iPhone Life magazine

Latest ipad books blogs

Arrh, thar be Penguins... of Madagascar!

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If you have children, you appreciate entertainment that appeals to kids and grownups at the same time.  After all, if you have to sit through a movie, and pay full price, you might as well enjoy it too, on your own level.  The Penguins of Madagascar: Read & Play is an app (iPad only folks) that I found amusing as did my kids who are fans of the Nickelodeon show of the same name, based on those funny penguins and lemurs from the Madagascar movies.



New Megamind Storybook App Available!

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  A perfect storybook app for the kids. Released by iStoryTime with children entertainment and education in mind, the Megamind book app is available for $2.99 on the App Store. Read on for more PR info and links...



Goodbye Halloween!

Now that Halloween comes to a close it's really exciting to see what app developers come up with as the holidays begin around us.  PadWorx Digital Media has created, Dracula: The Official Stoker Family Edition for the iPad.  Fellow iPhone Life Blogger, Todd Bernhard, wrote about this amazing app just last week.  So now let's close out Halloween with its eerie trailer. Happy Halloween!!

 

 



Amazon scores with new app Windowshop but faces ire of Kindle fans

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I’m a big fan of Amazon. Actually bought 1000% more ebooks from the Kindle store compared to the anaemic  shelves of the Ibook store. Price-wise, Amazon has consistently been cheaper than all the other major e-book retailers.



Get Dracula... before he gets you!

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If you have an iPad and appreciate a good horror story, go and get Dracula: The Official Stoker Family Edition.  As you might guess from the name, there are several "book" apps entitled Dracula but this one actually has the blessing of Bram Stoker's family, and once you run the app, you'll see why.  The story comes to life with an amazing number of animations and sound effects.  There are over 600 illustrations alone. This is no eBook... it's more like book ported to an adventure game engine.  You might think you know the story of Dracula, but the details from Bram Stoker's original 1897 novel are probably new to most of us.



PDF Reader News & Updates

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This is an update to my previous all-in-one PDF iPhone / iPad reader roundup published HERE.

I haven't elaborated on some subjects in the original article. Let's take a closer look at them.

1.) JPEG2000 images embedded in PDF files with aren't supported – they simply aren't shown.

To quickly fix this issue, before transferring the file to your iOS device, just open it in OS X's Preview and select File / Save As.

An example of this showing the page of Building iPhone OS Accessories Devices by Apress with the missing images (click the images for the full-sized version of much better quality):



iPhone versions of iPad Book apps

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I've written about some cool iPad book apps before, specifically vBookz and The Pedlar Lady of Gushing Cross.  Both apps are great examples of why the iPad is more than just a big iPod touch.  The large screen makes it practical to view books with more than a paragraph displayed at a time.



On The Road Again... what to read?

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My first article for Thaddeus Publishing, makers of iPhone Life, was printed in 1992 and it was entitled "On the road with my HP 95LX."  I am about to go on another road trip, for Voices That Matter iPhone Development Training in Philadelphia.  Technically, it's a train trip, and with a nearly ten hour commute each way, I want to be prepared.  My iPad is not the 3G model so I am looking for apps that let me load up on reading material for the ride.  I could get some books via iBooks, but I'm more of a magazine guy.



A Tale of Two Books: Pedlar Lady and Dracula!

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I've written before about the power of a truly interactive multimedia eBook reader, but two iPad apps have really taken the idea and run with it.  The Pedlar Lady of Gushing Cross is a unique children's book with a hauntingly stark design.



The Ultimate PDF Reader Roundup

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(Note that a cleaned up and extended, easy-to-digest version of this article – without the lengthy section on the chart – will be published in the iPhone / iPad Buyer's Guide. Go buy it ;-) ).

The iPad offers an excellent way of reading PDF files. While you can do this right in Safari (with web based PDF's) or can freely download Apple's own iBooks, it may be still worth checking out how almost all (!) the currently available PDF reader solutions. Knowing what the alternative PDF readers are capable of is essential as reading online PDF's with Safari lacks any kind of features like in-document searching. In addition, iBooks lacks some essential features too.



Best iPad Books, Books for iPad

The best iPad books are always the ones that capture our imagination and induce emotions.  Whether you love to read up on Gaming on iOS Devices, teaching your kids how to read or just want to buy the best iPad books; we can help you to see what is out there.  There are innumerable books for iPad and apps that have stated to take over the digital world, so how do you choose the ones that are right for you?  

If you are a parent who loves to read to your kids or simply want your child to fall in love with reading, there are incredible apps developed for this.  Based on the high demand for virtual books; My Grandma Reads Me Books App is definitely fitting the profile as one of the top featured.  The choices and options can keep a child busy all day with an additional effect on learning the love for reading.  The main page gives all of the choices including a virtual reading of the book named after the app.  However, other options include a virtual coloring book, mazes, and even a recording technique to record your voice narrating the same book. 

Other books for iPad that may also entice your kids are Misty Island Rescue and Cozmo's Day Off.  The developers of Misty Island Rescue did a superb job of turning this Thomas & Friends story into an iPad app.  Unlike other apps where developers have cut out pieces of the original artwork and then applied some very cheesy animations to them, this app was done right.  The illustrations are beautiful and true to the original story.  The animations are unique, smooth, and very natural looking.  No cut, paste and animate here.  On every page, there's something new to entertain the reader: eyes blinking, smoke puffing, and a helicopter flying across the screen.  When the reader touches an object, he or she hears realistic sound effects such as a flock of geese honking, rocks crashing, or a foghorn blasting out a warning to the ships.

Cozmo's Day Off demonstrates that Ayars Animation knows what kids like.  It features awesome graphics, interesting sound effects and fun interactions, making it enjoyable for both children and parents.