This thread is so interesting. So many varied interests and hobbies. Like many of you, I am way ore into home decorating than my friends or family. That is why I love GW. Pesky- I also am a rock nerd. I love rocks. I have a weakness for geology and when I was in Vegas, I had more interest in exploring Red Rocks than the Strip. I am running out of places to put the rocks & minerals I collect...DH and I are thinking of dedicating the library to our rocks. I pick them up everywhere I go, and DH and I gift one another with rocks. People just don't get our fascination. As the daughter of a geologist, I can completely relate. I too,love rocks and minerals and have many of them displayed in our home, as well as large ones outside that I just put in my garden. We just moved cross country, and the movers looked askance at me when I asked them to pack all of my large lava rocks and petrified wood from the front yard. Lol. My daughter is carrying on the family tradition.she often picks up interesting looking specimens and then asks my dad about them via skype.

Hi Heather Let see, one of my favourites is SkyView - shows location of planets and stars even in your house - I have the paid one but you can get it free also. AppZilla2 - has a lot of apps on it like a flashlight, level, hearing test, mirror etc. CBC Radio, Global Video (I can watch tv shows), some radio stations. Kobo and ibooks, Facebook, Scrabble, Bejeweled, Angry Birds(Seasons) Pinterest, Voice Actions (love this one - like Siri on the iphone) LOL I stubbed my toe once and the voice asked me if I was okay LOL. I also have Canadian Tire for the ads, TED. What I love best are the podcasts - I listen to history podcasts from BBC every night when I go to bed. Things You Didn't Learn in History Class is another podcast I really like. LOL I have become reaquainted with the Magna Carta, William the Conqueror, medieval England. I wish they had these when I was taking history in school. I also play Words with Friends and my niece suggested I get the Hanging with Friends. I love my ipod for the camera and video and checking my email is much easier than using my computer. I also use Skype. Anne

Luckygardner--Threadwords was free. Try searching Amazon for free games (I know last Dec, I just found it searching through the free books). Alisande? Have you tried any of the free books? There are a gazillion classics--which I mean to read, but haven't gotten around to yet. But a lot of the free books by unfamiliar authors are actually VERY good. If you like mysteries with lots of twists and turns--try the Paul Pilkington book--it's almost always near the top of the free list, can't recall the title. A lot the other free books I've read (and it's been many dozen by now) are surprisingly well written--and there are every kind of book from mystery to romance to comedy to biography to other non-fiction, cookbooks, sample chapters--I literally have bought only about 5 e-books since getting mine. Yes, there have been a couple of clunkers, but a very very small percentage. I'd highly recommend giving a few of the free books a try. Read the reader reviews--I've found they're a pretty reliable source of info.

For crosswords, I use the Shortyz Crosswords app (free at Google Play) and lock the screen into Portrait (open the app, tap settings [3 small stacked squares/dots at the upper right of the screen], tap SETTINGS, and then tap ORIENTATION LOCK. Tap PORTRAIT.) You will need to do this only once. All future Shortyz crosswords will be oriented in Portrait mode. As you noted, in Landscape mode there's not much space left to actually display the crossword when the keyboard is also displayed. I'd be unhappy if I had to work in this mode. Despite the fact that I don't have long, slender "piano" fingers, I don't use a stylus. I find I can tap the keyboard letter I want with only the occasional miss. With Shortyz, the daily crosswords available are: NY Times, Washington Post, Newsday, Joseph, Los Angels Times, Sheffer, Thinks.com, Universal, and USA Today. Shortyz also offers 13 other sources for weekly crosswords. You can choose which of these (or all) you wish to download, and the date to be downloaded. You also have the option to automatically download the puzzles you have selected when you go online (only the puzzles with that day's date will DL). I especially like that below the clue, you see the spaces for the answer. If any of the spaces are filled in (because of an answer to the clue going in the opposite direction) that letter(s) is shown. I find this really helpful for the vertical answers as it makes it easier to visualize a word forming. It may be that most online crossword puzzles do this. Frequently I don't even look at the crossword display but rather this layout below the clue. I definitely do not find it frustrating to do crosswords on the tablet. In fact, I prefer it. No holes in the paper from too many erasures and it's easy to hold the 7" in one hand and "answer" with the other. Plus I can put in "maybe" letters in hopes that I have an "aha" moment and the answer comes to me. I haven't had any glitches regarding how the crosswords display. If something happened to my tablet today (assuming it didn't spontaneously combust, etc.) I'd curse myself for being so clumsy, etc. and rush out and buy the exact same one again. This isn't related to crosswords, but in my earlier post I mentioned I had just DL a GPS app. Earlier this week I had a chance to try it out and I'm amazed at how well it worked (Navfree: Free GPS Navigation) and definitely recommend it. After having DL the map of my state earlier and saving it, the tablet "found" us on the road and a voice (surprise!) even advised when we needed to "turn left in 100 yards", etc. I've since DL the maps of a few adjoining states for a forthcoming trip. Good luck in your research, Pammyfay.