Killer Apps for the Apple iPad

Play timeless pieces on spiral and circular keyboards, or follow beams of light – mastery requires only your imagination. Play alone, or travel through a warp hole and play Piano Roulette with other performers across the world. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

The game is addictive but the premise is simple: Just challenge a friend and take turns applying dictionary skills as you get rid of your lettered tiles. You can play at your own leisure and trash talk with a built-in chat feature. Turn on push notifications so you can see when your friend completed her turn. (Words with Friends)

Keep track of just about everything you can think of, from photos and recipes to notes and voice memos, all stored across Evernote’s fully searchable platform and available for iPhone, Windows, Mac, Android and now iPad (in a truly their beautifully designed app). (Evernote)

News Rack is a full-featured RSS feed reader with a great interface. It lets you skim the latest headlines from a pre-stocked list of periodicals or build your own list. I rely on Google Reader for my news feeds, and News Rack pulls all of those feeds right into the app. (News Rack)

Amazon did a smart thing, leveraging the Kindle brand across multiple platforms. And the Kindle app for the iPad is just a natural fit. While I love the design of Apple's iBooks app, the Kindle app offers me the one thing iBooks can’t: saving highlights in the cloud. I take a ton of highlighted notes in the books that I read and Amazon stores those on its website for later browsing at <a href="http://www.kindle.amazon.com" target="_blank">www.kindle.amazon.com</a>. (Kindle)

The first effort from Bonnier's Mag+ project to rethink digital magazines, Popular Science+ is optimized for the iPad, so you'll never have to pinch and zoom to read a story or click to find content. Instead, simply swipe across to browse through the articles and swipe down when you find something you want to read. (Bonnier)

With this app NPR did the impossible, turning sometimes boring content into an addictive experience. (NPR)

With Apartment Guide, you can search for apartments by entering in city, state or ZIP code. You can also use advanced search to search by radius, sort criteria, property types, beds, bath, price and amenities; view apartment details page; and search on a map for nearby units. (Business Wire)

The "This Day in History for iPad" app is among the first apps to be released for Apple's iPad. (PRNewsFoto/Software MacKiev)

The iPad made its way into a reviewer's hands in Palo Alto, Calif., Wednesday, April 7, 2010. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Starting at $499 and available for purchase in about 60 days, the iPad may be Apple's next big hit.  (FoxNews)

Apple's newest gizmo -- CEO Steve Jobs, pictured, gushed, calling it "our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price" -- is a multipurpose multimedia device. (AP)

In design, the tablet looks like an oversized iPhone or iPod Touch, although that analogy implies similar functionality: Apple clearly has more planned for the new tablet.  (AP)

Many journalists, focusing on the bright splashes of color in the invitation Apple sent out to journalists, speculated that Apple's new device will focus on content creation. A new application for the iPad, called Brushes, plays into that. The art browser and painting application lets anyone become Picasso, yet that's hardly the wealth of video, photo, and word processing tools some speculated would exist at launch. (AP)

Since iTunes already sells television shows and movies, playing those shows on the iPad's 9.7-inch multi-touch screen is a no-brainer. The experience looks super smooth, and apple clams the device will have a 10-hour battery life.  (AP)

The screen certainly looks great, though Apple never cited the screen's resolution. But will there be a video-subscription service? And will we be able to buy individual TV shows, directly from the iPad? Apple didn't answer all of our questions. (AP)

Apple is<b> </b>concentrating heavily on the gaming market, a space the company has never broken into effectively. Current ads for the iPod Touch emphasize the device's utility in the gaming market. And gaming will be a big component of the iPad.  (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Apple is<b> </b>concentrating heavily on the gaming market, a space the company has never broken into effectively. Current ads for the iPod Touch emphasize the device's utility in the gaming market. And gaming will be a big component of the iPad.  (AP )

The iPad has an 802.11n chip that supports the latest wireless Internet connection. But some models will sell with 3G Internet connections as well, meaning users will be able to connect to the Web wherever they are.  (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Apple spent a long time touting the functions of its productivity suite iWork. Vice president Phil Schiller came on stage to discuss the suite, which includes an editing program, a spreadsheet app, and more. "It's the most beautiful word processor you've ever used," Schiller told the assembled crowd. Each app will sell for $9.99. (AP)

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During the iPad launch event, Steve Jobs demonstrates movie playback on the tablet device with a clip from the latest "Star Trek" film. (Gizmodo)

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