Thing 20 of the 23 mobile things

Candy Crush Saga, Bubble Mania, Take Ten

I have a rule with these and all gaming apps. I DON'T PAY. Sorry Zynga and King but I will work my way up the levels rather than spend my money on pretend candy, farms or kittens and when you make me pay, I'm done. That rant over, I will say I have spent more than my share of time on the games for this thing and many others.

I had to know what the big deal was with Candy Crush Saga, so a few months ago I gave in and got this app. Now I get it. It is so mindless, addictive, frustrating and triumphant. I have spent weeks on a single level convinced I'll never get it then surprise, I finally break through to the next level and it is just as challenging. I'm 168 levels in, have it installed on all of my devices and play at least every few days. Bravo to King for creating this monster, you have us hooked.


Although not an addictive as Candy Crush, Bubble Mania hits all the right notes. My kid took to it quickly and it is simple enough that we can work on it together. Watching the cat throwing bubbles is pretty darn cute, he looks so sad when you fail to advance to the next level than you want to keep playing just to see him dance with the tiny rescued kittens.



When I first installed Take Ten I wasn't sure I would care for it. It sounds very simple but it took awhile to get the hang of it. I did find it pretty addictive and played it quite a bit the first few days. I'm likely to come back to this when I need something to do with my hands while watching TV, but more than that I can see it being helpful in learning addition and number recognition.

Thing 19 of the 23 mobile things

Spotify, All recipes

This has been a very entertaining app to play with. I think I could spend a lot of time revisiting old artists and putting together the "mixed tapes" of my youth.To try out the app I created a playlist of songs I would like my kid to listen to when she gets a little older and doubts how awesome she is,  I was surprised to find all of the artistes I had mentally been jotting down for the last few months. I also searched for the original version of a song I've only ever heard the cover of and followed a few playlists I would like to have playing in the background while I do other things. This feels like a really simple way to discover new artists and to share your personal favorites with your friends. It feels much more interactive than Pandora which has been a favorite of mine so I am quite excited to have discovered this app.



The All Recipes app has been a lifesaver. I have used it so many times for really specific, traditional dishes that I don't have in any cookbook at home. I love the user feedback and the tweaks to the original recipes that people add. I also have great luck entering ingredients that I have at home to find recommendations for something to make. Although the app isn't as complete as the full site I have been very happy with the selection they do have and have noticed an increase in the quantity of recipes since I've started using it.

thing 18 of the 23 mobile things

10 monkeys multiplication, Fooducate, TED

10 monkeys multiplication is a fun app for quizzing the user on multiplication tables, but for my user at home who is just learning, the timed element of the game was frustrating and disappointing. Perhaps, saving the monkeys will be fun for her in a few years, or for me as a way to perk up my mind, but for now we will set this one aside




Oh, I think this is more information than I want to know about what I am eating. I have scanned several of the packaged foods I have at home and was not terribly surprised to see low grades for the really processed things. I might use this to compare two items in the grocery store or to keep myself from making uniformed terrible choices in snacking. I liked the food tracking element and the goal setting that the app offers. If seems like a good compliment to other health apps I already use.



Sometimes I like to just browse this app and look for presentations from my favorite authors or well known speakers when I need a little inspiration. More than that I hope to come across life changing presentations where you don't expect it. Here are two of my favorites...

Joe Smith: How to use a paper towel

Terry Moore: How to tie your shoes

Thing 17 of the 23 mobile things

Going Out, Minnesota State Fair

I have downloaded the Minnesota State Fair app to my phone for the last two years, on the day we attended the fair. The first year we tried the app it is was terrible. It crashed regularly and was so slow to load that it wasn't really worth anything other than telling us what who was on each performance stage. Moving withing the maps crashed the app and eventually I reverted to a paper map and schedule. Last year the app was much improved and we used it several times throughout the day. It has a great map, the previously mentioned schedule of performances each day, a list of events and theme days. I was happy with the way it performed for the one day we attended the fair. That said, we used the app one day and it takes a ton of memory. Both years I have deleted it after the fair was over and can't really see a reason to keep it installed year round. I will re-install again this year when August rolls around and will be looking for the improvements made over the off season. If nothing else it is a handy way to find the nearest cheese curds.

I loaded the Going Out app on my Kindle and after playing with it a bit came to the realization that it would be much better suited to a phone or a more portable device. I liked the events calendar and the restaurant listings both of which can be selected based on your location. Having the recommendations come from the StarTrib makes them feel more vetted, but I was disappointed to find so few reviews, staff or user, of the places they suggested. As I am finding with several of the other apps I have tried in these activities, Going Out seems like an app that has competition already doing it better. Foursquare, Yelp and others are more established and better developed sources for most of the same information. The best reason I can find for using anything but the events calendar is that is is a local resource and probably more up to date than other sources.

Thing 16 of the 23 mobile things

Sound Cloud

 This is one of my favorite apps that I've tried in this project. The variety of material offered is never ending and the format is simple to use. I was particularly happy to see the podcasts and spoken word content. I have been a regular user of Pandora for a while and have been happy with what they have to offer so at first I thought that this was just more of the same. Instead Sound Cloud almost fills in the gaps of what Pandora misses. I like selecting content rather than having it fed to me and I like being able to share selections via social media. While I did enjoy the option of letting it play in the background while I used other apps, I did find it a little difficult to shut the app down when I was done. I was pleased to see the app available on my Kindle and look forward to digging in deeper as time goes on.

Thing 15 of the 23 mobile things

Infographics

I would like to tell you about the amazing infographics that I discovered on all of the apps I was able to download or all of the complicated and enlightening information I was able to share in a visually informative way, but instead I will tell you about finally being thwarted by my devices and the many ways the apps of the world are very heavily Apple leaning.

I attempted to find Infographics Hub on both my Kindle and my phone but the app is not compatible with either. I then attempted to find an alternative option, as I have so many other times, no such luck. Finally, I searched for infographics apps on the internet and read several blogs which suggested solutions to my problem. The best suggestion I found was a recommendation to use Quick Office or whatever office program you regularly use to create graphics in the Power Point like program. So here goes...

I do like the visual format that an infographic offers for sharing data and I think that most people just scan the image rather than read it, so clarity is vital. It doesn't seem that an app is necessarily the easiest way to find existing infographics. I did see a few which offered an infographic a day rss feed, but a quick search on the web will do as well at bringing back a good selection better fit to a specific topic.

Thing 14 of the 23 mobile things

Vine

This app was downloaded for about 10 minutes and one test video was created before my daughter grabbed the phone and started making crazy kid videos featuring everything from the family dog to her My Little Pony collection to her dad saying "blahhh". Needless to say this app is very user friendly and easy to learn. It would be great for sharing six word book reviews, "why I came to the library..." quotes, or even recording that strange printer, AMH, alarm sound that you can never describe to IT. I like the short length of the videos and the ability to edit video snapshots together.