iPhone and iPad App: Bible

One of my favorite apps on my iPhone and iPad is the Bible. I love its simple, clean design for reading that still contains all of the features that I want behind the scenes.

Features in the Bible app

• Change background color to black or white. This is particularly helpful when I am in church and want to minimize the amount of light shining from my phone.
• Share verses with others. I haven't used this feature much, but I do like that it's there.
• Read different translations and in different languages. Fluency in the Spanish language is a lifelong goal for me, so I love that it only takes a couple taps to switch between English and Spanish versions of the Bible as I am reading.  (Check here for a list of versions that are currently available.)
• Reading plans. YouVersion, the maker of the app, has several different Bible reading plans that range from a few days of reading to the whole Bible. This is my new favorite feature in the app. Each evening as I am winding down, I read from one of the reading plans that I have chosen. Right now, it's one on generosity. If I fall behind, the app even has a feature to "catch myself up."
• Download versions. Some versions are available for download through the app. This means that you can access the entire text without an Internet connection. (That's especially important if you're on an iPad without a data plan.) Those versions are marked with a green icon.
• Audio versions. Some versions also have audio available. The version is marked with a speaker icon and works just as you might expect. 

For the iPhone...

 

 

For the iPad...

Thanks to YouVersion for providing an invaluable app for free! Find the app in iTunes, in the App Store, or look here.

How to Practice Yoga at Home for Free

Being a high school teacher is a high-stress job. I haven't found any way around it. It's worth all of the stress when you love teaching those goofballs. Because of all of the stress, I've developed some mean knots in my upper back and between my shoulder blades. Massages have somewhat helped me in the past, but I don't have the money for them now.

At the advice of a couple friends in the medical profession, I decided to try yoga. Since I'm watching my finances, I decided to search for a low cost, quick yoga option that I could do from home. Imagine my surprise when I found FREE YOGA online!

I found a great site called YogaDownload that has both free and paid yoga classes in varying lengths and difficulties. Since I'm relatively inexperienced in yoga, I looked for the courses that were beginner level, and because I don't like yoga enough to do it for a whole hour, I also looked for classes that were 30 minutes or less. I found several classes that fit my criteria!

YogaDownload has a variety of audio and video classes and offers pose guides (PDFs that contain pictures of each pose in the order of the class) that are especially helpful for beginners.

• Beginner Yoga (10 minutes. The website says 20 minutes, but I think it's really only 10.)
• Office Yoga #1 (5 minutes)
• Power Yoga #3 (20 minutes)
• Yoga for Strength #1 (20 minutes)
• Yoga for Weight Loss #1 (20 minutes)
• Yoga with Weights (20 minutes)
• Yoga Sculpt #1 (20 minutes)

At the time of this posting, the listed yoga courses are free on YogaDownload.  I downloaded them to my laptop and made sure to back them up using Dropbox in case my laptop ever dies a sudden death.

Now, I'm practicing yoga at home about 1-2 times per week, but my goal is to practice 3-4 times per week. Even with one 20-minute class per week, I already feel a huge difference in the tightness in my back. Bonus points for better flexibility and posture.

If you find that you love YogaDownload and can't live without it, I suggest spending a few bucks and buying a few of their more specialized paid classes (most around $1-5) to keep them in business!

Do you have other sites for finding free yoga online?  I'd love to vary the courses I take.

The Most Watched Videos on YouTube

If you love staying up to date on what's hot on YouTube RIGHT NOW, check out this site -- YouTube Trends -- to find out what's viral.

Now you will be the first of your friends to watch and share all of the best YouTube videos!

Also, check out the Trends Dashboard to really dive into what's happening on YouTube. Would you like to know what 18-24 year-old females are watching right now on YouTube? You got it!

Or, you can compare what the nation is watching with what people in specific cities are watching. It looks like Rebecca Black is definitely what's hot today!

Check out YouTube Trends and the Trends Dashboard today!

Find out who is calling with 800 Notes.

If a number comes through on my cell phone that I don't know, I do not answer it! Instead, I grab the number (memorize it, write it down, copy/paste) and type it into 800 Notes immediately.

Sometimes, if I'm really on the ball, I even get the results before the call finishes ringing, and I can answer the call if it's someone I actually want to talk to...like the car dealership or my credit card company.

Make sure to read through several of the comments to get a good feel for the company that is calling. The first comment listed isn't always 100% correct. I usually go with the majority of responders.

If the cell phone companies would join the 21st century and introduce caller ID, the problem would be moot, but until then, I use 800 Notes. If you know of similar sites or a better way to check numbers as they come in on your cell phone, please post them in the comments.

Angry Birds on Your Computer

Since March Madness is over, we all needed another reason to have a drastic drop in productivity at work.

http://chrome.angrybirds.com/

How to use Clone Stamp to remove people and things from pictures using Adobe Photoshop CS5

In the last several months, I have starting creating video tutorials to help my friends, family and my students with various topics. Some of the videos are fairly complicated, and others are more simple and straightforward.

I have recently learned how to use Photoshop, so I have started creating videos on how to do simple tasks in Photoshop. The following video is one that I created to help my students (and friends learning how to use the program) and as a part of a video challenge on another blog.

I hope that you enjoy the video. If you have any suggestions for future videos for me to create or if you have suggestions for me to improve my tutorials, please leave a comment!

Android App: Locale

Recently I heard from a friend about a location-based app for your Android phone that performs actions based on conditions that you choose. The app is called Locale. I'm an iPhone user, so I can't use this app. And from what I have heard, the iPhone doesn't even have the capability to support an app like this. Wait until you hear what this thing can do! This one app is enough to make me seriously consider switching to Android. One little app!

Let's start with a few scenarios to explain.

Scenario 1: You and your significant other like to go to the movies on the weekends. Locale has you covered. You can program the app to set your phone to silent and turn down the screen light when you enter the theater.

Scenario 2: You're at the office. Locale has you covered there too. You can program the app to set your phone to vibrate and connect to the office's WiFi if you'd like.

Scenario 3: You don't want to be bothered while you are sleeping. Locale has you covered. You can program the app to set to silent from 11:00 pm to 6:00 am, except if it's your mom calling. Now that's smart!

Locale doesn't need babysitting. You set the conditions based on your schedule and your needs then forget all about it. Your phone works for you, and you are never embarrassed again when Lady Gaga ringtone starts singing from your pocket in church!

The one downside for Locale is the price: $9.99.  I don't like paying for apps, but for what I know about this one, I would be 100% willing to pay ten bucks for it!

If you already use Locale, I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on the app. Is it worth the money? Does its features work as well as they sound in theory?

HomeWhatNot Part 1: Trulia

My husband and I are in the middle of buying a home, moving, unpacking, and renovating, so I would like to share some of my wisdom and good finds from the Internet in a little home series called HomeWhatNot. 

I first found Trulia (a real estate search website and mobile app) through a coworker who was addicted. The app allows you find houses for sale and rent nearby based on conditions that you set (example: 3+ bedrooms, 2+ baths, $150-200k) using the GPS in your phone. You can also enter a different address and find houses in that area. The app pulls pictures from the real estate listing so that you can quickly see the inside of the house, selling price, recent price reductions, upcoming dates for open houses, all of the basic facts about the house that you would expect to see in a real estate listing.

Now that we have purchased our home, I use the Trulia app to look at homes in the area and in other parts of the country to get decorating ideas.

Trulia is available as a standard and mobile website and currently has an iPhone app. You can create an account with the website for more advanced features like saved searches and favorites, but an account is not necessary. I have found other websites with similar features, but as an iPhone app, I think Trulia stands above the rest.

Have fun home hunting or just looking!

http://www.trulia.com/

Read it Later

When I'm surfing the web, I find that my ADD takes over! I'm reading one article, click a link that takes me to another article then click a link that takes me to a new website. I start chasing bunny trails all over the web and lose track of my original article that I was reading.

A couple years ago, I found a service called ReadItLater that does a remarkable job of keeping that ADD at bay while still allowing me to follow my bunny trails, just not right at this moment.

Like Evernote, ReadItLater syncs to all of the places where you might read online content: your browser, your phone and your tablet. You can even download your content so that you can read it without an Internet connection on your device.

The service is easy to use. Create an account, download the bookmarklets and, as you read and find a link that you want to read later, right click on the link and choose the option to "Read It Later." That link is now added to your list of items in ReadItLater.

Also, in Firefox, I have a little yellow arrow that sits in the address bar that I can click to read a link later.
 
I love this service! When I'm standing in a long line or waiting at the car dealership or can't fall asleep at night, I love catching up on my reading quickly and easily.

http://readitlaterlist.com/

Go straight to voice mail when calling mobile phones with Slydial

I recently found a service called Slydial that forces your calls to bypass the chance of talking to a person and goes straight to their voice mail! This service works like a charm, does not require registration and is free! Here are a few situations when the service might be useful. 

How to Get Started: Add the Slydial phone number (267-SLYDIAL or 267-759-3425) to your contacts on your phone. Call the number, and when prompted, enter the mobile number that you would like to slydial. Wait for a bit, and you are connected straight to voice mail. That's it!

Limitations: This service only works with mobile numbers. You do have to listen to an advertisement while you wait for your call to connect, but it didn't bother me. I have used it three times so far, and two of the three times, it worked. I am guessing that the third person I tried to call did not have voice mail turned on on their mobile phone. Even with the limitations listed above, I am going to continue using the service.

Premium Service: Slydial does have a premium service that removes advertising from the calls and offers several other features. The service is $2.95 per month or $29.95 per year. Or, you can per single use at $.10 per slydial.

Mobile Apps: There is an iPhone app for Slydial, but it received bad reviews in its current version, so I'm going to pass on that for now. There are also apps for Android, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile, but I don't have any knowledge of how well they work.

Use SlyDial to go straight to voice mail when you are calling mobile numbers. Let me know if it works for you.

Google Voice, Revisited

I wrote about Google Voice several months back, but they have so many new features that I knew it was time to share again!

Google Voice is yet another amazing and free tool that, once you start using it regularly, you will never know how you lived without it before! The service provides you with a free virtual telephone number that you can forward to any phone number or straight to an email address if you choose not to take calls.

Here's an example: You spend the weekdays at work where you have bad cell reception, so during the weekday work hours, you can forward your Google Voice (GV) number to your work phone. After work, you can forward your GV number to your cell phone. And at night when you are sleeping, you can forward your GV number straight to email so that you will not be interrupted.  You distribute your GV number, and you decide when, where and how you are contacted each day.

How I Use Google Voice:

• I give my GV number to those businesses that I want to contact me again, but I don't want them to have direct access to me.  I want to choose how and when we communicate. For example, when I give blood, I give the agency my GV number because I don't want to answer their weekly calls requesting more of my blood for the rest of my adult life! I still would like to know that they called and that they have a shortage of my blood type, but I much prefer they just leave me a voice mail that I can hear later.
• My high school students who want to use me as a reference for a prospective job. I really don't want to give them my cell phone number, but I don't mind giving them my GV number since all calls and voice mails are sent directly to my email account.  No prank calls at 2am!
• Sign up to get text messages from my stores and other businesses. Some of my favorite stores have text message sign ups, and I want to be included on their text messages including sales and coupons, but I don't really want all of their advertising to clutter my text message inbox. 
  

(Note: I use GV as my secondary phone number as you see above, but Google now offers number porting, so you could move your cell phone number into GV if you want to use it in that way.) 

All of these calls, voice mails, and text messages go straight to my GV account then I receive an email notification. The great part about GV is its ability to personalize. You can receive calls to any phone number at specific hours of the day or never at all.

After you have created an account, you will be amazed at all of the ways people use GV!  They have a YouTube Channel with more ways to fully utilize their service.

I would love to hear how you are using Google Voice!

Join.Me for Free Remote Screen Sharing

A few weeks ago, I showed you how to send videos to your parents (and others) about how to do simple things on the web, like copy and paste, change your homepage and attach a picture to an email.  But sometimes, my parents have a problem with their computer, that despite all of their efforts to explain it to me, I can't seem to diagnose by phone. 

I have found several options to be able to be able to remotely view their computer screen, but none of them are free, and that fact was holding me back from using them.

Last week, I stumbled upon a tool that is easy to use, web-enabled, and FREE!  It's called Join.me and requires no registration.  The software runs through your web browser and works very well!  The site itself is simple, reminds me of Bing.

To begin, the person who needs help clicks the orange "Share" button and receives a number on the top of their screen. You type that number on the Join.me site in the green section, and you are connected. It's just that easy!  And your mom and dad will be forever thankful to you for fixing their computer!

Try Join.me today, and let me know how it works for you.  Do you know of any other free remote sharing applications?

Online Photo Journals

In looking back on my life, the parts of my life where I kept a journal are the ones where I feel like I made the best choices and was confident in those choices later. For me, there is something beautiful and beneficial in looking back and looking forward through words and pictures.

Over the years, I have tried many types of journals -- pretty pink diaries with locks, simple spirals from the drug store, leather bound journals, online blogs, and more recently, photo journals.

Sometimes I take pictures with my phone, other times with my camera. Either way, it's quick and easy to upload pictures to any of these sites. Currently, I use: Shuttercal as my photo journal, but I'm planning to test each of these out until I find out that fits me.

http://shuttercal.com/
http://www.loggel.com/
http://dailybooth.com/
http://www.plurk.com/
http://280daily.com/

Do you keep a photo journal?  Or another type of daily journal?

Source: http://www.makeuseof.com/

Teach Parents Tech

If you know a little more about tech than your friends and family, there's a good chance that you are their lifeline when they are in times of dire technological need!  I know that I have spent time on the phone, in my parents' study, at my coworkers' desks, and in crafting emails to answer common techie questions.  Some questions are very specific and need my personal response, but other questions are common to most computer users who are still learning the basics.

Google feels your pain, and has created a new site called Teach Parents Tech that allows you to send your parents (or anyone else) a "tech support care package."

You begin by addressing the letter to your loved one, choosing an intro then selecting the videos (max: 12) that you think your friend or family member will enjoy watching.  There are about 50 videos in all.

After you have chosen your videos and a clever closing, you can preview your email, and off it goes!

Most videos are 30 seconds to 1 minute in length and are very clear and simple to understand.  If you would rather not send an email through their site, you can click View All Videos, click on a video and find the direct link to that video on YouTube.  Then you can send your own email with a more personalized response.

http://www.teachparentstech.org/

Google Translate on the web and on your smart phone

Online translation tools have come a long way in the last several years.  Though they still aren't perfect, they do a much better job than in the past.  My favorite tool for translation is Google Translate and is available online so it can be used on several different platforms...PC, Mac, smart phone, inside email, etc.

Google Translate does a great job of translating for you as you type on their site, and it remembers the last languages you used for translating, in case you frequently translate between the same two languages.

Google suggests downloading their own browser Google Chrome for automatic translation, but I haven't used it yet.  I do use Gmail for my personal email and love the integration of translation into email.  If I open an email that was written in Spanish, Google automatically translates the email to English for me.  And I can switch back and forth between English and Spanish with one button click. 

Google highlights words in both languages as you roll over them with your mouse to better understand which words coordinate in both languages.

Google will even read your translated text to you with a "Listen" link!


Try out Google's free translation tool and let me know what you think, or let me know if you use another online translation tool that I have missed.

http://translate.google.com/

Update: Google Translate now has its own iPhone app.

8 Ways to Use Evernote

Evernote is best friend, technologically speaking.  Each week, I find another way to use Evernote to remember something, keep a list, track items, and so on. Once you start using Evernote, you will most certainly wonder how you ever remembered anything without it!

8 Ways to Use Evernote:

1. Grocery list: I keep my grocery list in Evernote and update it regularly.  I usually have my phone in my pocket, so I can add items while I'm cooking in the kitchen and find that we are out of a certain item.  (I also make lists of items that I want for other places like the library, my Netflix queue, and the hardware store.)
2. Blood pressure stats: High blood pressure runs in my family, so I keep an eye on my blood pressure by checking it occasionally in the pharmacy. I keep a list of my stats including date and time I took my BP.  The complete list is ready to show my doctor at my next checkup.
3. Recipes: I keep all of my favorite recipes in Evernote, so they are always at hand.  If I'm at the grocery store and decide to make my Dad's Chicken Stew, I can quickly pull up the recipe to see if I need to buy any extra items for the stew.  If I'm at a party and a friend asks me for Dad's recipe, I can email it to her with one click right from my phone.
4. Bits of Information: I can't find a better way to explain those little things that you always want to remember when you are out and about. It might be the name of a store I'd like to visit or a TV show that a friend recommended while we were having lunch.  It could be a website that I saw on a billboard or a reminder to myself to check the smoke detectors when I get home.  I have a catch-all list that I update throughout the day then act on the items when I'm in front of the computer later in the day.
5. Pictures of Items: I take pictures with my phone all the time and import them straight into Evernote for quick access later.  Items like...an idea for a birthday present for my nephew, a price tag for a food processor that I'm considering buying this month, the odd-shaped light bulb for my lamp that just burned out, and a book that a friend brought to lunch that I would like to find at the library next week.
6. Journal: I use Evernote to keep my daily journal. Because I type much faster than I write, I can quickly reflect on the day using my computer or my phone.  For a journal to work for me, it needs to be easily accessible, and nothing is easier for me than Evernote!
7. New Year's Resolutions:  This one couldn't be more timely!  I keep my resolutions for the new year on Evernote, so I always have them to look over.  On a monthly basis, I refer again to my resolutions and reflect on my progress so far.
8. Bucket List: My FAVORITE note in Evernote is my personal bucket list -- things I would like to do before I die. I love reading over the list, considering how I might accomplish those items, and on a rare occasion, actually marking an item on the list as "Complete!"

As you can see from the list above, using Evernote from my phone is a critical part of its success. When I'm at work and my phone is tucked away in my desk, I use the web version of Evernote to update my notes as necessary.  I love that everything syncs right after I hit save, so I know I always have the latest and greatest! 

And Evernote is fully searchable, so if I know that I wrote something about roasted vegetables a couple months ago, I can quickly for the terms and find all of my notes that mention "roasted vegetables" in a matter of seconds.

I hope that you will use Evernote to stay organized in the new year and stop by here to tell me about your success!

Evernote is available on PC, Mac, iOS, Android, and in your web browser for web clipping.  You don't have any excuse to get started!

http://www.evernote.com/