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Apps for Academia

Not just for students, but anyone in academia should consider these resources.
By Charlie Osborne, Contributing Writer
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Name: Summly

Maker: Summly Ltd

Compatibility: iPhone, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation) and iPad/ Android.

As an application for university or college students, this app is a way to find and process information for studies quickly and effectively.  Although tools like Google give us access to incredible amounts of information instantaneously, it can be difficult to find suitable material -- or extremely easy to become distracted.

By using Summly, it offers a new way to quickly scan summarized text and decide if that is the content you need to pursue. For those among us who leave revision until the last minute or pull an all-nighter finishing the essay due the next day, it could become one of the must-have applications you keep on your smartphone dashboard.

Source: App Store

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Name: Graphing Calculator Pro

Maker: Deftapps

Compatibility: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad /Android.

This $0.99 app is a powerful function plotter and scientific calculator. It includes:

  • A standard scientific calculator
  • Graph visualizations
  • Cartesian, polar and parametric functions support
  • Intersection discovery
  • Portrait or landscape viewing

Source: App store

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3 of 11 Charlie Osborne/ZDNET

Name: Wikipanion

Maker: Robert Chin

Compatibility: iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

 As an alternative to the official Wikipedia app, this free alternative is designed for quick and easy access to Wikipedia articles. History can be grouped by date, and you can bookmark either separate articles or sections. Other features include:

  • Content tables
  • Multiple search methods
  • Dual languages
  • In-page searching
  • Term searching without leaving an article's page, including audio playback.

Source: App store

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Name: Dropbox

Maker: Dropbox Inc.

Compatibility: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad/ Android

 The free service allows you to store photographs, documents and video, and then share them quickly and easily. It’s an incredibly useful app for moving files between computers or keeping a backup copy of them in the cloud.

The Android app has recently received a complete overhaul, with 2.0's release including extensive new features and redesign. The new updates include bulk uploading, Ice cream sandwich support and single-tap action access.

Source: App store

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Name: iFlashcards

Maker: David Skelly

Compatibility: iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

Flashcards, especially when exam season rears its ugly head, can be valuable tools for revision (..or learning) purposes. Instead of using paper and sticking card upon card all over your apartment doors, fridge and cupboards, why not create and take them with you on the go?

Source: App store

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Name: Inclass

Maker: OneZeroWare

Compatibility: iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

This highly-rated organizational application allows a user to organize their schedules, take notes and color-code anything important.

Recently made advertisement free, notes can also be taken in photo, audio or video formats -- to be saved and viewed at a later date.

Source: App store

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Name: iHourglass

Maker: Headlight Software

Compatibility: iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

 iHourglass is an app available in both a free and premium version, and its purpose is to act as a (beautifully presented) timer. Users can set their own intervals, and then time themselves in tasks -- perhaps for practice revision questions or as a reminder?

To reset, simply flip your device over.

Source: App Store

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Name: Evernote

Maker: Evernote

Compatibility: iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

Available as both a free app and with additional fixed as a 'premium', paid version, Evernote is a means for a user to take notes, capture photos, create lists, as well as record reminders. If you're on the go, you can search through any of the data you have stored through the app, syncing across a number of different devices for easy access.

Other features:

  • Create and edit text notes
  • Save, sync and share files
  • Search for text inside images
  • Organize notes by tags functions
  • Email notes and save tweets to your Evernote account
  • Share notes via social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

The premium version of the app also allows you to secure your account via a pin code, allow access to other select people, and take your notes offline to access them at any stage.

Source: App store

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Name: Amazon Student

Maker: AMZN Mobile LLC

Compatibility: Android 2.1+/ Apple iOS

Looking for a particular book or resource? This is a handy app for quick access to the Amazon marketplace, including price-checks, trade-in deals and shipping discounts. 

A handy barcode feature integrated within the app allows you to scan a barcode to perform a price-check, see if there are any copies of an item in stock, or for trade-in purposes.

Source: Google Play

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Name: GoodReader

Maker: Good.iWare

Compatibility: iPad. Requires iOS 4.0

This $4.99 app turns your iPad device in to an excellent reader for PDF files and several other formats:  

  • MS Office : .doc, .ppt., .xls
  • HTML and Safari webarchives
  • High resolution images
  • Audio and video.

Not only can you review files, but it is possible to mark-up PDFs using typewriter text boxes, sticky notes, lines, arrows, and freehand drawings. Once you have read or manipulated a file, GoodReader can then be synced with other devices and services including Dropbox and FTP for transfers. Annotate, read, transfer, search and manage your files easily -- making this a top contender for one of the most valuable productivity apps currently available.  

Source: App store

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Name: Penultimate

Maker: Cocoa Box Design

Compatibility: iPad. Requires iOS 3.2

At a cost of $0.99, this application is designed to function as a handy 'notepad' app for drawing, note taking, cutting, copying, editing and pasting information. If you're annotating, then it is possible to use different coloured 'inks' in order to arrange and highlight your pages. What sets this app apart is the fact you can also share your work through email -- sending it via email or as an attached PDF file.

Source: App store

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