badassjfro's 23 mobile things @badassj23mobilethings - Tumblr Blog

THING 23

I'm very grateful to 23 Mobile Things for giving me a chance to make something in Line Camera, i Visual, Haiku Deck and Vine without the pressure of learning them for an event or program. I now have more apps to recommend to patrons and for our learning lab iPads.

I ventured into new areas like educational apps and local apps. I re-familiarized myself with library apps that I hadn't tried recently.

The main issue I had was finding time, as I was worried that patrons would think I was playing a game on my device. Also, I try not to download apps on our unsecured library wi-fi for security reasons, but I did do it once or twice. As it went on, I got better at organizing my time, so I'd definitely do it again.

Catchphrase: Libraries - we offer Readers' Advisory and Users' App-visory

THING 22

I was searching for a second phone number app for a class I'm giving on Craigslist, so this was perfect timing.

I looked at Apps Gone Free a little bit, but I prefer being able to search for specific apps. It would also be nice if there was a way for it to let you know when particular apps went free.

Quixey is a very clean sites and I was happy with my results. I like that you can limit results to free apps and that the ratings are right up front.

The main web site I've used before for app searches, Appshopper, had more results, but some weren't very relevant. Also, I dislike the messy layout and the ads. One thing I prefer with Appshopper is the ability to sort by rating. They also have an app.

I think I would use Quixey on the desktop and Appshopper on mobile, although the Quixey web site is optimized to make it very readable on my iPod Touch. It's good to have multiple sources.

THING 21

PDF Reader

PDF readers are not glamorous, but getting the premium version of this app was the best $2.99 I ever spent. It lets me organize all the documents I need on my mobile device and be as paperless as possible.

As you can see, it lets you organize your documents into folders. You can upload them from pretty much any file-sharing service, including Dropbox, Google Drive, Evernote, Sugarsync, Mydisc, Box and Onedrive. They also have their own cloud service, but it requires a monthly fee. There is also a browser within PDF Reader so you can upload from a URL, or you can take a picture with your camera and have it converted to .pdf, much like a scanner.

You can annotate, highlight and fill in editable .pdfs. You can print, sign or email documents.

I use it to store my bus schedules and maps, my work schedule, role-playing game support materials, documents for conferences and presentations, and various documents like tickets and gift certificates. I don't like leaving important documents to the chance of having Internet access.

I've tried other .pdf readers, but they either got blurry when moving the .pdf around with my fingers or crashed a lot. PDF Reader does crash occasionally when working with big files. Although PDF Reader has bookmarks and tables of contents, I find iBooks better for reading books and articles, as the page turning is much smoother.

THING 20

Candy Crush is entertaining yet diabolical. I knew that prior to playing it, as a patron on the public Internet stations once became quite agitated when they were unable to find the web site. This was the thing I started first, as a coworker had already mentioned it to me, and I already enjoy playing matching games like Bejeweled Blitz, Chuzzle and Burning Monkey Puzzle Lab.

The difference with Candy Crush and those other games is that it combines matching like elements with puzzles. There is also an element of luck involved with which candies you get. This combination is one ,of the things that make it addictive, as you feel you may get lucky next time, or think of new strategies to solve the puzzle.

Like Bejeweled Blitz, it has a social aspect, but it takes it even farther. Bejeweled Blitz lets you link to Facebook in order to compare your scores with others, and you can give them power gems. Candy Crush also lets you give friends extra lives or help them get to the next stage of the game. Thus, everyone wants their friends to play it in order to increase their chances. Pretty clever from a marketing point of view, and it takes advantage of that good feeling you get when giving to others.

Candy Crush's time limits for getting new lives can be a positive thing to keep adults from going over their break time at work to play it, but I found that it is tempting to spend money for extra lives on a day off.

This game would be good to give teens in the learning lab a little play break without taking too much time (our iPads are locked down so they can't purchase things). I would recommend it to adults as well, but let them know of the pitfalls.

THING 19

One of my hobbies is playing tabletop role-playing games. These are games (the most famous is Dungeons and Dragons) that are played with a gamebook (optional if you're not the game master, who creates the plot, locations, and every character you meet), dice, and a pen and paper to write out your character's attributes.

Although the game itself exists only in player's heads, the accessories are http://io9.com/the-best-digital-tools-for-organizing-your-rpg-campaign-662858962: gamebooks, character sheets, maps, advice from other players - you can even roll dice with an app.

Since I got my iPad Mini 2 years ago, I have given up paper character sheets for editable .pdfs. Since you change your sheet whenever you level up, add a skill or get injured, they tend to get messy after a while. I also use .pdf gamebooks exclusively.

For this thing, I decided to get a little more advanced and try Gamers' Toolkit, a game management system. I play a fairly obscure cyberpunk game called Interface Zero, using the Savage Worlds system, but Gamer's Toolkit supports it. I did have to pay $1.99 for the Savage Worlds expansion pack - the app itself is free and includes character sheets maps. tokens and dice rolling for the latest version of the ever-popular Dungeons & Dragons.

I had a little trouble figuring out how to maneuver the drop-down menus for the character sheet, but once I did it was pretty easy. You can add a photo from your camera roll to really personalize it, although I wish it was integrated with file-sharing apps like Google Drive and Dropbox. As you can see above, the result is very clean and neat, and when I level up, it will be easy to change. The app did crash once.

I took a look at RPG Toolkit Lite as well, but it didn't have character sheets, although being able to shuffle virtual cards is pretty cool. Everything else was specific to a given game I don't play.

All in all, I would recommend Gamers' Toolkit to gamers who play a compatible game. It could also be used if we hosted a game at the library for creating pre-made characters (this makes it easier for people trying out their first role-playing game to jump right in). I still prefer to roll real dice, though.

THING 18

Connected learning is all the rage in education, as students are more engaged and retain more with hands-on activities. Libraries have always provided programs, but now we are taking it to a new level, following the principles of HOMAGO with our teen learning labs.

My library's teen learning lab has iPads, so we all need to learn about the best education apps to load on them. STEM is a very important area that needs to attract a large and diverse pool of youth so that we can stay competitive, so I chose the 3D Brain app.

A touchscreen was a fun way to learn about the different areas of the brain. It needed a little more for my taste, like maybe a quiz to make it more interactive? Maybe the paid version has more. All in all, though, a solid educational app.

THING 17

I only like talking on the phone to my nearest and dearest, so I love using a mobile device to avoid business phone calls whenever possible. Nobody likes those phone trees, so I am sympathetic when patrons complain about ours or that of other government entities.

St. Paul Connect seems like an easy way to report city issues without dealing with cheesy hold music. The app is very clean and mobile-friendly, though it could maybe use a little pizzazz.

I don't drive, so I was glad they included issues with transit as well, like unclear bus stops along with the potholes and right of way obstructions. You can even take a picture of the offending issue.

I react very positively to gamification, one of the reasons I am doing 23 Mobile Things. Clearly this app is inspired by the current trend of making more things game-like. with the civic points you can earn and the ability to vote and compare yourself to your neighbors. I wonder if you win anything by getting a certain amount of points?

I don't know if St. Paul Connect will succeed in its goal of making pothole reporting fun, but I will definitely recommend it to patrons.

THING 16

I love music, although I have no talent in that area. I had a radio show in college, and currently indulge my musical passions by creating mixes on 8tracks. I used to spin virtual records on Turntable.fm, but sadly they went out of business. I've played around with Plug.dj, but it doesn't seem as active in my preferred genres as Turntable.

Soundcloud is a little different, since it only hosts music approved by artists or labels to be on the site, so more up-and-comers than famous people.

I tried to upload a radio show that I had DJ'd for Reunion Weekend at my college, but it was a little over 2 hours, so it didn't work. There was one song with swearing, so it might have also violated their policies anyway.

So I gave up and decided to create a playlist. Searching by keywords, there was a wide range of genres. Once I realized that you had to like songs first, it was easy to create a Cyberpunk soundtrack for a game I play with my friends. For some reason, playlists are not available on the iPad version, which was a little frustrating.

I would recommend Soundcloud to patrons looking for legal free music without the ads/fees of Pandora or Spotify. It would also be good for library podcasts, soundtracks for library videos (for those tracks that allow free downloads), and posting teen music projects to our web site.

So many audio sharing sites have copyright issues, I hope Soundcloud is able to stay alive and relevant.

THING 15

I've seen many a cool infographic on Lifehacker and on library blogs. so I was excited to try it myself.

I had made this diagram previously with Creatly, which was more complicated and took a lot longer. It did have more options. I am used to more complicated programs like Photoshop Elements, so I would like to be able to insert photos, change line thickness, have different fonts, and most of all, unlimited undo, since I make a lot of mistakes. The part I had the most issues with is dragging the text boxes so the print would be smaller, since I had typed a long title and it went off the screen. I'm used to be able to set the font size in the menu bar.

However, for the price and ease of use i Visual can't be beat. It looks like you can get more options if you buy the paid version.

I would recommend iVisual for staff wanting to promote the library with a visual approach to statistics that is fun and cool, or patrons wanting to jazz up their presentations.

THING 13

The Wonder Of Microsoft Paint. - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires

I am very visual, so I like making presentations. I have used PowerPoint, Slideshare, Google Presentations, and Tildee.

The idea that you could attend a conference with only a mobile device and make a last-minute presentation is pretty cool. We also have many patrons who can't afford Powerpoint, and Haiku Deck seems easier to learn than Google Presentation if you haven't had much experience.

My favorite thing about Haiku Deck was that it would find photos for you based on keywords in your document. What a great idea! And the photos are much nicer than Microsoft's sad, old clip art. I had no trouble uploading photos from Dropbox. The themes are very nice, but I am picky about fonts, so I'd like more font options. I would also like to be able to add web links.

My biggest frustration was that one photo would not line up right, and the moving with two fingers thing did not work. I ended up fixing it in the web app, so I was glad that it was available. Having a web app also increases your options for sharing.

Overall, Haiku Deck is more intuitive than Google Presentation, Slideshare or Tildee, while being available in both app and webapp form.

THING 14

I was intrigued by Vine, as staff at the Science Museum of Minnesota told us when visiting recently that they had used Vine to make stop-motion videos, since it is free, unlike most stop-motion apps. I didn't know how that would work, but now I understand.

It took me a while to figure out touching the screen to make it stop and start, but after I watching the CNet how-two video it became clearer.

I was aggravated by having to listen to Vine's suggested videos every time I went back to the home screen. It had the opposite affect of making me hate them. I suppose they want you to add friends so you can at least see videos of people you care about over and over.

The is about the easiest video app that includes ability to edit I've ever seen. I would use it to show patrons something that can be explained best visually, like attaching a document or ejecting a flash drive. It would be fun to get little video snapshots at programs as well.

THING 12

I have so many book apps on my iPad. I have iBooks, Google Play Books, Bluefire Reader, Blio, Nook, Kindle, Overdrive and 3M Cloud. As a librarian, people expect you to be able recommend the best one for the job, and the savvy mobile reader has multiple apps to get the most cheap or free books. I decided to try the Wattpad.

The Twin Cities are a highly creative area, with many writers. I would definitely recommend this app to them. You can save and annotate stories, change fonts and backgrounds, and social media is well-integrated. I like that all the books have nice covers. It may seem superficial, but studies show that people judge books by their covers. The public domain books in Overdrive have generic covers, which make the books less appealing.

App like Google Play, Kindle and Nook emphasize the best-sellers and make the free books harder to find. I am comfortable side-loading books from Project Gutenberg or Smashwords to my Nook but many patrons are not, as the web sites are complex. The Wattpad app is much easier.

i don't know if I'd use it much myself, as I prefer to read long pieces on my Nook Simple Touch, but I liked that you could pick from a host of genres, including "vampire" and "werewolf". I found some intriguing books searching for "cyberpunk", a favorite genre of mine.

THING 11

I have not used ELM Mobile before, but more and more patrons are accessing our resources via mobile, so it is good to give it a try. I have used our SPPL Boopsie app, EBSCO Mobile, Gale My Library, Wordcat Mobile, Zinio, Transparent Languages, OneClick Digital, ReferenceUSA, 3M Cloud Library, and Overdrive.

One thing I have noticed is that library apps seem to skip ahead in user-friendliness of our library OPACs (Innovative Interfaces in my library's case, though others I have tried are no better), which feel a bit stuck in the past. For example, I am sure that some patrons are discouraged from using our databases by having to type in their library card number, name & PIN every time (I tried to get Firefox to remember it on my Mac, but it failed). When I am placing holds at home, I prefer to use the app just because it remembers my information. The main drawback of apps is that the more complex the search, the harder it gets, but that is to be expected given a smaller screen size.

I will definitely recommend that patrons bookmark ELM, especially students. It has a very nice, clean, mobile-friendly interface. I like the EBSCO app's interface a bit better, but some patrons may find having to email yourself a key to validate yourself as a user too complicated. I wish Gale databases were mobile-friendly. The Gale MyLibrary app has a nice feature where it validates you by your location, but the databases themselves are still not mobile-friendly.

THING 10

I have not used Instagram much, so I thought I'd try it out. My library has an Instagram account, so I might be asked to contribute. It's good for libraries to be on as many popular social media sites as possible.Flickr or Facebook work better for events with a bunch of pictures, but Instagram is better for casual snapshots, making the library seem like a fun,hip buddy.

For my personal use, I'll probably stick to Flickr, because I've been on since 2005 and have been active in several groups there, though I have mixed feelings about the latest version of the web site. I do like their mobile app a a lot, it's really easy to send the photos from the Photos app in iOS, to add tags and send to sets and groups, and then to send to social media. I also still have a stand-alone camera, so I send pictures from iPhoto on my desktop. I would like to see a tablet-specific app with more organizing and editing options. I am a little picky about photos, so I want time to really look at them and make them look their best. Flickr also allows short videos, just like Instagram.

At one point, I thought of switching to Instagram because the photos showed up on Twitter without clicking a link, while photos from Flickr did not. However, Instagram broke that functionality for some reason, while sending my photos from Flickr to Twitter via IFTTT allows it.

However, for a patron who just takes snapshots for fun and wants to share on social media, I would recommend Instagram. It's popular, so they would probably have friends on it, and if they are not versed in stuff like hue, saturation and white balance, it's super-easy to use their filters to get a cool look.

THING 9

I had fun with this one. I already use Aviary to edit my photos and I use a different color-removal app called ColorSplash, so I decided to try Line Camera.

It was pretty easy to add the word balloons and cartoon figures to photos. I could see using it to jazz up a display or flyers. I had a little trouble moving objects due to the size of the screen (might be better with a large tablet), but I'd probably get used to it. It has more funky fonts than Microsoft Word, which I do most of my flyer creation in because that's what we have on our desk computers.

We have regular teen tech time at 4 libraries where kids can use iPads, I bet they'd get a kick out of this.

I've heard of libraries making photo booths for events with an iPad, this would be great for that, with all the fun stickers it has. The only issue I have is that some of the coolest stickers cost money, which might disappoint the teens if they weren't allowed to use them.

THING 8

I am pretty active on Twitter and Facebook and I am on our library social media team and do some posting.

Hootsuite seems like a good tool for the library to manage their social media accounts, very clean and neat. I would recommend it to our manager of social media, but as an occasional poster just checking to see if that library human interest story was posted by someone else already, I don't feel a need for it personally. I also wish it included Tumblr, since our library has a page. Maybe if you upgrade to the paid version?

To keep my social media flowing to all channels without duplicating posts, I use If This Then That.

The guided "recipe" creation makes it easy to send Tweets to Facebook, Tumblr posts to Twitter, Flickr photos to Tumblr, etc. The only thing they don't have is Google Plus, but right now it's not very popular, so there may not be the demand.

THING 7

I've used Pinterest a little bit, mostly for shopping. It is very handy when shopping for clothes online to have a side-by-side comparison of how things look, and if you go to the store you can show it to the sales clerk.

I think where I would use it professionally is to search for ideas with strong visual elements, like programs, flyers and displays. For example, I am thinking of doing a teen program on squishy circuits, so I can search that as a keyword and find ideas that look visually appealing and not too hard.

I don't think it will replace Delicious for me for bookmarking articles, as I have 3624 links there.

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