This month's iPad app roundup has been skywriting, getting inspiration, looking like we're thoughtful, trending, making more lists and running away.

Remember the 90s, when someone in a suit would say “let's blue-sky this for a moment”? Now you can do it yourself - literally. Skywriting HD (£1.19) turns your finger into the jet trail of an aeroplane so you can write directly onto the iPad's screen. The app comes with a selection of suitable photographic backgrounds (or you can choose one of your own photos and use that) and after a moment or two whatever you've written wafts away on an electronic breeze. The controls are charmingly opaque. Swiping up the screen with two fingers opens the menu from where you can choose a photo source, change the speed at which the writing will blow away or take a screen shot, and while the app's running, tap twice to try a different photo background. An utterly daft way to use all that technology, yet strangely addictive and thought provoking: if you could write in the sky in letters a hundred feet high for real, what would you actually say?

Since we were stuck for words (hard to believe, we know) we turned to Songwriter's Pad (£5.99) a notepad with a selection of tools designed for anyone who thinks they've got something musical or poetic to say but can't find the right words. When things dried up we used the Words tool to generate suggestions based on mood (sad, desire, hate, hope), the Phrases tool to cheat a bit more (“be careful what you wish for”, “enjoy it while it lasts”), the Rhymes tool to find out what goes with ‘hall' (all, call, wall and, less obviously, shawl) and the Dictionary to find out what on earth we're talking about. Songwriter's Pad lets you divide songs into sections (verse, chorus, bridge, and so on) and then re-arrange them at will. And yes, that's a recorder at the bottom of the screen so you can get a melody down while it's fresh and save it with your lyrics. Of course, you could use this for any kind of creative writing, but it's particularly useful for would-be songwriters and poets who know how painful writer's block (clock, crock, knock, lock, stock...) can be.

Yes, iCal is a perfectly good calendar and yes, we use it to remember important events like birthdays, but something as handy and pleasant to use as Jubilee (£2.39) is making us think again. It's a super-cute calendar that's designed to record birthdays, anniversaries and other special occasions. Just tap the date and then add the relevant person from your Contacts database and Jubilee displays a nice little photo of them (assuming their contact info includes one) on a pushpin. When the great day approaches, just click on their photo and choose Send Greeting Card and you can pick from one of 18 included e-cards; Jubilee fills in their name and you can type in the message and then actually sign the card with your finger. And it'll store multiple signatures so you can be mum/dad to the kids and yourself to all your friends. Finished cards can be emailed to the grateful recipient and your thoughtfulness - although electronically generated - will become legendary.

SkyGrid (Free) may have a bit of a Terminator/Skynet ring to it but this iPad app is more concerned with sending you a wide range of trending Internet news rather than killer cyborgs from the future. More than just a 'straight' news service, it scans mainstream media sites for reviews, news and features, then aggregates these with postings on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, and then comes up with a selection of trending stories divided up into easy to navigate categories. Thus, you can sit back and have it feed you news during the day, or actively search different channels for something more specific, or simply type in a particular word or phrase to see what comes back. You can filter the news in various ways, add Twitter and Facebook streams and the result is an unusual, personalised news channel on your iPad.

We really like the way that some modern iPhone apps look like their old fashioned equivalents out in the real world. Thus, we've enjoyed using Manage (£1.79) which mimics a leather deskpad and lined paper notebook and lets you create multiple 'to do' lists complete with due dates and priorities. More than that though, there's a selection of highlighter pens which you can use to mark individual tasks and make them stand out from others, and four coloured pens with which to annotate your various entries by writing directly on the screen with your finger. You can also create sub-tasks for more complex projects. Annotations can be rubbed out or moved around and entire lists e-mailed as text files or PDF. This is a neat way to produce agendas but would be even more useful if it had formatting options so you could have one that slotted into a paper diary. This is a visually gorgeous way to stay on top of your daily schedule and we're told that a scheduled update will feature all sorts of new features including synching, tags and archiving. Can't wait.

And finally, we've been running away. Very quickly. From something horrible. Dead Runner (0.59p) is a fabulously simple game, set in a gloomy, mist-filled forest complete with gravestones and foxfire. All you do is start the game running and then sit back as you're propelled through the forest in first person view as if you were running at breakneck speed. Simply tilt the iPad hither and thither to avoid obstacles and play either ‘distance mode' (go as far as you can) or ‘points mode' (pick up points by running towards the glowing balls of foxfire and collecting them). Beware though; the purple and green balls actually increase your speed so they're both a blessing and curse. Dead Runner is great: as simple to play as Fish Eat Fish, but much more fun, and the graphics are splendidly realistic. It's most reminiscent of the Steadicam work on Raimi's Evil Dead, but without the monsters actually chowing down on you. Anyway, must dash...

Verdict
As above. All the apps are available from the App Store on iTunes.

Company: iPad

Company: iPad

Company: iPad

Company: iPad

Company: iPad

Company: iPad

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