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I’m working hard to get more digital – er paperless in my business activities these days…

Once I got into the Kindle app for my books – geeks need big thick $50 reference books – I really wanted to next get my note taking onto this device.

I’ve learned some good organization tricks from mentors over the years and one of the best was to use these little theme notebooks that cost about $1.00 instead of yellow legal pads…key thing was all your notes were there in chronological order, and being a bound book you don’t tear pages out, and you definitely wouldn’t misplace it, loan it out etc.

I’ve used a couple of these books each year, and having all your last few months of notes is a real is boon. Over the past couple years I also found Evernote which I decided to pay for it was so good – but old note taking etc. wasn’t quite there…but the availability via web or client app was a major butt saver the past 2 years I’ve used that.

So somehow this new reality needed to incorporate Evernote. Oh, and maybe google docs and my Dropbox accounts. Who’da thunk I’d be sucked into “the cloud”…

My iPad adventure has up until now mostly been handy to replace my MacBook Pro laptop for lightweight stuff like web browsing and email…but it seemed that for $699 I could do more. It’s a solid music machine to replace my old iPod of course, I know lots of folks who watch movies on Netflix…but I want a business tool.

There’s an entire class of apps for note taking I’ve been trying though – so I’ve picked up (purchased) several from he app store and I’m trying them out too see what works best.

First off, get a stylus to write on your tablet. I scribble notes in my project and meeting theme books, and typing long documents with your thumbs (like this article) is not going to be fun. Adding a blue tooth keyboard seems to just make the iPad a netbook – so I don’t see the point of that, I’d just use a MacBook Air if I wanted that.

I use the one from Targus, but there’s other available depending on your preferences….then off to the app store to see what works for me.

Stay tuned.

Let’s cut to my conclusion – this is a great thing to take on a business trip.  Everything I needed – my presentations, my email, web / news – all just worked great.

Washington Reagan Airport, Orange County / John Wayne both had free wifi. Hilton business class hotel the same. All plenty of access.

My powerpoint presentation I prepared on my Mac, but fixed in Keynote.app on the fly – and hooked to the projector in the meeting room no sweat. I did pick up a couple of interface cables from the local Apple store before I left, but that’s pretty standard traveling stuff.

All my music is on my iPad – so just needed headphones. I always keep my phone so haven’t yet tried to get my messaging / texting outside of that….but on the 5 1/2 hour flight, no issues with battery life, anything….I even played some Angry Birds out of spite when I got really bored.

Note taking, synched to my drop box account – all worked just fine.

I never even borrowed a laptop.

On my first multi day business trip in a few months – so I decided to go laptop less…but not tech less and see if I could pull it off with just my iPhone and iPad.

Of course in a pinch I could borrow a laptop if something really needed it – but as I thought about it, why bring the extra bag and gear? All I’m doing is email, web stuff…even my PowerPoint presentation onto a projector are all iPad capable – maybe even iPhone possible!

So far, it was travel day. My only carryons were the iPad, some nice Bose over ear headphones and my iPhone in my pocket.

Listened to music for the 5 1/2 hour flight. Finished my latest kindle book. Read the paper and news in the airport while waiting. John Wayne airport has excellent and free wifi in the terminal.

I’m wrapping up vey updating this article – and I’m still on 70% battery life…and Led Zepplin is playing in my ears.

Day one score 5 stars!