thing the nineteenth | hobbies

The new app I downloaded for this thing was Road Ninja. I was searching for an app like this a few months ago and ended up with something that left a lot to be desired. I can tell immediately that Road Ninja is superior -- to start with, it's pretty! Visual appeal and intuitiveness is huge when it comes to mobile apps. It's hard to forgive an app for being ugly and difficult to use. Road Ninja appears to be accurate and well-organized, and I can't wait to use it on my next roadtrip!

Spotify is an app that I've already been using ever since it became available to U.S. citizens (it was available in Europe for several years prior, it seems). I use the free version only, which means that I can't choose a specific song and play it immediately, but I have created a starred list of the favorite tunes I like to sing along to and that is great for listening in the car when I'm not listening to a podcast of some kind.

I would like to recommend another hobby app, Geocaching. It is a paid app, unfortunately, but absolutely essential for finding and logging geocaches on the go, especially if you didn't take the time to load up your dedicated GPSr unit or are stopping to find a cache spontaneously while out and about.

thing the eighteenth | education

I downloaded just one new app for this thing, but I have already downloaded and used several of the other suggestions. I'm going to mention only a few, because the 23 Mobile Things project deadline is next week and I don't feel like I have as much time as I would have liked to mess around.

The new one I picked: Bill Nye the Science Guy. We are enthusiastic about science in my household, and I love encouraging my 4-year-old in critical thinking and scientific thought. This looks pretty cool, and it will be fun to try out some of the experiments.

I have used the Fooducate app before. It's helpful to get a quick snapshot of a product in terms of just how healthy it is -- not only in terms of calories and vitamins, but also if there are ingredients in the product that are concerning. For food logging or calorie counting, Fooducate wasn't compelling enough to pull me away from my old favorite app, My Fitness Pal.

Project Noah is a nature app that I had installed for a few years, but I never seemed to find a way to incorporate it into use. It's possible that it has changed or expanded, so I might give it another try.

thing the seventeenth | connecting to community

From the start of this endeavor, I have completed each of the things in the same order they are listed on the index page. As I've watched it creeping ever closer on the list, I have been looking forward to working on this thing for quite a while now!

My first download was the Highlights of the Superior Hiking Trail app. My husband and I have long dreamed of hiking the SHT, but so far life has gotten in the way and we have yet to complete even a single leg. As advertised, this app is pretty high-level, so you probably wouldn't be able to use it as a tool while actually on the trail itself, but it could definitely get someone excited about a SHT adventure and learn more about some of the high points.

I next attempted to download the Minneapolis Skyway app, just to see how in-depth it was. I don't work downtown, but if I did I would certainly appreciate a handy skyway map. Unfortunately, I was unable to locate the app in the app store, so maybe it's been removed?

Next up was the Minneapolis app. It looked pretty. When I downloaded it it failed to produce any content whatsoever. I tried selecting both "Explore" and "Events," but each time the results list came up completely empty. I went to the search utility and entered simply "Minneapolis," but it just spun and spun, never ultimately returning any results. I may try again later.

The next app that I thought might have some potential was the Going Out app created by the Star Tribune. So far it looks pretty decent for finding a bite to eat while out and about. Since I have theater tickets for this coming Saturday, I thought I'd see if I could cause my show to appear among the search results. Sadly, when I tried to search the venues for "Guthrie," it said nothing by that name was found, despite it being perhaps the most famous theater in town. I do like the Family Entertainment search option, and I could see myself using that during one of those "what should we do today?" moments in the dead of winter. Would be nice if it were a bit more comprehensive.

I would have liked to experiment with the Explore Minnesota app, but it opened each time with an error message, indicating some kind of conflict with the API and Google Maps. Sad.

I next downloaded the MN Museums app, and so far it looks pretty cool. It's definitely helpful to know where all of the children's museums are! I could see this being handy while traveling out-state and encountering a rainy day.

thing the sixteenth | audio

Of all the things I've learned about so far, audio is probably the area for which I have the least need or interest. I read a little about each of the three suggested audio apps and none really inspired me, but I thought I'd better download SOMETHING in order to complete this thing.

So I downloaded Audioboo and created a single sample recording, and it appears to perform as expected. I don't quite see the attraction in sharing homemade audio recordings in this age of instant video, so the social aspects of this app are kind of lost on me. My iPhone also came with a microphone app that seems to perform the same basic function as these audio recorders. While I've used it perhaps a handful of times in the years I've had my phone, I can definitely live without it, and in fact I more often than not forget that it exists.

I guess I have very little meaningful to say about audio apps since I can't imagine when I'd ever want to use one.

thing the fifteenth | infographics

The only app for this thing that was compatible with my iPhone (all others required an iPad) was info.Graphics. My first impression? Pretty visuals, but SO MUCH CLUNK! I first navigated to the categories page, where I was greeted by a misspelling of the word 'developed' (developped). Upon selecting a category, nothing happened -- no visual acknowledgment of any kind that I had made a selection, until eventually, more than five seconds later (which feels like eternity on a mobile device), the screen changed to show infographics in that category. However, as I proceeded to scroll down the page with my category results, pop-up messages asking me to "please wait" appeared constantly. The number of total results, perhaps a dozen, was also a let-down, especially after all the patience required.

I'm kind of intrigued by several of the other apps that were iPad-only, so there's a small chance I'll download and play with one of those at home.

thing the fourteenth | videos

I'd sort of been putting off this thing, because I'm just not that enthusiastic about videos. I occasionally record my daughter's activities with my phone or with our "nice" camera, but other than sometimes stitching a few clips together to create something longer, I do little to no editing or enhancements.

For this thing I downloaded the Vine app, which can be used to generate 6-second videos. They can be one single clip, or any number of short clips that are automatically merged together. Starting and stopping video recording is as easy as holding or removing your finger on the screen. I was already somewhat familiar with Vine due to exposure via Twitter. In fact, I've been following Brendon Urie, singer in the band Panic at the Disco!, who was an early adopter of Vine, and has created some amazing, inspired and amusing videos.

My first video was a recording of my cat Tycho just as I walked in the door home from work. I somehow had the luck to capture her yawning, so it's a bit cute but admittedly uninspired. A feature I wish were present but which seems to be lacking, is finding friends through connections other than Twitter. I would have liked, for example, to discover which of my Facebook friends also had a Vine account, but that doesn't seem to be possible. I've composed a few other videos since I began playing with Vine, but without a perceived audience other than myself, I don't feel very motivated (or have the time, really) to create simply for the sake of creation.

I initially thought I'd download the Magisto app as well, and try my hand at video editing with music or graphics, but ultimately ended up changing my mind. I don't expect to have much use for an app like this because I simply don't have time to create fancy videos.

thing the thirteenth | presentations

For this thing, I downloaded just one app, Deck. Two of the four suggested apps were for iPad only, and I never bring my iPad to work. The other, Haiku Deck, required that an account be created. Since I don't expect to keep a presentation app on my phone once 23 Mobile Things is over, I opted not to create an account I'd never use.

Although quite basic, Deck was fairly intuitive. I created a new slideshow of about 6-7 slides. I added some text, added a photo/caption. I didn't really play around with themes very much, but some of them were quite visually appealing. If I had a reason to create a simple slideshow on the fly, and I can't actually think of one, this wouldn't be a bad choice.