When the Apple Store app first arrived on iPhones, it was little more than a shopping portal for Apple goods. With the latest update, however, new features have arrived to make this app a keeper for any Apple customer who frequents a retail store. The biggest of these is a retail store button that can …

Nary a week goes by lately without another major publisher or newspaper announcing a plunge into the iPad app universe. Now, one of the most famously flawed news apps has gotten its long-awaited fix: the New York Times has updated its app to allow access to its entire newspaper. NYTimes’ previous app: the same, but fewer sections. Screenshot by Scott …

It’s been a long wait, but real Sonic is back. Sega I grew up with my Sega Genesis, and Sonic was my Mario. I played all the games in high school, and the 2D games still represent the real Sonic to me. Those 3D versions? Not so much. Sega’s newest initiative, Sonic 4, has boldly named itself as the true …

Catan, iPad: what could go wrong? screenshot: Scott Stein/CNET Like chocolate and peanut butter, The Settlers of Catan and the iPad are two great tastes I love, coming together to make something that should be even better. Board games and the iPad are a perfect fit, and Catan is arguably the very best board game. How could this combination go …

Madden and the iPad: Perfect together? EA Video game football on the go used to be a challenging proposition for a mobile armchair quarterback. Nintendo’s handhelds have never made great versions of Madden. The PSP has a superior iteration, if you’ve got a PSP. The door opened up to a lot more folks with the iPhone version of Madden that …

I’m not the first to report this, but it’s hit me hard over the last few weekends: it’s getting a bit difficult to be an iPad owner amid all this iPhone 4 to-do. As if a front-facing camera and higher-res Retina Display weren’t already envy-inducing, to add insult to injury the iPhone already has iOS 4, with multitasking, folders, and …

During Monday’s WWDC keynote, a small but interesting moment occurred when discussing the iPhone’s latest OS update. Formerly called iPhone OS4, Steve Jobs announced an official name switch to “iOS 4.” This isn’t surprising, since the iOS covers three devices currently, only one of which is an iPhone. On the other hand, it raises more questions. What other devices will …

Far be it from me to normally get tremendously excited about specific iPhone games, but Carcassonne suddenly popped up in the App Store after months of anticipation (at least on my part). In my board game collection (the physical one, not the iPhone one), Carcassonne sits right next to Settlers of Catan as one my favorites. The Xbox 360 has …

The iPad is rapidly becoming a Swiss army knife for e-reading apps of all types. Just in case you find Apple’s iBooks disappointing (and most of us do), there are the Kindle, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble apps. While each has its advantages, they’re generally not compatible with each other. They also make sharing and file-format recognition beyond their e-books …

A handful of weeks ago, before I bought an iPad, I wondered whether Apple’s slim little go-anywhere tablet could help redefine the casual editing process for writers everywhere. Well, I’ve been a little disappointed on that front. I was dreaming of the iPad becoming a way of editing a paperless “printout” in a far better manner than either a laptop …