Since I can’t sit glued to my TV set to get Grammy insights owing to work, I have downloaded the GRAMMY Live app on my iPad to get all the latest happenings and nominations. I can now get information about Grammy any time while on-the-go with this app.

The nominations have been announced and my favorite Adele is topping the charts. I know she will win. At work, I have been flaunting all the Grammy information that I have on my fingertips now. I even told Lucy, my co-worker about GRAMMY Live app, after which she also downloaded it on her iPad.

GRAMMY Live app – A Grammy encyclopedia on my iPad
With the GRAMMY Live app, I am able to access the latest news, photos, videos and trivia related to Grammy on my iPad. The app can also provide me complete three days live stream coverage of music’s biggest night, along with a complete information about the who’s who of the music industry.

There is a GRAMMY Radio as well, using which I can listen to the nominations of almost 20 categories. What’s more, with the Guess feature, I can also speculate and guess winners of the most coveted music title.

The best part is that The Recording Academy, the developer of GRAMMY Live app is offering the app free on iTunes Appstore. Here’s where I downloaded it from.

Grammy Live offers me complete music-tainment on my iPad while on the go. My colleagues now call me a GRAMMY encyclopedia. Thanks to the app. I can flaunt my knowledge to all and sundry.

P.S. – Do not forget to catch the live action of music’s biggest night on 12 February, 8pm ET/PT on CBS.

I just can’t stop thinking about my trip. I have been talking to my friend Gary about Italy almost every minute. But as wise men say, “Every day is not a Sunday.” True to the statement, every vacation comes to an end. With everyday life, going to office becomes a priority. But thank god, our ‘Apple Whiz’ Calvin had asked me to download three apps from the Apple App store for my iPad 2 to make my professional life easy.

Evernote

This app can prove as a lifeline for many. Personally it is saving me from a lot of pain. This app has become my every day habit now. I am a part of the creative team of my company. I have to be coming up with new ideas and thoughts almost every day. Ideas do come, but to remember them each time becomes difficult. Therefore, this app is a boon for me. It helps me to create notes that I just jot down to use later. I can also add photos and audio notes with the help of it. When I am driving the car or working in the office, I just use the audio notes. While working on a new idea a lot of research goes into it. This app helps me to research, take notes, to design my ideas and mark favorites. And, above all this app makes everything easy to search.

I downloaded this app from here for free.

Bento for iPad

This app is another life saver for me. The moment I step inside the premises of the office, I switch into this app. This app acts like a personal assistant of mine. I can track the progress of the projects I am working on, plan my daily events and coordinate my day’s program. It is powered with 25 ready-to-use database templates that can be easily customized and organized. If any change occurs, all I need to do is tap the screen once and edit information in all marked areas: media, date, ratings, choice and checkboxes. This app also gives me the option to browse Safari without leaving it. Bento is one app that keeps my busy schedule going in perfect order. I downloaded this app from here for US$ 4.99.

Penultimate

With my busy schedule it’s impossible to carry a pen and paper everywhere. Even if I do, keeping those huge loose sheets of paper at one place is nothing but a risk of losing it to the wind or a spilled cup of coffee. And being a part of the creative team, I continuously need to draw things. It was only yesterday when I had to explain a logo that we were planning to create that this app came to my rescue. I can easily use it as a pen and paper to draw. Taking notes and sketching has never been such easy. Not only this, I can even draw diagrams and graphs which becomes most handy when it comes to the meetings with the marketing team. The interface is so clean and easy to use that it takes only some time to get used to it. I found this app here and downloaded it for US$ 0.99.

Now, I wonder what I will do without these fantastic apps on my iPad 2. For me these apps have become my second office. It will be almost impossible to work without them.
After a fantastic vacation, I am back to my office. I love what I do, but in some fleeting moments my mind wanders to the streets of Italy. But within seconds I get back to reality. Work or vacation, life is beautiful. Today I promised Dad to take him out for dinner. It’s my way of saying ‘Thank You’ for the wonderful vacation. But, I wonder can I ever thank him enough for everything he has ever given me? May be never.

After clicking a few portrait-like photographs, I decided to explore the city as per the itinerary that I had chalked out during the flight. By then I was already experiencing hallucinations of Imperial Forums, Vatican Museums, Colosseum, and not to mention – the old-school Roman dining at its best. Visiting all these places alone in an unknown city was not as easy as pie. How could I forget that I had with me my best companion whom I had been relying upon since I embarked on this journey. I took the help of a smart traveler app that was installed on my iPad2 to guide me through the streets of Rome city.

City Maps 2Go – My perfect travel mate

I used the iPad2 app City Maps 2Go to locate everything in and around the city. It is one of the top most apps for smart travelers and works even in the offline mode. The app helped me access all the narrow lanes and streets of Rome. The passive GPS worked effectively and helped me in reaching my destination easily. With its bookmark feature, I even added bookmarks to the places I wanted to check in during my trip. The app features 100% coverage of Italy, and hence I was able to access maps and other content without any hassle. The best thing about this app is that it offered me a seamless access with Wi-Fi as well, without any problem. City Maps 2Go helped me discover the city in the best possible way.

Photogene app enhanced my photos

I was in love with Rome and had clicked the best of shots with my camera. However, I wanted to upload only the best pictures on my Facebook account. For this, I used Photogene app. This photography app can enhance the effects and make my photos look better by adding sharpness and adjusting the colors. Red-eye correction and other editing tools can also help in enhancing the quality of photos. I even added text to the photos. With Photogene installed on my iPad2, Photoshop is a passé. I have already uploaded some of the trip photographs on my Facebook account. My Facebook friends have seen them and liked them too.

I can do so much with my iPad2 even while I am travelling. It goes without saying that iPad2 has so much to offer me and with each new day, I get to discover an exclusive feature. I loved my stay in Rome. It’s time for me to bid adieu to you all now. Thanks to Dad for gifting me iPad2, without which my trip would not have been so exciting.

As I love sharing my life with my friends and family who are far off, one of my biggest addictions is social networking sites. There is a joke amidst my friends circle that if I do not share something on the social networking sites, it has not happened. Of course to some extent it’s true. Now that I will be travelling to Italy, how can I keep my hands off these sites? Being the addict that I am, I have already downloaded these four apps, and they all for free.

Facebook
My day does not begin if I don’t log into Facebook first. I know it’s a bit funny but that’s how it is. This Facebook app on my iPad 2 is my lifeline. The first app that I downloaded on my iPad 2 was Facebook. It’s an easy to use app with all the features including the Timeline. Since the time Dad has gifted me the iPad, I have been uploading all my photos, messages and everything through it. For me it is my ‘must have’ app. And now that I will be going to Italy, I would need it more. The moment I see something beautiful, I need to shout it out.

If anyone hasn’t downloaded this app yet (which is strange for an addict like me), here is where it can be downloaded.

Twitter
If Facebook keeps me closer to friends, Twitter helps to keeps me abreast with the world. Following celebrities, trends, news or even a stranger, is interesting, and more when I am being followed by fans. I must say that Twitter gives me my Adeline rush after a long and tiring day. It’s always interesting to note that how everyone has an opinion about everything. Once in Italy, I know I will be using it every five minutes.

To everyone who loves tweeting, here is where you download it from.

AIM
I so love this app. It brings everything together. Wherever I am in, I can add locations to my posts and directly post my status on Facebook, Twitter, Lifestream and MySpace. The best part is that I can chat with my friends on Facebook or Google Talk with this app. Gary is one of my closest buddy, (and a Facebook addict) who is settled in a new town and is not very traveled. We both keep on chatting or messaging throughout the day. With Italy on the cards, I would need to tell him more. So, AIM is where I will hit every time when I need to say something to Gary.

Here is where this app can be downloaded from.

Localmind
This is an app that Gary introduced me to. And these days I am using it heavily. It helps me to form Localmind community for a specified location. It allows me to ask questions to local experts about the locality and the experts from that particular locality help me back. It also connects me to someone who needs some information if I become the local expert. It’s the easiest way to find out new places and activities. With Italy just a week ahead, I am sure that I will be using it more than ever.

I downloaded this app from iTunes.

My tickets have arrived, my hotels are booked; all I need to do is pack my bags. With iPad 2 as my travel companion, Italy here I come.

Dad, the man that he is, always have surprises for his little princess. After the iPad 2, I was too contented to ask for anything else. But on Christmas at the stroke of midnight, Dad with the Santa Claus cap declared that I can go for a lone holiday anywhere I wanted and that will be all paid by Dad. I just could not believe my ears, I was longing to take a lone holiday and Dad would just not agree. Finally I get a chance to explore the world, that too sponsored by Dad. I needed to be pinched to believe it.

After a while, when it did sink in, I was in a hurry to make the perfect plans. And I knew the best way to do it. I hit the iPad 2 apps and as always it was like waving a magic wand and everything is on your plate.

50 Places of a Lifetime: The World’s Greatest Destination

This app will drive anyone to take the first flight and travel. Just could not take my eyes off of the fifty showcased destinations around the world. In just a moment, I was romancing the most beautiful creations in the world fused with the beauty God has created.
This app is powered by photos that stun you. These videos, maps, facts and the absolute amazing essays by world renowned writers make this app an absolute stunner. Though I am still deciding on my destination, I read this app like a book till wee hours. Though I was so tired after the Christmas, I kept reading the essays, finding interesting facts, feasting on the photographs and of course trying to figure out where I wanted to visit.

This app is powered by National Geographic Magazine. Personally, I would recommend this app to anyone. Even if you are not travelling, this app is worth having. It can be downloaded here for $ 1.99.

FlightTrack Pro

When I am travelling, more than the destination, the journey is on my mind. I have known the agony of missing flights, waiting long hours on the airports for delayed flight, losing tickets and everything that can mess your journey. I found this amazing useful app – FlightTrack Pro. This app helps the user to track the flights. It also comes with airline confirmation e-mail and real time changes of the flight. Thank God, with this alert I won’t be missing or waiting for my flights anymore. It also comes with attractive maps, which can be zoomed. For any traveler this app is a complete must. This app works offline too.
This app can be downloaded here for $3.99.

TripAdvisors Hotels Flights and Restaurants

Flying alone to a place will never suffice. I have this absolute knack of falling sick at new places over food or climate. This time Dad warned me that I should really figure out where I stayed, traveled and visited. TripAdvisor Hotels Flights Restaurants came to my rescue. This app helps the user to find the best hotels, restaurants, locales and destinations. You can have a virtual tour of street-level view of your destinations. Finding cheap flights is also an easy thing to find out with this app. This app also allows you to access reviews and opinion of hotels, restaurants and locales and upload your own too.

This app can be downloaded here for free.

Now that I am ready with three fantastic apps, I really do not need to worry. It’s really late at night and I need to sleep. As I call it a day, all I can do is thank my brilliant iPad 2 and of course, Dad. No one can be as special to a woman as a father. Thanks Dad!

To be very honest, Christmas and New Year come with their own anxieties. For the last few days I had been having mine. Arranging a perfect party and a proper house for that day always makes me feel anxious. As I was talking about it in office, our “Apple Wiz” Calvin winked and said, “Girl just check your iPad 2 apps and you will be sorted.” I came back home and presto! He was right. I found some excellent apps and I was all ready for the celebrations. Here are the apps that made go wow.

The Photo Cook book

The moment this app flashed on my screen, it caught my fancy. It has close to hundred recipes. Each recipe has a photograph of all the ingredients that you would need while cooking it. Especially for a novice like me, this app turned out to be a boon. It ends with a photograph of the finished dish. And not to forget, the serving suggestion that comes with each recipe.

Following the app to cook was a beautiful experience. It was just like standing next to your mother and learn to cook. I tried one dish at night and to my surprise, dad took a second helping. I have chosen a few dishes from this app for the Christmas dinner.
This app can be downloaded from the Apple App Store for $ 4.99.

Houzz Interior Design Ideas

I can actually swear by this app. I have always been someone who was confused whether to use yellow cushion with white walls or blue. Placing the right furniture at the right place has often given me nightmares. With a man like dad around, you can be assured that no help is coming. Dad can even sleep in a cupboard, so forget about him caring for bedspreads and cushions. Now with Houzz Interior Design Ideas apps, I can breathe easy.

This app helps me in browsing photos ranging from room, style and location and save it on my Ideabook. Houzz has a collection of over 200,000 high resolution photographs. This app also gives you access to local architects and contractors who will help you to set your house right. I have kept this app handy and surf various photos to get the home decors right. I am also planning to contact a designer to get some renovation done at home. But that’s for next year.
This app can be downloaded for free here .

Martha Stewart Cookies
This was the first app that I actually downloaded. I am a great lover of cookies and have stolen them from the kitchen all my childhood. Hide it wherever you want, I will find it. And Martha Stewart cookies have been one of my guilty pleasures. When I saw this app, I could not hide my naughty smile.

This app is an invitation to pleasure. It has the recipe to all your favorite Martha cookies. It has a collection of 90 recipes which combines technology and old fashioned fun.
I think before thinking twice everyone should download this app here. This app is for $ 4.99. Christmas without cookies is just no fun.

Now armed with these three apps, I am breathing it easy. I just know I have the right combination for a perfect celebration. This Christmas, Santa will be delighted to come to our home where every detail is sorted out. Thanks to my iPad 2 apps. This is going to be a perfect Christmas.

“I see trees of green, red roses too.
I see em bloom for me and for you,
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.”

I love singing it with Dad – it’s our special song. Dad comes home early and we both sit to chat, have coffee and sing at times. Today, Dad saw me with the new iPad he gifted me for Christmas. He again sat with me to explain a few more features of the iPad.

Dad smiled as he pressed the home button in my iPad and said it’s not a lazy head like me, it wakes up with just one touch. iPad works on iOS which is the most advanced mobile operating system ever. It gives you access to the world with just a tap on the screen. It’s home to 140,000 apps. Dad said that iPad 2 is a great manager which stores music, photos, documents and much more. Every time I buy a song or edit the calendar on my iPad, it instantly appears on my iPhone, iPod and Mac. It’s got great resolution; there’s nothing like iPad 2, when it comes to reading books, watching movies or surfing the web pages. iPad 2 is built with advanced 802.11n wireless technology. It automatically finds Wi-Fi networks. It also comes with 3G connectivity on either AT&T or Verizon wireless networks. This is an excellent way to connect to the web where Wi-Fi connection is not available.

The in-built accelerometer is an incredible feature. With this feature, I can rotate my iPad 2 to portrait or landscape and whatever I am looking at-whether it’s a movie or an image-will adjust to that mode. Dad explained that everything on my iPad can be streamed wirelessly to HDTV and speakers via Apple TV or AirPlay enabled speakers. Dad also told me that if I want video mirroring, all I have to do is plug in the Apple Digital AV Adaptor or Apple VGA Adapter. Once I do so, the HDTV or the projector becomes the mirror of the iPad.

Everything can be printed wirelessly from my iPad 2 over Wi-Fi. It’s a boon for me; I keep printing a lot of articles and photos. This was all that Dad explained to me about iPad 2. It was dinner time. After dinner, we both sat down to sing ‘What a beautiful world.’

Dad had been nudging me past one month to tell him what I wanted for Christmas. Honestly, there was hardly anything that I wanted. I could always buy anything I wanted and Dad has always given me everything even before I asked for it. This afternoon, Dad put a neatly packed gift on the table and said that was my Christmas gift. I could hardly guess what was inside. I opened greedily to find a sleek iPad 2. The moment I saw it, it blew me over. It looked too good. Dad sat with me to explain its features.

He told me that iPad 2 is now 33 per cent thinner and up to 15 per cent lighter. I could sense that once I picked it up. It is powered with dual-core A5 chip, which makes it two times faster. Though I am not much of a gamer, Dad explained that the graphics are super fast and it’s a treat to any game lover. Dad surely loved its gaming speed.

I was amazed to see two cameras in this iPad, one was on the front for Face-to-Face chat and other at the back, that could be used for video calling. Though iPad 2 took my heart away, the iPad cover was treat to my eyes. The cover and the iPad can be said to be made for each other. My cover was pink; of course, it is my favorite color.

I am a bit absent-minded and many times forget to recharge my gadgets. Dad with a smile explained that the battery of iPad 2 can go on for 10 hours. This is a huge relief for someone like me. I felt like a princess holding my new iPad. There are other Apps in my iPad which Dad said he will explain to me later. It was coffee time and Dad had bought some lovely pastries. So, it was Daddy and his daughter’s time.

As I was working on an important project, our office’s ‘Apple Wiz’ Calvin suddenly appeared from nowhere. I almost spilled the mug of coffee on my keyboard. He seemed to be in high spirit. I could sense that there must be some Apple news. And before I could even say a ‘hi,’ Calvin sat on the chair next to me and broke his news about Apple.

His voice crackled with excitement when he said that according to Digitimes (one of his favorite tech magazine), Apple will launch new models of MacBook Air laptop in the first quarter of 2012. Hearing this, I too got excited because I too have a MacBook Air. Calvin explained that many top manufacturers will be launching anywhere between thirty to fifty new ultrabook models in January 2012.

Calvin said that, according to Digitimes, Apple is concerned about the new bunch of Windows-based light notebooks that will be sweeping the market. So, Apple is anticipated to launch MacBook Air notebooks with panel sizes of 11.6, 13.3 and 15 inches. At present only MacBook Pro comes with 15 inches panel size.
It will be a great show time, as it will be very exciting to see who wins the game at the end of the day – MacBook Air or Windows Ultrabooks. But for people like me and Calvin, 2012 will be a year of great excitement to see the launch of so many light notebooks.

I took an early leave from office today and went to the nearby shopping mall just to have the feel good feeling. There were still discounts on many things, I bought some linen for home and felt the joy that the advent of Christmas brings along.

This Thanksgiving, my cousin Dora also joined us for dinner. It was after five years that I was seeing her. I could not believe that the shy, lanky teenager now looks like the most beautiful girl I ever met. She had joined a renowned university for her honors in English literature. She was brimming bright with confidence.

After the dinner, she came down to my room with me to have a chat and there she spotted my MacBook Air. Her eyes became brighter as she saw it. She said that she also had the same one like mine. I was happy to know that. As she was a student, I wanted to know, why she used the Mac and not any other notebook.

She explained that as a student, she can be sure that this machine is built to last long, powered with the latest technology. She told me that she still needs to connect with Windows App, which Mac easily allows her to do. Making PowerPoint presentations, writing on Word doc or making Excel sheets is extremely easy and convenient for her.

She further told me that as a student, Mac remains her best choice for many other reasons. The battery is long lasting, which means that the laptop lasts through her classes on a single charge. It also works with almost every printer, camera, and bluetooth device. With a smile, she said that she downloads a lot of videos and songs, but as Mac isn’t susceptible to PC viruses, she stays carefree. She calls her notebook her ‘safe zone’.

With FaceTime, which is an in-built feature, she connects with her friends and family anytime she wants, as she is living on her own now. She just loves the way applications in Mac work together. From doing research to managing class schedules, Mac is her one shop stop. Finally, she told me that Mac comes with assistive technologies for students with learning and physical disabilities with no additional cost.

It was wonderful to know that Dora was another Mac lover in the family. She could have gushed about Mac all night, but she had to leave as her parents were getting late.
Dora left and so did the other guests. Thanksgiving came to an end. I would always remember this Thanksgiving not only for the wonderful time we all had, but also for knowing my Mac from a new perspective.