Way too much to do, too little time? As any good business owner or corporate climber knows, time is money. And anybody with an iPhone or iPad knows that wasted time is wasted money. Use apps to fill your otherwise wasted commuting time, travel time, and personal time with new ways to stop sweating the business details start getting things done. Better yet, these apps will make your business chores so fun you may not even notice that it’s long past five o’clock. Here are the 5 Best Business Apps for iPad, iPhone or iPod touch.

Dragon Dictation, Nuance Communications; Free. You know those movies where the hip young screenwriter picks up a voice recorder and says “Idea for a screenplay…”? Aside from being hackneyed and self-referential, that scene never depicts the tedious transcription process. “That’s what secretaries are for,” you say? Save that money, and let the app do the work–or more precisely, the cloud behind the app. You talk, it sends to the cloud servers, and back comes the voice-recognition transcription. Great accuracy, because the code is not squeezed down to app size. Just don’t use it to send national secrets to the other guys in NSA. If you’re worried about interception, use iTalk Reporter, and transcribe the old-fashioned way.

Cisco WebEx Meeting Center, Cisco; Free. You’ll want to trot up to the deck and off the beach itself; loud breakers may distract other attendees. Yes, Cisco WebEx Meeting Center is mobile now, and if your company uses WebEx Meetings, you’re one persuasive pitch away from freedom. What you bring to the table is still up to you; remember, people talk all the time about “phoning it in,” and “iPhoning it in” won’t get you high marks either. Still, if the main problem is that the meeting is in Lansing and you’re in the Caymans, you can now get a full screen view, audio, and any shared documents through your iPhone. If you’re lucky enough to have the iPad, you’ll also get to enjoy all of your docs at nearly normal size.

Jobs, Careerbuilder.com; Free. So, exactly how do you get that job where you lounge around in the Caymans WebEx-ing into meetings, and (we assume) doing other important business things? You may find it at Careerbuilder.com, and if you can find it by searching CB, the biggest online job-search site, you can find it using your iPad or iPhone anywhere with a wireless signal. Match your skills with what an employer is looking for–from the Caymans. If the guy in the WebEx meeting is doing the hiring, SCORE! If not, in this economy, you may have to settle for gainful employment in your chosen field.

USPS Mobile, UPS Mobile, FedEx Mobile for iPhone, Various; Free. They do exactly what you think they do. Call for a pickup and track the shipment from your iPhone or iPad with WiFi. If you’re on the go, and you want to make sure your package is behaving likewise, one or more of these apps is a must.

Office2 Plus, Byte Squared; Free. Office2 Plus gives you access to docs you take with you, docs residing on mobile-friendly cloud computing services such as Google Docs and MobileMe, and docs e-mailed to you. Through in-app upgrades, which are not free, you can also create and edit Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel files on your iPad or even on your iPhone if you’re in a pinch.

These apps are the best of the best — some trendy, some workmanlike, but all indispensable if you want to start running your business from your iPad or iPhone.

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