Archive for the
‘Mobile’ Category

Lookout Keys, wallets, Phone, Purse, laptop…there are a lot of things to keep track of. I have to do inventory every time I leave the house. I can’t decide which is most important because I will need them all during the course of the day but I would be a mess if my phone were to go missing. It has my whole life on it. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t misplaced or legitimately lost their phone at some point in their life. I have misplaced it plenty of times but if it wasn’t for Lookout I would have lost it.

Lookout is the safeguard every smartphone needs. Once it is installed, it will help you find your phone every time it isn’t where you need it to be. All you have to do is log into Lookout.com from another device and a map will show you where your phone is within 6 meters.

There have been three occasions where I had to use Lookout to find my phone. Once it was in my car, it had fallen between the seats. The second, it was home, I placed it on top of some clothes in the laundry basket and it fell in between the clothes. The last time it was actually stolen. I was at a restaurant and I was moving from one table to another so I was moving my stuff and in the midst of the move someone lifted my phone.

After I looked everywhere (you know how you check the same place ten times, expecting one time to find it there?) I looked all around the floor, on the chairs etc before I finally gave up and borrowed my friends’ phone. I logged onto Lookout MapLookout.com and my phone was 7 miles away! Fortunately I was in a small town where the police were able to assist in recovering it. I was so happy to get my phone back and so happy there is such an app that can target exactly where my phone was. Can you imagine the surprise when the police went knocking on the door of the house Lookout identified my phone to be?

I tell everyone I know to install it on their Androids, iPhones, tablets and iPads. Most people don’t think about installing it until it’s too late. It can be installed over the air if you have an Android which means you can go to the Google Play market and send it to your phone.

Besides locating a missed phone, it also backs up your info and scans for malware or questionable websites when you are surfing the web, all for free. Lookout is the ultimate security tool. It’s safety in the form of an app. It literally tells me everything is okay!

 

If you’re a parent to young children, you can likely relate to how difficult it can be to keep the little tots entertained when you’re out and about. Think screaming temper-tantrums in the grocery store-yikes.

The introduction of smartphones and tablets into society has significantly changed the way many parents keep their children occupied. And it’s not just teenagers watching a movie on a tablet, but children as young as infants are the target of many products and mobile applications.

A great example is the Apptivity Monkey from Fisher-Price toys. This is a plush monkey that plays different songs and speech patterns when the child squeezes the hands or feet.

The Apptivity Monkey can house a smartphone safely in its belly which the child can interact with, and there are Fisher-Price apps designed and built specifically for this toy that are fully interactive and react to the squeezing of the toy’s hands and feet.

Another way parents can use mobile technology to keep kids occupied is  streaming services for movies and videos like Netflix Just For Kids and Toys R Us Movies, which can be used on mobile tablet devices. These services have content which is directly marketed for children.

Using mobile technology to play with your children can be a great way for them to learn, have fun and be entertained.

How do you use mobile technology with your kids?

mobilebankingLong gone are the days when you would have to drive over to the bank, park, go inside and wait in line for the teller just to make a deposit. Today, the majority of your banking can be done through your smartphone or tablet.

Banking has never been easier- or more convenient.

Major banks recognized the importance of mobile banking and the high demand from their customers, and so they entered the app business. Now, most banks have apps that customers can use to transfer money, check their balance and even take a picture of a check to make a deposit.

Although you can’t withdrawal cash and have it spit out the bottom of your iPad (unfortunately!), mobile banking has had a huge impact on our lifestyle. It’s less likely you’ll be late on a payment-even if you forget to mail a check, chances are you can make a payment right from your phone.

Mobile banking also has a huge impact on the life of those with mobility or health issues. With mobile technology such as banking apps, people can maintain their autonomy.

How do you use mobile technology for banking?

Did you know the most bacteria-laden item in a hotel room is the remote control? Gross.

StayConnectIf you want to avoid the germs, see if your TV works with the app STAYConnect.

I discovered this app during a recent hotel stay. The remote looked pretty gross, so I was even more inclined to scan the QR code advertised on the LG TV to download the app and control my TV with my phone. Once I downloaded the app, I used the code displayed on the TV and it loaded all the channels in the app.

For the rest of the night I was able to use my phone to change the channel, adjust the volume and turn the TV on and off.

There’s an in-app purchase option for $0.99 to get the TV Guide-I wasn’t interested in buying it, but I definitely wished the information was available because the app only lists the channels, not the programs. But it was good to see the app anticipated this and offered it as an option. For someone who travels a lot, it’s probably worth it.

Get the StayConnect app here: http://bit.ly/19YwykY

 

Evernote

Evernote is a free app that is available for iOS, Android, Windows Phone and Blackberry,  as well as on your desktop PC or Mac. It syncs between your devices so whatever you file on your phone will show up on your tablet.

Evernote is all about note taking and filing things away. You can use the phone’s camera to take a picture of a paper receipt and then file that in a “receipt” notebook. If you make an online purchase, you can forward the electronic receipt from your email directly into Evernote and then file accordingly.

omnifocus-logo

Omnifocus

Omnifocus is an app designed for iPhones, iPads and Mac’s. The iPad and iPhone apps are priced heavily at $40 and $20 respectively, but this app is the powerhouse of organization and if you take the time to learn all the ins-and-outs of Omnifocus, it really will become a part of your everyday life and is worth the investment.

Omnifocus helps you organize projects and files, task management, day-to-day reminders, etc. It has great location-based services, so it can send you a notification when you’re passing the grocery store to pick up some dog food. It pulls data from your mobile devices internal calendar and syncs between the iPhone, iPad and Mac desktop apps.

The learning curve is a big one with this app, but once you understand what it can do and how it can keep you organized, you won’t regret the money spent.

1Password

1Password

Does this scenario sound familiar: Your friend is over visiting for the weekend and he or she wants to access your home wifi signal. What’s the password to gain access?  Or how about this: You’re trying to log into an account for some online social network you haven’t accessed in seven months. What’s password for that?

This is where 1Password comes into play. This app is a place for you to store all these passwords, login keys and account numbers in a safe, secure and user friendly place. The app even has its own internal web browser and will automatically populate the login and password fields of the website you’re accessing- a huge time saver.

You can really store any data you want in this application. It’s universal, so it will sync nicely between your devices, plus it’s packed with security features itself to give you some piece of mind.

Check out this cool article about a mobile analytics platform recently acquired, article via TechCrunch:

Splunk has acquired BugSense, a mobile analytics platform used by developers to improve app performance and improve quality. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close during Splunk’s 2014 fiscal third quarter, which ends in October.

BugSense, founded in 2011, provides analytics from machine data it collects to understand how apps are performing on mobile devices, the quality of the apps and for collecting data to do better troubleshooting. It works on Android, iOS and Windows Phone through its software developer kit, giving developers access to data analytics from hundreds of millions of mobile devices that it manages from its scalable cloud platform.

For the full article click here.

This chart shows the 10 most used smartphone apps, according to GlobalWebIndex. While there aren’t really any surprises in these top 10, what is interesting is what this says about mobile users.

Obviously, we depend on our smartphones for much more than making calls-we use it to navigate, to connect with friends and to be entertained. But overall, these top 10 apps show that people gravitate towards mobile devices in order to make better sense of the world around them.

Mobile has changed the way we interact and communicate. What’s your mobile lyfestyle? Tell us about your favorite apps and why you like them so much.

What’s more mobile than a car?

In this video clip from the Today Show, Chris Valasek (Director of Security Intelligence IOActive) and Charlie Miller (computer security researcher with Twitter) hack into a car’s computer system and take control of speedometer and the wheel.

While the hack is a success, they do point out that the hack is very localized-the hacker has to be in the car to take control of the car’s computer. But the point is that as cars become more advanced, they’re more vulnerable to getting hacked. The auto industry is on the verge of being revolutionized by technology as the world becomes more connected by mobile devices. A study by Fujitsu projects that in the future “the car itself will become not merely a device for mobility, but a “mobile device” in the same sense that technology companies understand the term – a platform for innovative, compelling applications that enrich the user’s experience.”

This opens up a lot of opportunity, but also an increased risk that car manufacturers will need to address as technology continues to advance.

There are many ways that productivity apps can help to make people’s lives easier, such as convenient list making for shopping, paper free calendars, day planning and note taking.

But having such a variety of productivity applications out there to choose from can be a tad overwhelming especially if you’re just looking for a good list-taking app and you find yourself faced with options ranging in price from free to 40 bucks or more. It’s a personal choice as to which app or apps you want to try out, but if you’re just testing the productivity waters, perhaps start out with a free app or two and see how you can incorporate them into your daily routine.

Here’s a list of apps we like, broken down by category:

List making apps

Calendar or day planner apps

Task management apps

Project management apps

Writing apps

All of this in one apps

What are your favorite productivity apps for getting things done and staying organized?