Thing 5 - The Epic Quest for Organization

I have become significantly more organized (my bedroom and car are exceptions) since my undergraduate career. In high school and college I always tried to keep a planner, but just like so many diaries, journals, and yes, blogs, I abandoned it after a few weeks of use. After I bought my tablet last spring, I immediately downloaded two organization/list apps to try to make life easier. I deleted them within weeks. I found that I just didn't like spending the time entering notes and lists. I use my devices mainly for activities that don't require lots of typing. I use my good old fashioned planner regularly, I like adding things by hand and having my schedule right in front of me on paper.

 For this mobile thing, I downloaded Dragon and Springpad and gave them both a try. I won't be keeping/using one, and I have yet to see with the other. I tried Dragon first, but I found it awkward dictating things to my iPhone. I was also unimpressed with the layout and did not find it very user-friendly. I read the reviews after I deleted it to see if I may have jumped the gun. Other users had similar complaints. Most thought it was, 'OK' but not advanced enough to make use easy and automatic. I liked Springpad better. The biggest plus for Springpad was that it is compatible on all devices. I personally hate typing more than I absolutely need to on my iPhone and tablet. I like that I can type up a grocery list or assignment reminder on my laptop and have access on the devices that I carry around daily. I have yet to see if I'll use Springpad on a regular basis, I still prefer using my tangible, paper planner. I'm open to trying it out, but I'm skeptical.

Thing 4 - Keeping Up

I'm going to admit something really embarrassing. Until just recently, I had no idea what the letters in RRS feed stood for let alone what an RSS feed even did. Of course, I know what it is now, but I also freely admit I don't totally understand it yet. For this "thing", I downloaded the app Zite and picked out five areas of interest. Then, Zite compiled articles, stories, and soundbites relating to those areas.

 I'll have to do more playing with it, but I didn't find it particularly necessary for my personal life. I get most of my information on the internet from specific websites, and I get a lot from twitter and my facebook newsfeed. Once I get the hang of it, I think Zite could be really useful for my professional reading. I chose school libraries, librarianship, books, and education as professional interests. The most interesting article so far was a censorship case out of France. My biggest issue with the app is the time spent creating, updating, and using it. I just don't have a whole lot of extra reading time at the moment, but when my schedule is less jam packed, I look forward to doing more reading on Zite.

Thing 3 - Utilities and Practical stuff.

Even before I bought a smartphone, I was using my cell phone as my alarm clock. I have been for many years, and I prefer it to an old fashioned alarm. For Mobile Thing # 3, however, I explored using my iPhone even more as a handy non-phone tool.

 I used a sleep noise app, Sleep Pillow, for a couple of nights. I chose the soft thunderstorm noise, which was nice. I'll remember it for the rare times I have trouble sleeping. I also switched my browser from Safari to Google Chrome. I don't own a mac, so I have limited experience with Safari. I prefer to use google, but I had trouble figuring out how to replace it on the toolbar. I ended up finding a short how-to video on how to change browsers through a google search and quickly replaced Safari.

 I should probably download firefox as well just to have a back up. I have yet to try using my phone to scan QR codes, and I'm not sure I have a lot of use for google goggles, but I think it would be really cool to use them in a museum or on a fieldtrip. You could learn about a piece of work if you can't get all the way up to the tiny little caption they put next to it. In fact, I'll remember to bring my tablet next time I go to MIA and check to see if I can try it out!

Thing 2 – Siri, I’m sorry, but you’re kind of stupid. Also, OMG emojis!

This time around, I’m checking out mobile thing # 2, mobile device tips. I’m new, although not unfamiliar, to smart phones. I finally purchased an iPhone 5C in December and have been playing with it ever since. I remember watching the commercials when Siri first became available on iPhones and thinking that it was unnecessary and creepy. When I bought my iPhone, I immediately turned Siri off.

Then, I recently watched the film, Her, and witnessed what the future of operating systems might look like. Keeping that in mind I followed some of the tips for iPhone related to Siri to see for myself. Siri didn't quite deliver. I found that it actually took me longer to do some actions via Siri than it would manually. I asked Siri to text a friend, but it took several tries for it to recognize the name. I tried to tell Siri who I was related to and how, but I kept having to go back and change relationship errors that Siri had made. It might take a little while to master the use of Siri, but I don't think I care enough to make the effort. I wonder what the future of Siri might look like. It would be cool, and a little creepy if the OS shown on Her became available in the new future.

I also looked at a few of the tips for my Nexus 7. I already knew most of them, but I am looking forward to exploring more apps. One thing I added to my phone was an emoji keyboard. Now I can embellish every text message with a silly little graphic. I had no idea there were so many to choose from! I expected to find the run of the mill collection of smiley faces, but no! there are graphics representing different holidays, foods, animals, hobbies, you name it. Luckily, what could (and probably is) become a huge time waster is manageable thanks to a feature that stores your most frequently used emojis on one page. I was also excited to add a french keyboard option which will allow me to accurately spell words when texting in french with a few friends who also know the language.

Amendment to my first post

I got so fed up with how my word press blog looked that I came back and created a blogspot blog through my active google account. I am much happier with how it looks and my access to it. All of my blog posts will be on this one from now on.

Thing 1 - My blog!

Here I am, creating yet another blog! This time, however, this blog is attached to a grade, so I must keep it updated. I chose to add another wordpress blog, since I have a few abandoned ones here already. It has been a couple of years since I created a wordpress blog, but I am not pleased by some of the changes. Perhaps my memory is faulty, but it seems like there is less you can do for free on wordpress. I could only choose from a select number of themes, and could not change the font or color scheme. I refused to pay 30.00 dollars to upgrade it. That being said, the basic blog functions are all there so it will serve its purpose. I am eager to jump into 23 mobile things. I have a Nexus 7 tablet, a laptop, and have recently joined the ranks of the smart phone owners. I already know, or have heard of a number of apps and tips etc, but I’m looking forward to learning more about them and seeing how they might fit in a school library setting. I’m also pleased that I will be forced to keep a blog updated. Hopefully, completing these 23 mobile things will train me to continue blogging and staying updated on technology and the field as a whole.