This is a long overdue writeup from our July 21 Do You iPad brown bag session in the Faculty Academic Computing Center at Dartmouth College. We has a great discussion, and lots of useful info was passed around! So here goes: tips, app recommendations, web sites, hardware! I'm sure I missed lots of good infor - so feel free to add comments!
1. Handy tips:
- Keyboard shortcuts: to access keyboard shortcuts, pause your finger on a key for a brief instant to reveal a slide-out contextual menu. For example, pausing on the letter “e” gives you access to all accented versions of that letter. Pausing on the comma key gives you access to the apostrophe (and saves you from having to switch keyboards to type an apostrophe)
- Caps Lock: Go to Settings > Keyboard > Enable Caps Lock. Now, double-tapping on the shift key will put you in Caps Lock mode.
- Quick delete e-mail: Swipe across a message in your inbox view to get a “delete” butyon for just that message, without ever opening it.
- Bulk-delete e-mail: Choose “Edit” in your inbox, selecte several messages, then delete.
- Super bookmarks: When viewing a page in Safari, click the add bookmark button, and then choose “Add to HomeScreen”. This will create a shortcut to that page on your home screen. Handy for websites or web applications you visit often.
- Screenshots: Press the home screen and the power button at the same time to take a screen shot. Satisfying shutter sound,a nd the screenshot gets saved to your Photos.
- Street View: In the map application, drop a pin anywhere by tapping and holding. Next to the pin will be a little person icon – tap this to switch into Street View.
2. List of apps and services:
- Doceri – not released yet – a free app which will help teachers control classroom AV equipment from an iPad.http://doceri.com/
- Instapaper - $5 – via a browser bookmarklet, this service creates readable text-only versions of long web articles. These are stored in an individual’s account in the cloud, and sync with the iPad app for off-line clutter-free reading. Highly recommended. Best way to consume Educause articles. http://www.instapaper.com
- Good Reader - $1 – read PDFs, DOCs, and a number of other files on the iPad. Sync files via iTunes.
- Calibre – a desktop applications which can converts various file formats, such as PDF, to epub format. Converted files can then be read with ebook software on the iPad. http://calibre-ebook.com
- Zinio - free magazine reader. Pay for PDF magaznine subscriptions. Can be read off-line. http://www.zinio.com/
- Voice Memo - $2 for fully featured app – straightforward voice recorder which transforms the iPad to a digital recorder. Export files to iTunes or email them.
- Dragon dictation – free app. Transforms voice recording to text. Requires network connection, and does not save the audio file.
- LogMeIn Ignition ($30) and Jump Desktop ($20) – two apps for remote access to other machines
- TeamViewer – another remote desktop application. Pro version is $140 – free version also available.
- Citrix Receiver (free) – another way to remotely access other machines trough the iPad
- BrainPOP – a free kiddie app with educational videos.
- Office2 HD ($8) – edits Word and Excel files; synchs with Googledocs
- Documents To Go ($10-15) – another program to edit Microsoft files on the iPad; synchs with Googledocs and other cloud services.
- EverNote – free app which ties in with the popular EverNote “store everything” cloud service. http://www.evernote.com/
- PCalc Lite – a nice free scientific calculator
- Etude - $5 – “sheet music on steroids”- shows you keyboard and scrolling score as songs play,
- JamPad – free music app – jamming.
- Sketchbook Pro - $8 – a sketching/painting application, one of the best.
- Sleepmachine - $2 – relaxation/sound/alarm in one. Recommended for blocking out noisy New England birds with white noise at 4:30 am
- Brainhack - $1 – similar iPhone app
- Bump – free app, for exchanging info between two iPhones by “bumping”
- X-plane - $10 – flight simulator for iPad
- Free video apps: Hulu, Netflix, ABC player
- Shakespare in Bits - $15 – animated stuffy edition of Romeo and Juliet
- Appshopper – a web service which allows you to indicate a wish list of apps; will notify you when the price of any of them temporarily drops due to a promotion. http://appshopper.com
- Poolga: http://www.Poolga.com - beautifully designed wallpaper for mobile devices
4. Keyboards/adaptors:
- Apple Wireless keyboard, $69 (very packable)
- Apple Wireless keyboard + dock, $69 (less packable, but handy iPad stand)
- Apple camera connection kit (with USB port!), $29
- Matias folding keyboard, $100, http://www.matias.ca
- Clamcase – vaporware for now, so no price – but the preview looks great! http://clamcase.com/
Great list....useful apps....This is really great. Thank you.
Posted by: Josh Kim | August 03, 2010 at 09:07 AM
Yes, thank you.
Finally got around to reviewing this when I remembered the "appshopper" reference. Lots of handy information here, even for those of us who haven't purchased an iPad yet.
Posted by: Susan Lee | September 08, 2010 at 07:46 PM