Archive for the ‘ipad’ tag
Local Gov’ts Opt for iPads Over Paper
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-08-09-ipad-government_N.htm
IPads saving cities paper costs
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By Katharine Lackey, USA TODAY
Ward decided it would make both environmental and fiscal sense for the Hampton City Council to switch from paper to iPads for conducting official business.
The council agreed and last month made the move that Ward says will save $18,000 annually in paper costs. The devices for the six other council members totaled $4,200, she says.
Hampton joins a growing number of municipalities — from Williamsburg, Va., to Albertville, Ala., to Redwood City, Calif. — that are turning to iPads to conduct government business.
The move that is helping cash-strapped municipalities trim expenses is also raising concerns with government transparency advocates.
Megan Rhyne of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government says iPads make it easier for council members to e-mail, text or chat during a meeting without those conversations becoming part of the public record.
“Records generated are subject to disclosure, but we don’t have a mechanism for getting those records from an iPad,” Rhyne says.
“Citizens are going to want to be able to see that the iPads are being used as they are touted — as a cost-efficient way to keep track of the documents being discussed during the meetings and not being used to subvert the open meetings and open records requirements,” she says.
Ken Bunting of the National Freedom of Information Coalition says data from the council members’ iPads should be public record, although the law varies by state.
“They shouldn’t be conducting public business out of public view,” he says, “and if those are government devices they’re using, that ought to be public record.”
Because technology is changing rapidly, states are still trying to catch up with various laws, statutes and case models, Bunting says.
“In most states, some if not all electronic records are public,” he says. “Around the country, there has been lots of litigation in the states about the nature of electronic records and whether or not they differ from paper records.”
To help counter such concerns, the Redwood City Council enacted a policy on July 12 to prohibit council members from receiving or sending e-mail and text messages through cellphones, iPads, notebooks and other devices, city spokesman Malcolm Smith says.
After spending about $7,000 on iPads using capital-improvement funds, the council expects to save more than $30,000 annually in printing costs, Smith says.
Redwood City Council members will start using iPads within the next few weeks, but one council member, Ian Bain, says he is refusing to take an iPad and will continue to use his personal laptop.
“We just cut $6 million out of our budget, and the city is expending some money to buy these devices when we don’t really need them to go digital,” Bain says. “I think it sends the wrong message even if it’s just a drop in the bucket to buy these; I just think it’s the wrong time to be doing it.”
The Lynwood City Council in California chose to use iPads instead of laptops because there’s no need for a wireless or wired connection, says Roger Haley, city manager.
“All you would need is the AT&T signal,” he says, “and it’s really more convenient for the City Council to be able to maintain contact not only with city operations, but with the residents they serve.”
The council, which will begin using the iPads this month, expects to save $6,000 annually on staff time and production costs associated with paper agendas.
Although the council has protocols in place against such electronic communication during meetings, Haley says, “I don’t think there’s a 100% way that you can stop any abuse of that kind.”
Elsewhere:
•Williamsburg, Va. The City Council expects to save $2,000 a year in printing costs after it switches to iPads, which will cost $3,000, says Mark Barham, the city’s information technology director. “Our City Council is not going to use it for e-mail,” he says, “but if we were to use it for something like that … the same rules would apply in terms of public records.”
•Albertville, Ala. The Albertville Board of Education is replacing its laptops with iPads for all board meetings starting this month, Superintendent Frederic Ayer says. The laptops will be recycled for use at schools.
“Having laptops in front of board members really put a wall between them,” he says. “The iPads function just as well … and are a better solution.”
Recommended iPad applications for PF Board
File sharing:
Dropbox – Free
PDF Reader
GoodReader – $.99
iAnnotate – Allows you to markup PDF files – $9.99
ReaddleDocs – Allows you to download, read and manage PDF files – $4.99
Remote desktop:
Jump – Allows you to remote into a Windows desktop with a fixed IP from your iPad – cost $14.99
Travel:
FlightTrack Pro – Check the status of your flights, shows current time of departure and arrival. Gates of departure and arrival – $9.99
Southwest Airlines – make reservations, check-in, etc. – Free
American Airlines – make reservations, check-in, etc. – Free
GPS:
Navigon (USA & Canada) – turns your iPad into a GPS with turn by turn directions – $49.99
Books:
iBooks – application is free, but books come at a cost
Kindle (by Amazon) – application is free, but books come at a cost. Can read books bought for Kindle
Office:
Pages – Word equivalent – $9.99
Numbers – Excel equivalent – $9.99
Keynote – Powerpoint equivalent – $9.99
Amusement:
Stumble Upon – takes you to random websites recommended by others based upon your indicated interests. – Free
Words with Friends – Scrabble – Free
Search :
Diet:
Livestrong – calorie tracker – Free
Restaurants
Yelp – search for restaurants nearby – Free
Zagat to Go – Restaurant reviews – Unsure as to cost
iPAD Applications
http://webworkerdaily.com/2010/06/16/the-ipad-works-thanks-to-these-apps/
Instapaper Pro ($4.99) This is the app to use for grabbing pages for reading later while you still have wireless access. Heck, I have a Wi-Fi + 3G model so I’m very rarely out of network range, but I still use it because of its formatting options and cross-platform compatibility. It’s a joy, and the ability to jump from iPhone to iPad seamlessly with it makes it a must-have for business use.