Education
For this thing, I chose the Advanced English Dictionary & Thesaurus because I love words and learning their meanings and origins. I find it deplorable how so many people in the US have about three adjectives to their name: cool, awesome and sucks. Our language has such richness, and I try to do what I can to support that.
The app was OK. I found the idea of connecting a word to synonyms, etc. intriguing, as I sometimes struggle to come up with more than one way of saying something to avoid the sin of monotony in writing. I did not see any words listed with synonyms, and at least a few of them could have. For example, I looked at picture. One of the listed meaning described motion pictures. Well, shouldn't movie be listed as a synonym in that instance? Or film, flick, something? I didn't see any etymology in the definitions, either, and that's very often important in learning a word. It's frequently what I'm looking for!
I must confess I had to go look up definitions for holonym, meronym, hypernym and hyponym! (There's a hint for the creators - I doubt everyone downloading this app knows them.) I think I'd have a hard time keeping all the "h" words straight... Once I did that, the app made a whole lot more sense. But it just seems to lack something. For example, the definition of "picumnus" is that it's a genus of Picidae. OK... I know genus means we're talking biology, but what's Picidae? That word isn't a link, so I had to look it up separately. Turns out it's a kind of woodpecker. That would have been really good to know, without having to take the extra step.
I think this app has a lot of potential, but leaves something to be desired at this time.
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
23 Mobile Things: Thing 19
Hobbies
I was prepared to love MyGarden. I do a ton of gardening, and have several different kinds of gardens: Veggie, a big bed of mostly perennials, some annual beds and a large native garden. Some of it's sun, some of it's shade - it's all over the place and takes up a pretty large amount of my time during the growing season.
But I didn't love MyGarden. I didn't even like MyGarden. The plant information is so incredibly limited. It gives no climate information beyond "needs protection." Well, what on earth does that mean? There are plants that are perennials in the southern US that are annuals here in Minnesota. I noticed a number of the gardeners are in the UK. Well, there's not much that's a perennial there that's also one here! We hardly have daffodils blooming in February. I remember visiting southern England one year and staying at a lovely home with beautiful, expansive gardens. In talking to the owner, she said she never watered anything but the pots, feeling that if the plants couldn't survive without water, there wasn't much point in having them. She had had a grand total of 12 FROSTS the previous winter - not freezes, but frosts. That soft, mild climate is a far cry from here, where the frost went several feet into the ground and we had 50+ nights below zero (F, not C!) this past year, and we'll likely have long stretches in the 90s this summer - if it ever gets here...
I also didn't care for the way it described plants. All hostas were lumped together, with heights ranging from (I think) 20-70 cm. Well, I have hostas, and the range in size is huge! Some get barely 5 inches high, while others are over 2 feet - and I know of cultivars that get 6 feet across. Some will take sun, some won't, there's a lot of color variation... You get the idea. A good app would differentiate cultivars.
I had this app on my phone for about 15 minutes. I wish it were better. Maybe I'll look for another one...
I was prepared to love MyGarden. I do a ton of gardening, and have several different kinds of gardens: Veggie, a big bed of mostly perennials, some annual beds and a large native garden. Some of it's sun, some of it's shade - it's all over the place and takes up a pretty large amount of my time during the growing season.
But I didn't love MyGarden. I didn't even like MyGarden. The plant information is so incredibly limited. It gives no climate information beyond "needs protection." Well, what on earth does that mean? There are plants that are perennials in the southern US that are annuals here in Minnesota. I noticed a number of the gardeners are in the UK. Well, there's not much that's a perennial there that's also one here! We hardly have daffodils blooming in February. I remember visiting southern England one year and staying at a lovely home with beautiful, expansive gardens. In talking to the owner, she said she never watered anything but the pots, feeling that if the plants couldn't survive without water, there wasn't much point in having them. She had had a grand total of 12 FROSTS the previous winter - not freezes, but frosts. That soft, mild climate is a far cry from here, where the frost went several feet into the ground and we had 50+ nights below zero (F, not C!) this past year, and we'll likely have long stretches in the 90s this summer - if it ever gets here...
I also didn't care for the way it described plants. All hostas were lumped together, with heights ranging from (I think) 20-70 cm. Well, I have hostas, and the range in size is huge! Some get barely 5 inches high, while others are over 2 feet - and I know of cultivars that get 6 feet across. Some will take sun, some won't, there's a lot of color variation... You get the idea. A good app would differentiate cultivars.
I had this app on my phone for about 15 minutes. I wish it were better. Maybe I'll look for another one...
Thursday, May 8, 2014
23 Mobile Things: Thing 13
Presentations
I chose to try out Deck. I can't say I was all that impressed. It was reasonably easy to use, but it's so incredibly limited. As an example, there are only 3 free formats. That's not many. I designed a four slide show about different kinds of lava - because I had pictures of several kinds already on my phone, making the selection process simple. It was easy enough to create the slide, but I noticed I often had to tap several times to get the text box for the slide to open. It should go with one. I'm not sure what it's called, but the programming that controls text entry needs a lot of work. It doesn't capitalize first letters in sentences. It doesn't work with the feature on my device that lets me run my finger over consecutive letters to create words (I can't remember what that's called, but I use it constantly), so it doesn't make suggestions as you go along, either.
The actual slide show was cute. I liked the way fingers moved the sticky notes around, and then the pictures enlarged when you clicked on the next arrow. But it certainly lacks the versatility of PowerPoint. You can't choose transistions or animations, you can't change fonts - you're just stuck with what they come up with for formats. And it's just so much easier to work on a larger screen! It might be better on a tablet than a smartphone.
I'm going to do a program in June with teens using something called Instafeed. It's based off Instagram. Users tag photos with a custom hashtag, and Instafeed instantly (go figure...) puts them all in a slideshow. There's a bit of customization available, but for a teen photo scavenger hunt, the big thing is just for teens to be able to see all the pictures taken. I'm sure they can view the presentation on their phones, too.
I chose to try out Deck. I can't say I was all that impressed. It was reasonably easy to use, but it's so incredibly limited. As an example, there are only 3 free formats. That's not many. I designed a four slide show about different kinds of lava - because I had pictures of several kinds already on my phone, making the selection process simple. It was easy enough to create the slide, but I noticed I often had to tap several times to get the text box for the slide to open. It should go with one. I'm not sure what it's called, but the programming that controls text entry needs a lot of work. It doesn't capitalize first letters in sentences. It doesn't work with the feature on my device that lets me run my finger over consecutive letters to create words (I can't remember what that's called, but I use it constantly), so it doesn't make suggestions as you go along, either.
The actual slide show was cute. I liked the way fingers moved the sticky notes around, and then the pictures enlarged when you clicked on the next arrow. But it certainly lacks the versatility of PowerPoint. You can't choose transistions or animations, you can't change fonts - you're just stuck with what they come up with for formats. And it's just so much easier to work on a larger screen! It might be better on a tablet than a smartphone.
I'm going to do a program in June with teens using something called Instafeed. It's based off Instagram. Users tag photos with a custom hashtag, and Instafeed instantly (go figure...) puts them all in a slideshow. There's a bit of customization available, but for a teen photo scavenger hunt, the big thing is just for teens to be able to see all the pictures taken. I'm sure they can view the presentation on their phones, too.
Thursday, April 24, 2014
23 Mobile Things: Thing 12
Books, books and more books!
I tried out Wattpad. What a fabulous idea! I love that anyone - within the guidelines of the site - can publish their writings here, along with other previously published works. I looked for Pride and Prejudice, and found several versions. Not hard to do, since it's so easily available. But I also found lots of fan fiction, for lack of a better word. There's one titled Poise and Rationality that looks like it could be fun. Writings are published in installments - how we repeat ourselves! Many, many famous novels were published in serial format - Dickens is a classic example. Wattpad lets you sign up for the latest chapters in books you're reading.
I do admit to being a bit skeptical about the quality of the writing. In just a quick look, I saw a fair number of misspellings and other errors. The comments from readers show a lack of a firm grasp of the English language. And as a librarian, it's my experience that much self published material isn't picked up by a publisher because it isn't really good enough for publication! But how do you get better if you don't practice? Wattpad provides a great way to get feedback for beginning writers and may very well serve as a springboard to paid publication for those with the necessary drive and talent.
I can see promoting this to teen (or adult - I just work more with teens) writers as a place to get their work out in the public eye. And I might just start to follow Poise and Rationality...
P.S. I did read the start of Poise and Rationality (that's all there is), and it confirms my opinion of self-published materials. The author needs either to learn how to proof read (although that requires spelling skills she (I think) seems to lack) or get an editor to correct all the spelling errors, grammatical errors and discrepencies in verb tenses. It's not, so far, much different from the original - a bit too literal retelling - but I'll give it a chance. At least for a while - I can only read poor writing for just so long!
I tried out Wattpad. What a fabulous idea! I love that anyone - within the guidelines of the site - can publish their writings here, along with other previously published works. I looked for Pride and Prejudice, and found several versions. Not hard to do, since it's so easily available. But I also found lots of fan fiction, for lack of a better word. There's one titled Poise and Rationality that looks like it could be fun. Writings are published in installments - how we repeat ourselves! Many, many famous novels were published in serial format - Dickens is a classic example. Wattpad lets you sign up for the latest chapters in books you're reading.
I do admit to being a bit skeptical about the quality of the writing. In just a quick look, I saw a fair number of misspellings and other errors. The comments from readers show a lack of a firm grasp of the English language. And as a librarian, it's my experience that much self published material isn't picked up by a publisher because it isn't really good enough for publication! But how do you get better if you don't practice? Wattpad provides a great way to get feedback for beginning writers and may very well serve as a springboard to paid publication for those with the necessary drive and talent.
I can see promoting this to teen (or adult - I just work more with teens) writers as a place to get their work out in the public eye. And I might just start to follow Poise and Rationality...
P.S. I did read the start of Poise and Rationality (that's all there is), and it confirms my opinion of self-published materials. The author needs either to learn how to proof read (although that requires spelling skills she (I think) seems to lack) or get an editor to correct all the spelling errors, grammatical errors and discrepencies in verb tenses. It's not, so far, much different from the original - a bit too literal retelling - but I'll give it a chance. At least for a while - I can only read poor writing for just so long!
23 Mobile Things: Thing 10
Sharing Photos
I elected to try out Instagram. I did not, at this time, make my profile very public. Again, a choice I made about my privacy. I had fun playing with a photo, adding a frame, changing the look and tilting it. I don't know that I'll use it much personally, as I don't take all that many picture with my phone when I'm at home. And when I travel, I never post that I've gone until I'm back. Seems foolish to me to broadcast to the world that you're away from home!
But I do have plans to use Instagram this summer with the teens at my library. I'm going to send them on a photo scavenger hunt. They'll do things like act out the title of a book, look for something red, find something shiny and so on. We're then going to use something called instafeedlive to create our slide show. instafeedlive allows users to create a custom hashtag for their photos. I'll have one set up beforehand, and can customize the display to a degree (they have some free basic styles - you pay for the more elaborate ones). The teens can then upload their photos and we have an instant slideshow. The site creates a slide show for you automatically and immediately, adding new pictures in as they're uploaded. So easy and fun! Yes, I could create a slide show with PowerPoint or something like that, but then I have to upload all the photos and that would be really slow. The advantage here is the speed. Teens aren't good at waiting, and this will let them see everything in a matter of minutes. There's a free trial going on through June right now, if anyone else is interested. Just google the name and look for the coupon. I found this through Pinterest - oh, the way things connect.
I elected to try out Instagram. I did not, at this time, make my profile very public. Again, a choice I made about my privacy. I had fun playing with a photo, adding a frame, changing the look and tilting it. I don't know that I'll use it much personally, as I don't take all that many picture with my phone when I'm at home. And when I travel, I never post that I've gone until I'm back. Seems foolish to me to broadcast to the world that you're away from home!
But I do have plans to use Instagram this summer with the teens at my library. I'm going to send them on a photo scavenger hunt. They'll do things like act out the title of a book, look for something red, find something shiny and so on. We're then going to use something called instafeedlive to create our slide show. instafeedlive allows users to create a custom hashtag for their photos. I'll have one set up beforehand, and can customize the display to a degree (they have some free basic styles - you pay for the more elaborate ones). The teens can then upload their photos and we have an instant slideshow. The site creates a slide show for you automatically and immediately, adding new pictures in as they're uploaded. So easy and fun! Yes, I could create a slide show with PowerPoint or something like that, but then I have to upload all the photos and that would be really slow. The advantage here is the speed. Teens aren't good at waiting, and this will let them see everything in a matter of minutes. There's a free trial going on through June right now, if anyone else is interested. Just google the name and look for the coupon. I found this through Pinterest - oh, the way things connect.
Saturday, April 19, 2014
23 Mobile Things: Thing 8
Social Media Management Tools
I'm going to be honest here. I am very deliberately choosing to not do this thing. I'm on Facebook, but no other social media site - on purpose. Perhaps I should be on LinkedIn, but I'm not interested in Twitter or Foursquare and am not going to create a profile to finish this thing. Even if I were on another site, I wouldn't want one update to cross platforms. What I post on Facebook isn't relevant or necessarily advisable to post on LinkedIn. And I don't want to tell everyone where I am when I'm out and about. I work hard to maintain what I consider a reasonable level of privacy.
I enjoy Facebook and am certainly online enough because of work - and that's part of it. I want to use social media, not have it use me. It's far too easy to spend hours and hours with this, and I just have too many other things to do! I haven't even installed the Facebook app on my smartphone - again on purpose. This way, when I sign in, it's deliberate, and not something I'm doing to pass the time and ignore what's going on around me. Truly, it's just not that important to get the latest cute cat picture right now instead of tonight at 9. There are times I've been disconnected from any social media for a week and not felt like I've missed anything important. So why add to it?
I'm going to be honest here. I am very deliberately choosing to not do this thing. I'm on Facebook, but no other social media site - on purpose. Perhaps I should be on LinkedIn, but I'm not interested in Twitter or Foursquare and am not going to create a profile to finish this thing. Even if I were on another site, I wouldn't want one update to cross platforms. What I post on Facebook isn't relevant or necessarily advisable to post on LinkedIn. And I don't want to tell everyone where I am when I'm out and about. I work hard to maintain what I consider a reasonable level of privacy.
I enjoy Facebook and am certainly online enough because of work - and that's part of it. I want to use social media, not have it use me. It's far too easy to spend hours and hours with this, and I just have too many other things to do! I haven't even installed the Facebook app on my smartphone - again on purpose. This way, when I sign in, it's deliberate, and not something I'm doing to pass the time and ignore what's going on around me. Truly, it's just not that important to get the latest cute cat picture right now instead of tonight at 9. There are times I've been disconnected from any social media for a week and not felt like I've missed anything important. So why add to it?
23 Mobile Things: Thing 9
Taking and Editing Photos
Photo Editor by Aviary
I tried this one and just wasn't wild about it. Yes, I could add some frames around a photo, or put in a caption or some other stuff, but it wasn't really photo editing as I think of it. You can't crop a picture, or reduce red eye or other fairly standard edits. I did manage to lighten a really dark picture I took somewhat, and had some fun playing with another shot, but I found the interface kind of clunky. I added a caption in the wrong place - because you couldn't see it against the background - but didn't realize it until I'd moved on to another function. Then the app wouldn't let me go back and change the caption - either to move it, or, as I recall, to change the font color. I ended up deleting all the changes and starting over. I can see teens having fun playing with it, and perhaps I'll use it to alter pictures for publicizing a program, but it won't be something I use on any kind of regular basis.
I did happen to find another website (not an app) I used once and will likely use again. I wanted to combine four pictures into one. www.quickpicturetools.com was just the ticket. It took a few tries to get it to work, but pretty soon I had my four combined images.
Photo Editor by Aviary
I tried this one and just wasn't wild about it. Yes, I could add some frames around a photo, or put in a caption or some other stuff, but it wasn't really photo editing as I think of it. You can't crop a picture, or reduce red eye or other fairly standard edits. I did manage to lighten a really dark picture I took somewhat, and had some fun playing with another shot, but I found the interface kind of clunky. I added a caption in the wrong place - because you couldn't see it against the background - but didn't realize it until I'd moved on to another function. Then the app wouldn't let me go back and change the caption - either to move it, or, as I recall, to change the font color. I ended up deleting all the changes and starting over. I can see teens having fun playing with it, and perhaps I'll use it to alter pictures for publicizing a program, but it won't be something I use on any kind of regular basis.
I did happen to find another website (not an app) I used once and will likely use again. I wanted to combine four pictures into one. www.quickpicturetools.com was just the ticket. It took a few tries to get it to work, but pretty soon I had my four combined images.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)