The Los Angeles Times reports that Apple’s iAd mobile advertising platform is “getting favorable reviews from the companies whose advertisements were the first to run on the new system.” The article quotes Joe Jacoby, a senior manager of Nissan’s media operations, who says, “What iAd promises is the most progressive thing I’ve seen to date” in digital advertising.

PC Magazine makes the new quad-core 27-inch iMac an Editors’ Choice, calling it “a highly sophisticated, yet simple to use media PC.” The magazine found the new iMac to be faster than other all-in-one models they’ve recently tested and concludes that it “cements the Apple iMac as the all-in-one desktop to have and to beat.”

Editor Bradley Buecker describes how he cut his first feature film, Eat Pray Love, using Final Cut Pro. To edit more than 70 hours of footage shot on location in New York, Italy, India, and Indonesia, Buecker found a fast, efficient editing format in ProRes 422 (Proxy), introduced in Final Cut Pro 7.

SF Weekly profiles a Redwood City mother, Shannon Rosa, who blogged that iPad had helped her nine-year-old autistic son, Leo. “With the iPad, Leo electrifies the air around him with independence and daily new skills,” she wrote. The article credits Rosa’s post with contributing to a “quiet revolution” in the autistic community focused on using iPad for teaching communication and social skills to autistic children.

The San Jose Mercury News reviewer Troy Wolverton gives Magic Trackpad a 4.5/5 rating, calling it a “winner” and noting that it “could give other desktop users a good reason to finally ditch their mice.” He concludes, “I like the Magic Trackpad a lot and hope it will spark imitators on the PC side.”

Gadgetwise blogger Nick Bilton at The New York Times reports taking Magic Trackpad for a test drive that covered “two-finger scroll on Web pages, pinch and zoom on images in Apple’s Preview application, and a number of other multitouch features.” He concludes: “I’m pretty certain I will never own a traditional mouse again, at least when I use an Apple computer. Instead I will own a trackpad — a Magic Trackpad.”

Check out a few new iPhone apps demos to see how apps are changing the way businesses do business.The featured apps and the companies that use them are: Workday, used at illumina; Cisco WebEx, at RTKL; Documents to Go, at Unisys; and Airstrip OB, at Memorial Hermann.

Government Computer News tested the 15-inch MacBook Pro in its “powerhouse notebook” roundup, making it a “Reviewer’s Choice” and giving it an A+ in battery performance. The reviewer notes that what “really knocked our socks off” was how MacBook Pro fared in the “brutal conditions” of the battery life test, where it “lasted five hours and 13 minutes, outlasting its closest competitor by almost two hours.”

Seattle Times reviewer Jeff Carlson calls Magic Trackpad “an excellent mouse alternative” and “a fascinating addition to the Apple hardware lineup.” He also mentions the new Apple Battery Charger, noting that it “pulls much less power (30 milliwatts) once the batteries are charged compared to other battery chargers.” About Magic Trackpad Carlson concludes: “…if you want to take advantage of Multi-Touch gestures on a desktop computer, it’s a stylish and solid implementation.”

PC Magazine reviews the new 21.5-inch iMac and makes it the Editors’ Choice (4/5 stars) for mid-priced all-in-one desktops, citing its “classic” design, excellent display, powerful multimedia performance, and reasonable price. The review adds: “The $1,199 iMac is the system that can convert your friend/relative/significant other into one of the Mac faithful.”