Best iPad Apps

For the Heck of It

Best App for Sculpting Virtual Fireworks

Uzu

$0.99 Version: 1.2.1 | Jason K. Smith

A “kinetic multitouch particle visualizer” is the tagline on this app’s start screen, but once you enter, it looks more like thousands of tiny mites have invaded your iPad—ewww! But wait. Flick your finger across the surface and watch as these multicolored bugs scatter like so many iron shavings disturbed by a magnet. Next: do a two-finger pinch or spread and a mini fireworks-style starburst erupts. For double fun, do the same gesture with two pairs of fingers in two different spots. The lightstorm that erupts is, well, the technical term is: neato.

TAP THAT: Start by tapping random spots on the screen in quick succession and you’ve got yourself a 4th of July–style constellation of starbursts. Don’t miss the five-finger flick: it slings a comet ball of whatever’s onscreen at hyperspeed. Syncopate your hand gestures for crazy effects: tickle the screen with a downward, lefthand swipe and then cross paint the ensuing rainbow eruption with two fingers from your right hand. Double tap any corner to summon the settings.

GO WILD: This app invites a spasm of gestures that would get you in trouble in nearly any other context: grope, pinch, tickle, flick. If your iPad could giggle, it might just ...