We’re comfortably settling in to 2011 and putting 2010 behind us, but with the Oscar ceremony approaching (watch it live on ABC this February 27th) now might be a good time to refresh your memory of which films were the best of 2010, and what it is about them that made us fall head over heels in the first place. The good folks at MovieClips.com have pieced together a great mash-up featuring the best films of 2010 by highlighting some of their most memorable scenes. We have clips from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (not in the hunt for Best Picture, but an obvious 2010 fan favorite that was sadly overlooked at the box office), Inception, Black Swan, 127 Hours, The King’s Speech, Toy Story 3, True Grit and more. Check out the mash-up below and let us know which film from 2010… Read More Read Comments

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Before the Oscars, Watch This Best of 2010 Mash-Up

Republicans claim Reagan’s mantle, but Democrats act almost like Reaganites.

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The GOP’s selective memory on Ronald Reagan

Footfalls echo in the memory Down the passage which we did not take —T. S. Eliot, Four Quartets read more

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Black Reality-Check Month

Q:  I’m an iPad owner that is overwhelmed by the number of applications available. Where should I start if I’m looking for something that can help me identify songs and artists? SHAZAM FOR IPAD Free | Version: 2.0.0 | Shazam Entertainment Tip-of-your-tongue sufferers, rejoice. This App Store veteran first found fame as an iPhone app. Now it’s here to help iPad-owning music lovers figure out what’s playing. Fire it up, situate your device reasonably near a radio, inside your favorite soundtrack-powered store, or anywhere else that’s got a song playing. Then click the upper-right Shazam icon. The app proceeds to match a brief sound snippet to its enormous collection (requiring an Internet connection to do so) and, ping: the song title, usually, appears. Shazam’s finding skills work remarkably well, though with limitations: it’s not so good at classical music, ambient beats, and, predictably, polka. FIND MORE : The app also works as a decent browse and discover tool. Top of screen, center, is a Tag Stream button, which, when tapped, shows what other app users are currently liking and listening to. Tap any songs you like to add ‘em to your own tagged list and, in many cases, you can also play 30-second snippets or buy the song in iTunes. OTHER TREATS : A Similar Tracks feature digs into the Shazam catalog and offers us suggestions; results are pretty good with a few notable clunkers. (Coldplay is related to Marlene Dietrich exactly how?) A lyrics lookup tool is great fun. It works most of the time, though it is hobbled by one serious shortcoming: there’s no way to add what the app finds to your iTunes collection. HONORABLE MENTION: SOUNDHOUND Free lite version | $4.99 | Version: 3.4.1 | Melodis Where Shazam’s main mission is ID’ing songs, SoundHound takes this business of discovering new music seriously and plasters your screen with all sorts of What’s Hot Right Now suggestions. It also helps scoop up fun finds related to the music you already own, by showing YouTube videos, linking to ringtones, and listing tour date info. All this might turn off those who just wanna figure out what song’s playing, but frequent forgetters might still want to add this app to their memory-nudging kit. It performs a couple tricks Shazam doesn’t: you can hum or sing a song and it’ll try to find a match, and you can type in lyric phrases — it does a pretty good job with that, too. PARTY TRICKS : Tap that big orange-y box and start humming. You don’t even need to know all or even any of the words. Tested using one of humanity’s most tuneless voices, it actually worked. Some reviewers moan about the freebie limit of five searches (after that you have to pay $1 for five additional searches or $5 for unlimited finds), but you can always test it out for free. NOW PLAYING-PLUS : For all its links to other music services (iTunes, Pandora), this is an app that wants you to spend time inside its four walls. A lyric lookup tool uses an in-app browser to send your query to a number of specialty sites; music videos are also presented inside the app. You can even tap into and control your iTunes collection. Tools mentioned in this entry: APPLE IPAD More questions? View the complete Toolkit archive . Excerpted from Peter Meyers’ Best iPad Apps: The Guide for Discriminating Downloaders . Copyright 2010 O’Reilly Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission . Read more Atlantic Technology Channel book excerpts .

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iPad Apps: Best App for Naming That Tune

Letter in response to Melanie Thernstrom’s review of Mira Bartok’s memoir, “The Memory Palace.”

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Letters: Life Lessons

Test-taking actually helps people learn, and it works better than repeated studying, according to new research.

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To Really Learn, Quit Studying and Take a Test

Ronald Reagan may have shown signs of Alzheimer’s as early as the 1984 election, says his son in his new memoir, My Father at 100, to be published by Viking. Ron Reagan remembers that, in the mid-1980s, Reagan struggled with his memory, and looked…

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Reagan Showed Signs of Alzheimer’s in ’84

A writer recollects her schizophrenic mother, to whom she remains emotionally captive.

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Power of Recall

An early sign of dementia is an inability to understand money, leaving some financial advisers in a bind with their clients.

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The Vanishing Mind: Money Woes Can Be Early Clue to Alzheimer’s

Darren Oliver, the Rangers’ 40-year-old reliever, hasn’t been able to shake the memory of the 1996 division series.

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Oliver Haunted by ’96 Playoff Loss to Yankees

Researchers suggest there is something to the “use it or lose it” notion. But not everyone is convinced.

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Taking Early Retirement May Retire Memory, Too

In piecing together a life story, the mind nudges moral lapses back in time and good deeds forward, new studies suggest.

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Mind: Why Indiscretions Appear Youthful

A driver is killed in Perthshire while competing at a car rally held in the memory of the late racing champion Colin McRae.

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Rally driver dies in competition

Relatives of Jane Tomlinson, who raised £1.75m for charity while suffering from cancer, have completed a bike ride from Istanbul to Leeds in her memory.

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Tomlinson family’s epic cycle trip