For a number of years after I first started working as a graphic designer I read three or four design magazines each month, bought and read book after design book, joined professional design organizations, worked for a raging bitch at an advertising agency and otherwise did everything I could to learn as much as I could about my newly chosen profession. Then I got stale.
I coasted. I did what I needed to do to get by. It was fine for a few years. Suddenly — specifically — the day the young punk kid who bought the Epson 3000 printer I had listed on Amazon called me on the phone to harass me about this printer that he willingly bought being too ancient to hook to any of his computers (me thinks he should have read the part about “parallel port” a little more closely), I realized the world was continuing on without me. I’ve been running to catch up ever since.
I started taking online classes again, learning about new devices and doing my darnedest to move willingly into the 21st century. It started about two and a half years ago with my migration back to the Mac. I bought a loaded MacBook Pro. Next came the Kindle. More recently, the iPhone. Now, an iPad. Mac-heavy? Yes, I’m afraid so. I wanted toys that play nicely together. I thought maybe the similarities in OS would be in my favor.
With all the iObjects in my life, I’m becoming obsessedinterested in apps. Yesterday, Kristi’s post over at Fiber Fool got me thinking, “Who better to ask than you, gentle reader?
Kristi did a great job of planting the seed that you can help me on my quest. Thanks to her, so far, after 24 hours, I’m hooked on Lose It!. This app is causing me to rethink my current infatuation with all things gummy (bears, worms, Happy Cola, and Swedish fish — the last of which I haven’t tried — yet).
My quest has also led me to Dropbox, which I am investigating today (use this link and we both get extra storage space). Do you use Dropbox? Do you like it? They sure have a convincing little video on their site.
Now, I am curious, what other great apps do my fellow bloggers, knitters, internet readers and iObject users have up their sleeves? Especially you knitters. Almost all the knitting apps I’ve seen are not free. Some are, in the app world, downright expensive. Before I plunk down my hard-earned .99 cents (or 4.99 or 9.99 as the case may be), I want to know what you think. Do share.
April 1, 2011 at 12:23 am
Well, there are many cool apps. I use
Evernote to organize my memos
WiFi finder to see free WiFi locations when abroad, because I would pay data roaming through my nose (it works offline)
Shazam to find out who’s singing this wonderful song on the radio right now because nobody cares to announce names and titles anymore these days
IMDB to research movies, there is a Netflix app that works only in the US but it’s very good,
The Converter by the Dutch airways KLM to convert not only currencies, weight, length, and other measurements but also clonthing sizes, which is very cool for knitters.
Free Dictionary and Leo.org, language translaters
Amazon which is cool to shop directly and I really use it a lot
Skype probably more in the future when I am not at home so I could talk to the overseas Knittee
Docs to go, because it allows me to search my spread sheets. And I have all my sock yarns listed, so whenever I see a wonderful yarn I can research if I have it already. (Blush blush). It’s expensive, but already saved me at least ten times the amount.
Goodreader, which I only use on the iPad for PDF reading. I might get this for the iPhone as well. Had I only known about this before downloading the Docs to Go. LOL
And since several minutes
Dropbox. seems to be a cool concept for sharing files. Hooray they have an app for Blackberry too. And the Knittee is a Blackberry user.
I also use youtube a lot. And I am desperately waiting for a RAVELRY app. I would pay probably 10$ for that one. LOL
April 1, 2011 at 12:29 am
I forgot the Knit Counter. A row counter that allows you to keep track of several projects at the same time. Very cool, but it takes a lot of juice because you will get you phone out of the sleeping mode on every row.
April 1, 2011 at 8:43 am
I swear I’m the only person in the world without a smart phone, let alone an iPhone…no Mac (although I’m close), no iPad, no Kindle or Nook…the only thing ‘i’ I have is a mid-life iPod…which took me two years to figure out. Sigh!
Happy weekend!!
April 1, 2011 at 2:23 pm
Well, just so you don’t feel too bad, I’m 22 and have pretty much no idea what you’re talking about. Also, my MacBook is nearing four years old and my iPod is two or three. A little too old for “apps”.
April 8, 2011 at 10:18 am
Yay! I’m so glad my post turned you onto a new app to love!
I’m getting intermittent use out of the free Knitting Daily app – mostly to look up which way to pick stitches up for leaning increases or to double check the set-up steps for grafting etc. I don’t really use it to read Knitting Daily.
I second the Evernote and Dropbox recommendations too. Let’s see, DH and I have really enjoyed the Crystal Portal games – kind of adventure meets hidden object with great graphics and decent story lines.
Any ByLine is my favorite RSS reader. It connects with GoogleReader so what has been read or starred etc. is synced whether I’m on my computer, my phone or DH’s iPad.