My iPad

I gifted myself an iPad for Christmas (or Hanumaswanza as it’s called in my house – pronounced on the “mas”).  I bought it and ran off into the sunset, i.e. travelled abroad.  I use it daily for my New York Times, New Yorker and a Swiss publication (NZZ am Sonntag) and I love using Facetime with my sister and nephew. I know how to turn it on and off.  I thought that was about it; until now.  

It’s so simple, it has one button – how complicated can it get? I can, of course. I can hit the button twice in rapid succession and see that after two months of use I have EVERY application open – no wonder I’m charging like a champion.   

I can move icons, but only if THEY want to! I hate being at the mercy of “0”’s and “1”’s.  After my friend Susanne (www.smuellernyc.blogspot.com) showed me how to get an app icon from one page to another (patience is needed and there I’m lacking) it is now time to sort the apps. After all I’m Swiss and things need to have their order (being a producer and a Taurus doesn’t help either in the ‘need order’ category).  I successfully got my social apps in one line – how pretty – they are all blue, how quaint. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Skype all lined up like little soldiers.  Now on the media icons:

For the past 20 minutes I have (so far) unsuccessfully tried to get my Swiss newspaper icon to join the New York Times in the Newsstand, but as with our current banking regulations (see FATCA) the Swiss and the Americans aren’t playing nice.  The Newsstand keeps avoiding the NZZ newspaper icon – which is actually quite funny – until it isn’t and then it’s VERY annoying.  Again: at the mercy for zeros and ones.  In desperation I add the NZZ into a new ‘cluster’ I call “Reading”, but I must tell you – it tugs at me that the Newsstand won’t accept anything but the NYTimes and the New Yorker – very un-PC and not what I’d expect from an American product (even if manufactured in China).

My favorite app(s)?  I love doodling on the Drawing Pad, watching Netflix movies in my lap, playing around with Sun Scout and showing off my presentations on the Prezi Viewer.  And I do think that the New York Times interface is brilliantly done. 

Now I look forward to my “Intro to the iPad 2” class at the Apple store on Friday – maybe I’ll be a bit less at the mercy for zeros and ones afterwards.

What are your favorite apps and how do you organize yourself?