App Store

The iPad has hit Apple's website in a big way. The first devices look like giant iPhones with aluminum backs and are only half an inch thick. Apple has released a video to show off its new product.

Steve Jobs announced that the first iPad models would start shipping in 60 days. Prices start at $499 for 16GB of flash memory and Wi-Fi. Models that support 3G will run $130 more than Wi-Fi only models.

Steve Jobs announced a brand new product with some impressive specifications today. The long-awaited tablet is named the iPad and sports a 9.7 inch IPS LED capacitive touch screen. Apple has redesigned the operating system and of course included multi-touch on the new device.

Fast response times and sharp graphics are made possible by a custom processor, the Apple A4 chip running at 1 GHz. The iPad will come with built in flash memory with different models carrying between 16GB and 64GB of storage.

Now that there are almost 142,000 approved iPhone applications, finding useful software has become difficult if not impossible. The App Store is projected to keep growing at breakneck speed. Now developer Hello, Chair has released a thesaurus for apps dubbed Appsaurus.

Appsaurus goes beyond the capabilities of Apple's Genius to bring you iPhone apps most similar to those you already find useful and enjoy. Appsaurus can be trained to learn what kind of apps you prefer, and makes it possible to search the App Store with specific filters.

Turns out you can't download that Dalai Lama iPhone app if you live on mainland China. Interested in Rebiya Kadeer, the exiled leader of China's Uighur minority? If you live in China don't look for any apps on your iPhone that mention that person, either.

You won't find them because Apple is likely complying to local laws banning specific political or religious beliefs in the Chinese version of its App Store. The Chinese government is infamous for its "great firewall" and routinely blocks large portions of the Internet with which the governing party disagrees.

Since surpassing the two billionth download mark this September, the App Store has seen an amazing increase in downloads over the holiday season. New iPhone owners are certainly involved, but iPod Touch users have surpassed iPhone downloads for the first time in late December.

With over 100,000 applications to choose from, owners carrying iPod Touch devices downloaded 1,000% more apps on Christmas than they did on the previous three Fridays. Yes, one thousand percent more downloads.

You may not want to know how much you've spent on apps since you picked up your first iPhone. After all, most of the cost in owning an iPhone is in the monthly data plan, right? App Store Expense Monitor will calculate your app total automatically.

The program is free and runs on Mac OS X 10.5 or later. Simply run the program and it scans your iTunes library to determine what apps you've already bought. The software then checks the current price of each application and outputs a total cost.

Gained a few pounds over the holiday season? Your iPhone could help you shed some weight next year after you've made the annual New Year's resolutions.

Lose It! tracks calorie consumption, nutrition and progress towards your weight goals all in one handy, free iPhone application. There's even a feature where you can connect with friends for support and motivation.

With all the buzz over the latest Sherlock Holmes feature film there are more options than ever for iPhone owners to enjoy the books. Since they were written 100 years before the first Macintosh computer, the texts are in the public domain.

With an ebook reader application like Stanza, digging into these great classic stories on your iPhone is completely free. A Study in Scarlet, the first story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to feature Holmes, is only 1029kB.

Looking for a sure bet that Apple will reject your iPhone application? Try developing an app that does nothing but promote an iPhone competitor.

Swavv Apps entry in this category was called iDroid. Run the app and touch the "droid eye" photo in the center of the screen and iDroid will show you what your the iPhone is missing.

360 Live has hit the App Store and brings full Xbox Live account controls to the iPhone. The application allows you to sign in securely using your gamertag and manage almost everything.

The app automatically retrieves your friends' Xbox Live stats in real time including their avatars, gamerscore and online status. You can send and receive messages right on your iPhone.