I recently caved and finally purchased an iPad. This weekend I spent countless hours holed up in a coffee shop hunched over my iPad, surfing the web and browsing the iTunes App Store for those apps that would bring a little more productivity to my daily life. I’ve listed 10 apps below (in no particular order), which have intrigued me the most.

1. Dragon Dictation (Free)


Dragon Dictation is an easy-to-use voice recognition application that allows you to speak and instantly see your text or email messages. You can also dictate status updates directly to your favorite social media sites or send notes and reminders to yourself. I could see how this would come in handy while in the safety of my own home, but I can’t imagine using this in public. Learn more here.

2. Evernote (Free)


Evernote is an easy-to-use, free app that helps you remember everything across all of your devices you use. It lets you take notes, capture photos, create to-do lists, and record voice reminders. Learn more here.

3. Flipboard (Free)

Flipboard is a personal news magazine filled with everything being shared across the Web. Simply pick a few topics and your Flipboard is instantly populated with the news you care about. You can also use Flipboard to flip through social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram so that the news your friends are sharing is easy to flip through with headlines and excerpts. I highly recommend this app; it did, however, distract me for a solid 45 minutes when I should’ve been writing this blog post. Learn more here.

4. QuickOffice Pro HD ($19.99)


With QuickOffice Pro you are able to create and edit ALL Microsoft® Office document, spreadsheet, and presentation formats, as well as view PDF files, all without your laptop. Learn more here.

5. SlideShark (Free)


View and share PowerPoint presentations on your iPad with SlideShark. Animations, fonts, colors, and graphics are all kept intact. I look forward to using this app, as it will save me time from having to always convert my PowerPoints to PDF format every time I’ve wanted to view them on my iPad. Learn more here.
6. Air Display ($9.99)


Air Display turns your iPad into a wireless second LCD monitor for your Mac or PC. If you’re like me at all, you always have 10 or so windows open at once on your screen. This app could help to provide a little extra real estate so you have more room to focus on the task at hand. Learn more here.

7. Dropbox (Free)


Dropbox lets you bring all your photos, documents, and videos anywhere and share them easily. Access any file you save to your Dropbox from all your computers, iPhone, iPad, and even the Dropbox website. Learn more here.

8. Penultimate (Free)


Penultimate gives you the natural experience of writing on paper, with the added power and flexibility of Evernote. Take notes, keep sketches, or share ideas in the office, on the go, or at home. Learn more here.

9. Pocket (Free)


I often distract myself while trying to work by simultaneously browsing the web. Pocket lets you bookmark those websites, allowing you to save them for a later time. The links are also available offline once you save them. Learn more here.

10. OnLive Desktop (Free)


OnLive Desktop is a service that provides a cloud-based PC desktop, wherever you want it. With OnLive, you are able to view and edit documents in Microsoft Office, transfer files, and access other PC applications. Learn more here.

What apps are you using at work?