The Best iPad Apps Of The Week, July 17-23, 2011

The AppAdvice iPad App Of The Week: Sid Meier’s Pirates! for iPad, $3.99, Released July 21 Behold, Sid Meier's Pirates Has Arrived On The iPad Sid Meier’s Pirates has arrived for the iPad. The high-seas adventure game lets you man one of 27 fully customizable ships as you descend upon unsuspecting ports looking for a motley crew of seafaring bandits. Created by 2K Games, Sid Meier’s Pirates! for iPad brings the classic game first created in 1987 to the tablet for the first time. As fearless Pirate Captain you are tasked with collecting hidden treasure maps, undertaking daring missions and courageous rescues, and swiftly handing out pirate-style justice to each local you meet. Along the way, you will face other pirates on the deep blue sea that you must defeat in sea battle to survive. New Releases Infographics, Free & Universal, Released July 15 Infographics App Arrives For iPhone And iPad For those fans of the ever-present infographics, we’ve got some terrific news for you. The folks at Column Five Media, Inc. have just released a universal app simply called Infographics, which include 50 unique and informative visual masterpieces. Bjork: Biophilia, Free & Universal, Released July 19 Bjork: Biophilia - Available Now In The App Store Bjork's new album has hit the App Store (as you'll remember, the album is kind of like ten individual iOS apps), and is available to download for free. The app, Bjork: Biophilia, comes with one track and app built-in. The remaining tracks and applications will eventually be available to purchase in-app, for $1.99 each. As outlined in the app's release notes:

Biophilia is an extraordinary and innovative multimedia exploration of music, nature and technology by the musician Björk. Comprising a suite of original music and interactive, educational artworks and musical artifacts, Biophilia is released as ten in-app experiences that are accessed as you fly through a three-dimensional galaxy that accompanies the album’s theme song Cosmogony. All of the album’s songs gradually become available inside Biophilia as interactive experiences, beginning with the first single Crystalline.

Star Wars Blu-Ray: Early Access, Free, Released July 20 Star War Fans Get First Look At Blue-ray Release With New (& Free) iPad App Fox Mobile Entertainment, Inc. has just released Star Wars Blu-Ray: Early Access for the iPad. The free app gives Star Wars fans a first look at the STAR WARS: THE COMPLETE SAGA Blu-ray release on September 16^th. Offering amazing content for and about each of the six Star Wars chapters, the iPad app even offers users bonus materials that are featured in the Blue-ray set. Features include Interviews & Video Commentaries, a Concept Art Gallery, and a section called The Collection. Sephora App for iPad, Free, Released July 21 New Sephora App Looks Simply Beautiful On iPad Sephora, the company that helps make women and men more beautiful, has just launched their first iPad app. The free Sephora App for iPad is now available in the App Store. The app includes beauty news and information from Sephora’s Facebook and Twitter feeds, as well as posts from its BeautyTalk community, Beauty And The Blog website, and the company’s revamped YouTube Channel. Updated Blogsy, $4.99, Updated June 18 Blogsy For iPad Updated - Adds WordPress Page Support, New Features & Improvements The popular weblog editing iPad application, Blogsy, has recently received an update. Now, users of the application can create and edit WordPress pages, and take advantage of a variety of other feature changes and bug fixes. CNN App for iPad, Free, Updated July 18 CNN App Gets Updated For Both iPhone And iPad If you own an iDevice and are a fan of CNN, you are in luck. The apps for iPhone and iPad have both been updated to include live TV streaming for content on the fly. However, you must be a subscriber to a supported network that offers the 24-hour cable channel. The participating providers for this service include AT&T, Comcast, Cox, DISH Network, Suddenlink and Verizon. As long as you subscribe to one of them, you should have access to the live feed. Sky Go, Free & Universal, Updated July 19 Sky Go Universal App Now Available: TV On-The-Go For UK Apple Fans Good news, UK Apple fans: The Sky Go online streaming service we told you about recently has launched, and the accompanying iOS application is now available in the App Store. The app, Sky Go, can be downloaded for free, and is natively compatible with the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The service, which is free for existing Sky TV customers (who have subscribed to Sky Sports 1 and 2), allows users to watch TV and movies online in a desktop browser, or within the recently released iOS app. It's possible to register two devices with the service, and TV can be watched on both devices at the same time over Wi-Fi or 3G. 22 Days HD – countdowns with style, $1.99, Updated July 20 Countdown App For iPad, 22 Days HD, Has Been Updated To 2.0, Plus Your Chance To Win A Copy! I reviewed 22 Days and 22 Days HD last month, and I found this to be quite a nifty little countdown app. It has a beautiful interface and countdowns which showed you how many full months are remaining until the event at hand (even though there were plenty of users that didn't like this feature). The developer has just updated the iPad version, 22 Days HD, to version 2.0. There are plenty of changes in this new version. Avadon: The Black Fortress HD, $9.99, Updated July 20 Avadon: The Black Fortress HD Gets Update Spiderweb Software has just announced the first update to its popular indy turn-based role playing game called Avadon: The Black Fortress HD. The new update, which is available now in the App Store, includes a number of features that improves upon an already impressive game. First released earlier this year, Avadon: The Black Fortress HD is a western-style RPG that shares similar elements to Infinity Engine games, such as Baldurs Gate, and PC classics, like the Ultima series. Calvetica Calendar, $1.99 & Universal, Updated June 20 Calvetica Calendar Completely Revamped, Now Universal One of the top-selling iPhone/iPod touch calendar apps is now available for the iPad too. Calvetica Calendar was recently updated and is now a universal app, meaning it will run on any of your iDevices. Created by Mysterious Trousers, LLC, the app has been completely redone for its Version 4.0 release. It now offers a month and day layout on one screen, plus an impressive portrait week agenda view. The Best iPad Apps Of The Week is published each weekend; a companion piece, The Best iPhone Apps Of The Week, is published separately. Attention developers: If you would like your app to be considered for one of our “Best Of” lists, please me know by sending me a treat @bryanmwolfe. Note: Your app must have been new or updated in the last week to make the current list.