Can I say upfront: I love my iPad and I am just waiting the arrival of my new iPad3. I need to declare that I have not used other tablets. I am not sponsored by any company and my views are independent, formed from practical experience after using my iPad for seven months. With the timely release of the iPad3, here's some tips on improving your online productivity:

Depth not breadth

• I find apps a little like share trading back in early 2007 – everyone has a suggestion but there are only a few good ones

• Make some golden rules (criteria) and measure the app against them

• I have downloaded hundreds and found that I am most productive when I focus on a top few

• My top 5 are: Evernote, Linkedin, YouTube, Skype and Flipboard

• Boring, I hear you say. Well, I wasted a lot of time using apps only once

Practise..Practise..Practise

• I spend 10 minutes a day improving my effectiveness by learning more about the features of my top five apps

• I watch YouTube videos, I read blogs, I set up Google alerts and I ask heavy users their tips

• Discovr – it is an app that suggests like apps to what you are using. Simply type in the app name and it will show you others

Discipline

• I limit myself to one app for each task. For example, note-taking is Evernote and I don’t use anything else

• I limit time looking for new apps. I spent 15-20 minutes a day and then I stop

• Originally I found hours ticking by in iTunes that didn’t turn out to be productive time

Value

• We all seemed obsessed by the word free. People are happy to invest an hour of their time – say $100 of value to save $0.99 on an app

• I am prepared to pay for an app knowing that the money will be invested in improving the app and its functionality in the future

Basics

• Most functionality of the iPad is intuitive – a key part of its success

• Don’t forget some of the basic features, for example: swipe right from the home page to search for an app. I used to spend a lot of time grouping apps and couldn’t find them. Use search. Same applies for contact names, etc.

• Close apps not in use. I read an article that said it was a myth about draining power. If it is fact, shut them down by double-clicking the home key and holding your finger until the red arrow appears. You can use multiple fingers as well!