Written by Jessica Roy

With the recent release of the iPad 2, the Apple App Store is swarming with new and updated apps tailored for interactive news consumption. Some of the most compelling news apps are those that take a familiar concept–such as the simple act of reading a newspaper–and adapt it to the iPad’s unique platform. These are the apps that remind us that reading the news can be a fun and social experience. Here are five of our favorites:

1. Instapaper

Though many of us may spend all day on our computers, we don’t always have the time we want to devote to reading the interesting news stories that crop up throughout the day. Luckily, Instapaperexists for just this reason. The easy-to-use “Read Later” bookmarklet allows you to keep track of and aggregate all the stories you want to return to later, effectively allowing you to create your own personalized, well… instant paper. The iPad app easily integrates with the articles you’ve saved through your browser so that you can read through them at your own leisure. With version 3.0.2, updated just last week, the app boasts plenty of impressivecapabilities including offline dictionary integration, a built-in web browser, and full-featured, native sharing on Facebook and Twitter.

2. Flipboard

Glance once at Flipboard’s innovative UI and it’s not hard to see why its initial release last year caused quite a stir in the online journalism community. Flipboard is a fully customizable news app that pulls in articles from your favorite news organizations or specified beats and makes them look like a fresh-off-the-printer glossy magazine. This app is just plain beautiful, and as Wired put it back in December, Flipboard turns “web noise into iPad gold.” And with Google Reader integration, keeping up with your favorite blogs has never been so aesthetically pleasing.

3. SkyGrid

With a nonstop 24-hour news cycle, it can be difficult to stay on top of real time, breaking news. SkyGrid’s iPad app aims to make this task much easier, particularly when it comes to the news you care about. The app’s patented algorithm scavenges the web for the stories that are spreading the fastest worldwide, culling them into easily customizable categories. By enabling notifications, the app will also alert you with real time updates on any topic you designate.

4. Pulse News Reader

Designed by two Stanford students frustrated with the look and feel of mobile news apps, Pulse uses the iPad’s sleek design to display the news you care about in an elegant way. The app culls stories from your favorite blogs and websites and pieces them into a visually stunning mosaic of photos and text, with simple swipe functionality and built in sharing capabilities.

5. Taptu

Originally a player in the social search market, UK-based Taptu has pivoted to focus more on social news consumption. Their newest app,released just last week, takes the concept of mashing up your own music library and applies it to the way you read by inviting you to “DJ your news.” By using their StreamStudio, Taptu allows you to integrate news, social networks and more into an unlimited number of easily-navigable streams. As their CEO writes, “We’ve aimed to make your life less complicated and solve filter failure by putting all of your interests in one place.”

Bonus: Not trying to discourage anyone, but…

Written by Marauder

In no particular order are the most interesting things I have found in surfing reddit for 5 years.

Chemistry a Volatile History is a great review of science and how we got to where we are today. If more programs like this existed, I might actually watch TV.

Mechanical Computers Training videos from the 50s show the basics of fire control computers. Anyone want to help port Portal 2 to one of these?

The making of Star Wars An very good fan documentary. I don’t know how I never heard about this. I’m not really a Star Wars geek so I learned all sorts of things I didn’t know.

James Burke’s Connections Three series of Connections episodes can now be seen on youtube. I really liked the first series. If you are interested in science, history or both you really should watch.

Donald Duck in Mathemagic Land While not completely accurate, if find it interesting to see how much cartoons have changed. Are there any educational cartoons today?

Ever wondered how a differential in a car works? This video makes me wish all instructional videos were this good.

The half-a-handy hour A rather eclectic collection of videos on repair and how things work.

Acme school More videos like the ones above but with better production.

My favorite Airfare search engine I find it more flexible than travelocity or expedia. I would have never found it at all without reddit.

A dynamic periodic table I wish I had this in high school chemistry class.

Apollo 11 launch revisited in slow-mo HD The most interesting commentary I have ever heard on a historic video. History Channel, are you paying attention? Why aren’t you running footage like this that has to do with actual history?

Why are thin people not fat? A fascinating look at how genetics plays a role in obesity.

The banned book of chemistry experiments A children’s book published in the 1960s that was intended to explain to kids how they could set up a home chemistry lab and conduct simple experiments.

Benjamin Zander on music and passion One of my favorite TED talks.

Doom code review How could you be a programmer and not love this?

The Feynman Lectures in Physics Posted by microsoft believe it or not.

CosmoLearning More documentaries than you can shake a stick at.

The difference engine no. 2 The world’s first computer.

Drawing Marilyn Monroe Eight fascinating minutes. Would that I could draw as well as this.

Hand making vacuum tubes Just in case you ever need to go back to vacuum tubes, here is how you go about it.

Test your eyeballing skills If you are a web designer who notices even a single pixel out of place, don’t click on this or you will spend the rest of your day seeing if you are up to the test.

Speed demos of Duke Nukem Each level is completed as fast as possible. You have to see it to believe it.

Swiss Alps Cheese Making The pictures alone are worth clicking on the link.

Harry Porter’s relay Computer wow. That’s a lot of work.

How products are made Don’t click on this link or your day will disappear if you have even the slightest amount of curiosity.

All of the basics of land navigation I’ve always liked using a map and compass.

The secret Life of Machines One of my all time favorite set of videos. My dream in life is to create something so entertaining and educational. I’m working on it but progress when you have a 9-5 job is maddeningly slow.

That’s it. The reason I keep coming back to reddit is for gems like these. I hope you enjoy them too.

Edit: Wow! I had no idea this post would be so popular. I would have done a much better job or going through my bookmarks. I really just grabbed items from my reddit saved folder at random. I just assumed that everyone knew about Cosmos or KahnAcademy both of which are mentioned in the comments so I didn’t include them. I should have included Fantastic Contraption because for mechanical engineers that game is like crack. That was one of the very first links I clicked on reddit that cost my employer productivity. Several people have asked how reddit has changed over the last 5 years. I can only say that I have seen a lot of memes. (I hope these will be helpful during the zombie apocalypse) I’ve noticed that reddit has become faster paced, more humorous and more noisy. It’s made me into a faster reader. I only ever upvote. I didn’t even know that the down vote was a different color until today. My browsing philosophy has been simple. Look for gems (posts and comments) and upvote them. Ignore reposts and everything else unless it is blatant spam. I learned to do this process very quickly or I would spend my whole day on reddit. I wish I had really witty or interesting things to post but I usually don’t. Even after 5 years on reddit, I am still learning all sorts of interesting things. (Maybe at a slower pace. Could be reddit or could be me.) Somehow now I have reddit gold for a month. It’s kind of cool. Do I get that because I made it to a top post? I’m a major tightwad so I’m not sure I would pay for it but it is kind of fun. Like that year that they made us all admins for a day.