My Favorite iPad apps

I've been using an iPad since late 2010. In that time, I have come across several apps that I really enjoy using, or find very useful. Here is a list of my 10 favorite iPad apps.

1. The Simpson's Tapped Out. I've been a Simpson's fan since they were a short on the Tracy Ullman show, so this one feels like it was written for me. The premise of the game is that Homer is playing a similar game on his myPad while at work, and, by ignoring his duties, accidentally destroys Springfield. You have to put it back together, adding buildings and characters by earning money and doughnuts (mmmmm, premium currency) by assigning the characters tasks. The game also has quests that allow you to add new characters and buildings. While it is a simple gameplay - give characters tasks and build things - the content is amusing and brings in several themes from the show. They have also had several events where you can get special items for a limited time. These include Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Valentine's day. Like other similar games, you can purchase additional "premium currency" for real money to either speed things along or buy special items. That is actually the main downside - if you're not careful, you can spend a lot of money.
2. Jurassic Park Builder. Very similar to The Simpson's Tapped Out, in this game you are in charge of building Jurassic Park. The game features lots of different dinosaurs, including the T-Rex Stegosaurus Triceratops, Troodon, Brontosaurus (yes, even though it's not real), and others. They have also recently added an undersea "park" with ancient sea creatures. In addition to setting up the park, characters from the first two movies (they include Ian Malcolm's daughter in the game) give you tasks to complete to earn coins and cash (this game's premium currency).
3. Game for Cats. The name says it all. A "game" that has a mouse running around (or a butterfly, or a laser pointer) on the screen so a cat can hit it. It even keeps score. While I like the idea and execution of this app a lot, my cat just sits and watches the motion most of the time... he won't try and hit the screen.
4. MyFitnessPal. The iPad version of the Web site, MyFitnessPal allows you to track food and exercise on your iPad. I actually like the way it works better than the Web site - adding food shows the calories right on the add screen, as opposed to the online interface. The graphs and charts are also easier to access and view.
5. Sweet and Spicy. An app for all the lovers of Indian food, Sweet and Spicy has thousands of recipes. There are plenty of search and filtering options too, including regional, vegetarian, non-veg, festival, 30-minute, and several others. The recipes are user-submitter, and they all have comments and ratings from other users. Many recipes have videos as well. The app allows you to save your favorites for quick access. You can also enter ingredients you have on-hand and see what you can make with them.
6. Desktop Connect. As a general "tech guy" and a system administrator on more than one server, I find that  need to be able to remotely connect to the servers often enough to warrant having a remote app on all my mobile devices. When I first started using the iPad, Desktop was one of the few choices. I purchased it, and do not regret that decision. Not only can you save connections for frequently used servers, it will scan the local network and show you any machines with remote connections available. It supports both VNC and RDP, so it can connect to pretty much everything. It has an "easy connect" feature that lets you use a gmail login to connect via VNC, but it ends up installing a VNC server, so I just used the direct VNC connection, and haven't really tried the gmail method.
7. Nook. I have a lot of Nook-based e-books, and the iPad client lets me do everything I need. It syncs with other devices and remembers where you left off. It also has a dictionary and lets you highlight and set bookmarks.
8. Angry Birds. Actually, this is three apps... Original, Space, and Star Wars. It's a great time waster, and the different puzzles they set up are great (though sometimes frustrating...). My only wish is that the games could communicate across platforms so if I get some levels done using my phone, it would transfer to my iPad.
9. Chrome. Until I got my Surface RT, Chrome was the default browser on all my devices. It syncs pages and favorites across platforms and devices, which makes managing bookmarks and history very easy. It works as well as Safari on the iPad, and I feel it is a bit more elegant (although I can't exactly explain why...).
10. Saavn. This is an app from a Web site of the same name that plays Indian music. There are thousands of songs available for streaming, and there are also tons of playlists (both official and user-created). Saavn also has a "surprise me" feature that puts together a random playlist of 15 songs.

While most of these aren't required or "can't live without" apps, they definitely make my iPad a much more useful device for both productivity and fun. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend any of the apps above to anyone with an iPad. Feel free to leave me a comment if you have a "to die for" app that you think I'd like. Note that I have a first gen iPad, so photo/video shooting apps won't really work for me...