Thursday, January 5, 2012

Useful iPad apps

Reading
iAnnotate: I use this app to read manuscript drafts, reports, theses, you name it.  It has great annotation tools such as highlight and notes.  I don't recall printing out a paper just to read it since I got this app.

Flipboard: I use this app to read Facebook, twitter, and blogs I subscribe to using Google Reader.

Zite: This app collects web posts of possible interest to you under different topics.  You can tell it which posts you like and it will find more like it.  I have found many very interesting things using this app.

Hand writing (using the AluPen Stylus)
Penultimate: I use this app to take notes at meeting, or jot down ideas, or sketch things.  You can mail individual pages or entire note books to others.

ReplayNote: I use this app to make pencasts for teaching (example).

Explain Everything: This is an alternative to ReplayNote that I just found.  I am not sure which one I prefer yet.

SyncPad: I actually don't use this very much, but it is just so cool: what you draw on this app will appear at http://mysyncpad.com/xxx where you specify xxx in the app.  You can use this as an aid when explaining somethings to someone on the phone or Skype.


File transfer
Dropbox: I keep all my ongoing projects on a Dropbox account.  This means I can access all these files on my iPad using the Dropbox app.   Furthermore, iAnnotate can also be set up to transfer papers from/to Dropbox.

Handy iPad tips
Screenshots: press the Power and Home buttons simultaneously.  The screenshot goes into your photo album.  You can import screenshots from the photo album to apps like Penultimate or ReplayNote where you can draw on top of it.   See also the Skitch app, which does this automatically.

Moving between apps: put 4 fingers on the screen and swipe up to get a menu of open apps or swipe left and right to move between apps.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I’m going to have to try iAnnotate and Penultimate. They look like they could be very useful. I’ve been using my iPad for everything lately, and it seems like every time I turn around I find some other use for it. My favorite apps are (not surprisingly) the entertainment apps. The iPad has some great games like Plants vs. Zombies; it has the Amazon Kindle app for reading books, and far and away my most used app, the TV Everywhere Dish Remote Access app from my employer, DISH Network. It lets me stream any and all of MY programming anywhere I can get a decent 3G or WiFi signal. It’s hard to describe how convenient it is to be able to bring all of you’re channels and DVR content with you everywhere you go, it really has changed the way I watch TV for the better.