Apple fans have two time-sucking activities to look forward to this weekend: playing with the iPad for the very first time and trying out brand-new tablet apps.
The first wave of iPad reviews describe a device that is simple, easy to use and visually stunning. But for our part, what we're looking forward to most is the apps. In that, we're not alone: Many developers are equally excited.
“We're on the verge of a major milestone in computing," said Marco Arment, lead developer at Tumblr. Arment's iPad app, Instapaper, is coming out Saturday. “We're going to look back on this week the same way we look back at the week before the iPhone launched, when we were all using awful flip-phones. This week is the end of the dark age of mainstream computing, and Saturday begins the enlightenment."
What follows is a list of 10 of the most intriguing iPad apps and games that we've scouted out,and which will be releasing with Apple's tablet on Saturday.
The Elements
Sure, the iPad has its iBooks app, and that's fine if you like words -- plain, poorly formatted, non-graphically enhanced EPUB words -- but book publishers like Touch Press are inventing the future of books through their own apps.
The Elements is a guide to the periodic table that's been enhanced with 3-D objects, video clips and live data from Wolfram Alpha. “This is the version you check out from the Hogwarts library," creator Theo Gray told BoingBoing. “Everything in it is alive in some way." Or, if you're a Neal Stephenson fan, it's like the Young Lady's Illustrated Primer from The Diamond Age. Books like this are a geek's dream, and we hope we see a lot more like it. The Elements costs $14 (and uses up 2 GB of storage).
The first wave of iPad reviews describe a device that is simple, easy to use and visually stunning. But for our part, what we're looking forward to most is the apps. In that, we're not alone: Many developers are equally excited.
“We're on the verge of a major milestone in computing," said Marco Arment, lead developer at Tumblr. Arment's iPad app, Instapaper, is coming out Saturday. “We're going to look back on this week the same way we look back at the week before the iPhone launched, when we were all using awful flip-phones. This week is the end of the dark age of mainstream computing, and Saturday begins the enlightenment."
What follows is a list of 10 of the most intriguing iPad apps and games that we've scouted out,and which will be releasing with Apple's tablet on Saturday.
The Elements
Sure, the iPad has its iBooks app, and that's fine if you like words -- plain, poorly formatted, non-graphically enhanced EPUB words -- but book publishers like Touch Press are inventing the future of books through their own apps.
The Elements is a guide to the periodic table that's been enhanced with 3-D objects, video clips and live data from Wolfram Alpha. “This is the version you check out from the Hogwarts library," creator Theo Gray told BoingBoing. “Everything in it is alive in some way." Or, if you're a Neal Stephenson fan, it's like the Young Lady's Illustrated Primer from The Diamond Age. Books like this are a geek's dream, and we hope we see a lot more like it. The Elements costs $14 (and uses up 2 GB of storage).
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