Some of the religious apps are audio-based, while others provide brief moments (“thought of the day” style) of inspiration. There are the standard works for reading, as well as full-on study aids to really dig in deep. There are even some religious-themed comic books, if that’s more to your taste. Of course, these various options are used at the whim of individual developers, so not all features and delivery methods are available in every religion.

Audio

Covering both hymns and music, as well as readings of the texts and talks, there are some good choices for those who want to use the iPad speakers (or headphones):

• Christian Radio FM (+ $1.99)
• Mormon Channel for iPad (FREE)
• 50 Audio Catholic Verses (+ $2.99)
• HearQuran (FREE)
• JesusTellsMe (+ $1.99)
• Audiorelatos Biblicos 1 (+ $2.99)

Quick Inspiration

Days are busy, but if you want a quick bit of inspiration before you start your day, these apps should deliver:

• Daily Jesus (+ $1.99)
• Words of Zen ($1.99)
• Words of Jesus for iPad ($1.99)
• Words of Buddha for iPad ($1.99)

Standard Books

If you’re just looking to read the Good Word on your iPad, these apps are probably a good place to start:

• Hebrew Bible (+ $6.99)
• The Quran (+ $.99)
• Russian Bible HD ($4.99)
• KJV Bible (+ $5.99)
• LDS Scriptures Library ($14.99)

Serious Study
With lots of great features, these iPad apps should get you kick-started for some serious religious study:

• Logos (FREE)
• Gospel Library for iPad (FREE)

There are likely other great apps for serious study for other religions, but as they lie outside my own personal purview. I decided it’s best left to devotees of those faiths to suggest their own in the comments.

Obviously there are many, many more app choices out there. Using the iPad as a platform for religious study means more than just reading the printed (or in this case, digital) word. Many offer online syncing of bookmarks, additional resource downloads, highlighting/note taking, audio passages, and even group study tools. So take your time in perusing the many options to find out which app’s features best suit your needs.

As an interesting aside, I’m seeing more and more iPads appearing at my own worship services on Sundays. The portability and flexibility of the device obviously allows for ease of planning, administration, study, and note taking: all of which fit the bill for many attending church services. I’ve even seen the iPad being used for Sunday School lessons and presentations. The versatility of Apple’s latest device is certainly finding a home in nearly every facet of people’s’ lives.

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The new study, by Rescuecom, which is a U.S. firm specializing in computer repair, puts Apple at the top of the list when ranking computer makers. Previous studies by the repair franchise had seen Asus take the top spot, in keeping with the results of the SquareTrade study, but the most recent numbers (Q3 2009) show Apple with a commanding lead, according to Electronista.

Apple scored 374, which is more than double Asus’ 166. The PC maker scored third. Rescuecom’s rankings are based on the numbers of machines that it sees come in for repairs, as measured against the number of computers each company ships. The methodology for the study also includes factoring in things like system construction quality and manufacturer post-sale support, in order to bring some influence outside of Rescuecom’s operation to the table. Apple’s sales accounted for nine percent of the market in Q3, while only making up 2.4 percent of Rescuecom’s repair calls.

CEO David Millman suggests that Asus’ recent slip may be due to the growing presence of netbooks in its lineup of offerings. “Now that many of the netbooks by ASUS have been out for a while, there is obviously a higher need for service,” said Millman. It’s true that while Asus makes some of the most sturdy netbooks around, to achieve the incredibly low price points they offer to consumers, corners have to be cut in parts and manufacturing quality.

Lenovo also fared better in Rescuecom’s study, placing a strong second behind Apple with a score of 320. Toshiba and HP rounded out the top five with fourth and fifth place scores of 165 and 134, respectively. The common thread? All of these manufacturers offer at least one netbook-type computer.

There’s no way of saying for certain that low-cost netbooks are definitively affecting the reliability scores of computer makers, but it is beginning to look like Apple was wise to abstain from joining the fray, at least in this regard (though not in others). No doubt Apple’s introduction of unibody aluminum construction, which requires far fewer moving parts and better overall structural strength is also contributing to its increasing product dependability.

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I remember a time not too long ago when IBM and Apple would top the list every time, with other manufacturers coming in a fair distance behind them. IBM sold its hardware business to Lenovo, which seems to be having some effect on quality, but is Apple also slipping as it grows? I don’t think there’s enough data to identify a trend, but it is a little worrying.

Still, at least Apple is still under the 20 percent mark for three-year laptop malfunction rates, which is the measure that indicates reliability in the study. Dell is the only company below it, also under 20 percent, with 18.3. After that, things take a significant turn for the worse, with HP coming in ninth place at 25.6 percent. That means Apple is still showing better-than-average performance overall.

Electronista suggests that the reason for the divide between top-tier manufacturers and those that fall below the average is that the companies with greater than 20 percent malfunction rates tend to do much of their business in the budget laptop and notebook categories, which see higher failure rates overall than premium-priced laptops, where Apple exclusively does its business. It’s possible NVIDIA-gate accounted for some of those failures, although SquareTrade doesn’t go into detail about malfunction causes in this report.

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That’s a far cry from the polarized days of yore, when even joking that you had a Windows PC, even if you actually did, would get you banned from the local Mac user group. But is the reason less die-hard Mac heads, or more PC users flirting with and even giving comfort to the enemy?

The stat was one of the headliners of NPD Group’s dubiously named “2009 Household Penetration Study,” which was released yesterday. PC World lists the details of the report, which includes statistics regarding the presence of PCs and Macs in U.S. households.

Mac ownership is up to 12 percent from only 8 percent in 2008, a 4 percent increase over the course of only one year. A lot of those new Mac owners probably aren’t in the habit of throwing away perfectly good computers, even if they are Windows machines, which could account for some of that 85 percent.

The study also found that Mac owners are unusually covetous of gadgetry. Two-thirds of Mac-owning households have three or more computers, and they also generally own at least twice as many electronic devices as the average PC owner. Specifically, Apple fans generally own 48 gadgets vs. the average of 24. Finally, I can tell my friends and family that what they think is a tech addiction is actually par for the course among people with Mac love.

Apple owners are also much more likely to go mobile, with 72 percent going with a notebook, vs. only 60 percent in Windows households. Sort of explains why the Starbucks window always looks like a Macbook showroom.

By comparison, the number of Windows PC households that have more than three computers stands at only 36 percent, which is almost three times less than their Mac counterparts. If I was in Windows marketing, I’d probably ask why Mac users feel that they need more than three computers to do the same work as just one or two of their PC equivalents. I suspect the real reason has more to do with Mac users loving their computers as objects, independent of what they can do with them.

So I feel pretty pigeonholed following this report. I own five computers, one of which is a PC, and at least 48 gadgets are scattered around my apartment. I also own three notebooks. Anyone else feel like the nail being hit on the head after reading this?

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The study dealt with failure rates for a sample pool of over 15,000 new phones covered by SquareTrade warranties, which are after-market additional coverage packages. By the numbers, the iPhone had a 5.6 percent rate of malfunction, compared to BlackBerry’s 11.9 percent and the Palm Treo at 16.2 percent. Problems which counted as malfunctions according to the study included lockups and freezing, battery issues, Bluetooth/camera problems, antenna/case defects, screen/input method failures, call quality and power issues.

SquareTrade also projects failure rates up to the two-year mark. The two-year numbers are projections and not measured data because the iPhone had only been available for 15 months at the time the study was conducted. Projected totals see the gap between the iPhone and BlackBerry handsets decrease somewhat, but Apple’s device still comes away with the best score at 11.3 percent. BlackBerry is predicted at 14.3 percent and Palm comes in last at a fairly high 21.0 percent.

The iPhone’s second year numbers are much higher than both the BlackBerry and Palm devices, and this is where the study becomes questionable. SquareTrade is, after all, in the business of selling warranties for handsets, and it is in their best interest to predict a sharp increase in failures during the second year of ownership of a device which many people are just about to begin their second year of owning.

That said, the study’s findings that are based on firm, measurable data are interesting. The iPhone bosts a significant advantage in call quality, for instance, which is somewhat contrary to the persistent complaints of dropped calls over 3G.

Another area where the iPhone wins big is in battery problems, where both the BlackBerry and the Palm have more than double the number of complaints. Despite burning through a charge so quickly, Apple’s battery is apparently consistent and dependable.

All three companies posted high numbers in touchpad/screen/keypad problems, although Apple still came out lowest of all. Of problems reported, the vast majority of the iPhone’s were related to the touchscreen, which does not bode well for the durability of the relatively new interface tech over the life of the device.

The full study is available here (PDF) from SquareTrade.

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