We had a great turnout for February’s MUG meeting. The informality was great and several people shared favorite apps, did a spontaneous show and tell of some of their favorite apps, and responded to audience questions. We think we captured most of the discussion below but if you’ve got things to add, leave a comment!

Apps discussed

• Gray’s Anatomy [$79.99] Jon Rose uses this in Physical Therapy classes.
• 3D4Medical check out the NOVA Series with various individual apps ranging in price from $9.99 to $19.99 including: muscle system, skeletal system, heart, brain, iMuscle, knee, hip, and shoulder. For an example of one of the apps, check Muscle System Pro III for $19.99  – the Student Muscle System app is $5.99; there are a variety of other quiz and student apps, some of which are free or very inexpensive ($1.99, $2.99, $4.99). Jon Rose uses this in Physical Therapy classes.
• WritePad  [$1.99] says it’s a “state-of-the-art handwriting recognition software [that] will adapt and learn your style of writing.” Easily transfer files. Steve Nace from Medicine uses this one.
• FormConnect [$9.99] allows you to create database forms on the iPad, from scratch or using pre-built templates, and you can fill out forms on the iPad, save data, and share with others. Steve Nace in Medicine used this one some time ago, but hasn’t used it recently.
• ShowMe Interactive Whiteboard [free] allows you to record voice-over whiteboard tutorials and share them online. Steve Nace in Medicine commented that he has used this to show one or two students something and record the impromptu session to share with others.
• Sling Note [$2.99] was described by Steve Nace of Medicine as a good app for letting you take notes and browse the web to include clips of material from the web alongside/within your notes. He commented that it was good to use in classes – while a lecturer spoke about a topic he could take notes and also access material on the web to include as clippings with the notes.
• MyPoint PowerPoint Remote [free] is a way to use your iPad to control a PPT presentation from a podium computer (PC or Mac). Trevor Sweatman of Medicine uses this and likes it because it allows you to roam about and not be tied to behind the podium while you present. There are in-app purchases that allow you to have a timer and a marker – Trevor has purchased the marker feature. It shows you the previous, current, and upcoming slide on your iPad. The download to the podium computer to allow MyPoint PowerPoint Remote to work is free.
• MagicalPad [$4.99] is an outliner, mind mapping, notes, and checklist program all in one. Bob Shreve of Medicine and Cindy Russell of Academic Affairs use this – Bob more consistently than Cindy. Bob has pre-populated meeting agendas and also a to do list in his. Cindy finds that using it to take notes during meetings can force brevity and, when you send the notes to people, you can send as a text format as well as a PDF that shows the actual colored page.
• Evernote [free] continues to come up at most of these MUG meetings and, given that it’s free, it’s definitely a worthwhile app to explore – Steve Nace of Medicine uses Evernote a lot and has found that Evernote and Dropbox has allowed him to do away with his use of GoodReader as well as OneNote. It allows you to sync notes across a variety of devices (mobile as well as desktop). Your notes are searchable. Lots of good features for free and some additional features in a paid premium version.
• Dropboxis another one of those apps that continues to come up at MUG meetings. It’s a free app and allows you to sync your photos, documents, and videos. Dropbox is integrated into many other apps, which allows for seamless uploading of documents into Dropbox – then they can be accessed via any other mobile or desktop device that has the free Dropbox program installed.
  • Note: Connie Childs of International Affairs reported that Dropbox is giving up to 5GB of extra space for free to users. Read more about it here  – after the MUG meeting Connie was testing the process for herself!
  • OnLive Windows Desktop for iPad is a free service that allows you to connect to a remote virtual machine for accessing Microsoft Office Products (Word, Excel, PowerPoint). Darnita Brasselof Human Resources said that her husband has this app and he loves it.
    • Note: Lin Wu of the Health Sciences Library and Trevor Sweatman of Medicine spoke of OnLive Desktop Plus that offers access to a version of Internet Explorer with both Flash and PDF support through connection to a virtual desktop. Access costs $5/month.

Some apps that keep people up to date on what’s coming up, what’s free, and what’s hot in terms of apps and mobile devices include:

• Macworld Express [free] is one of Trevor Sweatman’s favorite apps to stay in the know.
• AppAdvice [$1.99] is one of Cindy Russell’s daily reads to stay on top of things.
• Macworld [free] is another daily reader that covers Apple-related news, reviews, and tips.
• App Hits [free]  shows apps by category, device (iPad, iPhone), and cost (paid, free) that are on sale, new, free, or just “hot.”

Some other apps discussed during the session included:

• Adobe Photoshop Touch [$9.99] is a new release in the app store. It allows use of many popular Photoshop features, searching and sharing of images, printing, etc..
• Slide to Buy ~ Grocery Shopping List [free for a “very short time only”] puts reminder messages on your lock screen. You can make shopping or to-do lists and check them off from either inside the app or from your lock screen.

Other items discussed included:

• Information from ITS as to the unique clients logged into the UTHSC Mobile network show that 67% are Apple devices of some type. The next highest (other than unknown at 21%) was HTC at 2% and Motorola at 2%. ITS is getting an upgrade to one of its systems that will show more details about devices connecting to our Mobile network – but these were some interesting results.
• Through the underwriting of the AAMC, UTHSC is receiving a live simulcast of TEDMEDLive 2012 that takes place April 10-13 with 50 speakers over 11 sessions. Individuals apply, 1200 are selected, and each pays $5,000 to attend in person. Each presenter has 15-18 minutes to engage participants in exploring issues, challenges, and innovations that shape the future of health and medicine. Several of the prior TEDMED talks are available here. Presenters are from diverse fields, many not health care-related. One of the founders of TEDMED likens TEDMED to Cirque du Soleil – saying that TEDMED is an intellectual circus not like any other. This brief 2 minute video introduces TEDMED.

There was a little something for everyone who attended. We hope this listing offers you something helpful.

Image attribution: Image entitled “Cirque Du Soleil ‘O'” by Adria Richards, taken on Sept. 18, 2009 and obtained from flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/adriarichards/3933525114/ under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.