Macworld — This article is part of our 2010 App Gems Awards series, honoring the best apps of 2010.

E-Reader Roundup: 8 Devices Compete for the Crown

RSS Reader of the Year

Reeder for iPad ($5)

By Silvo Rizzi

Macworld rated 4.5 out of 5 mice (read review)

Simple, elegant, and smart, Reeder on the iPad streamlines your Google (GOOG) Reader RSS feeds and incorporates an array of innovative Multi-Touch gestures to present the best possible reading experience. Skim articles or devour them in detail; save them to look at offline, using Instapaper or Read It Later; and publish your favorites on your social media network of choice. If you've got a lot of feeds to manage, this app offers plenty of flexibility in a visually appealing package.--SERENITY CALDWELL

Best Visual News Reader

Flipboard (free)

By Flipboard

Macworld rated 4.5 out of 5 mice (read review)

When it made its iPad debut this past summer, Flipboard generated quite a bit of buzz--and rightly so. Billed as the "world's first personal social magazine," this free iPad offering turns your Facebook and Twitter accounts, as well as any Twitter lists you create for following specific accounts or topics, into a virtual, visual magazine of images, articles, and interactive media. It's a 21st century magazine, published by the friends you keep on the two most popular social networks. Flipboard takes a unique approach to presenting your favorite online media sources in a format that's perfect suited for the iPad's screen space.--DAVID CHARTIER

File Viewer of the Year

GoodReader for iPad ($3)

By Good.iWare

Macworld rated 4.5 out of 5 mice (read review)

Every iPad owner needs an all-purpose file viewer, and GoodReader has cornered the market. The app can display PDFs, text files, Office and iWorks docs, and photos, and it can even play back audio and video files. It's become our favorite app for reading PDFs--when you flip to the next page, it displays instantly, so there's none of the lag found in other PDF viewers. Or go beyond reading PDFs with a surprising variety of features for viewing, bookmarking, highlighting, and even annotating PDFs. You can get files into GoodReader using just about any method you can imagine: iTunes, e-mail, the Finder (via Wi-Fi or USB), and online connections (including iDisk, Google Docs, and our favorite method, Dropbox). It's great for when you want to load a video on your iPad but are nowhere near the copy of iTunes you sync with. The app also gives you tools for organizing and managing your files, as well as a cross-document search feature for quickly finding a passage of text. it's worth every penny.--DAN FRAKES

Continue Reading