There are a lot of impressive looking apps for the iPad. But, sometimes you want an app that launches quickly, lets you show a bunch of screens that elicits oohs and ahs and then rush out the door for a quick meeting. Some of the impressive 3D animation apps like the Epic Citadel elicits oohs and ahs but takes a long time to fire up and get to a point where you can do something.

If time is of the essence and you want to quickly show something that brings out oohs and ahs, I recommend the new free:

NASA App HD 1.0 (iTunes App Store)

It provides thousands of stunning images, on demand NASA videos, live NASA TV, launch information, NASA's Twitter feed, maps to NASA centers and more. Yes, you could end up standing around a long time looking at all this stuff. But, you also have the option to fire it up quickly, demo it, and dash off.

NASA App HD for iPad (NASA)

Video courtesy of Microsoft - Silverlight required for viewing

If Windows Phone 7 fails, it certainly won't be because Microsoft didn't try to reach out to potential developers. Online tutoroals, free developer tools, and, now, what looks like a quasi-regular vidcast aimed at Windows Phone developers on Microsoft's MSDN Channel 9 site.

Inside Windows Phone #01: Introducing the show

This first 1 minute 26 second long vidcast simply introduces the two Microsoft-ies who, I presume, will host the show: Jaime Rodriguez (WPF Technical Evangelist) and Yochay Kiriaty (Senior Technical Evangelist).

I wonder if I can subscribe to it on iTunes? Cough cough :-)

This is a summary of a Skype for Android story that took a couple of zigs and zags over the course of the past day. Android Central first reported that:

Skype Mobile for Android now works over 3G *and* Wifi (but still Verizon-only)

Ah! Nice! Right? Then, they followed up with:

Skype Mobile update does not allow use of Wifi after all [updated]

This follow-up article provided a reference to Skype's own blog post:

Improvements to Skype mobile for DROID and BlackBerry phones on Verizon Wireless

So, what's the actual story? It is a bit of an oddity and easy to understand how it can confuse even the geekiest of tech fans.

When Skype for Android was released, it came with a couple of restrictions. The biggest is that the app is only available for Android phones on Verizon's network (in the U.S.). Another biggie was that it only worked over a Verizon voice/3G wireless data connection. And, finally, it would not work if the phone's WiFi radio was turned on. The updated app still does not use WiFi data for a Skype voice call. However, it now works even if the WiFi radio is turned on. The Skype voice call still goes over Verizon's network, however. Got that? Clear as mud, eh? :-)

I came really close to buying a Zune HD last year. The reason? One of the handful of free games released for it was PRG which looks and feels a lot like my favorite game series from the old original Xbox: Project Gotham Racing. It was, at the time, the best racing game I had seen on a mobile device. I didn't buy a Zune HD. But, I still think about it now and then when trying out a racing game on my iPhone 4 or iPad.

So, ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley's tip about a possible new Zune HD caught my attention.

(Not so) Crazy Microsoft Rumors: A new Zune HD?

There's no technical specifications assocaited with this rumor. So, let me add a bit of wishful thinking to this rumor: What if the Zune HD 2 (or "7" as Ms. Foley notes is Microsoft's new favorite number) is a tablet sized device? Since "7" is their favorite number, let's say the Zune HD "7" has a 7-inch display and is based on the Windows Phone 7 (there's that number again) platform. Both current generation platforms (Zune HD and Windows Mobile 6.5 are built on top of Windows CE). A true instant on/off Zune HD Tablet with a decent web browser and the ability to run Windows Phone 7 apps might be an appealing device. It would certainly have a more consistent user interface story to tell than what ever kludge is done to Windows 7 to "tablet-fy" it.

So, how about it, Microsoft? How about a Zune HD 7 tablet? I'd stand in line to buy one.

Android phones have struck a chord in the U.S. The most successful Android phones (the Droid, Droid X, and Evo come to mind) did this by offering some combination of clear advantages over the iPhone: Physical keyboard, higher resolution display (at the time), user replaceable battery, simpler setup (just sync with a Google Mail account), or a choice of carriers and form factors.

Many of these same firms are now making Android tablets. But, they seem to have missed the reasons for the success of the Android smartphones. The various tablets may offer some features missing in the iPad (most notably cameras). But, these tablets will be released when the iPad is 7 or 8 months old. In other words, if Apple follows their normal 12 month upgrade cycle, the Android tablets we are reading about now will have a window of just a few months before they have to compete with the second generation iPad. The features that are somewhat interesting today will probably be matched and surpassed by Apple by early 2011. And, price? Engadget reports that Toshiba plans to price their unreleased Android tablet with a 7-inch display at 399 Euros. That's over $500 US at today's currency exchange rates. That is a bit more than the $499 for the WiFi-only iPad with 16GB storage.

Toshiba Folio 100 goes official, lands in Q4

Sure, Samsung's Galaxy S Android smartphones are selling well. However, the interest in Samsung's unreleased Android tablet fascinates me considering Samsung has not provided price, carrier affiliation, or U.S.availability information.

Samsung Galaxy Tab preview (Engadget)

Samsung's Galaxy Tab Runs Froyo, Has Flash and Measures 7 Inches (Gizmodo)

The 7-inch display for the GT-P1000 model is certainly a tablet display size that I've been looking for. However, the Tab's other specifications are merely "interesting" for something that appears heading to a release date just a few months (or less) before Apple starts gearing up for the second generation iPad in early 2011.

It has just two significant features that the iPad lacks is interesting: Front and rear cameras and a microSD slot. I suppose you can consider voice telephony a third major additional feature. But, I don't think most people expect to make conventional phone calls on their iPad.

Would I buy a Samsung Galaxy Tab? Yes, it were priced at under $400 without tying it to any carrier. I don't need yet another monthly recurring fee.

Here's one of those ideas that seems like a really good one at first glance but may turn around and bite you.

Navteq tries to make GPS directions more 'human' (CNET)

The idea of Navteq's "Natural Guidance" is to use the kind of landmarks humans use when providing directions. An example given by Navteq is "turn right after the yellow shop". How will information like building color and business type be kept up to date? Navteq isn't saying. But, let's assume they will use some kind of crowd sourced technique. We've seen crowd sourcing used effectively in many ways. But, crowd sourcing can also be used to game systems. You can imagine gaming to do things like change "yellow store" to, for example, "hairy spatula".

Yes, GPS speech guidance can always use some improvement. But, I don't see anything wrong with street names and standardized distance units.

The official Twitter app is now available as a free download from the iPad App store. The iPad version of the Twitter app is very different from the iPhone and Android Twitter apps, appropriately so I think as it takes advantage of the iPad's larger screen. In my opinion the application really shines in landscape. Tweets appear in a timeline view in the center of the screen.

When you tap a tweet that contains a link, a pane slides in from the right that displays the web page, and to go back to the timeline you simply swipe the pane back to the right. Curiously, when you swipe the pane it doesn't disappear completely, which I find to be one of the most annoying features of the app. If you go back to the timeline the tweet associated with the still open pane remains pinned to the top as you scroll throw the timeline.

Another cool way that the Twitter iPad app uses the right pane is to create a threaded view for groups of tweets. When you tap on a tweet that is part of a series of @ replies, the pane slides in and loads all the tweets that are part of that series. If you tap a tweet that has no link and no mention you see the profile of the person who posted the tweet.

Before Google released Voice Actions for Android, Vlingo was the only app that supported voice commands on Android phones. When I heard about Voice Actions I wondered what that meant for Vlingo, which was charging $10 for their app. The first thing Vlingo did was to stop charging for their app, and you can now get it for free from the Android Market. One might expect that Vlingo would give up developing their app given the threat of competing with Google, but to their credit they have decided to compete and add more features.

Today Vlingo announced a new version that enables you to check-in to Foursquare simply by launching the program and saying, "Check in to Ford Field." The new version also supports updating status information to Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare. For an overview of the changes, watch the following video:

Verizon has officially launched their prepaid smartphone data plans. There are two plans, an unlimited plan that costs $30 per month (on par with AT&T's original unlimited iPad prepaid plan) and a 25 MB, $10 per month plan. As is the case with prepaid plans, there is no contract obligation, so you can cancel the plan at any time, and you are billed at the beginning of each month. The data plan costs are in addition to voice and text messaging costs, and you will need to buy the phone at the full retail price.The prepaid data plans are available for all of Verizon's Android phones, Palm Pre and Pixi Plus, and most of Verizon's recent Blackberries.

Verizon's announcement is the second pre-paid announcement this week. On Monday Clearwire announced prepaid plans for their 4G WiMax data service at $50 per month, $20 per week, or $5 per day. The service works with two devices, a $149 WiFi router and a $99.99 USB stick. The service only works on the 4G network, so it will not work in areas where there is no WiMax coverage. Last month Virgin Mobile U.S., which is a subsidiary of Sprint, launched a $40 per month prepaid data plan for a WiFi router and USB stick. The Clearwire and Virgin Mobile plans only require paying for data service each month and can be stopped at any time, while the Verizon plan announced today requires voice minutes. Personally, I would love to see Verizon extend their prepaid plain to their WiFi router.

Apple may legitimately claim to be the catalyst behind the lower priced prepaid data plans. When they launched the iPad 3G + WiFi model it included an unlimited monthly prepaid plan at $29 per month. At the time that AT&T iPad data plan was the cheapest monthly price for unlimited data. Several months later, however, AT&T changed the plan to the current one that charges $25 per month for 2 GB of data. The change was part of a broader AT&T initiative to eliminate unlimited data plans, and at the time speculation was that the other carriers would eventually follow suite. The Virgin Mobile, Clearwire, and Verizon plans all have unlimited options at reasonable prices making me wonder whether the carriers have decided to let AT&T hang out on the limb as the only carrier without an unlimited data plan.

As my old friend and co-blogger Frank McPherson noted yesterday.

Apple Announces New iPods

Apple made fairly radical changes to the iPod shuffle, iPod nano, and iPod touch. The shuffle gained back physical controls (moved to special earbuds in the previous generation) while the nano lost its clickwheel. Lost in the various commentary I read about the devices was, well, the loss of features and some oddly reduced features in the new iPods. Here's what I noticed:

iPod shuffle: While I thought the movement of all physical controls to the shuffle's special earbuds in the previous model was a bad idea, the ability to control aspects like audio volume from earbud controls is a good thing to have. The new shuffle comes with low-end Apple earbuds that do not have volume controls.

iPod nano: The 6th generation nano lost a couple of significant features. It does not have the low resolution video camera that was introduced in last year's 5th generation nano. It also lost the ability to play video. The smaller square screen may be blamed. But, Apple could have easily designed a 4:3 rectangular display for video playback. It also lost its speaker and ability to record audio with an microphone equipped Apple headset.

iPod touch: The touch gained a lot of interesting features including the high resolution Retina Display and both front and rear facing cameras. However, while the iPhone 4's rear facing camera is a 5 megapixel one, the touch's rear facing camera is less than 1 megapixel: 960 x 720 = 691,220 pixels.

Despite these feature losses, the new iPod lineup looks impressive. I ordered a 16GB nano to take a look at its new touch screen user interface. Apple estimates a delivery date between September 10 and 14. So, stay tuned for more 6th generation nano commentary.

CNN Money's David Goldman asks and answers:

Why all smartphones are $199

Many popular smartphones including the 16GB iPhone 4 and various Android phones are often priced at $199 with at associated 2-year contract. David notes that carriers often price smartphones precisely at $199 and do not price phones in small increments above or below it to avoid the perception that phones are a little better or worse. He notes that there are less expensive smartphones. In fact, a quick check shows that there are several smartphones that are free with 2-year contracts.

The question that he doesn't ask and answer is potentially more interesting: Why do all smartphones except for the iPhone tend to have dramatic price drops just months after their release? And, conversely, why doesn't the iPhone have that same pricing trend? There are, I believe, a couple of factors involved.

First, every other platform and manufacturer creates model churn by introducing model after model that trumps the previous release. The newest model always reduces the perceived value of the previous model. This is even true for firms like RIM that is the single source of BlackBerry phones. The Motorola Droid introduced last November was the first Android superphone. However, it was eclipsed just months later. It was no longer the best superphone and its selling price dropped accordingly. The iPhone, on the other hand, essentially has only one superphone model for 12 solid months before the next "big thing" emerges. So, the iPhone's perceived value remains relatively constant over a longer period of time. And, its retail price reflects this by never going down until the next model is released the next year. In the meantime, Apple can promote and rely on a relatively simple brand awareness campaign. Every other phone maker, on the other hand, has to tool up new marketing campaigns every few months. This is inefficent and expensive.