Using an iPad for Technical Studies
If you’re like me then you probably have a love for technology. I believe the goal is mostly to use technology to make life a little easier. Sometimes we just use technology for the “cool” factor. Some may say that the iPad is one of those pieces of technology that covers both the “makes life a little easier” and “cool” factors all at once. With that said, because it was “cool” I decided to make “life a little easier” by getting an iPad. Initially my reasoning was to reduce the size of my backpack when traveling. I wanted to get rid of the books and load up the iPad with PDFs and such. I also used to own a kindle, sold it because It didn’t fit into my lifestyle, and still owned a dozen “Kindle Version” books. It just happens that the iPad has a Kindle app in the app store. Immediatley I loaded the iPad app as well as my favorite app for reading PDF files- GoodReader.
Narrowing It Down To Useful Apps
After that I quickly loaded up a number of apps based on recommendations from people in the community. Today I use GoodReader, Kindle, iAnnotate, Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Things, and OmniGraffle the most. Just a few days ago GoodReader had a major update that now give it the ability to annotate, which could bring an end to my use of iAnnotate.
Making Technology Feel Normal
Still, there is one things missing when you read a book using an iPad or a Kindle- Highlighting and Note taking. I don’t pick up a book any more without a highlighter and pen in my hand. I have to take notes, write concepts, clarifications, and sometimes corrections. But there is already this capability built into these apps right? Yes and no. Yes the capability is there, but it’s not natural. Natural for me is a pen. So today I ran out and grabbed the Acase Apple iPad Capacitive Stylus. 
This approach makes note taking much more natural for me and I can really harness some of the power if the small iPad interface. The on-screen keyboard is nice, but still a bit too small. With the stylus I can zip through my reading and not be hindered by cumbersome note taking. Another nice feature is that in GoodReader you can save the PDF with your annotations as a copy and drop it into Dropbox, grab it on your desktop or laptop and then print it with your notes.
Well that’s how I am using the iPad. What are you doing with the iPad?
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Hi!
My use for the iPad has included taking notes with iThoughtsHD (I’m a mind-mapping nut). A nice combination I arrived at has been to watch videos/lectures/… on the iPhone and transcribe key ideas on the iPad. Great way of killing time at airports/trains/…
I will take a look at the stylus you mentioned. Might be a nice complement to some other note taking I do.
Oh, and take a look at Soundnote. Very cool concept (record sound timed to when you type notes).
Hope this helps.