Brooke's books

I’ve been a bit remiss in posting my badges! I had a blast with 23 Mobile Things over the last few months.

Right down to the wire, but the library is still open and it’s Aug. 6, so I’m calling it good! *g*  I don’t have an Apple device, so I was bummed about not getting to play around with Forge of Neon (the gallery was so cool!) or Muse. I have SketchbookPro on my tablet (which is at home, because planning ahead is not how I roll), so I installed Sketchbook Express on my phone to play around with a bit. It’s definitely better on a tablet with a stylus, but I made do with the small phone screen and my fingers. I wanted to show some love for my favorite thing (Thing 7: Books and Reading) and also for Katherine for putting together such an awesome, educational program. (Thanks, Katherine!) 

I’m stoked about Thing 22 because I love learning languages and  I think it’s the first assignment where I already had all of the apps on my phone. My son is using DuoLingo to teach himself Portuguese, and my daughter is using my Pronunciator account to learn Spanish so she can sass her father, since he usually speaks Spanish when he’s hurrying her along in the mornings. Google Translate has long been a staple for me whenever I get in over my head with the books I read the kids in French. They’re good for my comprehension, since they always demand I read it in French and then immediately translate before turning the page. *g* I hadn’t heard of Word Lens, but when I went to download it in the Play Store it kept coming up with Google Translate, which I already have. Carly Googled it and found that Google bought out Quest Visual--proving a) that it’s always good to have a reference librarian on hand and b) that Google is one step closer to owning everything in the world.  In honor of CCPL’s Spanish language book club, I used Google Translate and screen capped a shot of it translating Isabel Allende’s La Isla Bajo El Mar.  Lo que es una aplicación maravillosa! (Or so Google Translate tells me. Français est plus mon truc!)

I’m right up against the 23 Mobile Things deadline, which shouldn’t be a surprise because journalists like to live on the edge. So I was already rushed and a bit on edge when I started Thing 21, which might be the reason I was so frustrated when I installed BookMyne and it couldn’t find CCPL. (Or IMCPL, which is more than a little squirrelly. It did find Carmel Mountain Ranch and Carmel Valley, both of which are in California, and it wouldn’t let me search by location. So. Squirrelly.) I did add the CCPL webpage to my home screen, which is more than enough functionality for me. Honestly, I don’t search the catalog unless I’m in the building...if I’m not here, I probably want the ebook, so the Overdrive app is a better choice. (Take that, BookMyne!) Bonus: I’ve owned an Android for six years and I didn’t know you could do that!

I am a Gmail fanatic, and as an Android user that’s the native app on my phone and tablet. I didn’t realize how often I check my mail on the go until my phone suffered a mishap on vacation (surprisingly it wasn’t sand or saltwater that did it in...it was a loose USB port) and had to go without one for the better part of a week. To my astonishment I didn’t die, though having to utter the phrase “I’m going inside for a minute, I have to check my email” felt very 90s retro. I gained a healthy respect for being in the moment, and I think my kids had more fun since Mommy wasn’t glued to her email.  Since I already sync four email accounts on my phone I didn’t want to add one for CCPL. But by its nature webmail is wonderfully portable, so I’ve logged in via my browser several times to check in on things while I’m not in the office. My husband is in data security, so I’m pretty paranoid about letting third party apps have access to my email. So I’m not downloading acompli, but after reading the promo material and reviews I can see how someone who gets tons of emails a day could find it really helpful as an aggregator. 

My friends from college have spread out across several continents, so I’m pretty familiar with Google Hangouts and Skype. Even my kids have Skype on their tablets so they can talk to their grandparents, all of whom live out of state. (Last year we Skyped using my phone so the kids could take their grandmother out trick-or-treating with them!) I’ve never used Google Hangouts to send SMS texts or Google Voice calls, since I’ve always thought of it as a video chat app. I’ll definitely give that a try next time instead of just reaching for Skype. I love how easy group video calls are on Hangouts. A few of my author friends use it to do real-time book question-and-answer sessions with fans, but I’ve never tried that. I’ll admit that even when I’m chatting in Hangouts, I call it Skyping. They have such a big share of the market and were my go-to video chat service for years, so it’s kind of like calling all photocopies Xeroxes. I hadn’t heard of Skype Qik, though it seems to serve the same function as Snapchat, though perhaps without the false sense of privacy that Snapchat (erroneously) gives people. I think I’ll stick with Snapchat for my goofy photos and five-second videos of eyerolls and whatnot. :)

I played around a bit with Sunrise, but it didn’t do much for me. I think it would be best for someone who has calendars on several platforms (like my husband, who maintains an exchange calendar for work and a Google calendar for home). My phone’s Google calendar provides all the functionality I need, so adding another calendar manager on top of that wouldn’t really do much for me.

My cloud storage accounts are so full there needs to be an intervention of some sort. Between my Dropbox, Google Drive and Microsoft One Drive, there’s probably enough files to merit an episode of Data Hoarders, if such a thing existed. (It totally should.) I’m not sure how I’d function without the cloud. I remember keeping files on a multitude of flash drives (which always ended up corrupted at just the wrong time...), maxing out the amount of add-on hard disk space on my laptops, and sorting through a tangle of cords to rival Medusa’s hair trying to find the right one for whichever portable hard drive I was working off of at the moment. And then the cloud became more affordable, and suddenly it was easy to work on projects on multiple devices because nothing was stored locally. When I bought my new laptop I traded cavernous storage space for a solid-state drive that boots like a dream, and I’ve never looked back.  And now I’ve got a shiny new Box account to fill, too. Reality TV producers, if you’re listening, Data Hoarders could be a hit, and I’d be willing to be your first episode. *g*

I don’t do a lot of slide presentations these days, but I do remember what a pain they were back when pretty much your only option was PowerPoint. I’m thrilled to see that there are other apps out there that give you great user interfaces and a lot of good, intuitive options. (I especially like that HaikuDeck automatically helps you search for Creative Commons images--that’s huge! I love that they’re making it easy to follow copyright law, especially for non-power users who may  not understand the difference.) I was a bit turned off by Prezi since it requires a specific app to view the presentations. That would be fine in a controlled setting, like say you’re presenting in a boardroom with a projector and your own device or you’re using the app in a classroom and all the classroom devices have it, but it severely limits the reach of your presentation if you’re sharing it. A lot of people would look at that and pass on viewing it simply because they don’t want another app crowding their device. I also love the collaborative options in Google Slides. I’m a huge Google Docs fan and keep pretty much everything in the cloud, between my Google Drive and my Dropbox accounts. Google’s collaborative products have been a godsend when working on projects with people who are scattered here there and everywhere. The ability to simultaneously edit a file is like magic. 

I’m almost ashamed to admit how many of the apps that appeared in the #23mt games are already on my phone. I have three versions of Angry Birds alone (a must when you have small kids and plan to take them anywhere with a line or long wait), though I don’t get the appeal myself. I’m a Tetris master, and I had to give up Words with Friends because it was pretty much eating up my life. That’s a terrible game to play when you have friends who live a lot of different time zones, since it means someone is almost always awake and playing. I prefer my bedtime avoidance mechanism to be reading, not Words with Friends, so I had to delete that awhile back.  I liked the NYT crossword app, but I prefer Shortz, which has a ton of puzzles to choose from and a nice interface. And given my addictive game personality (see previous comment re: Words with Friends), I’m not going anywhere near Candy Crush Saga. I’ve heard it quickly becomes an obsession, and I know people who have actually created fake Facebook accounts just to get extra lives or whatever the game gives you for telling a friend on Facebook. Ditto for FarmVille. I think abstention is the safest route in this instance. :)

I tackled #thing14 Hoosier Helper today for #23mt. I was already familiar with the Star and IBJ apps, and the IndianaDNR and VisitHC apps looked really useful. As I tell my husband, running and swimming aside I’m an indoor pet, so I passed on the DNR site. I downloaded the VisitHC app and was impressed by how colorful and well put together it was. I do wonder, though, why the libraries here in Hamilton County aren’t part of it. Surely we could at least have our events listed in the events calendar? It seems like a fabulous platform to get information out, and we have so much to offer in both arts and entertainment here.

Lots of #23mt badges in the last two weeks! :)

The iTunes University looked like it might be a great tool for someone who has considerable time to spend. The reviews criticized it for being completely static, so if a patron was interested in assignments and feedback I’d steer them toward Gale Courses, which actually offers an asynchronous classroom with assignments and teacher feedback.

I was pretty excited to read about the apps in the #23mt Thing 12: Hobbies. Craftsy seems like a blackhole I might never surface from, so even though it’s intriguing I’m going to give it a wide berth. I’m already dealing with a Pinterest addiction, so I don’t need to add something else that will lead to binge crafting! I did download the Retailmenot app, and I’m guessing I’ll get some good use out of it. I’ve used the website for years, but I’ve always thought it was for online shopping only. Sure, I’ve seen the instore coupons on the website, but actually having to print them out was a hassle that made the small savings not worth it. I’m hoping the app is as valuable as it seems to be in the tutorials--especially the feature that allows you to look for nearby deals. I already use the Yelp app to find restaurants when we’re away from home, now maybe I can use the Retailmenot app to find discounted restaurants, even better! :)

One of the #23mt items I’m tackling today is #Thing11, audio apps. I was already familiar with everything but the Magic Piano app, but as someone who actually plays the piano the reviews were a turn off for me. It seems like a neat idea, but it’s a game, not an actual app that lets you learn how to play the piano. The marketing slant makes it seem a bit like a tutorial, but the reviews were clear that while it was a fun way to waste some time, users weren’t going to learn anything practical.  Back in the day I was a huge Pandora fan, but I got fed up when it started giving more and more time to ads. It was a good choice when I was interested in discovering new bands, but now my mobile music listening is more of the “Mommy, play Frozen again!” variety, so I needed something that let me play specific songs and albums instead of just giving me a radio station based on a song or artist. Enter Spotify, aka my only source of solace in the car. After some frustrations with only being able to skip a certain number of songs in an hour and some tearful moments from the youngest kiddo when I couldn’t play a specific song from Frozen or Annie on the mobile app, I bit the bullet and bought a subscription. Now I can listen to whatever I want on demand, skip as often as necessary, and even download music for offline listening (a must when you drive through dead zones like the Smokies). And I can even share  playlists, like I’ve done here. This was a playlist I used while I was writing Playing House. 

My son’s school has used Aurasmic or something similar for school reports, allowing students to incorporate videos and other media into the posters hanging on the walls. That seems like a better use-case than the library, since patrons don’t seem to seek out interactive media here.