23 Mobile Things: Thing 3

So these apps are utilitarian apps and totally worth it.  The assignment only required that we install one of the mentioned apps but i went and experienced three of them - they are all awesome!

1. RedLaser:  I had heard about this one before - it reads barcodes and QR codes, so it's useful when you're out and about or at the grocery store.  One bummer of this is my local store is not listed (I'm too far out in the boonies) so finding close by deals when I'm at home isn't going to be an option I can use.  However, I have wandered around the library scanning barcodes and been delighted at seeing the cheaper prices online and where I can find them.  We don't have too many QR codes, but it worked on the one on the website and took me back to 23 Things.  I'm looking forward to using it at the grocery store tomorrow.

2. Wi-Fi Finder: I got this one and was surprised to see that the location I was using was not listed, so if anything comes out of this, Meinders Library got added to the Wi-Fi list!  Hopefully that will help other users in the future and using this in other areas of the country will be very useful for me.

3. ISleep: Obviously, I haven't had a chance to use this yet since I just downloaded it.  It looks awesome, though - tracking my sleep patterns, allowing me to choose how I wake up (my music, beeps, etc) and I can't wait to try it next time I am in a hotel room.

This 23 Mobile Things is a huge amount of fun.  If you haven't tried it, you should!!  You have to be a librarian to register and get prizes, but you can look at the list and explore the website as a normal person, too! (HAHA!)

23 Mobile Things

23 Mobile Things: Thing 2

WOW!  I had no idea there was so much to learn about my Iphone.  I mean, I knew I wasn't utilizing it to the best of my ability, but I had no idea how much I'd missed from not watching these tip videos before.  Having an Ipad and an Iphone, some of the tricks I knew already, but when I watched the Iphone video, I was totally blown away.

IPhone tricks video

What I loved:
1. Dynamic wallpaper - it moves.  I have set my wallpaper to the green dots and I love it.
2. Shared Twitter links - I can go to Safari, open up the bookmarks area, press on the @ sign and it will show me any links that have been shared in my Twitter feed.  If I tweeted, this would be awesome.
3. Siri has so many features I never knew about - I might have to talk to her more often.  She can search for images (it's Bing, but that's survivable), she can be taught proper pronunciations, and she can search Twitter for you! Now I am thinking perhaps I should be Tweeting more often.
4. There is a compass app that can also function as a level!  Now I don't have to search around my house for that pesky plastic bubble level, my phone can do it for me.  This is awesome!
5. I can put everything in bold text - I am so in love with bold.  I have a hard time seeing as it is, and now things are so much better.
6. You can slide to the left in messages to see time stamps on all the messages - this is great.  I know when things have been sent!  Whoo hoo!
7. Unlimited pages in the folders.  I knew there were multiple pages, but I didn't know I could make as many as I wanted.
8. Background app refresh - when this is turned on, the apps that are set up for this can refresh in the background when I have my browser open.  I like the idea that those apps are getting caught up.

So this was very useful to me.  I can't wait to see what the other Things have in store.

Cottage Industries: Mundane Endeavors 3

Fox hat - What DOES the fox say?

I have decided to start a cottage industry in my house that consists of crocheted hats, jams, and whatever else I can think of.  I have named myself Happy Halls and plan to go to a craft fair in November.  Crazy?  Maybe, but I'm really enjoying myself while I do it.  The hat above is for my second cousin who is undergoing chemo and needs something to cover her head.   I'm also making her a bear and a narwhal.  The unicorn hat at the bottom was sent to her at Thanksgiving when we found out she was really sick, the other three are because she needs to be able to change the animals around.

Zebra hat, complete with stripey mane

Doing hats for her has not only made me feel good about using my hands, it has taught me a lot about crocheting.  I have learned new stitched, courtesy of friends and the internet.  I have also learned that I'm pretty good at figuring things out in my head and making them with yarn.  The narwhal will be the ultimate test, of course, and that will come this week after the bear is finished.

Jellyfish hat - need to make longer tentacles

This jellyfish I made for a friend who is also undergoing chemo (too many people with cancer lately) and she really liked it.  I would like to figure out how to make the tentacles longer and how to have them hang down from the front.  I think a multi colored jelly would be pretty awesome.  I'll have to work on that.

Unicorn hat - would look awesome as a rainbow

The unicorn.  Dagny was upset that I was giving it to someone else, but she understood the reason behind it.  When I asked her if she wanted me to make her one, too, she asked for a bunny instead, which means new stitches!

Since there's a lot of shows on TV, we sit on the couch most nights.  I love to watch TV and I love to crochet, but if I do them at the same time, I tend to miss things that are on TV.  Must find a happy medium! :)  Perhaps one night a week with no TV? Interesting thought.  We had one a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it, just sitting around listening to the radio.  Perhaps we'll have to make that a weekly event.

We've also started family game nights and are currently learning Settlers of Catan, which is really quite a fun game.  The kids seem to get it better than I thought they would, so maybe we'll have a night where we will each be our own team.  Wouldn't THAT be fun?  I haven't played on my own team for eight years.

23 Mobile Things: Thing 1

So. I signed up for this library program called "23 Mobile Things" which will help me learn how to use my IPad more completely than I have been.  Through a series of self-explored apps and activities, I will learn all sorts of things that I didn't know how to do before.  This really pumps me up!!  I love my IPad but I've always had the sneaking sensation that I wasn't utilizing it to the fullest.

Hopefully, this selection of apps will help me remedy that.  For each Thing, I will write a blog post detailing the app and what I learned from it.  Each of these posts will be titled "23 Mobile Things" followed by the Thing I am working on.  these posts should be easy to spot and won't get confused with the other trains of thought I have going.

Not that I write that much anymore! but maybe this will. Inspire me!!