With OmniFocus for iPad just now hitting the App Store, I haven't yet had as much time as I would like to use the application to its fullest potential. My initial interaction has, however, been positive. Costing a rather steep $39.99, OmniFocus for iPad brings another professionally priced tool for professionals into the App Store iPad arena.

OmniFocus offers a way to create to-do lists on steroids. You can brainstorm out ideas, then start organizing and classifying them into separate projects, tasks, and "contexts"; contexts allow you to make tasks relevant to where and when you are working on things. Items related to working at home will not intrude into your "Office" context, for example.

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Boy, if you had to choose one company (including Apple) that has really led the charge for Mac gaming recently, I'd have to say Valve takes the cake, and that's no lie. Not only has the company brought an unprecedented set of quality titles to the Mac with Steam, but it's now announced that it will be sharing some of its graphical code for the Mac with Steamworks developers. That graphics layer coding is apparently the "real hard work" in making a game for the Mac, and Valve is trying to make that as easy as possible for its partner developers.

Why? Because -- and get this -- games sell more when they're on the Mac. Games that have added a Mac version since Steam went live on the Mac are seeing a 15 to 20% sales increase. That's actually for both platforms -- most Steam games available for the Mac share ownership on both Mac and PC, so they're not really tracking sales of one platform or the other. Still, having a game available on the Mac is a big bonus, as not only does it make Mac players possible, but it drives attention for both platforms (as you may have even seen here on our site -- when we post that a game has finally come to the Mac, even PC gamers consider going back to check it out).

Excellent news for developers already working with Steam, and also good news for those of us who enjoy running our favorite games from the dock rather than the start menu. Even Apple hasn't put the kind of work into reviving Mac gaming that Valve has in just the past few months.

[via Joystiq]

Looking for even more productivity on your iPad? MindMeister has released an iPad version of their collaborative mind mapping application, allowing iPad users to mind map locally and sync with the web version to share ideas with others. We've mentioned MindMeister before, and they were part of our suggestions for mind mapping on the iPhone, but ever since the dawn of the iPad, I've been waiting for it to come to the big screen!

MindMeister on the iPad may not be the most complete mind mapping application available for the iPad, at least as far as bells and whistles. It does its job well, though, and the synchronization with the web version is a huge selling point, at least for me. The web version is my favorite online mind mapping tool, with its real-time collaboration features and very useful integration with external web services. Being able to update and edit my online maps from my iPad is very exciting, indeed.

If you're a mind mapper, or someone who's looking for a new way to share ideas and collaborate with friends and co-workers, definitely check this app out ($7.99US on the App Store). There's a version for the iPhone ($6.99US), and a companion iPhone app for sending quick notes to your maps instantly, called Geistesblitz (free), too. The app functions fine on its own, but really shines when combined with the web version. The Basic plan for the web app is free with 3 maps at a time, and you can get unlimited maps for $59US a year. Check out the pricing plans at the MindMeister website.

There are plenty of iPhone apps that shoot panorama photos. You take a picture. Move to the left or right, and after you have 3 or 4 images the panorama software stitches the images together.

Now, Occipital is offering 360 Panorama, a different approach to getting wide, or even 360 degree images. The app is dead simple. Click on a button to start the process, then slowly turn left or right. You appear to be taking one continuous image, and as you move you can see the image filling in on a grid. You don't do any stitching, the software does it in nearly real time. You can go wide, or even shoot vertical images. Or you can do both, panning up and down, and moving left or right. The image will fill in. It's pretty cool to watch. When you tap 'save' the image goes to your camera roll.

The app does a lot of processing and therefore needs to run on an iPhone 4 or 3GS. I had good luck using the app. I did have some trouble getting the edges to line up in a complete 360, but I think that is a matter of practice. Boinx released a similar app last week called You Gotta See This!

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At the Royal School of Artillery in Wiltshire, UK, troops have been learning how to manage a fire mission (firing artillery at the enemy from several miles away) with the help of iPads. Early reports indicate that the technique has accelerated their learning.

BBC Radio's Newsbeat had an exclusive look at new training being given to these soldiers. One trainee described the app as a nice alternative to classwork. "This has been designed to let us practice," said Lance Bombardier Jason Markham, "that when we get out there into theatre we're a lot slicker. It makes it more fun instead of being sat in a classroom looking at a presentation being given information."

Training officer Major Rich Gill, who assisted with the app's deployment, sees additional benefits, calling it a way to reduce training time and more quickly prepare troops for their time in Afghanistan as well as their return home.

The group that developed the training app is also working on a 3D app for new pilots. It's an interesting use of the technology and emphasises the notion that the iPad's best feature is the fact that it's a blank slate for developers. Whatever app it's running, that's what it becomes.

We've mentioned GTD app Nozbe a few times before, but not since the release of their iPad app. If you're looking for a complete, easy-to-use task management app for your iPad and haven't checked it out, here's your kick in the pants to take a look.

Nozbe was originally a web-based application (still is), and creator Michael Sliwinski (also editor of Productive! magazine) has continued to develop amazing features into the web version. One of the more recent developments was Evernote integration, where you could tag projects in Nozbe with tags used on notes in Evernote, and have your Evernote notes show up when viewing projects in Nozbe. The latest version of the iPad app includes this functionality, along with improved file attachment handling.

The Nozbe iPad app is a full-fledged task manager which doesn't require a subscription to the web app to be fully-functional. In my opinion, though, the online synchronization and ubiquitous availability of your tasks on any platform is a major part of the appeal of this application. The iPad app is easy to use and easy to understand, offering full GTD compliance while not inundating you with choices and options that just make task management too complex. There's a version of Nozbe for iPhone as well, and they all sync together via the web application.

Among the many features of Nozbe that impress me are the myriad ways of getting tasks into your lists. From Twitter to plain text import, email, Dashboard widgets and, of course, the iPhone and iPad apps, finding a method that fits your workflow is an easy task. For the geeks, there's even an API that's pretty well fleshed out, allowing you to create your own means of adding tasks, checking them off, managing projects and more. I do long for a Mac desktop app, but I'm finding plenty of ways to make it just as easy to use the web version, and discovering that there are benefits to "working in the cloud" when it comes to task management.

If you're just interested in the iPad app, pick it up on the App Store for $14.99US, and check out the iPhone version for $4.99US. Subscriptions to the web version start at $7.50 per month (if you prepay a year). You can have a go at the free trial, too, and see if it's a good fit for you.

I guess when you're the big guy in town, everybody paints a target on your back. First, Apple and AT&T were sued for the data plan change on the iPad, and now another class action lawsuit about the iPad is underway in California, claiming that the tablet overheats way too quickly when held or placed in warm sunlight. The lawsuit alleges that the iPad "does not live up to the reasonable consumer's expectations created by Apple," and that it "turns off, sometimes after just a few minutes of use," when used in bright sunlight.

The suit, filed in Oakland, seeks "unspecified damages," and as far as I can tell, it's still in the earliest preliminary stages. All of Apple's devices tend to overheat to a certain extent when used to their full potential, and anyone who's left an iPhone or an iPod in a hot car knows that there's a limit on what these things can take. But at the same time, even when I've had my iPhone overheat on me, it usually just takes a few minutes of sleep or standby to bring it back to normal -- hardly an inconvenience worth suing over. We'll have to wait and see what happens with this one.

If you're a sucker for technical drawings, then feast your eyes on the CAD drawing / iPhone 4 photo mashups recently published on Core77.

Hipstomp (AKA Rain Noe) found out that Apple had released the CAD drawings of the iPhone 4 exterior with special annotations for case manufacturers, and he promptly overlaid the technical drawings on top of the actual product photos. The result, as you can see in the photo above, is pure artistry. There are more drawings in the original post (click the source link below to view them), and if you'd like, you can download the bare CAD drawings directly from Apple.

Wouldn't you love to see an officially-sanctioned black T-shirt (or mock turtleneck) with this silk-screened on it?

Here's a great resource for any iPhone user who frequently travels. The Pay As You Go SIM with Data Wiki provides an ever-growing list of disposable SIMs that will work with the iPhone all over the world.

The project's goal is to collect a list of iPhone (and Android) compatible pay-as-you-go (PAYG) SIMs from around the world. Since the card is pre-paid, they're useful for someone who will be traveling for a brief time. To make the list, a card must be capable of handling data as well as voice.

For example, in France you can get an Orange card called "Mobicarte," which provides 30 days of unlimited data for 12 euros, or a subscription from LFR called "La carte" which provides unlimited data for 9.90 euros. Voice and text are charge separately on a graduated scale.

Of course, the iPhone 4 has a micro-SIM, and they're more difficult to find on the PYAG shelves. Fortunately, there are ways to make a full-sized SIM fit. We posted about one method not too long ago. Basically, you can buy a kit to help you physically cut a standard SIM down to size. There's also a hardware cutter that resembles a stapler, which all but guarantees a proper cut every time. Plus, it comes with an adapter that will let you re-use the diced card with a full-sized device.

Some SIMs are locked to a given provider. The wiki provides information on how to deal with that, too. The whole thing seems well-curated and timely. Add it to your travel plans and avoid coming home to an iPhone bill equal to one month's salary.

[Via Nik F.]

With the addition of the Safari Extensions Gallery to Apple's website over the last few days, TUAW will be highlighting extensions that we think are special, useful, or just plain fun.

I'm a baseball fan, but other than my beloved Colorado Rockies and the rest of the NL West, I don't follow a lot of other teams. While it would be nice to have a browser window open to MLB.com all the time, my screen is just too cluttered with work for me to be able to keep an eye on what's going on in Major League Baseball and get work done. So what's a Mac-lovin' baseball fan to do?

One of the first Safari Extensions I downloaded was the MLB.com Toolbar. Written by the staff at MLB Advanced Media, it adds a tiny toolbar to the top of your Safari page, as well as an icon emblazoned with the unforgettable MLB icon. The extension displays scores of games in progress as well as games that are completed. As with the example above, you can see that the team logos are nicely rendered, the score is easy to see, and the winning (Ubaldo Jimenez 16-2!) and losing pitchers are listed. Each score remains visible for 5 seconds before fading away and being replaced with another.

A control on the right side of the toolbar allows you to stop the parade of scores and "fast-forward or rewind" to the next or previous score. If the scores are getting too distracting, you can make the toolbar disappear with a click on the MLB icon. Want to bring it back? Click again.

This extension is a perfect example of what a Safari extension should do -- add functionality without being too distracting. Let's hope that the NFL follows the lead of MLB with a well designed and executed scoreboard extension.