Macworld Staff

[Tim Cook kicked off this year’s D: All Things Digital conference on Tuesday. The Apple CEO was interviewed by conference hosts Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, in a lively, engaging conversation. Here’s an edited roundup of the highlights.]

With Apple's Wednesday introduction of the third-generation iPad, many of the questions people and pundits have spent the past few months obsessing over have been answered-but not all. We know it has a nicer screen, a faster processor, better cameras, 4G networking, and voice dictation. But even if you've read our live blog, chances are there are still bits of info you want to know. Here are all the details we've been able to dig up about Apple's newest tablet.

What's the new iPad's screen resolution?

You may want to sit down, because we’re going to talk about the iPad—and sitting is really the most comfortable way to use it, isn’t it? Apple on Tuesday invited members of the media to a special event on March 7 at 10 a.m. Pacific.

Communication starts long before you open your mouth. You first have to come up with an idea, put it into words, and then present it to the world at large. Our top communication apps from the past year cover this process from start to finish.

Textastic Code Editor

Click to ZoomThere are a lot of good writing apps capable of handling basic writing, highlighted by previous App Gem winner Elements. But if your writing includes any sort of code, Textastic Code Editor from Alexander Blach stands out by making editing on an iPad much less painful. For starters, it offers more than 20 color themes, each of which includes syntax highlighting and document navigation for a slew of file and code types, including Markdown, HTML, XML, CSS, Perl, JavaScript, and C variants.

This is the third year we’ve handed out App Gems awards to the top iOS apps. And each year, we’ve noticed a few familiar faces among the leading contenders. Certain apps could claim a trophy every year—they embody the best of what the iOS platform has to offer and continually introduce improvements and enhancements that make them the class of the App Store.

To recognize this ongoing level of excellence, we’ve created the App Hall of Fame. Five iOS favorite make up our inaugural class of perpetually top-notch apps.

One of the major factors behind the iOS platform’s emergence as a major player in the gaming is the variety of games available to iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad owners. Browse your way through the App Store’s gaming section, and you’re likely to find games that appeal to just about every taste.

Our list of award-winning games for 2011 mirrors that versatility, with each of our winning apps bringing something unique to the table.

One of the most widely used cameras in the world isn’t a DSLR or even a point-and-shoot—it’s the one that comes built into your iOS device. Certainly, the main reason for that is convenience, but iOS photographers also have a number of great photo apps at their disposal.

We’ve selected three photo tools—an all-in-one offering that promises to take care of most of your photographic needs, a versatile image editor, and an editing app that focuses on a particular task. We’ve also picked an app that takes the iPhone’s video-capture capabilities in exciting new directions.

It isn’t that hard to come up with a list of App Gems winners. The difficult part is keeping that list down to a manageable length.

When Macworld editors first meet to discuss our awards for great iOS apps, the number of nominees runs in the triple digits. From there, we whittle down the names to just a handful of winners. The following apps just barely missed the cut—but they still deserve your attention if you’re on the lookout for outstanding apps for your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad.

In the three-and-a-half years since Apple opened the App Store’s virtual doors, App-mania shows no signs of abating. The concept of an Apple-managed software store has become so widely embraced, that the company even created a Mac version of the App Store this past January.

Our three favorite iOS music apps all have something in common, and it’s not just the fact that they each offer great ways to make music on the go. Rather, this trio appeals to all iOS device owners. From experienced musicians to someone who’s hardly ever picked up an instrument, there’s something here to spark your lyrical muse.

Capo

Whether you’re a full-fledged musician or someone who just likes to learn the occasional top 40 hit, figuring out a song without sheet music can be difficult. Capo makes the task go much more smoothly. SuperMegaUltraGroovy’s app lets you play any song without DRM in the music library of your iPhone or iPad. From there, you can slow the song down, adjust the pitch, or add markers and loop points to help you master the particulars of playing back a tune.