Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Thing 23 Evaluate 23 Mobile Things

The timing of this offering could not have been more serendipitous. My district had just purchased iPads for staff, and we were all just beginning to get our feet wet learning how to use them--and how to make them relevant to the needs our of own departments.

Some Changes as a Result of Participating in 23 Mobile Things

(1) I barely knew what apps were or how they worked before taking this course. So on a personal level, I feel much more confident and comfortable downloading and using apps. They may not always work the way I want them to, but as free apps, they were often very impressively designed and easy to use.

(2) In my position as media specialist, I'm expected to be on the forefront of technology and to share that technology with other teachers. This course has helped fulfill both of those criteria in addition to improving my relevance in an ever-changing library environment. It's fair to say that I've shared a number of apps with teachers in a wide range of departments--in fact, it's difficult to identify a department that wouldn't benefit from the use of apps: for enhancing teaching, providing resources, organizing materials, sharing ideas--and the list goes on. The distribution of apps that I've reviewed in this course helps improve my professionalism and possibly my job security.

(3) In particular, as budgets are always under pressure, I enjoyed finding apps that might be interesting to students who like to read free e-books or audio books. It's always something of a thrill to discover resources that I had no idea were both available and free.

My cruising through this course should not be construed as trying to finish it quickly just to get it done. On the contrary. I felt a sense of urgency in finishing each lesson, probably because I felt as though I was slipping behind a commonly used technology (and thus becoming a dinosaur) and because I wanted to get the news out to others as quickly as possible in my role as curriculum and technology support.

I believe that 23 Things on a Stick was offered around 2010, so having the opportunity to participate in 23 Mobile Things is definitely due. And would I take another course with similar objectives? Absolutely. To me, it's nothing less than a job requirement in order to maintain both my relevance and professionalism in serving staff and students. Thanks for the opportunity.





Thing 22 Discovering Apps

For reference: Quixey

Quixey--The Search Engine for Apps: The first thing I noticed about Quixey is that it has a clean, simple homepage that is reminiscent of Google. The second thing I noticed is that it allows you to limit your search by platform, such as Android, iPhone, iPad, etc., which can make a search more efficient.

After exploring the site, and trying some searches, I came to the following conclusions: It gives you a number of difference ways to search apps, including those that are trending or those for work vs. play, and the categories are broken down further from those points, allowing the user to really pinpoint the app desired. I tried a search "free books" and came up with a number of apps with a lot of free books. I tried another search for editing photos and again came up with a lot of good free apps. Definitely two thumbs up on this site. It should serve as a tremendous resource.







Apps Gone Free: The opening page of Apps Gone Free states, "AppsGoneFree is all about finding the best free apps each day. No paid listings, just hand-picked, genuinely free apps." That's a bold claim. Did this app live up to the claim?

It's simply laid out with individual dates on the left margin and the selected apps on the right. Eight are offered each day. The problem with this app is that it may be a little too simple. For example, the apps listed for Monday, March 3, ranged from leveling children's books to games to science to planners and shopping lists. In other words, you may have to sort through a lot of apps you have no interest in just to find one or two that may be relevant. This app would be better if it had an internal search function for key words or some sort of filter to help exclude apps that you wouldn't want to review. But it does play to serendipity, and it's also fun to find new apps purely by accident. If you enjoy doing that, this may be the app for you.

I'm a bit ambivalent about it. Two out of four stars.







Reference for finding apps online

Monday, March 3, 2014

Thing 21 Free-for-All

Daily Stocks: Perhaps for the "hobby" or "personal enrichment" category of apps, Daily Stocks is extremely useful for the active trader, but can also provide useful information for DYI investors. Since my own style is a hybrid of the two, I found this app really appealing, especially since it pulls together several different kinds of information that might otherwise be found on a variety of financial/investing/trading Web sites. (A site that performs some of the same functions is finviz, (which assumes intermediate to advanced knowledge in trading). Daily Stocks does not offer advice. To me, that enhances its credibility.

It opens to a menu that includes the following headings: (1) Stock Scans, (2) Japanese Candlesticks, (3) Reversals, (4) Watchlist, (5) Market Pulse, and (6) Candles vs. Candles.

(1) Stock Scans: This feature creates lists of stock tickers based on several categories, such as performance, overextended, crossovers, volume events, and gaps. (Current stories and reports help provide context for the stock performance, but overall it is heavily dependent on technical (vs. fundamental) analysis. As has already been demonstrated and will continue to be an issue in the following headings, this app requires a fair amount of background knowledge and understanding of terminology.

(2) Japanese Candlesticks: If you've never heard of Japanese Candlesticks, first, they have nothing to do with setting the mood for an Asian dinner, and second, a fuller understanding of them can be found in such books as How Technical Analysis Works. This heading is all technical analysis and indicates via a stock's chart whether it is in a bullish, bearish, or indecisive trend. Clicking on a symbol will lead you to short-, intermediate-, and long-term charts, which are all useful for establishing the strength of a stock's trends. In the process, you will also have to learn some very strange terms that all center on technical analysis: dark cloud cover, evening stars, morning stars, 3 black crows, engulfing patterns, haramis, dojis, and many others.

(3) Reversals: This heading is a little more straightforward than Japanese Candlesticks, and it illustrates what you might assume it does--when stocks reverse direction, either in a bullish or in a bearish way. But it also includes how the reversal compares to the SMA50 or SMA100 or SMA200 because those also need to be factored in. You'll also need to know that SMA means simple moving average, and you'll also need to know the implications of the simple moving average, along with the relationship between moving averages. (This is why financial advisers and mutual funds may now look very appealing to the investor quickly becoming overwhelmed; but if you put in the time, the terms become second-nature.)

(4) Watchlist: The Watchlist is also straightforward and requires your participation. It simply allows you to create a list of stocks--from those that appear under the other headings or from those you can find by using the search tool-- that you might be interested in but want to watch their performance for any clear indications of a compelling pattern. Watchlists are important to develop, if for no other reason than to avoid just investing on a whim without having some sense of the stock's direction (although a somewhat different strategy, scheduled investing, or dollar cost averaging does seem to disregard this advice because it doesn't trust technical analysis).

(5) Market Pulse: This feature provides a snapshot of the major market indices, along with a list of up-to-the-minute stories that have an impact on the market. For example, in light of the Russia action, both oil and gold are up today, so if you invested in these sectors, you can thank Putin. That's the other thing you'll learn from this app and from other investing research, not everything tends to go down at the same time: Even when there's terrible news, there are opportunities to make money in the market.

(6) Candles vs. Candles: This is not a feature but an opportunity to receive even more finely tuned information. It costs about $50 and is more comprehensive and responsive than the free version. I wouldn't recommend buying it unless my previous discussion bored you because you already knew it all, and then some, and you're a very active trader--and my guess is that most folks in education don't have the opportunity to do so--until summer rolls around.

As I noted above, I really like this app, but that's with the understanding that it is only one tool that I would use in making investing decisions; it's also obvious that this tool doesn't include the ever popular ETFs or mutual funds or commodities or closed end funds or bonds or bond funds, so information in those areas would have to be found elsewhere. But, on the whole, as a free app, it offers at a glance a great deal of useful information--to people who have the knowledge and experience to use it appropriately.