Top 50 iPad Apps: The Best Apps in Every Category for Your New Tablet

Dec. 25, 2012 — -- intro: If you believe the data : Lots of people had the iPad on the top of their Christmas lists. Well, if you woke up with Apple's tablet under the tree – Congratulations! The wonderful world of tablet computing awaits you.

But now what? An iPad is only as good as the apps you get for it. With over 275,000 made just for the tablet in Apple's store, though, it can be overwhelming to find the right ones. Not to worry, ABC News' technology team has you covered. We have rounded up the best iPad apps out there -- free and paid -- for you in different categories. Get ready to start downloading!

Note: You can view this entire article on one page by selecting the "View All" in the upper right corner, next to Print icon.

quicklist: 1category: Social Networking title: 1. Twitter text: The first category of apps is all about connecting with others – one of the iPad's greatest strengths. If you are a Twitter addict, Twitter's official app is a must-have. It's simple to operate: sign in with your account and your stream of tweets will be displayed. The best part of the app, though, is that you can see photos and websites that your followers have shared right within your stream. No need to jump out to the web browser or photo app. Twitter also recently added its own photo filters and cropping tools. (Free)

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quicklist: 2category: Social Networkingtitle: 2. Facebook text: For a long time the best way to look at Facebook on the iPad was through the browser, but the Facebook app is finally at a place that makes it the best place to keep track of your social network. You can view your Newsfeed, flick through photos and send messages to your friends. Facebook also recently released a new version, which sped up the entire app and the load times of photos. When you set this one up, be mindful about accepting the push notifications. Do you want to be notified every time someone likes your post? That's up to you! (Free)

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quicklist: 3category: Social Networking title: 3. Pinterest

text: Rounding out the social networking apps is Pinterest. (If you aren't familiar with Pinterest, check out this article.) This is a must have for the Pinterest addict, but even if you aren't a huge fan of the social pinning service, you can appreciate the beautiful app. Even if you refrain from creating your own digital bulletin boards, you can browse others in different categories (travel, food, etc.) by swiping in from the left side. The highlight here is content – photos are beautifully displayed and it's easy to flip through others' boards and admire the striking collections of cool stuff. You can also browse the web through the app and pin new things to your boards. (Free)

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quicklist: 4category: Communications title: 4. Skype text: Yes, every iPad comes with Facetime for video calling with others who have an iPad, iPhone or Mac computer. But Skype is one of the best cross-platform video calling services. The app works much like the desktop programs. Log in with your username and password and you'll get a list of your contacts. You can choose to video call with them, send them a message, or make a regular voice call. The quality of the calls will depend on your Internet connection; stick with using WiFi for the best results, though 3G or LTE calls will work. (Free)

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quicklist: 5category: Communications title: 5. Gmail text: Every iPad does come the built in e-mail application where you can add any e-mail account, but for those who use Gmail the dedicated app brings extras to the tablet. With Google's new Gmail app you can star and label your messages and switch between up to five Gmail accounts. When you hold the tablet horizontally you can view your Inbox on the left and your messages on the right. You can select multiple messages, watch them pile up on top of each other and then bulk delete them. (Free)

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quicklist: 6category: Reading title: 6. Amazon Kindle text: Whether you've got an iPad Mini or the 9.7-inch iPad with the Retina Display you'll soon discover that your new tablet will transform into one of the best books you've ever owned. Apple's iBooks has a good selection of digital tomes, but Amazon store is second to none. Download Kindle for the iPad and you will be able to choose from millions of titles and also access any books you've bought on other Kindle e-readers right on the tablet. It also has a feature called X-Ray, which shows the "bones of the book," including the main characters and places. You can also purchase magazines through the app. (Free)

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quicklist: 7category: Reading title: 7. Flipboardtext: If we narrowed down this list to the top five iPad apps, Flipboard might just be at the top of that list. Flipboard is a social reader app – log in with your social network and it gathers all the links to the stories and photos your friends are sharing in a clean and easy-on-the-eyes layout. You can flip through pages and pages of stories that are popular with your friends. You can customize your news sources and select different topic areas too. Basically, if you were looking to build your own personalized magazine – this would be the app to do it. (Free)

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quicklist: 8category: Readingtitle: 8. News360 text: News360 is similar to Flipboard but is for the harder news addict. The app learns your news habits. When you first launch it, you select the topics you are interested in – politics, technology, health, etc. It will then feed you current news about each of those from different news outlets. As you click through, the app will analyze what you like and start to feed you more about those stories. It's also very well designed; each story is presented on a cube – swipe up or down to turn the cube and see other options, including some sharing functions. (Free)

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quicklist: 9category: Reading title: 9. Instapapertext: Reading a long article on your computer is not an enjoyable experience. That's where Instapaper comes in. Sign up for an Instapaper account and when you come across a long article on your computer, you can "Instapaper it" with a bookmarklet that you install. Then you can log in to that same account through the iPad app and waiting there will be the article in an easy to read format. (Free)

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quicklist: 10category: Reading title: 10. IDW and Marvel Comics text: Comic book fan or not, the iPad is a great platform to read graphic novels or books. IDW Comics and Marvel have a strong lineup of comics, including same day as print releases. Yes, we are including two apps in one here, but within the Marvel app you can buy X Men, Iron Man, Thor and others. In the IDW Comics app you can purchase G.I. Joe and classic comics like Popeye. Both apps will require you to buy the comics from the companies directly. Marvel is owned by The Walt Disney Co., which also owns ABC News. (IDW and Marvel)

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quicklist: 11category: Productivity title: 11. Pages text: Believe it or not, you can do work on your iPad, and Apple's Pages is a great place to start. The word processing app is touch-friendly and doesn't only support text. You can rearrange images and make colorful documents and presentations with Apple's templates. As you would expect, there's lots of font and color options and you can open Microsoft Word and other documents in it. Pages one-ups the other word-processing apps for the iPad with its iCloud integration. Save a file and you can instantly view it in Pages for Mac or the iPhone. ($9.99)

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quicklist: 12category: Productivity title: 12. Evernotetext: However, if you are just looking to take notes, Evernote is a great option and a step up from Apple's built-in Notes app. The cross-platform app syncs your notes from the web and all of Evernotes other apps so you always have them in one place. You can insert images and voice reminders within your notes too. Evernote has organized all your notes into notebooks, which you can give a cover photo. The company is constantly adding features, but this is already one of the best to-do list apps out there. (Free)

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quicklist: 13category: Productivity title: 13. Dropbox text: Now that you have an iPad, you're probably wondering what's the best way to get photos and files from one device to another. Dropbox is one of the best options. The app can be downloaded on your computer (Mac or PC), your phone, and your iPad. Drop a file in your Dropbox on your computer and it will pop up on your iPad. It's a great way to transfer images or files. Dropbox gives you 2GB for free; you can upgrade to larger plans for a monthly plan. (Free)

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quicklist: 14category: Productivity title: 14. OnLive Desktoptext: We've covered a number of ways for you to do work on the iPad, but this is the ultimate option. OnLive Desktop lets you see your full PC desktop right on the iPad's screen. Yes, you can navigate your Windows PC, open files or folders and even read and edit Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint documents. You can access your PC from anywhere as long as you are connected to WiFi. It's actually quite fast, and not as laggy as some other remote PC programs. If you're planning to do work on your iPad, you might want to consider a Bluetooth keyboard. Here are reviews of some of the best. (Free)

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quicklist: 15category: Organization title: 15. Mint text: Mint is a personal finance organization app. Similar to the website, the iPad app lets you track your budget and see all your accounts in one place. The iPad app, though, presents everything in a touch-friendly way. You can tap the graphs and swipe to move through the months. For those worried about putting all that personal financial information into the app, the app is protected by a 4-digit PIN. If you lose your iPad you can deactivate it from your Mint.com profile. (Free)

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quicklist: 16category: Video title: 16. ShowYoutext: The iPad can quickly turn into a small TV with a few key apps, but ShowYou is the app you want for tuning into the best videos on the Internet. The app brings in video that your friends are sharing on Twitter or Facebook. Log in with your accounts and it will bring in the videos people are sharing on YouTube and other video sites. You can share your own videos with your ShowYou followers and easily share them on other social networks. There's, of course, no shortage of funny cat videos. (Free)

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quicklist: 17category: Video title: 17. YouTube text: While ShowYou is great for seeing what others are watching, nothing can top the official YouTube app. Just refreshed by Google, the app features lists of video topics on the left side along with subscriptions to your favorite channels. When you play a video at full screen, you just have to swipe from the left to bring back those channels. Swipe from the right and you will see suggested videos based on the one you are watching. (Free)

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quicklist: 18category: Video title: 18. HuluPlustext: HuluPlus is one of those must-have apps for turning your iPad into a TV replacement. If you have a Hulu Plus subscription ($7.99 a month) you get unlimited streaming through the app, meaning you can watch non-stop episodes of "Modern Family," "The Office," "Family Guy," "Glee," "The New Girl," and more. You get all the standard video controls, but move to the split screen mode and you can watch a video while browsing other shows. ABC programming is featured on Hulu. (Free)

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quicklist: 19category: TVtitle: 19. GetGlue text: But not everyone is replacing their TV with the iPad – a lot are watching TV in their living rooms with the iPad in their laps. For those, there's GetGlue. Log in with your Facebook account and you can "check-in" to the TV show you are watching. You can then see who else is watching that show and what they are saying about it. You can follow friends and they can follow you. The app also shows you what is coming up on TV and provides central pages for programs to show you what others are saying about it. Basically, it's the ultimate social experience around TV. (Free)

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quicklist: 20category: TV title: 20. Zeebox text: Zeebox is similar to GetGlue in that it's an app to use while you are watching TV. The app shows you what people are talking about – the biggest buzz around shows, what the stars are watching and what people are rating shows. When you input your zip code and cable provider it will also give you a guide of the day's programming and what the buzz is about the show with data from Twitter. If you happen to be watching the same show as a friend you can even chat with them within the app about it. It's got such a snazzy design, it might just take your eyes off the show you are watching. (Free)

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quicklist: 21category: Musictitle: 21. Spotify text: Spotify has become one of the hottest music services and its iPad app shows off its greatest features. Log in and you will be presented with your collection of songs, albums and playlists on the left side. On the right column you see the list of songs. The app also surfaces options which are buried in the desktop apps or sites, like the Inbox and messaging features. There's also an easy search function and "What's New" area to see top songs. You can spend hours getting lost in finding music. (Free)

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quicklist: 22category: Music title: 22. Pandora text: There's nothing exceptional about Pandora's iPad app, but it's still a must-have when it comes to discovering music. Log in with your account and you'll get all your saved stations. You can easily search for an artist or song to create a new station. The app is decently designed but don't expect any bells and whistles here. (Free)

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quicklist: 23category: Shopping title: 23. Fabtext: If there is a place to window shop on the iPad it's in Fab's app. Fab has become one of the most popular places to shop on the Internet because of its social media tie-in and its awesome inventory. With everything from a hat that has a built-in beard (called Beardo) to a lamp that can be turned on with a plastic gun to interestingly shaped couches and hammocks, you can browse lots of cool stuff in the well laid-out app. You can see what your friends have bought or liked if you log in with your Facebook account. It's free to browse – of course, it costs to buy! (Free)

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quicklist: 24category: Shoppingtitle: 24. Google Catalogstext: You can now cancel all those paper catalogs you get from J. Crew, Urban Outfitters, Crate & Barrel, etc. Google's Catalogs app brings the beauty of browsing those new and glossy catalogs to the digital world. Not only do you get the colorful pages of the catalog, but tap on an item you like and it will bring up more information from the left side of the screen. It will display the price, more photos, and a link to go buy it on the company's website. You can also share and search a catalog from within the app. (Free)

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quicklist: 25category: Games title: 25. Airwings text: There are lots of air flight games for the iPad, but who doesn't want to fly a paper airplane through some crazy scenes? Airwings uses the iPad's gyroscope – launch your paper airplane and you can tilt the iPad to get through the mazes and obstacles. However, the game requires you to play with friends through Game Center. Don't let that be a deal breaker though, some of the levels can get pretty crazy – there's one where you use spit wads as your weapon. And this isn't one of those cheap-looking free games – graphics look great on the Retina Display. You just have to tolerate the ads. (Free)

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quicklist: 26category: Games title: 26. Angry Birds Star Wars text: We wanted to stay away from recommending the typical cliche iPad games, but it's hard to ignore Angry Birds, especially the new Star Wars version. Just like the original game, you fling birds to kill the pigs, except here you've got rebel birds against the Empire's Pigtroopers. There's a free version with ads and limited levels and then the $2.99 version with no ads and some extras, including the R2-D2 bonus levels. (Free)

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quicklist: 27category: Gamestitle: 27. Words with Friends text: You will find that some have turned their iPads into Words with Friends machines, just playing the Scrabble-like game with opponents for hours and hours. Zynga's Words with Friends is exactly what it says it is – a word game to play with your friends. Very similar to Scrabble, each player gets a selection of letters and has to create words. Sign in with Facebook and you can start games with your friends. You can play multiple games at the same time. There is a free version with ads and a $0.99 version without them. (Free)

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quicklist: 28category: Games title: 28. The Room text: Named by Apple as one of the best iPad apps of 2012, The Room is creepy, mysterious fun. You alone are left to unlock a safe, which you learn from the outset contains answers and the key to "incomprehensible power." The game takes advantage of the touchscreens in brand new ways – you have to swipe to look around rooms and tap to open up clues. The puzzle-based game does grow increasingly complicated, though the game provides you with hints and tips; tap the question mark icon if you're stumped. Rich, colorful graphics combined with ominous music that plays throughout make it easy to become immersed in this imaginative mystery. ($1.99)

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quicklist: 29category: Games title: 29. Machinariumtext: Machinarium follows the story of one little robot named Josef, who must save the city from impending destruction by the Black Cap Brotherhood. You must point and click on objects and solve puzzles along the way to complete the adventure. As Josef begins to pull himself together, literally, from pieces in a junk yard, you can tap on the stuffed rat and drag it over the sniffing rodent to find the robot's missing leg. Machinarium is complex, taking the user several tries to deduce what needs to happen next. One can imagine spending hours in just one scene. The intricately rendered, muted landscape coupled with an eerie, dreamlike music score creates a futuristic ambience that makes this a pleasure to play. ($4.99)

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quicklist: 30category: Games / Music title: 30. Virtuosotext: Here's something lighter! You've seen the Apple commercials: The Virtuoso Piano 3 Free app turns your iPad into a piano. Designed by Peter Nagy, the app brings out the maestro in all of us. Piano keys are conveniently labeled with chords and colors to help you learn, and right and left arrows at the top help you progress and navigate the keyboard, bringing you up and down the scale. For $.99 each you can purchase additional packs, such as guitar packs as well as the ability to disable ads. You'll be tapping out the notes to Fur Elise in no time. (Free)

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quicklist: 31category: Photo Tools title: 31. Photoshop Touchtext: Adobe's Photoshop Touch app provides you with the basic editing tools to crop, adjust or create effects from digital images. If you use Adobe's Photoshop software, you will find a familiar set tools in this app such as flip, straighten, crop and rotate. Select a photo from your collection, and then press the edit button. A row of tools appear as icons on the bottom; tap on the lens icon to apply camera filters, such as Soft Focus or Sharpen. Press Crop and swipe from the top or bottom corners to adjust the frame. Adobe offers a more basic free app called Photoshop Express, but Photoshop touch provides more interactive tools. ($9.99)

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quicklist: 32category: Photo Tools title: 32. Snapseedtext: Snapseed provides photo-editing tools with an intuitive, gesture-based interface. Once you open the app, it displays an informative overlay with simple instructions on how to use it. Tap the camera icon to open an image from your library or use the built-in camera from your device to snap a picture. Once you load the image into the app's main screen, a list of tools such as filters and adjustments appears along the left-hand side. Add a filter, such as "Grunge" or "Tilt and Shift." Pinch and Zoom to control the adjustments on the screen, or use the controls that appear along the bottom row. The app is one of the best ways to edit or adjust photos with a touchscreen. (Free)

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quicklist: 33category: Sportstitle: 33. ESPN ScoreCenter for iPadtext: Of course, we've got something for the sports lover. The ESPN Scorecenter for iPad contains a rich amount of information and detail on the games and teams fans love to follow. Tap the menu button to access any sport--football, for example. Select NFL to see a recent calendar of teams that played and the scores, too. The app allows users to view video replay; swipe to the right of the screen and the screen loads the selected video quickly, and also provides a quick caption of what you're about to see. This is a comprehensive app with an enormous amount of data at your fingertips. With everything from stats to scores to video and social media, it's hard to imagine that a sports-lover will have to look elsewhere – other than the TV. Note: ESPN and ABC News are owned by the Walt Disney Co. (Free)

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quicklist: 34category: Location title: 34. Around Metext: Around Me locates the nearest gas station, bank or restaurant for you, and the newest release even lets you book a hotel. Launch the app and a column with categories to search appears on the left side, and a map with your current location loads onto the main screen. Tap "Supermarkets," for example, and the app loads the nearest options in the left side column with the address and distance from you. The app contains a useful set of map tools, such as zoom and search buttons; press the compass icon, enter in your address, and the app will adjust the location on the map below. Tap the Hotels tab, and the app provides a list of hotels nearest you including star ratings and the lowest rate available per night. For $2.99 you can upgrade to an ad-free version of the app. (Free)

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quicklist: 35category: Weather title: 35. Dark Skytext: There are a number of weather apps, but Dark Sky is the prettiest one you will find. A weather radar for local forecasts, the app provides up-to-the-hour weather predictions for your specific location. The GPS driven app also employs radar animation to show you the path of rain or a snowstorm. You can even pinpoint the arrival of a storm or precipitation; the middle section provides tabs indicating the weather now and an hour from now (press the Next Hour tab and it will display additional predictions including the next few hours and look ahead to the morning, too). Be mindful on the push notifications on this one – do you want to know every time it's about to rain? ($3.99)media: 18054561

quicklist: 36category: Web title: 36. Google Chrome text: Every iPad comes with Apple's Safari browser, but Google's Chrome is giving that preloaded option a run for its money. Launch the app and sign into Chrome to sync your bookmarks with your Google accounts—this will allow you to bring all of those bookmarks and tabs to your tablet. You can easily toggle through tabs by swipe the screen to move to the next one and search Google right from the address bar. For the privacy-minded user, you can browse sites without leaving a trace in your history or cookies by tapping on the tab switcher icon in the upper right-hand corner. (Free)

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quicklist: 37category: Creation title: 37. Paper text: Design lovers, illustrators and even the casual doodler will find Paper to be an essential app for sharing sketches and illustrations across the web. Begin with a blank journal, and choose a photo for the cover of your journal from your camera roll. Tap the journal to open it and start to fill it. Tap on a page, and a row of drawing utensils and a palette appear before you below. Select the pen tool and a color from the palette and begin to draw--the lighter you press, the thinner the line. Pinch and zoom to shrink the journal and flip to the next page, or close it entirely when you are done. If you've got an iPad stylus this is one of the best apps to go along with it. (Free)

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quicklist: 38category: Creation title: 38. Vjay text: Vjay is the app you'll want if you've ever dreamed of making your very own music videos. The app gives you the ability to build video mashups by allowing you to integrate music with the media on your iPad, such as your photos, music and videos. Press the media button and begin loading your videos and music—Algoridimm provides 15 videos located in the feature tab—or select the video tab to choose from your own stock. Tap on the effects tab to add video transitions and filters, like grain and strobe, or choose from tools like blends, swap, grid or mosaic, for example. The app is a hefty download—250 MB, but given that it supports video including H.264, MPEG-4, and MOV files---it's understandable. ($9.99)

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quicklist: 39category: Creation title: 39. Procreatetext: Another drawing app we couldn't resist. Paint, ink, sketch, or work with textures choosing from different brush sizes and transparencies on the right-hand side. Press the brush tab and select from wet, damp or round, for example. The app lets you adjust colors as you work; tap and hold on an image to access the eyedropper. Pinch and zoom to create layers as your work (up to 128 depending on your canvas size), and the app saves them as you go. Two outstanding features to the app include its quick responsiveness (the app's proprietary engine renders brush strokes in a snap), which makes for a smooth drawing experience and the ability to flip your canvas from horizontal to vertical as well as resize it. ($4.99)

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quicklist: 40category: Creation title: 40. iAwritertext: iAwriter is a simple app with one main idea; to provide users with the ability to write, edit and share plain text on their mobile devices. Launch the app and navigate to the library to load saved documents, or press the add key and begin typing. The app's keyboard provides a few additional keys to assist with writing; press the word keys to place the cursor at the beginning or end of a word. Punctuation marks, such as the colon and parenthesis, are available on the top row, too, for easy editing. iAwriter allows users to sync their documents to Dropbox and iCloud, as well as share them other users. ($.99)media: 18058072

quicklist: 41category: Education title: 41. Disney American Presidents: The Unofficial Oval Office Scrapbooktext: The election is over, but the importance of learning about the American presidents and the time in history in which they served isn't. This app gives users the chance to explore a digital scrapbook to learn about the lives and times of all 44 U.S. presidents. Swipe to the left to page through each president, one by one, and learn about the era in which they lived, significant challenges they faced, and fun and entertaining facts you may not have known about the men who sat in the Oval Office. One outstanding feature is the original video content; for each president, the app provides expert interviews and commentary from historians and political commentators. ($3.99)

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quicklist: 42category: Education title: 42. Barefoot Atlastext: If there is an app that shows the power of the iPad – it might be this one. Barefoot Atlas lets you turn around the world with an interactive 3D globe. With one finger, spin the globe to find a country. Pinch to zoom in and select an object to learn more from the narrator and geographer, Nick Crane. Tap on the Polar Bear, for example, and the object enlarges to the foreground accompanied by an information text field. On the top left, tap on a selection of four icons to see countries, regions, favorites and features. Select a country, for example, and the globe rotates to reveal your selection along with basic data about the country, such as the capital city and local time. It's worth the money. ($4.99)media: 16980362

quicklist: 43category: Cooking / Food title: 43. Allrecipes or Allrecipes Video Cookbooktext: Allrecipes provides some of the best cooking tools on the iPad. Its main app provides thousands of recipes in a well-organized layout. But to add to that Allrecipes has released its Video Cookbook app, which provides users with thousands of recipes and hundreds of how-to videos to help you cook up a storm, step-by-step. Tap on a dish, such as Green Grape Salad. On the right-hand side, the app displays shopping list of ingredients and cooking directions and on the left side, the app displays video synced with simple instructions as well as estimate prep and cook times. Other cooking apps, such as Foodily and Epicurios, provide helpful how-to's and recipe as well. (Free)media: 18054441

quicklist: 44category: Cooking / Foodtitle: 44. Lunchboxtext: Lunchbox is a food-finding app that will save you in a pinch when you forget to pack that brown bag or need a quick list of restaurant options. Search categories, such as Food and Snacks and Coffee and Tea. Search for locations on the map by pinching and zooming on the screen, or enter a search term, such as "Veggie Burger" to see the nearby options. Tap on a suggested location, and the app displays a map, as well as reviews, star ratings, and photos taken by other users. The app provided a wealth of options when we looked at it—it even recognized our own ABC cafeteria. (Free)

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quicklist: 45category: Cooking / Food title: 45. Vegetarian: How To Cook Everythingtext: Ten dollars might seem pricey for a Vegetarian cooking app, but this is like buying a premium cookbook. New York Times columnist and author Mark Bittman provides vegetarians with over 2,000 recipes in this app, making it easy to incorporate variety into a diet that might otherwise seem limited. Search by recipe or type in a general term to find a slew of possibilities. The app includes a built-in timer so you can keep track while you cook. Select a recipe and tap the "Favorites" key to add to your list of go-to recipes. Tap on a featured recipe, and see an overview of the dish, as well as ingredients, preparations steps and variations on the selection. ($9.99)

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quicklist: 46category: Fitnesstitle: 46. LIVESTRONG.COM Calorie Trackertext: The New Year is approaching, which means resolutions on staying in shape and eating better. LIVESTRONG.COM calorie tracker aims to help users lose weight the old fashioned way—by keeping track of calories. The app gives you access to MyPlate, which provides a database of over 1.3 million food items and tracks your calories and exercise activity to help reach your weight-loss goals. Enter basic information, including weight and height, as well as your activity level. Select a goal, such as losing two pounds per week, and the app will calculate the calorie goal you should meet each day. By creating a LIVESTRONG account, you can communicate with members to help you stay motivated and accountable to your goals. (Free)

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quicklist: 47category: Fitness title: 47. Fitness HD text: New Year's Eve brings new beginnings, and for those of us who want a second chance at last year's fitness resolutions, the Fitness HD might give you the push you need. The app provides over 700 exercises with text descriptions as well as photos, video and audio to aide you in your fitness endeavors. Open the app and tap "Exercise Base." From there, select movements according to the part of the body you wish to target. The premium version of this app gives you access to a food and body tracker, additional workouts and well as the ability to communicate with fitness experts. This app provides simple, solid instruction on how to do basic exercise moves, but you will need to fork over at least another $2.99 to get a more in-depth experience. (Free)

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quicklist: 48category: Fitness title: 48. Pocket Yogatext: Who needs a pricey yoga class? The Pocket Yoga app aims to keep users practicing. Visual and voice instructions guide practitioners through each pose in an effort to make doing the routines accessible anytime. Select "Practice" from the main screen and choose from workouts labeled Ocean, Desert and Mountain. Once you select your workout, decide on a length of time; you can select a 30-minute, 45-minute, or 1-hour workout. The instructor, represented by an illustration, narrates the workout, pose-by-pose, peppering in breathing instructions, too, as you move. Convenience is the word that comes to mind with this app—place your iPad or iPhone at the end of you yoga mat and go. ($2.99)

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quicklist: 49category: Apps title: 49. AppsGoneFree text: You will learn fast that you can't pay for all the apps out there and this list is just the start. However, on occasion, developers and companies will reduce the price of apps to free. That is where Apps GoneFree comes in. This app handpicks free apps based on a 3-star rating or better, provides a useful summary and lists them for you daily. On the left hand side, the app shows calendar with the date and days of the week running down the column in descending order. In the center panel, AppsGoneFree lists apps that are now free along with a short write-up describing each one. You can take a look back on the calendar to see free apps released on a previous day, and choose one from the list. (Free)

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quicklist: 50category: Extra! title: 50. ABC Newstext: We thought it was only right to leave you with the best app for reading this very website. ABC News' iPad app actually changes based on the time of day. In the morning you will get the Morning Edition with a list of things you need to know that AM. In the evening, you'll get a more video-centric experience. But no matter what time of day it is you'll get all the latest articles and videos from ABC News. (Free)

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