This Week in iPad Episode 40

Cold Open
Coming up, Andrea has a review of Deadspace for iOS, plus Jacob likes BOTH of his apps in Planet of the Apps, on This Week in iPad.

Twitter!
If you're not yet, you can always follow the show on Twitter @TWiiPad, also you can follow Andrea on twitter @AndreaRene and you can follow Jacob @JacobBurch. You can also email the show at iPad@thisweekin.com.

StormOnDemand


One of the reasons you can enjoy fine programming like This Week in iPad is because of the support of Storm on Demand. For all your cloud computing needs, please visit them at StormOnDemand.com.

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Vopium is a great way to call internationally without paying high fees to do so. How it works is, you make a call to Vopium's local number, and Vopium will route the call for you so you can talk to your friends abroad for as little as a tenth of what it would cost normally. Vopium is available on the Apple App store, the Android market, the Ovi Store, and Blackberry app world. You'll get 15 minutes free and 15 free text messages, and after that's it's pay as you go.

iPad Game of the Week

(Before we get into this week's game, Andrea featured the Fling game controller.)

This week's game of the week is Dead Space. The best way to experience this game is to use a set of headphones. The game's sound effects really immerse you in the universe. The game is $9.99 so you can get a sample of Dead Space without committing $60 for the console game.

News

No News
Last thursday marked the one year anniversary of the iPad's initial announcement by Apple and as of yet, there's no date set for the release of iPad 2.

News Corp Sets Date for the Daily
"The Daily", an iPad only news app will premiere on February 2 according to PCMAG. The announcement will also herald official iOS support for subscriptions, something the publishing industry has wanted since the iPad was introduced last year.

Adobe to Update Packager with iPad Support
Adobe has released an update to it's Packager software to give Flash developers access to several iOS gestures, most notably the "pinch". Jacob has no idea why any Flash developer would need that feature. If you know of a Flash app using pinch, tweet us @TWiiPad.

Planet of the Apps!

Lifestyle apps

Van Gogh HD
Andrea's first app this week is Van Gogh HD. This is a virtual gallery of the painter's most famous works. The app is currently on sale for $1.99. The developer also has several other artists available as well.

AppStart
Jacob's first app this week is AppStart. Jacob wanted to hate this app but once he got it, he was impressed. The app allows users to find the apps(insert Xzibit joke here). It's a beautiful app and well worth the $0.99.

Find A Pint
Andrea's next app is Find A Pint. This app allows users to find bars in their local area. The only downside to the app is that the library is being generated by users so the app is a bit lean on info for now.

CraigsPro
Jaco's final app this week is CraigsPro. This app takes the Craigslist database and makes it easy to search. The functionality of the app is very good but the integration is a bit off. The price ranking could be better and the app goes against the simplicity inherent in the design of the site.

Winner: This week the hosts are split. Andrea thinks that CraigsPro won while Jacob thinks that AppStart was the best this week.

We leave you with this great video of a guy playing the theme from Zelda on his iPad. See you next week!

This week in iPad episode 40

Cold Open
Coming up, we have the creator of SychPad, we're talking about Apple's massive first quarter, and it's all about reference on Planet of the Apps.

Twitter
As always you can follow Andrea on twitter @AndreaRene and you can follow Jacob @JacobBurch. Also you can follow the show @TWiiPad. You can also email the show at iPad@thisweekin.com.

TakeTake

TakeTake is a startup that lets you post reviews about your favorite products, and see what your friends say as well. For example, if you own an iPad, you can create a profile on TakeTake, and say all the reasons why you love your iPad. If you'd like an invite for when they launch, you can request one at www.taketake.com, just give them your email address, and they'll send you all the info.

SychPad
Today, we have developer, and creator of SycnPad, Davide Di Cello.

News

Apple Crushes Expectations
Apple released their first quarter financial report this week and exceeded analysts expectations by more than $2Billion. This news actually overshadowed Steve Jobs' announcement that he was taking a medical leave for an undetermined amount of time. As Jacob pointed out, the timing of the announcement could have been a factor.

ShopKeep
A company called ShopKeep has developed an iPad based cash register that features AirPrint and even rings when a sale is processed. Here's a video demonstrating it in a coffee shop inside Grand Central Station in New York City.



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Vopium is a great way to call internationally without paying high fees to do so. How it works is, you make a call to Vopium's local number, and Vopium will route the call for you so you can talk to your friends abroad for about a tenth of what it would cost normally. Vopium is available on the Apple App store, the Android market, the Ovi Store, and Blackberry app world. You'll get 15 minutes free and 15 free text messages, and after that's it's pay as you go.

Planet of the Apps!

Dream Guide
Andrea's first app this week is Dream Guide. It's a catalog of dreams. While Andrea does appreciate that it's free, it looks like a text document. Better to avoid this one.

Oxford American Dictionary
Jacob's first app this week is the Oxford American Dictionary. It's $14.99 but despite the cost, Jacob thinks it's worth it if you're into word discovery. If not, just use dictionary.com or another free resource.

101 Language Learning Tips
Andrea's next app this week is 101 Language Learning Tips, another list style app. The app is just a text document that has been ported to the iPad.

Articles
Jacob's last app this week is Articles. This app is a Wikipedia browser that's a great way to browse the site. The app also wins Planet of the Apps this week.

Thanks to Davide Di Cello. See you next week!

This Week in iPad iTunes Giveaway

Cold Open
Today on This Week in iPad, we have our very first iPad games showcase, plus we're going to show you how to win a $10,000 iTunes card.

Special Guest
Today, Jacob is sitting in the "dunce" chair because we have a special guest, Wall E. Wailbaecher from Mahalo games.

Follow us!
As always you can follow the show on Twitter @TWiiPad and you can follow Andrea @AndreaRene and Jacob @JacobBurch. You can also email us at ipad@thisweekin.com. If you enjoy the show, why not subscribe? You can do that at youtube.com/thisweekin.

iPad Games Showcase
Rather than pick one game per week, there's so many that we decided to have a showcase of the best this week. To help us we have Wall E. Wailbaecher, head of iPad games at Mahalo.

Spirits For iPad
First up is Spirits For iPad a puzzle game much like Lemmings. It's unique and at $4.99 is a great deal.

N.O.V.A. 2
Next is N.O.V.A. 2 a game that is a bit of a Halo clone. It has great graphics, and while the controls are a bit too sensitive, you can get used to it fairly quickly. Despite that, it's a great game and well worth the $6.99.

World of Goo
Last, is World Of Goo", a physics based game where you use little goo-guys to build a tower. The game really integrates well with the touch interface and is a lot of fun. Also, the game has been receiving so much attention that the developer has cut the price in half from $9.99 to $4.99.

To find out more about Mahalo video games, including walkthroughs and tips, go to their channel at youtube.com/MahaloVideoGames. Also their website is MahaloGaming.com, and you can follow them on twitter @VideoGames.

News

iOS 4.3 seeded to developers
This week, Apple released the first version of iOS 4.3 to developers. Reports indicate it will feature increased AirPlay support, multitouch gestures for iPad, and enabling mobile WiFi hotspots on capable devices.

Download the 10 Billionth app, get $10,000
Apple has been selling apps at an unbelievable pace since the launch of the App store, so much so that they're closing in on 10 billion and counting. When someone purchases the10 Billionth app, Apple will be giving the lucky iTunes account a $10,000 gift card.

Apple nixes free subscriptions for print customers
According to cnet on April 1, Apple will no longer allow companies to offer free magazine apps for people who have magazine subscriptions.

Planet of the Apps
Entertainment and Media apps

E! LIve From the Red Carpet
First up this week, Andrea takes a look at Live From the Red Carpet. The app features live coverage from all the awards shows coming up, as well as news and movie openings. It's also free.

CNN
Jacob's first app this week is the CNN app for iPad. His question when downloading the app was "What does this offer that the website doesn't?" The app is well designed and while the website is good, the app makes use of the iPad screen size and offers rich media the site doesn't. It's free as well.

CBS Sports
Next, Andrea is a huge football fan, so naturally she wanted to try CBS Sports Pro Football. There are a lot of football apps out there but this is easy to read, free, and gives you content without having to pay for it. If you are a fantasy player this app has integration. A problem with the app is the video is not in HD.

msnbc featuring Rachel Maddow
Jacob's last app this week is msnbc featuring Rachel Maddow. You can follow along with the show using the app. The app is good, but the blog integration needs to be better. It uses a simple web kit browser now and Jacob thinks it takes away from the app experience.

Winner: Wall E. thinks the best app this week is CNN!

Thank you


We'd like to thank Storm On Demand for all their support. For all your cloud computing needs, visit them at Stormondemand.com.

See you next week!

This week in iPad CES special

Cold Open
We're going guerrilla style with Guerrilla Bob in the iPad game review, plus we've got Amanda Coolong from This Week in Cloud Computing live from CES on This Week in iPad.

Twitter
You can follow the show on twitter @TWiiPad. You can also follow Andrea @andrearene and Jacob @jacobburch. You can also email the show ipad@thisweekin.com. Plus we have two chatrooms you can join in. The first is at youtube.com/thiweekin and the second is at ustream.tv/thisweekin. Please join us. We'd love to hear from you.

iPad Game of the Week!
For this week's game Andrea chose Guerrilla Bob HD. Normally, Andrea goes with the hottest game of the week. This week she chose a game that isn't necessarily wildly popular, but it's fun. The gameplay is good for a joystick shooter on a touchscreen and there's multiple levels to conquer. Best of all, the game is only $0.99, cheaper than the iPhone version.

CES 2011
This week, thousands of companies displayed new and upcoming products at the Consumer Electronics Show. Amanda Coolong was among the visitors and called the show to share some what's coming in electronics.

Planet of the Apps
Fitness Apps
We've covered fitness apps before but we wanted to come back to the category because of the new year.

Dotti's Food Score
Andrea's first app this week is Dotti's Food Score. It allows you to look up foods on the fly. You can find nutritional info and weightwatchers points of any food you have.

LIVESTRONG Calorie Tracker
Jacob's first app this week is the LIVESTRONG Calorie Tracker. The app seems poorly designed and clunky and unless you're a heavy livestrong.com user, Jacob says avoid it because there are apps that are free that do the same thing as this and are free. Andrea mentioned this as an example.

FitnessClass
Next, Andrea reviews FitnessClass. The app allows users to scroll through several workout and fitness programs although they aren't free.

Dreambot
Jacob's final app this week is Dreambot. Jacob used to be a bit overweight and the number one thing he attributes to his weight loss was quitting caffeine and getting a full nights sleep. This app plays ambient noise to help you get to sleep. Although you can fade the screen, the ads don't go away and if you lock the screen, the app stops working. That said, it's free so why not?

Winner: Jacob and Andrea think that Dotti's is the best app this week.

Thank you

We'd like to thank Storm On Demand for all their support. For all your cloud computing needs, visit them at Stormondemand.com.

See you next week at our NEW TIME, every Friday at 4PM Pacific, 7PM Eastern. See you then!

This Week in iPad year end episode

Cold Open
Today on This Week in iPad, it's our last show of 2010 and we're counting down the top 5 games of the year, plus we're giving out the 2010 This Week in iPad awards, and live from the set of LonsTV, Lon Harris returns.

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One of the reasons you're watching This Week in iPad is because of the support of Storm on Demand. For all your cloud computing needs, please visit them at StormOnDemand.com.

Contact us!
You can always follow the show on twitter @TWiiPad and you can follow Andrea @AndreaRene and Jacob @JacobBurch. Also you can email the show at ipad@thisweekin.com.

LonsTV
Lon has been busy since his time at the show. Or rather he was busy until his car died this week. Now he's doing a web series called LonsTV where he reviews things. He's also partnered with Tubefilter to review web series every Wednesday in a feature he calls "Web Series Wednesdays."

Top 5 iPad games of 2010

#5
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit. It's like the console game where you control your car using the tilt control of the iPad. Andrea likes the game a lot and thinks it's well worth it.

#4
Ultimate Spiderman total mayhem HD. Andrea wanted to demo this game on the show but it premiered the same day as Infinity Blade.

#3
Speaking of which, Infinity Blade is our number 3 game of 2010. The graphics are unmatched on anything Andrea has seen so far. Lon thinks it's Saw meets Fruit Ninja.

#2
Plants Vs Zombies HD is our number two game of the year. If you don't know about this game you don't know much about the iPad. Jacob, who has a long track record of disliking causal games bought this game and likes it.

#1
Angry Birds is the number one game of the year.

2010 This Week in iPad Awards

Best "I didn't know my iPad could do that" Feature:
The Remote app now allows AirPlay to sync to multiple devices.

Most Surprisingly Awesome App
Lon thinks there are 3 apps that qualify for this award. Uzu, Friendly Facebook, and Open Table.

Best Nontraditional Use of the iPad
Artist David Kassan uses the iPad to create a portrait with the brushes app. Enjoy.




Lon also found some examples of people using their iPad as turntables to DJ events. The first is from Rana June Sobhany



And the second is from DJ Dave Jam:



D'oh! Did I Really Buy that App???
This "award" goes to Fitness Yoga HD an app Jacob reviewed on Episode 27 and it still haunts him today. The positions are wrong and even though the app is free, it's still not worth the price. Lon has 3: Family Feud, Hulu+, and Tweet Flow.

Dumbest iPad 2 Prediction
Jacob thinks that the rumors Apple would release a new iPad in time for the holiday season was the dumbest prediction of the year. Apple will announce a new iPad in the next few weeks, and release it late Q1 or early Q2. Full year product cycles have always been the way Apple operates, and there's no reason to believe they'd change that strategy.

That's all for this week and this year. See you in 2011!

2011 will be a year of change

I love Las Vegas. Vegas is my home. Always will be. It's amazing to live 5 minutes from a destination that people fly thousands of miles to see. People come here from all over the planet and that's awesome. Unfortunately this is not the same city I moved to in 2007. Back then, this place was the economic beacon for the country. We had the lowest unemployment nationwide, a booming construction market, and a bright future. Now we have 15% unemployment, and there's a general feeling here the outlook will not turn around anytime soon. Unfortunately I have to move on. For the last 16 months, I've been looking for opportunity here and the fact is I'm not sure I'll find it any time soon. The natural question then is where to now? The answer isn't obvious. I could go east to Boston or New York. I could go to Seattle or Silicon Valley. I could even go to Austin. But all these options have flaws I can't overcome. Most are simply too far away but more importantly most don't have the entrepreneurial community I want. The balance of proximity, and entrepreneurial spirit comes in an unlikely place. Los Angeles. Perhaps I've been watching too much This Week in Startups but I really feel like that's the place to be. My lease is up in January and frankly I can't wait to get out of here. Between the onslaught of roaches and the fact it's an oven 7 months out of the year this apartment is not worth the low rent I pay. There are sacrifices I'll have to make but so be it. Any price is worth it in the long run. I can suffer the pain of work or I can suffer the pain of disappointment. A high price but I pay it gladly. 2011 will be a good year. Period. Stay tuned. Should be fun.

This Week in iPad Episode

Cold Open
Today on This Week in iPad, we have more holiday apps, plus we have Apple's gift guide for the iPad lovers in your family, plus another iPad game of the week.

Twitter
You can follow the show on Twitter @twiipad for all the latest iPad news and up to date info on the show. You can also email Andrea and Jacob with show ideas, app review requests, anything you'd like.

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We'd like to extend a big thank you to Storm on Demand for hosting This Week in iPad as well as all our shows here at This Week in. For all your cloud computing needs, please visit them at StormOnDemand.com.

iPad game of the week!
This week's iPad game of the week isn't technically an iPad specific game. But the gameplay more than makes up for the graphics when the game is expanded to fit the iPad screen. The game is Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3" the classic arcade game. Andrea likes it.

News

OS X App store
According to the BBC, the Mac app store, featured in the pre-release event in the October 20 keynote will go live in January.

Apple Gifts

iPad Camera Connection Kit
First up is the iPad Camera Connection Kit. This allows you to upload pictures and movies directly from your camera or SD card.

iPad Case
Next, Apple makes a case for the iPad that Jacob has used since episode 1. Although it's not much to look at, the case is very durable and allows users to type on their iPad screen much easier with an adjustable back. A possible downside is that the iPad is not easily removed from the case so if you need to change out your iPad cases frequently, this might not be for you. Overall, it works very well, and the texture of the case makes it very easy to hold.

Keyboard
The iPad is a wonderful device but if you need to type for extended periods of time, it can be a bit rough. With that in mind, Apple paired the iPad with their Wireless Keyboard. This keyboard is BlueTooth enables and works with any compatible computer system.

iPad Dock
The iPad dock is a simply way to stand your iPad and charge it for extended periods of time when playing games like Cut the Rope and the like. The only downside to it is that for now, the dock only works in portrait mode. At least until iPad2 comes out.

Headphones
Finally, when you get an iPad you'll notice a few things about it. The beautiful display, the great user experience, and the lame external speaker. So why not get a set of headphones"? The iPad comes with one but if you're like most people you lose them, or more likely you have them connected to your computer and forget them.

Planet of the Apps

Fire HD
First up, Jacob show off Fire HD an app that's gives users their very own yule log. You can choose between the default Christmas music, or use your own music library. Jacob recommends the app out of nostalgia.

Carol Lyrics
Next, Andrea reviews Carol Lyrics, an app that lets you sing along with your favorite Christmas carols. Andrea wanted to like this app but couldn't because the animation is too pixelated.

Super Mega Worm VS Santa
Jacob's next app is Super Mega Worm VS Santa an app where you play a worm and you kill elves. It's grainy and simple but for $0.99 it's a perfect "cheap" app.

Cut the Rope: Holiday Gift
Andrea mentioned Cut the rope earlier and here's why. Chillingo, the creative forces behind the smash hit game have released a special holiday edition.

Talking Santa HD
Jacob's final app this week is creepy. Talking Santa takes what you say and turns it into Santa's voice. Complete with creepy animated Santa. Jacob says steer clear of this app. Ironically, Santa also says steer clear.

Winner: Super Mega Worm.

Thank you again to Storm On Demand.
We're taking next week off for Christmas but we'll be back next week for our best of show. See you then!