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CNN, one of the world's leading news organizations, today announced that it has launched its official iPad app. The new app will present CNN's top stories, as well as blogs, videos and other articles from around the news network. Users can also share articles via Facebook and Twitter and watch live video of major world events as they happen.

“High quality, world-class journalism is what CNN does best, whether live breaking news, hard-hitting interviews or in-depth investigations, and our iPad app presents that content to the world in a wholly new way,” said KC Estenson, senior vice president and general manager of CNN.com. “This app harnesses the best of what the iPad offers by leveraging striking photos and videos; elegant, multi-touch navigation; and the ability to share content with your friends via social media.”

“One of the things about the app that excites us most is the ability to serve the news needs of iPad users while also exposing them to original, enterprise content from CNN that will surprise and delight them,” added Louis Gump, vice president of CNN Mobile. “The CNN App was built from the ground up with our consumers in mind, and we are proud of the new CNN experience we’ve created for the device.”

To celebrate the launch of the iPad app CNN has also announced that the iPhone and iPod versions are now free, and that the international edition has received an update which will allow users to watch live video of breaking news. So ultimately today is a big day for news junkies no matter how you slice it.

With so many news apps out there it will be interesting to see which way users lean and if any one service emerges as a dominant player in the app space. One thing's for sure though, with the BBC, NY Times, CNN and tons of others all vying for your attention, there's basically no way for anyone with an iPad to ever feel like they're out of the loop on what's going on in the world.

A certain British time-traveling hero is about to get a brand new iOS game, as Tag Games and the BBC have announced a brand-new Doctor Who game. Doctor Who: The Mazes of Time will be available on all iOS devices later this month, just in time for the holidays. Then again, given the good doctor's propensity for jumping around through time the game may be out already and we don't even know it. Quick! Look behind you!

Mazes of Time will feature the Doctor and faithful companion Amy Pond working together to "defeat infamous enemies, solve devious puzzles, and restore peace." The announcement trailer shows the two characters working independently yet in concert to solve puzzles and navigate through enemy-infested terrain. It's unclear how combat will work in the game, as all we've seen so far is the Doctor and Amy running away from baddies, not standing up and fighting them. One bit does show the Doctor luring a robot onto an electrified floor, so it seems the combat may well be environmental and trap-based. Sorry, I guess you won't be disassembling any mechanical baddies with a sonic screwdriver.

The game is scheduled to land before Christmas so we should be seeing sometime within the next few weeks. While we're excited to try out a new Doctor Who game we're going to go with cautious optimism as recent digital editions of the franchise on other mediums haven't been all that well-regarded. Still, a co-op puzzle solving game is an interesting genre to tackle and one which we're not quite burnt out on yet. Thank heavens it's not yet another physics-based puzzle game, we've all had enough of those to last us several lifetimes.

We'll keep you posted on new info about the game as its release date nears, for now go get caught up on the latest season so you'll be ready for the game.

[via BBC America]

Though companies like Netflix and ABC already have devoted video streaming apps for the iPad it's still an arena that many media organizations are slow to embrace. It seems that the BBC is ready to jump in though, as they have announced plans to release their iPlayer TV service in the US very soon, but there are a couple catches. First off, it's an iPad exclusive; second, it's arriving as a subscription service.

The BBC iPlayer basically functions very similarly to what the major American television networks are doing in the online space. Users can launch the iPlayer and then watch or listen to any of the BBC's television or radio programming from the past seven days on-demand. So, if you happened to miss the latest episode of Doctor Who, Top Gear, or want to get the latest headlines from BBC World News, iPlayer will be your best bet. The service has been available in the UK for three years now and is easily the most popular on-demand service across the pond.

Unfortunately, unlike American services such as Netflix or Hulu shows don't stay on the iPlayer after the seven day window has passed. So if you're looking to catch up on entire seasons of shows then iPlayer really won't help all that much. However, huge BBC fans who want to have all the recent content available at their fingertips will likely love this app. The BBC hasn't announced a pricing structure for the service yet, so we'll have to wait and see how much the company plans to charge. Nor do we have any information yet on any potential service differences for the US version. There's always the possibility that they will black out shows that are shown on BBC America for example.

The question now becomes, can the BBC break into the American market with this app? It's definitely going to be tough considering how many other options are available to US consumers, but there's definitely some content exclusive to the BBC that a number of folks would want to access. An interesting prospect indeed, and one which we'll definitely be keeping our eye on.

[via PCUK]

In less than 24 hours after its release, the BBC News application has shot up to #1 in the News category. It was a story about bureaucracy at its worst whenever the BBC Trust, BBC's governing body, told their development team to shelve the iPhone application launch in the UK due to "uncertainty about the potential significance of whether [the BBC's plans] constitutes a change of service." Now, five months later, its passed the test and can be downloaded free of charge to all UK iPhone - and iPad - users.

The universal application provides the latest news from around the globe, offering a live broadcast of the BBC News channel to UK residents. The channel runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but sadly does not work over 3G - despite a network charge warning appearing the first time you tap "Live". The application's design for iPhone is discerningly similar to Pulse News Mini, with its articles presented in boxes rather than in a list; the iPad edition resembling the widely successful Financial Times application with its category navigation. The pull down to refresh feature first seen in Tweetie is also in there. Rotating the application into landscape mode on the iPhone presents a uniquely designed news scroller.

The application also features a rolling news ticker and the ability to send a snapshot from your iPhone straight to the BBC team, but is missing a much-needed search feature. In addition, there's no weather section to the application.

There is a certain amount of irony in the late launch of the British Broadcasting Company application, which has been available to download (with live radio instead of TV) in the US App Store since April. No word yet on whether BBC Sports and BBC iPlayer will be launched, both of which were discussed at the same time as the News application. The Sports application was planned to be released one month after the News application in mid-May.

You can read more on the BBC Technology page.

[Note: BBC Trust quote courtesy of The Guardian. iPad image courtesy of the BBC.]

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It’s the age-old developer story. Guy makes game, guy sells rights to game licenses game, guy gets game back again and remakes it for the iPhone. Okay, we’ve never heard that story either but it is the story behind retro game Qwak that’s heading to an iPhone near you.

This cute, old school adventure game was originally made for the BBC (that’s a computer not a UK TV network) 22 years ago and was then re-launched on the Amiga by Team 17, the guys who made Worms, in 1993. Qwak has lain dormant for several years until its original creator, Jamie Woodhouse, decide to bring it back to life via the iPhone. Learning the iPhone SDK as he went, Jamie has now completed the iPhone version, which he hopes will be available on the App Store very soon.

Check out the video below and you’ll see how this labor of love could quickly become the next addictive iPhone smash.

Qwak ... coming soon to your iPhone from Jamie Woodhouse on Vimeo.

Update: Jamie has contacted us to point out that Qwak was licensed to Team 17, not sold.