Eight Ways One Boomer Uses Her iPad Daily

Recently, I had a fascinating conversation with my niece who won an iPad at a charity event. She said she only uses it to play Scrabble, but that her 11 year old daughter uses the iPad for numerous things like watching downloaded TV programs and playing games. In her house, an iPad has become an entertainment device for her child. That made me think of the many ways I use my iPad, and I know I am not making as much use of it as many people.  Here are eight  ways I use my iPad on a daily basis.

1.  Checking email. My iPad is upstairs where I don't have a "real" computer, and I don't carry my phone with me around the house. Therefore, I check my email on the iPad quite often.  I usually don't write lengthy replies on the device, but save that task for my computer that has a more comfortable keyboard option. Sorry, Steve Jobs, but I really don't want to type for any length of time on the iPad's keyboard.

2. Reading books. I always have a book going on the iPad, usually in the Kindle app. With the Kindle app, I can read my books on multiple devices, and they stay in sync, so when I start to read on one device, I pick up where I left off on another, a feature I really like. Right now I am reading  a book called Spies of the Balkans by Alan Furst on three devices: my computer, my iPhone and my iPad.

3. Reading magazines and newspapers. I downloaded the New York Times app and the Washington Post app. I also have the USA Today app on my iPad.

I have a lot of magazines on there too, but find I spend less time reading them on the iPad than I expected. As I've said before in this blog, magazines aren't working out that well for me on the iPad. While their interactive features are interesting and engaging, I usually save magazine reading for airplane trips. Unfortunately, you can't keep the Wifi on in most airplanes, so you lose the interactivity of many of the newer apps.

3. Watching TV I missed. I have a DVR, but sometimes I miss recording a program. If it's on ABC, I watch it on the ABC app. Otherwise, I "stream" it from Netflix. The Netflix app is free, but you do have to pay Netflix's monthly subscription fee, which lets you watch practically anything the company offers on demand. One caveat, however: if you start something on one device, like your computer, and then try to watch it on Netflix on the iPad, Netflix doesn't always hold your place.

4. Finding out tomorrow's weather. OK, I'll confess. We don't watch local news at night, so I'm often clueless about the forecast. It's easy to keep up with any one of the app store's weather apps.  This is The Weather Channel app that I use:

5. Playing Scrabble. This simply is one of the most addictive and fun apps out there. I play the "Solo" game, locking wits with the computer sometimes. Luckily, you can set how hard you want the computer to challenge you! Also, my husband and I "Pass and Play" taking a few turns each night before we fall into bed.So far we are pretty evenly matched although there was that one time he beat me by 100 points!

6. Looking up odd facts on Google. Google is great, and if you ever want to know what a word means or who that actor is in the old movie you are watching, Google is the place to go. I use the iPad app for finding out things on Google often.

7. Looking at my old pictures. I think the iPad is unsurpassed as a way to look through your old digital photo albums. It's just so easy to flip between pictures and the pictures look gorgeous on the device.

8. Checking Facebook---I'm not a big Facebook user, but I admit I go there almost every day to check in on people's updates and figure out what's happening with my far flung family.  The Facebook/iPhone app is easy to use and also makes putting in a status update quite easy

.

What surprises me in all of this is the one thing I don't do much: surf the web. I like to use a bigger screen for that job, so when I'm looking at a lot of websites, I go to my computer. Also I don't create much using the iPad. I guess I never got past the rather hard-to-use keyboard.

Nevertheless, the iPad has eliminated the need for a laptop or netbook in our bedroom. I often ask myself if the iPad was worth the money, and my answer right now is "yes". Certainly it is a luxury gadget, but it's one that brings me pleasure and gets a lot of use.

If any of you have iPads, please let me know what you use yours for on a daily basis. It would be fun to compare notes.

I Bet You'll Be Paying for Coffee From Your Phone, Boomers

Just a brief note to my loyal readers. I'm sorry I've not posted for a while. I'm getting back in the saddle now, and hope to keep this blog updated on a more regular basis. Thank you for your indulgence.

About a week ago,  I heard that Starbucks was going to release an app for the iPhone that will allow people to pay for their Skinny Caramel Macchiatos with their phones. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to tell you about it. Baby Boomers are big coffee drinkers and many of us need our fix every morning. Some of us absolutely pay top dollar for our designer coffee. I'm not the only Baby Boomer in line at my local Starbucks and my husband waits in line every day in NYC for his fix of java.

One question always has been: "How can Starbucks make that line move faster?" Well, I think Starbucks actually has hit on something that will make the line move faster! Also, I think what they are doing will make it more likely that our generation will trust paying for goods and services with our phone.

Now, I've heard about elaborate schemes that let people use their phones as credit cards before, but they all required either another piece of hardware hooked up to the phone or some other elaborate effort ---which I don't think people are going to actually do.  One "pilot program" I read about, is described in this Reuters article:

The program will allow select New York-area employees and customers to install small chips, supplied by Visa and its technology vendors, in their smartphones that emit radio signals over very short distances.

Customers would then "bump" their phones with point-of-sale devices in stores -- actually they need only wave the phones near the devices -- and their bank account data would be collected and their purchases completed.

Frankly, people in Japan have been using their phones for years as a mobile wallet, but in the case of Japan, I believe the phone company takes the charges and collects the money on the bill.  Here, credit card companies and banks want to be involved. But the Starbucks solution is perfect for small purchases. And people usually will use their credit cards to "buy" the gift card that is being used.

First, download the Starbucks Card Mobile App from the App Store, then buy a Starbucks gift card or "stored value" card from your local Starbucks. You can even buy one online and have it emailed to yourself, but to test this app out I bought a card for $25.00.

The app prompts you to enter the card number and a passcode, which is scratched off from the gift card. After you've entered those numbers, you've registered your card.

You don't have to do anything else to register your card, but if you wish to accumulate points and to qualify for a free birthday drink, you can register for the Starbuck's loyalty program as in the screen above. You can also reload your card online at Starbuck's website:

Today I took my phone out to my local Starbucks for a test run. After ordering my 140 calorie Skinny Caramel Macchiato, I touched the portion of the card below that says "Touch to Pay" then handed my phone to the cashier to scan the bar code that appeared. For obvious reasons, I've changed the bar code picture below.

After the cashier was finished I touched the button that said "Touch When Done", and my purchase registered on my phone. I liked using the app because there was no fumbling in my purse for my credit card or for cash, no change to worry about, no signing, no making sure that my credit card got back into my wallet.

Simply put it was quick and easy, and I think it will be the future --how all of us will pay for small items. I definitely think Starbucks will be the merchant to make mobile payments accessible even to those of us who reject such notions. And I think that this is one technology that baby boomers will readily adopt.

The Gift of Free e-Books this Holiday Season, Boomers!

I can't tell you how it breaks my heart to publish this post. My sister, Anita Lyons, has been  helping me with these, checking for typos and spelling errors, for the last few months. This is the last post she helped me with before she passed away. I will always be grateful to her for her interest in my work, her devotion to language, and her love of family.


Once again, apologies for not publishing on a timely basis. I am still working on my thesis, and hope to get back to regular posts once it is finished. While I'm a bit overwhelmed right now, I wanted to give you a kind of holiday gift this season: the present of free reading. I'll explain.

I always read Rob Pegoraro's Faster Forward posts in the Washington Post, and at the end of November he wrote one about Amazon. Apparently, Amazon has been charging Kindle users a fee for books that are essentially free! The titles in question are not just public domain books, but books that have been formatted for Project Gutenberg by volunteers, Pegoraro said. In October, he had received an email from one of the volunteers:

"Gutenberg contributor Linda M. Everhart complained in an e-mail in late October that Amazon was selling a title she'd contributed to Gutenberg, Arthur Robert Harding's 1906 opus "Fox Trapping," for $4."

"They took the text version, stripped off the headers and footer containing the license, re-wrapped the sentences, and made the chapter titles bold," wrote Everhart, a Blairstown, Mo., trapper. She added that "their version had all my caption lines, in exactly the same place where I had put them."

That made me wonder if Baby Boomers and others who are new users of e-book readers actually knew about Project Gutenberg, a great free site for books that are out of copyright. You can download all the classics from this site without paying a cent or even registering. If you like the site, and want to contribute to its upkeep, then you can donate to it. Otherwise, you can use the books there as you wish. To download the books to your Kindle, choose the Kindle format. You can also find "epub" formatting for most books and Apple formatting for some books.

Here is a link to Project Gutenberg's top 100 most downloaded books.  When I looked on the day I wrote this blog  Sherlock Holmes, A Christmas Carol, Huck Finn and Pride and Prejudice were all on the list, as was an audio book from an author  I've never heard of  called The Song My Paddle Sings, a poetry book by Canadian author E. Pauline Johnson.

Yesterday, I went to the site and decided to download some Sherlock Holmes. I took a look at Project Gutenberg's mobile site, which is in development but worked fine for me, and found that Adventures of Sherlock Holmes mysteries were listed there.

After I clicked on The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, I came to this page:

At the bottom, it listed a number of different formats for reading. Since I have the Kindle program on my iPad, my iPhone and my computer, I decided to download it in the Kindle format.

I selected Kindle within this list, and within moments the book opened on my computer within my Kindle app.

In my life, I've revisited some of the classics many times, and this is one way to do it without leaving the house, going to the library or paying a penny. So visit Project Gutenberg and enjoy the wealth of material on that site. I hope you like my "gift."

In my next post I'll show you how to get those Project Gutenberg books off of your PC and onto your mobile device. I also plan to discuss other sources of free reading material for the iPad and e-readers.

What kind of Tablet Should You Buy, Boomers?

Hello, Boomers. Once again I want to apologize for not publishing in this blog recently.  I am in the midst of putting the finishing touches on my thesis and will return to blogging once that is complete. In the meantime, a colleague of mine, Gerry Purdy, of MobileTrax, LLC has written an email giving his advice to family and friends about what kind of tablet they might want to buy for the holidays. Most of Gerry's e-mail newsletters are written for the industry, but I thought this one was applicable to you. With his kind permission, I reprint it here.


I’ve had a number of friends and relatives ask me, “What tablet should you buy for the upcoming holidays?”  The question is a good one to consider because there are so many choices this year.  Remember that just a year ago the only ‘tablet’ in high volume production was the Kindle eReader.  Now, there’s the new (better but still B&W) Kindle, the color nook from Barnes & Noble (really an eBook reader), the full function Apple iPad, the Galaxy Tab from Samsung and products announced from Dell (Slate) and RIM (BlackBerry PlayBook).  I’ll focus on the first four products in this issue as I haven’t yet seen the Slate or PlayBook which are not yet shipping in volume.

Each one of these tablet devices may be right for you depending on your personal preferences.  Of all the current tablets, Apple has created the most emotional appeal with its commercials emphasizing the “magical iPad”.

First, if you only want to read a book, then the Kindle will adequately meet your needs.  The latest offering includes a 6” black & white display that provides higher contrast than previous models.  It includes Wi-Fi & free 3G to download books from any location in the world and costs $189.  There’s a Wi-Fi only version for $139, but I recommend spending $50 more to get one with built-in 3G. Amazon has the largest book collection, so the Kindle is a great gift for someone who’s an avid book reader and not likely to want the advanced features of a tablet.  

The next step up is the Barnes & Noble nook that now includes a color display.  They have announced support for a number of magazines that predominantly include color diagrams and photos.  This isn’t a full tablet as it doesn’t support an OS like Apples iOS or Google’s Android, but it greatly expands the classes of content that can be displayed on a tablet device.   This first version of the color nook only has Wi-Fi, but I expect you’ll see a color nook with 3G cellular wireless, since 3G is already provided in older nook models. 

For the past six months, the full tablet arena was owned by Apple with the launch of the first version of the iPad.  It has a larger 10” display, and the Apple App Store now includes thousands of applications that are designed specifically for the iPad.  A good example is the app produced to provide a great experience for reading color-enhanced newspapers, magazines and periodicals.  

I recently wrote a column (September 15, 2010) that declared the death of the physical newspaper within 10 years as the number of color tablets grows to hundreds of millions.  I expect publishers to offer a better tablet-based content reading and searching experience versus what can be provided on paper.  Rupert Murdoch has announced plans to publish a new digital newspaper called The Daily which will be delivered overnight to tablets.   That’s the sign of the future.

The iPad has two great ways to read books: 1) iBooks (formatting method for just the iPad that is cool - pages flip graphically) and the iBook Store (library of iPad enhanced books like iTunes provides a library of music and videos) and 2) Amazon Kindle Reader for the iPad so you can get all of Amazon's digital books (millions of them) on your iPad.  All of the books I have read on the iPad came out of the Amazon/Kindle library because it has significantly more titles.

I have found the iPad to be a much different experience than I thought it would be.  First, it’s much more of a ‘pass around’ kind of device that is different from either an iPhone or a notebook/Mac.  It’s easy to access photos or other things and just pass it to someone.  

Pandora works well with the iPad (because it has good speakers).  We sometimes just play background music, since it creates channels based on the music you like.

Email is easier on the iPad than the iPhone simply because it’s easier to see and much easier to type a reply.  It doesn’t replace Outlook on the Mac/PC notebook, but still it’s easier to manage than with a phone.  

I like the Amazon book store on the iPad as it has all of the books that are available with the Kindle.  I suspect that you’ll just find that you can get books from Amazon (download the Amazon/Kindle app for the iPad), as well as some books from the iBook store, and end up just not needing the Kindle.  If you have an older Kindle and are getting a new tablet like the iPad, give the Kindle to someone else who would enjoy reading books.

Just like with the iPhone, you sync up the iPad via 'Apple connector' to your notebook (Windows or Mac). You can then transfer files, photos and videos through the connector and using iTunes.  All of your iTunes content is immediately available on your iPad -- which is nice (and not available on the Samsung Galaxy).  And, you can make phone calls with the iPad using Skype and Wi-Fi.

The iPad will display PDF documents, allowing you to view them when out with friends or business associates.  I use it with other people showing them PDF versions of presentations or documents or photos all the time.  You'll be amazed that it becomes your group meeting interactive, pass around device.

I just acquired a Galaxy Tab.  The screen is smaller at 7”, but it feels very comfortable holding and carrying it around.  It has a camera, MicroSD slot for additional storage, and supports Adobe Flash -- thus easily displaying any web site that utilizes Flash technology.  It can also be used to set up a mobile hotspot.

The Galaxy Tab is definitely 'better' (more features) than the iPad, but it's just coming out.  Both have wireless with Wi-Fi built in, but I would recommend getting any tablet with 3G, as I have found you need access at times when Wi-Fi isn’t available.  You can sign up for their least expensive wireless data plan, but make sure you use Wi-Fi for large downloads and apps like Pandora (streaming music) which consume a lot of bandwidth.  

It seems clear to me that tablets will become a ‘must have’ for technology savvy individuals this year and then migrate into the enterprise market next year.  By 2012, I expect tablets to be become part of what I refer to as ‘the three mobile device world’ which includes a notebook PC/Mac, SmartPhone and tablet.  You talk and review with the SmartPhone, think and reflect with a tablet, and create and explore with a notebook/Mac.  

If you want to get that ‘Ooooh’ and ‘Ahhhh’ (along with some ‘Eeeeeks’ and ‘OMGs’), give someone you love an Apple iPad or Samsung Galaxy Tab this holiday season.  You’ll be so cool and receive lots of love.

Written by: 

J. Gerry Purdy, Ph.D.

Principal Analyst

Mobile & Wireless

MobileTrax LLC

gerry.purdy@mobiletrax.com

404-406-5309

Think of the iPad for Your Elderly Parents, Boomers

I know that many Baby Boomers are still in the sandwich generation, caring for loved ones who now are elderly. It's been interesting to me to find out that some of us are using technology to enhance the quality of life of older people whose minds might be shining as brightly as ever, but who have some physical limitation that keeps them tethered to home or even in a nursing home.

In the past, it was difficult to envision packing mom or dad's expensive and fairly heavy laptop with them to go to assisted living, and impossible to figure out how to get Internet access for the laptop. However, with the advent of the iPad older people are bringing their connections to the outside world inside with them.

I recently watched a YouTube video and a news report showing a 99 year old woman with glaucoma rediscovering her love of reading and writing poetry using an iPad which lets her see the letters because of the contrasting screen. I also had been following some posts on the Boomer social networking site eons (www.eons.com) by a devoted daughter, screen named Techie44, who wanted to keep in touch with her 94 year-old mom even though the daughter would be spending the winter many miles away. I contacted Techie44 and asked if I could share her story and she graciously agreed.

In the beginning, Techie44 wasn't sure if the iPad would work for her mom, but she thought that her mother, who has rheumatoid arthritis and is in a nursing home, might be able to master it. I read through Techie44's posts as she weighed the pros and cons of getting what was then a brand new device for her mom. One thing was telling, however. Her mom was already familiar with email and wanted to have her email with her in the nursing home.

After showing her mother the family's iPad and how it worked, Techie44 ordered one for her with Wi-fi and 3G and set up her mother's email accounts to sync with the iPad. She also sent her mom some email so she could practice replying. Thinking about what would make her mom happy, she also loaded the iPad with the Christmas and classical music that her mother loves and put in pictures of the family, as well as some photos of the family camping vacations, since that's what her mom used to love to do.

Significantly, Techie44 signed up for Apple's MobileMe, an application that keeps mobile devices in sync. This was suggested to her by one of the other eons posters and it turned out to be very important. The iPad is the kind of device that can be picked up easily and just "walk out the door" of a nursing home. MobileMe has a feature called "Find my iPhone/iPad" and if someone walked away with the device, it could let Techie44 know where it is.

In an email, Techie44 told me she put a sticker on the outside of the iPad notifying everyone that it could be tracked and that she demonstrated how she could track the device to the people at the nurses station. She also told them that she would prosecute if the device were stolen.  Although she didn't tell me this, I expect she was hoping word of mouth would spread, and anyone thinking of walking away with the device would be forewarned. She also took the added precaution of selecting a pass code her mom could remember, so no one else could borrow the device.

Now I've always contended that MobileMe should be free, and not the $99/year product it is, but I'm willing to say that in this case it's worth the money. An added benefit of  MobileMe is that Techie44 can link her mom up to a "cloud" photo gallery, and the family can update and add pictures to it  from wherever they are, without having to load them directly onto the device. This was also pointed out by another eons poster.


So how is it going? Techie44's mom has arthritis, so hitting all the right icons and keys on the iPad is somewhat of a challenge, but she is managing, and enjoying the device. She does most of her typing herself but an aide helps her type long letters.  She's listened to her music on the device, but had a bit of a problem figuring out how to shut it off. Thinking ahead, Techie44 showed someone at the nursing home the ins and outs of the iPad so they could help her.

In addition, Techie44 signed her mom up for the Facebook app, so now "Granny" can follow her grand nieces and nephews on the social networking site. She also downloaded an app called iFish Pond that will help her mom pretend she is sitting by a pond when the weather gets cold.

Techie44 says that she made the right choice in getting her mom an iPad. A computer would  have had to sit on a table and her mother would have had to deliberately go to it. The iPad is easy for her mom to carry with her, and the 3G wireless solves the problem of getting Internet access in a nursing home, something that could prove to be nearly impossible.

One last thing: Techie44 says that the iPad has made a tremendous difference in the quality of her mother's life. She is connected to relatives she hadn't heard from for years and looks forward to receiving her email and photos from her family.  You can't find a more ringing endorsement than that.

I know the post above makes it look like I endorse the iPad or that I'm employed by Apple, but I assure you I am not. I simply believe that this genre of tablet has opened up a new era of computing and is beneficial for society. Many, many tablets are coming into the market soon, but right now Apple essentially stands alone. If the upcoming Linux Android tablets are as easy to use as the iPad, as this author predicts, they too will gain traction with the elderly and will add to the societal goal of helping them stay connected.

A New Way to Back Up Important Files; Try DropBox, Boomers

First, I want to apologize for the length of time between blog posts. As you know, I returned to school to get my Master's degree, and now I'm working on my thesis. The deadline for the thesis is nearing and I've been spending a lot of hours working on it, and so I've neglected this blog.  Today I pulled myself away from that work because I found something I think will be really interesting to most Boomers.

Specifically, I came across an article called The 25 Worst High-Tech Habits (and how to fix them) in The Washington Post  online and believe it or not it's written in a way most of us can understand. Getting to the gist of it, the author, who is with PC World, says there are certain things that people do when they have computers and high tech gadgets that are not in their best interest. I had to laugh when I saw the list, because a few of my bad habits are on there.

The very first thing the author deals with is Avoiding Security Software. Some people think they can just be careful on the web, and they won't get infected by all the viruses out there, but it's really impossible to surf that carefully. Many sites that appear to be legitimate aren't. However, I do understand why some people won't put up with security software. I've found that my security software sometimes interferes with some of the other programs I want to run. And my software often does a mini-scan of my systems when I'm in the middle of something important. All I can do is wait for it to finish because it slows down the entire machine. However, you should run some kind of security software on your computer, Boomers.

The author also takes to task people who don't back up their computer, something with which I can relate. The author has a wake up call for those of us who don't back up. "All hard drives crash eventually. All of them. Yours will too." The article provides a link to a simple guide to get started with backup, although I looked at it and didn't find the guide so simple. I haven't found backup all that simple period. Every time I purchase a hard drive to back up my data, something happens to it that I can't undo. I have to go running to my computer savvy son to help me out. Still backing up is important, and I encourage you to back up your important docs. For another point of view on this matter check out the web site, and my competitor, BoomerTechTalk (www.boomertechtalk.com), and their article Backing Up is Not Hard to Do.

While I don't back up my disk as much as I should, I've found a way to protect my important documents (including the thesis I've been working on so diligently that has kept me from updating this blog more frequently) by using a program for my PC called Dropbox.(www.dropbox.com) Once again, I have my son to thank for introducing me to this ingenious app.  When you arrive at the Dropbox site, you are greeted by this:

Have you ever seen anything so simple on a web page? When you click to watch the video, you get a very good explanation of how to use this application, which is simple and smart. Basically, you are dragging documents you've created to the Dropbox folder, which is a kind of locked box that only you can access. No matter where you are, you can open your Dropbox and get your important documents from this locked box. One word of caution though, be sure to remember your password. (I'll have more on keeping track of passwords in a future blog post.)

So if you are working on a particularly important document, you can store a copy in the Dropbox, and if your computer crashes, the document will be there, accessible from the website. Dropbox even keeps the document updated for you, so you don't have to worry that the version in your computer is different from the one you are accessing at your hotel or, in my case, on the school computer. You can also download the app for the iPhone and iPad and open your documents on these devices.  Many Boomers would probably be worried about the security of this app, but Dropbox has thought of this and says it uses " military grade encryption methods to both transfer and store your data."

Well, I'm heading back to work on my thesis now, Boomers. I'll check back in to this blog as soon as I can.

You Can Save Web Material to Read Later, Boomers

I recently came across an app called Instapaper, which has been added to some top 10 app lists, and I thought it might be of interest to Boomers, especially those of us with iPhones or iPads.  It's pretty simple to use, but could save you a lot of squinting. OK, so I know our eyes aren't what they used to be!

Basically, as you are reading on the web, either on your computer, on your iPhone or even on your iPad, you can save what you are reading to read later, when you have time, and you can read it in a text only format that is easier on the eyes. I signed up for Instapaper at the website www.instapaper.com.

It's a very simple sign-up procedure as you can see. After you sign up, you have access to a "Read Later" button that you can drag to your tool bar. To drag it in Windows, just place your mouse over the button, left click the mouse and move it into place on the tool bar.

As you browse the web and you find things you don't want to read quite yet, you can hit the "Read Later" button and Instapaper saves the articles for you. When you are ready to go back to them, just sign into your Instapaper account, and there they are. I was browsing the web for some ideas for this blog and here is the way the two articles I wanted to read later are listed.  You can see that both are from an industry paper called InformationWeek, but this could easily be the New York Times or CNN online. Do you see the button that says "Text?" That means that you can see this article in a text only format, devoid of the chaos around it.

Where this application really shines is when you use it on your iPhone or iPad, during those slow times when you are waiting in line or in the doctor's office. You can check to see if there are any articles in your queue, and read away. You'll always know that what is there, is material you wanted to read.

I downloaded the free version of Instapaper for my iPhone via the iTunes App. Once again it was very easy to download the app and when I signed in with my email address, my list of articles above was right there. A couple of  caveats about the free version. You may get some off color advertising with it . You are warned of this before loading the app via a warning which says you have to be over seventeen to use it. Also, on the free version, you can only keep a list of ten articles to read later.  If you want more, you'll have to pony up for the $4.99 paid version. I understand the paid version lets you adjust the fonts, a great boon for Boomers.

My advice is to use the free version for a while to get a feel for the application. Then, if you find the advertising annoying enough, or find the fonts too small, or run into the limitations on the number of articles you can store, you can consider giving the developer his $4.99.


Here is the way the Skype article from InformationWeek that I saved to Instapaper looks.

You often get an option to open the page in Safari, so you can see what it is like on web. InformationWeek has a nicely optimized site for its information, so you will find the article in an easy-to-read format. In other cases you won't be so lucky and Instapaper's clean, clear presentation will be important to you.

Another useful app along the same lines is called Readability. Although this works just on the web, I guarantee that you'll be amazed at how much easier to read it makes web-based articles. Although this little button doesn't let you save anything for later, you'll want to use Readability whenever you are surfing the web and want to get rid of some of the website clutter.

I went to the website and selected my settings, from the options of Style, Size, and Margin. Then I dragged the "Readability" button to my tool bar, much in the same way I had dragged the "Read Later" button. Next, I surfed the web. Here is how the CNN article about the miners who were trapped in Chile looked on my Firefox browser.

 And this is how it looks by clicking Readability.

I know there are many other web and mobile apps that Boomers are using to their advantage. If there is something you really like, suggest it in the comments section below, and I'll take a look. Maybe if we pool our resources we can come up with a list of great apps for Boomers.