If you hear of a person being referred to as a mule, you most likely think of a drug mule – someone who smuggles drugs to or from countries. A startup called Mulepool is looking to give the model a slightly more legal spin. If the wanted list on the homepage is any indication, forget cocaine and marijuana  –  iPads, MacBook Pros and iPhones may be the new drugs. Minus the cartels, blinged out weaponry and higher than average probability of death or arrest, of course.

Although nearly every page contains a request for an Apple product, there are requests for Kindles, XBOX games, and even NyQuil caps. From experience with weak cold medication in countries outside the US, we completely understand the last one, even if it seems out of place amidst the electronics that dominate the requests on the site.

The site works by collecting payment for the total price of the item plus the mule’s commission, then holding it in escrow until a code is entered into the website and the item is delivered. Food, like Trader Joe’s Peanut Butter, will net mules anywhere from $2-5 on average, but the real money is in electronics.

Someone is offering a $624 commission for a Canon 5D Mark II camera, and the top commission offer for a MacBook Pro would net the mule $337. Most other commissions for electronics hover in the $1-200 range, but 4 or 5 items could actually pay for part of a vacation to Buenos Aires, which sounds like a win/win to us.

Most of the requests are for delivery to Buenos Aires, where the two expat founders are based, but the site lists Brazil, South Africa and Russia on their future planned expansions list.

{via the High Low}

Rainy day blues aren't enough to stop demand for the iPad 2.

According to analysts from Piper Jaffray and Deutsche Bank, the iPad 2 completely sold out in its first weekend on store shelves. Now exactly how many iPads “sold out” amounts to is anyone’s estimate at this point.

• Wedbush Securities analyst Scott Sutherland says he “would not be surprised” to learn that the iPad 2 sold 1 million units in its debut retail weekend. {Reuters}
• Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster puts the number at 400-500,000 iPad 2s sold, compared to 300,000 of the first generation iPad. {CNN/Fortune}

Munster goes on to make several estimations, but they’re based on a sample size of 236 people – down from 448 respondents last year. Depending on which sales estimates you believe, that’s less than 1/100th of 1 percent of all purchasers at best. While the findings point to a strong surge in interest in the latest iPad, it’s worth keeping in mind that this means it’s probably not a large enough sample group to draw a highly accurate, apples to apples comparison, but here are the general trends from the survey:

iPad 2 purchasers are more evenly split between Mac and PC people (51% and 49% respectively). For the original iPad the buyers were more heavily Mac users (74%)

No one is abandoning their iPhone for the iPad. Of the 65% of purchasers who were also iPhone owners, 100% planned to use both devices.

No one is abandoning their computer either. 97% of people purchasing an iPad 2 – up 1% from last year’s iPad purchasers – will use both their computer and iPad. Sorry media guys, no one’s totally abandoning the internet for apps. Especially since…

Surfing the web remains the primary activity people plan to use their iPad for. That’s according to 38% of respondents, up 1% from last year. Don’t let that stop you from making interesting apps though: last year only 9% of people listed apps and games as what they’d primarily use their iPad for, this year it’s up to 17%.

What nearly everyone agreed on was that if you didn’t get an iPad 2 this weekend, you’re pretty much out of luck. All of the analysts who called stores for spot checks reported that all of their iPad 2 stocks had been depleted, and weren’t expected to be restocked right away.

The key takeaways for anyone on the content side captivated by the power of the iPad are that it’s definitely a highly desirable audience (the higher priced 32GB and 64GB versions gained popularity at the expense of the entry level 16GB iPad 2), but it’s not an excuse to abandon the open web for more controlled apps.  Though now might be a good time to work on mobile and tablet optimized versions of websites for said open web.

iPad 2 line image via Engadget

</sarcasm>

While some sectors of the luxury industry are still debating the use of technology and trying to ignore it away, German luxury yacht company Lurssen has developed a custom app for the iPad that allows voyagers to control everything from the ship’s temperature, lights and sound system from the tablet, and quickly jump to the features most important to them from the start page. {BlackBook} The best feature though is on demand food and drinks, which we wouldn’t pay $850,000 for, but would love to see happen at a local level.

At $850,000 per week, the Solemates yacht has to do something to differentiate itself from other luxury yacht rentals and while we can poke fun at the extravagance, the iPad app actually seems like a good way to do that. Rather than competing on square footage or amenities alone, it’s nice to see a company using technology to create a true luxury experience  that goes beyond simply adding a gold and diamond covered case and calling it luxury innovation.

Beyond the cool iPad remotes, the yacht comes equipped with everything else you might expect of an $850,000 cruise; a crew of 15 including two chefs and a nurse, 6 cabins that accommodate up to 12 guests, a water trampoline, Waverunners, power surfboards and diving equipment.

The ship is booked for St. Barth’s and St. Maarten through the end of the month, but February 1st through 19th are still available. Good luck finding any last minute discounts on this ship though, we’re fairly certain there’s still no app for that.

Branson beat Murdoch on the iPad only media draw, but will either be a viable solution to the revenue challenges print media has faced from the internet?

Along with all those magazines, there have been rumblings as of late concerning Rupert Murdoch’s latest publication, a newspaper built specifically for the iPad. The publication will be called The Daily, and will be just that, a daily newspaper for the iPad. To set it apart from other excellent papers on the iPad, The Daily will only be available on the iPad, no print or web version at all. Murdoch’s News Corp has been spending a lot of time putting the publication together, getting about 100 journalists including a few big names to work on the project. {Electronista}

Not to be outdone by Murdoch, however, Virgin CEO Richard Branson started his own publication, Project, an iPad-only magazine. Branson’s Project was just launched today with a free app with one issue that costs $2.99. While the Project magazine is iPad-only, there is a blog that is available on the web as well as through the app. The magazine even cheekily tells reader to think of the blog s a “Project Daily.” The magazine itself will be monthly as opposed to the daily issues of Murdoch’s approach. {Project}

These publications aren’t the first to come out for the iPad, and certainly won’t be the last. What makes this perceived battle between Murdoch and Branson interesting is that it will test just how viable the iPad is as a means of publication (and other tablets, as well, though the iPad is the most popular and uniform at the moment). Neither approach gives up-to-the minute content you’d expect from a blog or online news source, but the rich media lends itself well to the iPad. It could turn out that both or neither publication is successful, but that lacks the drama of the Branson vs Murdoch fight we’d love to see play out.

Much has been said about Apple’s stance in their closed App Store, and how the apps that are submitted to it are reviewed.  There have been many complaints by developers that Apple has rejected their apps for reasons they were not aware of.  Not to mention the fact that Apple recently banned third-party development tools from being used for apps that make it into the store.  Today that changes.

Apple has finally released it’s App Store Review Guide to tell developers exactly what not to do with their apps.  Many of the points could already be inferred, but there are some new rejection points including “apps that duplicate apps already in the App Store may be rejected, particularly if there are many of them.”  So, it could be that we’ll see no more flashlights, or tip calculators.  It could pose an issue for the myriad of Twitter apps in the App Store that all essentially do the same thing, but offer different experiences and interfaces, which could make a huge difference to users.  There’s also “we have over 250,000 apps in the App Store. We don’t need any more Fart apps. If your app doesn’t do something useful or provide some form of lasting entertainment, it may not be accepted,” which could be very subjective decision. We could easily take out half of the games that we don’t find entertaining at all, but someone out there might find enjoyment from. {Engadget} While we’re definitely in agreement on not needing any more Fart apps, if that’s what consumers want, why limit their choices? After all, with Apple getting a portion of most app revenue, duplicate apps don’t exactly hurt the bottom line.

The document as a whole is very interesting, even if you aren’t a developer of any sort.  It’s written in a very friendly manner, in a way that you could imagine being penned by Steve Jobs, or someone within Apple trying to imitate a Jobs announcement.  The guidelines themselves aren’t too unreasonable.  Apple is understandably concerned for kids, since most parents would never enable parental controls.  It may be frustrating, but if you really need porn on your phone, there’s always Safari aka the portal to the world wide web of skin and sin.

Along with the App Store Review Guidelines, Apple has decided to lift the ban on third party developer platforms.  That means that those who want to use Adobe’s Flash to iOS app converter can now do so, as well as game developers who use platform such as Unity 3D.  This also explains why we were able to see the Epic Citadel app in the App Store, since Unreal 3 is a cross-platform graphics engine.  This means we could see more of those magazines that Adobe was working with to create iPad apps, and more graphically impressive games using the Epic’s Unreal 3, id Tech 5, and Unity engines. {Gizmodo}

The iPad is popular, there’s no denying that.  Apple can’t keep the device in stock for very long, and designers are betting on luxe iPad accessories to stay modern.  It comes as no surprise then, that the iPad is seeing a huge amount of demand.

According to a study by Forrester, 14 percent of online shoppers plan on buying an iPad or similar tablet in the next year.  That essentially means they plan on buying iPads.  While Forrester asked “iPad or similar tablet,” only about 10 percent of those surveyed could name another tablet.  Of those 10 percent, few could identify a real competitor.  While some mentioned the Archos 7 or JooJoo tablets, some referred to the HP Slate,, or other devices which don’t yet truly exist on the consumer market. {Electronista}

The 14 percent that plan on buying a tablet in the next year exceed the percentages of those who would buy other “real” computers.  Four percent plan on buying desktop computer.  Only eight percent plan on buying a netbook within the next year.  The largest category aside from the iPad is notebooks.  Of those surveyed, 13 percent told Forrester that they plan on buying a notebook computer in the next year.  This falls in line with the shift to mobile computing that we’re seeing, even if that mobile computing is just a notebook.  Desktop computers are limiting in where they can go, even if they are better for photo editing, video editing and gaming.  For most computer usage, a notebook or even an iPad would suffice.

Definitely better looking than the textbooks we remember

Students enrolled in classes in the School of Media and Strategic Communications and the Spears School of Business will be given iPads for their classes.  Those classes will use eTextbooks on the iPads in lieu of traditional dead-tree textbooks.  According to the school, the ePub version of at least one class’s textbook is $100 cheaper than the paper version.  Not sure how that adds up given that there’s no such thing as a used eTextbok, but it’s still a significant price difference.  If all the eTextbooks prove that much cheaper, the 16 GB iPad essentially pays for itself.  Add in everything else the iPad can do, and it could be a much better choice for students. {Wired Epicenter}

Other schools, such as the Illinois Institue of Technology will be giving iPads to incoming freshmen.  All freshmen are required to take certain classes, where they will use eTextbooks on the iPad rather than dead trees.

Last year, when the Kindle DX was tested in universities, it ended up not being very popular.  Many students lamented the lack of proper page numbers for citation, as well as the singular nature of the eBook reader and the refresh rate.{Gizmodo}  Those issues may persist with the iPad, but there’s a better chance that students will find an app or two that makes them like the device more.  The Kindle DX’s singular purpose is always a plus or minus depending on who you talk to, but our hunch is that students will find it more appealing, even if not necessarily more productive. While being able to jump onto the internet to cross check a certain passage or find additional information sounds good, how long will it honestly take the average student to lose focus?  The iPad itself may not be the perfect tablet for educational use, but using tablets in place of expensive and not so eco-friendly textbooks is a cost-cutting move that we can support.

Without releasing exact sales numbers, Amazon has announced that since the price drop, Kindle eReader sales have tripled.  It looks like all that was holding potential buyers back from  buying a Kindle was a price drop of just $70.  It dips below the mental barrier of $200, and is almost in impulse buy territory in terms of gadgets.  That means there’s a lot of people out there now who are willing to buy eBooks, perhaps above buying physical books. {Engadget}

That brings up Amazon’s next point: for the past three months Kindle eBook sales have outpaced hardcover book sales.  That’s all Kindle books as compared to all hardcover books, even those without Kindle versions.  For those months for every 100 hardcover books sold, 143 Kindle books were sold.  For just the past month it’s 9 Kindle books for every 2 hardcover books.  Amazon calls this a “tipping point,” and it certainly seems true.

Important, however, is that Kindle books aren’t necessarily sold only for those with the Kindle eReader.  With the sales of the iPad, the iPhone 4, and the new Android Kindle app, Amazon is proving that eBooks are quite popular.  With 160,000 Android phones being sold each day {TechCrunch}, and the popular ones selling out on the first day {eWeek}, the great size of the iPad for reading, and the beautiful text on the iPhone 4s Retina Display, Amazon stands to sell a lot more Kindle books for quite some time.  Now if only someone could convince all publishers to put out eBooks.

Now, the rumor-mill is abuzz over the possibility that the next Apple TV will launch with the ability to rent TV shows from iTunes.  Renting isn’t new to iTunes, but it’s only available for movies at the moment.  Movie rentals through the iTunes Store typically cost $3.99 for SD movies, and $4.99 for HD movies.  Some, however, go for $0.99 for SD (standard definition) and $1.99 for HD.  The rumors for the TV Rentals would place single episodes at $0.99, which would be $1 less than owning the SD version of most shows. {CrunchGear}

These TV shows would likely be streamed to Apple TVs rather than downloaded, which would mean no waiting for the episode, just buy and watch instantly.  As always, the rentals would be available for 30 days until you start watching them, and then another 24 hours after starting the show to watch as many times as you’d like.

This would be a big deal for the Apple TV, but also for other iOS devices, the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.  Being able to stream rented TV shows for $0.99 would be a great thing for those who travel a lot.  It would eat up a bit of the 2 GB data cap on AT&T’s network, but with WiFi it wouldn’t be a problem at all.  Now, if only Apple would bring out cheaper plans to rent full seasons as the shows release, that would be even greater.  A rent-as-shows-come TV service paired with Hulu Plus and Netflix could easily replace Cable (minus the sports, of course).

Borders has been selling e-book readers for a few months now, both the Kobo Reader and the Aluratek Reader which cost $150 and $120, respectively.  The chain has also had iOS apps out for a few weeks now, and along with the e-bookstore is launching apps for Android and BlackBerry devices. {Mashable}

Like Borders’ higher-end e-book reader, the e-bookstore is powered by Kobo.  The store already has 1.5 million books.  That puts it right int he middle of Barnes & Noble, which only has 1 million books available, and smaller than Amazon which boasts more free e-books (1.8 million) than either have in total.  Apple, on the other hand, advertises “tens of thousands” of books in the iBookstore (which excludes popular books like “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” by Steig Larsson).

Borders hopes to gain 17 percent of the e-book market by July 2011.  That might be possible given that Barnes & Noble was able to get 20 percent of the market in about a year’s time.  Borders is late to the game, however, with readers that look rather pricey given their feature set compared to the recent price slashing that has happened among their peers in the market.  Like Barnes & Noble, Borders does have a retail store to help promote the e-book readers, though the fact that the Kindle is available in Target stores now could put a damper on that.