Apps with the Assist

By
On July 22, 2009

A recent article by Farhad Manjoo in the New York Times provides a road map to using an iPhone as a personal assistant. While a half-caf skinny soy latte may be beyond their capabilities, the latest apps will keep you organized and on the move.

Keep it all together without a 20-something sidekick with a headset and a clipboard by trying out the the stand-alone organizational app reQall. With it, users can dictate their to-do lists, calendars, and appointments which are then transcribed to text. A free version works well, while heavy users can opt for a $25-a-year Pro version.

Stepping in as secretary, Manjoo recommends the JotNot ($3) app that turns your iPhone into a scanner and Air Sharing ($5 for the standard version, $10 for more features) that turns your iPhone into a wireless U.S.B. thumb drive.  Taking documents with you is something you definately need if your really going to use the iPhone as a personal assistant.

And finally, since you’ll still have to conduct your own correspondence, the Email ’n Walk (99 cents) program could be something of a lifesaver. Your iPhone’s camera shows a live picture of what’s going on in front of while you busily type away.  We wouldn’t want to walk into NYC traffic while we were managing our calendar now would we?

What other apps have you used to make the jump from the 80s chic of the Filofax into the world of app-driven organization?