In fact, because I arrived early for a meeting and have time, I’m typing this blog entry using the sleek Apple Bluetooth keyboard connected to my iPad. I often find that I use my iPad more than a computer on any given day.

Besides e-mail, I also use OmniFocus extensively. OmniFocus allows a listing of “to do” items based on your whereabouts. This allows me to accomplish ordered tasks in places with the following situations:

• No phone or Internet connection
• No Internet access, but I have phone access
• My laptop’s 4G card has a signal
• Using Wi-Fi or standard Ethernet connection
• I am using a lighting fast fiber connection

My effectiveness skyrocketed with this tool.

As many of you know, I frequently travel five days a week and notes in Evernote track all the reservation details and confirmation numbers for ten flights, four hotels, four rental cars, and the time and address of all the locations I need to visit.

Even though Kindle is an Amazon tool, the Kindle app allows me to carry many technical books without the weight and size of the printed versions.

The travel apps for airlines are very helpful too—especially for people who travel frequently.

The instant-on feature, small size, and ability to easily connect a “real” keyboard are some of the most valuable features to me.

I never see my slate device as replacing my Windows machines; however it is a nice compliment. Of course, if and when all services move to the cloud, then slates may be tools that practically eliminate the need for a laptop.

How do you feel about the iPad or other slate devices? What are the applications you use the most?

Please post your comments on this blog.

The post Why chief executives get an iPad or another slate device appeared first on Foster Institute.

– the very next day – my book is on sale in the Kindle store! I’ve already purchased and downloaded my own copy into my Kindle reader to test the process.

The book upload seemed flawless! The Kindle is amazing.  Some day nobody will buy paper books anymore. It is so nice to be able to publish a book on Amazon 12 hours after finishing the book. Wow – that is lots faster (and less expensive) than all the hard cover books I had printed of my title!

I subscribe to the Wall Street Journal and Reader’s Digest.  One of the neatest features is that I never need to connect the Kindle to my computer at all. The Kindle has wireless service built in and there is no additional charge for the wireless connection. Whenever I want to buy a book or get an update to a subscription, I just turn on the radio, and the content flows.

On the next edition, I’d like it if Amazon added a back light but the battery life seems to be around an entire month with no back light when I only turn on the radio to download books.  Apparently the Kindle doesn’t use any power to display text – the only power that is used is a tiny bit when I change pages. There used to be a “flicker” when I changed pages, but the latest firmware update (it came automatically over the wireless network by the way) has seemed to fix the flicker problem. I look forward to future “updates” to the Kindle that come automatically.  Also, on a future edition, maybe there will be a color screen.

My wife has gone back to college and has a huge backpack full of textbooks. They are heavy and expensive. Some day, college students will just carry a Kindle and it will hold all of their textbooks. Heck, after how easy it was for me to upload my e-book, if I was a professor, I would be able to publish notes for the students and they could all download them while sitting in class!  The possibilities seem endless.

If you are an avid reader and haven’t ordered your Kindle today, what are you waiting for?  The main reason I first purchased mine is that my mind goes all the time. When I stand in lines, at the airport for example, I used to use my Blackberry to look at CNN and other news sites. All I would read about all day is they typical gloom and doom, violence, and other “headline making news.”  That stuff is draining.  I bought the Kindle so I could read “Readers Digest” and uplifting text while standing in line. That in itself paid for the Kindle! My mind is being fed better material and I’m in a better mood too.  Like with computers – GIGO (Garbage In Garbage Out) – we have to watch what we put in our heads!

And another nice feature… When I’m reading a book that uses a word I don’t know what means, such as prestidigitation, Kindle’s built in dictionary lets me look up the word even in an airplane with the radio turned off!

During a presentation I made today, a CEO suggested that the Kindle is “green” in that it saves paper. Another CEO mentioned that the price of paper just went up a couple of cents today – meaning the Kindle will get another boost since it is paper free!  I welcome your comments about the Kindle.

The post Are you using an Amazon Kindle yet to save time? appeared first on Foster Institute.