This visually pleasing app is wonderfully narrated by Stephen Fry and everything about this iPad app is professionally produced. Inside the World of Dinosaurs iPad app is a comprehensive encyclopedia that is the best iPad app of its kind on the iTunes app store. (screenshots and video demo after the break)

My 7 year old son is smitten with everything related to dinosaurs. It is a joy to find a new TV documentary, movie or new book for him to enjoy. So when this app was released I had to buy it for him and I only hoped that it was as good as the price suggested. This app is great but the problem is my son is so crazy about it that I can’t get my iPad 2 away from him. Am I going to have to buy him an iPad 2 just because of this app? No, it’s not in the budget but it is a dad’s pleasure to see him so engaged with something so educational and meticulously designed.

This iPad app features over 60 dinosaurs that display stunningly on the iPad display. One thing I really like about this app is the interactivity with each of the dinosaurs. Every dinosaur with a tap and touch can be spun around in 3D motion, allowing you to closely study the details of each one. The designers of the app have loaded it full of over 200 pages of 3D modeling that are just beautiful. Each page looks world-class and the fight scenes and animations look like they should be displayed at the Smithsonian. With Apple’s expansion into textbooks in the classroom, school will also want to load this app as a teaching aid for Science curriculum.

Below are the app store described features:

- 310 fully interactive 3D models in total
- 60 expertly modelled, photo-realistic dinoaurs
- 40 fully interactive 3D recreations of dinosaurs in mid-fight
- 200 pages worth of well-researched original text
- 5 hours of magical narration by Stephen Fry
- 84 videos and historical pictures
- 60 original dinosaur sounds
- 5 interactive 3D walking dinosaurs
- 15 pages of famous dinosaur hunters
- 22 pages of thoroughly researched articles on prehistoric life

Although you may have sticker shock at first we think you’ll find this Inside the World of Dinosaurs app well worth the investment that the whole family will enjoy. This wonderful iPad app is available on the iTunes app store for $13.99.

Textkraft app for iPad offers users both a complete work solution, as well as a smooth interface for writing quick grammatically correct bursts of text. As I write this blog review I’m using the Textkraft app and it is a joy to use and I especially like the spelling aid that quickly advises me.

The list of outstanding features of Textkraft include:  (screenshots and video demo after break)

•Dynamic and sensitive spelling aid. No looking-up and no interruption within the writing flow. It identifies the right words, just the way you pronounce them.
•Cursor keys better than on a real keyboard. 8 keys with 10 functions.

•Quick selection-marker for word, sentence and paragraph without bustle or finger fractures.
•Undo/Redo- and history-function to test various phrasings.
•Upper and lower case can be switched by keystroke.
• Dropbox integration: Synchronize documents on all your devices.
• Text import from Macintosh, Linux and Windows.
• Text import from other iPad Apps, such as opening a text from mail-attachments.
• Text export via clipboard, e-mail, and immediate transfer to other iPad Apps.
• Direct printing with iPad. AirPrint™ compatible as from iOS 4.2.
• 9 typefaces at choice and freely selectable text size.
• Wide ranged text information, such as page and word count, as well as file size.
• Standard iPad auto correction can be disabled.
• Reading mode prevents accidental keyboard entries.

Admittedly, one of the mundane tasks associated with the camera roll on my iPad is searching for photos. With 3D Photo Ring HD it turns this task into a speedy and  fun task.  The onboard color sorting technology in this best iPad app allows you to save time hunting a specific photo. I even found it kind of hypnotic just playing with the stylish movement of the photo ring. This app for iPad also offers an interactive 3D slideshow presentation of your photos. According to the developer this innovative 3D photo arrangement and color-based organization feature is faster than 2D since it speeds up the visual search from the human eye. (screenshots and video demo after break)

Below are the features listed on the iTunes app store:

• Browsing of photos from different folders/events
• Innovative and intuitive 3D browsing interface (rotatable and zoomable 3D Ring)
• Interactive 3D slideshow (animated 3D Wall; with pause/fast-forward/reverse feature)
• Organization of your photos into several rings with switching feature
• Number of rings and size of rings configurable
• Convenient interaction (e.g., kinetic ring rotation by wipe or tilt)
• Sorting of photos by recording time (also by EXIF original date)
• Sorting of photos by color
• Autorotate support
• Inspection of EXIF/TIFF metadata of photos
• Fullscreen photo mode with convenient switching function (by wipe or tilt)

The 3D Photo Ring HD iPad App is available on the app store for $0.99.

If you are working with contracts and documents it is important to be able to annotate and markup specific lines for revision or discussion. But what I’m finding useful is being able to merge my signature onto contracts using the PDF Forms iPad app. This app is aimed at easy signing of documents, contracts, and legal notices right on your iPad 2 device. Here is how it works. Simply save a copy of your signature image and place it into signature area of the PDF document you are working with. PDF Forms allows you to adjust and resize your signature image by easily dragging the signature frame to the exact needed location on the form. 

Another great function is the ability to complete blank forms that you have on your iPad. Recently I was sitting in the waiting room at the doctors office as a new patient. Don’t you hate filling out those new patient boring forms? Instead of using pen and paper I opened the document from the Doctor in PDF Forms and simply tapped and selected each field on the form to add text. It was actually slightly enjoyable although Medical forms are somewhat redundant.

The PDF Forms app for iPad seamlessly can import any PDF file via iTunes File Sharing, email or loaded from Dropbox. Below are the features listed on the app store:

• Get PDF documents from any application using Open In, from iTunes or Dropbox folders
• Manage PDF documents using folders
• Sign legal documents (contracts, notices, etc.)
• Fill out various forms
• Mark and comment any text or image in any PDF document
• Split any PDF documents into separate PDF files
• Share ready PDFs via e-mail or Dropbox

Easily share your completed form by sending it in an email or by uploading it to Dropbox. It is so great to be able to experience paperless PDF signing on the iPad. Get the PDF Forms iPad app on the iTunes app store for $8.99.

HOW TO PLAY: At the main menu you see a display of 9 beautifully illustrated food type icons like a cake, hamburger, pizza or even ice cream. When you childs selects that category the next screen appears with all the ingredients listed graphically so your child can easily make decisions on what to include and exclude in their meal.

This game is one of a series of educational games for children by MyFirstApp.com and we also like and have reviewed Memo-Game and Build-It-Up iPad apps. Get this iPad app free on the App store by clicking the link below.

Some of the cities UpNext includes in this iPad app: Los Angeles New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, Boston, Washington DC, and Atlanta, to name a few. Plus, more cities are coming soon. Some other really practical features include local search, venue reviews, deal finder and they’ve integrated Foursquare as well. Get UpNext HD here its free son the app store. 

The illustrations are really well done and the game play for children is inviting and easy to navigate in this touch-based iPad app. My 5 year old son plays a lot on my iPad so it is interesting to see what apps he is drawn towards. The Pollinator HD was a natural fit for him developmentally as he intuitively understood the flow of play. It’s pretty simple for your child to get started in this app as your finger draws the desired path for Buzz the Bee to be directed toward the flowers. You can then direct them back to their hive with the same touch guide. My son also really enjoyed squashing the dragonflies just but touching them with your finger.

The story is a good one for teaching your child about pollination from the bees world view. Basically Buzz takes your child on a journey to visit the flowers and harvest the pollen before returning to the hive. The game is fun and allows you to reach different levels of play by achieving new high scores and collecting stars.
The Pollinator HD iPad app is available for $0.99 on the iTunes store.

If you think about it, in a child’s life bedtime and bath time are big events for the day. The author has brilliantly brought an important message to life with the Pete and Sneakers characters. These cute penguins encourage children to understand their own individuality and uniqueness and how similar tasks can be performed in different ways. For example, Pete prefers to approach basic bath and bedtime tasks more conservatively, while Sneakers’ routine is free-spirited and often just wacky. Pete and Sneakers embrace their differences while still having fun together which is such a positive lesson. 

My 3 and 5 year old are able to enjoy playing this together which is such a joy. This iPad app has been designed with some great interactive features like turning on a shower, a microphone voice recorder, and a rotating disco ball. There is also “read aloud” feature that can be turned off allowing children to develop their own reading skills.

The Pete and Sneakers Bath and Bedtime app is available until February 1st for just $0.99 on the app store.

The company’s manufacturing partners in Asia started ramping up production of the iPad 3 this month and plan to reach full volumes by February, said one of the people, who asked not to be named because the details aren’t public. The tablet will use a quad-core chip, an enhancement that lets users jump more quickly between applications, two of the people said.

The China production facilities are now running 24 hours a day after the Lunar New Year holiday which starts today. The iPad 3 release will likely include the new LTE wireless cellular standard which allows users high speed data.

The OnLive Desktop app provides access to a seamless Windows desktop experience that integrate Microsoft Office applications. Microsoft is including a free 2GB of cloud storage when you register. OnLive’s video compression technology takes advantage of the their streaming technology in order to run the Office suite in the cloud and stream rendered video to your iPad 2 display. Because this is built on the OnLive’s cloud-gaming platform we’ll have to wait and see how it will perform when the traffic load is heavy.

OnLive Desktop for iPad is a free download from the App Store. You will need a free account with OnLive to use the program.

The report from this Japanese blog is based on unnamed Chinese sources. In the report they’ve described the new iPad 3 as identical to the iPad 2 but with many new internal features. There is a possibility of an overall thinner form factor if Apple chooses to use the new Gorilla 2 glass from Corning. Some of the rumored features might be in shape of the dock connector and location of the two built-in cameras. If the form factor stays the same then you’ll still be able to use your Smart Cover on the iPad 3. Some form fitting cases may not work, however, as the device is slightly thinner.

Most everyone expects the new iPad 3 tablet to offer a stunning resolution for it’s display of 2048-by-1536-pixels. We may also, be surprised that it will be called iPad 2S instead of the iPad 3.

HOW TO PLAY: Each board displays parts of an image. The goal of the Build-it-up game is to assemble the parts correctly, one on top of the other, to create and complete the whole image. 

This game is one of a series of educational games for children by MyFirstApp.com and we also like and have reviewed Memo-Game iPad app.

This great educational iPad app is available to download for free on the iTunes app store.

What gives me joy is to see my 4 year-old enjoying this wonderful unique interactive game. This app is educational also and teaches 3 to 4 year-olds shapes, sizes and geometry as they attempt to fit different shapes into matching holes. The developers have cleverly integrated real-life sounds and graphically pleasing animations in Jukka Askare for iPad. The Jukka Askare app can develop your child’s spatial recognition and eye-hand coordination in this fun iPad app game.

This iPad 2 app emulates a 3-D environment as your child develops fine motor skills moving the colorful pieces around the iPad display with their finger. This game is completely international and does not use language and my son just intuitively knew what this game was about as soon as I tapped on the app and it opened up. (screenshots below the break)

“A digital game can never replace a real toy, as it lacks the tactile aspect which is a major part of learning. On the other hand, digital games are more environmentally friendly, and they can be a handy addition if the family home doesn’t have much room for toys. Finding high-quality and durable wood for the manufacture of physical toys can be a challenge, which is why the app also has ecological benefits,” says Managing Director Eero Aalto.

Below are the features list as shown on the app store:

- Easy gaming, tested by children and adults alike
- Realistic 3D-animations
- Inspiring sounds
- Cute little surprises
- Wood-solid operation

This fun and educational app for iPad is available on the app store for $0.99 by clicking below.

The Painting with Time iPad app is very unique and entertaining. In short, this app allows you to have fun brushing on the iPad tablet and playing with the flow of time in a given landscape. (video demo and screenshots after break)

This app offers 14 custom image sets that let you explore the peculiar ways the world around you is changing by using your finger as a brush stroke. One of the image sets we played around with was the San Francisco over-a-day sequence that reveals the changing light of one of the world’s most beautiful cities. I got so lost in the moment of manipulating the beard growing image set. This allows you to brush and combine different time frames and create some intriguing facial fashion looks. Another included image set displays dramatic transformations caused by climate change which is a real eye-opener. My 7 year-old daughter was spellbound by watching me time-brush a woman’s face and reveal the aging process over 60 years.

Here are the features listed on the app store:

• 14 carefully crafted time sequences of nature, art, and people

• Painting Time manipulation mode

• Slicing Time manipulation mode

• Eight preset brushes and slicing patterns

• “Mix and Merge” capability to merge a variety of time views within composites

The developers have incorporated five different brush strokes to let you explore with. We really like the feature that allows you to time slice and change the image set to reveal a multi-image view of a given image. We think that you’ll not only enjoy the interactive touch time manipulation of these images but also how this app can help expand your daily view of the world.

The Painting with Time App is now available on the app store as a free download.

Timeline was supposed to be released even as early as this December. However, it appears that the Timeline release has been pushed back to a late January launch.

Facebook has already released the Timeline feature for the iPhone and iPod touch a few weeks back. This update installed the Timeline profile feature for these iOS devices so we can only expect that the iPad version is on it’s way soon.

The Noisepad iPad 2 app is a drum computer packed with the latest samples, beats and vocals from A-list artists and producers. The iPhonk developers(a devision of MediaGROE) have created an innovative easy-to-use app that has lots of bells and whistles. iPhonk has cleverly built realtime effects into this app that includes pitch, delay, cut-off, phase, reverb and bit-crush. You can also easily upload your own samples to the custom sound banks of the Noisepad app via iTunes. (video demo and screenshots after break)

The story behind the development of this app was with the upcoming artist Chuckie in mind. iPhonk created this app as a live set tool for on stage performance and have made it very user friendly for the live set environment. Below is a list of features list on the app store:

- Sound effects: Pitch . Delay . Phase . Cut-off . Reverb . Crush
- Slider double tap: reset the effect to the off position
- Soundbanks: samples & beats are organized into multiple sets
- Cut: each sample cuts previous sample
- L/R: switch the orientation to suit left or right handed
- Tap: tap for the tempo of your effects
- Volume: set the Noisepad volume separately from the device volume
- Effects Dry / Wet: set effect strength from 0 to 100%
- Audio output: output meter
- In-App shop: download the latest samples from your favorite artists
- Background music: play a track in iTunes and make some noise on the same device
- Custom soundbank: upload your own samples using iTunes*
* Supported sound formats:
(.CAF / .WAV / .MP3 audio files, 22khz / 44khz / 48khz, stereo / mono ).

This iPad app is available on the app store for $2.99 and includes a free Chuckie sound bank.

We really like how that after Action Movie FX processes your video, you can share it with your Facebook friends, send it by email, or save it to your camera roll. The Bad Robot developers offer you two special effects for free called “missile attack” and “car smash.” This app is free on the app store and the other in-app purchases of special effects can be had for $0.99.

This fun iPad game app has been recreated from a classic memory game that we think your children aged 3.5 and older will really enjoy. This visual memory iPad app has a voice recorder built-in as part of the design. This clever app enables parents and children to add audible labels to the visual images that appear in the iPad tablet display of this iPad 2 app. My 5 year son enjoyed recording his own voice as much as he did playing the game.

This educational game app offers 9 different boards to choose from. All of these choices have beautiful graphics that really stand out on my iPad 2 display. The artwork is also very well done and inviting for children. (screenshots after the break)
How The Game Works

Memo-Game iPad app is designed for two players, although, my son has enjoyed hours of playing it in single-player mode. Game play involves each player taking a turn touching two of the cards in order to find a matching pair. When your child makes a successful match they get to continue playing. If not then it becomes the other player’s turn. The object of this fun children’s game is match as many pairs of objects as you can.

MyFirstApp.com is dedicated to designing and developing high quality apps for iPad. This team of three developers seem to have a passion for what there rolling out. In fact they’ve got a whole series of educational games now on the iTunes store with more on the way.

You’re really going to like this next part. This great educational iPad app is available for free on the iTunes store.