iPad blogs day three: six show-off apps

Nothing says, "Out of my way - I'm doing God's work here!" like a person walking around with a new iPad.

But at the heart of every iPad user lies a wounded child just waiting to be asked by someone - anyone! - for a demo.

And when they do, you'll want to be ready with something good to show them; like with TV, if you ain't got fast-moving, dynamic visuals and a great gimmick, you ain't got nuthin' - well, except maybe Jersey Shore.

Uh-oh...I think we have - "a situation!"

Of course, you should start by showing them the basics: turning on the iPad, locking the screen, checking emails (delete the Viagra spam first!), and showing them the crystal-clear photos and videos from your predictably sad "I'm having a yes-year!" vacation to Mexico with your middle-aged cousin, Mabel (real names have been changed).

Then, wake them up and show them these awesome apps:

1. Skull X-Ray:

Best bragging opportunity: everyone. Including the undead.

So dumb it's genius: a dayglow skull you hold up in front of your face that moves its mouth when you speak.

I've been using it to recite my favorite moments from this week's strike meeting:

- "Mandate, mandate, who's got the mandate?"
- "Find a win-win."
- "Wizard of Oz pulling the levers."
- "Tweedledee and Tweedledumber."

Oh, skull, you're so funny! In a completely non-legally binding way that respects the provisions of any and all collective agreements now and in perpetuity.

At 99 cents, you can't afford NOT to buy it:




2. Marvel Comics:

Best bragging opportunity: 40-year-old geeks.

Get your geek on. Like you aren't already, if you're reading this.

Marvel Comics does everything that everyone in publishing should be doing to stay relevant and make money.

The Marvel app is free, as is some of the content. But it looks so great, it's not too long before you're going, "Well, OK, I'll just download this one issue of the X-Men" and plunking down $2 per issue for the privilege.

It's cool that Marvel gives away new, free comics every week and tailors them for the new medium - check out that eye-popping color and the sliding comic-book panels (especially impressive the first time you see them).

It's enough to get a 40-year-old lapsed comics collector reading - and buying - comics again.




3. Epicurious:

Best bragging opportunity: mom.

How app-etizing.

Whether you're Epicurious or outright Epi, the Epicurious app is the perfect pre-dinner appetizer. Or is that app-etizer. See what I did there? Awww, forget it.

The free app has over 27,000 recipes and lets you create and email shopping lists, save the recipes you love, and browse recipes and ingredients.

I have this app on the iPhone, but the incredible full-screen landscape view on the iPad takes it to the next level of gorgeous.

I haven't made my own dinner in years (thanks Corydon restaurants!), but I look at this stunning app all the time. A man can dream, and drool on his iPad, right?


4. Real Soccer HD:

Best bragging opportunity: boys, men, Boyz II Men.

The World Cup will be starting soon, which means that I'll be needing something to do while others watch it.

Why not this insanely great Soccer app, so mind-blowing in terms of visuals and gameplay, it gives the Xbox and all console games a run for their money?



This app costs $6.99, but the first time you do a throw-in by shaking the iPad - damn you iPad! - you realize that it's the best $6.99 you've ever spent.


5. Dizzypad:

Best bragging opportunity: everyone. And George Costanza.

Lily pad, meet iPad.

What could be more brain-numbingly fun than making a frog jump from lily pad to lily pad on an iPad? Turns out: nothing!

Painfully simple and addictive - and when your frog falls into the river, you should hear the curse words that come out of your mouth. As salty as the sea from whence the frog came!


The app is free, but they charge you a couple of bucks each time you want to unlock a level.

Question: why does the frog die when it lands in the water?
Answer: ask BP.


6. Kindle, Kobo, and iBooks for iPad (separate apps):

Best bragging opportunity: book lovers. Parents. Morley Walker.

If the Kindle is the natural enemy of the iPad, then why is there a Kindle iPad app that syncs all of your Kindle purchases with your iPad, so you can read books on both?

Who cares? All I know is that it works, and it's lovely.

Oh yeah: you'll note that the third book, below, is none other than recent CreComm grad's Janet Adamana's Rice & Mashed Potatoes.


Kobo and iBooks are more of the same: beautiful, free bookstore apps that together make the best case for a vibrant online future for books and reading you can imagine - a noble pursuit for any vainglorious braggart.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

iPad blogs day two: magazines

Today I would like to talk about my habit.

It's not pretty. And it's hard to admit. But, Lord help me, I am a magazine junkie: I read hundreds of magazines a month - instead of buying formula for my babies!

OK, I have no babies, but I pretended I did for drama - did it work?

It started as a subscription to Rolling Stone when I was a lad, and it expanded into a love of British music mags Q and Uncut, then went completely bonkers: Vanity Fair, Esquire, New Yorker, NY Times Magazine, the Economist, Time, Newsweek (recommended by my first RRC instructor, Garry Moir!), NME, Details (short-lived; thanka Anka), Spin, Blender, and any number of design and video game pubs.

Hey, beats heroin. Am I right, people?

I love mags so much, I started dealing at WHERE Winnipeg and Twin Cities mags (in my handwriting, it looks remarkably like "Whore" - different magazine!), and even wrote for Games Informer under another name, since reviews mostly consisted of saying things like, "This is rad, dude!"

We also have a famous magazine project in CreComm, where we put students in groups and they produce a magazine in one semester. Legend has it that we instructors put students in groups designed to make them NOT get along, but I can hereby dispel that myth: we're not that smart!

So, there are lots of reasons why reading and publishing mags on the iPad is an appealing idea: applications for school, work, and just plain pleasure.

The cool thing is that there is no one way to read and buy magazines on the iPad: it's still the wild west out there! As a result, there is a variety of ways to enjoy a variety of mags, though Variety isn't one of em.

***
1. WIRED:

This is the Cadillac of iPad magazine experiences.

Available for $4.99, each month's mag is a separate app - and each is so big, you can't use Rogers 3G to download: nope, it's Starbucks Wi-Fi for you or nuthin', kiddo.

But here's the thing: WIRED has made something that's truly interactive, including the ads.

So, if you go to the article about Mars, you touch the screen and the planets fly around - at least that's what I think they are; I was so bedazzled by the animation.

The ads don't have quite the excitement, but there are a number - like Fidelity Investments - that allow you to click on things to make other stuff pop up. Hope I'm not getting too technical here. Ha!

I can't wait to see how these mags evolve: so far, so great.

Here goes with the video. Gulp.




2. Zinio:

This is a cool app that allows you to shop for, buy, and download a load of different magazines, from Esquire and National Geographic to the Economist and Smithsonian.

There's nothing here as exciting as WIRED, but it's a smooth app that has the jump on being the iPad's go-to destination for magazine shopping.

The app is free and comes prepackaged with five free magazines, but you've gotta pay for the rest. They range in price, but most offer year-long subscriptions.

I downloaded National Geographic, and I'm completely satisfied with the interface and photo quality: but - as I say - it's no WIRED.


3. CS and the whole slate of Blue Toad magazines:


I have no insider info here, but it seems that developer Blue Toad has created a magazine template for a suite of style magazines, including CS (Chicago Style).

If so, it's a great approach: design an app, and sell it to individual magazines - make your money back on volume. This is how we could quite possibly offer our students' mags in app form and actually afford it.

Again: very smooth app, and pristine picture quality - that Victoria's Secret ad in the May issue really - uh - pops. Let's move on!

I had to look for these magazines - there appears to be no online promo going on whatsoever. As well, there's no interactivity within the mag itself, other than Web links.

The price? Free! Like, totally.


4. Entertainment Weekly's Must List:

I like this approach a lot: EW gives you a free app featuring one part of its magazine, and - if you want more, you can buy the magazine, Chester.

EW's Must List is the mag's recommendations for what to do this week in the world of entertainment - books, movies, TV, DVD, downloads, video games - kinda like Letterman giving you his Top Ten list, but making you pay to see Brad Pitt.

Where is that app, by the way?

As well, you can create your own Must List out of EW's recommendations.

I love this app's interactivity - links to video and Amazon - and content approach: a free appetizer before the meal!


5. Time and Newsweek (separate apps):


Poor Time and Newsweek, struggling for weekly relevance in a minute-by-minute world.

You can download them for free, but when you open them up, ya gotta pay. TIme gives you a nice, free newsfeed but charges $4.99 per issue; Newsweek gives you the Politics of Obama for free, and charges $2.99 per issue.

Both of these apps are nice enough - they look good and the interface makes sense - but remind me: why do I need this content?


6. Vanity Fair:

Not available in Canada?! I hereby appeal to Graydon Carter to throw his countrymen a bone. And I don't care if that sounded dirty - I'm down to 20 per cent battery power on my iPad.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad