My last badge

 

I HAVE COMPLETED THE PROGRAM 

23 MOBILE THINGS ON A STICK

Mobile Thing 23 - Evaluation

I have really enjoyed doing the 23 Mobile Things , though there were a few I that I didn't really like.  I love trying new things even if I will never use it again.  The video, audio and photos were fun and I liked finding new things under hobbies, which I would never have looked for.

I didn't connect with others who were doing the 23 Mobile Things just because I was busy and didn't have time to look at what others were doing.  I think it would had made it more fun to connect on some of the social media apps where you could find friends.  Maybe that would be a suggestion, find a way so that we could find each other.

I think that a program that combines apps and websites would be great.

I didn't find too many of the Things relevant for my life at the library, but I did find Things relevant for my life as a musician along with my personal life. 

I would jump at the chance to do another program like this.  Unfortunately after doing a couple of things my life got so busy I forgot all about this.  But I finished in time!!

Mobile Thing 22 - Discovering apps

I looked at Quixey since I'm not interested in constantly finding new apps.  I'm interested is in finding lyrics for songs so that is what I searched for.  What I liked about Quixey versus Google play Store is that it gave a short description so I didn't have to tap into each app.  I rarely look for new apps so I probably won't use it much.

Read the tips for Searching online.  I checked into Listal, created an account and found a few things to add, but I couldn't find lists of best apps.  I did a search for "best lyric finder app android".  Didn't really come up with much.  There are some great online sites for this, but as of yet have not found an app that I really like.

Mobile Thing 21 - Free-for-all

 I don't have any awesome apps.  I have some old stand-bys that I use daily like The Weather Channel . I like to check the weather daily and also look at radar.  There are also short video clips that you can watch in this app and they offer mPoints (mPoints can be exchanged for gift cards or items).  I also use the Facebook app daily.  All my other two dozen plus apps are used periodically.  A new one that I am enjoying (they offer mPoints also) is Nexercise.  You can log your exercise past or present and get points and badges.  When I started I was given some "friends", but you can also invite your own friends and then have a little competition.         

My Fourth Badge

Mobile Thing 20 - Games

Games...I was dreading this because I don't like to play games.  I choose Take Ten since I prefer puzzle games.  The whole reason I don't play games is because I just can't seem to quit and sure enough I played Take Ten for almost an hour and a half.  The word games look interesting too, but I'm not going to try them because I'm afraid I'll waste too much time on them.  So no game apps for me.

6/8/2014 - I'm having a real desire again to play Take Ten...I will not give in, I will not give in. 

Mobile Thing 19 - Hobbies

I chose Spotify in the Hobby category.  I had forgotten that I had made an account way back when, but had deleted it off my phone.  I even remembered my login! Not sure how to find more obscure artists.  The band that I'm in is finishing up a cd and one of the places we are looking into sending our master to offers a package where they will distribute our music to various places and one is spotify.  So now I wonder how people will stumble across the music because I can't figure it out how to find unknown bands.  Commercials are rather annoying, but you have commercials listening to radio so this is no different.

I plan to try RoadNinja also because we travel quite a bit.  Since I'm not traveling right now the app cannot find anything.

Mobile Thing 18 - Education

For this one I tried out Duolingo since I'm always looking for ways that I can practice German.  After a few trial and errors I figured out how it works.  You can even learn with friends which makes it more social and gives a little competition.  It would be nice if you could save in the middle of a lesson otherwise you need to allow enough time to finish a lesson. The next day I got a notice in my status bar letting me it was 'Practice Time'

Mobile Thing 17 - Connecting to Community

So many interesting apps for this thing.  I started with RochesterNow.  I really like the coupon section, which I am sure I will use.  The next one I looked at was Marquee Rochester because I enjoy listening to music, but this wasn't what I was really looking for.  Could be useful to find places for my band to play, that are not bars.  I used Minnesota 511 this winter when we had all those bad snow storms and found it very helpful (Iowa has one too that I used when we were heading there).  MN Museums (MAM) looked good also...hmmm...there should be one for state parks too.  WOW!  There are a lot of places in Minnesota.  Can chose by category and/or location.  Yes, it is really cool to see all the the state has to offer.  The one unfortunate thing that you can't sort by county.  And the other unfortunate thing (this as nothing to do with the app) is that there is not that many places around where I live.

Can't really see how I would use it professionally because I don't have my phone at the desk when I help people.  About the only thing I could do is mention to people, but I'm sure I would not remember it when someone asks a question.

Mobile Thing 16 - Audio

I already have two accounts for SoundCloud.  A personal account and one for the band that I am in.  Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I like to promote with different social media.  I decided to try out ipadio for this Thing.  After setting up an account I did short interviews with my grandsons.  It was quite easy to to use and the nice thing is that I can also use on a regular computer.  It may be fun to have children in the SRP tell about a book that they have read.







Here is a song that I uploaded on SoundCloud that the guitar player in our band wrote: https://soundcloud.com/purdy-river-band/lonely-moon

My Third Badge

Mobile Thing 15 - Infographics

I was not impressed with Infographics.  I am using two different Android phones and I could not open either one on the list. I did try out one that was called just Infographic by ASF that came up when I searched for infographics in the play store.  I really don't see the purpose in this.  The pictures were too small and could not be enlarged.

Mobile Thing 14 - Videos

I decided to go with Viddy, for no particular reason (I may try some of the others later).  It allowed 15 seconds of video and audio.  I tried filming the videos a couple of times for each.  For some reason it saved two of each and I can find no way to delete the one I don't want.  I tried it as an app and on a regular computer.  It was kind of annoying that it logged me out when I wasn't on wi-fi.  I could see its usefulness in doing  short videos for the library, but then again my phone records video and I can upload it to youtube so maybe I wouldn't use it.  The more social media used in promoting (which I do for the band I'm in) the better.  I was unable to find a share or edit button after I was done with the video.

http://www.viddy.com/beth1014/v/preston-public-library-1OKJwd

Mobile Thing 13 - Presentations

This Thing is about making presentations.  I was excited about this, but after trying Deck Slideshow Presentations I was disappointed.  I had to tap multiple times to add content or an image.  My picture ended up sideways and there was no way to change it.  After each thing I did I had to save, go to home page and then back to edit again. Also annoying that you had to forward to the next slide instead of being automatic.  Maybe it works better on a tablet.  I then thought I would try Lensoo Create, but could not find the app.

Mobile Thing 12 - Books, Books & More Books

I don't care to listen to audiobooks, but since I am using my husband's phone and he prefers to listen to books I downloaded the Audiobook App.  First thing I saw on the menu was Languages and that peaked my interest.  When I found out that there were many books read in other languages I decided that this was a good app.  Even though I'm not proficient in another language I still like to listen.  I also tried iStoryBooks because I have young grandchildren and could see the usefulness of this app.  I was a little disappointed that I could not really customize the app.  Would be nice to have books in folders.  Most of the books were free, but there were some that cost money and there was no way to delete those books off the app.  Free books is the one I'm most interested in but I could not find the app and when I clicked the link it went to a web page.  That is really okay because there are many sources for those free books.  Project Gutenburg has been a favorite of mine for over 15 years now.

Mobile Thing 11 - Library & Reference

I have used the Overdrive app to download ebooks, but I really prefer reading a regular book.  I looked at ELM Mobile.  It seems to be very easy to use though I don't think that I would ever use it.

My Second Badge

Mobile Thing 10 - Sharing Photos

Photo sharing.  Since I'm careful about my pictures and don't post too many I see no need for Snapchat.  I started using Instagram last summer for our new band.  Just another promotional tool.

Just now made a personal account:  http://bit.ly/1hqgY6I  Unfortunately I have to log out of one to log into the other.  I really don't think that I will use this much since I can't see the need for another place to post pictures.

6/6/14 - Daughter posted some pictures using Fligagram.  VERY Cool.  It ends up more like a slide show with music.  Here is a quicky I did:  http://flipagram.com/f/DKRRNH0RKN 

Mobile Thing 9 - Taking & Editing Photos

Editing pictures...something I have not done much of and am not that great at.  My daughter does it all the time, but I have no idea what she uses.  I tried LINE Camera, Photo Editor by Aviary and Color Splurge.  I colored in areas on Color Splurge but could not figure out how to save them.  Seems like I could do more with Photo Editor and here is what I did:

 

I'm not very creative.  And here is the one from LINE Camera:

 I think this is the first selfie I have done.

I don't see that I would use this much, but then again you never know...

Mobile Thing 8 - Social Media Management Tools

Since I don't care to share to various platforms I went with Cloze.  Once again I was confused on how this works.  I don't seem to be able to customize who I want in 'Key People' (they put Cloze as a key person!).  I don't like to give logins to my emails or social medias so I would rather not try another.  This for me would not be helpful.  I use social media for bands that I'm in and other groups I'm involved with.  I have Social media automatically post to each other so don't need it for that either.

Mobile Thing 7 - Content Saving & Sharing

Bitly...been years since I thought of that.  Did download the BitDroid, but I don't see that it is that useful.  I did shorten one link since I have not done this for years:  http://bit.ly/1u6bOi9 .  Pinterest is something that I use a few times a month as a way to keep ideas that I want to remember.  Most of my boards really aren't  there for any other reason than to have some boards.  I have used my DIY board to find some things when I was away from internet but had my phone.  So here is my Pinterest account using Bitly:  http://bit.ly/1ojXNtY