Hasta La Gadget!

Apr 05

Video: 5 Sweet Apps to Break in Your iPad

Posted in: Apple, apps, ipad, Today's Chili, videos

The iPad hit the floor running with over 3,000 tablet apps available on launch day. Naturally, the iPad App Store is a cluttered mess, just like the iPhone’s. In this episode of the Gadget Lab video podcast, I handpick five iPad apps to get you started with your new life as a media-gorging hedonist.

A game I easily became obsessed with was Flight Control HD, a plane-landing simulator that involves drawing paths with your finger to land aircraft. The objective is simple: Land as many planes as you can while carefully avoiding collisions. (Then, brag to your friends about your high score and see if they can beat you.) The game costs $5 (download link).

I also highlighted an app called Beautiful Planet HD. Peter Guttman traveled the world and compiled his photos and writings into what he and software developer Phil Scales call a “reinvention of the travel book.” The app features over 500 beautiful, high-res photos, which can be viewed as a slideshow. I really love this idea of rethinking the idea of the book. The app costs $2 for a limited time (download link).

Third, I covered the Marvel Comics app, which enables you to download and view comic books with an awesome interface. Not only do comic pages look beautiful on the iPad screen; you can also double tap on a single panel to zoom into it and then swipe to the next panel. It’s a lot like viewing an interactive storyboard for a movie, and it’s a fresh new way to read comics. The app is free. Individual comics cost $2 per download, and there are some free comics as well (download link).

A quirky app I covered was Air Harp. As its name implies, it’s an app that allows you to play to a virtual harp. There’s an option to display sheet music and lyrics to learn to play the digiharp and, if you’re ballsy enough, sing along. Air Harp costs $2 in the App Store (download link).

I wrap up with a very simple app: Weather HD, which enables you to check the weather. Mind you, Apple doesn’t include a weather app on the iPad like it did with the iPhone, so I’m betting a lot of people will be downloading this. The $1 app displays high-quality 3-D animations of different weather conditions to complement a temperature reading. It’s extraneous, but what else would you do with all that screen (download link)?

This episode of the Gadget Lab podcast was produced by Annaliza Savage, with camerawork by John Ross and editing by Fernando Cardoso. For more video from Wired.com, go to www.wired.com/video.

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