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.