This series is designed as a way to call attention to things, practices, places, activities, or anything else you might not be aware of that I think are worth checking out. I try to cover as wide a variety of topics as I can.
This week is going to be all about apps for smartphones and tablets. In addition to the three I’ll highlight below, there are plenty of others worth checking out, so I’ll return to this topic from time to time in the coming week.
To get the most out of Twitter, you really need to be using on your phone. This allows you to get the most up to the minute information on what’s going on in the world, as well as to make timely and relevant posts of your own. The only problem with this is that Twitter’s official app is quite poor. It tends to be buggy, and is far from full featured. Fortunately there are plenty of other great alternatives. It might take sampling a few to find the one that fits you best, but it’s worth it. More control of checking for updates, autocomplete names, link shortening, choosing file sharing sites, persistent searches, creating and managing lists, and more can be found in most of the competitors. Tweetdeck used to be my recommendation for both Android and iOS, but since Twitter’s acquisition of the company updates have been non-existent. For Android I now recommend Tweakdeck, an independent effort based on Tweetdeck’s design, and for iOS both HootSuite and Tweetdeck are good options.
If you have a smartphone or tablet and are at all into comics, you owe it to yourself to check out Comixology. In addition to having most new titles the same day as print, they have a massive selection of back issues, many of them for under a dollar, as well as frequent sales and free issues. As much as I enjoy supporting my local comic shop, it’s hard to resist the ease of purchasing the comic on my device, avoiding the hassle of having to store the issues once I’ve read them, and the extra attention to the art that the Guided View mode brings. Any comics purchased within the app can be viewed on any of your Android or iOS devices, as well as online. There are also Marvel and DC specific flavours if you’d prefer to only see comics from one publisher (though I’m not sure why you would).
This last one is Android specific, since Apple won’t allow this type of app, but I use it so frequently that I had to include it. This is an emulator for the Texas Instruments line of graphing calculators. Very simple to use, you simply install the app and then download the ROMs for the calculator models you’d like to use (readily available via a Google search). It currently supports the TI-82, 83, 83+, 85, and 86. It turns your phone into a fully featured graphing calculator, just like the one you’re probably most familiar with from high school.
Let me know if you try any of these apps, or if there are any other you think I should check out.
Sleep well,
DTE
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