Thing #7 aka Jenny finally gets a Pinterest page

First off: my mom loves--loves!--Pinterest.  I told her about it well over a year ago and she just dove right in, even though she believes herself to be not very tech savvy.  I think this is because she is an artist, crafty person, great cook, etc.  The visual aspect really appealed to her.  She is always looking for cool new ideas, and now that she is retired, she uses Pinterest instead of having a billion bookmarks on her computer.  It makes it easier for her to organize, since she has the visuals, and she adores it when other people repost her stuff.

I, myself, have resisted the siren call of Pinterest for a really long time.  Mostly because I would have to set up yet-another account...and because I was afraid of the time-suckage that might take place.  YouTube, wikipedia, etc. all have rabbit holes to fall into, and Pinterest is no different.

Anyway.  I finally set up my account...on my phone.  And like many things, it works just fine on my phone, but it is kinda annoying.  However, I do love that I can share my boards, see my mom's and friends' boards, etc.  I will definitely use it for recipe and project ideas (especially since I now have a fancy personal blog to help me keep track of my own recipes and projects!).

I pinned a few things and explored other people's boards, but decided to try to avoid falling too far under the spell while there are other Things to try...and only two weeks in which to finish.  :)

I also think it might actually be useful for work, especially when working on something visual like web redesign ideas or LibGuide designs that might inform changes to our template.  It might also be a great way to organize what I used to organize as plain book marks, like exhibits at other institutions (and ours, I suppose).  Finally, I might use it to organize which images from our Collections Online system I use for which webpages/LibGuides/featured items on the webpage.  In fact, that might be the best professional use of a non-professional tool that I've thought of so far in 23 things!  Since you can put comments and the link is in the metadata, it would be great.  And I could then share it with colleagues if they needed to know what was where for a patron, etc.

The one thing is that Pinterest is meant to be a social thing (repinning, etc.).  For most of my own professional things, I would want to only have private boards/pins and use them personally.  I guess those are called "secret" boards, huh?  

I hear that rabbit-hole of Pinterest calling.....

Oh, yes!  As for other options for similar apps/services: I have heard of an app called StumbleUpon.  It started as a search engine and is now more about communities of users sharing things related to common interests.  Like a more focused and world-wide Pinterest, I guess.  Also, I've seen that they have a new URL shortening service, sort of like bit.ly but called su.pr.  Haven't tried any of it, but wish someone else would so they could tell me if it was worth it.

Thing #6: Creating docs on a tiny, tiny screen

For this Thing, I tried both QuickOffice and CloudOn.  Well, to be entirely truthful, I tried QuickOffice and I tried to try CloudOn.

QuickOffice had the definite advantage of being able to open Microsoft Docs as they are instead of translating them to GoogleDocs (which sometimes goofs up the formatting, etc.)  I can see using it to create Word documents or even spreadsheets on the go.  I created a short word document and the editing, formatting, etc. is pretty intuitive.  Editing an existing PowerPoint was easy, as was viewing it.  The viewing component opens up a whole new world of possibilities for conference talks.  It would be so great to not have to carry around a laptop that had the version of the software that I know will work, etc., etc.!

The problem with QuickOffice came when I tried to create a PowerPoint.  The content and formatting creation made sense, but I couldn't figure out how to get the pretty themes that are available from the real version of PowerPoint.  I might have to just create templates in advance if I know I will be using the mobile app to do any real work on a presentation.  

CloudOn sounded really good.  I watched their little video and connected it to my Hightail account when I signed in.  However, it wouldn't work.  Every time I tried to create a document, the app complained about my internet connection (which was working just fine).  If I can't get it to work at my house--with great wi-fi connectivity and no distractions or pressing deadlines--I won't be using it in the real world.

Ultimately, it is kind of annoying to create documents on my phone, regardless of which app is being used (QuickOffice or Google Docs/Drive).  It is just so small and--oh my goodness--how I hate the fact that I have to swipe-type or hunt-and-peck everything.  It takes a really, really long time.  And I can't figure out how to print any of these documents without connecting to a real computer.  Honestly, I think that I won't be using mobile devices for most of my creation of documents.

Thing #5: Notetaking, but with so few options

Of the four options that were promoted on the 23 things site, I could only try Remember the Milk.  The Dragon stuff looks cool, but is only for Apple, Bamboo Paper was not compatible with my device, and GooglePlay couldn't find SpringPad when I tried to get it (no matter what I did).

I liked the Remember the Milk app, mostly because it lets me check off things.  I love checking off things that are finished on my to-do lists!!  I particularly like the feature that if you don't complete something on one day, it moves onto the next day's list.  That is just reality at work, right there!

But--and this is a big one--it is definitely a task-list rather than a scheduler.  There are things on my to-do list that are time-specific and it is a little difficult to get specific times and locations to show up properly.  It is also a little unclear what happens to my completed tasks after a week.  Do they vanish or can I go back and view them, add repetitions, etc.?

I think that this will be more of a personal-use app, since my phone is normally in my purse during the work day.  And I like to carry around my daily list of tasks with me.  However, personally I think it will be pretty useful. If nothing else, it can be the annoying reminder voice to guilt me into doing the things I don't particularly want to do at any given time.  

I have evernote as a true notetaking app, but I have never really liked it.  I just plain old don't use it at all.  I'm way more likely to open up a new google doc on my phone's google drive and use it for note taking.  If I had something that would let me me write with a stylus (which I do not yet have) and/or my finger, I might use that more.

I did download the Papyrus--Natural Note Taking app.  It was free and promised awesomeness.  It seems just pretty OK.  If I pay them money I can get cool add-ons, but it will export to PDF or JPG that I can automatically share via my google drive, etc.  So it might be OK.  Here's an early attempt to sign my name:

It only sort of looks like a 4th grader did it!

Thing #4: keeping up (with the Joneses)

I'm the kind of person who should definitely have RSS feeds for all kinds of sites.... but I don't.  Mostly because I've never taken the time to just sit down and set up a reader with subscriptions. 

I tried the Flipboard app and it is a nice looking, kinda fun-to-use way of organizing new content.  The only big problem I have with it? (And this is going to sound really lame...). It seems almost to nifty to put work stuff in.  Like only frivolous things from food blogs and fun sites, or maybe news belongs here.  But it is so visual that less "fun" content seems strange.  For example, I tried following ALA's press releases.  Good info but super boring looking.  Ultimately, putting work stuff in the same flipboard as my fun stuff is convenient and efficient, but it makes work stuff look extremely unfun.  Even if the content is great, it suffers by comparison because (I will admit it) i'm a visual person and the pictures make my fun content seem better. (Ooooo! Look at that! Shiny!)  I feel like this problem doesn't exist so much in the old school readers that were less visual.  Might have to have a work flipboard that I check at work and a fun one that I check at home.  This might make it less of a competition between the hip Joneses and their super-informative virtual neighbors.

[Written on my phone....]

Thing #3: Utilitarian utilities

I am a huge fan of Google Goggles already, and have been for years.  When I was in grad school I did a presentation where I postulated that since so many people had mobile devices that had phones, visual internet searches would soon become common and available for everyone.  Then Google came out with the Goggles just a short while later.  So, basically, I kind of feel like I came up with the idea myself. For this Thing I played a bit and thought again about how awesome it is.  And a little bit about the limitations, as well.  And then, just for kicks, I used it to on some QR codes on a poster on my desk.  This made me realize that the Google form I set up for gathering RSVP info for an event was configured incorrectly.  Thanks 23 Things!                      

I have another barcode/QR reader, but I don't really like it and it has been glitchy at various times.  So I decided to try the Red Laser one. Clearly designed to help with shopping, it worked well with UPCs.  However, it had some trouble with the QR codes I had on a poster near my office.  Not super excited about this one professionally, but it might have some utility with the comparison shopping features for acquisitions (or personal use).

I thought it was a good idea to have a back-up browser, so I decided to try the mobile version of Firefox.  Seems very usable, just like the PC version.  I also like how the URL address line can really easily work as a search box for multiple things (Google, Wikipedia, Amazon, etc.)

New Find Alert!
In my online searches of reviews for various utilities, I also found a fantastic free app that turns my phone camera into a scanner: CamScanner.  It not only helps correct things like camera tilt, outputs to PDF, allows for quick watermarks, etc., but it will also (with a plug-in addition) OCR my "scanned" documents.  Loving this!  As a researcher, this will be incredibly helpful.  As a reference librarian, it is a new way for me to share docs with co-workers and patrons, create watermarked images for presentations, etc.

Thing #2: Mobile Device tips can be hard to find

I thought that this would be a super-easy Thing to complete.  After all, there is a list of helpful videos and sites and I have really common phone type (an HTC One Android phone).  Ahhhh, but how wrong I was....on several levels.

First things first (pun totally intended!), I actually have an HTC First and not an HTC One.  When they first started selling my model of phone last year they marketed it as "the facebook phone."  Yeah, well, I disabled the Facebook Home wallpaper thing as soon as I could.  It was annoying, to be entirely honest.  And facebook is something I do ON my phone, not what my phone is FOR.  

Anyway, I thought that my phone was pretty much the same as the HTC One, but it apparently isn't.  A number of the hints that are suggested just plain ol' don't work.  Apparently this is because the HTC First without Facebook Home is pretty much like a stripped down, "vanilla" Android phone with Jellybean 4.1.  Lots of the cool HTC One features just don't exist and my trying to find them was a waste of time.  In addition, almost all the online tips and tricks sites related directly to the HTC First are about the Facebook Home interface and/or how to get rid of it.  None of that is useful, but in the process of trying to finagle the One tricks into working, I managed to find all kinds of other stuff out about my phone, all on my own.

Once I gave up on anything related to HTC One or HTC First and focused on the Jellybean-ness of my phone, I had much better luck finding tips that were actually of some utility.  I found a lot of things that will work on my Jellybean phone...as well as some that are specific to various device-types that I don't have, like facial recognition locking.  (And yes, I'm going to refer to it as my Jellybean Phone from now on.  Way better than HTC First-the Facebook Phone.)   

I feel good that I had figured out a lot of the real security things on my own a long time ago, but I did discover some good hints that will help make my life better.  Among the things I did were:

• Found that I actually do have photo filters and other photo editing options on my phone, directly in my photo gallery!  Unlike the HTC One, with applies the filter as you are taking the photo, my First/Jellybean lets you pick filters afterward.  I like this much better.
• Reactivated Google Now: Apparently when I got rid of Facebook Home, I also deactivated Google Now.  I've been wondering why everyone else can just talk to their phones and get them to do/tell them things.  Now I can do voice-to-text-message easily, which is cool.  Also voice-activated directions via my GPS, which I will use a lot.  
• I already had a screen lock in place for security purposes, but now I have owner info on the lock screen.  So if I lose my phone and it is found by a responsible, kind person, they can call another of my numbers to report it as lost to me and my family.  
• I can easily take a screen shot (yeah, couldn't do that before).
• Found an adorable Easter Egg of floating jellybeans.  

Ok, that last one wasn't really a tip or anything with utility, but it was cute. The little andriod jellybeans are just so silly looking!

On to #3

Thing #1: for real this time....

I've been sort of lurking in the 23 Things, but not doing them "for real" or posting about them.  Now, however, that the calendar has shifted to May, I am realizing that I should get on the ball.  Otherwise, I won't be done by mid-June.  And I really, really wanna finish on time.

The official assignment for Thing 1 is:
Write a blog post for Thing 1 telling us what you hope to get out of the program.

I'm really hoping to learn to use my smartphone for more than just texting, email, the occasional photo (that I never do anything with), and....gasp....calling people.  I'm into technology, but short on time to figure out what things are trusted, work well, and won't cost me an arm and a leg.  All of this should help me out.  I'm also hoping to get some good ideas of tools to use for work and maybe just for fun.  

Onward!