Reference material. Not very exciting, is it?
Undeniably useful, but until you need it, it never crosses your mind. It’s ok. I’ve remembered it. In a lot of ways, an iPad is the perfect vehicle for storing and retrieving information while on the road. It’s thinner and lighter than a book, but larger than a smartphone. Even the cheapest model has enough storage to cover what you need.
There’s a lot of information you could potentially need on a trip. And the less familiar the place, the more important the accuracy of the information. From where to go, and what to see and do, to making sure you’ve got the right flight, and knowing your way around a traffic jam.
Let me show you the essential apps to give you the information you need, making sure it’s right at your fingertips.
Chess. The game of kings.
Since there were computers that were computationally powerful enough, there have been chess simulators. But the king of the chess apps on the iOS platform is so much more than a mere simulator. Without question, Deep Green epitomizes what the independent Mac development community stands for, showcasing the kind of quality that a small dev shop can produce.
These are the kind of apps that I love to review, because they’re simply oozing with style and bespeak a carefully planned design, in every meaning of the word. Let me show you why Deep Green excels so much.
There’s always been an overlap between Apple users and artists. Maybe we’re drawn to the elegance of the user interface, or the style of the hardware. Maybe it’s the allure of the brand itself. Whatever the case, when the iPad arrived, in it’s enticingly canvas-shaped package, the painting apps were sure to follow.
So here we are, the iPad is in its second generation, and the painting app landscape has begun to solidify itself. Let’s take a look at what’s out there, where the eager amateur, or the seasoned professional, can turn for the optimal digital painting experience.
Ah, yes, the dreaded pre-trip. Depending on the kind of person you are it could be a month-long process, or just consist of throwing a change of clothes in your car and filling up your tank with gas. In any case, it’s probably stressful. Something’s bound to go wrong, or at least not go according to plan. And so adding one more thing to do – preparing your iPad – isn’t a really good thing, is it?
That’s why you’re reading this, right? Because I’m going to tell you precisely what you need to do so your iPad is perfectly prepared for any trip. Well, perhaps that’s a stretch, but I’m definitely going to give you the best head start I can. Just remember: don’t panic!
Explaining the history of jazz sounds like a tall order, doesn’t it. Trying to encapsulate the birth, cultivation, and evolution of a style of music isn’t a task to be taken lightly.
It’s far from a linear story, there are many characters, subplots, and pivotal moments to consider. What medium could accomplish such a feat?
Certainly it could be the inspiration for a documentary, or even a mini series. No doubt a wealth of books have been written on the subject. And the naturalness of an album or compilation series would be hard to deny. But by my estimation, none of these options by themselves are enough. To do this history justice, some conglomeration of them all would be needed.
Enter the iPad. And along with it, The History of Jazz from 955 Dreams.
I’m a huge Douglas Adams fan. And by that I mean, I love The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
I also mean that a small part of me feels a twinge of sadness when Douglas Adams and the iPad cross paths in my mind. Simply because I hold in my hands the closest thing to the fabled Guide that our world has yet seen.
And so it is with great honor that I riff off of Mr. Adams, and present to you my Guide to the iPad for Hitchhikers.
When you buy a piece of technology, you’re goal is often to simplify your life. And, while that may be a little too idealistic for some, in reality it’s what technology is all about.
When you buy an iPad, there are some obvious parts of your life that you’re looking to simplify, and one of those is note taking. How appealing is the ability to search through every note you’ve ever taken at any moment in time? Or having access to those notes whenever and wherever you are? That’s ubiquitous capture, that’s flexibility, that’s the holy grail of notebooks right?
That’s what the iPad could be, it could be the ultimate notebook. But, the built-in Notes app just isn’t going to cut it. Nope, that’s why there’s the App Store, and why there’s a fiercely competitive market for high quality note taking apps. Today we’re going to look at Notesy, and see how close it comes to giving us that ultimate notebook experience.
Real Racing HD. The name really says it all. This game is one of the best examples of a racing game on any platform, not just iOS. If you couple the stunning graphics with the intuitive and responsive gameplay, it’s seriously hard to beat.
Today we’re going to take a look at what Real Racing 2 HD has to offer, and look at why it’s a shining example of iPad game design.
The electronic book. Fantasized about for decades by sci-fi authors and readers alike, yet one of the last analog mediums to enter the digital realm. Why is that?
What is it about a book that makes it so difficult to translate the experience into a digital medium?
I think it has to do with the way we define a book, and how broad that definition really is. The problem is that we’re looking for one solution to the digital book problem, one answer that packages our bookshelves into bits and bytes. The ePUB standard has been proposed as that answer. But it isn’t the complete answer, and I’m not sure it ever can be.
The things we today call books have fundamental differences that can’t be reconciled by any one standard that’s currently been proposed. Why is that? What’s missing? And how can we fix it?
There’s no question that one of the biggest advantages that the iOS platform has over its competitors is a robust ecosystem of apps. No doubt this wide array was one of the things that attracted you to the iPad in the first place. But in a sea of over 60,000 choices, how do you know what apps to choose? How do you know which apps are worth your time – and more importantly your money – when you’ve only just bought your iPad?
Well that’s where we come in. Today we’re going to showcase the best apps in 6 different categories for those who are just getting started with their iPad.
