by Tony Rushin
In April I bought an eBook titled, “iPad Apps in One Hour for Lawyers” by Tom Mighell. The title’s a misnomer in two ways: 1) Most of the Apps also have iPhone versions and 2) it’s definitely not limited to lawyers. In fact, if you removed the incredibly long disclaimer at the beginning of the book (sigh) and ignored Chapter 4: Apps for the Law Office, you’d have an excellent, 7-chapter eBook you could name, “iPad – and some iPhone – Apps in One Hour for Business Professionals”.
The book is written and organized for action. There are about 200 apps reviewed and organized to be found and read quickly (2-3 sentence overview): if you want to learn more or get the app just click on the link. It’s clear that the author has been an iPad App “nerd” (I mean that with the utmost respect) for several years: he deftly sifted through the 80,000+ iPad Apps and vetted them down to a few that he either “Recommends” or gives an “Honorable Mention”. Here are the non-lawyer specific chapters from the book:
How to Buy, Install, and Update Apps (good for beginners; otherwise skip it)
Apps for Getting Organized and Being Productive (calendars, to do lists, brainstorming, etc)
Documents: Creating and Organizing Them
News, Reading, and Reference Apps
Utilities (browsers, remote access, printing, security, etc)
The iPad on the Road (book/track travel, food, traveling abroad, etc)
Doing Fun Stuff on your iPad (social networking, TV and movies, games)
The author also writes a blog – iPad 4 Lawyers – where he reviews his recommended apps more thoroughly. Again, if you’re not a lawyer (which I’m not) it doesn’t matter – 90% of the Apps he reviews are relevant for all business professionals.
I plowed through the eBook quickly as soon as I got it and now use it as a reference guide when I start looking for more / new Apps to increase my productivity or fun. Here are a few personal favorites I enjoy using:
Google Translate: I use the iPhone version. Talk in English, get the text (and audio!) in Spanish, Italian, etc. Very handy.
Quickoffice Pro HD: Work with Word, Excel and PowerPoint files on your iPad.
IMDb: My son knows everything about movies – producers, directors, actors, etc. I got this App just to try to keep up….
Have fun!
