The Best New iPad Apps
A few short months ago we could hardly conceive of a device like the iPad, and yet it's here and there are thousands of apps made just for your new object of desire. Wondering what the best new apps for your iPad are? Wonder no more, readers...MacTribe always comes through! We've tested and researched the latest in gaming, social media and productivity apps to make sure the time you spend on your devices is quality, and trust us, we've lined up some killer choices. Whether you're looking to get work done, have fun or just incite envy in your friends we've got something here for you: check out the top ten apps you've got to get on your iPad!
Pinball HD
Plants vs. Zombies
At first glance you might not expect anything extraordinary from this PopCap feature...unless of course you've been paying attention to the news! This highly addictive tower defense game has fun, colorful graphics, challenging strategies and levels, and a great set of mini-games to relax with when you get too nervous about the zombies eating your brains. Adventure mode progresses quickly as far as difficulty is concerned and this game, while fun for the whole family, can induce panic in even the most seasoned gamer, quick! Get your peashooters ready and save your house from the waves of the undead fast approaching.
Price: $9.99
A simple game of pinball was always one of the best parts of summer for us, and now we can experience the nostalgia of the great arcade game without leaving our couch! Pinball HD gives you hours of fun with three tables, great ball physics, landscape and portrait modes plus amazing 3D camera acti...our favorite feature, though, is that you can just shake and tilt the iPad if you get your ball stuck on a hazard. (Although the Apple Design Award doesn't hurt either!) The price is right for this app, too; at $2.99 you can take a leaf out of our book and download The Who's Tommy as well to amp you up for your next game.
Price: $2.99
Instapaper Pro No matter how much you love your RSS feeds and aggregators you can't be online all day, every day--we know, life is hard. Thank goodness for Instapaper Pro, though: this app is making subway commutes around the globe easier to deal with! Spend part of your day on a Wi-Fi network (so you don't use up your precious data, natch) and archive interesting articles to read later when you're without an Internet connection or approaching the dreaded data cap! Features are solid but simple, with Full Article Email, Pagination and Dark Mode for night reading making this app our go to for archiving and indispensible to newshounds on the go.
Price: $4.99
Pulse News Reader
A WWDC 2010 keynote feature, this newsreader goes the distance. Up to twenty feeds are presented with a graphical interface that makes brilliant use of the iPad's gorgeous display and sharing with Instapaper, Facebook and Twitter is a two tap process; after all, you want to be able to share what's going on with everyone, don't you? A 'visual mosaic' of news is a really fun way to surf for stories and although some find the number of feeds to be limiting we think the app is more than worth its price just for ease of use and beauty.
Price: $3.99
iWork Suite
It's not cheating! We really couldn't choose between the three apps in the iWork Suite; they're so different and really, you need all three anyway. Trust us. Pages, Numbers and Keynote present a compelling reason to close Plants vs. Zombies and get to work. They're easy to use, designed specifically to take advantage of iPad's unique controls and capabilities, and let's face it: telling your boss you spent hours of overtime on the presentation you're giving when really you used your iPad on the morning commute is priceless. Sneaky, but priceless. From word processing to presentations to spreadsheets, iWork's got you covered, and at ten bucks a pop there's no reason to consign your iPad to a lifetime of gaming and frippery. Get some work done!
Price: $9.99 each
Todo for iPad
We love lists. They keep us organized and on top of things while providing a visual reference for our daily tasks...but we have a slight problem misplacing them. Enter Todo for iPad--we're pretty sure we'll be keeping close tabs on our baby for the foreseeable future, so having this app means we'll never lose our lists again! The app does much more than just lists though: it boasts a great user interface with customizable themes, syncs with iCal and Outlook over Wi-Fi, integrates your contacts and reminds you of upcoming tasks, all for a fantastic price. You can even search through your tasks to make sure you've got everything cover...it's piece of mind on your iPad.
Price: $4.99
BeejiveIM
Sometimes it's too much work to keep all your IM clients organized--who needs to spend time deciding between Facebook IM and iChat when there are multiprotocol IM apps for the iPad like BeejiveIM? Almost every major tech outlet in the country has given it raving reviews and with fantastic reason: the UI is solid, it keeps you in touch with everyone you need to speak to and it's easy on your battery. This app does basically everything you can do on your desktop clients, like sort buddies, control availability and configure alerts with the added bonus of being able to merge all your accounts into one huge meta-chat. You can even send and receive files!
Price: $9.99
Osfoora HD for Twitter
If you'd rather a little less universal contact but still want to be on the cutting edge of social networking apps, check out Osfoora HD for Twitter. The client is gorgeous and we love the richness of its features. Some key ones: multiple account support, advanced drafts manager, Lists support and tweet translation! Visually this app takes the cake, with sleek backgrounds that highlight user pictures and pop up buttons to tweet songs, search tweets or reply. Its clean look provides a really easy way to keep up with the constantly changing landscape of Twitter.
Price: $3.99
Color Splash for iPad A little color goes a long way when you're showing off the gorgeous display of your new iPad: turn your own pictures into incredibly beautiful art to share with your friends or use as wallpaper with Color Splash for iPad. This app converts color photos to black and white (or vice versa, of course) and allows you to mask areas to restore or remove the color, creating a stunning focal point for your pictures. Brushes are also available and Color Splash even lets your control the thickness and opacity of your strokes. In our opinion, this is the perfect app to pull up and play with when people ask you what's so great about your iPad--it's easy to use and showcases some of the iPad's greatest assets. Plus, it's just fun!
Price: $1.99
Real Racing HD
If photo editing isn't your idea of a good time we can't blame you--sometimes showing off your iPad means illustrating your need for speed. Real Racing HD is a prime way to initiate the non-believers into our accelerometer driven world. It's won about a billion awards for its killer controls and graphics performance and we'll happily play any game that lets us choose between some of our favorite exotic cars to race! Twelve tracks in city, forest and desert settings mean you'll never get tired of the scenery and the in car views are easily exchanged for external camera angles should you so desire. Added bonuses include customizable car skins, ghost racing and the ability to listen to your iTunes library in app: we know we're ready to fire up some rock and roll and take that GTI for a spin!
Price: $9.99
Home Page images and review photos by Daniel Robillard. All product images courtesy of respective companies.
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SquareTrade Saves your iPhone
AT&T and Apple's iPhone warranties are expensive and they don't cover drops and spills. Fail, right? So SquareTrade saw the need for some good insurance, as it were, and stepped in to the void. Just in time for today's announcement, you can protect your iPhone from almost anything--except theft--for $99 up front for a two year coverage with a $50 deductible every time you ruin your iPhone. We've seen some painfully cracked screens and painfully embarrassed iPhone owners in our day, so if you even think you'll need it, we recommend picking it up! Here's the total breakdown:
Apple iPhone 3GS:
One device failure (drop, breakage etc) in two years:
AT&T - $535
SquareTrade - $149
Difference = $386
Two device failures in two years:
AT&T - $734
SquareTrade - $199
Difference = $535
We Did It!
Apple finally did it. It is now more valuable than Microsoft. To stubborn old realists this seems wrong, but to an army of Apple fans and the veteran legions of Apple believers this seems very right.
It may just be the case that the recent stock market correction, which has seen the market "fall out of bed", is the cause of this victory. Apple just hasn't fallen as far as Microsoft in the stock market rout.
Apple's Risen
However nothing takes away from the fact that, long left for dead, Apple has risen and crawled hand over hand from the edge of going out of business to becoming the second largest company listed on Wall Street.
This promotion to number two position of most valued company on Wall Street is remarkable and kind of historic. I promised myself to short Apple when this happened but I will hold off because the market will rally for a week or two and shorting anything will be a bad idea.
Apple Bullish?
For Bulls it's been a hard grinding year. The post credit crunch rally started in March 2009 and since May 2010 the stock markets have gone into a bear market which has seen a nasty correction.
This correction has marked the limit of Apple's stellar share price rise.
Following this, Apple's stock has performed unpredictably, suffering little crashes and enjoying little booms, while stuck in a range.
I have maintained for some time that it is hard to imagine Apple going up much more as it's already the second most valuable stock in America; and it seems plain silly for Apple to turn into the most valuable business in the USA - however amazing the company. For now the market agrees.
Meanwhile Apple is making a ton of money and all products appear to be doing well. Even though Apple is collecting competitors like a dog collects fleas, it is hard to see how, in the short term, anyone can beat the Apple mystique even though Google appears to be making inroads with its Android. No one, as yet, seems to be close to knocking off any of Apple's reflective shine.
So the $300 billion dollar question is: what can Apple do next to propel it above $300 a share?
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