Also, there is a group of consumers who are confused and wonder –”which is better for reading – an eBook reader like Kindle Fire that can also work like any other tablet or a bigger and fully capable tablet like the Apple iPad 2?“

The answer is not simple and it really boils down to one’s personal read and preferences. Ebook readers tend to be lighter and sturdier than tablets of the same size. On the other hand, Tablets can be used for a lot more than just reading books and magazines – you can watch videos, check email, surf the web, view/edit office documents and download various apps and games.

Also, other factors like your budget, ease of finding 3G connectivity or Wi-Fi hot-spots, duration of usage, need of other features beyond the e-Book reader capability etc will help you decide what to buy finally.

Amazon Kindle Fire eBook Reader Vs. Apple iPad 2

During last holiday season both of these mighty gadgets were at tie and on the top of holiday wishlist chart, but here is a head-to-head comparison of specs and features of both the gadgets to help you make that decision. Introducing, Amazon Kindle Fire and Apple iPad 2:

Kindle Fire

Amazon dropped a bomb on the tablet world with the Kindle Fire, which is both cheaper and more powerful (with a dual-core processor) than anyone expected. And unlike most were skeptical about, its performance has lived up to its promise, making it one of the strongest contenders for an eBook reader that can make any other tablet owner envious.

- Screen: 7-inch, 1024 by 600 pixel LCD screen
- Weight: 14.6 ounces
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi, USB
- Battery life: 8 hours
- Operating system: Android 2.2 (modified)
- Price: $199 from Amazon

iPad 2

The product that started the tablet trend, Apple’s iPad is still the market leader. Like always, its next installation aka the iPad 2 is even more exciting than the original product (iPad). It’s set apart by great hardware design, Apple’s slick mobile operating system, and a well-stocked App Store. It’s also the priciest tablet currently available.

- Screen: 9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen Multi-Touch display with IPS technology
– Weight: 1.33 pounds (601 g)-1.35 pounds (613 g)
– Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G (3G version only)
- Battery life: 10 hours
- Operating system: iOS 4
- Price: Starting from $499 from Apple

If you want to stick with “just reading” E-books, and maybe some newspapers and magazines (not just in black and white, but colorful news reading) — Amazon Kindle Fire is probably your best bet. In addition, it also lets you do most of the tablet features at a much lesser price tag.

On the other hand, if you want more functionality you’ll need to step up to a tablet. High-end full-size tablets like the iPad 2 or the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 are much more versatile than e-readers, and they are powerful enough to even replace your laptop for some tasks. But they’ll cost you upwards of $500 to start.

Editor’s Choice:

If you’re a serious reader and don’t care about frills, go for the Kindle Fire.  But if you want something with all the bells and whistles, the iPad 2 is the best all-in-one tablet device available on market today.

So which gadget are you going to buy when you go shopping your next eBook reader? Apple iPad 2 or the Amazon Kindle Fire?

Called the iCEO Mini, it’s 12 inches high (scale 1:6) and comes on full Apple CEO replica, from the New Balance shoes to the Levi’s. The figure will cost you $99.99, and is set to ship at the end of February. The site said it is selling the action figure “to honor the American icon and great visionary Steve Jobs.”

You might want to call this a tasteless iDea but Steve Jobs is immortalized as this realistic action-figure just three months after his death.

For $99, the iCEO Mini [Steve Jobs action figure] promises the following features and add-ons:

- One realistic head sculpt & Two pairs of glasses
- One highly articulated body & Three pairs of hands
- One black turtleneck & One pair of blue jeans
- One black leather belt & One chair (wood + metal)
- One pair of black socks & sneaker
- Two apples (One with a bite.)
- One piece of “ONE MORE THING” hard backdrop

The 12-inch action figure, whose limbs can be manipulated in order to recreate a number of iconic Apple-event poses, is way for fans to keep the memory of Steve Jobs alive.

Also included with the Steve Jobs action figure are a pair of black socks, an Apple background for kids who want to play “Apple Conference Steve” and a chair for the tech mogul to sit in along with two apples, one which has a bit out of it.

However, even though publicity photos feature a miniature Mac, iPhone and iPad, but the accessories will not be included.

Will you buy a Steve Jobs action figure? Is it too soon for companies to monetize items based on Jobs? Do you think Apple or Steve’s family should sue the toy makes and seek a ban on these action figures?

If you are a freaky fanboy, you can get it for $99 before the Jobs family send a cease and desist letter to the manufacturers, just like they did with the last one.

We’re sure you have plenty of Apple fanboys in your circle of friends. If you’re looking for the perfect gift to get them at all prices levels, look no further. Apple has plenty of products to choose from, but we’ve tried to narrow it down to the best five this holiday season to purchase for that special someone. Here are some great gift ideas for Apple fans you can find useful.

Five Best Apple Christmas Gifts for an Apple Fanboy

Protective iPhone Case

If you’re looking for a gift for an owner of an iPhone 4 or the new iPhone 4S, maybe you should consider buying a protective case. If you like the idea, perhaps you should choose a case from Otterbox – for some $20-40 you can find a really good silicone or hard plastic case with a screen protector. Here are Top 15 Best Cases And Covers To Protect Your New Shiny iPhone 4S.

Bluetooth Headset

Bluetooth headset can be another good gift for any owner of an iPhone and especially the iPhone 4S (thanks to its Siri). You can find many different Bluetooth headsets in the market compatible with Apple’s devices, but if you’re looking for a really good one, perhaps Jawbone Era – the only Bluetooth headset that has the capability to kill noise – is the one you should pay attention to.

It’s a bit expensive ($129.99), but Amazon is now selling it for only $88, so hurry up if you want one.

MacBook Bag

Wondering Which Tech Gadgets Top the Holiday Wishlist This Year? If you’re looking for a gift for a Mac owner, consider buying a MacBook bag for him. Yeah, Mac owners usually buy everything they need in terms of accessories, but most of them don’t have any stylish bags and carry their devices in whatever they have.

If your friend is still using the terrible bag he was given in the IT department he works in, you can present him a very stylish bag from Brenthaven. It costs $99, but it’s a bag any IT pro will love.

iPad Stand

For iPad owners a compact iPad stand would make a wonderful present. For example, for $40 you can get bright (red, grey and black) stands from TwelveSouth.

They’re compact (so it’s easy to store them when you’re not using them), they’re comfortable and, most importantly, they’re rather cheap! Check The Latest Roundup of Ultimate Apple iPad 2 Cases.

Desktop Cable Organizers

If your friend already has all the above mentioned accessories, you can buy him a stylish organizer for desktop cables – something that will always be handy. For example, for some $15 you can get something like this.

The statue was erected in a science park that hosts several IT companies, including Graphisoft, which Apple has supported since 1984 when Jobs saw it at the annual CEBIT expo in Hannover, Germany, according to the Hungarian company.

The statue was commissioned by Gabor Bojar, the founder and chairman of Hungarian software development house Graphisoft.

Bojar was quoted as saying, “Apple’s support included cash and computers at a time when GRAPHISOFT was a small company with limited resources, working within the economic and political confines of what was, at the time, communist Hungary.“

Graphisoft, founded behind the Iron Curtain in 1982, claims it is the world’s first bronze statue of Jobs, calling him one of the greatest personalities of the modern age.

Steve Jobs is being given a posthumous Grammy Award — a Special Merit Award, to be more precise — from The Recording Academy.

The almost two-metre-high (6.5-foot) bronze statue by Hungarian sculptor Erno Toth depicts Jobs with his trademark turtleneck jumper, jeans, sneakers and round glasses.

Steve Jobs is compared to Thomas Edison and Henry Ford in the pantheon of American business innovators. In February, he will also be listed with the Allman Brothers Band, Glen Campbell, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Gil Scott-Heron, George Jones and Diana Ross.

Jobs died on October 5 of pancreatic cancer at the age of 56.  “In some ways, Apple was a religion,” Bojar said at the unveiling ceremony, comparing the experts from Cupertino-based Apple who helped educate Graphisoft’s engineers to evangelists.

“Apple’s support included cash and computers at a time when Graphisoft was a small company with limited resources, working within the economic and political confines of what was, at the time, communist Hungary,” Bajor said in a statement.

Have you read this Ultimate Collection of Top 20 Inspirational Steve Jobs Quotes?

The statue was crafted by Hungarian sculptor Erno Toth. He depicted Steve Jobs in his trademark attire: jeans, turtleneck and little round glasses.

We’ll admit that we don’t quite understand the meaning of the kind of grotesque hand/claw, but it sure does give the statue a sort of creepiness.

The commercial video show’s Santa Claus seeking Siri’s help to deliver the Christmas gifts around the world. The TV ad starts with Santa asking Siri locations to a house, after which Siri is shown displaying the directions with the help of the iOS Google Maps application.

On a funnier note, it appears that Santa has grown a bit too lazy over the years. Otherwise, what is the need for him to ask the weather in Cleveland, and that too in winter?

However, we’re glad Santa is not overtly selling the iPhone because on the Apple website it shows the iPhone 4S shipping in 1-2 weeks which won’t make it in the nick of  time for Christmas.

He also searches an email with his “naughty or nice” list when “Go easy on the cookies,” says a message in the ad from Mrs. Claus, read aloud to Santa by Siri on his iPhone 4S. When he asks how her day looks like, Siri replies she has 3.7 billion appointments to make it to, rounding up Santa’s use of the iPhone 4S in the Apple TV ad (embedded below).

Apple iPhone 4S TV Ad – Santa Claus Uses Siri Voice Assistant

Naturally, Siri has been become a focus point for Apple’s iPhone 4S advertising. Siri only officially works on the iPhone 4S, but many iPhone 4 owners have been looking for ways to port the application over to their phones.

Meanwhile, hackers have been busy at work trying to port Siri to iOS devices other than the iPhone 4S and in fact, a group of Hackers have already claimed to have cracked Apple’s Siri to run on Android or Other Gadgets.

The commercial reminds us of Apple’s Santa-based Facetime Ad of last winter. Along with this on-going Siri commercial, Apple is airing new iPhone 4S camera and iCloud ads too.

But when everyone else is wishing to receive an iPhone 4S this holiday season, here is our Apple Siri Wish List – Top 10 Most Wanted Features that would make Siri Super-Awesome.

If you haven’t heard already, What Siri is Saying is the new hilarious blog collecting the best responses to questions and commands made to Siri, the voiced operated personal assistant exclusive to the iPhone 4s.

The site is set up so that users can upload their own contributions, vote for their favorites and comment on other people’s submissions. There’s also a leader board that shows the entries that have received the most votes.

What Siri is Saying apparently aims to uncover as many Siri Easter Eggs as possible, as well as any funnies and oddities it’s tiny robot mind blurts out. Users can submit their Siri screenshots, vote and comment on their favorites and even win big.

Siri is a voiced operated personal assistant exclusive to the iPhone 4s. You can ask Siri to perform a wide range of actions on your phone such as; send a text, set an alarm, get a definition or even use it to Google. The What Siri is Saying blog uncovers those hidden Easter Eggs the cheeky developers at Apple have hidden within the digital personal assistant.

They’re offering £100 worth of Amazon vouchers to the winner! All you need to do, is put forward your Siri submission, and get as many votes as possible, so that you’re at the top of the leader board by Friday 2nd December at 13.00 GMT.

Users who find hidden or humorous Siri responses upload them to the blog using a simple uploading tool, and can then rate and comment on their own, and other submissions. There’s a leader board for the best Siri entries so users can get their mates involved to climb to the top spot.

The blog has seen some great contributions so far, but wants to find the cream of the crop – and this is where you come in.

What is Siri Saying is giving you the chance to win a £100 Amazon voucher- all you have to do is submit your Siri find to the blog, get your mates to vote it up to the top of the leader board, and if yours is at the top by Friday 2nd at 13.00 GMT, you’ll win! It’s as easy as that.

On their site, follow the leader board and be the first to find out the winners by liking the What Siri is Saying Facebook page, and following What Siri is Saying on Twitter.

If you want to find out more about the competition, then visit their website, or even if you don’t want to apply, then just take a look. The entries are sure to provide a chuckle or two during your day!

So what are you waiting for? Get chatting to Siri and find those hidden Siri gems. You never know, soon you might be asking: “Siri, what should I buy from Amazon?”

Siri Hacked: Apple’s Voice Assistant Cracked, Could Run On Android

To validate their claims, they have released a collection of tools that, according to them, can be used to build Siri-enabled applications on devices that were never authorized to offer the proprietary Apple feature. The tools, written in the Ruby, C, and Objective-C languages.

Deciphering Siri’s security Protocol

These are the result of painstaking sleuthing into the way Siri communicates with a remote server Apple dedicates to the service. The hackers were apparently able to decipher Siri’s security protocol by setting up their own custom SSL certification authority and adding it to their iPhone 4S to find out the commands that Siri sends to Apple’s official servers.

Turns out Siri uses TCP to speak to a server at 17.174.4.4 using port 443. Applidium then logged on to a desktop computer, entered in that IP address, and realized that Apple was returning a server named “guzzoni.apple.com” and that Siri was using HTTPS as its protocol.

Putting it simply, the group then created a fake guzzoni.apple.com address and tricked Siri into sending commands there instead of to Apple’s own server.

Finally, after the  painstaking process of trying to understand it, decompressing the data they were able to decipher the audio file being sent to the server and match it with the code that represents Siri’s understanding of the clip.

But it also means that the chances of someone using the findings to mass produce a Siri app for unauthorized devices is slim, since the hack requires a valid iPhone 4S unique identifier to be sent to the server. That means Apple could easily revoke identifiers that are used an abnormally high number of times, or from an abnormally high number of different locations.

Apple’s server still checks that the device it’s communicating with has a unique iPhone 4S identifier. Unless someone figures out how to forge those identifiers, pirating Siri on another device will require already owning an iPhone 4S or knowing someone who does.

And since Apple might detect and ban iPhone 4S identifiers used for bootleg Siri applications, the trick might put whatever legitimate iPhone 4S whose identifier you’ve borrowed at risk.

On the bright side though, if the hackers’ trick can be reproduced, expect Siri to give birth to some interesting voice-recognition off-springs in the near future.

Let’s see how long it’ll take Apple to change their security scheme before someone comes up with an Android device running Siri.

Apple’s virtual personal assistant for the iPhone 4S, Siri, has been creating a stir among tech enthusiasts and is by far one of the company’s greatest accomplishments. Many other companies have tried and failed earlier with voice-powered operating systems, but Apple owes full credit for creating a comprehensive, helpful, and even funny artificial intelligence (AI) tool that adds a brilliant new feature to the already awesome iPhone experience.

On their website, Apple describes Siri this way:

“Siri on iPhone 4S lets you use your voice to send messages, schedule meetings, place phone calls, and more. Ask Siri to do things just by talking the way you talk. Siri understands what you say, knows what you mean, and even talks back. Siri is so easy to use and does so much, you’ll keep finding more and more ways to use it.”

And to be honest, Siri delivers and once you start using it, there is no turning back. It’s already incredible what Apple’s virtual personal assistant Siri can do: Siri can write and send texts and e-mails, dictate notes, set alarms and reminders, call friends, answer difficult and context-sensitive questions, play songs and surf the Web. But at the very same time, she has the potential to do a lot  more.

Here is a list of top 10 things we’d wish to see Siri do at the next:

1. Siri with a better text-to-voice:

While most of us would agree that Siri is already good enough, it can be improved… a lot. The current voice is so last century! And a more ‘natural’ human-like voice would make Siri so much fun to use.

2. Siri could read information on-demand:

Who wouldn’t love to hop in the car and tell Siri to read the top news headlines of the moment?While we are at it, it would be great if we had a configuration panel to select the types of news headlines we are interested in (e.g. Worlds News, Economy, Politics, Sports, Technology, Gadgets, Science Etc…)

3. Siri could call 9-1-1 Emergency:

If you ask Siri to, “Call 444-3535.” it will start dialing the number for you. But, if you say “Call 9-1-1,” Siri starts dialing the number, and then responds back, “I’m sorry, I cannot call 9-1-1.” What is more weird is that, if you ask “Call the police,” Siri starts calling 9-1-1, but then responds with the same message saying that it can’t dial that for you. This is a super-huge disappointment. Perhaps, Apple has blocked Siri from calling 9-1-1 for liability reasons, but to not be able to use Siri to call 9-1-1 during an emergency is such a shame!

4. Siri could change iPhone 4S Settings:

It is no more a mystery that iPhone 4S  lacks SBSettings. It would greatly help if Siri could “Turn off WiFi” or “Reduce brightness” on user’s voice command.

5. If Siri had better listening capabilities:

Agree or not, right now, Siri is NOT a great listener all the time.  Of course, she can listen to ‘natural languages’ but she still struggles often with popular acronyms, common foreign language words, more-than-average background noise and certain voice commands. For instance, if you ask Siri to call you an ambulance, Siri will reply, “OK. From now on, I will call you ‘An Ambulance.’ What the hell? In the time it takes you to leave all hopes on Siri and and start over manually, you may have died due to heart attack!

6. Siri could read emails:

It’s a mystery why Siri can read/write text messages (SMS), but while Siri can write an email message, it can’t read an email! It would be awesome if Siri was able to search emails and read specific ones as per your command.

7. Better Social Media Integration:

Siri can call, text and e-mail for you, but can’t post to Facebook or Twitter, despite Apple’s claim that iOS 5 would have “deep Twitter integration.” It would be nice to have Facebook and Twitter streamlined directly into the Siri OS, given that the two social media platforms are two of the most-used apps for any smartphone user.

8. If Siri could reserve Restaurant tables for me:

The original Siri app had integration with OpenTable to check restaurants for reservation availability; not so with the current version of Siri on the iPhone 4S – leaving us to wonder why Apple decided to take away the awesome capability out of Siri! Wouldn’t you be thrilled to be able to reserve tables at your preferred restaurants by asking Siri something like this – “Make a reservation for two at Tamayo for 7:45 Friday evening“?

9. Health Care Integration:

Imagine having Siri integration with apps such as WebMD, and being able to hold a conversation about symptoms before getting a list of possible conditions. Or asking what the side effects of a certain drug are, and having Siri read back a list of those effects. Cool, right?

There are not enough doctors to do the work that needs to be done, but Siri could potentially change that. IBM’s Watson supercomputer has this technology but not for consumer use.

10. Shopping, on-demand Movies and Music:

How about being able to shop online with Siri? Imagine how nice it would be if Siri could automatically find the lowest available price for whatever you’re looking for. Extending this idea further, for a fun evening you might want to buy tickets at a local movie theater.

Adding the ability to pick a movie time by asking “What time is ‘Real Steel’ playing near here?” and getting a choice of times, then saying “5:30 show at the Express Avenue, and I need two tickets” to have Siri purchase those tickets would be a time saver. While we are at it, how about some sort of IMDB interface?

Siri can play any music genre, playlist, or artist, but it’s paused the next time you activate Siri to give it another command, even if you just want to play the next song. Also, if you’re in a mixed playlist, there’s no way to tell Siri to play more songs by the artist you’re listening to. Being able to fully accommodate the user’s listening experience would be a key improvement in Siri.

What are some of your ideas for “serious” integration of Siri into your daily life? Leave your comments below.

The CEO felt the features were “grand theft” and declared “I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong.“

So much so, at one point, Jobs reportedly said, “I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product,” and “I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.”

Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs details how tension ran so high between Jobs and then-Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Schmidt was forced to resign from Apple’s board in 2009.

Since then, Apple has indirectly gone after Android and has filed lawsuits alleging infringement of intellectual properties against Google’s partners, such as HTC, Motorola, and Samsung.

Several android products have been banned from being released internationally because copyrights judges felt Steve was right.

As a result, Google had announced its intentions to acquire Motorola Mobility and the company’s trove of patents to strengthen Android’s patent portfolio, which can then be used to protect Android licensees.

Eric Schmidt had tried to intervene on behalf of Google to settle the dispute, but Jobs was not interested in a monetary settlement, Isaacson reveals in the book.

The meeting that Schmidt had with Jobs in a cafe in Palo Alto, California did nothing to resolve the matter, with Jobs saying, “I don’t want your money. If you offer me $5 billion, I won’t want it. I’ve got plenty of money. I want you to stop using our ideas in Android, that’s all I want“

The biography also reveals that Apple Inc co-founder Steve Jobs refused potentially life-saving cancer surgery for nine months, shrugging off his family’s protests and opting instead for alternative medicine.

Steve Jobs Biographer Says Exec Regretted Putting Off Cancer Surgery. Isaacson’s biography hits stores on Oct. 24, and will be features on CBS News’ 60 Minutes, which will feature details on how Jobs regretted refusing surgery for pancreatic cancer to instead focus on homeopathic cures.

“He said, ‘I didn’t want my body to be opened … I didn’t want to be violated in that way.’ He’s regretful about it,” Isaacson said. “I think that he kind of felt that if you ignore something, if you don’t want something to exist, you can have magical thinking … We talked about this a lot.”

The book, published by Simon & Schuster, will go on sale Monday for a list price of $35. The book is expected to paint an unprecedented, no-holds-barred portrait of a man who famously guarded his privacy fiercely but whose death ignited a global outpouring of grief and tribute.

There are currently more than 100,000 native iPad apps available, although, as with the iPhone, a big chunk of those are filler. But the good apps are really good: creative, innovative, imaginative, useful and fun (or at least several of the above). So here is our pick of the top 20 best iPad (and iPad 2) apps of year 2011:

WindowShop: Windowshop is Amazon’s attempt to reinvent its website for tablets, and it does a great job. As with eBay, the focus is emphatically on product images and flicking between items with swipes and other gestures.

Barrel Tones: An amazing 3-D drum experience! Lay down your beats over top of home-grown jam tracks. These drums are the real-deal! Low latency, fully animated, made by musicians for musicians! Also, check out the Algoriddim Djay App For iPad if you are a music fan.

Tweetdeck (free): Another brilliant port to iPad, Tweetdeck shows you the feeds of your Twitter friends, your own mentions, and your direct messages. It works well because there is enough screen space to actually read all of this content.

Snikkr: Snikkr for iPhone and iPad is the first social productivity tool for iPhone. It supports mapping, navigation, directions, and local search. Snikkr also lets you safely share your location, and your favorite places, with friends, inside and outside of the Snikkr network.

Citrix Go To My PC: Just like BomGar remote support app, GoToMyPC for iPad makes it simple to control your computer while away from your work area, but the lack of multitasking support, and latency issues, may dampen the experience. GoToMyPC is the fast, easy and secure way to instantly connect to your Mac or PC, with access to all of your files, programs and network.

Vevo: MTV doesn’t show music videos any more, but Vevo is the nearest we have to a successor. Its iPad app is arguably the best way to use the service, too, tapping and swiping to browse a wide collection of videos.

123D Sculpt:This is a digital sculpting app: you pinch and rub the screen to mould virtual clay, buying in-app theme packs for 69p each including “Medieval” and “Transportation”. A tactile and creative delight.

Dragon Dictation: Featuring very accurate voice transcription and the ability to share messages via e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter, Naunce’s dictation app is both fun to use and immensely helpful—as long as you’re connected to the Web.

Kindle: Amazon’s e-reader app narrowly gets the nod over Apple’s own iBooks, with fewer visual frills but a large collection of ebooks, including regular discounts and offers. It also syncs your reading position across different devices.

iChromy: It’s an iPad browser that looks and feels like Chrome. And since I use Chrome every single day, that’s a good thing! It has tabbed browsing, an incognito window, and an omnibox (a shared box for typing in URLs and search terms) too. As close as you’ll get to Chrome on an iPad. Free

Epicurious: You like food, right? Epicurious has got tons of recipes presented in a nice, photo-friendly format. Show this to your Mom to justify your iPad purchase. Free.

Dropbox for iPad: Simple to use and extremely useful, this file synchronization app will keep all of your files in step, but the lack of built in file editing, and other limitations, may prove irritating.

Infographics: The app has about 50 different infographics created by the design company for its clients. There’s trivia-filled images for technology, sociology, learning and more. Perfect for those moments when you have a few minutes to spare and want to read something besides boring news.

Trulia: Trulia, an impressive real estate search engine and a respected name in the real estate game, has an iPad app that makes finding a new place a lot less intimidating and almost even fun. Poking around to explore apartments and homes with your finger is somehow much less frustrating than clicking around on a website.

FlipBoard: Flipboard wants to be your personalised, digital magazine, and does a great job of serving up articles that your Facebook and Twitter contacts have been linking to, as well as stories from your favourite websites.

PhotoBooth Free (included with iPad 2): A staple of the iPad 2′s starter apps, PhotoBooth takes advantage of the iPad’s dual cameras to bring you stupid pictures of yourself. Yes, it is a novelty app, but it’s one that might make you smile. Or, more probably, make young’uns chuckle at the sight of themselves with silly effects applied.

Google Earth: Google’s planet-mapping service was born to be on touchscreen tablets, getting you to swipe and pinch-zoom your way around the world. It’s an impressive showcase for iPad’s computing power, particularly the iPad 2.

Hootsuite: HootSuite allow users to create numerous social network streams and view them in a clean, friendly interface, dispatching messages to multiple networks simultaneously. Compose and Converse on the Go. HootSuite for iOS is the perfect social media tool for Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare.

Also check out these top 10 Ever Green, Best (Yet FREE) iPhone and iPad Apps

Calculator for iPad: Need to crunch some numbers? Calculator for iPad Free gives you a large, easy-to-read, attractive basic and scientific calculator for solving problems. Multitouch support lets you swipe away numbers. Upgrading to the $0.99 adds six additional themes: Standard, Silver Keyboard, Retro Grey, Pink Keyboard, Happy Pink, and Wooden.

Roambi: Roambi interactive mobile dashboards let you tap, turn and swipe to analyze and share your company’s latest information on any iPhone or iPad – keeping you connected to your business, anytime and anywhere.