Wednesday, May 14, 2014

23 Mobile Things--Thing 5

Thing 5 is all about notetaking and the many ways we can do that using our mobile devices.  There are numerous apps for this, but I chose to look at Remember the Milk and Dragon Dictation.  Get started with Remember the Milk or Get started with Dragon Dictation.

I would have liked to have looked at Bamboo Paper (Here's a little information on that), but for some reason it wouldn't show up on the App store when I looked for it for my iPhone.  (I suspect it is because I have a 4s and, even though I keep it updated, it may not be able to handle everything out there).  The reason I think I may have liked Bamboo paper was that it allowed for drawing and, as an artist, it might have been fun to try it out.  I did find an app for Bamboo Loop where you can make your own digital cards to send to friends in the "loop" or share on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram.  That might be an interesting thing to look into at some point.  In order to use it well with an iPhone, it is recommended to use a stylus as it can be hard to make any fine lines with just your fingers.

Anyway, I worked a bit with Remember the Milk and Dragon Dictation.  They probably could make me quite a bit more organized, but my brain just doesn't seem to organize lists and other notes well.  I keep things up to date on the calendar on my phone, but trying to add more notes and lists just seems to be beyond me (even when there are great apps that do this).

Using Dragon Dictation makes me think a lot of using Siri and, I guess, that I just never get around to using Siri, so trying to come up with things in Dragon Dictation just isn't what works for my personality either.

I imagine notetaking is a great thing - the best I tend to do is to make a grocery list (when I remember) and a list of Christmas presents that we're going to buy for family (mostly because my husband reminds me I should make a list of these things).  I fear remembering to remind myself to do something is one of the hardest things for me to do and even these beautiful apps, don't make it any better!

Wednesday, May 07, 2014

23 Mobile Things--Thing 4

On thing 4 we were assigned to be "Keeping Up" by downloading an app that would be a one stop shop for all the news in which you might be interested.

I chose to download the Flipboard app.  Find information on how to download it here.

I've used it a little bit and it is pretty easy to get a hang of flipping through the various news stories that come from the web and Facebook and your favorite blogs.  You are also able to add a "magazine" to your account.  I added some Etsy pages, so that I could flip through various gift ideas for family members.

Time will tell if this is something I will use a lot or not.  I feel like my phone is already a source of being a one stop shop even if it means I open a few more apps here and there.  If I am trying to find out what my Facebook friends are saying, I guess that I prefer to go to Facebook itself, so that I can easily navigate to all of the Facebook features.

I do like the options for finding out news related items on your favorite topics, so I might keep this app to find those bits of information more easily.  I really enjoy reading about fashion (even if I'm not very fashionable) and about world news.  I tend to like to see all sorts of different sources for this information, so that I feel like I am getting a more well rounded picture of events (especially concerning world news).  Because of this, Flipboard probably would not become the only source I would look to, but it is a nice addition, as I was finding articles that I had not previously found.

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

23 Mobile Things--Thing 3

When I was looking at some of the different examples of utilities for my iPhone, the one that drew me most was the StandApp. Here's the link on how to get started.

Working as a librarian in a small library, there are days when I am moving all the time and there are also days that I end up sitting at the computer most of the time.  The reminder to get up and do something every once in a while has been very helpful.  I haven't tracked progress well for myself on this device, but I am sure this will become more and more valuable to me in the future.  (Although, my weight is only likely to increase right now as I am 3 and a half months pregnant!).

I know that this will really be helpful at home, too, once my baby arrives.  I tend to be a bit scatterbrained when there is a lot going on (and I'm pretty sure a newborn baby will be "A LOT going on" when he or she comes along), so having a little alarm to remind me to get up and move, stretch, or even just stand will be very helpful!

Hmmm . . . looks like it is about time for me to get up and get moving :)

Friday, March 07, 2014

23 Mobile Things--Thing 2

In this Thing we were asked to learn all sorts of bits and pieces of ways our mobile device can be used. I have an iPhone 4S and had just updated it to iOS 7 for the purpose of making doing the 23 mobile things that much easier, so having links to this information and researching more about how everything works was very helpful for me.

I am happy to have learned that I can save battery life on my phone in so many different ways.  You would think that after having an iPhone for a few years, I would have known some of the ways to do this, but I always seem to think that I'll research that at some point and never get around to it.  I'm sure I'm not alone in this ;)  So, now I can truly close apps by double tapping the home button and swiping whatever I don't need to be running in the background all the time (I'm pretty sure I don't need constant updates from Candy Crush, whatever Candy Crush wants to think).  Then I also went into settings tapped on general, down to accessibility, and turned reduce motion on.  This makes it so that when I look at the picture of my little kitty Melvin his eyes no longer seem to follow me wherever I go.  I mean that is kinda cute (or kinda creepy, depending), but I guess the 3-D motion can really wear down your battery as well.

There are lots of little things that Siri can do for you, but I confess to not having really used Siri at all.  It is interesting that you can make Siri female or male now and that you can also use her/him/it to find out what your friends are saying on Twitter and such, but, at this point in time, I haven't found enough need to even have Siri set up on my phone.  Maybe that will change.

Oh, the other bit of information that I really like having is that we can now see the time stamp on every text that we send and gets sent to us.  That is really a nice feature.  In the past, it has been a bit annoying to not be able to see when I specifically sent a message (when it was in the middle of the conversation).

Anyway, those are some of the things that stood out to me most in learning more about iOS 7 on my phone.

The green grass will grow again!
On another note: here is a little dose of Springtime that was gifted to our library by one of our beautiful Story Hour participants!

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

23 Mobile Things---Thing 1

This is our little kitty, Melvin
Hey everyone!! Long time, no post once again. Life has changed for me quite a bit in the last couple of years. I've kept up with doing all sorts of stuff (like taking pictures and knitting and all that), but blogging has fallen by the wayside. Well, no more! If you'll notice on my profile, I have become a librarian for my local library since I saw you last. I'm loving my job and as a part of training (and reminding me how to do all sorts of things), I'm participating in a thing called 23 Mobile Things. Bear with me as I attempt all sorts of fancy things on this page and show you what I have been up to in the process.

As I work on these 23 Mobile Things, I hope to reconnect with the blogosphere at large and learn to be even more comfortable with all things mobile. 

Thanks for staying with me (if anyone I know is still out there) and stay warm!!!

It has been a wee bit cold here in MN ;)