240-pixel resolution. The device is capable of playing files encoded at a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels, while with a component AV cable from Apple you will have the possibility to watch the videos stored on your iPod Classic 3G on a TV set at a maximum resolution of 720 x 480 pixels (480p).

The battery of the device is rated to last for up to 6 hours of video playback or up to 36 hours during audio playback. All things considered, at the time of its launch, the third generation of Apple’s iPod Classic might not have been the best MP3 player on the market, but it was a hit thanks to its impressive storage capacity plus the audio quality was more than enough for most users. Other players that managed to do a better job in the audio department include the Sony X-Series Walkman, the Samsung P3 as well as the more popular Creative Zen. Even so, with a decent pair of headphones you will be more than satisfied with the audio quality offered by this iPod Classic 3G.