Tarah's Digital Voice

Inspired by my mom getting an iPad, I put together this list of my top apps for the beloved device. It doesn't include all my apps and doesn't include any games (a whole separate project) or location-based services (Mom's not really into that), but I think this is a useful foundation for anyone looking to boost productivity and general life improvement via the iPad.

Also, check out my previous post: Top 48 iPhone App Recommendations (by category) and see all my app posts here.

What great apps did I miss? Let me know in the comments.

The first section are the Must-Have apps. I've also inserted *** before the Must-Have apps (first on lists), then others below, by category. All links go to the iTunes App Store webpage for the app.

Must-Have Apps

• Flipboard - #1 must-have app, which organizes all the content that you want in a clean, brilliant layout, like a magazine - watch videos in place, read articles without leaving, respond to Facebook posts right there, etc. You can pull in any feed from news sites (e.g. NY Times), blogs, etc. The easiest way to do this is to add them to Google Reader and add your Google Reader account to Flipboard. I also HIGHLY encourage you to add your Facebook account here, as it's a beautiful, enjoyable way to look at what your connections are posting. http://bit.ly/kfShGU
• Evernote - 1 of my absolute favorite apps, which I keep in my iPad's dock so I always have it at my fingertips. Save notes, clip parts/all of webpages, make text in photos searchable, record audio notes, etc. You can email them all out to yourself or others. It's a digital notebook that is accessible through your browser, an app you can install on your computer and mobile devices, like the iPad. I couldn't live without it. http://bit.ly/l5XjoN
• TripIt - forward your confirmation emails for flights, hotels, car rentals, etc. and this app organizes everything into a wonderful itinerary with weather, maps, reminders, etc. It also adds each part of your itinerary to your Google Calendar, if you let it. It has social features, too, if you want, so you can see when/where your friends are traveling and let them know about yours, but you can turn that off if you want. http://bit.ly/krc1rZ
• HBO Go - watch the entire HBO library on your iPad. Oh yeah! http://bit.ly/mMjOSf
• Netflix: http://bit.ly/lA2ziZ
• Friendly for Facebook - best way to view Facebook on the iPad (other than Flipboard, of course!) http://bit.ly/lkZmU1
• GetGlue - It's a fun social network, completely centered around entertainment (film, TV, music, books, topics, etc.). You can "check-in" to, "like" and review the content that you're consuming, chat with other people passionate about it, earn virtual rewards (stickers), real world rewards (discounts) and get recommendations for other related content. There's also a browser plugin for Firefox and Chrome, which allows you to perform all these actions around the web and see what your friends from Facebook and GetGlue have liked. You can also post your activity to Facebook and Twitter, which does the work of including information about the TV show/film/etc. for you. http://bit.ly/j1YW2j
• PerfectBrowser - full-featured browser, like you would have on your computer. The default, Safari, is fine for most things, but this is well worth the price when you want a deeper browsing experience. http://bit.ly/kvVSmG
• Yelp - has never failed me when searching for restaurants, even when in strange cities. http://bit.ly/iH3HN2
• Epicurious - find recipes and create shopping lists http://bit.ly/ldARux
• Pandora - stream music that learns your preferences from the brilliant Music Genome Project. http://bit.ly/k0DEny
• Dropbox - it's a hard drive on a server, meaning you can access your files from any computer or mobile device that you authorize. You can share folders with people also, if you wish. It's a lifesaver. http://bit.ly/ldHGrC 
• Fring - allows you to chat with AIM, Google Chat, etc. friends all in one place. You can also video and audio chat if you have wifi. http://bit.ly/ihLYre
• Skype - excellent way to chat and video chat with people around the world, for free. You can also get unlimited domestic voice calling for about $30/year through your computer and it's amazing. I use it almost every day to make phone calls. http://bit.ly/ma5j8
• TripAdvisor - best reviews on anything travel-related. http://bit.ly/mC091d
• DragonSearch - amazing. Just speak into it and it'll search Google, YouTube, Wikipedia, Twitter and your iTunes library, all at once. It's so good. http://bit.ly/jjOrvF
• Dragon Dictation - who wants to type? This app does an incredible job of transcribing your voice to text. You can them email, post to social networks, etc. http://bit.ly/kmhvLM
• FlightCaster - predicts flight delays 6 hours before the airlines, based on historical data and monitoring of traffic info. Pulls your flight info in from TripIt. (They're going to start charging soon, so just download it, even if you're not sure you want it.) http://bit.ly/ifE8vd
• GateGuru - info on which gate flights are leaving/arriving, security wait times, services, food, maps, reviews and more. Pulls in info from TripIt. http://bit.ly/jmMd4c
• Appzilla - every other function you might need on your iPad. http://bit.ly/iHla0W
• Instagram - simple, lovely app that lets you apply filters to photos and post to social networks. http://bit.ly/jSX5E9
• Pano - helps you take several photos to stitch into a panoramic shot. Works really well - created some beautiful ones in Thailand. http://bit.ly/jK9Tza
• Photofeed for Facebook - pulls in photos from Facebook. http://bit.ly/jMu9hq
• Adobe Photoshop Express - Photoshop's app, which lets you easily make edits and improve your photos. http://bit.ly/lQnH3b
• Goodreader - great way to view and organize PDF, Word and other docs. http://bit.ly/jXzPE5
• Simplenote - basic text app that syncs with a server so you can access them anywhere. http://bit.ly/j3CxX8

News

• ***Flipboard - #1 must-have app, which organizes all the content that you want in a clean, brilliant layout, like a magazine - watch videos in place, read articles without leaving, respond to Facebook posts right there, etc. You can pull in any feed from news sites (e.g. NY Times), blogs, etc. The easiest way to do this is to add them to Google Reader and add your Google Reader account to Flipboard. I also HIGHLY encourage you to add your Facebook account here, as it's a beautiful, enjoyable way to look at what your connections are posting. http://bit.ly/kfShGU
• *Guardian Eyewitness - gorgeous, daily, visual representation of the news from the Guardian (UK). http://bit.ly/loXE1h
• *NPR - read news, watch videos, listen to podcasts or any of their stations, etc. http://bit.ly/mB8tRP
• NYTimes: http://bit.ly/lbZxuY
• Slate - read, watch, listen to news from the great, liberal & culturally rich news service, Slate.com. http://bit.ly/mhrOSO
• This American Life - one of my favorite radio shows of all time, hosted by Ira Glass, which I think you'd love. It's a paid app, but has every episode ever. Otherwise, you can always go to iTunes and download the episodes they have available there for free. http://bit.ly/kful0N
• CNN: http://bit.ly/jToSGs
• BBC News: http://bit.ly/k6ciNC
• The Weather Channel: http://bit.ly/jWWEu0
• Pulse - visual way to look at news headlines before digging deeper: http://bit.ly/kD7eA9
• Blancspot - visual way to look at news headlines before digging deeper: http://bit.ly/lwSq1b

Social Media & Chat

• ***Friendly for Facebook - best way to view Facebook on the iPad (other than Flipboard, of course!). http://bit.ly/lkZmU1
• **GetGlue - It's a fun social network, completely centered around entertainment (film, TV, music, books, topics, etc.). You can "check-in" to, "like" and review the content that you're consuming, chat with other people passionate about it, earn virtual rewards (stickers), real world rewards (discounts) and get recommendations for other related content. There's also a browser plugin for Firefox and Chrome, which allows you to perform all these actions around the web and see what your friends from Facebook and GetGlue have liked. You can also post your activity to Facebook and Twitter, which does the work of including information about the TV show/film/etc. for you. http://bit.ly/j1YW2j
• **Fring - allows you to chat with AIM, Google Chat, etc. friends all in one place. You can also video and audio chat if you have wifi. http://bit.ly/ihLYre
• *Skype - excellent way to chat and video chat with people around the world, for free. You can also get unlimited domestic voice calling for about $30/year through your computer and it's amazing. I use it almost every day to make phone calls. http://bit.ly/ma5j8f
• Twitter - dive in, it's very useful if you learn how to filter all the noise. http://bit.ly/kceQlP

Search/Browsing

• ***PerfectBrowser - full-featured browser, like you would have on your computer. The default, Safari, is fine for most things, but this is well worth the price when you want a deeper browsing experience. http://bit.ly/kvVSmG
• ***DragonSearch - amazing. Just speak into it and it'll search Google, YouTube, Wikipedia, Twitter and your iTunes library, all at once. It's so good. http://bit.ly/jjOrvF
• Discover - beautiful, visual way to browse Wikipedia like a magazine. http://bit.ly/lT6KFE

Entertainment, Music & Video

• ***HBO Go - watch the entire HBO library on your iPad (must be a subscriber). Oh yeah! http://bit.ly/mMjOSf
• ***Netflix: http://bit.ly/lA2ziZ
• ***Pandora - stream music that learns your preferences from the brilliant Music Genome Project. http://bit.ly/k0DEny
• PBS - beautiful app with lots of streaming video. http://bit.ly/mxII4N
• TED - watch TEDTalks. http://bit.ly/jXVTkC
• IMDB: http://bit.ly/iuv3wM
• Fandango - movie times, reviews & buy tickets. http://bit.ly/lcNwt1
• Movies by Flixster - another great movie app, which pulls in reviews from Rotten Tomatoes (my favorite) and your Facebook friends. http://bit.ly/m3UiMX

Going Out, Food, Reviews

• ***Yelp - has never failed me when searching for restaurants, even when in strange cities. http://bit.ly/iH3HN2
• **Epicurious - find recipes and create shopping lists. http://bit.ly/ldARux
• MenuPages - view restaurant menus in major cities. http://bit.ly/jFnl4w
• OpenTable - make reservations at restaurants. http://bit.ly/l7s8Yz
• SeamlessWeb - order food for delivery. http://bit.ly/jeU8DA
• GrubHub - another way to order food for delivery. http://bit.ly/jOKdZb
• Seafood Watch - info on ocean-friendly seafood at restaurants. http://bit.ly/ipFCS4

Travel

• ***TripIt - forward your confirmation emails for flights, hotels, car rentals, etc. and this app organizes everything into a wonderful itinerary with weather, maps, reminders, etc. It also adds each part of your itinerary to your Google Calendar, if you let it. It has social features, too, if you want, so you can see when/where your friends are traveling and let them know about yours, but you can turn that off if you want. http://bit.ly/krc1rZ
• **TripAdvisor - best reviews on anything travel-related. http://bit.ly/mC091d
• *FlighCaster - predicts flight delays 6 hours before the airlines, based on historical data and monitoring of traffic info. Pulls your flight info in from TripIt. (They're going to start charging soon, so just download it, even if you're not sure you want it.) http://bit.ly/ifE8vd
• *GateGuru - info on which gate flights are leaving/arriving, security wait times, services, food, maps, reviews and more. Pulls in info from TripIt. http://bit.ly/jmMd4c

Photos

• *Instagram - simple, lovely app that lets you apply filters to photos and post to social networks http://bit.ly/jSX5E9
• *Pano - helps you take several photos to stitch into a panoramic shot. Works really well - created some beautiful ones in Thailand. http://bit.ly/jK9Tza
• *Photofeed for Facebook - pulls in photos from Facebook http://bit.ly/jMu9hq
• *Adobe Photoshop Express - Photoshop's app, which lets you easily make edits and improve your photos. http://bit.ly/lQnH3b
• Precorder - starts recording video a few seconds before you press the record button, so you don't miss what you actually wanted. http://bit.ly/jwXINc

Documents & Utilities

• ***Evernote - 1 of my absolute favorite apps, which I keep in my iPad's dock so I always have it at my fingertips. Save notes, clip parts/all of webpages, make text in photos searchable, record audio notes, etc. You can email them all out to yourself or others. It's a digital notebook that is accessible through your browser, an app you can install on your computer and mobile devices, like the iPad. I couldn't live without it. http://bit.ly/l5XjoN
• ***Dropbox - it's a hard drive on a server, meaning you can access your files from any computer or mobile device that you authorize. You can share folders with people also, if you wish. It's a lifesaver. http://bit.ly/ldHGrC
• ***Dragon Dictation - who wants to type? This app does an incredible job of transcribing your voice to text. You can them email, post to social networks, etc. http://bit.ly/kmhvLM
• **Appzilla - every other function you might need on your iPad. http://bit.ly/iHla0W
• *Goodreader - great way to view and organize PDF, Word and other docs. http://bit.ly/jXzPE5
• *Simplenote - basic text app that syncs with a server so you can access them anywhere. http://bit.ly/j3CxX8
• GeniusScan - use your camera as a scanner. http://bit.ly/kScbLu
• Kindle - download and read eBooks from Amazon's Kindle store. http://bit.ly/jNGl0l

As you might know, I spent two weeks in March down in Austin, TX, immersed in the chaos and glory of SXSW 2011. This was a truly intense, educational and inspiring experience, which allowed me to completely geek out with peers that both shared and challenged my existing views on digital, social, tech and marketing. I met many entrepreneurs & innovators, some of whom have become real friends and business partners. I tried out myriad new apps, behaviors and approaches to various parts of life and business, coming away with some valuable new tools and insights. My own entrepreneurial spirit was re-energized and I have transferred this experience into the work I am doing every day, here at Anthem Worldwide - Digital, bringing the new relationships, knowledge and clarity to clients and our own practice on a regular basis.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on our recap, in the presentation below, which includes several videos shot on the iPad 2 by my colleague, Mark Silva, SVP Emerging Platforms. Some highlights of the presentation are listed below.

Let's continue this conversation - I'd love to hear what trends you think will prosper and what apps/technologies are getting you excited these days.

Hope to see you in Austin next year!

I love having clients that truly value digital and are willing to explore and play with new technologies, apps and platforms when it's relevant to their goals. We (Real Branding) didn't put together the Instagram/Brisk partnership that Jamal Henderson discusses below, but we played a big part in building PepsiCo's first Foursquare campaign last year (more here). Check out Brisk's Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/brisk) to see how well Brisk is engaging their audience. 

We're also currently helping Lipton Iced Tea to integrate some pretty innovative digital tactics and techniques for consumer engagement. Check out their Facebook page (http://on.fb.me/LIT100natural), which has attracted more than 60,000 likes in the last month, since we launched it! 

Enjoy!

If you want to read more, here's a Mashable post about the partnership.