I love my iPad and use it constantly for everything from the obvious (email, social networking and surfing the net) to connecting to the office, watching TV and movies, reading the latest edition of my favorite magazines and playing ridiculous but addictive games.
This month four apps are replaced on my Favorite iPad Apps list, and one stays on for another month. New this month are Airport Madness Challenge, Hulu Plus, LivingSocial and Smithsonian Magazine. PBS becomes the tenured app on the list.
Airport Madness Challenge is simple but highly addictive. The objective is to avoid crashes while carefully timing the takeoff and landing of planes on various runways. It's not packed with fast-action animation sequences, but it quickly gets chaotic and effectively tests your visual acuity and organization skills. The free version includes two airports (the simplest is pictured here) and the option to buy additional and more complex airports.
Hulu Plus gained significant popularity when Netflix executed its poorly conceived divide and conquer (or "divide and fail" as it turned out) strategy last year. I like Hulu because it provides current television programming 'next day', which means that when show premiers in prime time it's on Hulu the very next day. And they carry a ton of otherwise hard-to-find shows like Lou Grant, which I've been searching for forever, and wonderful ITV and BBC shows, like Kingdom starring the wonderfully entertaining Stephen Frye.
LivingSocial makes the list this month for one reason - it featured a fantastic offer for an Introduction to Stained Glass class from Brennan Stained Glass Studio in Syracuse, NY. Brennan is responsible for the restoration of an amazing stained glass dome in Boldt Castle on the St. Lawrence River and they're an authorized restorer of Tiffany windows and lamps. Until seeing an offer for a 3-hour Introduction to Stained Glass class for only $69 on LivingSocial I had no idea that Brennan offered such things. After checking out their website I discovered that they offer several classes from beginner to the more experienced, and one can rent studio time by the hour, too! This particular deal ends at midnight 04/01. Click HERE for details.
Last of the new apps on my list is Smithsonian Magazine. I love Smithsonian magazine and have subscribed for years, just as I have National Geographic magazine. When NG went digital last year I contacted Smithsonian begging them to do the same. While I didn't receive a response, which was surprising and disappointing, I did learn through other means that they were working on the e-version for iPad's Newsstand. The app was released in February and has the same smooth feel and operation of the NG app. With both publications now available on iPad I'm ending my print subscription and going digital. The days of stacks of magazines is coming to an end! E-magazines are environmentally friendly, arrive without suffering abuses at the hands of the antiquated USPS and they're cheaper than their print counterparts. A year of Smithsonian in print is $34 versus the in-my-opinion far more interesting $19.99 iPad version.
PBS remains on the list because it consistently offers high quality content in an equally high quality format. Yesterday I pulled up American Experience: Clinton, a controversial but nonetheless amazing man, and was locked in for the 3-1/2 hour documentary. Loaded with clips and full episodes I can watch Masterpiece (Downton Abbey was recently featured while Little Dorrit is the current offering), Nova, Great Performances, Austin City Limits, Antiques Roadshow and much more. This is a must-have app for every iPad user.
No comments:
Post a Comment