Are you going to Learning Solutions 2010 in Orlando this month?
Then its time to start thinking about how you are going to be the most productive at the event. And that means getting your Apps in order.
Mashable has a recent post titled 12 iPhone Apps for Surviving Conference Season - - Its a good list but I just don’t use most of those apps. So, I’ve organized page 1 of my iPhone with the apps I think will be my goto apps. I’m not showing it here but page 2 will contain important apps but they just won’t be needed as much during the event.
Messages
This is a no-brainer. Text messages are critical for connecting with others these days. I probably text more than I actually talk. But its not only good for connecting with people. I mostly use SMS as my primary notification system for other applications. I get a text every time someone sends me a DM (Direct Message) via twitter. reQall sends me text message reminders to be at meetings, pick up the kids, buy milk, and just about every other little todo that needs to be tadone. And let’s not forget MMS via the Message App. This means images can be sent using the same texting system. SMS is simply a fantastic technology you should be utilizing fully.
Calendar
My iPhone Calendar App is sync’d to many calendars. I have a main calendar for Work, and one for Home. I also subscribe to handy calendars like US Holidays, and favorite sports team calendars. reQall also connects to my calendar. Its truly awesome. I just say, “Remember DevLearn meeting at 5pm today”. Not only does it transcribe my voice into text it also adds it to my calendar and sends me a text reminder. I can’t live without my calendar.
Maps
When I’m traveling to events in cities that I’m not otherwise at, I need help getting around. Maps just works for me. Sure there are alternatives, but I just need to know how to get from where I am to where I need to be. Perfect.
Bento [iTunes Link]
This could certainly be a blog post all to itself. I’ve found that Bento has replaced at least 10 apps that actually paid for. Its the perfect little database that can be whatever I want it to be. A contact list, a party planner, a todo list, a conference session scheduler, a timetracker, a general data organizer. Basically, its like having an app that lets you make your own apps to serve a specific need that is unique to me.
Evernote [iTunes Link] and reQall [iTunes Link]
These apps are synched very nicely together. Any words that I use in a reQall note are searched for in Evernote making those evernotes part of the reQall item. Very cool! Evernote is awesome in the same sense as Bento. Its the swiss army knife for collecting all your digital stuff and storing it in the cloud. It also works like notebook...actually like a super-duper notebook. I use Evernote to take notes during conference sessions.
Dragon Dictate [iTunes Link]
This one is new for me. I didn’t think it would translate well enough for it to be useful, but I was very wrong. Not only does it translate near perfectly, its damn fast at doing it. This opens up a whole new set of possibilities. I’ll try putting it to work at LearningSolutions and see what happens.
BC Reader [iTunes Link]
This one is interesting because Evernote translates text. And I’ve heard if take a snap shot of a biz card and send it to evernote that evernote can search the text in the image. That’s pretty cool, but I’ve found that I need all my contacts in my Contacts app. This little app not only reads the text in the image, it creates the text, and it puts the data into the Contact app IN THE RIGHT FIELDS no less! That’s worth it right there. So don’t be surprised if you hand me your card, and I just take a picture of it.
Tweetie [iTunes Link]
This is my twitter app of choice. I also have Tweetdeck on page 2 but I’ve gotten used to Tweetie so its the goto twitter app sitting on page 1.
USTREAM Broadcaster [iTunes Link]
The ultimate live broadcasting system. Point the iPhone camera at the action and let others watch from home. I use this at my kids sporting events for the parents that aren’t there. It’s still like magic to most people and so its fun to see/hear their reaction...”You can DO THAT???”
LS2010 [iTunes Link]
You will start to see a lot of custom apps made specifically to support events. The eLearning Guild was lucky enough to find the most talented iPhone development team around. ATIV Software. They were able to put together an amazing app with a VERY short timeline. I’m extremely impressed with them and the tool they’ve created for LS2010 attendees. The last few conferences I’ve been too I used Bento to create my own. I’m so happy to be saying bye-bye to paper programs.
Google
Um...yea...enough said.
Box.net [iTunes Link]
This is a great cloud solution. All my giant Keynote files and PDFs get put in the Box. I can send links so others can access and I can access the files anywhere as long as I have a connection. Beautiful solution. After seeing a great presentation, if the presenter makes her slides available then I’ll just download and then send ‘em up to the Box. Yea, its that easy.
TripIt [iTunes Link]
I like that I can send my confirmation email to my tripit acount and TripIt transcribes the email into My Trips. I don’t pay for the premium plan because I just don’t travel that much. But people I know that do travel more than me LOVE the premium features. I’m very choosy about the apps I will pay a monthly fee for. reQall is a daily use tool and well worth paying for premium. TripIt would end up being a 6 times a year thing...just not enough for me. The basic free version rocks as it is.
Gowalla [iTunes Link]
Yea, I know its freaky that people know where I am. But location based apps are very intriguing. Foursquare is on page 2. And I have an entire page devoted to nothing but location-based, and GPS, apps. Gowalla also sends me updates via txt. I see where my friends are and they see me. I can also cross-post to twitter, and Facebook, but rarely do.
Quickmark [iTunes Link]
QR Codes are still interesting to me even though they haven’t really caught on. Events are great places to put QR codes to use, so I want to make sure I have quick access to my QR decoder.
Well, that’s page one of my iPhone for Learning Solutions 2010. Don’t be surprised if it changes a bit between now and the event. For now, that’s what I’m going with.
What are you packin’? What’s on your page 1? Am I missing something obvious?
Learning Solutions Conference and Expo - March - Orlando, FL
mLearnCon - Mobile Learning Conference and Expo- June - San Diego, CA
DevLearn 2010 Conference and Expo - November - San Francisco, CA
6 comments:
WOW WOW and WOW--how am I just now finding this? Great post and fabulous apps. I also love Audible for listening to great books on the run~
Gina :))
Hi Gina! You crack me up! Are you just now finding my blog, or just now finding this specific post?
Either way, happy to have you here :)
Its strange how fast things change in technology. Your comment brought me back to this page for the first time since I wrote it. I definitely need to update. My iPhone page 1 looks a little different now. For starters with iOS4 there are folders, and so many new apps have been popping up.
It's all good!
Brent
I think for specific courses, there are a lot of Podcasts and apps to chose from like Grammar Girl or The Critical Thinker. I hope that 3rd party developers also include future apps like e learning authoring tools in their projects.
Hm. I wonder about the statement that you text more than you actually talk. Would your communication be more meaningful if you could take a 15-text conversation that spans 20 minutes and condense it into a 1 minute voice convo? There are (or at least were) iphone apps for that... one of them was Skype.
Hi Phillip,
You raise a great point. Human communication is an interesting topic for me. I'm a talker...okay, a rambler. I find that texting or chatting or communicating in some digital form, for me, is just more productive.
Many times I've tried to create a decision matrix around the many different types of communication methods, but I've discovered that there are more than 2 variables that I like to take into consideration. Some people I can have a 1 min phone conversation with, and others find the brevity rude. Some times I know I want to talk with someone, but right now I just need a yes, or no answer. They are fine doing that via text but disappointed if I call and then hang up after I get my answer.
Its a great topic to discuss more. I think every individual develops the communication style that works best for them over time.
You've made me start thinking about it again. That's a good thing. Should I call you? :)
Cheers!
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