20 Great, Free iPad Comic Books

One of the under-the-radar killer apps of Apple's iPad is the collection of comic book storefronts (which also double as comic readers). They're all free, and connect you to virtual comic shops that sell digital issues of comics for about $2 each--with transactions handily conducted through Apple's app store back end.

There are official Marvel and DC Comics apps, along with indie apps such as Comics + app from iVerse, IDW Comics, and the Comics app from ComiXology, which sell titles from a variety of large and small publishers. All of these apps have a very similar layout, and many sell overlapping products. Even better, they all have a frequently changing collection of free comics available to download, making it easy to build a small virtual comic book library for the low, low, price of free.




As a former comic reader in my high school days (I know, hard to believe, right?), who has done little-to-no comic book reading in the past 20 years, I was surprisingly sucked in by these apps, but also found the free offerings available varied wildly in quality, from full issues of classic comics, to skimpy "preview" issues only a few pages in length, to low-grade indie comics that look like they were drawn in the back of a grade school textbook.

To the end, I took it upon myself to sample the free wares available in the biggest iPad comic book apps and pick the best examples for casual readers. If you've downloaded some free winners not on my list, let everyone know about them in the comments section below.

1978 Space Invaders Makes It To 2010 iPad, Original Style

The world changed significantly in 1978. The first computer bulletin board system was released, Apple III was under way and, most recognizably, TAITO’s SPACE INVADERS made its way into arcade games rooms around the world. Some 32 years later, it’s back. iPad style.

TAITO Corporation, the original manufacturer and distributor of the classic game, announced that Space Invaders HD (iPad edition) as been released. Here’s what TAITO had to say:

While remaining a faithful recreation of the beloved arcade classic, the graphics and sounds in SPACE INVADERS HD have been specially optimized to take full advantage of iPad’s hardware. Not only are familiar tricks like the Nagoya Attack present and accounted for, the game also includes a treasury of bonus materials, such as rarely seen design documents from the original 1978 game’s development.

Graphics have been optimized exclusively for the iPad, making it “a more impressive gaming experience than the iPhone/iPod touch edition” – something we awarded proudly with 4.5 stars. You can see our review here.

The price for this nostalgic goodness? $4.99. Available to download now.



Read more: http://www.148apps.com/news/1978-space-invaders-2010-ipad-original-style/#ixzz0uAECOumi

Barnes & Noble Makes Nook More Student-Friendly

Using an e-reader for academic pursuits can be pretty disjointed. What happens to the passages you highlight? Are they citable? What about supplementary learning tools like workbooks and class notes?

Barnes & Noble hopes to make the experience better with the launch of NOOKstudy. It is downloadable software for your Mac or Windows PC that will help you access and organize your course material, whether or not you use Barnes & Noble's Nook e-reader.

Barnes & Noble says that NOOKstudy will give students access to "eTexbooks, lecture notes, syllabi, slides, images, trade books, and other course-related documents." This information should be able to be synced with your own notes as well, taken either inside the Nook e-reader or inside the NOOKstudy software.

Another important feature is search. NOOKstudy lets you search text passages, search your own notes, or look up definitions and formulas through reference sites like Dictionary.com or Google.

Barnes & Noble says that no Nook is required to use these learning tools so students without the actual e-reader can still download the software and access the same materials as those who have one. In fact, with the Nook's sluggish e-ink screen, it may be preferable to skip the device altogether and just opt for the PC software.

As an avid user of Amazon Kindle's note-syncing feature, I think NOOKstudy seems promising. Amazon presents my highlighted passages in list form and the citations are listed by location in the Kindle format of the book, not in a valid page number format. It is frustrating and ugly. Also, there is no ability to share or collaborate on my notes and they are certainly not searchable. If NOOKstudy can make this experience better, it may succeed in academia where Amazon has only served to frustrate students and educators alike.

NOOKstudy is set to launch in August. Students and professors can sign up now for an early account.

Free movies on your iPad from the National Film Board

Do you like indie films? Documentaries? Animation? Then I'm about to make your day: NFB Films for iPad lets you watch over a thousand movies on your tablet. For free.
"NFB" stands for National Film Board, a bona fide Canadian treasure. The app taps the NFB's mammoth library of documentaries, features, animated films, trailers (for upcoming NFB releases), and more.


All the movies are streamed to your iPad (via Wi-Fi only), but there's also an ingenious "watch later" option that downloads a selected movie for offline viewing--great if you're about to get on a plane or something. These downloads expire after 48 hours, which strikes me as more than fair. (Apple's own App Store movie rentals last only 24 hours, and you have to pay for those.)


NFB Films includes a Channels section where you can browse various categories, including Documentaries, History & War, and Environment. There's a search option, natch, and you can add movies to a favorites (sorry, "favourites") list for easier access.


If you come across a film you want to share with friends, the app lets you send an e-mail that includes a link to the Web version.
I did encounter the occasional bug--sometimes a paused movie wouldn't stay paused, for instance--but overall I had a ball perusing the film library and watching some true gems.


Indeed, although I tend to have fairly mainstream tastes when it comes to movies, in recent years I've developed a strong appreciation for, well, "films." This app comes stacked to the digital rafters with them, and they're all free. Consequently, NFB Films easily earns a spot on my list of must-have iPad apps.

Yahoo Ships Mail, Messenger App for Android

Yahoo said Thursday that it has launched both a Mail and a Messenger app for the Android operating system, as well as a search widget for Android as well. Yahoo also said that it had beefed up its Mail and News sites for Apple's iOS devices by adding support for HTML5.

Both of the Mail and Messenger apps can be downloaded via the Android market, but they're only available for devices with Android 2.0 or higher.

"Yahoo keeps more than 600 million consumers around the world connected to the people and things that matter to them most - wherever and whenever they want," said David Ko, senior vice president, Americas, Audience, Mobile, and Local for Yahoo, in a statement. "With the availability of our world-class Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Messenger apps for Android and by harnessing the latest in HTML5, we're making it easier than ever for consumers to access fast, reliable, and feature-rich Yahoo experiences across some of the fastest growing platforms in the market."

The new Mail features include the ability to receive new email, pushed to the phone; search emails by sender, recipient, subject and keywords; upload photos as attachments from the camera; view and download attachments; insert emoticons and text formatting; and folder management.

Mail also debuts a new ad platform for Yahoo, with a display ad by Samsung making its debut.

With Messenger, Yahoo users can now check friends' status, send instant messages via SMS, multitask with the app running in the background, use emoticons, and send photos.

Yahoo's addition of HTML5 doesn't appear to have added too much to the Mail app, beyond the ability to read HTML emails and manage folders. But Yahoo said that the News app has a new animated interface, with photos, slideshows, and video features. Yahoo will add support for additional devices and countries later, the company said.