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July 29, 2011 More Life With An iPad We keep finding cool ways to use our iPad, and we’re also hearing from readers who found it helpful in other ways. A reader who has a medical condition that made it impossible to hold books for reading or sit without pain when using a computer found the inherent mobility and flexibility of the iPad helped with both problems. The reader said "the iPad gave me back my books, my computer games and Internet!" Internet uses open a world of opportunities. The included Internet browser, based on Apple’s Safari, allows searching, surfing and more. We can go to our favorite sites with touch-ease and enjoy all the Internet has to offer--all with us wherever we are. Also bundled with the iPad is Apple’s Mail program, which can support several email accounts, so we each can check our email and reply, print or delete messages. Internet and email do require being logged on at a WiFi hotspot (including your home wireless network) or having the 3G/4G version of the iPad, and printing requires a network connected printer. Another program included with the iPad is Maps, which can use the built-in GPS capability to pinpoint your current location on a map display. Maps can also track your movements by displaying a tracking ball as you move along. You can also get driving directions by entering a desired destination; you then get a map displaying the route and turn-by-turn driving directions (or hiking or public transit directions). If you need more advanced features, such as spoken directions or the ability to modify your route, you’ll need an app such as Sygic ($19 from the App Store). Another convenient bundled feature is the Notes app, which allows you to type in notes and save them on the iPad or send them via email. If you need formatting control and such for creating documents, an app for that is Pages, Apple’s word processing program ($10 from the App Store). We’ve been using Pages on our Mac for several years and like it a lot.
For video phone calling, Apple has included FaceTime, a program that lets you see and chat with others on their iPad 2, iPhone4 or Mac computer. If you’re an ooVoo subscriber, a free ooVoo app is available from the app store. For fun and entertainment, check out the included Game Center, with access to many free games such as Angry Birds or Fruit Ninja. They’re mostly mind-numbing, but tension easing and fun. Likewise, YouTube provides direct access to a vast array of videos–entertaining, educational, funny or just plain dumb. Another bundled app, PhotoBooth, uses iPad’s camera and applies a series of distortions to create funny photos. For keeping up on current events, we get a copy of USA Today delivered automatically each day to our iPad. It’s available free at the App Store. For relaxation, we play music on our home music system that we control from our iPad, and we read books and magazines we download. We’ve barely scratched the surface of all we can do, and we’re still learning. Stay tuned. |
