So, I got this email the other day. You know the type, one from a not all together legitimate website, saying “Hey Link to My Post” your readers might want the information. The post purported to be a list of the top 50 iPhone applications for educators. The only problem is that some of the things listed were not iPhone apps, a few were just mobile websites, and at least one listed doesn’t even exist. Nevertheless I did pick up one useful bit of information, World Cat has a mobile optimized website. If you want to read the original post you can access it here, or you can read my list below (inspired by said email).
- NetNewsWire: Clearly I have an RSS addiction. This is the way I track what is going on in the field, in academia, and the world at large. While there are several RSS reader options, I prefer NetNewsWire. The ability to sync across multiple computers, plus read while offline, and save clippings (which also sync) are crucial for my work flow. I would like the ability to share items (i.e. GoogleReader) but the other features make NNW my choice.
- Twittelator: Again no secret but I use twitter for a range of academic and personal functions. There are many iPhone twitter apps, but this is my favorite (I actually purchased the pro version). Others I know use Twitterific, or Tweetsville, but the copy and past feature for retweeting got me hooked on this one early, and just haven’t found a reason to change.
- TextGuru: I tried several “mini-word processor” apps for the iPhone and this one ended up winning the prize. Not that I intend to compose a chapter or article on the iPhone or anything, but having a way to type or edit a document does come in handy. This one handles a wide range of formats, and most importantly allows input in landscape mode, which makes typing a whole heck of a lot easier. You can also transfer files wirelessly between your computer and the iPhone.
- Snatch: Simple and exactly what I wanted. When the iPhone apps first came out I was disappointed to learn that Remote only worked for iTunes and FrontRow (stupid). Seriously, all I wanted was a replacement for that stupid IR remote that meant I had to stand behind my computer when presenting. Snatch allows you to use the iPhone as remote control for the mouse/trackpad, or just a clicker. I also gave StageHand a shot, and it has the added feature of providing your presenting notes to you on the iPhone, but really all I wanted was a clicker.
- Wikiamo: Of course I want access to Wikipedia anywhere. Again, I tried out several applications, and while I wish Wikiamo had collapsable sections like iPedia+, it is simply much faster, and remembers past searches.
- OmniFocus: Expensive, but syncs with OmniFocus on my computer and provides location aware contexts. GTD FTW.
- Evernote: I haven’t fully leveraged the power of this app yet, but I still use it to record, take quick pictures, and generally preserve things in the short term that I might want to access later.
- WordPress: Again not like I am going to be doing any long blogging from the iPhone, but since I use blogs to organize/run my classes, this app lets me update them from anywhere.
- SnapTell: This is one of those “magic” how does that possibly work apps. Take a picture of a book (DVDs and Video Games also work), the application accesses the internet, looks-up said book and tells you where it is for sale on the internet. Seriously, from just a picture it can “read” the title and look it up. I use this less for online shopping and more to take pictures of books I want to order later, check out from the library etc. Forget having to write down or type the title, just snap the picture.
What did I miss? Leave it in the comments.
As an alternative to Snatch, I imagine someone could access their computer from their iPhone using a VNC client (this is super easy on OS X). To make things easier, you could use the keyboard function in the app.
I use Mocha VNC Lite:
http://www.mochasoft.dk/iphone_vnc.htm
I’m using the iPhone as a data collection tool during ethnographic field work
Sounds fancy but it just means I’m using one device instead of several! Although I do use a video camera from time to time…
http://blogs.murdoch.edu.au/pcoutas/2008/10/22/the-iphone-as-methods/
Though the app I use the most? Facebook. Second most? Google Maps. I really didn’t expect that!!!
I would pay a fairly large amount of money for an App that would play powerpoint/keynote presentations off the iPod Touch. It would save me having to carry my laptop around from class to class. Here’s hoping.
David:
Well, it would be a little expensive for the AV cables, but it seems you should be able to export your presentation to images and then use those to display your presentation. However, I think the AV cables are only RCA outs, which wouldn’t help if you need a VGA connection, though maybe there are converters for that too…
Well, it would be a little expensive for the AV cables, but it seems you should be able to export your presentation to images and then use those to display your presentation. However, I think the AV cables are only RCA outs, which wouldn’t help if you need a VGA connection, though maybe there are converters for that too…
Thanks. I’ll give that a shot and see how it works.
You missed a major one… Papers for iPhone! (along with Papers for Mac OS X).
Your personal academic research library, it stores a database of all your research papers with the actual PDFs and links to bibliographic search engines all integrated; syncs with Papers for iPhone so you can read the PDFs and the research database (and even search for more and add to it) on the go, beautiful interface for reading PDFs on both platforms. I wouldn’t do research without it now!
Enjoy
For controlling my computer during lectures, Rowmote Pro allows me to do almost anything with it (and line of sight is no problem so long as both devices are on the same network.
Agree whole heartedly with Tim that Papers (along with Papers for the Mac) is an unbeatable combo when it comes to finding and reading academic material – just brilliant!
JotNot is an excellent one as well. It allows me to photograph pages from various publications and read them later. You can even run them through OCR if you want. Basically, I’ll never need a scanner/photocopier again!
ZBar is a barcode scanner which I often use to take note of books, movies and other things. You can then use the code to look the items up on Google, Amazon, etc.