If you’re a writer, the first iPad app you probably downloaded was Pages, Apple’s word processing app. Now, what else do you need? Here are 10 tasty treats you’ll want in your digital lunch box:
1. Adobe Ideas 1.0 for iPad – When inspiration strikes while you’re out and about, Adobe Ideas is a good place to scribble your notes, create diagrams and write over images stored in your Photo Album. This sketchbook app features vector-based drawing tools such as variable-sized brushes. You can zoom in for fine detailed work and zoom out for a bird’s eye view of your notes and sketches.You also have the option of saving files in PDF and emailing them to yourself for editing in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. Price: Free.
2. MaxJournal for iPad – If you keep a daily diary, you’ll like this app. Use a password to keep your precious thoughts to yourself. This app is also handy for jotting down notes. You can attach up to three photos to an entry as well as tags so you can search for all entries with the same keyword. When you’re done for the day, you can export your entries to email or as text or PDF. Price: $2.99.
3. Dragon Dictation – The first time you use Dragon Dictation, you’ll wonder how you ever got along without it. It’s a voice-recognition app derived from Nuance’s NaturallySpeaking technology. Instead of typing documents, emails, to-do lists, social media status updates and more, just say the word. The company says this app can turn spoken words into text up to five times faster than typing. Price: Free, for a limited time.
4. PrintCentral for iPad — Install PrintCentral on your iPad, download the free WePrint software for your Mac or PC, and you’ll be able to print emails and attachments, contacts, Web pages, text messages and whatever else you have on your iPad. The WePrint helper software will automatically find your computer’s printers and allow the iPad to select which printer to use. You can print via Wi-Fi, 3G or EDGE networks. Before you travel, put the print server software on a USB stick and use it when you want to print from someone else’s printer. Price: $9.99.
5. Todo for iPad — Appigo, the developer of Todo for iPad, patterned its task planner app after paper daily planners that most of us are familiar with. Tasks can be organized into binders, pockets and pages in a way that’s both intuitive and easy to manage. You can sync your tasks to Apple iCal, Microsoft Outlook or to Toodledo, an online to-do list service.The interface is nice to look at and you have the option of creating your own themes for binder cover, paper color and more. Price: $4.99 for a limited time.
6. QuickVoice Recorder – If you often find yourself having to record audio notes, reminders, meetings and so on, then you would be hard pressed to find a more capable app than this one. You can also record audio clips and email them to yourself to use as ringtones. Price: Free.
7. Google Mobile App – The iPad version of Google’s search-by-voice app is similar to its hugely popular iPhone/iPod touch app. Say aloud what you’re looking for and this app does the legwork. If you’re doing a local search, there’s no need to specify where you are because this Google Mobile App has Search with My Location, which means you’ll automatically see search results based on your current location. Price: Free.
8. ReaddleDocs for iPad – Think of ReaddleDocs as the Swiss Army knife of file handlers. Its built-in viewer supports PDF, MS Office (Word, Excel and Powerpoint) and Apple iWork files. You can connect to your Mac or PC and use your iPad as a wireless drive over Wi-Fi. You can also swap files by dropping them into your free ReaddleDocs storage account or synching them with Dropbox, MobileMe’s iDisk, Google Docs and similar storage services. Price: $4.99.
9. Penultimate – Think of Penultimate as a notepad that you can write and scribble on and you’ve got the big idea. This app organizes your musings into notebooks so they’re easy to keep track of. When you’re done, you can email single pages or entire notebooks as PDFs. This app is for finger-written notes and drawings only (no keyboard entry). Price: $2.99, currently on sale.
10. Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit – Okay, so it’s not an app, but if you’re a writer, you want it. Why? Well, the first reason you want it is to offload photos from your digital camera or SD card. Two, you can plug in a USB keyboard, microphone or pair of headphones. In other words, you don’t need to shell out $70 for one of Apple’s iPad keyboards. Apple doesn’t officially support using its Camera Connection Kit this way so you’re on your own finding out what peripherals will actually work. Price: $29.00.
