The apps that will make your life easier
TO mark World Social Media Day, we have assembled a guide to the mobile phone and tablet applications — ‘apps’ in tech speak — that have made our lives easier, in the professional, personal and recreational realm. From apps that help maximise productivity through the working day to relaxation aids and games for your kids (it’s okay, you can play too) there is something for everyone.
Time — it’s something we could all do with more of nowadays. Yast doesn’t quite carve out a 25th hour in your day. However, it does help get the most out of your work routine. This ‘time-tracker’ lets you monitor how long you spend on various office chores, over weeks, days and months — thus building a picture of what you are doing, and how you could do it more efficiently. You can also track time spent on non-work activities, such as making tea for the rest of the office, or updating your Facebook status.
According to the developer of this productivity app, the best way to accomplish a task is focus on it for half an hour, then take a half an hour break. The way it works is that, at the start of the day, you assign a certain period of time (it doesn’t have to be precisely 30 minutes) to specific chores. The app then reminds you when work on these jobs is due to begin and end. It’s amazing how a ticking timer focuses the mind — with the clock counting, suddenly the temptation to randomly email someone, check for text messages or wander to the water cooler is dramatically reduced.
Personal organisers are hardly a novelty for smartphone users. However, few are as aesthetically pleasing or as intuitive to use as Cal. More than that, it integrates with your contacts list and social media accounts, bringing a cohesive experience as you plan your day and figure out how you are supposed to accomplish a dozen tasks at once. Rather than adding to the sense of being overwhelmed it is extremely easy to use, with a pleasantly minimalist interface.
Privacy is a major concern nowadays. If you wish to keep your mobile phone number private and secure, Burner lets you make calls and send texts from a ‘disposable’ number – and to receive calls and texts also. For your initial outlay you receive 20 free voice minutes or 60 text messages: additional minutes and texts are available as ‘in app’ purchases.
Mobile phones may have changed beyond recognition over the past decade or so — but are as easily misplaced as ever. Here’s a solution for households with more one Apple devices: an app that lets you track your device on a map, remotely lock it, display messages or erase all data. Useful if you’ve left your phone on the bus – or, more worryingly, suspect it stolen.
Seeking a break from the stresses of everyday living? This new meditation app is a good starting point. Choose from a number of calming background images and noises (rain pattering on glass, waves swelling against the shoreline) and access an array of short motivational ‘programs’, designed to relieve anxiety, boost creativity and energy levels, aid sleep.
This innovative app works by analysing your movement to determine which phase of sleep you are in, waking you in the ‘lightest’ point (within a timeframe set by the user) so that you begin the day rested and alert. You place your phone beneath the pillow, allowing the accelerometer in your iPhone track movement of the head and body.
Sleep Pillow is one of the most effective sleep aids available for the iPhone. It features 70 ambient soundtracks designed to send you into a doze, including wooden chimes and a babbling brook.You can also mix the sounds into personalised combinations, if you find that helps you nod off more quickly.
Created by alternative medicine guru Deepak Chopra GPS for the Soul measures your heart-rate and its variability via your iPhone camera. Taking age, weight and gender into account, it provides you with a real-time read-out of your stress levels. Meanwhile, a ‘pacer’ programme will help you regulate your breathing and, it is hoped, reduce tension.
This virtual stress ball delivers a high-tech hand-massage: press the sides of your phone and the device vibrates. Plus, there’s an onscreen ball for you to squeeze – when you do, it squeaks like a toy. It may sound silly but unless you want to carry an actual stress ball everywhere, Squeeze and Shake is the next best option (ironically the high price is stress- inducing in itself).
For shophaolics and collectors of curios, eBay is wonderful. However, being pipped at the death in an auction can be a turn-off. To the rescue comes iBidder, a ‘sniper’ that places a bid at the very last second, thus increasing your chances of securing the desired item — and at a reasonable price.
Almost too obvious to mention, but Spotify’s easy user-interface and 20 million-plus library of tunes make it one of the best streaming services. Full access costs €9.99 per month — a snip for anyone old enough to remember playing €25.99 for a compact disc album, only to find it contained three decent songs.
Technology can’t make you smarter — but it can ensure you get the most from you grey matter. ‘Brain trainer’ Luminosity has been designed by neurologists to help boost your cognitive powers. You negotiate a series of puzzles, created specifically to utilise different parts of the brain. The more you play, the better a work-out your brain receives.
Fancy a visit to the flicks but not sure what to watch? Movies By Flixster lists all the films showing with a selected area, with links to reviews, user ratings and trailers. The days of going to a mediocre film because you can’t find anything else worth watching are hopefully at an end.
It’s never been easier to communicate with others — so how come it’s never been harder to remember an anniversary, birthday, etc? To make sure you don’t forget to lavish attention on your significant other the Romantimatic app reminds you every now and then that you might want to despatch a nice SMS or email to the important person in your life.
It will even send them for you, if you like. Just so it isn’t too much effort, more than 20 pre-written texts can be chosen. It sounds cheesy, but given the pace of life nowadays maybe a little cheesiness is what we need.
If you have decided it is okay for your kids to have phones, the Find My Kids GPS tracker lets you monitor where they are in the neighbourhood and will inform you if they leave a designated area. Of course, a child or teenager who wants to give you the slip can do so by leaving their phone behind — but what self respecting kid is going to risk separation from their precious device?
The days when you could reliably avail of the facilities in the nearest hotel or pub are sadly at an end. However, don’t fear about being cut short in public: Show The Loo will locate the nearest public toilets via GPS — and (crucially) tell you how long it will take to get there.
Have a few moments to kill — or looking for something to distract your kids? As the name indicates, Bubble Wrap is next best thing to actually popping a sheet of plastic bubbles. Addictive and time consuming, it’s the perfect app for filling time.
To everyone else it’s just a few random scribbles on a sheet of paper but to a parent a child’s drawing is to be treasured forever.
Now you can ensure those precious daubings are kept safe. Canvsly stores images of your children’s artwork, categorised by date (and child, if you have more than one).
You can link the pictures to your social network but privacy is the default setting, so there’s no danger of anyone seeing them before you are good and ready to share.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
