The iPad is less than three months old, and already programmers have whipped up 9,000 apps for the fancy tablet. But, just as with the iPhone, there’s a problem: It’s hard to navigate the App Store for quality wares because it’s just too crowded.
Right before the iPad launched and after it came out, we rounded up some apps we found intriguing. After diving into this media-savvy device, we’ve added a few more apps we consider to be gems, ranging from a web browser that’s better than Safari to a sheet music reader that teaches you piano.
Reeder
The makers of Reeder borrowed heavily from the interface of Apple’s built-in Photos app, but we’re sure Steve Jobs doesn’t mind. This apps makes news-reading look darn gorgeous — something that newspapers still haven’t figured out how to do — and it offers one of those experiences that reminds you why you bought an iPad in the first place.
Reeder displays all your RSS feeds in an albumlike interface; each feed gets its own rectangular tile. Pinch outward on a feed and it launches its list of headlines on the left and the article in a right-hand window. Pinch inward to close the feed and go back to your main menu.
Here’s how good it is: Both Wired.com’s Charlie Sorrel and I love it, and we mostly read tech news RSS feeds for our jobs. (See Sorrel’s gushy review of Reeder for a closer look.) Yes, it even makes reading news for work more fun. ($5, download)
Craigslist Pro
Craig Newmark hasn’t upgraded the look of Craigslist since the last millennium, but this iPad app gives the bare-bones site a fresh appearance — and makes it easier to use. Craigslist Pro automates a lot of the tedious chores you have to go through to search for a new job, motorcycle, one-night stand and so on with Craigslist.
Start by settting up your location, then choose a category (e.g. jobs, personals or housing) and type in a keyword.
The best part is you can see a preview of each ad description below its corresponding title. So rather than clicking and going back and forth between each ad, you can get a nice scan of all the options with a quick swipe. Tapping an ad quickly loads its copy and photos (if available). In the upper-right corner is a Save Srch button in case you want to perform a search regularly. Sweet app for an excellent, albeit outdated, web service. ($1, download)
沒有留言:
發佈留言