I was determined to finish on this last day, but thought it might take until midnight. ;-) I like completing what I start, and having finished 23 Things on a Stick, I knew there would always be some advantage to finishing.
I did experience some frustrations with 23 Mobile Things though. In the beginning I felt like most of the apps were ones that I already had experience with and either used on a regular basis or had decided I didn't care to use for a variety of reasons, and so it felt like I wasn't learning anything new or experiencing any challenge. Well, this spring provided enough challenges in my personal and work life, so now I'm grateful. Challenge from 23 Mobile Things would have been enough to make me quit. The other major frustration had nothing to do with the program itself, but with the way mobile technologies work. A few weeks ago I got the e-mail from Springpad that they were shutting down. At least this time I made a point of migrating my information over to Evernote (Springpad's recommended replacement app) before the deadline to avoid losing everything, like had happened to me before, but it's still not the same. I know there were some poster sessions at this year's TIES conference about using Springpad in various instructional contexts. Using this example, there was clearly some function in Springpad that was considered unique, since Evernote has been around so much longer, and so while their work done in Springpad is not completely lost, the functionality and purpose of creating in Springpad is possibly lost when moved out into Evernote. I can see those types of things dissuading someone from branching out. Going back to a comment I made in Thing 13 - Presentations, this supports the notion of learning and understanding the basic concept and function of the app because there is a great likelihood that that particular app won't be available or maintained and you'll need to move to another bookmarking, interactive whiteboard, photo editing, audio recording app against your choosing.
I would certainly participate in future 23 Things programs, as I always get something out of them!
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Mobile Thing 22
So exciting...! Apps Gone Free is like the app equivalent to BookBub and why pay for anything when there is a chance of getting it free? A friend has been using Diana Photo quite a bit lately and talking it up like mad. Today it was free! It allows two photos to be layered over each other, adjusting the opacity and creating some interesting combinations.
Every year I like to check out AASL's top 25 apps for teaching and learning. Many of them have been included either in these Mobile Things, or similar variations.
Every year I like to check out AASL's top 25 apps for teaching and learning. Many of them have been included either in these Mobile Things, or similar variations.
Mobile Thing 21
My favorites?!?
LibraryThing - Two years ago I found myself regularly purchasing books, only to arrive home and find it sitting on the shelf already. After years of warehouse sales, conventions and conferences and general shopping, I had no clue what I actually owned versus titles I had heard about or read reviews of. I decided one of my summer projects would be to catalog my home collection, and LibraryThing seemed to be the way to go. It had a free account limit of 200-250 titles, and I'm glad I opted for the lifelong, one-time fee of $25 because by the end of that summer, I had 1400 titles cataloged. It's now increased to almost 1700, and that is a list very handy to have available when standing at the store!
LOCPix - Kind of like what I was hoping LIFE for iPad would provide, LOCPix has all the photography collections digitized by the Library of Congress, available by collection. Individual images can be saved as a favorite and prints can be ordered from the LOC.
Camera Zoo - Another fun photo app. First graders used this app to photograph their partners as an animal (seven options to choose from). Super cute and they had a ton of fun!!
LibraryThing - Two years ago I found myself regularly purchasing books, only to arrive home and find it sitting on the shelf already. After years of warehouse sales, conventions and conferences and general shopping, I had no clue what I actually owned versus titles I had heard about or read reviews of. I decided one of my summer projects would be to catalog my home collection, and LibraryThing seemed to be the way to go. It had a free account limit of 200-250 titles, and I'm glad I opted for the lifelong, one-time fee of $25 because by the end of that summer, I had 1400 titles cataloged. It's now increased to almost 1700, and that is a list very handy to have available when standing at the store!
LOCPix - Kind of like what I was hoping LIFE for iPad would provide, LOCPix has all the photography collections digitized by the Library of Congress, available by collection. Individual images can be saved as a favorite and prints can be ordered from the LOC.
Camera Zoo - Another fun photo app. First graders used this app to photograph their partners as an animal (seven options to choose from). Super cute and they had a ton of fun!!
Pocket - I've already mentioned this in one of the earliest Things, but Pocket can be attached to an RSS reader like Feedly, and with a single tap save blog posts into you Pocket. Then within the Pocket app, folders and tags can be used to organize anything saved into pocket.
Mobile Thing 20
Alzheimers and dementia runs in my family. Probably an unlikely start to a post on Thing 20: Games, but those in my generation and my parents' generation are interested in word puzzles and number games that aid in maintaining mental acuity. I also have a old tetris addiction, which tends to lead me to the bubble/jingo type games. That being said, I've added three game apps to my device: Word Abacus, Word Collapse and Word Warp. All addictive. I just finished reading Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library to the 4th and 5th graders and there were a number of word puzzles that could have been helped by practicing on these apps, especially Word Warp. I need to continue practicing!
Mobile Thing 19
My hobbies tend to lean more toward the areas of handicrafts, so I searched for apps for knitting and bookmaking (book binding, as the first search brought up betting/bookie apps ;-). In the area of bookmaking, there were mostly apps for how to create either digital books and photo albums to either be shared digitally or printed and bound. I downloaded Mosaic and bookPress. Mosaic allows you to choose 20 pictures to be printed and bound in a hardbound linen book for $25. It is just the images on each page, with no option to add text or captions that I could see. bookPress has a companion website called bookemon which is for k-12 educators to have a private, collaborative class section and be able to turn student works into printed books for purchase.
For knitting, I installed four apps. I was rather disappointed with the Lion Brand Yarns app because while it specified searchable patterns (which I regularly download from the Lion Brand website as pdfs and store in iBooks), every search I conducted resulted in nothing. Craftsy's Knitting app linked to a ton of patterns, some free and most at a cost, but easily allows for patterns to be added to a wish list or library. Knit is a row and stitch counter that I have yet to figure out how to use. Within the app, some of the menus and options are in an Asian font, so I can't read it. Maybe I'll try to combine iTranslate (which I downloaded in Thing 18, but didn't mention in that post) with Knit to figure it out. I'm currently working on a project that requires a cabled strip 83" long, so keeping track of my rows on that one would be very useful. Lastly, Gaugefy Free is to help adjust gauges in knitting swatches (which I don't use as much as I should), so another app that could be useful in certain situations.
For knitting, I installed four apps. I was rather disappointed with the Lion Brand Yarns app because while it specified searchable patterns (which I regularly download from the Lion Brand website as pdfs and store in iBooks), every search I conducted resulted in nothing. Craftsy's Knitting app linked to a ton of patterns, some free and most at a cost, but easily allows for patterns to be added to a wish list or library. Knit is a row and stitch counter that I have yet to figure out how to use. Within the app, some of the menus and options are in an Asian font, so I can't read it. Maybe I'll try to combine iTranslate (which I downloaded in Thing 18, but didn't mention in that post) with Knit to figure it out. I'm currently working on a project that requires a cabled strip 83" long, so keeping track of my rows on that one would be very useful. Lastly, Gaugefy Free is to help adjust gauges in knitting swatches (which I don't use as much as I should), so another app that could be useful in certain situations.
Mobile Thing 18
So many choices in the Education Thing! A few I've used for years and love, like artCircles, Socrative and TED. I will frequently show portions of TED Talks if done by authors we are reading or on topics that apply to curriculum. Teaching at an arts school, artCircles provides fascinating articles connecting elements of art to other aspects of daily life, which always supports the importance and relevance of the arts in our world.
For my new exploration, I added Today's Document from the National Archive and Bill Nye the Science Guy. Once again, I was really looking forward to using LIFE for iPad, but it wasn't available in the app store and round-about searching didn't result in anything. Whereas Bill Nye's 20th anniversary app is full of fun (first thing I tapped on was his desk drawer and got a 9-step lesson in how to tie a bow tie), Today's Document is something that I'll be able to work into the classroom. I'm working to include more primary sources into curriculum and think this app would give a good starting point. I'm curious whether the documents for specific dates are ever changed out. Another reason I interested in the LIFE app as it claimed to connect to the LIFE photo archive, an addition to primary sources.
For my new exploration, I added Today's Document from the National Archive and Bill Nye the Science Guy. Once again, I was really looking forward to using LIFE for iPad, but it wasn't available in the app store and round-about searching didn't result in anything. Whereas Bill Nye's 20th anniversary app is full of fun (first thing I tapped on was his desk drawer and got a 9-step lesson in how to tie a bow tie), Today's Document is something that I'll be able to work into the classroom. I'm working to include more primary sources into curriculum and think this app would give a good starting point. I'm curious whether the documents for specific dates are ever changed out. Another reason I interested in the LIFE app as it claimed to connect to the LIFE photo archive, an addition to primary sources.
Mobile Thing 17
I was very disappointed that the three apps in Connecting to the Community, I was not able to find or install. Minneapolis Skyway and MN Museums could not be found in the Apple App Store. I tried the links, searching directly in the app store and also navigating from the organization websites. And what's the deal with MN Beer Activists only being available for Android devices?!? I know a ton of beer enthusiasts that are Apple users, so they are losing out on a major section of the market!
The one app I did (will) find useful in this Thing was the MN State Fair app...although it is still shows 2013 information. I hope this singular app will be updated for 2014, rather than creating a new 2014 app that people will need to search for and install. A local, favorite bakery has recently reopened and applied for inclusion in the State Fair, so I'd definitely use the app to locate a Han's Bakery bee sting at the Fair this year! YUM!!
The one app I did (will) find useful in this Thing was the MN State Fair app...although it is still shows 2013 information. I hope this singular app will be updated for 2014, rather than creating a new 2014 app that people will need to search for and install. A local, favorite bakery has recently reopened and applied for inclusion in the State Fair, so I'd definitely use the app to locate a Han's Bakery bee sting at the Fair this year! YUM!!
Mobile Thing 16
I found it somewhat ironic that while exploring Thing 16, Audio, I was re-watching The King's Speech. With all the scenes in front of a microphone, it seemed apropos to try the three audio apps suggested.
Audioboo was on the AASL top recommended sites/apps probably three years ago. Initially, I remembered it just having the recording function, with audio files then being exported and could be posted/shared separately. This fall the music teacher was having students use Audioboo and reported that with the added ability to search and follow channels, we had students searching for inappropriate content. I've never had an issue with teaching students, as part of responsible use, to avoid galleries or channels, especially in a school setting, that they know would be inappropriate, but also understand others' unwillingness to deal with students' temptations.
iPadio and SoundCloud were rather similar to each other, but I did like how SoundCloud easily offered recordings to be saved privately; not forcing a user to search for how to do that. I can't stand the sound of my voice recorded, so being able to let a recording "mature" in a private setting might give an opportunity for me to establish a slight distance from it before sharing with others.
Audioboo was on the AASL top recommended sites/apps probably three years ago. Initially, I remembered it just having the recording function, with audio files then being exported and could be posted/shared separately. This fall the music teacher was having students use Audioboo and reported that with the added ability to search and follow channels, we had students searching for inappropriate content. I've never had an issue with teaching students, as part of responsible use, to avoid galleries or channels, especially in a school setting, that they know would be inappropriate, but also understand others' unwillingness to deal with students' temptations.
iPadio and SoundCloud were rather similar to each other, but I did like how SoundCloud easily offered recordings to be saved privately; not forcing a user to search for how to do that. I can't stand the sound of my voice recorded, so being able to let a recording "mature" in a private setting might give an opportunity for me to establish a slight distance from it before sharing with others.
Mobile Thing 15
I am very intrigued by infographics. I would love to feel confident in infographic creation, and believe that when provided the data and statistics, I could easily use an app like Visualize and iVi Touch Lite to generate the design. At this point, I don't think I have enough accurate, current data on a single topic to create an infographic that would be used in my teaching...although maybe I should gather the statistics through a school year and present an annual report in infographic format!
I was really looking forward to browsing the collections of the Infographics and info.Graphic apps, but had some issues. Infographics wouldn't allow me to register an account, freezing up instead. info.Graphics also froze repeatedly. I will continue to attempt to use these two apps, but also probably conduct more Internet searches for infographic collections.
I was really looking forward to browsing the collections of the Infographics and info.Graphic apps, but had some issues. Infographics wouldn't allow me to register an account, freezing up instead. info.Graphics also froze repeatedly. I will continue to attempt to use these two apps, but also probably conduct more Internet searches for infographic collections.
Mobile Thing 14
This last year I recorded a few moments of video in the media center and shared it out to small groups via e-mail. I'd like to do more of that and share it on the media center webpage, or through a digital newsletter (Smore). I think the apps shared in this Thing could be useful. Vine would give a quick snapshot video of activity happening in the media center. Viddy could be used to record student book reviews/recommendations and would require that they hone their review to keep within the 30-second limit. Socialcam would allow us to record a school song for the menu soundtrack, which would create a video series. Filters could be applied which would establish a visual consistency. Those smaller pieces (still images and short videos) could then be combined in Magisto. Similar to Animoto, Magisto's free account will generate a slightly longer completed video.
Mobile Thing 13
Nothing like the last possible day to finally get around to blogging about the majority of the Mobile Things! I'm just as bad as the kids at school...but unlike my students I will finish and won't fall back on a long list of lame excuses. ;-)
Presentation apps:
I used Haiku Deck with 5th graders last year for a research project, when it was still in beta form, and really liked the app. For that particular project, they chose images from a museum site and imported all their images into the app, but I also made some Decks for my own lessons and was very impressed with the visual appeal and quality of the stock images searchable in Haiku Deck's collection. I really liked that the slides were restricted to the amount of text, maintaining the "bullet point" discussion aspect of a presentation, but that students were able to export their Deck to the website and add presenter's notes to each slide, thus filling out the text that they wanted to share.
Deck Slideshow reminded me of Haiku Deck, but the preset templates and layouts reminded me more of PowerPoint and didn't have the feature of adding presenter's notes. For those who are more confident in their presentation skills and content that isn't reliant on the visual images in the background, Deck Slideshow would be a great option.
Lensoo Create, Educreations, Show Me and ScreenChomp all seem very similar as interactive whiteboard apps for recording. I'm sure there are small details that make each app better for various users. I tend to prefer multiple options, but have been repeatedly told that in a school setting, it's best to simply choose one and teach users to be competent in the concept of the app. In this case, a comfortable user of one interactive whiteboard app will be able to transfer to a similar app with minor adjustments.
Presentation apps:
I used Haiku Deck with 5th graders last year for a research project, when it was still in beta form, and really liked the app. For that particular project, they chose images from a museum site and imported all their images into the app, but I also made some Decks for my own lessons and was very impressed with the visual appeal and quality of the stock images searchable in Haiku Deck's collection. I really liked that the slides were restricted to the amount of text, maintaining the "bullet point" discussion aspect of a presentation, but that students were able to export their Deck to the website and add presenter's notes to each slide, thus filling out the text that they wanted to share.
Deck Slideshow reminded me of Haiku Deck, but the preset templates and layouts reminded me more of PowerPoint and didn't have the feature of adding presenter's notes. For those who are more confident in their presentation skills and content that isn't reliant on the visual images in the background, Deck Slideshow would be a great option.
Lensoo Create, Educreations, Show Me and ScreenChomp all seem very similar as interactive whiteboard apps for recording. I'm sure there are small details that make each app better for various users. I tend to prefer multiple options, but have been repeatedly told that in a school setting, it's best to simply choose one and teach users to be competent in the concept of the app. In this case, a comfortable user of one interactive whiteboard app will be able to transfer to a similar app with minor adjustments.
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Mobile Thing 12
Ha ha ha, I can't believe I'm about to put this in print, but the last thing I need is more books, print or digital! Between the almost 1700 print books I own, the hundreds I have checked out to myself from my school library collection, the 1600 Kindle books and ebooks in Bluefire, Book Shout, iBooks, etc. I don't ever worry about running out of reading material. The one digital format I am lacking is audiobooks, so the Audiobook app is one I will keep. It'll have to stay on the back burner though until I get caught up with podcasts...lol!
Maybe rather than apps that contain free ebooks, since the classics can mostly be found in Project Gutenburg and a lot of other freebies are self-published, this would be an appropriate venue to explore where to get notices of free ebooks. Bookbub.com sends a daily e-mail with free or cheap (under $2.99) Amazon or Apple ebooks that are discounted for just the day or a short period of time. NetGalley and Edelweiss are AWESOME! You can set up a free account as a blogger, librarian, teacher, or other avid reader and request egalleys of new titles for review. The 1600 books referenced above...every single one was free!
Maybe rather than apps that contain free ebooks, since the classics can mostly be found in Project Gutenburg and a lot of other freebies are self-published, this would be an appropriate venue to explore where to get notices of free ebooks. Bookbub.com sends a daily e-mail with free or cheap (under $2.99) Amazon or Apple ebooks that are discounted for just the day or a short period of time. NetGalley and Edelweiss are AWESOME! You can set up a free account as a blogger, librarian, teacher, or other avid reader and request egalleys of new titles for review. The 1600 books referenced above...every single one was free!
Mobile Thing 10
Sharing photos...As I mentioned in the last post, I realized that I am not a daily picture taker. I take tons of pictures on vacations and prefer to share them with people face-to-face...so I can tell all the stories that go with them. Yes, "a picture is worth a thousand words", but it's worth even more if I get to tell the five minute story associated with that picture.
I recently heard some of my students talking about Snapchatting with each other before school. I double checked to see if Snapchat had the age restriction of 13, like many sites, and tucked it in the back of my mind. The concept of Snapchat just sounds like it could go sketchy so easily, especially with young, immature users. As if "yolo" mentalities don't enable enough risk-taking behaviors, the idea of an image only "existing" for 10 seconds worries me. I'm guessing that to interact with friends that you actually know, because of the short time frame, the engagement needs to happen in real time, and so other interactions and sharing are with "friends" in random cyberspace. I did download the app and set up an account, while sitting across the table from a friend, but at that time both of us didn't try the app.
Instagram is another app I've had installed for years but never got into a habit using. It falls into that category of "I have other ways of doing the same job" and am personally very selective of which images I share. Instagram is also one of those accounts that I hesitate to link to other social media accounts, unlike if it was purely a cloud image storage, because I wouldn't want to inadvertently be posting pictures
I recently heard some of my students talking about Snapchatting with each other before school. I double checked to see if Snapchat had the age restriction of 13, like many sites, and tucked it in the back of my mind. The concept of Snapchat just sounds like it could go sketchy so easily, especially with young, immature users. As if "yolo" mentalities don't enable enough risk-taking behaviors, the idea of an image only "existing" for 10 seconds worries me. I'm guessing that to interact with friends that you actually know, because of the short time frame, the engagement needs to happen in real time, and so other interactions and sharing are with "friends" in random cyberspace. I did download the app and set up an account, while sitting across the table from a friend, but at that time both of us didn't try the app.
Instagram is another app I've had installed for years but never got into a habit using. It falls into that category of "I have other ways of doing the same job" and am personally very selective of which images I share. Instagram is also one of those accounts that I hesitate to link to other social media accounts, unlike if it was purely a cloud image storage, because I wouldn't want to inadvertently be posting pictures
Mobile Thing 11
For this Thing, I have all three portions to cover.
1. ELM Mobile
It has been years since I checked out ELM, and I was very impressed with the mobile site. It is much cleaner in appearance than I remember. I think I'm going to do some further investigation into the site and probably link it from my media center website. After having completed the first year of our research curriculum in grades 4 and 5, I know quite a few students who may find the research calculator of value and would give me another "voice saying" that these steps need to be completed in this order and prioritized in such a way to make the due date.
2. Library apps
I live in Anoka County, and very close to the Ramsey County system, but am very biased as a former employee of Hennepin County Libraries. That being said, I have chosen not to use their apps, but to always navigate the websites. The apps feel clunkier to use. Maybe it's because I used the websites for so many years before the mobile apps were developed. I also don't care for how certain information is displayed, like My Account. For example, the list of my requests isn't as visually informative and in the past I've accidentally deleted requests and had to get back on the list.
3. Vendor apps
I have ebooks in my collection both on FollettShelf and in MackinVIA. It is a developing collection of ebooks and interesting how even in the same platform, the individual titles will act differently in their readers. I was very excited when I initially heard that the Follett Destiny app could be used for "remote/mobile" circulation, but when using it on an iPad, a 3rd generation is the minimum requirement for the camera to be able to scan barcodes...and there is a significant lag time which did not make circulation on the iPad an efficient option. Our district will be upgrading versions of Destiny this summer, so we'll see what's available in the fall.
1. ELM Mobile
It has been years since I checked out ELM, and I was very impressed with the mobile site. It is much cleaner in appearance than I remember. I think I'm going to do some further investigation into the site and probably link it from my media center website. After having completed the first year of our research curriculum in grades 4 and 5, I know quite a few students who may find the research calculator of value and would give me another "voice saying" that these steps need to be completed in this order and prioritized in such a way to make the due date.
2. Library apps
I live in Anoka County, and very close to the Ramsey County system, but am very biased as a former employee of Hennepin County Libraries. That being said, I have chosen not to use their apps, but to always navigate the websites. The apps feel clunkier to use. Maybe it's because I used the websites for so many years before the mobile apps were developed. I also don't care for how certain information is displayed, like My Account. For example, the list of my requests isn't as visually informative and in the past I've accidentally deleted requests and had to get back on the list.
3. Vendor apps
I have ebooks in my collection both on FollettShelf and in MackinVIA. It is a developing collection of ebooks and interesting how even in the same platform, the individual titles will act differently in their readers. I was very excited when I initially heard that the Follett Destiny app could be used for "remote/mobile" circulation, but when using it on an iPad, a 3rd generation is the minimum requirement for the camera to be able to scan barcodes...and there is a significant lag time which did not make circulation on the iPad an efficient option. Our district will be upgrading versions of Destiny this summer, so we'll see what's available in the fall.
Mobile Thing 9
I've learned something about myself during Thing 9 and 10. I'm a huge vacation photographer, but could pretty much care less about capturing my day-to-day life. I tried all the suggested apps and liked half of them. I do make a lot of gifts for family and friends, and do like to record the finished products before I give them away. Color Splurge gave a neat effect to some of these photos.
While I was intrigued by the concept of CamMe, I had a really hard time getting it to work in the selfie mode without having a significant distance. I watched the video and saw that the devices were propped up to get full-length shots. This is a scenario I can't envision, but will probably keep the app...you just can't ever be too sure.
Between the two photo editing apps, I definitely preferred Aviary over LINE Camera. LINE Camera seemed more putzy to use whereas Aviary was more intuitive. What I thought was interesting (strange) was that if you click on More for sharing from Aviary, some of the choices are apps that basically do the exact same thing. Here's the image I did in Aviary:
Why would I share this image out to Skitch or LINE Camera? The arrows and labeling are what I would normally/previously have done in Skitch. I really like how the images can be shared with the variety of cloud storage like Drive, SugarSync, Dropbox, Box, etc. and in apps like Doceri and Springpad ( :-( which is not around for much longer).
Between the two photo editing apps, I definitely preferred Aviary over LINE Camera. LINE Camera seemed more putzy to use whereas Aviary was more intuitive. What I thought was interesting (strange) was that if you click on More for sharing from Aviary, some of the choices are apps that basically do the exact same thing. Here's the image I did in Aviary:
Monday, May 12, 2014
Mobile Thing 8
Hee hee hee, I was so tempted to title this post the "Social Media Thing for the Anti-social". I scrolled through the list of apps in Thing 8 and caught myself saying, "Um...no thanks!" way too often. I'm on Facebook, and check it mostly on my iPad, but am VERY selective of my Friends and maintain tightly set privacy settings. I've attempted to become a Tweeter a handful of times, but always peter out quickly. I honestly don't care enough about what I'm doing to bore other by putting it out into the Twittersphere. I maintain my account for when I need to do an instant save on The Voice.
A friend recently sent me an invitation to join LinkedIn, a month after she retired! When I retire, the LAST thing I'll be doing is professionally networking. I don't really want people knowing where I am at any given moment (Foursquare), and I just don't know if common tv watching interests are enough to connect with (tvtag). Besides, I have enough to do to keep up actually watching episodes of Game of Thrones, to communicate and network with others over it is more time that I can spare from my life.
I can see where some of the management tools would be useful if I was using multiple social networks to streamline the time and enable simultaneous postings, but that isn't currently the case for me.
A friend recently sent me an invitation to join LinkedIn, a month after she retired! When I retire, the LAST thing I'll be doing is professionally networking. I don't really want people knowing where I am at any given moment (Foursquare), and I just don't know if common tv watching interests are enough to connect with (tvtag). Besides, I have enough to do to keep up actually watching episodes of Game of Thrones, to communicate and network with others over it is more time that I can spare from my life.
I can see where some of the management tools would be useful if I was using multiple social networks to streamline the time and enable simultaneous postings, but that isn't currently the case for me.
Mobile Thing 7
Woo-hoo! Love me some Pinterest! This is one of the few social networking tools that I appreciate the social networking aspect. Normally I have enough of my own stuff to keep track of to a) not care what other people are looking at, saving, tracking, etc and b) figure that others could care less what I have. I was first introduced to Pinterest by a friend who had recently become addicted to pinning. It's also one of those sites that family members and friends who use no other social media are on and I'm able to connect with them casually.
Diigo is my bookmarking site of choice, but there is something about being able to distinguish between text content to be saved and returned to as it updated and those visual reminders of something that you want to archive. I've sporadically used Bitly to shorten urls, more often choosing Goog.le, but hadn't considered the function of archiving and organizing the urls shortened.
Diigo is my bookmarking site of choice, but there is something about being able to distinguish between text content to be saved and returned to as it updated and those visual reminders of something that you want to archive. I've sporadically used Bitly to shorten urls, more often choosing Goog.le, but hadn't considered the function of archiving and organizing the urls shortened.
Mobile Thing 6
I've moved to working almost primarily in Google Drive for all my documents, spreadsheets, presentations and forms, so Quickoffice seemed the most applicable app for me in Thing 5: Creating & Editing Docs. That made it even more confusing when I realized that I still couldn't edit Google presentations. For documents and spreadsheets I could view, but was then sent out to either the Google Docs app or Sheets app to edit. It reminded me of my issue with the Google Search app...why have a single app that then launches a multitude of other apps for each action? Then I went back and actually read the description (I say it all the time, but teachers are the WORST students!) "Quickoffice is Google's app that allows you to create and edit Microsoft Office documents, spreadsheets and presentations..." At that I opened a Powerpoint I hadn't converted when I uploaded it into my Drive and was able to edit the text and images directly in the ppt...pretty cool! I don't know if it was the ppts. I chose to open and save, if they are especially large files or graphic heavy, but the loading and saving was pretty slow.
I also tried CloudOn, reading in the reviews that most people were connecting to their Dropbox accounts. I was happy to see that Drive was also an option, along with Box, but again since the majority of my work these days were created in Drive, it's a little redundant.
After playing around slightly in SignNow, I don't have a current use, but am going to keep it installed for possible future needs. If anything, I can use it to practice my finger signature, since more and more stores are using iPads and other touch screen devices for transactions and having customers sign with their finger on screens.
I also tried CloudOn, reading in the reviews that most people were connecting to their Dropbox accounts. I was happy to see that Drive was also an option, along with Box, but again since the majority of my work these days were created in Drive, it's a little redundant.
After playing around slightly in SignNow, I don't have a current use, but am going to keep it installed for possible future needs. If anything, I can use it to practice my finger signature, since more and more stores are using iPads and other touch screen devices for transactions and having customers sign with their finger on screens.
Mobile Thing 5
I am a total notebook, notepad, post-it note, to-do-list kind of girl! I've found though that I have the same issue with note taking apps with the traditional paper versions. I don't have access when I really need them, like leaving the grocery list on the kitchen counter. At the point where I finally break down and switch to a smart phone with a data plan, the usage potential will skyrocket exponentially. Whenever I choose to drag my iPad around in the purse, I'm thankful to have the info at hand and grateful I took time to enter said info.
Years ago I installed Remember the Milk and used it briefly, never really getting into a groove with it. I felt like I needed something much more "in my face". I also installed Dragon Dictation, years ago, but hadn't even opened it until this evening. I did a test dictation, which worked pretty well and I'll keep it more in mind for those "hands free" moments.
Bamboo Paper has been on my iPad since I bought it two years ago, and I'm a little embarrassed to say that I'd choose Penultimate for basic note taking because Bamboo Paper makes me want to be more/too artistic, rather than getting the job at hand done. Without having made any in-app purchases, the limited options of brushes, pencils, colors, etc. in Bamboo Paper distracts me to sketch and "fix and fancy" my journals. While both Bamboo Paper and Penultimate are both very responsive, I find that my handwriting isn't as controlled regardless of using my finger or a stylus.
I recently started using Springpad, and have found a niche for my life style. I have a lot of different interests and collections and had recently run into the issue of purchasing items, only to get home and realize that I already owned that exact item. I've created a Springpad notebook called "Already Have", in which I've added lists of different collections to have with me when I'm in stores. I also like the notebook "store"/gallery to download pre-formatted notebooks. My next venture in Springpad will be to create a searchable "database" of my shoes! ;-)
Years ago I installed Remember the Milk and used it briefly, never really getting into a groove with it. I felt like I needed something much more "in my face". I also installed Dragon Dictation, years ago, but hadn't even opened it until this evening. I did a test dictation, which worked pretty well and I'll keep it more in mind for those "hands free" moments.
Bamboo Paper has been on my iPad since I bought it two years ago, and I'm a little embarrassed to say that I'd choose Penultimate for basic note taking because Bamboo Paper makes me want to be more/too artistic, rather than getting the job at hand done. Without having made any in-app purchases, the limited options of brushes, pencils, colors, etc. in Bamboo Paper distracts me to sketch and "fix and fancy" my journals. While both Bamboo Paper and Penultimate are both very responsive, I find that my handwriting isn't as controlled regardless of using my finger or a stylus.
I recently started using Springpad, and have found a niche for my life style. I have a lot of different interests and collections and had recently run into the issue of purchasing items, only to get home and realize that I already owned that exact item. I've created a Springpad notebook called "Already Have", in which I've added lists of different collections to have with me when I'm in stores. I also like the notebook "store"/gallery to download pre-formatted notebooks. My next venture in Springpad will be to create a searchable "database" of my shoes! ;-)
Mobile Thing 4
So much for the Lenten goal. Lent is over. But as it's May and it seems spring still has not arrived in Minnesota, why not stay on the theme of "spring cleaning"? I have inventory done at school, got some cleaning and organizing done around the house this last weekend, so it's time (again) to bust out a handful of blog posts! Just a little tweaking to my original schedule, but I WILL have 23 done by the June deadline.
Keeping up... ha ha ha...hysterical! I was actually trying to catch up on blog feeds the other day in Feedly, sending roughly half into Pocket for later real reading, when I read Morgan's post on Thing 4. Btw. thanks for the shout out, Morgan! I desperately needed a new RSS aggregator when Google Reader ended, and for the second time I didn't get around to transferring my subscriptions over before Reader went down completely, and a quick search for a replacement steered me to Feedly. I then desperately missed the tagging feature Reader had (although I had already lost all my saved, tagged posts, so why be so picky?) and that's what brought me around to discovering Pocket. Still tweaking my "madness methods" for working between two apps, when I had a system for working within one.
I'm of the same thought as Morgan, in that I didn't care for Flipboard, but do like Zite. I liked the variety of topics/themes at set-up. If there is one area I'm lacking information it's knitting patterns (HA HA HA), so have really appreciated having more of those types of things delivered directly to me.
Keeping up... ha ha ha...hysterical! I was actually trying to catch up on blog feeds the other day in Feedly, sending roughly half into Pocket for later real reading, when I read Morgan's post on Thing 4. Btw. thanks for the shout out, Morgan! I desperately needed a new RSS aggregator when Google Reader ended, and for the second time I didn't get around to transferring my subscriptions over before Reader went down completely, and a quick search for a replacement steered me to Feedly. I then desperately missed the tagging feature Reader had (although I had already lost all my saved, tagged posts, so why be so picky?) and that's what brought me around to discovering Pocket. Still tweaking my "madness methods" for working between two apps, when I had a system for working within one.
I'm of the same thought as Morgan, in that I didn't care for Flipboard, but do like Zite. I liked the variety of topics/themes at set-up. If there is one area I'm lacking information it's knitting patterns (HA HA HA), so have really appreciated having more of those types of things delivered directly to me.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Mobile Things 3
I haven't necessarily been procrastinating about working through the Things, but have been putting off blogging about them, because I wanted to keep everything positive. It is now officially Lenten season and for many years I've given up negativity for Lent ;-) and I didn't want to be expressing negativity about Thing 3 - Utilities. After meeting with Ann and Morgan (members of our Panera Royalty), I found out I'm not the only one feeling this way about the Utility apps in Thing 3 and feel free to complete the blog entry.
I installed three of the apps: Google Search, iHome Sleep and Wi-Fi Finder and will soon be deleting them from my iPad. I had high hopes for Google Search because I regularly use multiple stand-alone Google apps, so I thought they'd be integrated into this one. But what I found was that I was basically sent back out to the apps that I already had installed. I think personally I would be more inclined to simply create a Google folder and house my Maps, Hangouts, Drive, etc. apps for one tap access.
iHome Sleep, didn't seem to have any exciting/relevant functions that I'd been missing from the standard Clock app, and while Wi-Fi Finder also seemed promising, it's one of those apps that you need to think far enough ahead to conduct your search while in a wi-fi area and I rarely determine where I go based on a need for wi-fi. I like to think that I still require enough human contact to meet people in settings where I'm digitally unconnected.
Ann, Morgan and I instead talked about some the Utility apps we currently use and like. My votes were for Skitch (great for marking where I left off on knitting patterns I've downloaded!), Chirp (which is fun in theory and practice, but requires others to also have devices available and app open) and Pocket (which allows me to tag RSS posts from Feedly for later organization/reference...a feature that I greatly miss from Google Reader).
I do now feel a great desire to "spring clean" my iPad though. Why am I allowing apps that I've never used or tried and didn't like to take up space?
I installed three of the apps: Google Search, iHome Sleep and Wi-Fi Finder and will soon be deleting them from my iPad. I had high hopes for Google Search because I regularly use multiple stand-alone Google apps, so I thought they'd be integrated into this one. But what I found was that I was basically sent back out to the apps that I already had installed. I think personally I would be more inclined to simply create a Google folder and house my Maps, Hangouts, Drive, etc. apps for one tap access.
iHome Sleep, didn't seem to have any exciting/relevant functions that I'd been missing from the standard Clock app, and while Wi-Fi Finder also seemed promising, it's one of those apps that you need to think far enough ahead to conduct your search while in a wi-fi area and I rarely determine where I go based on a need for wi-fi. I like to think that I still require enough human contact to meet people in settings where I'm digitally unconnected.
Ann, Morgan and I instead talked about some the Utility apps we currently use and like. My votes were for Skitch (great for marking where I left off on knitting patterns I've downloaded!), Chirp (which is fun in theory and practice, but requires others to also have devices available and app open) and Pocket (which allows me to tag RSS posts from Feedly for later organization/reference...a feature that I greatly miss from Google Reader).
I do now feel a great desire to "spring clean" my iPad though. Why am I allowing apps that I've never used or tried and didn't like to take up space?
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Mobile Things 2
I consider myself to be a middle-of-the-road adopter of technology. Primarily because of my frugality. I can tell you my first CD purchase, which I still own, was Bing Crosby's Christmas Hits. I was 18, had scored a bargain on a combo stereo with turn table, duel cassette deck (that's right, you read correctly, DUEL), AM/FM radio and...drumroll...CD player, so I decided it was time to start investing in this new music format that had been in stores a few years. I do love me some Bing, especially during the holidays, but the truth of why he was my first CD purchase was that it was $4.
What does any of this have to do with Mobile Thing 2?? While I updated to OS 7 on my 3rd generation iPad when I got the little message on my screen that a software update was available, I've been futzing with little features here and there and the "cool things" I read about or saw on the videos don't seem to be available to those who aren't on an iPhone5, iPad4, iPad Air or Mini. So from what I came across in the exploration of Mobile Thing 2, was that I had already found most of the fun gadgets and gizmos in OS 7 on a 3rd gen, on my own. Oh well, even though Bing started a new phase for me moving ahead, I still didn't get rid of my Thriller or DeBarge vinyls!
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
New Learning Opportunities - 23 Mobile Things
I was very excited to see that Metronet was continuing with the 23 Things model and offering 23 Mobile Things in 2014.
It enabled a number of wonderful things to be revived, like the regular meetings of the "Panera Princesses" with some new added friends (at least one Panera Prince), and the blog that I started initially for 23 Things on a Stick and later used to record my adventures on a Fulbright-Hayes Seminar to Hungary and the Czech Republic in 2010. Scrolling through the posts was like flipping through a photo album (which I have yet to print and assemble, a common theme among my Fulbright friends) and brought back fabulous memories.
Thing 1 on this round of 23 Mobile Things is once again blogging. I've never been comfortable with my writing style, and so regular blogging has been a struggle. I feel like more time is spent on the backspace and delete keys than any other. That being said, I am looking forward to learning (now 22) skills and apps that can be used on mobile devices and may be easily incorporated into my daily life, either professionally or personally.
It enabled a number of wonderful things to be revived, like the regular meetings of the "Panera Princesses" with some new added friends (at least one Panera Prince), and the blog that I started initially for 23 Things on a Stick and later used to record my adventures on a Fulbright-Hayes Seminar to Hungary and the Czech Republic in 2010. Scrolling through the posts was like flipping through a photo album (which I have yet to print and assemble, a common theme among my Fulbright friends) and brought back fabulous memories.
Thing 1 on this round of 23 Mobile Things is once again blogging. I've never been comfortable with my writing style, and so regular blogging has been a struggle. I feel like more time is spent on the backspace and delete keys than any other. That being said, I am looking forward to learning (now 22) skills and apps that can be used on mobile devices and may be easily incorporated into my daily life, either professionally or personally.
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