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.