About 8,000 tablet devices such as iPads will soon be issued to servicemen to sharpen their fighting skills, the Ministry of Defence said. -- ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN

FROM November, recruits doing Basic Military Training (BMT) will be armed with one more 'weapon' - a handheld touchscreen device such as an iPad - to sharpen their fighting skills.

Responding to queries from The Straits Times, the Defence Ministry said the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) plans to issue about 8,000 sets, including to every recruit in the BMT Centre and those in other institutes such as the Officer Cadet School and the Specialist Cadet School, as well as to servicemen in the air force and naval training schools.

Read the full story in Monday's edition of The Straits Times.

One of the reasons why my parents wanted the iPad 2 was because they could use Skype on it. But for a long time, we had to use the iPhone version, which was clunky and ugly. Looks like Skype is going to launch its software for the iPad 2 really soon!

PS: The reason why the video above has no sound is because, according to razorianfly.com, Skype put up this video, but then later set it to private. Someone screen captured it down, but without sound.

I love my iPad, but it saddens me that no worthy opponent has come to the ring after more than a year since the iPad has been in the market. This, despite the lack of flash and a decent camera. Amazing.

More evidence has emerged to suggest that a future version of the iPad will sport a "Retina" display with a resolution of 2048x1536, or double the horizontal and vertical pixels of the current iPad.

Back in January, a number of images were discovered within iPad apps showing icons twice the size needed for the 1024x768 screen on the iPad. This suggested a similar pixel-doubling strategy to that used in the iPhone 4's Retina Display. That particular feature wasn't included in the iPad 2, but perhaps will be in the iPad 3.

New clues regarding a possible 2048x1536 iPad display were reported today by Techunwrapped. Their tipster noticed the Twitter.framework within the iOS SDK had huge images, twice the size needed for the current iPad:

As I was going through the iOS SDK I came across some images in the new Twitter .framework. The resolution appears to be 1,536 x 2,048.

The Twitter.framework is the only framework I found to have these enormous images.

Techunwrapped goes on to suggest that because the large images were only included in the Twitter section of the iOS SDK -- a relatively new part of the iOS codebase -- it means an iPad 3 will come out in the same timeframe as iOS 5 is released.

Based on the discovery of pixel-doubled iPad images as far back as January, we are hesitant to attach any significant timeline to these discoveries, but they are simply more signs that Apple plans to release a Retina Display-equipped iPad.

I sure hope this is for real. would love to see Hi-res screens in the next generation iPad. Great for photogs.

Simple, addictive gameplay

Move it, line it up, and blow it up! Anyone can enjoy Birzzle™ by directly touching the bird on the screen. From variety of items to the adorable birds, Birzzle™ provides a nonstop gameplay which is fun & attractive.

The folks at srsly.sg are currently addicted to this eye-catching puzzle game with loads of adorable birds and a cute background music.

Together with Game Center support, you can keep track of high scores among friends.

Birzzle and Birzzle HD is now available on the App store at $0.99 and $1.99 respectively.

All I’m trying to say here is that these iPad competitors should think like television manufacturers. When everyone has a TV the only way to get them to come out and buy another one is by giving them a bigger and better picture. If you’re only giving them a slight twist in a different package people will stick to the brand they know almost always.

I don't think that's going to work with tablets. Tablet companies are pwning the iPad when it comes to specs, but when it comes down to it, no amount of screen resolution or processor power is going to compete with the iPad's usability and app support. Tablet companies should make tablets normal people would want to use, not what gadget nerds see as "better" and "faster". That said, I would see myself using a WebOS tablet.

I seldom play adventure games, so I bought this because I'm a huge Back to the Future fan. Pretty solid gameplay, and the voice acting is fantastic. Christopher Lloyd voices Doc, and I'm not sure who voices Marty, but he really sounds like Marty in the films. Also, it may not look like it from the screenshots, but the game is actually in realtime 3D, and it looks really good. But hey, you don't need any convincing since it's free. Get it on the AppStore!