2014 Top Ten Lists - Apps

There are a number of apps that I use on a daily, or at least weekly, basis.  Here are the ones I rely on most (in no particular order).

1.  Dropbox - I've been using Dropbox for several years. It serves as a cloud backup as well as a simple way to access files from all of my devices.

2.  LastPass - I finally have a good handle on my passwords.  I feel much more secure, and it's a breeze to use.  It again syncs across all of my devices.

3.  PDF Expert - This may well be my most important iPad app.  I use it to write real estate contracts as well as when I teach at NC.

4.  Nozbe - After trying out several task managers, this is the one I landed on.  I'm currently using the free version.  I have three "Projects" set up: Personal, Neighborhood Church, and Real Estate.  Everything falls under one of those.  From there I can note what type of list it is (email, meeting, phone call, etc) and then give it a due date.  Syncs across all devices.

5.  Evernote - I put a lot in Evernote - perhaps too much.  My biggest challenge is to keep it organized by tagging it and putting it in the proper folders.  Some of the ways I use evernote: recipes, real estate contacts, sermon brainstorming, blog posts, notes from phone conversations, kindle highlights, and travel itineraries.

6.  Kindle - Sometimes I miss the feel of a paperback, but tradeoff is that I absolutely love having my entire collection of books on my iPad.  The other thing that is amazing about the kindle is that I can access all of my highlights and notes.  What I normally do after finishing up a book is to save all of the notes in Evernote.  It's great for referencing later.

7.  Zinio - This year I've been doing much of my magazine reading on my iPad.  Subscriptions have come down in price, but the real game changer is that I just learned that I can borrow Zinio magazine issues for free from the library.  I was already doing this with kindle and audio books.

8.  Audible - I enjoy listening to books while I'm driving and when I'm doing chores around the house.  The Audible iPhone app is great, and now that they are owned by Amazon, there is more integration between Kindle and Audible.

9.  Feedly - I started using Feedly after Google discontinued Reader.  I have several categories of blogs and websites that I read on a regular basis.  It's simple to add new content, and it's once again syncs across all of my devices.

10.  Pocket - Finally, there's Pocket.  I love this app!   When I come across an interesting article or blog post in Feedly, I save it to Pocket to read later.  Within Pocket I can tag articles, which I use later for research.