Ta-daaa! I finished!

Thing 22

Languages and Translation

This gave me a good reason to try out Pronunciator so I can speak more knowledgeably about it to patrons. I went to the CCPL website (using my new icon on my homescreen!) and found Pronunciator through the 24/7 tab. Signing up was easy--just entered my library card number and email address, then I was ready to go.

I chose French, the "High Beginner Course 1" because I took a couple of years of French in college, so maybe I remember enough to get me started. Started OK with the drills, but the interface is annoying and clunky. I had to tap things really hard to get a response, and it's not always clear exactly what I'm supposed to tap--do I tap the phrases to hear them pronounced? After several tries I realized that wasn't it: I had to tap either "normal" or "slow" at the bottom to hear them. But even then, there's a considerable delay between when I tap and the sound of the voice.

I wanted to take a quiz, but it doesn't matter how often I tap that tab, or how hard--it just won't do anything. Same with the Notes tab. I also can't find the "Postcards (culture note)" you mentioned as part of Activity 2, making me wonder if those are contained in Notes? Is this yet another Android issue? I can't imagine recommending this to patrons until I figure this out.

Thing 23

Art

Bitstrips is addictive. It was great fun creating my avatar and posting it on Facebook. I love that my avatar actually had a Bitchy Resting Face in the template I used--it's the only one that really seemed to resemble me slightly because of that facial expression! I especially loved that you could add bags under the avatar's eyes; nice touch.

I remembered that Nancy, one of my Facebook friends, had posted cartoony pics of herself before, and now I recognized that she was way ahead of me in using Bitstrips. So I put us together in a funny pic and posted it on FB. I crack myself up.

Thing 20

Email

Gmail is my personal email, and I've had that synced with my Android phone from the beginning. It works great! But wow, we can sync our Webmail too? That's a plus, because I've had occasions where I needed to check it from my phone, and going through the whole log-in process is a hassle.

I followed the instructions on the 23 MT site, modified for Android of course, and with some guidance from Katherine when I got stuck (thanks!), I successfully set up Webmail on my phone. It took me a minute to figure out how to find it once it was installed, but I found it with all my apps, and I moved the icon to my home screen, so now I'm in business.

Thing 21

CCPL

I've used CCPL's mobile site before, but never thought to add it to my homescreen. I did it easily, but it makes me laugh that's it's just a generic red "C" instead of a cute little icon of our site. It would be nice to have a real CCPL app someday, especially one for our Summer Challenge.

I then tried BookMyne. Once I installed it, I tried to find CCPL by using Nearby Search--no luck, although I did see HEPL, Avon, Tipton, Anderson, etc. Then I tried searching by name, Carmel Clay Public Library, and it said "Sorry, your search returned no results." What the heck?

Thing 19

Communicating

My kids use Snapchat, so this was the app I chose to install. Matt, our youngest child at 13 yet the most teenager-y of the three, rolled his eyes in that irritating way when I told him I had installed it. When I looked for other friends, of course, hardly anyone in my contacts (taken from my Gmail account, phone contacts, and Facebook) had Snapchat. One friend did; I sent him an invitation to Snapchat with me, but he hasn't responded two days later, and I'm guessing he signed up just because his kids have it and he never checks it--gotta text him and ask about this.

Hannah, my co-worker, heard me talking and said that she has Snapchat, so she sent me a photo for 10 seconds and I sent her one back. She's young and hip, so it makes sense that she already had it. Fun, I guess! BUT. My usual problem with these apps: to use it for anything fun, you have to turn on data! I found this out by trying to send a video--after maybe 10 minutes of trying, my month's allotment of data was gone. My son Matt was completely out of data and his cash balance for overages within a week of his monthly plan starting, and when I investigated, sure enough, it was all from Snapchat. So that's another app I couldn't delete fast enough. I think the library needs to give me a stipend for trying out these data-required apps!

Thing 18

Calendars

My friends make fun of me for never using my phone's calendar when we're together, planning the next dinner out or whatever. Fine, today is the day I will try it! 

At first I was impressed. It's the first time I've ever even looked at my phone's calendar, and there were a few things that had synced from other places, like reminders about dentist's appointments (I guess their emailed reminders somehow went to this calendar) and dates that I had entered for my husband's recent visit to Chicago. This is embarrassing that I don't know how those got there! Also, a friend's August birthday popped up. Maybe that came from Facebook? Anyway, I added a couple more upcoming birthdays, and a meeting with a co-worker for this Wednesday. But then it required several taps and swiping when I wanted to go back and edit an appointment or add a reminder. It will just take some getting used to, and maybe I will still always prefer my paper calendar!

I also wanted to try Sunrise. Right off the bat, I can see it is beautiful to look at. I connected it with my Facebook account for events, and maybe will connect it with Evernote if I ever start using that regularly. I've got US Public Holidays linked, and of course my Google account. I added that meeting with a co-worker, and I loved it! Love the analog clock where you just tap to add what time, and that when I'm writing what the meeting is about, it works just like my text function. I even like the little weather symbols for morning/afternoon/evening! It means I don't have to go to my special Weather Kitty app except when I want more details! 

Some friends and I are working on a few get-togethers for the end of summer, so I will put all of them on Sunrise as we get them scheduled. It would be great if this works for keeping track of all the crazy school events that are about to start hitting us.

Thing 17

Cloud Sharing & File Storage

When I first started grasping this cloud-storage thing a few years ago, I installed Dropbox on my computer because it drove me crazy to have stuff on the network here at the library that I couldn't access at home or if I was visiting a school. But Peter told me recently that that was slowing my computer way down when I would log in and out of workstations. My Dropbox account is maxed out with wedding pictures, and for the life of me I cannot figure out how to just MOVE them someplace else--now that I use Google Drive so much, I just want them put in Google Photos and be done with it, but I will have to figure that out at home. 

Anyway, I read the PC review of Box, and since that was their go-to file sharing app for Android, I decided to download that on my phone. Then I uploaded a file (a photo of my dog, surprise). Then I shared the file through email (to myself, because I don't want to drive people crazy sending photos of my dog to them). The only problem is finding files to upload! There were only 4 files that showed up--two photos, a PDF whose name I don't recognize, and an .acsm file, whatever that is. Plus there is no thumbnail attached to these files, so I can't tell what the PDF or .acsm file is before uploading it. 

I'm feeling pretty dumb with my inability to figure out how to make either Dropbox or Box useful. I will just have to spend more time (a lot more than the expected 30 minutes) playing around with them.

Thing 16

Presentations

Google Slides has been in my toolbox since last spring when my daughter had an assignment to do a PowerPoint presentation, but she has a Chromebook, so her first thought was, Oh, I guess I can't do this. Too bad! But no! We messed around until we figured out how to do everything with Slides (which wasn't hard at all), and we both learned something. 

I had heard good things about HaikuDeck recently when some co-workers were putting together a presentation for CYPD. (Not all committee members were sold on Prezi, apparently, leading them to look at alternatives, and luckily we have 23 Mobile Things helping us out again!) I loved the weeding presentation, and I learned a few things there too, like not letting your emotions interfere when it comes time to weed--that's really tough. However, it does not appear that HaikuDeck is available for Android. I checked the website--it's for iOS, or you can use it on the web through Chrome, Safari, or Firefox. So one more option to teach the kids and myself! But not really a "mobile thing" for me.

Thing 15

Games

I hate Candy Crush Saga because I don't understand how it works, and that makes me feel really, really dumb. Everybody I know was really into it for a while. What am I missing?? I looked at the video and read the links, but I don't see how it works in action--I swiped a million candies, and sometimes something great happened, but mostly it just moved a candy and then moved it right back. Duh. Please explain this to me, somebody, when you have nothing better to do.

But Words with Friends is my friend! I like Solo Play since I can do it offline, but other than that, Marcus is the only person I've ever played it with. He's good competition for me, and I'm afraid I'd spend too much time with it if I ever played with anyone else.

Thing 14

Indiana

I thought I would like to download the IndyStar app, but when I saw the reviews, I changed my mind. The website annoys me enough, so I don't think I want to put myself through the crashing and getting only half of an article, etc., that people are complaining about in reference to the app. 

I didn't find Indiana Travel Guide, but I did find something called "Indiana Guide by Triposo" that had a few good reviews. I didn't take too long to install, despite the warning it gave me that it was very large and might take a while, but then it took forever at "unpacking" when I tapped "Open." Anyway, that's OK because this is amazing! I love that you can choose "Suggestions" for either Cities or for National Parks, and it gives brief highlights for each place, and you can choose to have them displayed in order of how far they are from you. It's also easy to just click on what you might be looking for right from the home screen: Sightseeing, Eat & Drink, Hotels, Shopping, Activities, etc. This might be nice to find a Triposo guide for Illinois, for when we're visiting family near Chicago. 

Thing 13

Education

Holy cow, I feel like a sluggish moron after doing the train-to-the-station game on Lumosity! And this is to get a baseline? Imagine how bad I will be at this when I'm 75 if I don't get working on this now. I do like having this app, but I fear getting addicted. I actually now play Solitaire sometimes before bed instead of reading, which is the worst thing in the world because that is my only reading time. At least I have more sympathy for my middle son who can't bear to put his video games down and pick up a book.

But the Khan Academy app is a beautiful thing! I will be downloading that to my daughter's phone before school starts--I wish we had known about this during her woeful last year in Chemistry. I love the simplicity of this app, where you just click on Science, then choose Chemistry, then choose whatever topic they're studying. I clicked on Stoichiometry, then opened the first video (Introduction to Stoichiometry), and it was quite pleasant and, well, instructive. Amy complained all year long about how her teacher "doesn't teach us anything, just expects us to know it!" Please. Next time, I will just hand her her phone and say "Look it up on Khan Academy." Of course then I'll have to watch her to make sure she doesn't wander off onto YouTube music videos, but whatever it takes.

Thing 12

Hobbies

I added the RetailMeNot and Yelp apps, I guess mainly because my "hobby" is not wasting money. So I get coupons w/ RetailMeNot, and I get reviews for restaurants on Yelp. We rarely go out to dinner, so when we do, I do my homework first so we aren't likely to be disappointed! 

Like probably a lot of people (no time to read everyone's blogs anymore! Darnit!), I checked out our library's reviews on Yelp. It was pretty heartwarming because it looks like we are beloved among at least those reviewers. (I'm curious where in the world the person really was who raved about CCPL's fireplace??? I would sure love to have one, but I'm pretty sure we don't.)

I also have the Ibotta app. I've got it all set up, and I have rebates on there, but again, I'm hamstrung in using it at the actual store because I have such limited data. It would probably be fun and productive (and even addictive) if I could use it offline. It sure would be nice if my Kroger (and Wal-Mart, and Target) had free wi-fi.

Thing 11

Audio and Music

Like lots of people, I've been using Spotify on my desktop computer at work for a while now. (I have to put my earbuds in and play music when nearby coworkers are making annoying sounds--it's a lifesaver.) So I was happy to put the app on my phone and listen to my favorite songs that way too. 

The Premium upgrade says you can listen to your music offline, which I'm interested in mainly because I'd like to be able to listen in my car. I started the 7-day free trial; we'll see how it goes. Interesting that I'm not able to find out how much Spotify Premium will cost if I decide to buy it! I've looked all over within the app, but can't find it. I'll look on the non-mobile site to see if the mystery is solved there.

SoundHound was fun--I played a song on my computer, held the phone up to the speaker, and within seconds, boom: "Jealous Guy" sung by Bryan Ferry, and there are the lyrics. What a great concept! Of course I told my music-freak husband, who believes it is the worst invention ever, because half the fun is figuring out what song it is without it being handed to you on some device. "We are being led by a generation of kids who know nothing about delayed gratification, and the satisfaction of figuring things out for yourself!!" Yes, we are grumpy middle-agers at my house. Still, I'll keep the app handy.

Thing 10

Augmented Reality

Ugh, not a fan so far. I downloaded Aurasma before I looked at any of the links, so even with the description of what AR is, and specifically what Aurasma does, I was clueless without having seen it in action. So I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do to create my own Aura.

Like I should have to start with, then, I read the quick guide; even then, I found this app hard to navigate. I kept getting stuck in the viewfinder part of it and couldn't figure out how to go back. Then I couldn't find the "overlays." I tried browsing the "Popular Auras," but it would never load--just kept saying "Loading Auras" and spinning, and then finally said there was a problem connecting to Aurasma Central and to check my signal strength and network settings. (I'm doing this at the library, and I know I've got wifi turned on.) 

Finally I found the overlays and made two auras using shots of stuff on my desk. I tried to "Share" it via email, but when I clicked on Email, it gave me the option to share it to Google Drive. I did that, thinking I could then link it to this blog post,but it just saved text. This is where my brain has a hard time remembering the difference between a smartphone and a desktop computer. 

Now I'm trying to go back and look at my Public Auras. I see them there--named "nipper" and seal"--and when I first made them, I saw them "in action." But now when I click on them, all I see is the photo of the objects--none of the AR stuff. And since I've already spent an hour on this one, I'm going to have to let it go. 

So I watched the video clip about the use of Aurasma at the Star Wars thing at DisneyWorld. Parts of that were cool, like the guy hanging out with Chewbacca. And then I watched how teachers are using it. OK, but I don't really see much educational value, other than the fact that the kids get to use a device. Then I tried to watch the PowerPoint about how libraries are using AR, but none of the images showed--the text slides were fine, but most were black. Not sure what's going on with that. 

I do know about QR codes, and for a while now I've wanted our children's calendars to have them so parents could just save them to their phones, and now Elizabeth is making inroads with this on lots of our publications. I do have a QR reader on my phone, but is that the same as AR? 

Still not a fan.

Thing 9

Video

I was forced to figure out how to use YouTube on my son's iPad last year when the veterinary behaviorist at Purdue asked to see how my dog was doing with his "Relaxation Protocol." Chico is a raving lunatic when we see other dogs (and sometimes people) when we are out walking, as many of you know already because I talk about this problem way too much! Anyway, the behaviorist at Purdue is the fifth trainer we have consulted to deal with this, and obviously we can't drive him up there every week, so we communicate via email in between visits. I told them Chico was the perfect angel in our house, and had learned how to stay on his mat no matter what I do, and they wanted me to prove it! So this is my video of Chico staying put while I clap, sing, ring the doorbell, march around him, etc. Also, it's a 10-minute clip, but if you could just watch it up to 2:17 you will see my dear, departed cat Clarence walk around Chico so he can go upstairs. Really, that's why I'm sharing this: in his last months he could no longer walk up the stairs, and I love to see him here. (You'll hear Brian Williams doing the NBC Nightly News in the background too--another dear, departed one in a way.)

ANYWAY. All this to say: I learned a lot here because I didn't realize how nice the YouTube app was until I downloaded it onto my phone yesterday. So much easier to use than it was last year when I had to figure out how to post this and then how to email it to Purdue! I even went to Blogger on my phone (not my computer) to upload this video. Very simple. Now I'm going to film Chico learning to look at me for a treat instead of going after dogs on our walks (he's getting a little better!)

Thing 8

Health & Wellness

Guys who always have pockets for their phones are the ones who get the most out of these cool fitness-tracking apps, at least for things like Human, the all-day activity tracker (not formal workouts). Sadly, I no longer belong to a gym, but if I did, I would get one of those armbands where you can strap your phone on so I could track calories burned, steps, heart rate, etc. If I didn't have a highly reactive dog that requires me to take short walks close to home and be hypervigilant when we're outside, I would love to take long walks (or even maybe do a tiny bit of running?) with him, and the fitness apps would be great for that too. 

So what else? When I saw the Daily Yoga app mentioned on the 23 Mobile Things site, I perked up. I love yoga and have recently started up my home practice again. I downloaded Daily Yoga and selected one of the free video downloads, a 10-minute series focusing on the abs. You can choose to play the new-agey music with it or silence that, and you can select voice prompts or silence them. I turned off the music but turned on the voice prompts. The person demonstrating the postures was a very fit man who could do everything with ease; it's just him with a white background, nothing more. The woman giving the verbal cues had a noticeable Asian accent but was easily understandable. I had to prop my phone up against a book on the floor to see it while I was on the mat. 

Unfortunately, most of the video downloads on Daily Yoga are labeled "Pro," meaning you have to pay for them. I joined DoYouYoga.com about a month ago online, and while they don't have an actual app, they do have a mobile version of their site. But I've found that when doing an online yoga practice, it's a lot easier to follow the videos with the laptop on the floor rather than using the little phone.

I haven't tried it yet, but I plan to download the calorie-counter and food diary app soon. I need all these before my high school reunion this summer.

Thing 7

Books & Reading

This is an easy one. I've been downloading Overdrive books (but mostly not with the app--just reading in my browser) and teaching elementary school kids and other patrons how to do this for a while now. But I had not downloaded the Overdrive app until now. I found it pretty easy to follow the directions, and checked out my first book, Craig Ferguson's American on Purpose. I also added it to my homescreen and have found it so nice to have something to read, even if I forget to bring a book, while waiting for my car to get worked on or a kid to get done with soccer practice.

Goodreads is another site I've used for a long time now, keeping track of my personal reading and work reading. It's helpful with Reader's Advisory if I keep up with it and tag the books right, plus I love to see what my friends are reading. Anyway, now I have the Goodreads app on my phone. So far I find it easier to use on my computer, especially if I'm going to write a review, but if I wanted to browse, I guess it would be handy to have on my phone.

Thing 6

Notetaking and Productivity

It would be great to be able to record verbal reminders on my phone as I'm driving to and from work, like my friend Johnna does. So many things pop into my head that I need to remember to do, but of course I forget them by the time I get home because I couldn't write them down. So I had hoped one of these tools would help me out.

With Katherine's help I downloaded the Dragon Dictation app (the Android app is actually called "Dragon Mobile Assistant"--confusing). I'm guessing it's great, but I didn't realize I needed a data connection for it to work, which rules this out for use while driving (I have very limited data on  my phone). 

Evernote seems promising, and we have it on the children's dept. iPad--we used to use it to write the words to action rhymes to project during storytime--so I downloaded that. I love that you can take a photo of documents like receipts and stuff. I took a picture of the Overdrive Read "cheat sheet" we use when teaching the CCS kids how to download ebooks onto their devices so that I would remember to  make more copies to keep at the children's reference desk. (Of course I wish it would just MAKE the damn copies and put them in the binder for me, because I made that note more than a week ago and still haven't done it!) It appears that you should be able to record audio with Evernote, according to the tutorials, but the Android instructions do not seem to correspond to what I'm seeing on my screen, so I still haven't figured that out. 

Finally, I downloaded Hanx Writer on my son's iPad just because I wanted to see and hear it. Really cool! And my son would probably have been impressed with it a year or so ago, partly because he's a big Tom Hanks fan, but he is now in the throes of adolescence and everything I think is cool is automatically not cool, so he uninstalled it. I think I'm going to play a prank on him--take away his iPad one day while he's at school and put an old typewriter on his desk and say that's his replacement.

Thing 5

Maps

Waze has the cutest icon I've ever seen, so I'm glad that turns out to be a really great map app for me. 

Looking through the other map app options, I didn't like the connotation with the word "Swarm," and I absolutely don't care about checking in when I go places, so I didn't try that one. I didn't try Google Maps, even though it came with my phone, because Google Maps has literally steered me wrong enough times that I don't trust it.

I should emphasize that I am severely directionally challenged, to the point that I need printed-out maps for almost every place I go if I haven't been there in a month or so. I've visited all the Carmel elementary schools several times, but those maps are a requirement for me to reliably get to each one as needed. With that said, I didn't like the idea of using a phone to help me navigate. It seems wonderful if you can use it while someone else drives, but it makes me really nervous to have that distraction while I'm driving. However, it just so happened that I had a doctor's appointment at a new place in Fishers a couple of weeks ago, the day after I reviewed the map apps. So I figured it was a good time to test one out.

I got all set up with Waze at work before I left, watched the guided video tour, and entered in the office address. Once on the road, it took a while to get used to this thing moving around on the phone, but once I realized that little arrow was ME (you can change the arrow to a various cute cars or motorcycle), and that it would adjust if I took an unexpected turn, I really liked it. I like the little alerts for road work and such; at one point a darling little policeman icon showed up, and within a few seconds, sure enough, I passed a police car that had pulled someone over.

So much to like about Waze! I love that it tells you on top how far until your next turn, w/ an arrow pointing in the direction you'll turn, and if it's a roundabout coming, it's a circle with an arrow for your exit. The only problem is that I have very limited data on my phone. What with me going to and from the doctor's office, and then using Waze to get to a party at an unfamiliar house last weekend, my data was all used up. Sigh. It's probably for the best, though. I don't want to get used to having my route all spelled out for me, because I really do need to think through it myself. Plus there's the distraction element. But I love having it in an emergency, and the next time we go on a trip, I'll pay for more data and navigate while my husband drives.

Thing 4

Social Reading

I like the idea of social reading apps, because it can give you something to do if you're caught without a book. I know, I know, you can download books on your smartphone too! I'm sure we'll get to that later. I don't think I want to tell the world every time I read an interesting article, but I would like a quick and easy way to share content with people who might find it interesting.

 Anyway, I read a lot of these links to find just the right app, and thought Feedly was the one for me, but it's just not doing it for me. For some reason I have a hard time searching for content. I tried it a few times using the "Magazine" view, but ended up deleting the app. Then I tried Flipboard, which I like much better. I like the colorful but clean and simple layout. When you click on Topics, I love how it gives you endless ideas for subjects to follow, rather than just a few broad categories. So now I get articles on vegetarian recipes, cute animals, librarianship, dog training, etc. I also like the ease of marking an article to read later. I haven't tried sharing an article yet, but that looks easy enough.

Thing 3

Utilities

Uploading my library card to the Key Ring app was not as easy as I had hoped. Luckily I had  read Christy Walker's post about this one ahead of time, so I did what she did (i.e., just guessing which was the right bar code--none of them looked to me like they matched the one on my card). When I tried it with one of our self-checks, it didn't work, but it DID work on the other self-check in the children's department.

Just for kicks, I tried CardStar, which is the same idea. This seemed easier to set up--it skipped the step of asking you to choose the matching bar code, and it didn't add those confusing letters at the beginning and end of the card number. And it worked. So I deleted Key Ring and plan to add a bunch more cards to CardStar.

P.S. I also went back to Thing 1 and took some more time to set up this blog to make it prettier and include all that narcissistic profile info. I think I deserve extra credit for all my hard work!

Thing 2

Photos

New phone!

Up until this week, I was using an old Palm Pre II, running on WebOS. It was really cute but not really a smart phone, and I don't have nearly enough tech savvy to figure out how to make it smarter using its open source operating system. Not that I really know what that is. Anyway, it did the job for making phone calls and basic texts (but not sending or receiving texts w/ photos). BUT all support for WebOS is ending in March. So between that and the launching of 23 Mobile Things, I bit the bullet.

I did my homework and found a pretty good, affordable smart phone that works well with my prepaid service. It gave me fits all day yesterday with its inability to connect to the library's wifi--many thanks to Elizabeth, Marcus, Peter, and Katherine for spending so much time trying to figure it out! But then it worked fine at home, so I got myself an Instagram account. My kids were a big help, and as you can see, one of them offered to pose for my first shot:

(The theme of my blog is obviously my dog. Maybe also my kids.)

Of course, Gina has had to spend the past 20 minutes helping me figure out how to get photos to show up on my Instagram page. What is wrong with me?? Maybe I will just stick with Facebook for my own purposes, and use Instagram to spy on the kids.

Thing 1: Hi to all my techie co-workers!

Blogging

Thanks to a little help from Elizabeth, I'm going to end my week by getting my first Thing done. I want so badly to post a photo of my sweet old cat, but that's a cliche for a middle-aged librarian, so I will resist. How about my dog? A dangerous pit bull mix.

(Plus if you look really closely, you might see that sweet old cat too.)