What’s on your iPad?

OK, I’ll go first —

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A little while ago, I was asked to put together my top five iPad apps.

So, here they are. Ready?

1. Chrome
I’m so late to the Chrome-across-multiple-devices party it’s ridiculous. I’ve used Chrome on the desktop for yonks, then I added it to my phone (at the moment: the Motorola RAZR i), and then I finally added it to my iPad. Sign-in sync is nothing short of a revelation.

Alright some of you are going to be reading this going ‘OH COME ON WHATLEY! HOW HAVE YOU NOT BEEN USING THIS?!’ – well, I haven’t. Deal with it.

But seriously, it’s ace. I’m on my MacBook Pro at work; I open up some tabs to read later and when I get on the tube on the way home? Boom, there’s my stuff waiting for me on my iPad. Brilliant.

2. Paper by Fifty-Three
I’ve been using Paper since March last year when I spotted an awesome write-up over on Read Write Web. Since downloading it I’ve used it for a TON of things. From sketching superheroes (and super villains) to inventing mind robots that know when you want a cup of tea.

Paper is magnificent. It’s not cheap (if you want all the bells and whistles) but it’s 100% worth the investment.

3. Spotify
When you absolutely positively gotta have music when you’re cooking in the kitchen: accept no substitute. My iPad is my portable stereo system when I’m around the house and Spotify, when linked with a fairly awesome bluetooth speaker (bought from Carphone Warehouse), follows me around the home everywhere. Winner.

4. Reeder
Geez, where do I start? Outside of browsing the web, I’d say this is probably my number one used app on my iPad. Pulling in the feeds from my Google Reader, Reeder is where I consume my web.

The best things about Reeder for iPad are as follows

  • It’s my Google Reader, dammit!
  • It downloads content to read offline (essential for commuting)
  • Awesome sharing options (but no Tumblr – weird)
  • Everyone I know swears by it
  • I feel like it’s my friend – yes, that’s weird; and no, I don’t care.

5. Amazon Kindle
I use this app almost every day. Like Chrome, it’s mostly used on the commute to and from work; it’s the perfect accompaniment. And again like Chrome, I love the sync feature. I’ve got Kindle on all of my devices; I close the app on one device and when I open it on the next, it’s on the same page! It’s such a simple and easy thing but it makes ALL the difference.

And that’s that, in short: browsing, creating, listening, reading, and reading.

What’s on your iPad?

 

5 things on Friday #9

Here are five things (that are on time for once) from this past week that are all totally worth sharing with you, dear reader. Oh, and to top it off, I’m trying something different this week. Instead of just linking to stuff, I’m going to embed things wherever possible.

Do let me know what you think, won’t you?
[Comments or tweets are welcome]

Shall we?

1. Reeder
My favourite information tool is by far and away Google Reader. It’s an RSS reader, by Google. Fairly simple, fairly good (it used to be awesome, but that’s another story). However there’s no official Google Reader (or ‘GReader’) app for the iPad, which – as some of you already know – is my favourite reading implement. This week though, thanks to the wonder of the interwebz – I discovered Reeder.

It’s pretty definitive, you can read your feeds offline and well, I’ve been using it daily ever since I bought it. If you use Google Reader and own an iPad, get Reeder. Now.
[iTunes link].

2. Amazing Cake
My girlfriend likes to bake. This is great news for my lips, but bad news for my hips. But who cares, you only live once and well, when it’s the GF’s best mate’s birthday and you’re asked to lend a hand in making THE BEST CAKE YOU’VE EVER MADE, you can’t really say no.

3. Little Bay
Keeping with said birthday celebrations for a further moment, we went in search of a restaurant last weekend that would cater our large group’s numbers as well as its eating habits. Through a spot of googling, tweeting and general recommending we ended up at Little Bay. It was GORGEOUS. And, if you ever find yourself looking for somewhere to eat ’round Kilburn way, I’d recommend it, 100%.

Good food, DAMN good prices and just a lovely atmosphere to boot. Go.

4. Mobile Stuff
Two mobile things of note this week. First up, the Nokia 808 Pureview. A phone that packs a 41MP camera. Yes, that’s right – this is not a typo – a FORTY ONE MEGAPIXEL CAMERA. The images are amazing. This is pre-release software and well, just like when they made global turn-by-turn navigation free for the world over, Nokia just flexed its muscles again. And I do love it when that happens.

The second mobile thing that happened was the meeting of a crack group of mobile geeks in central London to celebrate NOT being at Mobile World Congress. It was fun. I barely made it on time (read: I was late) after spending the day in Paris at a meeting but still, we had quite a giggle. I’m sure there’ll be video soon too… [update: great write up from Kip]

5. TED 2023
A little while ago I blogged about how frickin’ awesome PROMETHEUS looked and how much it was definitely tied to the ALIEN universe. Well this week, the first piece of online marketing dropped, in the shape of a TED talk from 2023. If you’re unfamiliar with TED please go, right now, and educate yourself immediately. Guy Pearce features as one Peter Weyland whom, if you know your ALIEN mythology, is related to the Weyland corporation that is depicted in said world.

I like this, a lot. Well done.

Bonuses: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – not a film I would normally see but surprisingly likeable and quite enjoyable; some awesomely sweet and slightly disturbing art; and this GORGEOUS picture that I gleaned from 365 things that make me happy.

Chris and I used to work at SpinVox. I follow his blog because I like his attitude to the world. You should too.

Original Moleskine entry