The last six months since my layoff has been a flurry of freelance work especially article writing. Moving from the glacial drift speed of a federal government contract back to freelance writing meant I had to get organized quickly. It was back to living by my ideas again.
One of the first things I did was get reorganized quickly and came to rely on the following apps:
Through the Apple Recycling Program, I was able to accumulate enough Apple Gift Cards to purchase an iPad Mini. While I am quite happy with my third generation iPad, I thought having an iPad Mini in house could be helpful with my CNET TechRepublic.com and The Mobility Hub writing. At least, that was the excuse I told myself.
Here are my initial thoughts about the device:
I am past the three month mark working from home again and haven’t gone completely Lord of the Flies or gone total hermit yet. On the other hand, spending three years on a federal government contract might have made me a hermit. Some things had really changed since the last time I worked from home with any frequency.
Here are some observations from what I call Working from Home Redux:
The combination of Evernote and the iPad is a powerful note taking combination. While the Evernote iPad app is maturing nicely, the Evernote Trunk has some even more powerful note taking apps that use Evernote as their backend. If you frequently take notes and find the performance of the Evernote app underwhelming at times it is time to look at some third party apps that can help raise the bar for Evernote note taking.
The third party apps I profile in this post all require some minor upfront configuration so they can talk to your Evernote account but beyond that, you can fire off notes from them into Evernote at will.
Takeaway: Will Kelly offers tips on implementing a data less iPad for maximum corporate iPad security.
Security for corporate-owned iPads is a hot topic right now for many organizations. It can draw fire from all sides, especially if it’s a new mobility initiative and security is a concern. Yaacov Cohen, co-founder and CEO of Harmon.ie, turned me onto the concept of the data less iPad for corporate iPad security. It’s a secure — albeit draconian — method for locking down your corporate iPads. With this approach, no data or corporate information actually resides on the iPad.
Takeaway: Will Kelly reviews Projectbook, a new iPad productivity app that combines note taking and to-do lists.
Projectbook is a new iPad productivity app that combines note taking and task management. Theory IO Corporation is betting that iPad users will spend $6.99 (USD) for a powerful organization tool that isn’t dependent on a Wi-Fi connection. After all, spotty Wi-Fi or cell signals make it hard to retrieve documents and other bits of information in the cloud.
Let’s take a closer look at Projectbook, which I’ve been testing for a few weeks now.
via iPad native productivity with Projectbook | TechRepublic.
Takeaway: OmniPlan for iPad packs features you’d expect in a desktop project management application. Will Kelly reviews this powerful iPad project management app.
The recently released OmniPlan has professional-level features that set a new bar for iPad project management apps. This is the culmination of the Omni Group to port all their popular Mac productivity applications to the iPad, which makes it well worth the $49.99 (USD) price tag. When I previously wrote about tablet apps for project management, OmniPlan had yet to launch. After checking out this app, I’m here to say that no coverage of iPad project management apps is complete without it.
via OmniPlan: Visual project management for the iPad | TechRepublic.
Takeaway: Coaxion Reader lets you securely broadcast documents to meeting participants. Will Kelly demonstrates how you can manage meeting documents with this app.
Hardcopy meeting documents represent a range of security risks and inconveniences for mobile workers. Coaxion Reader, a new iPad app from Moprise, aims to change how organizations manage and secure documents during meetings.
Organizations can use Coaxion Reader for various events, such as project team meetings to review a new product requirements document or a corporate board meeting to review sensitive corporate financial documents. They can even scale up to a large conference setting with its individual sessions, each with handouts.
via Securely share meeting documents with Coaxion Reader | TechRepublic.
If you walk into your local credit union today, the first iPad you see may not be a prize in a customer drawing. The iPad is becoming integral to both front- and back-office operations in many credit unions.
While the financial industry in general may be seen as a slow moving, cautious, and late technology adopters because of compliance programs, the credit union industry is putting the iPad to work improving customer service and back-office operations while maintaining security. Credit unions, not being for-profit corporations, have a stake in streamlining operations, and the latest news out of the credit union industry shows the iPad is playing a strong role.
via The Mobility Hub – Will Kelly – iPad Use Grows in Credit Unions.
I am happy to be seeing news pop up again about an impending release of Microsoft Office for iOS. Whether it is part of the ongoing rumors or not, I think as a technical writer, iOS user, and somebody who writes about tablet and smartphone topics that it is a real prudent move for Microsoft.
The release of OneNote for iOS and Lync for iOS shows that Microsoft gets iOS and mobile user experience when it comes to porting their apps to iOS. Office 2010 WebApps is another mature offering outside Microsoft’s traditional PC desktop comfort zone. While there is a growing list of capable Office productivity apps like iWork, DocsToGo, and CloudOn for iOS, companies can ill afford the issues that can sometimes arise when you send documents between mobile device and PC especially if an external customer is involved in the transaction. What mobile workers who require an Office suite on their iPad require is a seamless experience when interacting with documents, presentation decks, and spreadsheets.
Here is my (partial) wish list for a Microsoft Office for iOS release:
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