#16 Audio

For this "thing", I downloaded iPadio & I already had Audioboo (though I've never used it).

iPadio required me to set up an account,  and then I made a dummy audio recording and attached a photo.  It was very easy and intuitive to figure out. I like the simplicity.

I received a congratulatory e-mail that my first "phonecast" was done, along with a weblink to it.  The link worked great.  I also see that I have the option of posting my phonecast to Twitter, Facebook, or blogs (or a bunch of other things), so I attached it to this one HERE

I figure there HAS to be a way to make this even simpler (automatically put it on the blog instead of having to insert the link, as I did), and I tried to link it as an automatic post (because the e-mail they sent me made it look like I could......but I never got it to do anything).  I was lacking patience, so I gave up after that.

iPadio seems to also have a video function as well, but that wasn't available to me.

How could this be used?

Kids could record something (a book review, for instance), and post the link to it in an Edmodo group....they could play their instrument and send the link to the band teacher.  I imagine there are lots of things one could try.

Because this is social media, and it creates a "channel" for the user, it might be a little dicey, as parents might see this as no different than a YouTube channel, but the privacy settings would allow this to be private.

I'll keep this on my iPad for a while and play with it.....I can see some possibilities. They have some good info online and say they want to be "supportive", so they're probably worth a longer look.



Then there's Audioboo.....we have Audioboo on our devices at school because it was there when I got here.  I don't know many folks who use it (I never have). The first thing I had to do was download the right app...I had an old one and it took me a few minutes to figure that out.


Once I made an account, it was pretty easy.  Audioboo offered a countdown before speaking, a pause option, and then the publish option, just like iPadio did.  It said I could speak up to 10 minutes.  It also allowed for me to add a photo.  Then I hit "publish" and got a note that my first "Boo" was published. When I then went into my Boo, I could listen to it or share it.  I could email it, open it in Safari, message it, etc.  I could also share to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinboard, and Google+.  Just for fun I shared to Google+ (since I hardly use that anyway)...it was instantly there.  And it was easy to delete as well.

Overall, I feel like these apps are super similar to one another, but my preference would be Audioboo....I just liked the feel and the interface better than iPadio.

#15 Infographics

I think infographics are cool and everything, but I'm not super excited about this "thing".  We'll see where this goes....I think part of that is because I don't feel "creative" enough to make them myself....but I can sure look for them.




My first download was info.graphic.  Upon opening it, I saw it was just a huge grouping of different infographics....and a lot of them were pretty interesting to look at.  You could just look at everything, or set it for one of eight categories.  I especially liked one infographic called The History of Advertising, and the app allowed me to share it to Facebook, Twitter, or my camera roll. I saved it to my camera roll and it worked great.  The biggest downfall of this app was the fact that it was VERY, VERY, VERY slow....I'd hit the "back" button and wait for a very long time before anything happened.  I ended up quitting the app and restarting it A LOT.  I think this is probably because the graphics themselves are so large that it bogs down easily.  The food & social media categories were especially interesting to me. I think the life skills teacher at my school could use some of these.....I could get lost in these.  Seriously.





I downloaded iVi Touch Lite next. Upon opening it, I was presented with the tutorial option, which I watched.  It was just three and a half minutes on YouTube.  I probably could have figured it out myself, but tutorials often give me that "one little nugget" I may not have figured out on my own. This wasn't the case.......The "lite" version of this app is certainly "lite".  If someone wanted to really make an infographic, they'd need to upgrade for sure.  This is a great "starter", but my students would be over it in about 10 minutes, just like I was.





The last app I downloaded was Visualize Free.  It was really easy to use, but after I started working on a project, the app crashed on me and I lost everything.  I wasn't that far in, but it was still annoying.  I would need to remind kids to "save and save often" like I used to do in the computer lab.

Some things I liked about this creation tool:

*Simple to learn
*Easy to add graphics & effects, and quite a few available for free
*Lots of fonts/color
*Graphics, text, drawing was cool
*Making "stickers"

What I didn't like:
*Crash. Crash. Crash.
*And then it crashed some more.
*You can't have more than three projects without buying the full version
*Your project saves in a gallery, but not to camera roll (another full version thing maybe?)

In the end, using an app to look for an infographic is fine....using an app to create one?  Not so much.....maybe unless you pay for it.

#14 Video

Let me start this post with a few facts:

1. I like iMovie.  09.  I do not like the iMovie app, or other versions of iMovie.  As much of a digital user as I am.....movies are pretty challenging for me and I'm reticent to learn new programs.

2. I don't do Vine.  I don't see the appeal.

3. I am willing to make movies out of screencasts, so I use Screen-cast-o-matic or ScreenR for that.  These are the "movies" I share with kids (most of these are "how-tos").

4. So...downloading Viddy and Magisto is a stretch.  But I'll try.

Viddy:

I made an account. I gave camera and microphone access.  I launched a "new video".  And Viddy spun, and spun, and spun. I quit out of the app...disappointed.  I relaunched it and it kicked into gear.  I decided to make a video of my cat....later cats (because her brother had to see what the fuss was about). I chose a "filter" for it.  I did my 30 seconds....and then I easily shared it to Facebook (and quickly deleted the video...what wants to see video of my silly cats....?).  I imagine this is the same way that Vine works...but I like the 30 seconds better.  I downloaded this app to my iPhone.  I can see myself using it at some point.  The easy connection to Twitter and Facebook is nice.  It's pretty slick.  Adding music (limited selection) is easy, changing the chosen filter is simple, and trimming the clips is easy as well. Sharing this to my "contacts" didn't work, but I likely wouldn't use that feature anyway. I got annoyed at the end, because the app was behaving strangely though.......I had to completely QUIT and relaunch the app to get it out of its "won't do what I want it to" cycle.  I hate when apps are like this.

Magisto:

Yep...one more account for me.  I really should have made up a dummy e-mail for these 23 things.......hindsight is certainly 20/20.

I got the "Welcome to Magisto"  and "please verify your e-mail"e-mail right away....not the case for the other new apps I joined today.

So...seems pretty easy.  I choose some video footage.  Choose a theme.  Choose music (their music or I can go to iTunes and use mine).  Make a title.  And then I watch it "create my movie".  I enabled notifications so I can be told when it's ready (kind of like YouTube and Vimeo I guess?)


And I wait.

I got my notice that it was ready in about three minutes...it was a 27 second video.

OMG!  This was SUPER COOL!!!!  It basically created a movie with cool graphics, multiple views, different clips, and fitting music. It took out the original sound, but it was still cool.

You can see it HERE

I will TOTALLY use this one....but more for personal than work.

I'm actually going to stop blogging so I can go play right now.......

Here's what I learned from my "playing":

* I need the pro version to use more than 10 photos at a time.

*It's not really a photo editor ---it's more like that Facebook video creator that was big around Facebook's anniversary a few months back.

* I need the pro version download a video to my camera roll.

* I need it for a few different things........and if I don't like the way it made my video...there's really nothing you can do about it.

* It also gives me the option of using MY music, but I tried four different songs and Magisto said they wouldn't work???  Go figure.

* I also saw from some reviews that Facebook will block some videos for  copyright issues, so this could cause a problem.

I still think it's cool and all....but I'm not as "hooked" as I thought I might be.

#13 Presentations

For this "thing", I am testing out Deck Slideshow Presentations.

At school, we already use Educreations and Haiku Deck (I LOVE Haiku Deck!!!!!), and I would say both are pretty much "staple" apps for presentation creation.

I haven't heard of Deck Slideshow before now, and as I searched for it, I also saw one called Flowboard, which was free....so I'm trying both.

Deck Slideshow Presentations:

Easy enough to figure out, and some fun themes to choose from (a bunch are in-app purchases though, though a few are free downloads ).  When I wanted to add a picture to a slide, the tools for working with the photos were complicated/didn't work.  The cropping tool seemed to work, but I couldn't save the crop.  There is also an "image caption" slider that I couldn't figure out.....and the other two buttons didn't do anything?  Kids would get frustrated with this and quit right away.....and go back to Haiku Deck.  After watching the three-minute tutorial on their website, I at least was able to see how you export (these weren't super intuitive in the app)....though I never saw how to "publish".  This would be great for persuasive presentations, but for my level of students, probably not a favorite. Needs to be simpler. I deleted it right when I was done testing it.

Flowboard:

Flowboard required an account to get started, which was a bit annoying, but I get it.  Connecting with Facebook was an option, but I decided to create an actual account (because my students would have to do it this way at school). All I needed to start was a username, email address, and password. I did the "tutorial" at the beginning and it took all of 45 seconds.  Pretty simple to use...I hope.

So, the first thing I did was choose a theme....twenty one choices.  All free. I chose "Scrapbook".  Adding slides was easy, and let me choose from a variety of templates each time.  Working with/adding images was simple (though I had to get used to the "two taps" way of working with elements).  Making a flowboard was easy.....when I got to "sharing", I saw the catch.  If you want to keep things "public", the free app is fine.  You can share to Facebook, Twitter, email, etc.  To restrict or make private, you need to be "premium" OR whomever you send it to has to have an account as well.  As long as I kept my presentation "public", I could easily share via e-mail or via the web address it created when I published.


Using, editing, working flowboard was easy.  Sharing was simple.....just a WAY more intuitive app, which is what my students (and teachers) need.  I think this would be a nice addition to our iPads.....kids could decide if this fits them or if Haiku Deck is a better option.

#12 Books, Books, & More Books

For this "thing", I downloaded YALSA's Teen Book Finder.  I have the FreeBooks app and already know how that one works....and I just don't want to down load Wattpad, as I need a break from the social sites for a bit.  Goodreads works for me in that regard.

The app itself is pretty simple.    Maybe too simple.

There are "hot picks".  Today they are Alive, Beaten, and City of Bones.   When you select one of these, you get more info (not a ton).....lists it has appeared on, ability to post to Twitter/Facebook a way to "favorite" it (which just keeps a running list in the app), and a short summary.  There is also a "find it" button.  When I clicked it, I saw that the book is available at the Great River Regional Library in St. Cloud.  I was happy this wasn't just a way to connect me to booksellers, as I incorrectly assumed it would send me to Barnes & Noble or Amazon or something.  This was what I saw when I clicked on Beaten.

Pretty simple indeed.

The "heartiest" part of this app would be the search button.  It allows you to look for books by title, author, genre, year, award, or book list.  I think this is GREAT!  It's easy to use, and I like the idea of guiding kids to the lists to see what other people have liked, depending on the listmaker.....however......

I didn't find the author or title search to be as complete as I'd hoped for though.  For instance, when I entered Lois Lowry, the only result was The Giver.  When I specifically searched for Gathering Blue, I got nothing. The list finder didn't include the Newbery Award either, which I found strange?

This app seems to be on the track to being VERY cool.....but it has a long way to go.  It's just not comprehensive enough to be a great help for kids looking for new books to read (if I were adding an app like this to the iPads at my school, I would probably use Goodreads instead, or have a webclip of Your Next Read, which is super cool for kids selecting books). 

#11 Library & Reference

I am a media specialist.  I embrace technology.  I teach people how to teach with technology.  I can troubleshoot tech problems quite well.  I am my family's tech support.  I answer eleventy billion tech related questions every day.  I live on my phone, iPad, and computer.  I am "connected" for most of my waking hours.

Except when I'm reading a book.

When I read books, I am able to escape technology.  I often do this on my deck, in bed, or on the sofa.

I only read "real" books.  I like to hold them.  Smell them.  Touch them. I have never read a book on a device.  Ever.

For this "thing", I'm going to try.  I plan to not like it, but I'm scared that I might.  It scares me, because I know that I am too connected, and my reading lets me hold on to some last vestiges of "olden days".  This may make no sense to someone reading this blog, but it makes total sense in my head.

My students have the Mackin VIA app on their iPads, but we don't own a lot of eBooks yet (just over 100 so far...those suckers are PRICEY!), and until we're fully 1:1, I haven't pushed it much.  We only buy multi-user, unlimited-checkout books (nonfiction, for the most part) and I've shown kids how to find them and how to open them, but I've never read one of them on the device. The Mackin app is great and easy to use, and the folks at Mackin offer awesome customer service to boot.

I just downloaded the Overdrive app.  I've heard of it, but never used it.  I easily found a library (GRRL out of St. Cloud...with lots of branches) and connected to it.  Then I got an Adobe ID of some sort to make it all "work"....ugh...yet ANOTHER login. It took me a minute or two to figure out how to check out books (and find ones that were available), and that was it.  I checked out a book that was available and I've heard great things about but haven't read (Gone Girl).

I have the book available for two weeks.  We'll see how much of it I have actually read by April 2nd.

I don't want to like it......because if I do, this could be REALLY convenient.  And I still want to smell real books.

Note: March 25th:  Over the last two days, I read Gone Girl on my iPad mini.  I loved the story itself.  I liked the convenience of carrying it around in my purse and reading a few pages here and there while waiting at appointments.  I liked that I could read it in bed and not have to worry about the lights being on.  I think I will prefer my books in the summer on the deck (sun glare, etc.) but I actually didn't "mind" the experience as much as I thought I might.
I just downloaded another book.....because it was convenient.  Am I converted?  No.  Will I likely read more books this way?  Probably.

#10 Photo Sharing

I have refused to use Snapchat for no reason other than I am a 40 year old woman and it seems like something I only hear tweens and teens using.  Well, and because I have enough apps in my life.

However, because it's probably a smart idea to at least see how this works, I'll go download it and see what I think.  Maybe I'll Snapchat my fifteen-year-old and really freak her out.......

Fifteen minutes later:

I made an account.  Logged in.  Sent some Snaps to my daughter (she didn't reply, which surprised me), then sent some to myself between my phone and iPad.  They were instant and the whole thing was easy enough to use....but absolutely not for me.  I deleted my account within 30 minutes of creating it. (That part was nice and easy, though I had to go online to do it.)

I see why teens might like Snapchat.  I would not....I just have no need.   Snapchat makes me nervous because of the idea that kids have that these photos just go away.....nothing goes away, and this is a great lesson on digital footprint.  These are easy to screenshot and I have heard more than one story about these wreaking havoc on kids and their personal lives.  I know my daughter has this app, but I don't think she uses it much.  She's a texter. Kids with clueless parents could get into some trouble with this one...heck, even kids with parents in the know could get into trouble.  Snapchat is synonymous with nudity in a number of circles.  Ewwww.



I have an Instagram account, but I don't use it (and I only really have it because I can log in via Facebook).  I have lots of friends who use it, and swear by it. When I logged in tonight, to work on this "thing", I was surprised to see I am "following" 25 people and have 31 followers.  Not sure how that happens.  Maybe one of those weird Pinterest type deals where someone just looks at your name or clicks something and then you're best friends???  In exploring the settings, I saw that 119 of my Facebook friends are on Instagram and I'm following some but not others (and I honestly don't remember doing that?)  Instagram can even suggest people I can follow......which I guess is cool....if I need another feed to follow, which I really, really, really don't.  Honestly, most of these people I'm in "following relationships" with on here are connected to me via Twitter and Facebook (and post these same pics there) so this is kind of overkill for me.

Yes, Instagram can make pictures pretty.  I took one of my cat being lazy.  I changed some hues, zoomed in, lightened it, captioned it, and posted it.  I suppose if I were 15 I would sit there and see how many likes I get.

But I won't.

I share a lot of photos, but 95% of that sharing is on Facebook..... and the other 5% is via text.  Maybe I'm just old, but that's really good enough for me.

#9: Photo Editing

Oh Boy!  This "thing" was a DOOZY!  And so much fun!

My library assistant and I tried out three of these apps (we already have Aviary on our iPads here at school , so we know how that works), and we found two that we will most definitely be using!

I didn't know a thing about Line Camera, but it is one that will likely be going onto the iPads in place of Aviary next year.  I couldn't believe all the possibilities with this app, and how intuitively it was designed.  I also like the fact that this isn't some bare-bones app where you can't do anything cool without a bunch of in-app purchases.  And frankly, the little kitty who bats her eyelashes is adorable.

Ten Things  I love:
1. The easy-to-use self timer in the camera part
2. The fact that you can give makeovers (give me a skinnier face and I'll take it!)
3. The 30+ different photo effects (and the fact you don't need to buy more!)
4. The 100+ different framing tools
5. The ease of saving & sharing (to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.)
6. The cute stamps that could be added (yes, some have to be bought, but there are plenty free ones there or available for free download!)
7. The fact that it's just so easy.
8. The free photo frame collages...kids could easily make comic book pages with these, because there are text bubbles.
9. Text options.  Because I love words.
10. The way text works.....lets you type, choose font, and choose color VERY easily.

The other app I really like is simple, but powerful..... CamMe. This will be a great app for my family, because we can take "selfies" on a timer when all four of us want to be in a photo....of course, Line Camera can do that with the camera timer too, but this is super easy and does the trick.










I downloaded two more apps for this "thing" and I deleted them almost instantly.  I downloaded Color Splurge, and while I was "shopping" for it, I noticed ColorMagic Free, so I figured I'd try that too. The best thing about Color Splurge?  The little girl on the icon was cute.

Color Splurge drove me nuts with the constant ads, and although it was pretty easy to figure out, it crashed on me MANY more times than it actually worked.  If I needed to colorize one picture, I could probably deal with it, but as a rule, I couldn't use an app like this regularly......way too annoying.  The same was the case with ColorMagic Free.....a basic app that would become cool with a 1.99 purchase.  It wasn't as easy to use as color splurge, but neither of them impressed me very much anyway.  If I were REALLY into colorizing photos, I'd go buy an app with great ratings.

In all, this "thing" was totally worth it.  My assistant and I are LOVING Line Camera and I already told one of the teachers about it too.....I'll totally lobby to put this on all our school iPads next year.