Thing 20...games

Ok, I'm hooked. Candy crush saga caught my attention and kept it.  I'm not much of a game player, but this one was easy to learn and kept me interested enough to keep going. I might even have to put it on my phone to help pass the time while traveling.  I will definitely continent to play this one...might even have to share my scores....once I get better at it.

Thing 19

I uploaded the gardening app. I was surprised to see how much information there was about each plant. I loved the pictures, and the ability to share gardening ideas with other users. Once winter ends, I know that I will define tell use this app because I have some plants I need to identify in my flower garden.  So far, this is my favorite app of all of them I have tried.

Thing 18

I tried the art circles app and the "Eat this, not that" app.  I was intrigued by the art app, and would go back to it because I enjoy dabbling in great art.  I also think our art teacher would make great use of this app, so I plan on sending her the info.

As for the "eat this" game app, it was fun, had great graphics, and sounds. It included versions for all users...adults and kids alike.   It was simple, easy to figure out and also offered a challenging version for those "foodies" that are up on healthy food options. I might use it for awhile, but probably would not continue forever. The kid version would be great for elementary students.

Thing 17...connecting to the community

I tried three of the apps,  The Minnesota state fair app,  The exploring Minnesota app and The MN road condition app.

I think that I would use them all in my personal life.  And I think those in 4H would get great information from the state fair app. It would be extremely helpful while attending the fair because it covers all information from parking to eating to entertainment and lets you know where they are located, and how to get there.

I looked at Exploring Minnesota because I am planning a Minnesota road trip in the near future.

And I know I would use the road condition app especially in this way too long winter of ice and snow.

I could have looked at many more because there are so many interesting ones. If I lived in the Twin Cities, many of them would be extremely handy. I didn't find one for the Renaissance Festival.

Thing 16...audio

Coming from the dark ages, when recordings were done on a tape player, I found this thing to be delightful.  After reading through all the information and watching the video,I tried audioboo and had a recording taped and published within a few minutes. I can see this being a great tool for students, but I probably won't use it too often.

However, I know that I will use the microphone on my phone to record my text messages.  Sometimes, I love the new technology.

Thing 15--infographics

Infographics may be a new buzz word, but making visuals in education have been around for a long time.  As a classroom teacher I used visuals similar to these to drive home a point or a message. Charts and graphs were used to enhance learning in my elementary classroom, and we even had students make them. But now these visual learning devices can be made with an app...by anyone, and at our fingertips.

I first looked at the long list of examples at Info.graphics. Then I looked at all of them available at Google images, and finally as I walked the halls at school, I saw many of these that give information, or instruct.  My favorite is the list on the English teacher's door that relates the top one hundred books to read...with images of the books and a short description.

Then I tried it for myself with iVisual.  What fun!  It made the task very easy, even an elementary student could produce an Infographic.

I am not sure how I would use it in my personal life, other than reading them for information. Professionally, this would be a very useful tool for students and teachers alike and could be used to demonstrate knowledge of a subject or relay information.

Thing 14--videos

I never have been much for making videos, much less sharing them with the world.  But, I did try "Vine".  I made a short video of my cat and dog wrestling. (The cat won.). Anyway, using "Vine" was pretty slick. I made the video, and was clearly able to see how to share it on whatever social media one prefers. I have posted photos on Facebook, and if I can get my girls to cooperate, I would post them in a video on Facebook.

I have also played with the video camera available on my iPad.  And, have posted them to Facebook, as well.

I think Vine was more user friendly, and I can see students of all ages making 6 second videos for some of their coursework.

After this experience, I may just use it more often.

Thing 13-- Presentations

I chose to investigate the first app listed for presentations called "Deck".  I built a short presentation about the school's upcoming book fair. I found the app very easy to use. I liked the colorful themes, and really liked the set up.  From this app anyone can make a presentation, using an outline of what they want their audience to know.  I wish I had had access to this app when I was actually doing presentations.  Since I am in retirement mode, I don't think I will be doing any presentations, but I will certainly recommend that others use this app when they need to make a quick presentation that is informative and to the point.

I did not try any of the other presentation applications.

Thing 12: Books, books and more books

I have used the free books available on the iPad, but was grateful for the explanation on how to use the site.  I have read some of the books from that site.

I also looked at the Yalsa for young readers app.  I think that this is a great way to find books for our young adults.  It is easy to navigate and has tons of book listings.  I am sending this reference to our new Media Specialist, so that she can get ideas for book orders for the next school year.

I next tried the istory books.  What a great site for young readers to read and listen to story time favorites.  The graphics are beautiful and the reading voice is very clear. The fact that is free is an added bonus.  I am also suggesting this site to the new Specialist so she can get the information to our elementary classroom teachers for next year.

While perusing the iStory app, I also found a link for an app review/tutorial site called phonesavvy.com.  It has been a great help for me while trying to figure out my new smart phone. It has great tutorials that are quick and easy to look at while giving great directions for handling the phone apps.

Of all of these, the one I will most likely use, is the Free Books for apple.  I like the idea of free ebooks, love reading on my iPad, and like the features it offers, like highlighting and adding notes.

Thing 11...library and reference

Wow! I downloaded the app for ELM on my iPad.  I have used the ELM resources before and have promoted them in my school libraries. The ease of adding this app to the iPad just increased the user friendliness of all the Elm resources.  It is also appropriate for grades K through 12.   I am going to relay the information from Thing 11 to our technology committee and suggest the add the ELM app to our iPads so all students have easy access to the resources.

I checked to see if our local library, but did not find an app to their information. However, I am an avid user of Overdrive and Zinnio.  I, now read my magazines through  Zinnio, and download ebooks and audio books for my reading and listening pleasure. Right now I have four books downloaded, ready for me to read on my kindle while I am on vacation.

Thing 10 sharing photos

I read through the information on both the Instagram and Snapchat.  I played around with them a bit, but found that they might not be as useful for me as Facebook, or one of the photo companies like Snapfish or Shutterfly.  Sharing on both of these is easy, and quick, and since I have an account with both of them it is much easier for me to work with.  Even Facebook photo sharing makes more sense for me since my family and friends are all over Facebook.  It was useful to go through these apps however, because some of the techniques work with the other photo sharing applications that I mentioned above.

Thing 9...taking and editing photos

I downloaded and installed the Photo Editor by Aviary.  I had fun trying on all the stickers, changing the colors, and editing the photos I had in my camera roll.  I thought that I might use this app for editing future photos of family and friends, and then share the weird concoctions on my Pinterest page, or even on Facebook if I didn't think I would get shot by one of my relatives.

Seriously, though, I can see where this might come in handy for cropping and getting rid of extra stuff in the picture, clarifying the color, or varying the color.  Right now my pictures of are my animals, and it was entertaining to see what I could do to change their appearance.

Thing 8 Social Media and Management tools

I have been a Facebook stalker for years.  I have followed my family and friends and their events so that I can keep up with their lives.  Since I have no interest in tweeting or any other Social Media, I decided to dig deeper into Facebook.  Another reason I decided to stay with Facebook is that it is the tool that all of my family uses to share pictures, ideas and fun stuff, or sometimes, not so fun stuff.

I like the idea that I can message people privately and get information about family that I need to know, but want to keep private. For instance, when my mom passed away, and I was the administrator for her estate, I needed to find long, lost relatives for probate purposes.  I found them on Facebook and was able to contact them and get the information they needed at the time.

A few years back when my son and his wife were out of the country, the only means of communication was Facebook.

So after looking at the video clip, and checking out all the options, I learned a few things that I didn't know how to do before, one being attaching the emoticons.  The upgraded Facebook makes it easier to make updates to my account, instant message, and get help in a more user friendly manner.  I also like the idea that I can post my own pictures easily and readily.

Thanks, Facebook for keeping me in the loop.

And, here we go to Thing # 9.

Thing 7...content saving and sharing

I have been a member of Pinterest for some time. However, I have mainly used the site to look at the pictures and ideas. I have never pinned anything or set up a board, so today I decided to do both. I set up a Pet board that included my dog, Delilah, and a bed that I found online that I would like to make for her this summer.
Setting up the board was very easy and adding pictures to that same board was just as simple. Perhaps now instead of being just a viewer of Pinterest from afar, I will be able to get some ideas out there for other people to see.
Since I will in full retirement later in March, I may just put my wonderful parking lot garden ideas on a board that I can share with others.
I really appreciate being able to do this.

Thing 6...editing

I opted to download cloud on. I wanted to see if it worked with the Microsoft applications, particularly PowerPoint.  I was able to get into it easily and could copy and paste, as well as make slides. I have used PowerPoint on a regular basis, and I liked the way I could create slides the usual way.  I also noted that it linked right away to my Dropbox. I am not sure with my looming retirement how often I would use this, but I liked the idea that this is available if I want to use this.

Thing 7, here I come.

Thing 5...notetaking

I am a list maker and note maker, and I thought one of these might suit my purposes. I looked at all of them, and I found that Springpad offers too much. I kike to keep my notes simple and like to use them as reminders. Bamboo paper is awesome, but I felt it would be more useful to a more creative person. Remember the milk is easy to use. I could use it on both my phone and iPad, but my paper pencil list in my paper calendar does the same thing and I don't have to sign in and remember a password, which I would have to write down. Dragon dictation looks like fun but I don't think I would find it useful.

My life is getting less complicated, because I am in retirement mode, so I think I'll stick to my daily paper calendar. However, I am going to try to see if the dragon dictation tips will work on my Smartphone...the one that tells you to insert the punctuation. And, if I were to use an electronic list, I would use remember the milk.

On to Thing 6

Thing 4...keeping up

I had never heard of Zite, and I am not much of a magazine reader because of all the ads and other stuff in them. So, needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised by Zite.  I put in my four topics, gave them my info, and then scrolled through all the articles. I liked the fact that I could add other interests, and topics, and get right to what I was looking for.  I liked the format, and will probably look up other things I am interested in, plus the information I may need to keep abreast of tendencies in the library world..both public and school.

Now, onto Thing 5.

Thing 3...utilities

I downloaded the app Google Search. I really like the microphone, so I could speak my search, rather than type it. I also looked into all the other apps that are readily available. I was impressed with Google news. I liked the format...easy access and readability. Included with Google search is Google goggles, and I can't wait to try that out the next time I take a trip that involves historical places.

I did download google drive and will use that to upload my photos.

I already use Gmail, and like the quick access to that whether on my iPad or phone.

What I liked the best is that the use of these apps make using my new Smartphone much easier as they are compatible and portable.

Now on to Thing 4.