Jacob Burch and Lon Harris hosted episode 15 of This Week in iPad on Thursday, July 15th^th, at 5:00 PM PT on the ThisWeekIn Network. The guest on this week’s show was Aaron Barsky, developer of the iPad game “Osmos.”

Harris asked viewers to thank Ustream, Print Magic and Gazelle via Twitter. He also noted This Week in iPad received more than 150,000 episode downloads per show and had more than 2.2 million total downloads on iTunes, making it the largest show on the ThisWeekIn network.

News (5:00)

OLED iPads – Apple is rumored to be producing smaller versions of the iPad which make use of OLED displays. Burch said that Apple would be more likely to build a “retina display” version of the iPad than an OLED display. The hosts suggested that the next version of the device is also likely to have a camera for video conferencing and improved performance.

Miyazaki’s Thoughts on the iPad – Legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki said that the iPad is “disgusting”, who commented, “On trains, the number of those people doing that strange masturbation-like gesture is multiplying.” The hosts questioned whether or not Miyazaki suffered from technophobia and debated whether or not touch screen devices were a fad.

Sponsor #1 – Wellala (16:30)

Harris thanked Wellala, producer of Print Magic and Print Magic HD, for sponsoring This Week in iPad.

News Continued (20:00)

Microsoft iPad Study – Microsoft is inviting iPad users to participate in a two hour study. Harris asked any users that participate in the study to contact him (@Lons) on twitter.

Shazam iPad Update – Shazam has added the ability to discover music that other Shazam users are listening to. The update also allows users to see in real-time what songs other users have identified. Harris asked whether or not Shazam was playing catch-up to Sound Hound and Burch said that Shazam needs to start innovating and stop playing catch-up.

iOS 3.2.1 Update – Apple released a minor update to iOS for the iPad. The update fixes various Wi-Fi and video playback issues, adds Bing as a search engine option and fixes a few other minor issues.

Interview (30:00)

Barsky described the game “Osmos”, which is currently the number one paid app on the iPad. Harris noted that the game requires patience and deliberation. Barsky commented on the music and said that the original idea of the game was to make music based off the user’s interactions. He added that the game was four-years in the making and originally was developed for the PC. Barsky noted that the Hemisphere game team intended to make use of the iPads UI conventions, such as pinching to zoom and swiping to speed up and slowing down time.

Harris asked Barsky what genre he believed the game could be categorized as. Barsky said that his team believed that it was a classic arcade game and wanted to provide people a relaxing alternative to some of the more violent video games available.

Barsky said that Osmos will be releasing an iPhone version of the game on August 5^th and that they may add a multi-player version of the game in the future.

Planet of the Apps (45:00)

Heads Up: Hold ‘Em HD - Harris reviewed “Heads Up: Hold ‘Em HD” which is available for free and has a $5.00 upgrade. He said the game was relatively simple and commented on the developer’s choice to cause the computer player to take time to make a decision. He did not recommend buying the upgrade.

Video Poker for iPad – Burch reviewed Video Poker for iPad which features three variations of video poker. He said that the game was “very well done” and discussed the variations of poker that the game offers. The game is available for $2.99 on the App Store.

Uno HD – Harris reviewed Uno HD for the iPad saying that the game is exactly what one would expect from a Uno iPad game. He said that the app worked fine, but the game of Uno itself is “too convoluted.”

Poker for iPad – Burch reviewed Poker for the iPad and said that the game had really good jazz music, but that he didn’t think the game was worth $3.99.

Real Solitaire for iPad – Harris reviewed Real Solitaire for the iPad and said that the game worked well enough but needed more variations of solitaire games. The app is available for $1.99.

Card Shark Collection – Burch reviewed Card Shark Collection and said that the game had dozens of variations of solitaire games.

Astraware Casino – Harris said that the app was “clunky” and said that he did not enjoy the game’s lack of support for landscape mode. He said that most of the games, such as “Derby,” were completely pointless and that users would be better purchasing about “any other card game we discussed.”

Sponsor #2 – Gazelle (100:30)

Harris thanked Gazelle, a service which will purchase or recycle your old electronics, for sponsoring This Week in iPad.

Planet of the Apps Continued (104:10)

World Series of Poker – Harris reviewed World Series of Poker, which is an iPhone game that he plays on the iPad. He said that the game has great graphics and an intuitive UI.

Next week, the hosts will be reviewing note-taking apps. Send suggestions for apps to review to @lons and @jacobburch on twitter.

Closing Remarks

Harris asked show viewers to thank the sponsors again on Twitter and to check out the other shows on the ThisWeekIn network, including This Week in Movies, This Week in Music, This Week in Video Games and This Week in Poker.

This article was written by Matthew Paulson of iPad Weekly.