A man who lost his $1,000 iPad to thieves helped authorities find the alleged culprits thanks to an iPhone app that tracked down the device. Kare 11 says the man got his iPad back in a few hours, and police answering the call uncovered an entire ring of criminals operating in Anoka County.

Duluth's Greg Bambenek, 64, has developed an app designed to attract fish called TalkWithFish for iPhones, iPads and iPods that allows anglers to play sounds underwater with an attached speaker. The sounds include bass crunching crayfish, bluegills chomping beetles and even herring flatulence.

Concourse G at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in the next year will feature 2,500 Apple iPads for traveler use. The tablets will be tethered at restaurant tables, gate seats and in other waiting areas. Visitors will be able to surf the Web, check their flight status, and charge their phones or laptops at tablet stands.

Two software developers in Fargo, North Dakota have created the Winter Survival Kit app for iPhones and Android smartphones. The Crookston Daily Times reports the creators wanted to help after a powerful blizzard left hundreds of drivers stranded last winter. This free app can notify help and provide some potentially life-saving alerts. It can also help you prepare for winter travel.

The two creators of the Hipstamatic photo app are now celebrity iPhone-app publishers who own an entire San Francisco building and run a wildly successful business in a cut-throat industry. But three years ago, Lucas Buick and Ryan Dorshorst were failing graphic designers with $1.83, a tiny, freezing St. Paul office and a desperate last chance to make something work.

Minnesota Life Insurance, an affiliate of St. Paul-based Securian Financial Group, now offers an iPad app that can help people calculate their economic value using financial data. The "Human Life Value Calculator" can be downloaded for free from Apple's App Store.