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Here is Zone-10's first installment of recommended iPad applications.
Spend some lunch money on ReaddleDocs. Definitely a worthwhile investment. I haven't explored all of what it can do yet, but it is just the app I was looking for to move files on and off the iPad and even access my files on Googledocs and a webdav drive. I'll rate it four out of five lens caps. $4.99
Another app worth a lunch or two of Ramen Noodles is Note Taker HD. This was written by Dan Brickland of VisiCalc fame. The only real weakness in this app so far is that it is the equivalent of a notepad, but doesn't allow the integration of notes, typed text and imported graphics as some of the apps have. For example, Sundry Notes does those things, but at the price of being tied into a "free service" which could disappear or be charged for overnight. Note Taker HD is a breeze to write on and doesn't tie you in with some third-party on-line service. For what it does, it is awesome, but like most iPad apps, it just barely gets by. I'll give it three out of five lens caps. $4.99
As previously mentioned in another article, Emerald Observatory is the cat's meow of clocks. The rise and set times as well as compass headings of where the sun or moon will rise is worth the price of admission. I have to know arcane things like UTC and the various definitions of twilight. This app clearly informs you of those things. The fact that it uses NTP to sync to atomic clocks is another benefit, especially when you are trying to precisely time a sun or moon transit of the ISS. I'll give it five out of five lens caps. $0.99
VNC. I'm currently running VNC lite. The full-blown version has additional keyboard keys (including the ctrl, alt, tab, etc.,). Five out of five lens caps. A must have. $0.00 or $9.99
Topos2Go. Load up topographic maps on the iPad and use that for mapping in places where a WiFi connection doesn't reach. There is a free and paid version with more features. A bit on the slow side, but the program is pretty decent. Due to the speed issues and not all topos are in the library yet, I'll give this two lens caps. The value of the program depends on whether or not you have a need for topo maps. $0.00 or $3.99
When it comes to DoF calculators, I've been trying two different ones. iDoF Calc and F-Stop. Both are free. Both give you just what you are spending. I'm going to list both as functional, but not very good. DOFMaster is slightly better (and I suspect more accurate), but these apps pale in comparison to DOFMaster LE which I have running on my Palm Pilot and Palm Centro. I wish I could give a higher rating to these. iDoF Calc at least remembers what your last selection was, but F-Stop forces you to reselect lens, distance, etc., every time you open the app. It's the typical issue of apps not knowing what they were doing. The moment you close it or link to something else, the information is dumped. Because of my familiarity with the Palm version of DOFMaster LE, I'm going to give all these apps no more than a lens cap out of five. Do they work? Well, yes, but, I am terribly disappointed. I'll keep my Palm OS devices around a bit longer. A few months ago I bought a new Palm Centro cellphone mainly because it runs the old DOFMaster LE software. DOFMaster for the iPhone is $1.99, the others are a ripoff at $0.00
Some of us like staring up at the stars. An app called "Planets" is a nifty free app that gives you truly usable skycharts. Another similar app is Satellite Watcher. A bit limited on the database linkage, but usable. As they are free and functional without too many bad habits, I'll give them three lens caps. $0.00 and $0.00
The iPhone, iTouch and iPad don't do Flash. That really stinks on so many levels. As a workaround, CloudBrowse runs a virtual computer environment which does do flash and passes the screen, keyboard and mouse info (along with audio) on to the portable device. It works, but is time and resource limited. This is a solution for when all else fails. Not ideal, but Apple put us in this box. There is no dedicated iPad app yet, so it runs the iPhone version instead. At most I give it one lens cap, but still consider this a must-have app for the iPhone/Touch/Pad. $0.00
Last for today is 3D Sun. This iPad app is simply terrific on so many levels. As the sun is starting to wake back up and some of us are aurora hunters, this is a must have app. Not many apps would I consider worth going out of your way for, but this is one of them. Five out of five! $0.00
Ken Norton June 14, 2010
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