If Optimus Prime and the autobots owned iPads, they would probably look like one of these.
Sometimes fact is stranger than fiction. Fiction: Transformers are robotic life forms, capable of modifying their bodies into common machines. Fact: Apple's iPad is the best-selling tablet in existence, capable of modifying themselves to merge with common devices. Here are 10 examples.
1. Macintosh Classic
Fashion is always cyclical, and human boys aren't the only ones that want to be like Dad. The iPad above figured he'd try his father's "suit" on for size, bringing the Macintosh Classic look back into style. This mod is pretty straight forward to make, with the iPad fitting an empty Mac Classic shell like a glove. Unfortunately the iPad home button gets covered in the mod, but since when did your father's clothes fit you perfectly either?
2. iPad Car Mod
SoundMan Car Audio makes this custom-fit touchscreen moniter, in tribute to the religion that is Apple. It runs on the iPhone OS and is absolutely dripping with awesome sauce. Pictured above is a Toyota Tacoma dash, but the inset itself is only 9.7 inches so it can be retro-fitted to pretty much any car on the road.
3. iPad Typewriter
Now this is my cup of tea, since I'm all about the Hemmingway "umph" of a typewriter over the panzy "tap" of a laptop. Jack Zylkin is the brains behind the beauty, and you can see it in action in the video. Between $75 and $150 gets you a keyboard mod kit of your own (vender: USB Typewriter) and no additional wiring is necessary.
Via TFTS
4. iMac G4 Mod
This mod brought the corpse of a dead G4 back to life, Frankenstein style, by swapping out the screen for an iPad. The iPad Camera Connection Kit is also in use here, adding to the allure. Now, I wouldn't recommend modding a functional iMac, but if it's on the way to the trash heap anyway then it's worth a go.
[via Flickr]
5. iPad Guitar
Guitar Hero, eat your heart out. This is Motown meets Silicon Valley; a mash up of an iPad and various components to create a guitar shaped synthesizer. It aint pretty, but nobody ever accused a snowflake of being funky.
6. iPad on a bike!
For some reason, I'm having a hard time even thinking about barreling down the highway with a colorful, touchpad screen strapped below the bars. Call me crazy but a line of 2,500 lb. cars whizzing by at 70 mph is enough distraction for me. Nonetheless, if you have balls of titanium this mod might help you work up a sweat… and you can thank Vimeo's own Jesse Rosten (the modder) for the adrenaline shot.
7. iBook Mod
This iBook/iPad mash up is shades of the defunct Ideapad U1 concept that Lenovo proposed some time back. The gizzards of the iBook LCD are cleared out and replaced with the iPad itself. Ditto on the keyboard, which is an Apple aluminum keyboard swapout. You can't close the face else you scratch it, and it doesn't charge from the native plug port but it still has a certain level of character about it that earns an affirmative nod from me.
8. iPad Arcade
Sure, it looks kind of hodgepodge but any attempt to recreate the old-school arcade feeling is a step in the right direction in my book. The console shell is cardboard, which is why it looks rickety, but the joystick and buttons actually work thanks to an Arduino board sitting in the console cabinet. You have to watch the video really get a feel for this thing, but I personally give creator Hideyoshi Moriya two button-hungry thumbs up.
Via Forever Geek
9. iPad Skateboard
Jeff King and Chad Knight went and turned an iPad into a skateboard.
This is kind of silly, but Jeff King and Chad Knight shred. Real skateboards, at least (watch the video to see what I mean). I shouldn't have to say this but… don't try this at home.
New iPad Test – Will It Shred?
10. Dolphin Friendly iPad
Dolphins are veritably smarter than most bosses. And since most bosses have iPads then why shouldn't Flipper's breed? Jack Kassewitz, a researcher for SpeakDolphin.com, has been comparing touch screen interfaces on basis of waterproofing, processing power, touch-sensitivity, and… err, dolphin-friendly programming. The Panasonic Toughbook and the Apple iPad made it to the finals, with the iPad inching out the other by a (bottle)nose.
Republished with permission from iPad Case Review.
Danny Ashton Writes for iPad Case Review, providing tips to keep clumsy iPad owners safe on a regular basis.