I got a new iPad this summer as a gift from dear clients on the completion of their home and it has changed my life and the way I do business. No longer do I have to carry around my laptop – the iPad does every thing for me and more when I am out of the office that I used to bring my laptop for. With some clever apps I have a virtual box in my hands. These are some of the iPad Apps I am using that are proving to be indispensable:
1. Dropbox is a service that lets you bring all your photos, documents, and videos with you. After you install Dropbox on your computer, any file you save to your Dropbox will automatically save to all your computers, your iPhone and iPad. With the Dropbox app you can take everything that matters to you on the go. It is very easy to use – you just drag the file you want to transfer into the Dropbox folder on your computer and it almost instantly shows up on your iPad. Magic! You can share folders on line by giving others access by email. I have used it recently to transfer photos and drawings to a client and my contractor. It saves sending numerous emails and you can send high resolution images seamlessly.
2. Evernote turns your iPad into an extension of your brain, helping you remember anything and everything that happens in your life. From notes to ideas to snapshots to recordings, you put it all into Evernote and it instantly synchronizes between all your devices – iPad, iPhone and Mac or Windows desktop. No more having to plug your devices into each other.
3. iBooks is an Apple app that comes on your iPad. You can read books on it much like Kindle, but what I really use it for in business is downloading PDF documents such as CAD drawings, specifications, manuals etc. What makes the iPad so unique is that you can enlarge just the areas you want to see by dragging your fingers over the screen – it works like a magnifying glass. I recently downloaded the PDF of my camera & lens manual and it is now always with me.
4. Flipboard was named Apple’s iPad app of the year and rightly so. It is a fast, beautiful way to flip through the news, photos, videos and updates on social media sites. It is now my preferred way of bookmaking and browsing my favourite websites.
5. Microsoft Tag lets you instantly connect to a whole new world of information. there is not need to type long URLs, you simply scan the Tag. Microsoft Tag multicolored barcodes transform traditional marketing, such as print advertising, packaging, LDC displays etc. into live links that immediately access info, videos, and other material online.
*Best of all Dropbox, Evernote, iBooks, Flipboard and Microsoft Tag are all free iPad Apps
Check out my Post on 5 iPhone Apps for Interior Design
Please let me know what iPad Apps you have found helpful by leaving a comment here.
PATRICIA GRAY INC is an award winning interior design firm in Vancouver writing about lifestyle and
WHAT'S HOT in the world of interior design, architecture, art and travel.
2011 © Patricia Gray | Interior Design Blog™
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ReplyDeleteGreat post! Patricia,
ReplyDeleteI need to try Everynote and Flipboard. I love Dropbox and my fav app is Zinio. With Zinio you can have all your favorite magazines with you and also you can bookmark the pages you like. No more piles of magazines around the house.
Iván Meade
Principal Designer
Meade Design Group
Hi Ivan
ReplyDeleteI just checked out Zinio - thanks for the tip - it looks great.
Ok this is so great of you Patricia! I have an iPad and love flipboard but have not tried the others that you mention here. Talk about handy!!!! Also it helps so much that you have explained how you use them in terms I can understand.
ReplyDeleteI spend a lot of time checking in with my iPad and then wish I had a file from my desktop. This would be great.
I also like Photogene for simple editing of photos. Pandora is fun for checking out new tunes.
Sent your iPhone app suggestions to the MR. Thanks for those too!
xo Lisa
Can't wait to try Dropbox. I wonder if it will work on my iPad I have had for over a year - not the newest one? I am still trying to figure out how to organize my photos. I loaded them from my computer but can't seem to get them in order. Thanks for the tips!
ReplyDeleteHi Patricia, I love the Logmein Ignition application such that I can control my other pc's remotely using either my iPad or iPhone. It's pretty amazing!
ReplyDeleteI just downloaded Evernote and am trying to wrap my mind around ALL the great things I can do with it! Great app! Now i'm on to look at dropbox.
ReplyDeleteHave a great night.
Fondly,
Lisa
Sent from my iPad
I love the evernote app! I think anyone whose essentially in charge of their own day should own this. I'm a freelance writer and I think without it, I'd be lost. Great post! Can't wait to read more from you!
ReplyDeletei will download the information and use it. great post
ReplyDeleteoh patricia... please come help me with all of this new tech... i know it need to step it up!!!! i know i will love it... thanks for the push... xx
ReplyDeleteI like your new post on ipad apps for interior design by the way--Dropbox and Evernote are indispensable in my view!
ReplyDeleteKind regards,
Josh.
Sounds fabulous! Definitely worth to try them all. Enjoy the rest of the lovely weekend, Kellie xx
ReplyDeleteThis is simply great!!! I will try it also. This will help me a lot.
ReplyDeletegood tip, the dropbox, it is really useful specially to get the info available for a group of people
ReplyDeleteGot to have my own iPad soon. I'm excited about it.
ReplyDeleteHi Patricia thanks for this great post! Some great ideas here, as usual!
ReplyDeleteKit
Thanks for these Patricia, I pretty much live out of my Dropbox these days. An interesting app I have found is colorA2Z - it’s an interactive color magazine for your iPad. One issue out so far, hopefully there will be more soon - this is definitely the future of magazines.
ReplyDeletehttp://itunes.apple.com/us/app/color-a2z/id431562178?mt=8
I've been looking for some great interior design apps. I already use ibooks I'll have to check the others out, they sound so helpful!
ReplyDeleteThanks Patricia, I too love the apps you mentioned. One app that I swear by as a designer is Photo
ReplyDeleteMeasures. It allows you to sketch lines on a photo and record the
dimensions of the actual piece/ space so easily! Photo Measures Lite is free and is exactly the same as the app that you have to pay for, it just limits you to 10 images. Download the lite version and I would bet that within days you'd be willing to buy the full version.
Catherine Pitcher
Wow what a great blog. I found you under "blogs of note."
ReplyDeleteI run the Good Apps blog where I review game apps. However, my wife and I have a love for furniture. Specifically, the modern classics. So I would love to do a Herman Miller App. Your blog has given me some ideas. Thanks for publishing such great content. I am glad to have found you.
I'd suggest a better solution. Have you heard about Magic Mirror displays?
ReplyDeleteso cool. I think you can see them at www.http://www.ad-notam.com/EN/index.asp
WoW! i love it.. just stumbled upon your blog.. really enjoyed your post.=D
ReplyDeleteThanks for Sharing.. I love these apps!!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this post! There are definitely some apps here that I haven't checked out. I would love to move to having an entirely paperless office....
ReplyDeleteI wanted to add that Autodesk does have a free AutoCAD app. It's not the greatest for editing drawings, but you can certainly open them up to show them to someone, zoom in and out, and add callouts, which is great.
Also, I bought the Targus stylus for iPad for like $9 because when I was sketching with my finger (I use SketchPro), it was so inaccurate. It's still not perfect because the tip of the stylus is rounded so sometimes it's hard to get it to draw exactly where you want to, but I think it's worth $9 and hopefully they will come out with a better stylus with a more accurate tip in the future.
Thanks again for raising the subject!
I also use iPad and as well in my interior designing techniques and I also studied a part of website designing to use in creating a picture of what I am planning to design for.
ReplyDeleteCalifornia Real Estate CE
great, I love these apps!!
ReplyDeleteHow about VisuaList? I found it to be great for using the iPhone camera to create a coherent list of design options. You can either use individual photos or take a larger photo and then clip out smaller elements from that to create your list.
ReplyDelete