Mobile Apps News from Nicole Hennig
Mobile Apps News
March 30, 2019
Hi everyone,
Welcome to the 67th 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:
All public Creative Commons works on Flickr are now protected from deletion (good)
New services (Apple Card, Apple News+) announced at the March 25 Apple event
Lessons in Herstory — an app that uses augmented reality to bring to life forgotten heroes in U.S. history textbooks — women.
several tips, including how to rearrange tabs in the Safari app on your iPhone
accessibility, voice-computing, thought-provoking articles, interesting stats, and articles about the future
Enjoy!
App News
Featured apps
This ingenious new iPhone app is a powerful way to foil data snoops (iOS)
Guardian Firewall (available in June) will show you what private data could be leaving your phone without your permission, so you can block this kind of leakage from third-party apps.
Spectre App Enables Stunning Long Exposure Photography on iPhone (iOS)
Spectre uses artificial intelligence to create beautiful long-exposure photographs quickly from a burst of photo that are smoothed and matched.
Language Navi - App Translator (Android)
Language Navi is an ingenious app that can translate the text in foreign language apps into your native language. So say there's an app that you'd like to use that's only available in Japanese. You can load up that app using Language Navi to superimpose English onto the Japanese text.
Big Bang AR by CERN (iOS)
This app uses mixed reality to showcase the birth of the universe. It’s a collaboration between CERN and Google Arts & Culture, with narration by actress Tilda Swinton.
MiniWiki: Wikipedia on Apple Watch (iOS and Apple Watch)
Install this app in order to browse Wikipedia on your Apple Watch. It’s designed to compliment the Watch’s unique screen size.
Lessons in Herstory uses AR to rectify women’s place in history books (iOS)
Lessons in Herstory is an app that uses AR to bring to life forgotten heroes in U.S. history textbooks — women. Watch the video to see how you can scan a portrait of a man to get a related story about a woman.
March 25th Apple Event
The Apple Card may be the most revolutionary announcement Apple made at its ‘Show time’ event
“The Apple Card has no card number, no CVV, no expiration date, and no signature. As Steve Jobs would say, ‘It just works.’ Apple and issuing bank Goldman Sachs are taking a hands-off approach to your personal information. Since all payment tracking is using on-device intelligence, Apple will never know what you bought, where you bought it, or what you paid. And Goldman Sachs promises to never share or sell your data to third-party vendors.” Privacy and security are baked in: each payment uses a one-time dynamic security card. Available this summer.
iOS 12.2 is now available, adding Apple News+, new Animoji, and a host of interface tweaks
Includes Apple News+, new Animoji, and more.
7 reasons why we can’t wait to try Apple News+
“For $9.99 a month, you and your family get access to more than 300 magazines and other publications ranging from National Geographic to Wired.” Magazines can be downloaded to read offline, it supports family sharing, it includes well-designed article layouts, and it looks especially good on the iPad.
Your Library’s Free Digital Magazines Are a Great Alternative to Apple’s News+
Of course, there is also RBDigital and other services from public libraries if you don’t want to pay $10/month to Apple for magazines.
App updates
Flickr Vows to Not Delete Creative Commons Images or Those of Deceased Members
All public Creative Commons works on Flickr are now protected from deletion. Flickr will also allow the accounts of deceased members to remain forever at no charge—if you know of such an account, you can request that it be set to an “In Memoriam” account.
Castro Podcast Player Updated With Enhanced Discovery Feed, Instant Search, and Updated Terminology
Includes a new, Instagram-like feed makes it easy to quickly scan for interesting collections of podcasts.
Hardware
Apple Quietly Releases New iPad mini and iPad Air
The Fifth-Generation iPad mini includes an A12 bionic chip (making it much faster) and Apple Pencil support. Scroll down in the article to see a useful chart comparing all iPad models now available.
7 things you need to know about Apple’s new AirPods
You can now use “hey, Siri” hands-free, get longer battery life for phone calls, get faster pairing and switching of devices, and get an optional wireless charging case.
Just for Fun
Emojis on license plates? LOL it’s about to be a thing
(In Australia)
37 Home State Memes That Are Depressingly Accurate
Ascii art + emojis to represent each state.
My Offerings
Online Privacy and Security
I’m offering this course again from October 7 - November 1 through Library Juice Academy. ($175, 4-week course).
If you don’t want to wait that long, sign up for the self-study version where you can start and finish any time (no deadlines).
$10 off: $79.99 instead of $89.99
"This is the best ecourse I have ever taken. The content was current, the assignments were relevant, the instructor was accessible." — Linda Azen Martin, Santiago Canyon College, Seal Beach, CA
After you participate in this course, you will…
know how to use technologies that protect your privacy and security.
have a security action plan for your own data.
be inspired to offer a workshop on this topic for your library users.
easily continue your learning with the course resource guide.
Best Podcasts for Diverse Audiences (ebook)
If you like podcasts, get this ebook for recommendations of shows to listen to in these categories:
Children and Teens
Feminism and LGBTQ
Racial Diversity
People with Disabilities
The Digital Divide
Technology and Society
Podcast Discovery Tools
$9.99 on Amazon (ebook for Kindle) or $14.99 on Smashwords (EPUB format that you can read in any ebook reader except Kindle).
Tips
Accessibility
The Complete Guide to Hearable Technology in 2019
“A hearable is a wireless in-ear computational earpiece. Essentially you have a micro computer that fits in your ear canal and uses wireless technology to supplement and enhance your listening experience.” Good for people with or without hearing loss.
The Dot Braille Smartwatch Lets the Visually Impaired People See the World from a Different Angle
“The Dot Smartwatch lets the visually impaired receive real time information from their phone, such as notifications, text messages, Facebook messages and more, in braille.”
Voice Computing
Pocket Casts for Amazon Echo picks up where your phone left off
“Using a series of voice commands, you’ll be able to continue listening on your Echo device, ask for a recommendation, request a random podcast, or play the latest episode of your favorite show.”
Cathy Pearl on AI, Voice User Interfaces and Emergent Opportunities in Online Communications
Hear from Cathy Pearl, head of Conversation Design Outreach at Google and author of Designing Voice User Interfaces in this audio interview. She discusses her “bigger picture” for voice and how it can truly help people.
The world’s first genderless AI voice is here. Listen now
Listen to the examples in this article. Hopefully Amazon, Google, and Apple will include this voice as an option.
Cedars-Sinai Taps Alexa for Smart Hospital Room Pilot
“A pilot program underway in more than 100 patient rooms at Cedars-Sinai is allowing patients to use an Alexa-powered platform known as Aiva to interact hands-free with nurses and control their entertainment. Aiva is the world’s first patient-centered voice assistant platform for hospitals.”
Thought-Provoking
Emoji are showing up in court cases exponentially, and courts aren’t prepared
“So far, the emoji and emoticons have rarely been important enough to sway the direction of a case, but as they become more common, the ambiguity in how emoji are displayed and what we interpret emoji to mean could become a larger issue for courts to contend with.”
FedEx turns to Segway inventor to build delivery robot
FedEx said Wednesday it will test a six-wheeled, autonomous robot called the SameDay Bot in Memphis this summer and plans to expand to more cities. It’s partnering with Walmart, Target, Pizza Hut and AutoZone. Watch the video to see how it works. (It’s cute, and has some potential problems).
I Embraced Screen Time With My Daughter—and I Love It
Joi Ito (director of the MIT Media Lab) explains why it makes sense to avoid alarmist ideas about kids and screen time and instead participate and guide kids with technology.
The Hottest Chat App for Teens Is … Google Docs
Teens use the live chat feature or the comments in Google Docs to pass notes in class. Smart!
What the huge loss of old Myspace music means for Internet culture
Why it's a good idea to not have the only copy of your important files in a cloud service.
Stop Teaching Students WHAT to Think. Teach Them HOW to Think. The future of education and work.
“The teaching of creativity, curiosity, critical thinking, analytical thinking, problem-solving, and a love of learning itself will be critical to transitioning from the industrial age to the automated age. “
Budget 2019 will create ‘lifelong learning’ accounts: sources
Modeled on a program in Singapore, government funding for Canadian citizens will help pay for lifelong learning and skills development. Great idea.
Adult Identity and the “I Can’t Use Technology Well” Introduction
Wesley Fryer says: "I am amazed how many adults start conversations with me by saying, 'You know I’m just not a technology person & I can’t use these tools in very powerful ways.' In our digital era this is tantamount to an admission of illiteracy, & even worse, a desire to remain illiterate. An alarming number of adults today define themselves as technology illiterate & often actively anti-technology."
Interesting Statistics
Who Is Using Voice Assistants and Why?
“Almost one in five U.S. adults currently own a voice-enabled smart speaker, which means the technology is used by about 20 percent of the adult population. Males are more likely to own a smart speaker than females by about 15 percent.”
Mobile connectivity in emerging economies
Compare the rates of social media platform messaging app usage in 11 countries around the world. Facebook and WhatsApp are the most widely used social platforms.
Smart Speaker Owners Agree That Questions, Music, and Weather are Killer Apps. What Comes Next?
Interesting stats from the U.S. Smart Speaker Consumer Adoption Report 2019.
Google Home Added 600,000 More U.S. Users in 2018 Than Amazon Echo, But Amazon Echo Dot is Still the Most Owned Smart Speaker
Amazon Echo smart speakers still have a large installed base lead with over 40 million users compared to about 16 million for Google Home.
The Future
Top IoT Trends to Rule in 2019
5G, digital twins, connected clouds, and more.
10 Big Global Challenges Technology Could Solve - MIT Technology Review
Carbon sequestration, grid-scale energy storage, dementia treatment, ocean cleanup, safe driverless car, and more.
A Peek into the Future of Wearables
“Mind reading glasses, goggles that erase chronic pain, a wristband that can hear what the wearer can’t, and more futuristic wearables are on the horizon.”
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