Mobile Apps News from Nicole Hennig
Mobile Apps News
November 29, 2018
Hi everyone,
Welcome to the 64th issue of Mobile Apps News! I hope you'll enjoy this newsletter and spread the word to your friends and colleagues. Please get in touch if you have any suggestions for topics you'd like to hear about.
This issue includes news of:
My new Facebook page: Keeping Up with Emerging Technologies (Like it and please share!)
When it comes to technology, are you a visionary or implementer? Take my fun quiz to find out! What's Your Tech Personality?
news of changes to Flickr
news about the new iPad Pro
several tips, including how to scan documents with the iPhone's Notes app
accessibility, voice-computing, thought-provoking articles, and thoughts about the future
Enjoy!
App News
Featured apps
Endel: Focus, Relax, and Sleep (iOS)
This app with a $3/month subscription creates sound environments for relaxing, focusing, or sleeping. For iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch.
There’s No Perfect Transcription App, But Otter Is Getting There (iOS, Android)
(and Otter Voice Notes Review)
“Records audio and converts speech to text on the fly using voice recognition algorithms. It also synchronizes the audio with the text during playback, so you can tap on any word to hear exactly what was being said at the time.”
Children's Book Classic Peter Rabbit & Other Tales Come to AR via iOS App (Bookful for iOS)
The app Bookful transforms children’s stories into AR versions with interactive objects. Included are The Tale of Peter Rabbit and five other books. You can read samples for free or pay $1.99 for each book. See how it works in this video.
FlickType Brings a Truly Easy-to-Use Keyboard to Apple Watch (Apple Watch)
Install this app on your iPhone to make it easier to type in Messages on your Apple Watch. This video shows how it works.
App lists
Stay on Top of Your Projects with Apps for iOS
Good list of apps for managing your projects. Includes my favorite to-do list app: Things.
25 Free And Best Android Apps For 2018 To Get The Most Out Of Your Smartphone
Good list of some of the best Android apps.
App updates
Flickr will end 1TB of free storage and limit free users to 1,000 photos
Flickr was purchased in April by SmugMug and now some changes are being implemented. Free accounts will be limited to 1,000 pictures. If you have a free account you can upgrade to Pro or download your extra photos (you have until Feb. 5, 2019).
Pro accounts ($50/year) now have more features: unlimited storage of photos at full resolution, no ads, and more. I’ve been a pro user since 2005 and I plan to keep the pro service when my account renews. I mainly use Google Photos now, but I still like Flickr. If you have a Pro account, take a look at your new “stats” page — it contains lots of interesting info.
Apple’s New Map: Has Apple closed the gap with Google’s map?
Interesting comparison of Apple Maps and Google Maps. Apple Maps has a lot more detail these days.
Dropbox’s new software extensions let you easily edit files on the web
Dropbox’s new Extensions feature makes it easy to edit files without leaving Dropbox. Previously you needed to open some files in other apps in order to make edits. Annotate videos and images, sign PDFs, and more, within Dropbox.
Hardware News
Apple's New iPad Pros Have Full-Screen Displays, Face ID, USB-C, Updated Apple Pencil
Learn all about the new iPad Pros.
First Impressions of the New 12.9" iPad Pro for Writing and Photography
Interesting story of how the author uses the new iPad Pro for writing and photography. He especially likes it for photo editing.
I ditched the Mac for the iPad, and I’ll never go back
A story of someone who uses the iPad Pro as his only computer — read to learn why he likes it better than a laptop.
Amazon Will Finally Start Selling Apple Products—Except for the One It Wants to Beat
“Before the deal, Apple products were only available on Amazon via third-party resellers, who are not officially approved by the manufacturer, and whose merchandise is often inconsistent in quality and price.” Now you can buy official Apple products on Amazon (except for HomePod).
The Best Wi-Fi Mesh Network Systems for Your Home
If you’re thinking of upgrading your home network, see this review of several mesh network systems.
Just for Fun
Explore the World’s Coolest Robots, All in One Place - IEEE Spectrum
“New IEEE site features 200 robots from 19 countries with hundreds of photos, videos, and interactives to get people excited about robotics and STEM.”
Every website in 2018
This cute video expresses how tired we all are of unwanted pop-up windows and similar distractions.
Meet the 19-year-old who sets up as many as 15,000 dominoes to make incredible chain reactions
Wow, she is amazing. See the videos of her work.
My Offerings
Sign up for my new Facebook page:
Keeping Up with Emerging Technologies
Please spread the word to your friends and colleagues. It’s a good way to keep up!
What’s your tech personality?
Take my fun short quiz to find out if you’re more of a visionary or an implementer.
Keeping Up with Emerging Technologies Course
Learn the best practices for tracking technology trends
I’m offering this course again in January through Library Juice Academy. Begins Jan. 7th.
Here’s what one of my previous students 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
Share this page with your colleagues:
http://nicolehennig.com/courses/keeping-up-with-emerging-technologies-course/
Thanks!
Self-study course: Online Privacy and Security: Create Your Action Plan
If you like to work at your own pace (start and finish anytime) — try the self-study version of my privacy/security course. It’s not just for librarians, so you could give this course to a friend or relative who wants to learn more about privacy and security. (click “Gift this course” in upper right of page)
On sale for the holidays! Discount expires on December 20.
Use this link to get the sale price: $39.99 instead of $89.99!
https://www.udemy.com/privacy-security-action-plan/?couponCode=HOLIDAY40
Online Privacy & Security: Best Practices for Librarians
By the way, there are still a few spots open in the 4-week version of Online Privacy and Security that i'm offering via Library Juice Academy.
Learn more and sign up by Dec. 3 ($175)
You can earn continuing education credits in this version.
"Nicole’s workshop is so pertinent to today’s concerns with privacy and the internet. She gave extraordinary information on how to be safer in the digital age."
-- Rachel Rooney, IT/Reference Librarian, West Tisbury Library, Massachusetts
Tips
Accessibility
Microsoft’s HoloLens can help the blind navigate buildings
Uses audio cues — “For the test, the team gave seven blind people a brief tutorial, but no real training, and then asked them to complete a variety of tasks. Thanks to audio cues, the testers could reliably locate and point to objects, avoid obstacles, and were able to quickly find a chair in a room.”
Microsoft Office Lens Can Scan Physical Books To Electronic Formats
“Office Lens uses your phone camera to take photos of pages and then converts them to readable text using OCR. You can either have the app’s built-in Immersive Reader to 1) read text out loud, 2) enlarge text, and 3) space out words for students with dyslexia or export them to Word, PDF and other formats too. Office Lens converts not only physical documents to electronic formats but also text written on whiteboards in a classroom.”
Olli Is A Self Driving Bus That Speaks Sign Language & Provides Other Accommodations
“An accessible version of the bus, called “Accessible Olli” will be using IBM’s artificial intelligence powered Watson technology to communicate with passengers since there will be no driver or staff on it. For example, when blind commuters take public transit, they usually have difficulty finding empty seats. Olli, using cameras and artificial intelligence, would be able to identify open seats on the bus, and through audio cues and mobile app, would be able to direct the passenger.”
Voice Computing
Alexa, be afraid: Google's Home Hub showcases Amazon's vulnerabilities
All about the competition between Amazon (Alexa) and Google (Google Home). I enjoy using both platforms.
It Might Get Loud: Inside Silicon Valley’s Battle to Own Voice Tech
Worth a read if you’re interested in the future of voice computing. “It’s too soon to predict a winner, what with all the investment and fast-moving innovations. But it’s safe to say the industry has coalesced around the notion that voice technology, enhanced by recent advancements in artificial intelligence, is the user interface of tomorrow. And it promises to have a democratizing impact on an industry that has separated novices from experts. “
U.S. Smart Speaker Users Rise to 57 Million
“A September 2018 survey by Voicebot.ai of over 1,000 U.S. adults found that 57.8 million own at least one smart speaker. That is 23% of U.S. adults and reflects 22% growth since January 2018. This is significant in part because the rate of smart speaker adoption does not appear to be slowing much even as the user base grows. “
Privacy and Security
No More Google
“Privacy-friendly alternatives to Google that don't track you.” Quite a comprehensive list! Find alternatives to Chrome, Gmail, Google Analytics, Google Docs, YouTube, and more.
Google Chrome’s Users Take a Back Seat to Its Bottom Line
Chrome is great for security and usability, but not so great for privacy (because Google makes most of its money from ad-revenue, so it tracks you).
Human Rights and IoT: The Right to Privacy
“Technological advances like IoT and AI, which depend on the connection of just about everything, have major privacy concerns. But it isn't doom all the way down. Used responsibly, these technologies could even support the right to privacy.”
Nobody’s Cellphone Is Really That Secure: But most of us aren’t the president of the United States.
A recent report on the eavesdropping of Trump’s personal cell phone leads to some interesting questions. “Who else is listening in on Trump’s cell phone calls? What about the cell phones of other world leaders and senior government officials? And—most personal of all—what about my cell phone calls?” The author goes into all of these questions.
Encryption by Default Equals National Security
Professors Steven Bellovin and Susan Landau make the case that all cell phones should be encrypted by default.
Thousands Of Swedes Are Inserting Microchips Under Their Skin: NPR
Report from NPR.
“In Sweden, a country rich with technological advancement, thousands have had microchips inserted into their hands."
"The chips are designed to speed up users' daily routines and make their lives more convenient — accessing their homes, offices, and gyms is as easy as swiping their hands against digital readers."
"They also can be used to store emergency contact details, social media profiles or e-tickets for events and rail journeys within Sweden.”
It’s rather mind-blowing.
“Osterlund’s… the theory is that Swedes are less concerned about data privacy than people in other countries, thanks to a high level of trust for Swedish companies, banks, large organizations, and government institutions.”
Thought-Provoking
From Hotspots to School Bus Wi-Fi, Districts Seek Out Solutions to ‘Homework Gap’
This project maps places in local communities where students without home internet can do their homework (with free wi-fi).
Google’s AI-powered Piano Genie lets anyone improvise perfectly by bashing buttons
“They didn’t want users to just tap along to prewritten songs, but to make up pieces of melody on the fly instead. To enable this, they trained an AI program on a huge dataset of classical piano music, teaching it to predict what notes follow each other the same way your phone’s predictive text function guesses what you’ll write next.”
Trainergram and the Focused, Personal Power of the Finsta
Finsta (fake Instagram accounts) are popular with teens who want to share a more genuine outlook (than they do with the pressure they feel under with their main accounts).
The way we portray “old people” is hurting them at work
“We’ve internalized stereotypes about what’s ‘age appropriate’ and what’s not, and these beliefs quietly guide our choices.”
When No One Retires - Harvard Business Review
“Soon, the workforce will include people from as many as five generations ranging in age from teenagers to 80-somethings.” Companies are not prepared for this.
How ZTE helps Venezuela create China-style social control
“Chinese telecoms giant ZTE is helping Venezuela build a system that monitors citizen behavior through a new identification card. The 'fatherland card,' already used by the government to track voting, worries many in Venezuela and beyond.”
How Google and Amazon Got Away With Not Being Regulated
Interesting history.
End intellectual property: Copyrights, patents and trademarks are all important, but the term ‘intellectual property’ is nonsensical and pernicious
“There are four areas of US federal law linked under the rubric of ‘intellectual property’ that we ought to keep separate in our minds.” Interesting points.
EFF, Human Rights Watch, and Over 70 Civil Society Groups Ask Mark Zuckerberg to Provide All Users with Mechanism to Appeal Content Censorship on Facebook
Because “Facebook’s content takedown policies too often backfire and silence the very people that should have their voices heard on the platform.”
The Era Of The Mobile Worker Is Now
“Every member of today’s workforce is a mobile worker, whether they have a dedicated home office or jump from coffee shop to couch." Includes a cool infographic.
The ultimate guide to proper use of animation in UX
Excellent user experience guidelines for all those parts of pages that animate these days.
May A.I. Help You? Intelligent Chatbots Could Automate Away Nearly All Of Our Commercial Interactions — For Better Or For Worse.
“Woebot does not pretend to be human; it appears as a cartoon robot when it chats with you on Facebook Messenger.” “In a study with 70 young adults, Darcy found that after two weeks of interacting with the bot, the test subjects had lower incidences of depression and anxiety.”
Gen-Z employees don’t do email
“The array of non-text options at their fingertips—from emojis and GIFs to photos, Boomerangs, and self-made videos—has fundamentally altered the way they communicate and expect to be communicated with." “The younger generation favors platforms that prioritize visuals." “One study found that incorporating visual tools like video, screenshots, GIFs, and emojis in business operations amounted to $167 billion in saved time, reduced misinterpretation, and increased profitability.”
In the Age of A.I., is Seeing Still Believing?
“Advances in digital imagery could deepen the fake-news crisis—or help us get out of it”
The Future
Dystopias Now by Kim Stanley Robinson
We need more utopian fiction. “The situation is bad, yes, okay, enough of that; we know that already. Dystopia has done its job, it’s old news now, perhaps it’s self-indulgence to stay stuck in that place any more. Next thought: utopia. Realistic or not, and perhaps especially if not.” “Besides, it is realistic: things could be better.”
Nine sci-fi subgenres to help you understand the future
Interesting sub-genres, with recommendations. Afrofuturism, Climate Fiction (“cli-fi”), Water Crisis Thrillers, Woke Space Opera, and more. (My favorite "cli-fi" book is New York 2140 by Kim Stanldy Robinson).
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