iPad 2

Is it possible to dethrone the iPad? That seems to be the question on everyone's mind. I guess anything is possible, but the future for Apple competitors is not looking too bright as of right now. The HP TouchPad failed miserably to make a dent in the tablet war, and Apple is doing its best to make sure people won't get their hands on a Samsung Galaxy Tab. However, there is a new rumored device that people are predicting will give the iPad a run for its money -- the Amazon tablet.

Amazon has an advantage that other tablet manufacturers didn't have, they can learn from the past mistakes of Hewlett-Packard and Google. Offering a similar priced tablet with a barren app store isn't going to topple the iPad. It's going to take something creative and most-likely cheaper to grab people's attention.

I guess the $99 HP TouchPad sale wasn't enough to woo the coaching staff of the National Football League's Tampa Bay Buccaneers. All of the Bucs' players received an iPad 2 to replace their oversized playbooks.

The iPads also allow players to watch tape of games and practices.

"It's convenient. It's fast," safety Cody Grimm said. "I was snacking out on the couch and watching some film, and realized I was, like, two quarters through a game already."

Logitech's new iPad 2 joystick for gamers is a thumb-stick style game controller that attaches to your iPad with a suction cup. It can be used with almost any iPad game that uses an on-screen joystick or d-pad. It will be available in September with a SRP of $20.

The Logitech Fold-Up Bluetooth keyboard comes with a stand that turns your iPad 2 into a laptop-like device for easy typing. It's a full sized keyboard that charges via USB. The keyboard folds under your iPad when not in use making your tablet kind of bulky. The Fold-Up keyboard will also be available in September for $130.00.

I have to admit, I understand why some people prefer Android phones. They just want a mobile device to make phone calls, and enjoy the occasional bells and whistles. They might not take a lot of photos with their phone, but that doesn't mean they never will.

Android allows people to test the waters of the smartphone without having to invest heavily in an iPhone (or maybe some people just hold a grudge against Steve Jobs). Whatever the reason, Apple fans are like film geeks pushing widescreen on people who want to watch Blu-ray in fullscreen. It doesn't make much sense, but who really cares. However, tablets are another story, a tablet is more of a privilege than a necessity to some. So it makes sense that more tablet buyers prefer the iPad over other devices.

A report published by Robert W. Baird, a Milwaukee-based wealth management and analyst company, revealed that 95 percent of people who own a tablet or plan to buy a tablet prefer the iPad. Ten percent chose the Hewlett-Packard TouchPad, eight percent chose the Samsung Tab 10.1, and four percent preferred the BlackBerry Playbook.

Learning a valuable lesson from the music industry, newspapers and magazines have been trying to figure out way not to hand their lives over to Steve Jobs. The newest trend is offering free tablets with subscriptions to their publications. The Tribune Company, who owns newspapers like the Los Angeles Times and The Baltimore Sun, is looking to develop their own tablet to compete with the iPad.

The Tribune has been working on a possible promotion where new subscribers to any of their papers can receive a free or discounted tablet. For this to happen, they will need to team up with a manufacturer, like Samsung, and a cellular carrier.

CNN writes that the "tablet is expected to run a modified version of Google's Android operating system and prominently feature software for the owner's hometown newspaper." However, developing the device turned out harder than anticipated and progress has been met with some delays.

Launching $46,000 worth of iPads from a catapult wasn't an option, so a group of Chinese smugglers came up with a better idea to smuggle Apple devices into China.

Chinese authorities caught six smugglers trying to avoid taxes by transporting iPads illegally across province borders using a zip line. The Apple cargo (including iPhones) was shipped using a nylon bag and a 300-metre line stretched across the Sha Tau Kok River. Hong Kong and Chinese custom officials said it took about 2-minutes to send the goods down the line.

Hours after TechCrunch discovered a hidden code for the Facebook iPad app, Facebook closed the door leaving many iPad users stuck out in the cold. Luckily for Facebook fans, the coder known as Chpwn, found a way around the FaceBook block for jailbreak users.

If you're an iPad owner who can't wait for the official release, all you need is the FaceForward Cydia app to install Facebook on your device.

The Google+ iPhone app has been a hot commodity since its launch this week, but what about the iPad and iPod touch? Currently the Google Plus app only works on the iPhone 3G, 3GS, and iPhone 4 running iOS 4.0 or later, but a Redmond Pie reader found an easy workaround to install the popular app on other Apple devices.

To learn how to install the jailbreak free Google Plus iPhone app on your iPad, check out the iDownload Blog team's "How To" YouTube video, and our step-by-step instructions below.

Remember, the Google Plus app was created for the iPhone, so it's not a great fit for the iPad display resolution. You can try zooming in, or if your iPad is jailbroken using RetinaPad like the person in the video, to try and make it look better.

I know how Sears feels. When I was younger I worked for a large retail store where people would regularly bring me expensive items and tell me they found them in a dump bin or on the discount shelf. A lot of them cited some fictional law that said I had to give them the discounted price. I spent many wasted hours of my life explaining why people couldn't buy a pair of $100 brand name sneakers for only $10.

Sears is facing a similar headache after they accidently listed the 16GB iPad 2 for $69 on their website. The retail store blamed a third party seller for the mistake, and informed people who bought the discounted device, that they wouldn't be honoring the false sale price after it went viral on Facebook and Twitter.

Tired of your kids mucking up your iPad with useless junk like Angry Birds? Want to keep your iPad separate from your wife but can only afford one? A new mod called iUsers looks to solve your problems by offering multiple user accounts for the iPad.

Just like your home computer, the new iPad tweak allows you to create multiple user profiles to keep your information separate. This is a great tool for families who need to share their device. Dad doesn't have to worry about losing important information, and kids can set their own game scores by keeping them divided.