APP OF THE DAY: StumbleUpon (iPad)

StumbleUpon, the social sharing web service that lets you build a library of all your favourite websites and find brand new gems based upon your interests, seemed the perfect fit for some lazy sofa browsing on the iPad. But a slapdash app meant that it never quite took off as well as it didon desktop machines.

Taking note of its failings, the StumbleUpon team went back to the drawing board and have returned with a much-improved version of the app that takes many of its cues from Flipboard.

With a slick black background and all the familiar buttons (Stumble, favourites, home, like and so on) navigation is now far more intuitve thanks to swipe controls and better social integration. Even the iPhone version gets a fresh lick of paint, with faster “stumbling” and easier access to the app’s social aspects.

“I feel like stumbling is perfect for the iPad – for sitting on the couch. It never took off like we wanted,” said Garrett Camp founder of StumbleUpon.

“We decided we were going to re-do it from the ground up. We re-did the interface. It’s much better than before. It’s almost like a black version of Flipboard.”

The free 1.4 update will roll out to current StumbleUpon users today, while those who’ve yet to sample the app’s web-hopping delights can grab it for free by clicking here. Scroll down for some shots of the new-look app too.