11 Better Must Have Apps for PR Pros

Usually, I'm a big fan of the links that come out via PRSA's daily newsletter, but today's link to PRNewser's Top "Must Have" Apps for Mobile PR was weak.

And in the spirit of building a better world, let me light a candle rather than cursing the darkness. And yes, there is a Zippo app for that too.

Some of the apps listed in the story are on my fave list (Instapaper, Recorder, Evernote and Dropbox), I can't really say unless I'm setting up meetings in NYC or LA that Open Table is anywhere close to the ones listed below, and frankly, most of us in the college side aren't managing travel to need Tripit.

We do need the ability to do work fast, and with some degree of panache. To that end, you're going to see more than one photo program here, and some other publishing tools besides WordPress.

HootSuite -- Until they fix the epic fail nature of crashing TweetDeck**, this is your iPhone Twitter reader of choice. Sending, you're OK with Twitter's dedicated app, and in fact, it can save you if you are doing corporate work to mono-task that account with Twitter, do your personal stuff and monitoring of lists via HootSuite.

PressReader -- This is the killer app for iPad and elsewhere to read 1900 worldwide newspapers. Period. Nothing comes close. Spend the money, get the $30 unlimited subscription. So your local paper isn't on the list? USA TODAY and most of the major dailies are, and there is a high probability that your opponent schools and other schools of interest papers are. (Um, you're going to tell me with a straight face you don't OppResearch teams in trouble?)

PhotoShop Express -- The free photo editing software from Adobe allows you to make average iPhone photos into great web pictures with quick crops, exposure and color changes. Quick. Simple. Free.

Camera+ -- Don't confuse with Camera Plus. This turns your iPhone camera into a much more flexible shooter, better zoom control, timers, exposure and focus control. It will also edit photos, but I find it clunkier and slower than the PS Express. Well worth the $1.98 you'll pay.

Pano -- Need a 360 shot? An ultra wide angle? Pano will automatically stitch your images together. Results look better than dedicated desktop programs at 10-times the price.

RadarScope/PinPoint Lightning -- Forget travel tracking, you need to know if your events are going to happen or if your flight is delayed. RadarScope is a bit pricey, but you will not find better radar data on iOS anywhere. Period. Take this advice from a semi-pro who is trained on radar interpretation. This is the real deal. Same for PinPoint Lightning. Yearly license because -- dirty little secret -- the nation's lightning detection system is a private enterprise (unlike the NWS radar systems). For the price, again, you can't beat the accuracy.

Skype -- Yes, FaceTime is nice. Skype is the bomb.

Instapaper -- I repeat from the top 10 list because this is one of the best apps for saving things to read later from websites.

iMovie -- Quick and dirty edits and titles of iOS video.

CoverItLive -- If your school does these, you must have the app. Walk around your venues and keep your blogs going, put remote team reporters in dugouts or other places.

** -- The hot rumor is Twitter will soon by TweetDeck, and that either means we lose the awesome desktop ability to see multiple streams/searches at once, or Twitter's app will suck into its GUI this must-have ability.