Here are the apps that I will be downloading, using and reviewing on this blog.
Name: Dragon Dictation
Price: Free
Interest Level: Through the Roof
Description: If you're connected to the web you can use this app for voice transcription and the ability to share messages via e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter.
Name: Zinio
Price: Free (but I bet the mags inside cost money)
Interest Level: Meh
Description: Lets you view magazines. Only useful to me if any of the magazines offered are free.
Name: ABC Player
Price: Free
Interest Level: I'm not holding my breath
Description: Plays TV content from ABC. I only watched Lost up through the end of Season 2 so I might get the rest of my fill here. Being totally caught up on all the nerdy obscure pop culture references to every minute of this show sorta counts as being productive, right? Does ABC have anything else to offer that is worth watching?
Name: AP Mobile
Price: Free
Interest Level: I'll give it a shot
Description: Text, pictures and video accounts of current news. The ability to get really local news intrigues me. I wonder what the New York Times has to offer for the iPad.
Name: Barnes and Nobel Nook for the iPad
Price: Free (but I bet the content inside cost money)
Interest Level: Worth trying at least
Description: If there are free offerings that are easy to find I'm sure to do some reading with this app. Unfortunately, I'm betting that they will try to sell me works in the public domain.
Name: NPR for the iPad
Price: Free
Interest Level: Worth trying at least
Description: I don't really get my news from NPR right now so I'm not overly excited about getting it from them on my new iPad. Still, I'll try it.
Name: Reuters News Pro
Price: Free
Interest Level: Meh
Description: I really rely on the New York Times to keep me informed so I'm not sure how much I will use this app.
Name: Photoshop Express
Price: Free
Interest Level: High as an elephant's eye
Description: As a heavy Photoshop user I'm guessing that I will be disappointed in the lack of features offered in this software. Still this might become my bread and butter app for making minor tweaks to photos I take on my iPad that I don't want to bother sending to my workstation computer.
Name: Pandora Radio
Price: Free
Interest Level: Would have been higher in 2008
Description: I'm not thrilled with the lack of depth in the Pandora pond. I've gone swimming in their waters several times before and I keep coming face to face with the same fish. OK, enough figurative language- what I mean is that Pandora doesn't have a lot of songs in their library. I've found a handful of new songs that I like from them but never have I heard a new artist that is similar to the music styles I enjoy enough to start following that artist. Pandora has so much promise as a means of helping me to discover musicians that are new to me because of the great job they do of categorizing music but so far it hasn't worked.
I know that when I put on a playlist in iTunes that I've created that I won't have to skip any songs. This would allow me to put my iPad on the dock, press play once and wander around my room doing things while listening to my music. With Pandora I find myself hitting the "I don't like this song" button a lot, which works when you're sitting at your computer using Pandora but not as well when using it in the setting I just described.
Having said all of that I do enjoy creating random playlists on Pandora so I will download their iPad app. Some of my favorites random playlists have come from seeding the list with 80s bands/ artists and letting it do its thing.
Moving on...
Name: Evernote
Price: Free
Interest Level: Riding a rocket straight to the moon
Description: I love Evernote and the ability to combine the camera on the iPad with this service thrills me almost sexually. My "smart" phone can't display the notes I've previously taken in Evernote and the ability to sort and do something about the notes I've taken in the past while I'm running around town is something I'm looking forward to trying. I guess I'll have to fill my Evernote account with even more goodies now so that I'll have something to access when my iPad arrives.
Name: Marvel Comics
Price: Free (but the content inside costs money, I'm sure)
Interest Level: Ehh
Description: I'm not really a comic book reader right now so I don't think this will be an app I spend a lot of time with. I will give it a shot. If there is content inside that is free, I'll probably read it.
Name: Dropbox for iPad
Price: Free
Interest Level: Right up there with Evernote
Description: I have a number of documents that I keep inside of Dropbox which would be cool to access on the fly. I'm looking forward to having all of these things at my fingertips.
Name: Twitter for iPad
Price: Free
Interest Level: Meh
Description: Based on PC Magazine's review I will be using this instead of TweetDeck. Kinda makes me wonder why they included TweetDeck before this app on their list since their description for this app lists it this way: "Editors' Choice award-winning Twitter for iPad is the best mobile Twitter client around, hands-down". Weird, thinks I.
Name: Truphone
Price: Free
Interest Level: Meh
Description: I might try this app but will most likely stick to using my cellphone for phone calls.
Name: Kindle
Price: Free (but I bet the content inside cost money)
Interest Level: Eh
Description: Will the Nook or this software win their courtship for my readership? Stay tuned.
This probably has the Nook beaten imo. I'm guessing that Amazon knows a little more about delivering content over the internet than their brick and mortar bookselling rival.
Name: Epicurious
Price: Free
Interest Level: I'm getting hungry
Description: Based on the review this sounds like it might make me bring my iPad into the kitchen (with protective covering on it, of course).
Name: Wikipanion
Price: Free
Interest Level: Looking forward to adding this to my digital toolbox
Description: Sure I could just point the iPad's browser to the wikipedia website but apparently this app takes does all the work of resizing and zooming and just makes the content on Wikipedia look right on the iPad. Now I can start forgetting everything I ever learned in school and just let this app do all my remembering for me. That is of course if I'm in a WiFi hotspot.
Name: Flipboard
Price: Free (but I bet the content inside cost money)
Interest Level: Eh
Description: I don't really get the description of what the hell this is but it sounds vaguely like it takes links from Facebook and Twitter and transforms them into some kind of cutting edge RSS feed / magazine hybrid. I like things that look pretty. Will try.
Name: Friendly
Price: Free
Interest Level: Not high but I'll probably use it
Description: Why does Facebook have an official iPad app yet? Zuck spending too much time having sex on top of his money pile while his employees are busy dropping the ball?
Name: iMovie
Price: $5
Interest Level: Looking forward to this
Description: I would like to be able to edit video on the fly. I bet I buy this fairly quickly after receiving my iPad.
Name: Remote
Price: Free
Interest Level: Up there
Description: Turning my iPad into a fancy remote control for iTunes? Let the laziness begin!
Name: TED for iPad
Price: Free
Interest Level: Inside the house with the old guy and fat kid from UP.
Description: I'm excited about this app.
Name: StreamToMe
Price: $3
Interest Level: Knee high
Description: I'm already psyching myself up for the fact that the iPad will only display video that plays nicely with iTunes (mp4 files). This software installs on both your iPad on your main computer. When you let it work its magic on your main computer it reformats any video you want for display on the iPad. Interesting but can't I just watch on my main computer? There are still plenty of other sources of video for the iPad, right?
Name: Google Earth
Price: Free
Interest Level: Ankle high
Description: I'm always hearing about how cool Google Earth is. Every once and awhile I use it just long enough to remember that I can get driving directions on at maps.Google.com. Still Gizmodo says that "You haven't experienced Google Earth until you've experienced it on the iPad. Seamless swishing, flicking, pinching, and zooming." I'll have to see if they're right.
Name: Time Warner TV
Price: Free
Interest Level: Elephant's eye
Description:I have Time Warner Cable at home. The ability to put my iPad next to my main computer and use it as an additional TV appeals to me. Typically, I spend the rest of my time at home sitting in front of the TV already.
Name: Reeder
Price: $5
Interest Level: Up there
Description: Gizmodo recommends this RSS software. Are there free alternatives that rival the quality of this product?
Name: Zite
Price: Free
Interest Level: Ankle high
Description:There are a LOT of services that have popped up recently that offer to provide you with new content based on your interests in current content. I haven't heard of any that are so well done that they are worth using. Still the price is right and I might try this.
Name: SimpleNote
Price: Free
Interest Level: Toe high
Description: I would even list this except that Gizmodo recommended it. I already have Evernote, Dropbox, email and other apps that let me store and retrieve text, right?
Name: Pulse
Price: Free
Interest Level: I can't jump that high, but I almost can
Description: An RSS reader that pulls content for me? Interesting.
Name: Nightstand HD
Price: $2
Interest Level: Under foot
Description: I'm starting to wonder why Apple didn't write some of this software themselves and bundle it in with the purchase of the iPad. The entire screen of the Blackberry Storm I got in December of 2008 turns into a full screen clock with built in alarm functionality whenever I plug it its power cord. This makes so much sense because I typically plug it in when I'm getting ready to go to sleep at the end of the day. In fact my phone has replaced my previous alarm clock entirely. I guess I'll keep using my cellphone as my alarm clock.
Name: New York Times for iPad
Price: Free for now
Interest Level: Thigh high
Description: I get the majority of my news these days from the New York Times so I'm looking forward to trying this app.
Name: Yelp
Price: Free
Interest Level: Toe high
Description: I haven't had trouble finding food in my life yet so I don't know how much this will help. Will try.
Name: IMDB
Price: Free
Interest Level: Toe high
Description: Trailers and all the information on movies ever? I'm in.
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