AirPlay's value hinges in part on other hardware and software companies incorporating it in speaker docs, stereo components and other hardware, and in software, as has been done by , an iOS app that streams videos in almost any format to iOS devices, with no file copying needed.

5. Two options for the iPad's side switch: In iOS 4.2, the iPad's side switch was converted from a screen-orientation lock to a mute button. Now, you can set it to be either.

John Cox covers wireless networking and mobile computing for Network World.

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