Community's David Neher finds out what happens when you get a new $50 dollar iPad from eBay.

[k-lol]

Brad Leong's Brydge iPad case -- currently seeking funding on Kickstarter -- adds a MacBook-air-like keyboard to the iPad, turning it into a reasonable facsimile of a laptop.

The Brydge's aluminum body also includes speakers and Bluetooth support, and its hinge and clamp keep the iPad secure and allow it to be positioned at any angle.

Basically, it looks like the keyboard case Apple would make, if the company didn't want people to shell out a grand for a MacBook Air instead.

The Brydge can preordered on Kickstarter for $210 with speakers or $170 without them.

[technabob.]

Mike Daisey, whose monologue "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs" was recently found to contain several major fabrications about what he saw at factories run by Apple's Chinese manufacturing partner, Foxconn, has posted an apology on his blog.

Previously, Daisey claimed that although he had never personally seen some of the harsh working conditions described in his performance, his show's message about "the nature of Chinese manufacturing" was still basically true, and accused critics of wanting to "return to ignoring everything about the circumstances under which their devices are made."

His latest post is an actual apology, both to his audiences for "being careless with [their] trust" and to fellow documentary theater performers for "making [their] path more difficult."

He also apologized to the journalists to whom he "exaggerated" his experiences in China, writing, "Things came out of my mouth that just weren't true, and over time, I couldn't even hear the difference myself."

The scandal apparently hasn't done much damage to Daisey's career. No theaters have cancelled their scheduled performances of "The Agony and the Ecstasy," and Daisey has added a new prologue to address his critics.

[mikedaisey]

Magician Charlie Caper and stage performer Erik Rosales pull off some impressive sleight of hand in a magic act using seven iPads.

They're pitching the city of Stockholm at a real estate trade show, but the actual words aren't important -- just pay attention to the objects Charlie magically pulls out of his tablet screen.

With all those iPads on stage, I'm surprised they didn't finish the show with a "Boom! One more thing ... "

[reddit]

The FAA is taking "a fresh look" at its longstanding ban on the use of personal electronic devices on planes during takeoff and landing, writes Nick Bilton of the New York Times.

In light of multiple studies that suggests such devices aren't an in-flight danger, the FAA has agreed to test gadgets on planes for the first time since 2006.

As Bilton notes, that test took place before the boom of tablets and e-readers, so the FAA has never collected actual data supporting the restriction of Kindles and iPads on planes. Smartphones, unfortunately, are still not up for reconsideration.

Under current policy, airlines can ask that their passengers be allowed to use certain devices, but the airlines must demonstrate the safety of those gadgets. Because no airline has yet been willing to pay for those studies, the FAA has apparently decided to take matters into its own hands.

It may take a while, though: each individual version of each device has to be tested on a passenger-less plane before it can be approved, which is both expensive and time-consuming.

Still, the FAA has approved iPads for pilots, so it's not that farfetched to assume passengers could be next.

[popsci]

Today marks most people's first chance to get up close and personal with the new iPad's retina display, and Lukas Mathis of Ignore the Code decided to get up really close using a microscope at 80x magnification.

Along with a comparison of the iPad 2's screen and the new retina display, Mathis also took a close look at the pixel structures of various other gadgets, including the iPhone 4S (which has an even higher pixel density than the new iPad), the Kindle Fire, the BlackBerry Playbook and an e-Ink Kindle.

Take a look at his full set of magnified images at Ignore the Code.

[popsci]

With the new iPad ready to launch tomorrow, hardware disassembly experts at iFixit traveled to Australia to grab the new tablet and tear it apart before the rest of the world has a chance to get their hands on one.

While they note that the new iPad's internals aren't that different from the iPad 2's, the new device does have a downside for tinkerers: its sealed construction makes it harder to open, and the battery is much harder to replace (even for the pros at iFixit).

Gorgeous minimal design, or a great way to sell Apple's $100 battery replacement service? You decide.

[wired]