Thursday, January 30, 2014

23 Mobile Things, Thing 4

I'm not in love with Flipboard.  It's kind of cool and playing around with it certainly can use up a lot of time. It's one more way of getting my news but I didn't like the search feature.  When trying to find news feeds that might interest me, too many "magazines" from people with 3 followers etc. come up right away,  instead of putting the most popular at the top.  I tend to use Facebook as a way to get a lot of news by following pages like the New York Times etc.  Also I've heard that RSS feeds are going by the wayside.  Just today I read about a new app from Facebook called Paper that is trying to overtake Flipboard.   Perhaps as I use it more I'll find it more useful, but I'm afraid so many distracting news stories will simply mean more time spent staring at my phone.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Thing 3

I downloaded Google goggles and the red laser barcode scanner.  The idea thar red laser would give you prices of an item at nearby stores sort of works but its limited to only some stores.  It seemed to bring up Target sometimes and Walmart a lot.  It didn't find any local grocery stores at all.  It did bring up online prices too.  What was really cool was scanning a book barcode.  It connected not only stores but to local library catalogs too.

Google goggles was a bit more fun and I think I'll keep that app.  It could also look up books. I scanned some art prints in my house and it identified them.  It would be great to use it to translate a sign or menu just by taking a picture.

thing 2

I did learn a few new things about my phone.  My favorite is the voice to typing which I think will be helpful for texts and short emails.  I tried to use it to write this blog though and there were too many errors that would need to be corrected.  I'm excited about putting all of my music in the cloud and accessing it with my phone.  I also set up my phone to automatically backup photos to my google + account.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

23 Mobile Things Thing 1

This blog is to document 23 Mobile Things 2014


I am an intermittent librarian at Hennepin County Library.  As an intermittent I am not responsible for creating web content for the library so I don't expect to use these new skills in that way.  However, keeping up with new technology is important in doing reference every day so I try to keep learning.  Hopefully completing the 23 things will force me to try a few new things.

I am actively involved in several volunteer organizations including being on the advisory board of a local food shelf.  We are trying to increase our visibility to potential donors and raise awareness of food justice issues through social media. I hope some of the skills I learn with the 23 Mobile Things will be helpful in that respect.