23 Mobile Things - Thing 13 : Presentations

Thing 13 "We've all seen PowerPoint presentations throughout the years, but with mobile devices there are many other types of presentations you can create. … Use at least one of these apps and create a presentation (real or fake doesn't matter, just play with the tool)."

I've been using PowerPoint (PPT) for a long. I used to teach Intro to PPT some years back and I still help students when they run into problems when using it for their coursework presentations.  So for me, looking at yet another "software" or app wasn't really an option. Yet I wanted the mobility that apps offer. But taking PPT mobile? How can I do this? 

I found the answer a number of months back when I searched for an app to use with my Info Lit/Library Intro/BI sessions. I happened upon SlideShark (free version) and it is awesome! I am convinced the stars were aligned that day & it was kismet. 

So I can still do my PPT creating/setup/editing via my PC (usually easier this way I think) yet use my iPad &/or iPhone during my actual presentation-- in live, real-time. 

Here's a snip of my Home with a few PPTs I have downloaded (via my iPhone):

From the 1st snip I had one PPT not yet downloaded so I hit the download option & here it was working on downloading to my iPhone:

This snip is the view of an individual slide. A swipe to the right or tap on the screen advances the slide & a swipe to the left returns you to the previous slide: 

These snips show a menu of options I can use while on an individual slide. I can annotate anything displayed on the slide:

I can also hold my finger on the screen and a red pointer option appears that I can move across the slide to highlight content:

This snip shows other options available including Auto Play and Loop:

This app makes presentations & the presenter mobile. So depending on the configuration of a classroom or lecture hall I can work from a PC, my iPad, or my iPhone-- all via SlideShark. No longer am I tethered to a podium that's in an awkward position with my back to my audience. I can be mobile and free to walk around as I need with only my small iPhone in hand yet in full operation of my presentation. jd+Points overall for SlideShark

Here's their short SlideShark promo video. 

23 Mobile Things - Thing 12 : Books

Thing 12 “…explore apps that allow you to find books in general and give you access to free ebooks and audiobooks.”

I've had a LibraryThing account for a long time. I tend to use it heavily for awhile, then not so much. Right now I'm in the not so much mode. They don't have an app although they state on their website "We’re developing a full-fledged Librarything app. Until then, we have a simple mobile website." No timeline as to when this statement was posted or when the app might happen. Mobile site I guess is better than nothing but when I pulled up the site on my iPhone it did not automatically redirect to the mobile site. 

Even after I logged on it still didn't redirect to the mobile site. And I don't see an easy, quick link on the main page to go mobile. jd-Points

Since we're dealing mobile and apps here I'll forego further discussion on LibraryThing at this time.

goodreads I learned about after I'd already had time and books invested in LibraryThing so I wasn't sure I'd want to switch or ditch. And did I really have a reason for both? I'd say no. But now I thought I was more open to checking it out-- friends seem to like it and it does have an app so that makes it easy for quick reference on the go. I started off with the website and found that I could import my books from LibraryThing along with the majority of my other book related information. jd+Points. 

The app-- The main app screen has 2 screens worth of options. 

  

Right off the bat I spot the "Scan" option. This will come in handy. I scanned in the barcode of a title that I know I don't have in my library. And here's what it pulled up:

   

Brief info plus more details after selecting the title. From the 1st screen there's the option to "Shelve" it to my library. jd+Points for scanning ability.

Back to the main screen options and there is "Challenge". A way to challenge either yourself or to join in a reading challenge. At times I do tend to get stuck in a rut so a little butt-kicking might be a good thing. 

eBooks is another option. It tells me I've not downloaded any from goodreads so I select the option to see what's available. Here's a shot:

The results are the "Most Downloaded". I didn't go into any details but I'm guessing it offers a way to get the books whether for free or to buy. 

Recommendations are a big thing to me. I'm very often at a loss as to what I want to read next-- even though I have a title list of 200+ "to reads". I often ask others or search out "reads like" options to find my next read. It's usually a matter of wanting something different or not sure what topic I'm interested in at the moment. I need that just right suggestion at the right time. Picky I'd guess you say. 

I ck'd out the goodreads "Recommended" option. Here it offered genres from which to select.

I then select "next" and was asked to rate books in order to receive personalized recommendations. 

I worked through this recommendation process for awhile. If I rated a book (1-5 stars) it then would bring up another 3-5 similar selections to then possibly rate or ignore. This could take awhile. Especially if I need to go through each genre? I assumed so & chose not to finish right now. I'll go back another time when I can spare some time to waste. Note: I do like the "Want to Read" button option right there because there were quite a few titles that sounded good right away. jd+Points 

Lastly I looked at "My Books". At 1st glance I was a bit disappointed because all of my 289 titles were lumped into the "read" category. So that means that it did not transfer forward related details such as "to read", "read", "owned" etc. I guess I should have expected as much but I had hopes. More work to do to get things organized and to have "My Books" be truly informational and usable for me. Now will I do this by memory? Or will I need to have LibraryThing open in one tab with GoodReads open in another tab? 

Here's a shot of "My Books" (read) sorted by the "Author" option. Looks like the sort is in reverse/descending order? 

So a few glitches and some work to do but overall I think the goodreads app has promise for my needs. 

Other eBook apps
I do not have a Nook or a Kindle but I do have the free apps for both on my iPhone and my iPad. I tend not to use the Nook apps-- in fact now that I think of it I might have deleted them awhile back? There's just something about Nook that I don't like-- I think it's the singular, proprietary exclusivity of it-- it doesn't like to share. I have a few Kindle eBooks but I'll admit I'm really not much of an eReader. I'm not quite sure why because I'm a tech-lover but I still prefer to hold a book in my hands. Maybe it stems back to those grad school years reading countless journal articles that did me in? I'd download them and read via my iPad-- which I loved for reading those vs. print. The logic just isn't there.

Free eBooks
There seem to be many options for free eBooks. Here are a few popular ones:
Amazon (for Kindle)
Barnes & Noble (for Nook)
Project Gutenberg (epub & Kindle)
BookBub ("works with all major eBook retailers and devices")
plus as a librarian I'd be amiss not to put in a plug for libraries! Many public and academic libraries have eBooks in their collections-- all for free with your library card-- check it out today! 

23 Mobile Things -- Thing 6 : Creating & Editing Documents

For Thing 6: "When it comes to creating and editing documents, most people would probably still say they prefer using a computer over a mobile device. But there are some apps out there that are making creating and editing documents a little bit easier ... use at least one of these apps and create or edit a document." 

CloudOn

I decided to try CloudOn with our library iPad. Since we usually work from PCs with the Office Suite I thought this might be a good app to test. At times I use our library iPad out in the stacks on various projects and often I need an Excel file. In the past I've just put the Excel file in our Google Drive and used it via this. But this hasn't always been the easiest to work with when dealing with a larger spreadsheet. There tends to be a delay in scrolling or you don't always know if you're really in the correct field -- not good if you're entering or updating data.

I created a CloudOn account for our library:

This was very straight-forward and easy.

Light bulb tip: 

Files available from our Library's Google Drive:

File that I selected to work with:

In edit mode:

After saving, I was given the option to add an editor or mail the file:

After saving it displays "edit" information:

Overall this app seemed straightforward and easy to use. I'm going to give this more of a test-run with high hopes. Being able to easily work across platforms and software with ease is definitely a plus. jd+Points

23 Mobile Things -- Thing 4 : Keeping up

For Thing 4 we were asked to consider this: "Do you follow a lot of news sites and blogs and find that you’re spending so much time going to many different websites? You can make it a lot easier on yourself if you take advantage of RSS feeds and apps to collect them all."

RSS Feeds
I've long since given up using RSS feeds. The last feed reader I used was FeedDemon and I have to say it's been a few years. I don't even know if it's still operational? Back in the day RSS feeds with feed readers were a great way to have information come to me. That is until it became overwhelming with too much information bombarding me and my not keeping up. That big old information monster rearing its ugly head. 

Twitter
For me what replaced RSS feeds was using Twitter. I came to use Twitter because of one of the previous "Things" programs. (Flashback 2009: me on Twitter) At first I didn't buy into Twitter; I basically saw no use for it. Then I gave it an extended try and I started using Twitter mainly for professional use (keeping Facebook mainly for family & friends). 

So how does Twitter replace my RSS feeds? I follow many librarians, tech people, others in higher education, and groups or organizations -- all of these people are talking about and sharing information & topics that are of interest to me in my profession as an academic librarian interested in technology, information literacy, higher education etc. I can quickly see tweets from these people and from that determine if I need or want to read or research a topic more. The 140 character tweet is that little info bite that sums up the topic. The tweets are what is trending now so they help to keep me updated. And the bonus over RSS feeds is if I have a question I can quickly post it and get replies. And don't forget the ease of sharing with others -- either by retweeting or tweeting on my own. I have the Twitter app on my iPhone and iPad plus I use TweetDeck (I handle multiple Twitter accts) on my PC. 

 Flipboard and Zite 
I've had both apps for a long time. I liked Flipboard's format although I don't tend to use it any longer. The main reason is I have it on my iPad and for work I tend to be on my PC more than anything. Zite I've used the least. I guess I haven't really given it a chance so maybe I'll check into it some more and see what it can offer me.

Thing 45 -- Cloud Computing

05/11/2009
in the cloud ... yup, been there for awhile .... hotmail.com (although I do save to my desktop in an e-mail software package important e-mails I don't want to disappear), flickr ... hmmm, dead brain right now so can't think of others ... other than this obvious one: this blog!

I've not jumped on board with using the doc type clouds -- but think it would be great if I needed to present or had to use multiple computers such as in teaching in different classrooms.

I'm guessing that there will be more and more cloud apps in the future ... some that will stay and some that will be short-lived ... guess this can be said for regular apps too. Okay, so I'm not a great fortune teller!