Best iPad Apps for Kids

Portable gadgets (BlackBerries, Nintendo DS, iPods) have, for many parents, become baby-sitters-on-the-go.  Wilson Rothman's list of 16 great iPad apps for toddlers and young kids is a must-read if you are one of those parents.

Check out the full list at Gizmodo

Apple Has Sold Over 1 Million iPads

Apple put out an official release this morning announcing that it sold its one millionth iPad on Friday, just 28 days after its introduction on April 3.  In addition, Apple said that developers have created over 5,000 iPad apps, there have been over 12 million downloads of apps for iPads, and over 1.5 million downloads of ebooks from the iBookstore.

On a related note, according to Philip Elmer-DeWitt, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster estimated that Apple sold 300,000 iPad 3Gs over the three-day launch weekend, including units pre-ordered online for Friday delivery. So, it appears that Apple has sold roughly 1.3 million total iPads (with and without 3G).

The Man Behind the Gaming Content in the iTunes App Store

Matt Casamassina will be the new global editorial games manager for Apple's App Store.  Casamassina has spent the last 13 years covering Nintendo at game publisher IGN.   Here's how Casamassina describes his new role:

In a nutshell, I will be leading the charge for games on the App Store, so whether you browse through iTunes, iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, the games content you see will be handpicked and organized by me and my team.

Read more at his personal blog, Mouth on Fire, here.

iPad Review on Diggnation

On this week's epsidoe of Diggnation (Episode 250), Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht weigh in with their "(mostly) non-fanboy" thoughts on the Apple iPad.  here are some quick highlights:

Alex
"Shocked" at how light it is

The apps are amazing - TweetDeck, Netflix streaming, USAToday

The device without internet is not that great.  So, "will sing" with 3G

UI is great

Battery is amazing.

Touch keyboard fine for emails, but not good for creating documents - will get on laptop or pc to do this

Video stuff is cool - excited about video

What happens to battery life when 3G constantly running?

"Don't quite know how to hold this thing"

"Just grabs fingerprints"

“I don't think this is a device that’s needed. It’s just cool. It’s just really cool.”

It is a great travel device

Kevin
"I thought it was heavy"

Processor is the competitive advantage - the Apple A5 processor. No one else has this technology. Competitors will have less battery life.  Because of the processor, the iPad is "extremely snappy." You can see it when you launch things.

Typing not great - regular keyboard is faster - no tactile feel

Want to be able to multitask (when running Pandora, downloading from iTunes)

Battery life is "insane"

Will be a news reading device - loves the NPR app

Top 5 Apps (Alex)
IMDB
Netflix
USAToday (until they come out with a subscription fee)
Pandora
TweetDeck

Top 5 Apps (Kevin)
Command & Conquer: Red Alert
TweetDeck
Bloomberg
GodFinger
iBooks

View the epsiode here.