My Favourite iPad Pro Apps

2019-01-20 · Tech review, setup or bag tour · Ali · recording, 8:49 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Tools, apps and tech (also: Learning and studying) · mode: Review and recommendation · tags: Sponsor segment present

Junior doctor Ali tours his favourite iPad Pro apps for 2019: Outlook, Fantastical and Things for productivity; Quizlet and Google Sheets for learning; Day One, Notability, Bear, Evernote and Ulysses for writing; Kindle, Pocket and Unread for reading; Sight Reading Factory, Tabs HD and Lightroom CC for music and photos.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Ali opens 2019 with a tour of his favourite iPad Pro apps

00:00:22 — Productivity and utilities: Outlook, Fantastical, Things

★★ Microsoft Outlook is Ali's email client of choice on his iPad Pro: it gets the job done, it is pretty and fast, and it works. — 00:00:22 · iPad Pro
★★ Ali uses the calendar app Fantastical for its good natural language processing: he can type something like "meeting with Prof Sprout tomorrow, 5 p.m. at Costa" and it recognises the event. — 00:00:22
★★ Ali's to-do list app, on his iPad, Mac and iPhone, is Things: he splits his lists into areas of his life, such as his company SixMed, YouTube and the videos he wants to make. — 00:00:45 · Things 3, 6med, YouTube, iPad Pro

00:01:14 — Rosetta Stone and learning Japanese

★★ With his tasks in the Things to-do app, Ali says he does not have to think about what he needs to do: he just opens the app and sees the list in front of him. — 00:01:14 · Things 3
★★ Ali has been learning Japanese with Rosetta Stone for the last few months: he started after a research programme in Japan in his second year of medical school, and would like to do a medical placement there one day. — 00:01:14 · Japan
★ One of Ali's New Year's resolutions for 2019 is to do a little Japanese every day with Rosetta Stone. — 00:01:14 · Japan

00:02:20 — Learning: Quizlet instead of Anki, Google Sheets as a flashcard alternative

★★ Ali used Anki at medical school but has switched to the flashcard app Quizlet, because he finds its interface slightly nicer and prettier. — 00:02:20 · Quizlet, Anki
★★ Ali will use Quizlet to prepare for a postgraduate medical exam: either the MRCOG, the exam for obstetrics and gynaecology, or the MRCP, the membership exam of the Royal College of Physicians. — 00:02:20 · Quizlet, MRCP
★★★ Ali has not decided which specialty to go into: he had fully expected to choose obstetrics and gynaecology, but is now considering acute medicine or emergency medicine. — 00:02:49
★★ Ali uses Google Sheets as a flashcard alternative when he does not want the rigmarole of making a card in Quizlet or Anki: he writes himself questions down the side of a sheet. — 00:02:49 · Google Sheets, Quizlet, Anki, active recall
★ In Ali's 2018 spreadsheet the questions are colour-coded by whether he got them right last time, with the answers in white text in column B. — 00:03:18 · Google Sheets
★★ Ali says he will make a much more detailed video on exactly how he uses Google Sheets, hopefully in the next couple of weeks. (hedged) — 00:03:18 · Google Sheets · also in: I WAS WRONG - iPad Pro 11 vs. 12.9 inch
★★ Day One is Ali's journaling app: he writes down things about his day and adds photos. — 00:03:18 · Day One
★★ Ali keeps a small journal of nice comments in Day One: he screenshots kind comments from viewers and browses them when he is feeling sad. — 00:03:18 · Day One
★★ For handwritten notes Ali uses Notability, which he calls wonderful. — 00:03:18 · Notability

00:03:38 — Writing: Day One, Notability, Bear, Evernote, Ulysses

★ Ali also uses Notability, written in with the Apple Pencil, to store textbooks and his to-do lists for each day at work. — 00:04:08 · Notability, Apple Pencil
★ Ali says he will make a much more detailed video on how he uses Notability for his textbooks and work to-do lists. — 00:04:08 · Notability
★★ Ali calls Bear a nice, simple, easy-to-use Markdown writing app that he enjoys writing in, without the bells and whistles of Evernote; he also tracks his gym workouts in it. — 00:04:37 · Evernote
★★ Ali will keep Evernote for typed medical notes that draw resources together, but no longer use it as a general note-taking app as in the past, because he prefers Bear for that. — 00:05:07 · Evernote
★★ Ali writes his weekly email newsletters and blog posts in Ulysses: it supports Markdown and different styles, and he finds it a distraction-free pleasure to write in. — 00:05:07 · Sunday Snippets
★★ Ali reads little on his iPad because he has a Kindle: reading a book on the Kindle itself is much better than on the Kindle app on the iPad. — 00:05:36 · Kindle, iPad Pro
★★ Ali keeps the Kindle app on his iPad to flick through books and his highlights and notes, such as his many Atomic Habits highlights, when he needs inspiration for an email or a blog post. — 00:05:36 · Kindle, Atomic Habits, iPad Pro

00:05:41 — Reading: Kindle, Pocket, Unread

★ Ali uses Pocket on his iPhone and iPad to save articles he wants to read but has no time for there and then. — 00:06:12 · iPad Pro
★★ Ali follows about 50 blogs through Unread, the RSS reader on his iPad, because going on every website is a pain and a complete waste of time. — 00:06:12 · iPad Pro
★★ Ali practises piano sight reading with Sight Reading Factory, which randomly generates pieces of music at a chosen difficulty level. — 00:06:45

00:06:52 — Music and photo: Sight Reading Factory, Tabs HD, Lightroom CC

★ Ali finds practising with Sight Reading Factory more boring than playing pieces he already knows. — 00:07:23
★ Ali calls Tabs HD, which he has on his iPad and iPhone, the indispensable resource for guitar tabs or piano chords for pretty much any song. — 00:07:23 · iPad Pro
★★ Ali edits photos for his Instagram in Lightroom CC on the iPad: he shoots in raw on his drone, phone or camera and moves the files over by SD card or AirDrop. — 00:07:52 · Adobe Lightroom, Instagram, iPad Pro
★★ Ali shows a photo of the River Nile from his trip to Sudan a few days earlier, before and after editing it in Lightroom. — 00:08:22 · Adobe Lightroom

00:08:30 — Sign-off

Threads in this video

restate · Which productivity apps should you use? — Ali's to-do list app, on his iPad, Mac and iPhone, is Things: he splits his lists into areas of his life, such as his company SixMed, YouTube and the videos he wants to make. (00:00:45)
refine · Which productivity apps should you use? — Ali uses the calendar app Fantastical for its good natural language processing: he can type something like "meeting with Prof Sprout tomorrow, 5 p.m. at Costa" and it recognises the event. (00:00:22)
shift · Which productivity apps should you use? — Ali follows about 50 blogs through Unread, the RSS reader on his iPad, because going on every website is a pain and a complete waste of time. (00:06:12)
refine · Should you run your work from a to-do list? — With his tasks in the Things to-do app, Ali says he does not have to think about what he needs to do: he just opens the app and sees the list in front of him. (00:01:14)
restate · Should you use flashcards and Anki? — Ali used Anki at medical school but has switched to the flashcard app Quizlet, because he finds its interface slightly nicer and prettier. (00:02:20)
refine · Should you use flashcards and Anki? — Ali uses Google Sheets as a flashcard alternative when he does not want the rigmarole of making a card in Quizlet or Anki: he writes himself questions down the side of a sheet. (00:02:49)
progress update · Ali promises a video explaining his active recall spreadsheet in more detail (2018) — Ali says he will make a much more detailed video on exactly how he uses Google Sheets, hopefully in the next couple of weeks. (00:03:18)
restate · Should you journal, and how? — Day One is Ali's journaling app: he writes down things about his day and adds photos. (00:03:18)
refine · Should you journal, and how? — Ali keeps a small journal of nice comments in Day One: he screenshots kind comments from viewers and browses them when he is feeling sad. (00:03:18)
restate · Which note-taking app should you use? — For handwritten notes Ali uses Notability, which he calls wonderful. (00:03:18)
shift · Which note-taking app should you use? — Ali will keep Evernote for typed medical notes that draw resources together, but no longer use it as a general note-taking app as in the past, because he prefers Bear for that. (00:05:07)
progress update · Ali promises a video on how he manages his to-do lists in Notability (2018) — Ali says he will make a much more detailed video on how he uses Notability for his textbooks and work to-do lists. (00:04:08) → refers to How I take notes on my iPad Pro in medical school - Cambridge University medical student
restate · Should you read on a Kindle, on paper or by audiobook? — Ali reads little on his iPad because he has a Kindle: reading a book on the Kindle itself is much better than on the Kindle app on the iPad. (00:05:36)
refine · Should you read on a Kindle, on paper or by audiobook? — Ali keeps the Kindle app on his iPad to flick through books and his highlights and notes, such as his many Atomic Habits highlights, when he needs inspiration for an email or a blog post. (00:05:36)
outcome · Ali is invited on a medical mission trip to Sudan to run mobile clinics and teach medical students (2019) — Ali has been on his trip to Sudan, a few days before this video (January 2019), and shows a photo from it. (00:08:22)
setback · Ali prepares for the MRCOG exam in obstetrics and gynaecology, documented in study-with-me videos (2018) — Ali has not decided which specialty to go into: he had fully expected to choose obstetrics and gynaecology, but is now considering acute medicine or emergency medicine. (00:02:49)
announced · Ali prepares for the MRCP, a postgraduate medical exam (2019) — Ali will use Quizlet to prepare for a postgraduate medical exam: either the MRCOG, the exam for obstetrics and gynaecology, or the MRCP, the membership exam of the Royal College of Physicians. (00:02:20)
progress update · Ali promises videos on using Anki for his postgraduate exams (2018) — Ali will use Quizlet to prepare for a postgraduate medical exam: either the MRCOG, the exam for obstetrics and gynaecology, or the MRCP, the membership exam of the Royal College of Physicians. (00:02:20)
progress update · Ali says he might make a video on how his Japanese has improved with Rosetta Stone (2018) — Ali has been learning Japanese with Rosetta Stone for the last few months: he started after a research programme in Japan in his second year of medical school, and would like to do a medical placement there one day. (00:01:14)

Where the stories that moved here went next

Ali promises a much more detailed video about Roam Research (2020) — kept; last: progress update, 2020-07-21 (said on 2020-07-20, implied)
Ali promises a video on how he manages his to-do lists in Notability (2018) — open (updates through 2019, not reported done); last: progress update, 2019-01-20
Ali says he might make a video on how his Japanese has improved with Rosetta Stone (2018) — open (updates through 2019, not reported done); last: progress update, 2019-01-20
Ali promises videos on using Anki for his postgraduate exams (2018) — changed; last: progress update, 2020-01-14
Ali promises a video explaining his active recall spreadsheet in more detail (2018) — kept
Ali prepares for the MRCOG exam in obstetrics and gynaecology, documented in study-with-me videos (2018) — lapsed; last: paused, 2020-04-14
Ali prepares for the MRCP, a postgraduate medical exam (2019) — last documented in 2020; last: milestone, 2020-01-14
Ali is invited on a medical mission trip to Sudan to run mobile clinics and teach medical students (2019) — completed; last: looked back, 2020-01-07

Mentioned

Central: iPad Pro

Also: Works: Atomic Habits · MRCOG · MRCP

Organizations: 6med · Instagram · YouTube

Places: Japan · Sudan

Products: Adobe Lightroom · Anki · Apple Pencil · Bear · Day One · Evernote · Fantastical · Google Sheets · Kindle · Microsoft Outlook · Notability · Pocket · Quizlet · Rosetta Stone · Sight Reading Factory · Tabs HD · Things 3 · Ulysses · Unread

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