13 Jan Five useful business apps for your iPad
♦ Dragon Dictation — Using Nuance voice recognition software, you can automatically transcribe notes and meetings. Dragon Dictation also allows you to email messages and even post updates to Facebook and Twitter. What's best about this app is that it's free, but in order to use it, you must have an active internet connection.
♦ FileMaker Go — If you use FileMaker Pro to organize your business's databases, you can access and edit them with FileMaker Go. You can manage projects and contacts, check inventory and add sales details right from your iPad. If you want to create a custom FileMaker database, consult a FileMaker developer that can build a specialized application for you.
♦ Genuis Scan – PDF Scanner — Simply put, this app allows you scan things like documents, whiteboards, receipts, notes, recipes and menus into PDF or JPEG files with your iPad. No scanner needed. You can email the PDFs and share them on Twitter with the free version of the app. For $2.99, you can upgrade to the ad-free Genius Scan+, which allows you to print files with AirPrint and upload the files to cloud-based services and Google Docs.
♦ iThoughtsHD — This app is a clean idea mapping app that allows you to do things like visual brainstorming, map concepts and take organized notes at meetings. You can share your maps through a handful of cloud services or send them to other applications like iBooks and your Camera Roll.
♦ Pages/CloudOn — Pages is Apple's answer to Microsoft Word. Apple optimized its word processor for the iPad, and you can even access your documents anywhere with an iCloud account. It'll cost you $9.99 though, and if you're more of a Word user, the free CloudOn might be a better option. In addition to Word, you can access Excel and Powerpoint with Microsoft's CloudOn through Dropbox, but in order to run the app, you have to be connected to the internet.
