One of the most popular arguments against the iPad is that the device doesn’t support multitasking. I’ve discussed this subject many times before, and after Apple introduced its version of multitasking at the latest iPhone OS 4.0 event, we all know that what we’re going to get is much more like a system-wide persistent state feature rather than actual multitasking. If by multitasking you meant to be able to have multitple windows on screen at the same time, you won’t have that. You won’t be able to see more than one app at a time, and I’m definitely fine with that. If I’m writing something in Pages I don’t need to keep an eye on Twitterrific, and when I browse websites with Safari I don’t edit spreadsheets in Numbers.

There are some cases though where you’d want to work with an app and have another one open, running on its side, to take a quick glimpse at it every few minutes. When I’m on my Mac, it happens that I read stuff in DEVONthink and take a very quick look at the newest tweets in Tweetie. Maybe this it’s no exactly multitasking (I keep thinking that we humans cannot multitask), so I’ll just say it’s fast app switching which benefits from the larger real screen estate of a Mac. But would you imagine this on the iPad? Having Pages and a small widget on screen at the same time? Wouldn’t it become a mess, even with this beautiful 10 inches display?

Maybe. Maybe we just don’t need widgets at all, and screw you if you want a damn Dashboard running on the iPad. Let’s take a different approach: basing on the iPad UI guidelines, the implementation of split views and popovers is highly recommended. You know, the same stuff Mail, Instapaper and all the other apps do. And when you have a split view in front of you, isn’t that a very raw kind of multitasking? You basically have two views running at the same time, so I guess it’s quite fair to call it in this way. No let’s apply this to a browser, and here comes Multitasking Browser for iPad.

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Amazon has updated the Amazon Mobile iPhone app and made it compatible with the iPad, as a universal application. The update (1.2.4) also includes new features like bestseller and recommendation lists, video preview and music track samples.

The app sports a nice interface design, and it uses split view, popovers and paper stacks much like many other applications on the iPad. It seems like Amazon put a lot of effort in this, even though it sometimes hangs or doesn’t feel too much snappy. Maybe an update will fix these issues.

Check out the screenshots after the break.

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Square Enix’ Chaos Rings has turned out to be a huge hit in the App Store: after all the positive reviews and users’ feedback, Chaos Rings (which, for those who don’t know, it’s a typical japanese RPG) is now the top grossing app in nine countries, and the devs  confirmed it’s also headed to the iPad as “Chaos Rings HD”.

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Something about the iPad makes it great for casual word games. For example, Words with Friends and Scrabble (which admittedly have the same type of gameplay) are really great to play on the iPad’s larger screen. But if you’re looking for something a little bit different, let me direct your attention to Jumbalaya - which not only tastes good, but also happens to be a great iPad game. Read more

We know that if there’s something great about the multitouch technology it’s accessibility. It’s intuitive, easy to understand, everyone can use it.

Virginia Campbell is a 99 year old lady who’s just bought her first computer to read and write, two things she’s always loved to do. Thing is, the computer is an iPad and it’s incredible to see how she uses it without problems and limitations of any sort. Like we said many times, it just works.

The video we’re embedding after the break is going viral on the Internet, and the story even got picked by Fox12 Oregon. Also, she prefers landscape mode and uses Pages to write her poetry. Well done, Apple.

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We at MacStories are always looking forward to new and good apps, but when it comes to apps such as text editors and Twitter clients we’re definitely looking forward and living on the edge. We do this because we firmly believe that one can always do better than someone else, and sometimes it’s just about discovering that good app that’s out in the App Store but no one has ever written about. Sometimes it’s just about trusting that small team of developers that have a great idea. Most of the times though, I guess it’s just about trying new software and be open to new stuff.

That’s why we are always looking forward to the next good app. Without forgetting about the current ones, of course. Once you’re in the loop, it just happens.

The app I’m going to talk about today is a text editor, a quite simple one, that I’ve discovered while browsing the App Store the day it opened. InCode by Novastorm Software looked promising back then, what about now?

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The iPad App Store is already overcrowded with hundreds of apps that let you sketch and draw quick visual notes with your fingers. We should have seen this coming, considering the bigger screen and the fact the average App Store user loves this kind of stuff. So, we have all these apps that should enable us to sketch, but it’s safe to say that most of them are pure crap.

Penultimate is not. It’s a great app, a first release that already sports a beautiful interface and features that make this simple utility fun and, in the very end, useful.

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I do miss Apple’s clock application on the iPad, and I guess many of you are. We all noticed that many developers had the idea to develop clock applications and sell them into the App Store, but what we’ve received in our inbox today is a simpler, good looking and  - most of all - free solution.

The guys over at IconDesign.dk have developed a nice clock webapp, specifically meant for the iPad, which you can check out here and save as a home screen bookmark on your magical tablet. It will come with a great dedicated icon and smooth animations. The only downside is that you’ll need an internet connection to open it - but I bet you all have one if you bought an iPad. Great job.

Check out the screenshots after the break.

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If you have an iPad, you’ve probably already tried to organize tasks, notes and other random pieces of text into the native Notes app. And if you really tried to do so, I guess you’re highly disappointed, considering how much Notes app should have been improved. Even though it sports a nice looking user interface now, Notes app still lacks any kind of over the air sync using MobileMe, support for better organization and sorting of notes, other fonts than damn Marker Felt. I wouldn’t suggest to people who need to take quick notes every once in a while, either.

The calendar app is pretty good instead. The interface has been highly refined, there’s a good amount of useful features and you can use MobileMe to keep your calendars in sync. Easy Agenda from 2 Boxes Studio is a simple iPad app that tries to combine the note tasking aspect of notes and the daily routine features of Calendar.

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