The Logitech Fold-Up Keyboard for iPad 2 is ideal for typing on-the-go. When closed the keyboard rests securely underneath your iPad 2 and when open, it holds your iPad 2 at the perfect angle for typing and taking notes. Run from meeting to meeting or class to class without missing a thing. Charged by USB the keyboard wakes up and is ready to go as soon as you unfold it and automatically turns itself off when it’s folded.

Available from www.logitech.com

 Price £ 89.99

If you’re not just a girl geek but also a girl nerd then, like me, you probably like playing board games. Traditional board game set up can be a bit tedious what with all those pieces that need counting out and setting up, not to mention the storage space required for all those boxes.

Luckily the iPad has amazing range of board game apps, meaning you can carry them around and it even sets up the pieces for you! Here are a few of the top contenders.

Classic

All classic boardgames from chess through backgammon to go and even Othello have many many implementations for the iPad. One of the most unusual is Game Table, which doesn’t implement the rules or force correct moves only but just lets you move pieces as you want.

Family

EA Games do a great line in all the family classics you’ll have played when you were a kid: Monopoly, Yahtzee, Scrabble and so on. If you also have an iPhone or iPod touch, Scrabble has a lovely feature where you can use your phone as a tile rack, with the iPad as the main playing board area. However my favourite of EA Games offerings is The Game of Life – they’ve even replicated the 10 number spinner that you flick to determine how many squares to move.

Eurogame

Finally all the classic Eurogames are implemented, including the world famous Settlers of Catan, Spiel des Jahres winning Carcassonne and GAMES magazine’s board game of 2010 – SmallWorld (2 player only).

There’s also an increasing number of games from from Sage Board Games, the most significant Eurogame developer for the iPad: Medici, Ra and Tikal are already in the Apple store with Puerto Rico, Le Havre and Tigris and Euphrates rumoured to be coming soon.

It’s a board game girl geek paradise!

The new Sky Go App brings together online and mobile TV in a single, simple service for Sky TV customers. You can now get flexible access to Sky content across iPad, iPhone and iPod touch and it is now available in the App Store.

Sky Go lets you watch live channels (in line with your subscription) while on the move in the UK and Ireland. On iOS devices, Sky TV customers can access all five Sky Sports channels, ESPN and Sky News, with further channels to be added over time. This means that Sky Sports customers will be able to watch a top line-up of live sports on the move for free and a  selection of Sky Movies.

Sky Go brings together two existing services, Sky Player, Sky’s online TV service and Sky Mobile TV, the UK’s largest mobile TV service – the services now rebranded as Sky Go.

The Sky Go App is now available for free from the App Store on iPad, iPhone and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore.

I got an iPad (version 1) not too long after they’d been released in the UK: close enough after the release date that the Apple store on Regent St was still sold out, but long enough that I felt legitimately grieved that one wasn’t now available.

I’ve never been a fan of Apple but the iPad immediately became an irreplaceable part of my life. My husband and I play a lot of board games and the iPad is a great alternative to carrying round boxes of little pieces, which can get lost – it even sets up the board for you!

I also got a Kindle app, which means that I instantly have a whole library available to me. Packing for beach holidays has got a whole lot easier.

Despite the iPad’s immediate overtaking of my netbook in my personal affections, it still can’t do everything. I had three main complaints:- Firstly some PC functions that we would consider quite basic such as being able to manipulate any files sent through be email, to save, edit etc, secondly PC remote desktop and thirdly typing. It’s slow, inaccurate and picky about which words you’re allowed to use.

I’ve heard that there are some apps available that can deal with the first of these two issues (I will investigate) but I have found the most fantastic solution for the third. I have purchased myself (from the US, sadly, with attendant long shipping times and customs shenanigans) a ZAGGMate iPad cover and keyboard. Having had to wait so long for it to arrive I was feeling slightly fractious when it did and almost threw it away when it didn’t have the correct cable to connect to my iPad v1. Of course, as I found out when I calmed down and read the instructions, it connects via Bluetooth.

As a case for the iPad, it’s made of matching brushed aluminium and fits snugly – no complaints, but where it really helps is as a keyboard – now I can send emails or write articles without it being a chore (I’m using it now).

Adding a case does of course make the iPad heavier, although it’s still not quite as heavy as my netbook and there are extra useful features too, such as the ability to stand the iPad in portrait mode for typing documents.

With the new tablets flooding the market, we’re going to see more and more innovations of this kind but as ever, Apple seems to be there first.

Apple have just officially announced the second generation iPad. Steve Jobs and a couple of other senior Apple executives presented the new, much anticipated, iPad, displaying it’s new features live on stage.

The iPad 2, which will run iOS 4.3, has been given a release date of March 11th. It has a brand-spanking new 1GHz A5 chip, which is reportedly, twice as fast as its predecessors. It also comes as somewhat of a relief to see that Apple have, finally, after much public outcry, decided to put a front and rear camera on the iPad 2.

Another major talking point is that the iPad 2 looks like it’s been on a rather successful crash-course diet, as it is now 33% thinner, measuring in at a super-thin 8.8mm (slimmer then the iPhone 4) and weighing only 600g.

Impressively, Apple claim that the iPad 2, which is set to be available in either black or white, will, just like its older sibling, maintain a 10 hour battery life despite the improved performance and additional features.

As well as now having FaceTime compatibility and a larger speaker grille, the iPad 2 also comes with HDMI output. However, you will need to shell out a further $39 to buy the required HDMI lead as Apple do not supply it with the iPad, the sneaky sods.

There are also additional ‘add-ons’ in the form of new, iPad exclusive, apps.

iMovie and Garageband, two flagship pieces of Apple software, have been made iPad compatible. These two new apps looked great as they were thoroughly demonstrated on stage, during the press conference.

The apps will be available for $4.99 each, a bargain in Steve Jobs’ eyes, “I cannot tell you how many hours teenagers are going to spend making music with this.” His words, not mine.

Mr Jobs has also been busy working on another project, a new cover. Not to take anything away from Mr Jobs’ hard work but the cover is, essentially, some thin magnets wrapped in your choice of coloured poly ($39) or leather ($69).

Don’t go thinking it’s just some expensive piece of material though, oh no, when the cover is placed on the iPad 2 it puts it into sleep mode and it is then awoken when the cover is removed.

Jobs is probably rather smug about the fact that his new cover can also be folded into a triangular stand, on which you can prop up your iPad 2 at an eye-friendly angle. It means no more having to burn all those calories by holding your iPad when you play Angry Birds!

Prices start at $499 for the WiFi 16GB model and $629 for the WiFi + 3G 16GB model.

Pre-orders are not yet being taken but in the meantime first generation iPad prices have been slashed to $399.