Avid Studio, a new iPad app released yesterday on the App Store, promises to bring big-screen moviemaking capabilities to the iPad.

This looks like a serious iMovie competitor on the iPad. It’s priced at the same $4.99 level as iMovie as well, though iMovie is a universal app and Avid Studio is iPad only right now.

Here’s a bit of the App Store intro for Avid Studio:

We’ve distilled the world’s leading film-editing technology into an easy-to-use app that enables you to edit video, audio, and photos at the speed of your creativity.

Swiftly arrange your clips in the Storyboard, make precision edits using the Timeline, and add high-quality transitions, effects, and a soundtrack. Then share your movie directly to YouTube, Facebook, and more—or export your project to Avid Studio for the PC and continue editing with even more advanced tools.

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Read the rest of Avid Studio App Promises Big-screen Moviemaking on the iPad (352 words)

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Post tags: iPad Apps

The Daily, the first iPad-only newspaper, is celebrating its first anniversary today. It’s published by Rupert Murdoch’s Newscorp and has had backing to the tune of over $30 million before it even hit the App Store.

I did a review of The Daily last March (a month after its launch) – and though I found it a promising concept it was disappointing in many ways as well. Here’s a slice of my sum-up in that early review:

The Daily is a promising title, purely on the basis that it is the first of its kind and News Corp is obviously committed to making it a top-notch title for the iPad and possibly other tablets as well.

It has a long way to go to deliver on its promise though. Right now its speed and performance issues are severe, and they are killing the user experience in the app. They’re bad enough that it is tough to stick with the title.

Sadly, a number of those really basic performance issues stayed with The Daily throughout much of its first year. Millions might have been spent in many areas, but it sure didn’t look like many pennies were being put towards making the app work well.

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Read the rest of The Daily, the First iPad-only Newspaper, Is One Year Old Today (207 words)

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Post tags: iPad Apps, iPad newspaper apps, The Daily

Photogene for iPad, one of the more capable photo editing / effects apps for the iPad, has had a major update this week, to Version 3.3.

One of the most notable new features is support for exporting images to Evernote and Tumblr (adding to a strong range of existing options like Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Dropbox, Picasa and more). There’s also a new device-to-device transfer capability if you have Photogene installed on another iOS device. Unfortunately this uses Bluetooth rather than WiFi.

The update also adds some new editing tools – including a new Clarity Slider and Clone tool – and this very cool sounding feature:

Copy edit operations from one photo and apply the same edits on another photo. Long-tap on the photo in the edit screen to copy&paste edits.

Here’s the full list of what’s new in this latest version of Photogene for iPad:

New: order directly from Photogene real photo products that will be delivered to you by mail. Service by tap2print.
New sharing options:
- Device-to-device: transfer photos directly to another iPad/iPhone (requires Photogene to be installed on the other device).
- Evernote.
- Tumblr.
- Now it’s possible to preserve the original file names when uploading to Dropbox, FTP or mail (requires iOS 5).
- Add date-stamp to your exported photos.
New edit tools:
- Clarity slider.
- Clone tool.
- Can now make collages even if location-services are turned off.
- Copy edit operations from one photo and apply the same edits on another photo. Long-tap on the photo in the edit screen to copy&paste edits.
Bug fixes:
- Fixed problem that the app loaded very slowly on devices with large photo libraries.
- Fixed pixilation issues that occurred with some types of jpeg files.

Photogene for iPad is already one of the best photo editing apps for iPad, and it’s great to see its developers continuing to update it with impressive new features.

Here’s an App Store link for Photogene for iPad; it’s priced at $2.99.

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Post tags: iPad Apps

Pocket Informant HD – the feature rich and versatile calendar / tasks management app for the iPad – has just added some new strings to its bow and become even more versatile. This week it has been updated with its first 2.0 release, Version 2.02.41.

With this update, Pocket Informant HD now offers Notes and Contacts views – so you now have calendar, tasks, contacts, and notes all in one app (just as PI always offered on the Windows Mobile platform).

Another headline new feature in this update is support for syncing with Google Tasks. Here’s the list of new and notable features in this new version:

• Notes and Contact Views
• Task Smart Groups
• Google Task sync
• Photo and Contact Linking
• Swipe to Action, and many other major new features
• Desk Themes

Pocket Informant HD was already a strong contender for those looking to manage tasks and calendars on the iPad. Now that it has added contacts and notes features, and a Google Tasks hookup, it should become an even more popular choice for iPad users.

Here’s an App Store link for Pocket Informant HD; it’s priced at $9.99.

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Post tags: iPad Apps

Instapaper, the superb offline reading app for iPad and iOS, has been updated recently – to Version 4.0.2.

One of the most notable additions in this update is new subscription options – you can now purchase subscriptions in 3,6, or 12 month intervals. Becoming a subscriber not only supports the development of this excellent app, but also brings the following benefits:

• Search all articles in your account.
• Ability to use third-party Instapaper API apps.
• Higher Kindle article limits and a “Send to Kindle” bookmarklet to send any page immediately.
• Higher RSS-feed limits and faster feed updates.
• An option to hide Instapaper’s ads.

For me, just the search capability is well worth the small cost of a subscription ( a dollar per month) – so it’s nice to see more subscription length options.

The remainder of the change list for Instapaper Version 4.0.2 is as follows:

- Faster updates and startup
- Images now work with VPNs and proxies
- New Subscription page in Settings shows remaining duration and renewal options
- Added Summly and Due to Share panel, and added Definition to dictionary popups, when their respective apps are installed
- Added support for the "Speak Selection" accessibility feature in iOS 5
- Fixed miscellaneous interface shortcomings

I should note that I don’t actually see subscription information mentioned above in Settings.

Here’s an App Store link for Instapaper; it’s priced at $4.99.

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Post tags: iPad Apps

100 Cameras in 1 for iPad, one of the best photo effects apps around for the iPad, has had its price dropped to just 99 cents. That’s down from its standard $3.99.

This is doubly good news as the price drop comes hot on the heels of a nice update to the app earlier this week, which added Instagram support to an already stellar set of features. Here are some of the app’s more notable features:

➤ Fast, simple, and light. Designed for speed and ease-of-use
➤ Export 100 New Effects directly to Instagram!
➤ Use your existing library to give existing photos 100 new magical looks
➤ or… take new photos (iPad 2+ only)
➤ 100 different effects that use mixes of hardlight, overlay, and more with beautiful textures from around the world.
➤ iPad version has many many additional features, including hi-res effects at 2000×2000 pixels.
➤ A “new” kind of app that takes the editing process in a whole new, beautiful durections
➤ Share your photos on email, Twitter, Facebook, SmugMug and Flickr!
➤ Gamecenter support. Unlock fun achievements!

100 Cameras in 1 was among our selections for Best iPad Apps of 2011, and is one of my favorite apps to use when working with images on the iPad.

Here’s an App Store link for 100 Cameras in 1 for iPad. I’m not sure whether this current price is a limited time sale or a permanent price drop; I am sure it’s a great price for a great iPad app.

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Post tags: iPad Apps

The Daily – the first iPad-only newspaper – has had another update this week, to Version 1.2.3.

The details for this update state that once it’s applied ‘the app experience should be faster’. Here’s the full change list for it:

• Increases speed by deleting old data.
• Biggest fix: crashes! Increased stability of the app.
• Increased reliability of newsstand downloading.
• Fixes app in newsstand so you’ll see the most current cover.
• Fixes the issue with the new content (green) banner getting stuck.

Happily, the app does seem to be performing a little better following this update, at least for me thus far. The progress bar for new issue downloads zips along much faster than it used to. This latest update comes with some (familiar looking) notes on how to get best results from it:

ALERT: The first time you use this version you may experience slowness while the app is performing background maintenance. FOR BEST RESULTS please delete your current version of the app before updating.
Once you’ve updated it should take about 1 minute until an issue is fully loaded.

I know we have quite a few readers of The Daily here. If you’re one of them, let us know in the comments what you think of this update and performance following it.

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Post tags: iPad Apps

Pocket Informant HD – one of the leading calendar and task management apps for the iPad – is on sale right now for $9.99 – 1/3 off its standard $14.99 price.

The sale is a Macworld / iWorld Expo sale, so presumably it will run from today through January 28th – as the expo does.

Pocket Informant HD is a rare app that offers both calendar and GTD-based task management. It’s a very capable and feature-rich app. Here are just a few of its notable features:

❖ Today, Month, Week, Column Week, Agenda, Task, and Search views
❖ Swipe between Months, Days, and Weeks
❖ Easily jump to any date in any calendar view
❖ Timebars to show your free/busy time at a glance or show mini-text on the month cells instead
❖ Icons for Events and Tasks
❖ Event Location Mapping
❖ Calendar Filtering: Filter tasks and events by one or more calendars
❖ Templates for Events and Tasks
❖ Support for sub-tasks
❖ Tags and Tag Filtering
❖ TextExpander support in most text fields
❖ Expanded detail view to see events and tasks on any day
❖ Tasks integrated with the Calendar Views
❖ Task Grouping and QuickSearch/Insert
❖ Full Search of Contacts, Tasks, and Calendar items
❖ Send Appointment Meeting Requests

Here’s an App Store link for Pocket Informant HD.

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Post tags: iPad Apps

OmniFocus for iPad – the superb task management app – got a minor, maintenance update yesterday.

The update includes a lovely new app icon for the app, shown above. I like it much better than the previous version.

The update improves attachment support with a number of bug fixes and enhancements to the attachment viewer, including these two:

• The built-in attachment viewer now supports viewing Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and RTFD documents.
• The built-in attachment viewer can now send attachments to other apps by tapping the Share button.

I switched from Things to OmniFocus – on iPad, Mac, and iPhone – six months ago and I am very happy with that move. The OmniFocus for iPad app is excellent and among my most used iPad apps. It’s one of our selections in the Best iPad Apps of 2011 list as well.

Here’s an App Store link for OmniFocus for iPad; it’s priced at $39.99.

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Post tags: iPad Apps

100 Cameras in 1 for iPad – one of the best iPad photo effects apps – has been updated today, to Version 1.2.2.

The big new feature in this update in Instagram support. ‘Send to Instagram’ is now an option on the sharing menu. Oddly, it takes you to a further ‘Open In’ popup where you choose Instagram, but it works.

Here’s the full change list for this update:

➤ Export 100 New Effects directly to Instagram!
➤ Fixed issues with Flickr and Dropbox
➤ Switched to Twitter 5.0
➤ Memory improvements

I’m a big fan, and frequent user, of 100 Cameras in 1 for iPad. It’s one of the selections in our Best iPad Apps of 2011 list. Having the almost direct Instagram tie-in is quite a nice addition to the already impressive app.

Here’s an App Store link for 100 Cameras in 1 for iPad; it’s priced at $3.99.

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Post tags: iPad Apps

Dolphin Browser HD is a superb alternative browser for the iPad. It has been a Best Free iPad App of the Week pick and a selection in our Best iPad Apps of 2011 list. It’s got a wealth of great features including full screen browsing and quick gestures for browsing to favorite sites.

Today Lifehacker reported on new add-ons for the Android version of Dolphin Browser which add easy hooks into the Evernote and Skitch apps. This makes it easy and quick for users to markup web ages with Skitch or clip pages to Evernote.

Evernote and Skitch are two of my favorite apps on the Mac and on the iPad – so I’m hoping we will soon see an update to Dolphin Browser HD for iPad that adds this same functionality.

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Post tags: iPad Apps

PDF Expert – one of the very best PDF handling apps for the iPad – has been updated today, to Version 3.2.

One of the headline new features is full text search across your whole PDF library. Here’s the full change list for this new version:

★ Document Search now looks far beyond the file name. It lets you find the needed documents faster and easier than ever before!
★ New sorting panel lets you reorder the files based on Name, Date or Modified Date. Just scroll the document list to the very top to reveal it, pretty much like in iBooks or Pages.
★ Support of "Tab" and arrow keys on the bluetooth keyboards when filling PDF forms makes the process lightning fast.
★ An eraser tool for your handwriting has arrived! It is located on the Pens toolbar and works exactly like you expect.
★ Handwriting and Wrist Protection are now better than in many note taking apps.
# Data protection. All your documents are now secured.

If you do a lot of work with PDFs this is an iPad app you definitely want to look at. It was one of our picks for the Best iPad Apps of 2011 and 2010; it’s a stellar app that is frequently updated with more strong features.

Here’s an App Store link for PDF Expert; it’s priced at $9.99.

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Post tags: iPad Apps

Groovebug – a beautiful iPad app that’s a little bit like Flipboard for your music collection with a good bit of music discovery thrown in – has been updated this week, to Version 1.2.7.

The big addition in this update is the ability to see your Facebook friends’ music likes. As in many areas (e.g. news and app recommendations) it’s often very helpful to see what your friends like. I only installed the update 10 minutes ago and I’ve ended up listening to and buying tracks from a group I hadn’t heard before (The Head and The Heart, thanks Angela Helm!). That’s a new feature that’s earning its keep right away in my book.

Here’s the full change list for this update:

* See all your Facebook friends’ music likes, matched against your music tastes
* See the recent tweets about any artist or view the Twitter feed by (almost) any artist
* Receive relevant notifications when we stream new music
* Faster startup time

Groovebug is already a favorite app of mine, and was a pick for Best Free iPad App of the Week in September of last year. Check that post out for lots more details on it.

Here’s an App Store link for Groovebug; it’s still a free app.

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iTunes U is now an iPad (and iOS universal) app, available for free in the iPad App Store. The app was released earlier today and feature heavily in Apple’s education-focused live event this morning.

During the event Apple cited some impressive numbers for iTunes U, including these:

• Over 1,000 universities and colleges around the world are using iTunes U now.
• There are over 500,000 pieces of audio and video material available through iTunes U right now, which is the largest catalog of free educational content in one place

The new iPad app looks very good. I was aware of iTunes U before today, but hadn’t really appreciated the range of quality courses available from some blue-chip universities, including MIT, Yale, Stanford, Duke, and The Open University.

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Read the rest of iTunes U Now Available, and Free, in the iPad App Store (61 words)

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Post tags: iPad Apps, iTunes U for iPad

Skitch for iPad – the fun sketching and markup app – has been updated recently, to Version 1.0.1.

The most notable addition in this update are the ability to reposition text without first selecting the hand tool – along with a general improvement in how easy it is to select and work with objects on the canvas. Being able to move text around right away is a big timesaver.

Skitch for iPad is a frequently used app on my iPad 2 – as well as a recent pick for Best Free iPad App of the Week. It’s good to see an early update for it.

Here’s an App Store link for Skitch for iPad; it’s still a free app.

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Post tags: iPad Apps

Ultimate Sharks for iPad, from Discovery Channel, is on sale at a huge discount for this weekend only.  It’s down from its normal price of $9.99 to just $0.99.

If you have even a mild interest in sharks, this is a great app to have on your iPad. I did a review of Ultimate Sharks for iPad back in August of last year – you can have a look at that for lots of detail and screenshots from the app. In the meantime, here are some of its key features:

10 DEADLIEST SHARKS: Packed with robust content about the most fearsome shark species known including the Great White, Hammerhead, Tiger Shark and others
• 3D INTERACTIVE SHARKS: Control the sharks with your fingertip. Make them swim, hunt and attack
• HIGH QUALITY VIDEOS: Over 3 hours of custom-created shark videos created from Discovery’s legendary shark library and narrated by Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs fame
• AIRPLAY-ENABLED: Share your favorite shark videos with friends and family on the big screen
• ATTACK STORIES: Unbelievable tales of human encounters with sharks
• EXCLUSIVE CONTENT: Over 75 screens of content, expertly written text and narrative, interactive maps and infographics
• HI-RES PHOTOS: Over 250 breathtaking high-resolution photos from some of the world’s most celebrated wildlife photographers

Here’s an App Store link for Ultimate Sharks. It’s on sale at 99 cents this weekend.

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Post tags: iPad Apps

OnLive Desktop is a new app that gives you access Microsoft Office apps running on a virtual Windows 7 machine, right from your iPad. Here’s a little more intro detail on it via its App Store page:

OnLive® Desktop is a service that provides a seamless, no-compromise, instant-response cloud-based PC desktop, wherever and whenever you want it. OnLive brings to your iPad a high-performance PC experience, regardless of the content, even when interacting with fast-action media.

Features:
• Instantly view, edit and create documents using actual Microsoft® Office Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Easily transfer files between OnLive Desktop and other devices
• Experience high-performance, instant-response PC applications
• Interact with lag-free animation and video
Based on groundbreaking video compression technology, OnLive harnesses the power of cloud computing to deliver a seamless, no-compromise remote PC desktop solution.

I’ve been trying out OnLive Desktop this morning and I have to say I’m pretty impressed with the app / service so far.

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NASA App HD – the excellent, and free NASA app for the iPad – has been updated again this week, to Version 1.22. NASA produce great iOS apps and this one is no exception – it’s been a choice here for Best Free iPad App of the Week and one of our selections in our Best iPad Apps of 2011 list.

Here’s the change list for this new version:

- Added News and Features to Mission Detail View
- Added Third Rock Radio player
- Added rudimentary "parental control" password-protected feature to restrict access to external links (must be set in the Settings popover)
- Fixed issue with selecting mission in solar system description
- Added Launch Services Program Updates

The rudimentary parental control is a useful addition, though older kids will get past it easily.

I really like the Third Rock Radio Player. It’s a cool name for starters, and the actual station, focused on new rock music and information about NASA, is quite good.

Here’s an App Store link for NASA App HD.

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Numberlys is the latest iPad (and iOS) app from Moonbot Studios. Moonbot Studios are the creators of The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore – my choice for the best iPad app of the year in our list of Best iPad Apps of 2011.

So needless to say I had huge interest in this new app as soon as I saw it released. Here’s a little Intro on the app, straight from its App Store page:

Numberlys presents a fanciful depiction of the origins of the alphabet and is the newest interactive epic from Moonbot Studios, the creators of The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. Numberlys is a story App celebration of the early fantasy epics King Kong, Metropolis and Flash Gordon with a dollop of the Marx Brothers, a splash of the Fleischer Studios technicolor Superman and a little bit of the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

Numberlys is huge in scope. It’s an adventure! A mystery! A game! And a story!

It’s a new way to entertain, learn and rediscover our storytelling "golden age".

I’ve only just installed the app a short while ago and had a quick glance through its opening pages. As a lightning first impression, the app looks amazing and unique. The imagery and animation are gripping already. I’m going to leave it alone now and explore it properly with my daughter this evening – but I have a feeling this is going to be another big hit for Moonbot Studios.

Here’s an App Store link for Numberlys; it’s priced at $5.99 – and please not it requires iOS 5.

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Post tags: iPad Apps

Ringier Studios Champions League: True Passion, Big Business is an iPad app to be avoided. It’s one of the very worst iPad apps I’ve seen in any category.

This will not be a comprehensive review because this app turned me off and pissed me off so much that I could not force myself to spend enough time with it to do one. Yes, it’s that bad, and worse.

Strike 1, 2, and 3 against it: when you first open this app (after it has been downloaded and installed from the App Store) you get to a splash screen and a download status bar starts. The app is not ready to go after being installed; not anywhere near ready. The status bar shows that it needs to download 380MB of something, there’s no indication of what. That’s a bad enough start, but then you get the better news – you cannot do anything at all in the app while you wait on the download, and the download is slower than slow.

What’s slower than slow, you might ask. Right around TWENTY MINUTES. Yes, you read that right. You launch this app and there is nothing whatsoever to do in it until you wait 20 minutes to have content downloaded.

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Read the rest of iPad Apps to Avoid: Ringier Studios Champions League (550 words)

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Post tags: iPad Apps, iPad apps to avoid

Yesterday Amazon launched their Kindle Store for iPad as a standalone web app. You can browse to it now on the iPad at http://amazon.com/iPadKindleStore. The first time you open the page it will prompt you to create a home screen icon shortcut to it (and annoyingly it will keep doing so even after you’ve done so).

The new web app is quite impressive. It features big, bold images, typography that’s nicely optimized for the iPad screen, and easy navigation. If you sign in with an Amazon ID it will offer genius-type suggestions based on your purchase history. You can browse by featured areas (New York Times Bestsellers, New & Noteworthy, Kindle Singles and more), by genres, by Top 100 lists (with lists for the top paid and free titles), or search for whatever you’re after.

The details pages for individual books look as good or perhaps a bit better than they do at Amazon on a desktop browser. You can buy with one click on those pages, and also have one tap access to a sample of each title. The samples can be opened up in the browser using Amazon’s Cloud Reader companion app, or you can choose to open them in the Kindle app if you have it installed on your iPad.

This web app, which has not been added to the native Kindle app for iPad or iOS, is the result of Amazon choosing not to comply with Apple’s stricter App Store policy (implemented last year) that requires that Apple get a 30% cut of all in-app stores. It’s a good response and a good web app. With its links to the Cloud Reader you can have the whole Kindle experience – buying, reading, access to your library, all within the browser.

If you’ve tried out the new Kindle Store web app, let us know what you think of it in the comments.

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Post tags: iPad web apps

Penultimate – one of the first handwriting apps for the iPad – got a major update yesterday, to Version 3.3.

The headline additions in this update are Dropbox integration and Evernote support:

• Serious Dropbox integration: Send notebooks and pages directly to your Dropbox, or enable automatic backup to be sure you always have a copy of your notes in the cloud. Open Penultimate files from your Dropbox.
• Evernote support. Evernote’s handwriting recognition is a great fit for Penultimate users. You can send notebooks and notes to your account for searching there later. Very simple signup in the app if you want to give it a spin.

This is very good news for Penultimate users, as Dropbox and Evernote are both just superb services. Dropbox provides effortless, flawless online file sync and Evernote is the ultimate notes and store-everything app that’s available everywhere (Mac, Windows, browsers, iPhone, iPad etc).

Here’s an App Store link for Penultimate; it’s currently priced at $0.99.

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Post tags: iPad Apps

The Google+ iPhone app got another update yesterday, to Version 1.0.8.3514 (continuing the hilarious that numbering system). 

Here’s what’s new in this latest version:

- Start a video Hangout from Messenger
- New photos UI
- Bug fixes

Here’s what’s not:

– Still no iPad version. So not only do you still need to run the app in goofy 2X mode on the iPad, but it also doesn’t rotate with the screen, so you’re forced into portrait view.

I like Google+ as a platform and use it often on the desktop. I would use it a lot on iOS if they would make their app universal or release an iPad version. It honestly strikes me as better suited for the iPad – so other than the Apple vs. Google arch enemies stuff, I can’t see why they don’t get on with brining an iPad version out.

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Post tags: iPad Apps

Vodio is a new social video discovery app for the iPad. I saw Robert Scoble give it an excited mention on Google+ and decided to give it a quick try this morning – and have to say so far, so good.

Here’s a slice of its App Store description:

Vodio for iPad delivers personalized video content unlike any you’ve ever experienced before.
Take video consumption on the go to the next level, by creating your very own personalized video streams from dozens of content services. Free up your time by watching the most talked about videos, instead of searching through hours of videos you might like.
With the wealth of video content available, knowing what to watch isn’t always as easy as it seems. Vodio lets you discover and enjoy the best videos, based on what’s being shared around you as well as your personal preferences and interests.
Additionally, Vodio lets you share videos through your social networks, so your friends can enjoy it too.

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Read the rest of Vodio – New Social Video Discovery App for iPad Looks Good (161 words)

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Post tags: iPad Apps, Vodio

The Guardian iPad Edition has been downloaded over half a million times since its release a little under three months ago. I haven’t seen many comparative sets of information from other iPad newspaper publishers, but that seems like a promising number.

I wonder how many of those who’ve downloaded the app though – especially as the three month initial free trial period is about to run out on Friday of this week (1/13). From there onwards you need to take out s subscription plan – currently priced at $13.99 a month.

The Guardian iPad Edition has also added the Guardian’s Weekend magazine to its content mix starting this weekend (in the Saturday 1/7 issue). 

The new weekly section, accessible from the app’s top navigation bar, will feature content from the Guardian’s award-winning magazine supplement, including columns from Tim Dowling and Lucy Mangan, letters, fashion and beauty, blind date, recipes from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Yotam Ottolenghi and Dan Lepard and Alys Fowler’s award-winning gardening column.

As much as I enjoy The Guardian’s quality content and breadth of coverage, that’s just not an amount I’m willing to pay right now. There are just too many good inexpensive or free sources of news to justify that price. I hope The Guardian may adjust that price significantly in future.

What about all of you? Any Guardian and / or Guardian iPad Edition readers here? If so, will you be subscribing when the free period runs out this week?

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Post tags: iPad Apps, iPad newspaper apps