Virtual Grocery Lists

The other day, I asked my 16 year old to please get a piece of paper so we could make a grocery list. What did he show up in the living room with? Yep that’s right his iPad. “No, I need paper to make a list we can take the store,” I replied. His response of course was “you can take your iPad”. Of course he was right. That’s exactly how their digital brains think. As if the was a thirds hand, that iPad goes just about everywhere he does.

Although a foreign concept to me, being a supportive mother, I of course gave it a try. Oddly enough the use of the iPad wasn't an issues. The Notes APP works like a steno pad but with endless pages. Easy to use, simply touch and type your list. The only dislike for the idea was my preference of being able to dog ear the list or mark off the things I got. Granted I could simply delete the item of the list on the iPad, it was just different.  Funny thing was that what actually made using the iPad at the grocery store an issues was that Security was worried someone might steal it. The guard was very polite and reminded me to be extra careful with it then proceeded to follow us around the store with extra vigilance.

Notes is an APP that come pre-installed on your iPad and is great for anything. It’s like never running out of a sticky notes again. As I have become more comfortable with my iPad, I have found myself frequently popping over to the Notes APP to jot a note, paste some text I need to keep for later, and make lists when I need to just brainstorm. I even found myself using it for tracking three UPS packages I was expecting while state-side  An interesting feature of the iPad is the seamless integration between APPs, URLs, and internet connection. When I pasted the tracking codes into my Note, the iPad immediately recognized the letters and numbers as a UPS shipping code. When I later returned to the Note to “copy” the code to paste on the UPS site, the iPad saved me the work and asked me if I wanted to track the package when I had merely touched the code in an attempt to copy it.

There are many other “NOTES” APPs available in the iTunes APP store, some free and others at a nominal charge. There are also numerous “papers” and “pages” APPs. Each with similar features and of course their “unique features” that are suppose to make them worth their 99c or $1.99 cost. While I do have EverNote, Pages, and Memo on my iPad, I find myself more frequently simply using the good old trusty Notes APP that came with my iPad.  Not to say that the other APPs don’t have “special features” of value, but for your basic list making, a place to hold a temporary blurb of text, and note taking needs, NOTES is just fine with me.

Now there is a Notes Plus for the iPad and it is rumoured to be a culmination of all the great features of other note APPs in one but with it cost of $7.99 it will have to wait for a review from me.  When it comes to Annotation Note programs… that’s a topic for another Blog Posting…