Apps of the year 2014
The year 2014 was interesting in many ways and I tried multiple apps as a student in the first half of the year and many as a Technology Co-ordinator for Skagafjörður School District in Iceland. The apps have all helped me get more oganized, learn more, share more and collaborate more easily.
I even got an app in the AppStore this year (BookRecorder) but I won’t put it as app of the year although I’m very proud of it.
The apps below are in no particular order because readers can vote for their favourite below by giving it a ‘thumbs up’ or ‘thumbs down’
Evernote was the app of year in 2013 and I used it even more in 2014. No list is complete unless it has Evernote on it.
One of my favourite features now is the: Share > Copy Public Link where I can send notes to others and they can view and even save into their own Evernote.
The Podcast from Apple is really good but when I updated to iOS8 and it suddenly appeard I thought it would be just another crap-app like Newsstand, Stocks, iTunes Store or Weather to name a few. But then I tried it and Subscribed to a few episodes and now it is my go to app (along with Umano) when I take my dog for a walk, when I’m cooking or driving.
This is the future of radio (and even TV)… just you wait.
Tackk. I often come across or I’m pointed towards a new app, website or platform but rarely am I blown away by it. Usually it is something very similar to something I’ve already tried but in most cases it’s just fancy stuff that, at it’s core, is useless.
But every once in a while I’m blown away and that’s excacly what happened when I started using Tackk.
I think most of us have had the dilemma of having to create an invite to an event and turn to Facebook for a boring old event invitation, or wanting to post your thoughts but not having a blog and Twitter is just too short. Creating a flyer in Photoshop takes both skill and most importantly your precious time and is usually just ugly with both bad fonts and color schemes. Then it is printed out and hung up on a bulletin board at the supermarket…. honestly, who looks there?
Meet Tackk, straight out of Cleveland, Ohio. At first it seems like it’s just your everyday blogging platform like Tumblr. But once you start using it you see how ridiculously simple it is… and you can create anything, share it anywhere, get a unique URL and edit this live document at any time… not a static .pdf
Read more about Tackk here
Hangouts on AIR is an added feature to Google Hangout and made it possible for me to record and share my own talk show on Education and easily get guests on the show and share the episode with the world. You record your call and publish it through YouTube with a few simple steps.
TweetDeck is absolutely essential if you are managing multiple Twitter accounts and/or participating in a lot of Twitter chats. It saved my Twitter life at least since I manage 6 accounts and host the Icelandic Educational Twitter Chat (#menntaspjall) every other week.
Padlet is an online wall where you (and anyone you like) can write on. It is great for collaboration or as a big memo for you. There are no more words needed…. just try it.
Umano is italian for Human which is no surprise since it is the news and most popular articles read to you… by a real person. It is my go to app, along with Podcast, when I’m out for a walk with my dog, running, cooking or driving. I can search for articles and even submit articles I would like them to read for me… this is fantastic. Sign up here.
Nuzzel is an app which takes the most popular articles your friends on facebook and people you follow on Twitter have been sharing over the past hour/day or week. Zite and Flipboard takes alot of time to go through and good articles tend to “disappear” on Twitter in the huge wave of content but with Nuzzel your friends generate the content for you. It takes me a minute t find the best articles and save them to Pocket.
Pocket is an app you can’t live without (not literally). This is the place where I save all the videos and articles I come across but don’t have time to read or share right now. It is like finding a printed article and putting it in my pocket, but it’s finding content online and putting in your e-pocket.
Below you can vote for your favourite apps of the year:
Podcast
Podcast appið frá Apple er ótrúlega vel heppnað, einfalt í notkun og er framtíðin í útvarpi (og kannski sjónvarpi).
Tackk
Tackk virðist vera eins og hver annar bloggvettvangur og svipar til Tumblr. En þegar þú prófar þetta þá sérðu hvað Tackk er fáránlega einfalt… og þú getur búið til hvað sem er, deilt því hvar sem er, fengið þitt eigið Tackk URL and breytt/bætt þetta skjal hvenær sem er…. ólíkt plakati eða .pdf skjali.
Evernote
Evernote gerir mér kleift að geyma m.a. greinar, .pdf skjöl, minnismiða, innkaupalista, uppskriftir og hugmyndir svo eitthvað sé nefnt. Það besta við Evernote er að geta notað það þvert á öll tæki. Klárlega eitt af bestu öppum þarna úti.
Nuzzel
Nuzzel er app sem tekur saman vinsælustu fréttirnar/greinarnar sem vinir þínir á Facebook og/eða Twitter eru að tala um og deila. Það eru nokkuð mörg öpp til sem taka saman og búa til greinasafn fyrir þig en Nuzzel stendur uppúr
Pocket er ómissandi þáttur í að halda utan um það sem ég þarf að lesa. Þannig að þegar ég fer í gegnum Twitter, Zite eða Nuzzel fyrir daginn þá vista ég greinar og myndbönd í ‘vasann’ og skoða svo þegar ég hef tíma
Umano
Umano er ítalska fyrir Human/Manneskju enda ekki skrítið því þetta eru vinsælustu og áhugaverðustu fréttir og greinar hvaðanæva að, lesnar fyrir þig af alvöru manneskju. Þetta er svo mikil snilld þegar maður er að vinna, úti að ganga, að elda eða hvað sem er. Skráðu þig á http://umano.me/signup/VQ8114
Hangouts on AIR gerir fólki kleift að spjalla saman og senda það út í beinni útsendingu (í gegnum YouTube).
TweetDeck er nauðsynlegt app fyrir þá sem eru annað hvort með marga Twitter aðganga og/eða tekur þátt í spjalli á Twitter líkt og #menntaspjall eða einhverju hliðstæðu. Þetta hefur allavega auðveldað mér lífið mjög.
Padlet
Padlet er eitt af þessum tólum sem eru snilld þegar kemur að skipulagi og samvinnu. Í raun er það bara veggur á netinu sem hver sem er getur skrifað á (ef þú vilt) en það getur líka bara verið veggur fyrir þig.
Ingvi Hrannar
