I purchased my first iPad with Wi-Fi and later upgraded to one with 3G when they were available. I am using it more than I am using my MacBook Pro especially for quick and dirty tasks that it is perfectly suitable for like e-mail, internet surfing, chatting, Twitter, reading, shopping, research, etc. My iPad became very useful very quickly and now it has become a very important part of my life at work and at home. Therefore I’m constantly seeking something new, innovative, or productive to do with it and now that I am armed with a VGA video adapter I’ve discovered that my iPad makes a great whiteboard.
Sadun’s Whiteboard (iTunes Link) is an iPad app written by Erica Sadun that sells for $.99 in the iTunes App Store. It turns your iPad into a live whiteboard presentation screen when used with Apple’s VGA adapter or composite/component video-out cables.
I’ve adopted the app and I use it at home occasionally and at lot at business meetings. I like its simple yet effective set of features that don’t get in the way of the apps overall purpose. It’s a simple and effective whiteboard app that offers these features: sharing, background art support, multiple color simulated dry erase markers, an eraser, undo, redo, and Trash.
I like the apps sharing features especially after drawing an elaborate network diagram, software flow chart, or a funny picture for the family. The contents of the whiteboard can be saved to your Photo Album, the iPad Documents feature (i.e. iTunes file syncing), or e-mailed. Pretty handy if you ask me and it is easy to use.
The app will handle most file types that are compatible with Apple’s Quick Look for when you need to add background files.
I was given early access to a new version of the app that adds some nice new features. First, there are now seven different colored markers available that makes it match most of the real physical whiteboards you can buy out there in the real world. They just aren’t as easy to carry around! Second it has been given a bit of a face lift since the tool bars and markers look nicer.
The app isn’t intended to be a full drawing program so there aren’t a whole lot of features currently just a collection of basic ones, but Erica is probably going to add more in the future. You use your fingers to do the drawing and you can adjust the size of your pen on the whiteboard to work on finer details. The only thing I noted about that app that made me pause was that while drawing quickly the app sometimes had to catch up with me and it would have been nice to be able to label sections of my drawing with text. Trying to draw text with my big fingers and my hard to read scribble just didn’t mix very well.
If you are looking for a new way to use your iPad and you work a lot with whiteboards then you should consider Sudan’s Whiteboard app. The app is simple, effective, and lets you share your presentation with whomever you choose.
