How to Stay Connected

I talked a little bit about how I pick the devices that I use, in this post I want to talk about the what I am using to accomplish this. First, let’s go down the list of devices that I use both for the office and my own entertainment. At the office I have an i7 Workstation with dual 19 inch monitors in the traditional square or 4:3 format. At home my primary system is again an i7 but I am using a 32 inch TV/Monitor as my secondary monitor and a 22 inch widescreen for my primary screen. I also have three mobile devices, an 10.1 inch Acer NetBook, an iPhone 3gs, and my newest acquisition an Apple iPad.

I have spent the last few months since the iPad has been released trying to come up with the justification to spend so much money on what appeared on the surface as an entertainment device. I figured that I had my NetBook for my mobile computer work when I wanted to have that function. and my iPhone was great for staying connected through email and social websites and of course being used as a phone. What need did I have that could justify the cost of acquiring such a luxury item as the iPad?

Now that I have one I am finding new reasons to justify this purchase daily and sometimes hourly as I find new applications and uses for this new device. As a media consumption device it has no peer right now. If it weren’t for the one omission by Apple with not supporting Flash I would probably give the iPad a 10, but since so much of the content I touch on the internet is in the form of Flash I would have to scale back my rating to about a 7. You may ask me why so high, well, it is primarily the apps that are coming out daily to allow you access to newspapers, magazines, blog posts, and other media types. We are slowing seeing video producers either coming up with their own applications to accomplish this. NetFlix, ABC, Hulu Plus come to mind for video. Anything that you put up in YouTube can be viewed using the native YouTube App and programs like Reeder, Instapaper and Dropbox allow you to either store or convert your research into usable and accessible documents that allows you to share and consume information at a much faster and more convenient pace.

So let’s take a look at the applications and resources I am using to make this happen with all the device I use.

Dropbox – this is an online service that allows you to easily synchronize you documents between all of the systems that I am using. The free version gives you 2GB’s of storage and with the way I was filling it up I had to upgrade to the Pro 50 plan. Any files that I drop into these folders are synced automatically to my home and office computers, my netbook, and access to the files through internet access with my iPhone and iPad devices as well. So as I create new documents or edit ones, they all become available on whatever device that I have at hand. With the new release of Office 2010, I have also dabbled with the use of Skydrive (25GB’s free storage) to see if it would be useful. One of the drawbacks of this is that the files that you store here are accessible from multiple locations the Safari browser is not very functional with the Office Web Apps and because of this limitation is not a place that I would suggest storing documents unless your access to them is through a Windows based system. So Dropbox is still my preferred method of document storage.

Office 2010 – I have definitely fallen in love with this version of Office. It has finally brought the new ribbon interface to all of the Office applications and given you a more consistent look and feel within all of the applications. Microsoft brought back the File Tab which was a mistake the first time through but the features found in this area has changed radically. This is not a post on Office so I won’t go into any more detail on that but you will definitely want to consider this upgrade.

Documents to Go – Office is not available for the iPhone or iPad and I really don’t consider the iPhone as device that I would want to create documents on anyway but the iPad is a different story. I like this application because it has direct integration with Dropbox and that makes it easy to create new documents that I can share back with Office on my computers. It stores files in XML format like Office so there is complete compatibility all the way around.

Evernote – While I wish there was some kind of compatibility between this application and OneNote, this is the next best way for me to share quick notes between all of my devices. Anything that I want complete access to I put into this program. It allows me to categorize my notes, store images and internet links to information and places that I need to remember and have access to. There free version is wonderful and will suffice for over 90% of us. The paid version has some interesting features but don’t jump to this unless you really need these features.

Skype – I have Skype on every device that I own. Our Service program uses Skype as a method for outbound calls and it works wonderfully both at home and at the office. Since there is now phone on the iPad, Skype makes it easy to turn it into a phone and it works well as long as you have a strong WiFi connection.

Cozi – this online application has an iPhone version that makes it easy for my wife and I to stay on the same page. This program has three distinct functions, a calendar, a journal and list management functions. We primarily use just the calendar and list functions to keep track of each other’s schedules and to share project lists with each other. One of our lists is used to add items to be purchased at the grocery store and this allows either of us to add items to the list so that the first person to the store knows what is needed and what has already been picked up. This a real convenient function that helps to control our busy lifestyles. Cozy hasn’t optimized the program yet to work on the iPad, hopefully they will soon.

Instapaper – while this is an app on the iPad and iPhone, on your desktop it is a plugging for your browser.This program allows you to capture web content and bring it in to a paper form that you can read at a later time. It makes it easy share this information with others centralizes the information into one location to make it easier to reference back to.

Amazon Kindle App and Barnes and Noble App – I have these programs on everything that I own. As I purchase new books whether for reading enjoyment or Text Books that I need to acquire for reference having these purchases no matter where I am or what device I am using is wonderful.

That just about completes the list. As I work with new applications I will be sure to add them to this list. If you have any favorite apps that you would like to share please let us know.