Mobile Apps News #77

Another stay-at-home edition. Hope you are healthy and safe!

Aug 10, 2020

Hi everyone,

I hope you are all healthy and safe! First, let me apologize for such a long break between issues! Usually I put out about 10 issues per year. My last issue came out on April 8, and now suddenly it’s August!

I’ve been very busy with my full time job as an e-learning developer at Univ. of Arizona Libraries. I also work part-time for Central European University Library in Budapest and Vienna. (All my work is remote). And I taught my online Privacy and Security course in May (for 4 weeks via INFOPEOPLE).

In addition, my husband, my cat, and I moved from a small 1-bedroom apartment to a sweet little 2-bedroom rental house here in Tucson on June 29. So I’ve been overwhelmed with moving and then unpacking and setting up. Now I have a whole bedroom as my home office and James has the separate garage as his office/podcasting studio.

So now, finally, I have some time for this issue. Happy reading, and thank you to the person who contacted me wondering if her email had dropped off the list (or if I might be sick). Luckily, I’m happy and healthy.

May you and your loved ones be healthy and safe.

— Nicole

Featured Apps

Photo by William Hook on Unsplash

Moodistory Mood Tracker, Diary
A low-effort mood tracker with beautiful design.

Seeking Serenity: A Smartphone App for the COVID-19 Era - iOS and Android
Created by Univ. of Arizona’s Dr. Judith Gordon. “Our app is focused on using a person’s imagination to create immersive experiences that make them feel as though they are outdoors and could potentially experience the benefits of people outdoors.”

Camo Lets You Use Your iPhone or iPad Camera as a Webcam on Mac
Free iOS app, Reincubate Camo, uses your iPhone’s camera (better than most webcams).

Lemons for Yeast for Flour: The Bartering Economy Explodes on Nextdoor
Get NextDoor for iOS, Android, or web, and connect with people in your neighborhood. Lots of people are helping each other by bartering, volunteering and more.

Thanks to Bookshop, There Is No Reason to Buy Books on Amazon Anymore
Interesting web app that benefits independent bookstores: Bookshop. As an individual, you can make a shop and get affiliate income from books you recommend. Here’s mine (only books I’ve written, later I’ll recommend other books…. if I ever have time!)

Descript | Create podcasts, videos, and transcripts
I really like this web app for making transcripts & captions of my videos.

Mailform
Use this web app to send physical mail from your computer. I used it when I needed to send a letter to the IRS (about an error when I tried to file online), and it saved me from needing to go to a post office.

App Updates

Google Translate Adds Real-Time Transcription Feature - Voicebot.ai
Real-time translation of speech into different languages. Android only (for now).

Adobe’s Dually Noted adds AR annotations to physical books and documents - VentureBeat
Watch the video to see how you can add annotations to books and make them available to be viewed in AR on mobile phones.

Blur tools for Signal - Signal.org
Protect the privacy of the people in the photos you share. Useful for protest photos.

Apple to End Support for iBooks Author - TidBITS
You can now use Pages to create ebooks, with many (but not all) of the same features that iBooks Author had.

iOS 14 Overview - 9to5 Mac
iOS 14 will probably come out in September. This article summarized the new features. Widgets, Translate app, app library, picture-in-picture, and more.

Apple Announces WatchOS 7: Sleep Tracking, Face Sharing & More - iPhone Life
Some interesting features, including hand washing reminders.

Apple Announces iPadOS 14 with Sidebar Navigation, Apple Pencil Scribble, More - iPhone Life
If you like handwriting, use your Apple Pencil on the iPad and it will automatically convert handwriting into text (it’s called Scribble). It also recognizes multiple handwritten languages, including Chinese.

My Offerings

Course: Keeping Up with Emerging Technologies

I’ll be offering my course, Keeping Up with Emerging Technologies, again through INFOPEOPLE beginning Oct. 13 (4-week course). I invite you to join us! I’ve taught it twice before. Here’s what one student said:

This course was fantastic. Very relevant, informative, and engaging. I found it worth the time, and plan to implement much of what I learned in my own workplace, even though I’m not technically an Emerging Technology Librarian. Many concepts covered can easily be applied universally.
Marie Harris,Location Leader, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library

Information literacy tutorials for undergrads

I created these tutorials on information literacy in collaboration with Univ. of Arizona librarians. They are for undergraduates (or people new to library research), and based on concepts from ACRL’s Framework for Information Literacy.

I used a web app called Rise, part of Articulate 360 (which is a great product, by the way), to create the interactive websites and quizzes. For the videos, I used Vyond (also a fun and useful product).

Each tutorial (including the video) has a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, so feel free to share any of it (with attribution).

If you have your own license for Articulate Rise 360, I can send you a copy to modify for your own use. (Email me at nhennig@arizona.edu).

If you want to see just the videos (without the surrounding tutorials, see my YouTube playlist, Information Literacy Tutorials.

Tutorials for library staff on accessibility

My tutorials on accessibility are available for purchase by your library, see Making Library Services Accessible.

Just for Fun

This app uses AI to make your selfies look fabulously ridiculous - The Next Web
Photo Lab for iOS and Android.

Banksy paints London Underground train with sneezing rat not wearing face mask - The Art Newspaper

10 Fun Face Masks You’ll Actually Want to Wear - Mental Floss
Clickbait title, but some creative masks in this list. Includes the Clear Window Mask designed for the deaf and hearing-impaired communities.