JiraPad puts an extremely easy to use iPad interface onto the Jira Agile project management system. Project summary data is available at a touch showing all deliverables and task progress toward each.

Lightning fast commerce integrated with the Paypal API. Lightning Sale uses the same Linea Pro bar code scanner & credit card swipe pioneered in the Apple retail stores with a massive speed boost.

LexStudio will let anyone produce a live event, send streaming video to a wide audience and switch between multiple video inputs... all from an iPhone.  No longer will large, expensive cameras be necessary to produce great live videos of events.

Apple's release of the USB camera connection kit has allowed some interesting pairings of devices with the iPad. In an attempt to make the iPad even more functional, we tested out some USB audio devices with Skype to see how well the iPad would work for telephony and the results were encouraging.

While the iPad is generating a myriad of opinions, one key item is being overlooked in Apple's announcement: Apple's iWork office applications will be available for $9.99 each for the iPad. While a reduction from the $79 desktop pricing, Apple is taking a stand to show that applications delivering value can exist at higher than the $0.99 price point of many iPhone apps.

Lextech is growing and we're looking to expand our team. If you're in the Chicago area, are looking to be a part of a team changing the way people use technology and fit the criteria below -- drop us a line. Where else do you get to work on things like a rocket launcher control system, build a harbor video surveillance system, create the most elegant and advanced iPhone app available or link mobile phones to GIS tracking systems?

Responsibilities

I had a chance to get up close and personal with the new point of sale system at an Apple Store tonight. Replacing the previous mobile POS system is an iPod Touch wrapped up in a black case that contains a laser barcode scanner. The iPod runs Apple's Easy Pay app to manage the transactions. The store employee logs in with their Apple ID and they're presented a simple front end that links to Apple's existing transaction systems.

Gartner research has posted numbers covering Q3 world wide mobile phone sales. Crunching those numbers results in some very interesting data points:

• Smart phones make up 13% of all mobile phones sold (41 million of 308 million phones) up from 11.8% in 2008 for the same quarter. The total volume of phones sold was flat (308 million). The important thing to note here is users are converting to smart phones.

iPhone app promo codes are used to provide free copies of an app to reviewers or other key users. The folks over at TapTapTap posted a great tidbit for sharing iPhone app promo codes in a much easier to redeem fashion. Rather than a user having to navigate inside iTunes or try to find the nicely hidden 'redeem' link on the iPhone, the end user can click a URL which will launch iTunes on a desktop computer or an iPhone directly from an email and start the redeem process.

I live on my laptop and the data on it and my desktop is of critical importance (from family pictures to marketing videos to iPhone apps under construction). I've seen too many people in the last couple years lose something critical because it only existed in one place. Of course our key business data lives on file servers, source code revision control systems and databases that have their own backup strategies but for anything that lives on a laptop, additional measures are required.