The best iPad apps available now (images)

Not sure what to do with your iPad? Here is the fall edition of some of my favorite apps that will keep you entertained for hours at a time.

The Emerald Observatory is a $0.99 app that appears as a desk clock packed with astronomical information such as sunrise and sunset for the sun, moon, and planets Mercury-Saturn.

Solar Walk is a 3D model of the solar system that is the first iPad app to utilize a 3D TV screen. At $2.99, Solar Walk, lets you view close-ups of the planets, shows points of interest, and gives information about their past and future.

At $4.99, Star Walk lets you point your iPad into the sky and see stars, constellations, and satellites in real-time.

A free app, Planetary, lets you fly around the universe to the sound of your favorite music. You can fly toward a planet and see its moons listed as tracks - or create your own.

Eat your friends or enemies in Jaws Revenge where you play the role of the shark trying to keep the swimmer, sunbather, and boater population under control. It costs 99 cents.

Dark Meadow is a $5.99 role-playing game that arms you with a crossbow and sword and lets you explore a decaying hospital in order to find a witch who must be killed.

Real Racing 2 HD is a $6.99 app that puts the steering wheel in you hands to race head-to-head in a multi-player game.

Shoot it out against the pros or your friends in the free Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12. You can boost your skills with 20-minute challenges or tee off on 8 PGA Tour championship courses.

Swipe to pass and tap to avoid tacklers in Madden NFL 12, at $9.99.

Apple's iPad App of the Year for 2010, free Flipboard lets you go through photos, videos and updates - and instantly send them to your social media pages.

Pulse News is one of only 50 apps in the App Store Hall of Fame. You can track your favorite items from major publishers to blogs to social media. Store the articles and read them later. Pulse is free.

Intellicast HD is a free app that lets you track and see the weather outside using photo-realistic clouds and  precipitation that falls onto the screen. When the snow gets too deep, just wipe it off.

Pages is a $9.99 productivity tool for iPad that let's you create, edit and view documents. You can view and edit Pages ’09, Microsoft Word, and plain text files.

Numbers at $9.99 lets you make spreadsheets - with tables, charts, photos, and graphics - using just your fingers.

Keynote, also at $9.99, is the iPad version of Powerpoint. You can choose slide masters, animations, fonts, and style options to feature in  your presentation.

LogMeIn Ignition gives your iPad a remote connection with a PC or Mac. It lets you view, transfer or edit files using WiFi or 3G. It costs $29.99.

BlogPress is a blogging app that intergrates with your favorite social networks: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and Picasa. BlogPress at $2.99 is a text-imaging. layout editor that lets you place images or videos in your own blog - then share with friends.

Penultimate is a $1.99 handwriting app for iPad. It lets you take notes, draw sketches or annotate photos - just like in the old days when people used to use paper.

ArtRage 3 is a set of painting and drawing tools. It even tracks how long the paint was on the canvas so you can blend colors or use a smearing knife. ArtRage 3 costs $6.99.

Inspire Pro at $7.99 is another painting and drawing tool that also lets you create effects with a wet-paint simulation and five different brushes.

SketchBook Pro at $4.99 is another highly rated paint and drawing program for digital artists.

Apple's iBooks is a free ereader app that lets you view books that you have purchaed from the iBookstore. You can read a free sample from any book before purchasing.

Kindle has a free ereader app that lets you view and purchase Amazon ebooks, newspapers or magazines for your iPad. It gives you access to over 1 million books at the Kindle store.

You can read The Wall Street Journal daily on your iPad using this free app. But you do have to pay a subscription price.

You can have The New York Times delivered daily using a free app for the iPad. But you do have to pay a monthly subscription fee.

You can also read Wired on its free app. You can buy the magazine on a monthly or yearly basis.

HBO GO gives you access to HBO shows anywhere. But you do have to pay for access through your cable provider.

Speaking of cable, the Xfinity TV app from Comcast lets you view your favorite cable on demand programs wherever you are - as long as you subscribe.

TiVo lets you take your TV programming with you and lets you view it on your iPad.

At $19.99 Dejay was the winner of the 2011 Apple Design Award. This DJ app mixes with your personal iPod music collection to create your own music experience. If you'd like, this app will take over the duties of DJ.

GarageBand is a $4.99 app from Apple turns your iPad into a musical instrument - drums, guitar, piano - and lets you play and record your own tunes.

Pandora Radio lets you create your own radio stations that play your favorite songs or artists. And it's free.

Free TWiT Netcast Network lets you bring the TWiT TV tech network wherever you go.