The Best iPad Apps Of The Week

This week's iPad apps took a decidedly backwards turn as those about The Civil War, The Wizard Of Oz, and a 15-year-old video game took center stage. AppAdvice iPad App Of The Week: The Civil War Today The History Channel has released a sensational iPad app, The Civil War Today, 150 years in the making. Unlike other Civil War apps currently on the market, this one is unique because it presents the history of the conflict as if it were happening right now to the day. By using original documents, photos, maps, diary entries, quotes and newspaper broadsheets, The Civil War Today app retells the history of America’s greatest conflict in newspaper format. As such, the app is ever changing, offering fresh content each day. App Store Link: The Civil War Today ($7.99); original article New Caveman_HD Caveman_HD by Mobile 1UP is very much like the classic Amiga game Lemmings, calling it a clone somehow doesn’t feel entirely accurate. The game is not similar; it’s the same game in a prehistoric loincloth. App Store Link: Caveman_HD ($3.99); original article Fahrenheit - Weather and Temperature on your Home Screen Fahrenheit - Weather and Temperature on your Home Screen by International Travel Weather Calculator is an impressive new weather app with something very clever to offer. It uses the latest technology to show the current temperature right on the home screen. Apple is notorious for not letting apps operate outside their guidelines, and this is especially true when it comes to the functionality of iOS. So how have the developers beaten the system? The developers have found an interesting loophole. They are utilizing an app's ability to display a notification number and are using it to share information with users. This is how they are able to show the current temperature from anywhere on the home screen, through the use of this notification number. App Store Link: Fahrenheit - Weather and Temperature on your Home Screen ($.99, universal); original article Moleskine Moleskine, the folks behind the popular line of notebooks, diaries and sketchbooks by the same name, quietly dropped a universal app into the App Store. It combines the old school simplicity of a notebook with technological advances you’ve come to expect from an iDevice. These include geo-tagging, image adding, and the sharing of notes through email or social networking. App Store Link: Moleskine (free, universal); original article Oz Oz by ArseyBee Productions beautifully marries that vintage look and feel of those storybooks we grew to love as children with interactive modern technology. You will almost forget you are reading this classic tale on an iPad except for the occasional "roar" from the Cowardly Lion, or an appropriately-placed, interactive animation on an illustrated page. Oz is 112 digital pages of the storytelling genius of L. Frank Baum. Many digital storybooks for the iPad overdo the interaction and so the app becomes less about reading and more about your child touching every inch of the screen to find out what else will pop up or make a funny noise. Oz, however, preserves the integrity of the story by keeping those distractions to a minimum while still remaining visually stunning. As each section of the book passes, the colors of the pages change. Every 5 or so pages you'll hear a sound effect that matches the illustration, or have the opportunity to "play" with something (put the Tin Man back together, or stuff the Scare Crow with hay, etc). App Store Link: Oz ($6.99); original article Prompt For those looking for an iOS SSH client, consider Prompt, by the folks behind the popular Coda web development application for Mac. The universal app helps system administrators, web developers, and hackers connect to servers remotely. Created by Panic, Inc., Prompt is a fully functional SSH client that seems to have one goal in mind: to get its user remotely connected quickly and with ease. It achieves this by offering a number of customizable features. App Store Link: Prompt ($4.99, universal); original article Showyou There are many iOS apps already available that make it easy to connect with family and friends on Facebook or Twitter. However, the new universal Showyou app is different. Instead of rehashing posts or tweets, it shows you videos your friends and contacts are sharing on social networks. Think of Showyou as Flipboard for videos. Created by the folks behind Vodpod, Remixation, Inc., Showyou lets you see the videos shared by friends on Facebook, Twitter, and Vodpod. These videos may be sourced from YouTube, Vimeo, and TED. App Store Link: Showyou (free, universal); original article You Don’t Know Jack HD You Don't Know Jack HD by Jellyvision Games is the latest in a series of established hit game titles to find their way to iOS. It has been everything from a cross-platform video game, to a board game, and even briefly, a TV show. App Store Link: You Don't Know Jack HD ($4.99); original article Updates Instapaper The popular iOS app, Instapaper, has just received an update. Now, the app's built in dictionary works better than ever: It's faster, more compact, and bursting with information. App Store Link: Instapaper ($4.99, universal); original article PBS for iPad PBS fans with iPads got a treat, an update that fixes several issues and adds a few nice features. The highlights of the update consist of the addition of AirPlay and multitasking support, plus a fix for the audio / orientation hardware switch. PBS for iPad v1.2 now offers AirPlay functionality to those who've equipped their home entertainment setup(s) with Apple TV(s). For iDevice owners who may not be quite as versed in Apple gadget features; AirPlay provides wireless streaming to AirPlay devices, such as an Apple TV. Easily switch destination devices or resume the viewing on your iPad at any time. App Store Link: PBS for iPad (free); original article