The developer states:

Clear is designed to help you manage your life without adding clutter. It’s a beautifully-designed, gesture-driven app that we’ve created to improve on pencil and notepad for flexibly keeping quick, simple todo lists. Clear will be available in February on the App Store.

Paperport Notes is a great digital notetaking tool for the iPad.

Whether you type or hand write notes, this app can help you capture and store information. The newest feature is the addition of Dragon voice recognition (English only). Now, you can speak your notes and draw images.

Just tap Tap & Speak and begin dictating. The app then translates your speech into text. The dictation was done without an additional microphone. The iPad was sitting on my desk while I spoke.

You can highlight, draw and erase like you would expect.

The text in all your notes is also searchable. So you can create multiple notes and still search throughout all of them.

If you need to open PDFs and mark them up, this app can handle that as well.

If you are constantly looking for the better note taking app, for free, you should try this handy app.

If you are looking for a quick way to organize and capture your ideas, tasks or notes, Protaskinote may be for you. You can easily share the information with a tap.

You can search the multiple lists and notes for your ideas. The ability to draw out an idea as well as create a list is a helpful tool if you are the kind of person who likes to write things on the back of a napkin.

The ability to highlight and choose different pens to create your list is a nice touch.

Create due dates for your tasks and enjoy the feeling of organization.

To learn more, check out the developer’s web page.  For a limited time, the app is free – check it out.

Apple updated iBooks, its book reading and markup app to version 2.0 today after announcing iBooks. The new app will run Multi-Touch textbooks designed for the iPad. There are to be interactive features, figures, diagrams, photos, video and more included within the new textbooks.

New ways to create highlighted text and notecards for test preparation are included to make studying more effective.

Textbooks in various subjects are currently available with more on the way.

Apple has released iBooks Author, a new app today to allow the design of books for the iPad.

Apple describes the app as follows:

Description

Create and publish amazing Multi-Touch books for iPad.

Now anyone can create stunning iBooks textbooks, cookbooks, history books, picture books, and more for iPad. All you need is an idea and a Mac. Start with one of the Apple-designed templates that feature a wide variety of page layouts. Add your own text and images with drag-and-drop ease. Use Multi-Touch widgets to include interactive photo galleries, movies, Keynote presentations, 3D objects, and more. Preview your book on your iPad at any time. Then submit your finished work to the iBookstore with a few simple steps. And before you know it, you’re a published author.

Apple-designed templates
• Give your book a great beginning with templates that include a choice of page designs with matching fonts, colors, and textures
• Easily customize your book with text and images, create new layouts, and even save a custom template
• Use the Book Navigator to organize your book and add a cover and table of contents

Beautiful text and layouts
• Use a variety of text styles in each template to give your book a rich yet consistent look
• Add text, shapes, charts, tables, and media anywhere on the page
• Import a chapter written in Pages or Microsoft Word and apply a great-looking layout from your current template
• Add any word to the glossary with a single click and easily include photos, images, charts, tables, and shapes next to any definition
• Automatically create a portrait view of your book, which allows readers to focus on the text

Multi-Touch widgets
• Choose from a variety of widgets that add Multi-Touch interactivity to your book
• Add a photo gallery, chapter review, movie, Keynote presentation, interactive image with callouts, 3D object, or custom HTML anywhere in your book
• Widgets include placeholders for titles and captions and are automatically numbered so you can reference them in your main text
• Add accessibility descriptions to any widget so that it can be used by sight-impaired readers easily with VoiceOver

Export for iBookstore or iTunes U
• Preview your book in iBooks on an iPad to see how it looks and works
• Easily add a cover, video introduction, copyright page, dedication, and foreword
• Submit your book to the iBookstore for sale or free download with a few simple steps*
• Export your book in iBooks format to share on iTunes U or to give to others
• Create a version of your book as a PDF file

Keynote ’09 (v5.1.1 or later) is required for Keynote widgets
iBooks 2 is required for previewing
iTunes 10.5.3 is required for syncing
* Books may only be sold through the iBookstore; additional terms and conditions apply.

If you use Westlaw for legal research, download the latest update of WestlawNext. Using this app, you can harness the West search engine to perform legal research and save or transfer your work.

The developer describes the app as follows:

FEATURES

➢ Use WestSearch™ to research an issue and find or KeyCite documents
➢ Add notes and highlighting to documents
➢ Save documents for offline reading
➢ Add notes and highlighting to offline documents
➢ Organize your folders
➢ Access your research History and Favorites
➢ Browse and search within content pages
➢ Email documents or selected text with a reference

The WestlawNext iPad application automatically synchs with the WestlawNext website and WestlawNext Mobile so you can start or continue your research anywhere.

The update allows you to share folders with colleagues and clients. You can still highlight relevant portions of documents and add notes so you can refer to them later. The ability to email cases is especially helpful.

Overall, the search function and usefulness of this app allows you to get legal research done on the go.

OnLive Desktop, a new app and service that provides a cloud based PC desktop is now available.

[Update: Macworld discusses the product.]

The company describes the app as follows:

Features:
• Instantly view, edit and create documents using actual Microsoft® Office Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Easily transfer files between OnLive Desktop and other devices
• Experience high-performance, instant-response PC applications
• Interact with lag-free animation and video

Based on groundbreaking video compression technology, OnLive harnesses the power of cloud computing to deliver a seamless, no-compromise remote PC desktop solution.

You are required to visit www.online.com/desktop and create an account. The account will be activated on a first come first served basis. Once created, you will be able to log in using your iPad app. The product is currently available in North America and the UK. The investors in the product include Warner Bros., Autodesk, Maverick Capital, AT&T, British Telecommunications (BT), The Belgacom Group, HTC and Juniper Networks. See this site for details.

Once you have created your account and downloaded the app, the company promises that you will be able to work from anywhere to create, revise and analyze Powerpoint, Word and Excel documents.

Onlive Desktop standard is currently free and allows up to 2 GB or storage. The pro version, starting at $9.99 a month is coming soon and will allow you up to 50 GB of storage and other functions. Read more about the service plans here.

Adonit has shared a sneak peak of its new pressure sensitive iOS stylus at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas. The new Jot Touch works via a combination of bluetooth, pressure sensitivity and software. Depending on the pressure applied, the line width will change.

Macworld has provided a glimpse of the product.

To learn more about Adonit products, visit their site.

* if you buy a product via the Adonit links above, a small commission may be earned to help keep this site going.

Shazam Entertainment has launched Shazam Player. The company’s other app, Shazam for iPad, helped identify music you were listening to so you could buy and download it.

Now, according to the company:

“you can now see streaming lyrics, watch YouTube videos and read reviews of your favorite tracks and artists! Get to know your music with Shazam Player.
It’s your music. Shazam Player lets you do more with it.
• Bring your music to life with LyricPlay™. See streaming lyrics in time to the music – you’ll always have the words to your favorite songs with you.
• Share the soundtrack of your day on Facebook and Twitter
• Watch YouTube videos and concert clips
• Find tour dates for the bands and artists you’re into
• Manage your music – see your iTunes playlists and create new playlists on the fly
• Select your favorite tracks and hide ones you don’t want to hear
• Add to your music – buy new tracks on iTunes from within the app
• View music by artist/album/title and use the Track Tray to see all the great Shazam features available for each song
• Top tracks – a changing list of LyricPlay tracks – buy them straight from the app if you don’t already own them
• Identify new music you’re hearing by instantly launching the Shazam App
LYRICPLAY:
•LyricPlay is available on over 30,000 tracks and we’re adding more all the time
‘Shazam Player’ is a trademark of Shazam Entertainment Limited.”

FAQ concerning the product is here.

A recent CNET article states Targus is planning on delivering a pen that will allow you to take notes on paper that will be transferred to your iPad. There will be a special pen and receiver using bluetooth to transfer the information.

No special paper is required. There is no OCR built in and you don’t have to have your iPad present because of some built in storage.

The device is supposed to ship June.