Sunday, March 30, 2014

Discovering apps (Thing #22)

Droid of the Day
I've had the Droid of the Day app on my phone for more than a week now.  Each morning I wake up with an alert on my phone telling me what the app of the day is.  From the Dormi Baby Monitor to a game with physics (Domingos) to Mixology drink recipes, this app certainly gives you a variety.  You can also access the list of previous DOTD apps.  You're bound to stumble across something you just have to have...eventually! And in the meantime, you can laugh at all the stuff people spend their time creating, so others can spend their time wasting!

Quixey
This app is more my speed.  I guess there's not a lot of browsing or serendipitous use on my phone.  Usually, I know what I'm looking for.  It's nice to know if there's an app I'm looking for, Quixey is the app to find it.  I'm guessing many of the apps for 23 Mobile Things MN were discovered using this app?

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Free-for-all fun! (Thing #21)

Necessary apps
Apps I couldn't live without?  All pretty simple ones that help me live my life on the go...Gmail, Wells Fargo (to find the nearest ATM), Walgreens (to reorder prescriptions), Redbox, Target, and DirecTV (for those panic moments when I forget to record my must-see shows!).  I would guess most participants have similar apps for brands/companies of their choice.

Apps I love
The apps that 23 Mobile Things MN didn't include, that I love, and that I think a lot of other librarians use or would love to use ...Goodreads and IMDB.  Because if there's one thing librarians love more than books or movies, its making lists of books and movies.  We love to organize, review, and rate content.  We love discovery tools.  And these apps do both.  I have no idea how I would keep track of what books and movies I have read/seen, want to see/read, am currently reading/watching without these apps!  Goodreds especially also has the social element so that you can share your choices, opinions and reviews with friends.

Newly discovered cool apps
Finally, I attended the LibTech Conference at Macalester last week, and learned about two cool new apps I am looking forward to incorporating into my work life. At the "When Every Student has an iPad: Impact on the Library" session, librarians from Globe University discussed how they incorporated iPads in their info lit instruction sessions after their campus' initiative to issue every student an iPad.  Namely, they use Socrative and  Nearpod, both interactive student response systems.  As they said, if you give students an iPad in class, but don't give them something to do with it, you will lose them as they will be using the iPad for Facebook, surfing the web, etc. By incorporating interactive presentations into your lessons, and allowing students to monitor their own understanding, they are engaged in the learning process.   Our library system owns a handful of Nook Colors, which both of these apps are compatible on, and users often have their own devices.  Though I don't have "students" per say, I can see myself using either or both of these apps in staff or patron training.  Actually, I can't wait for my next training opportunity to try these out!

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Games (Thing #20)

I'm doing Thing #20 out of order, because I found a really cool new app I want to try out for my hobby (#19), but that has to wait until tomorrow.  So...

I love game nights with friends and family, playing CatchPhrase, Taboo, Wits & Wagers, Bezzerwizzer, and more.  Computer games is a completely different story.   I'm constantly getting invites from people to play Candy Crush, Mafia Wars, etc.  Of those, I've tried just Dice with Buddies & Words with Friends, that I play for a while and enjoy, but the truth is, I'm not much of a computer games person.

Word Games definitely hold the most appeal to me, so I tried Word Collapse.  I would've tried Wordmaster too, but it wasn't compatible with my device.  For what Word Collapse was, it was pretty fun!  

You are given a puzzle that contains hidden words based on a theme.  Your job is to find the hidden theme words within the puzzle, and do so in the right order.  As you find words and select them, those letter tiles disappear and the remaining tiles move together.  If you eliminate words in the wrong order and run out of moves, you have to start over at the beginning of that level.  Word Collapse reminded me of the Bejeweled, except for with letters not shapes?  There are 10, 20, or 35 levels within each theme, with more letters in the puzzle and more words to find within the puzzle as you increase in level.  The "starter pack" or free version of the game has 15 themes for 185 puzzles.  It didn't take me much longer than 10 minutes to complete the first three themes of animals, fruit, and cities, so I'd guess it won't take me very long before I complete the free version completely.

Education (Thing #18)

Seriously, Things with so many app options to choose from are terrible for the decisively challenged like me!  So many of the apps appeal to me, so I end up trying a handful.  Here are the Education apps I found that I could see myself keeping on my device for personal/fun reasons.

Advanced English Dictionary & Thesaurus
Simple app for the basic function of dictionary and thesaurus.  Some entries have more in their WordNet than others.

Wordnet options include: Related to, Similar to, Hypernyms, Hyponyms, Holonyms, Domains, Meronyms, A value of, Antonyms, and probably more.  In all honesty, I didn't even know what the definition of some of the WordNet options were, so I used the app to find the definition!  Did you know that a hyponym is a more specific version of another word?  i.e. beagle is a hyponym of dog, tulip is a hyponym of flower.

Within this app, I probably would only use the definition, similar to, and antonyms options.   Otheriwse, I can see myself getting stuck in a vicious cycle down the rabbit hole following the WordNet trail.

B-Rhymes Dictionary
A fun app for finding rhymes of words.  You can search for a word you have in mind or 'roll the dice' and B-Rhymes will generate a random word and its rhymes for you.   As the app itself says, these are not A-Rhymes, but B-Rhymes, or almost rhymes.
Once you have selected a word, B-rhymes generates a list of words for you.  The rhyming words are broken down into their parts, and color coded based on how well they rhyme with your original word. 

Though it's a fun app, I don't know how applicable this would be to my life.  Maybe when you read a word, but don't know how it is pronounced?  Rather than looking up the phonetic spelling?  It probably would be more helpful for kids' lit authors, poets, songwriters, etc.  I'm pretty sure my family would consider it cheating if I pulled out the B-rhymes app when I draw the "Words that rhyme with luck" card playing Outburst...

Fooducate
Holy cow do I LOVE this app.  It is a great place to check the nutritional value of foods you are eating, track what you are eating, and find healthier alternatives.  It would be a great weight loss tool, though its also awesome for someone like me who simply wants to eat a balanced and healthy diet.  (Also a great educational tool for my husband who thinks the blueberries in yoghurt count as a serving of fruit!)

To start, you are asked for basic info about yourself: gender, age, height, weight, activity level, if you want to lose weight or not.

From there, you can scan a UPC code, keyword search, or browse for a food item.  Each product has a rating from A-F.  You can view explanations for the rating, the nutritional values for the product, and healthier alternatives.   You can see the info for my chocolate chip bagel below.



If you choose to eat something you can add it to your Health Tracker.  The main screen of Health Tracker shows a snapshot of your diet for the day, calorie goals, calories consumed, calories burned, and how many you have left.  This is the awesome (not so healthy) food I've eaten on my Saturday on the go.


In addition to food items you've eaten, you can also add exercise, water, notes, and your weight to you your Health Tracker.

The more detailed screen of your Health Tracker shows your daily summary.  This includes info about your food grades/calorie quality, calories, foodpoints, carbs/protein/fat breakdown, and "real foods" breakdown which measures how processed your food was.

If you continue to use Fooducate, you can use Health Tracker to track your progress, among the same measures as above.
I definitely will continue to use Fooducate!  My goal will be to always have an average daily food grade of B or higher.  My poor husband...this is going to drive him nuts! 

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Connecting to Community (Thing #17)

Minnesota 511
This app is a must-have for all Minnesotans.  It has been on my phone for years, and I check it every morning in the winter, before even rolling out of bed.  I am a chicken winter driver, so days like today, I am constantly opening it up on my phone to reassure myself that things have not gotten worse! Though I primarily use the app to check winter driving conditions, you can also view road reports, cameras, and traffic conditions.  Road reports include construction, accidents, closures, restrictions, and other miscellaneous pertinent info. 

In my use, I've found the winter driving conditions to be fairly accurate.   The different levels include:

-Good-green
-Fair-blue
-Difficult-light purple
-Hazardous/travel not advised- dark purple

If you click to see more detail, you can also see when the conditions were last updated.  They usually are reported early morning and late evening, or if conditions change throughout the day.  

Stay safe on the MN roads!

MN Museums
What a fun little app! I love all sorts of museums, and am constantly dragging my husband to them.  I'm sure he will not be thrilled that I now have a new way to discover new ones! The best part about the app is that it includes museums as large as the Science Museum of MN all the way down to museums as small as the Moody Round Barn in Chisago City, where I work. I don't think I'd ever use the add photos feature, but I like being able to check off museums I've visited, as well as add ones I really would like to visit to my itinerary. The app has all the pertinent info a visitor would need to know for each museum: directions, address, and links to the website.   You can browse by type of museum or search by location or category, both great ways to discover new places to visit.  

Monday, March 10, 2014