Sunday, January 26, 2014

#3 Utilities

Red Laser: 5 stars! This is one of my favorite utilities on my phone and use it frequently as it fills my inner-bargain-shopper needs. It scans UPC codes and Red Laser scans the web for sites with the same product. I've used it when I've purchased items to get the lower price at area stores- most recently a freezer I purchased. It was an easy way to also view reviews which impacted the choice we made. I've used it when book shopping to check professional reviews before purchasing for our school library. There is a similar feature within the Amazon app that I use for book reviews to be more efficient.

Google: I was interested in trying the camera feature for searching. I took photos of my dog, a ceiling fan, a fresh flower, and my shoe and Google came back with the message that it didn't recognize anything, or it got stuck on the capturing message. Maybe this feature isn't ready for prime time but Google is an awesome search tool even without the camera.

StandApp: This is a fun app that reminds me to move regularly, and provides exercises as well.

iHome Sleep: On the other end of the spectrum from StandApp is the iHome alarm app. I love the features of this app but I probably won't use it because it has to be run in the foreground of the app, not the background and I'm not likely to remember that. Alarms need to be reliable and this one counts on me to remember to set my phone correctly before going to sleep. The phone also can't be locked. Fail.

Other favorite utilities: I recently installed the Minneapolis Parking Rules app. It saves me when I have to park in Minneapolis when I don't keep track of parking rules in the winter with snow emergencies. I've used the Voice Memos app to record students reading to review later. I like the CamView app because we have some web cams at home and I can access these from anywhere.

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