50 Apps in 50 Minutes

We bizologie girls love apps that make our lives easier, more fun or more enlightened. This week at the Texas Library Association's Annual Conference, we'll be presenting "50 Apps in 50 Minutes". You can check out our presentation below. A note on pricing and availability: it's been our experience that prices for apps change often, so if you like something that's a bit out of your budget, keep an eye on it as sometimes the prices drop temporarily or even permanently. Love something that's only an iThing? We saw several notes along the way indicating that an app's owner listed Android, etc. as "coming soon". So make a note of what you like and you may see it soon on other platforms. 1. Flipboard “creates a personalized magazine out of everything being shared with you. Flip through your Facebook newsfeed, tweets from your Twitter timeline, photos from Instagram friends and much more.” Free for iPhone & iPad

2. Easybib “Create accurate MLA, APA, and Chicago style citations in seconds by scanning a book bar code or by typing the name of a book. Build and manage your works cited. Once done, email your citations and then export your citations to EasyBib.com's popular bibliography management service.” Free for iPhone & Android

3. Time Traveler’s Investment Calculator “The Time Traveler’s Investment Calculator is a simple way to go back in time and choose a hypothetical investment strategy and see how you would have done.” 99¢ for iPhone

4. Biblion “Enter the World of Tomorrow and experience the 1939–40 New York World’s Fair through the collections of The New York Public Library! Biblion: The Boundless Library is designed to take you — all but literally — into the Library's legendary stacks, opening up hidden parts of the collections and the myriad story lines they hold and preserve. In this free app you will hold documents, images, films, audio, and essays directly from the collections right in your hands.” Free for iPad

5. Business Card Reader “Import contact information from a business card directly to your iOS address book.” iPhone, Android, BlackBerry & Windows Phone, $4.99

6. SimplyPostcards “Real postcards from your iPhone” Free app with extra cost for mailing postcards

7. PaperKarma "is the easy way to take control of your paper junk mail, cut your paper waste, and help save the Earth — by taking photos! Simply pull out your phone and snap photos of the offending mail. PaperKarma will figure out what it is and how to stop it." iPhone, Android & Windows, free

8. HomeSnap "Snap a photo of any home to find out all about it." iPhone, free

9. HBOGo "Get unlimited access to over 1,400 of your favorite HBO shows, including HBO original programming, hit movies, sports, comedy and much more—now available on iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch." Free

10. Reading Rainbow Coming soon from LeVar Burton. Follow their progress on Twitter @readingrainbow

11. ColorSmart by BEHR™ Mobile "is an easy and convenient way to find, coordinate or preview a BEHR® paint color for all of your paint projects."

 iPhone, iPad & Android, free

12. LeafSnap "is the first in a series of electronic field guides being developed by researchers from Columbia University, the University of Maryland, and the Smithsonian Institution. This free mobile app uses visual recognition software to help identify tree species from photographs of their leaves." iPhone & iPad, free

13. CardStar “Lighten your wallet and move your plastic loyalty cards, reward cards and membership cards to your phone so you never miss out on a reward, discount, or deal again.” iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows, free

14. Prezi “View and present your prezis anywhere with simple, intuitive multitouch gestures.” iPad, free

15. TuneIn Radio “TuneIn is a new way to listen to the world through live local and global radio from wherever you are. Whether you want music, sports, news or current events, TuneIn offers over 50,000 stations and 120,000 shows for you to choose from. iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry, Windows, free

16. Find My iPhone “If you misplace your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac, the Find My iPhone app will let you use another iOS device to find it and protect your data. Simply install this free app on another iOS device, open it, and sign in with your Apple ID. Find My iPhone will help you locate your missing device on a map.You can then choose to display a message or play a sound, remotely lock your device, or erase your data on it. “ Free

17. Mint “Allows you to track, budget and manage your money all in one place, so you can see where you’re spending and where you can save. Open an account, add your bank, credit, loan and retirement accounts and Mint will automatically pull in and categorize your transactions. It’s safe, secure and easy to keep your personal finances organized. “ iPad, iPhone & Android, free

18. Note Taker HD “is a powerful app for writing and organizing handwritten notes, diagrams, etc., on the iPad. It can also be used to annotate PDF files. It can shrink your writing so you can easily fit a lot of text on a page. You can read the reduced-size "ink" as if you had written those letters with a very fine pen. It gives you solid functionality and control to produce the pages you need.” iPad, $4.99

19. Word Lens “Instantly translate printed words from one language to another with your built-in video camera, in real time!” iPhone, free

20. Google Goggles “Search by taking a picture. Goggles uses image recognition technology to recognize objects and return relevant search results. Identifies products, famous landmarks, storefronts, artwork, and popular images found online. “ iPhone & Android, free.

21. InClass “Organize your schedule. Share your notes. Ace your classes. “ iPad, free

22. Byook “The successful union of books and movies. A byook stages fascinating stories by incorporating images, animations and sound effects. “ iPhone & iPad, $1.99 for Sherlock Holmes

23. Instapaper Save web pages for later offline reading. iPhone & iPad, $4.99 (optimized for iPhone but may work on Android, check site’s FAQs)

24. Instagram “Pick from one of several gorgeous filtered effects or tilt-shift blur to breathe a new life into your mobile photos. “ iPhone & Android, free

25. Foodspotting “is a visual guide to good food and where to find it. It’s the leading app for finding and rating dishes, not just restaurants.” iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Windows, free

26. MapMyFitness “uses the built-in GPS technology of your iPhone to enable you to track your outdoor fitness activities and gets you closer to achieving your health and fitness goals. Step out your front door, hit the road or trail, and this app will effortlessly mark out your path along an interactive map and record essential metrics including duration, distance, pace, speed and elevation. Once you finish your workout, save your data and it automatically uploads to www.MapMyFitness.com where you can view your route, workout data, and a comprehensive workout history.” iPhone, Android, free

27. ShoeBox “Bring the albums, scrapbooks, and photo-filled “shoeboxes” out of the closet and into an online, shareable space where they can be organized and shared with family and friends.Photos scanned with ShoeBox are saved on both your iPhone and1000memories.com, where they can be stored and shared for free with friends and family. Connect your social media accounts to instantly share your photos through Twitter or directly onto your Facebook Timeline.” iPhone, free. Android coming soon

28. Star Walk “is a stellar augmented reality app that labels all the stars, constellations, and satellites you point your iPad at.” iPad, $4.99

29. Minds of Modern Mathematics “is a digital recreation of a 50-foot-wide wall installation that was part of the groundbreaking 1961 Mathematica exhibition sponsored by IBM and designed by the legendary design team, Charles and Ray Eames.” iPad, free

30. PicFrame “helps you combine multiple photos into amazing looking frames and share them with your friends and family via Facebook, Email, Instagram, Twitter, Flickr and Tumblr. With 60 fully adjustable frames, rounded corners, photo effects, shadows, plenty of patterns and an easy color picker you will always have a unique look.” iPhone & iPad, 99¢

31. Flixel Living Photos “Capture a moment, bring it to life with the swipe of a finger and instantly share with friends.” iPhone, free

32. Cupcake Wars Companion “Your Guide to Eating at Cupcakeries Featured on the Hit Food Network Show” iPhone $2.99

33. Hipmunk “takes the agony out of flight & hotel search. With Hipmunk you'll see all the relevant flights on a timeline, helping you visualize the right choice. Unlike every other app out there, Hipmunk doesn't just show you the cheapest flight first — the app instead sorts by "agony," which incorporates important factors like how long you'll be traveling and how many stops you'll make. Hotel results are shown on a map so that you can see exactly where you'll be staying. You can also turn on heatmaps that will show you the best areas to stay based on unique interests like food, landmarks, nightlife and more.” iPhone & Android, free

34. Silent Film Director “lets you create amazing vintage videos in minutes. You can add music, title cards, transitions, effects and more.” iPhone, free for a limited time, $1.99

35. North Shelby Library “This app allows you to connect directly to our blog, tweets, photos, videos, reading lists, and even the library staff. You can also access the library events calendar and find out what’s coming up for children, teens, and adults at North Shelby or Mt Laurel Public Library. “ iPhone, free

36. PulsePoint “empowers individuals, within covered communities, the ability to provide life-saving assistance to victims of Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA). Application users who have indicated they are trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) are notified if someone nearby is having a cardiac emergency and may require CPR. If the cardiac emergency is in a public place, the application uses sophisticated location-based services to alert citizens in the vicinity of the need for CPR. The application also directs citizen rescuers to the exact location of the closest public access Automated External Defibrillator (AED).” iPhone, free

37. Square Register “Manage and grow your business with the Square Register app and accompanying free Square credit card reader. It’s the simplest way to accept credit cards and bring new customers to your door.” iPad, free

38. TripIt “‘automagically’ takes all your trip details and creates one truly helpful itinerary that’s there when and where you need it – on your Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, iPhone or iPad, sync'd with your calendar, and online at tripit.com.” Free

39. WolframAlpha “Across thousands of domains--with more continually added--Wolfram|Alpha uses its vast collection of algorithms and data to compute answers and generate reports for you.” iPhone, iPad, Android, Nook $2.99, extra apps additional

40. PhotoSync “will transform your photo handling forever. It‘s the first app that makes wireless transfer of your photos/videos from or to your computer and other i-Devices - a breeze. PhotoSync also transfers to Dropbox, Picasa/Google+, Facebook, SmugMug, Flickr, Box, Zenfolio, (S)FTP, WebDAV and iDisk. You need never use a cable again! “ iPhone & iPad, $1.99

41. Spotify “access to millions of tracks from thousands of albums and artists” iPhone, Android, Windows, BlackBerry, pricing varies

42. HopStop “Your transit guide” iPhone, Android, iPad, BlackBerry, Windows, free

43. HearPlanet “Turn your phone into an Audio Guide to the World” iPhone & Android, $3.99

44. Bump Pay “Stop writing checks or messing with cash, and settle up with friends on the spot by simply bumping phones together. From the creators of the Bump app, now you can easily send and receive money in person with anyone who has a PayPal account.” iPhone & Android, free

45. Epicurious & Allrecipes Two free recipe apps both designed for the iPad

46. Goodreads “has more than 7,000,000 members who have added more than 200,000,000 books to their shelves. Our mission is to help you find new and interesting books by showing you what your friends are reading. Browsing Goodreads is like wandering through the world's largest library. Find thousands of book reviews and peruse the bookshelves of friends and other readers. Post your own reviews and keep track of what you have read and want to read.” iPad, iPhone, Android, Kindle Fire, Nook Tablet, free

47. Fast Customer “With one tap, we connect you with a customer service rep at more than 2,000 companies (and growing!) across the United States and Canada.” iPhone, Android, Kindle Fire, free

48. Google Catalogs “A new, rich, and engaging way to interact with all your favorite catalogs. Flip through pages of beautiful catalogs, discover inspiring photos and videos, save products that catch your eye, and create collages to share with your friends. “ iPad & Android Tablets, free

49. University of Texas Austin “Search for UT news, check out campus-related events, keep tabs on sports news and scores, tap into the UT directory, navigate campus maps, watch UT videos, and stay engaged with your University.” iPhone, free

50. NPR Music “Engage, explore and discover new music of all genres with the NPR Music app. Rock, Jazz & Blues, World, Classical and Hip Hop/R&B – you get music programmed by people and the quality storytelling you expect from NPR. You can read music news and reviews while listening to interviews, live concerts or exclusive streams of albums before they’re released. Multitask with the NPR Music app as your guide to new music.” iPhone & iPad, free

bizologie Favorite Apps: EasyBib

One of our new favorite apps is EasyBib. If only it had been around when we were in grad school! EasyBib allows users to "create accurate MLA, APA, and Chicago style citations in seconds by scanning a book bar code or by typing the name of a book." Once you've scanned your book, you can either email it to yourself or upload it to EasyBib's bibliography management site.

EasyBib works with iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, though their notes say it works best with iPhone 4. EasyBib is available free in the AppStore.

bizologie favorite Apps: STFU

Having been in a meeting today where yet another phone rang, I was very happy to see this app for the Android. STFU  - that is Shut the Phone Up - makes it easy to silence that cell phone. Just turn your phone upside down and it is immediately set for either silent or vibrate (your choice). STFU is just 99¢ and worth every penny. You pay a little more for the cute name. RD Mute is a similar tool available for free. Now I've taken care of my phone, what about the guy next to me?

bizologie Favorite Apps: Flex Search Mobile Research App

One of our new favorite apps is Flex Search from Dynotes Mobile Technology. Flex Search combines all the places you like to search all in one place. You can search Google, Bing, Yahoo, Wikipedia, Wolfram-Alpha, YouTube, Flicker, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook all without switching between different apps on your phone. You can also search images and Webster's Dictionary & Thesaurus from inside the same app. Once you've got your results, you can even share it directly from the app to Twitter or Facebook. Flex Search is available free in the iTunes AppStore.

bizologie Favorite Apps: Business Card Reader

If you're like us, you collect a fair amount of business cards while attending conferences. They get thrown into your purse or laptop bag and then maybe, eventually entered into your contacts. The Business Card Reader app for iPhone helps you get rid of all those cards and import them easily to your contact list. You simply take a photo of the card and the app scans it and enters the data into your contact list automatically. The app supports several different languages and is available in the app store for $2.99. You can see it in action in the video below:

Casual Friday: Amazon Appstore for Android

The Amazon Appstore for Android opened this week . The new store allows Android users to view apps online before they buy online and it offers Amazon's recommender service. But the really exciting news is that you can get Angry Birds Rio free for a limited time and they offer paid app for free app each day. If you spending some time today perusing the site, do be careful. TechCrunch is reporting just how easy Amazon makes it to buy these apps. If you have one-click set up in Amazon it's automatic for Appstore for Android and one-click in the wrong place could get you an app that you didn't want and you only have 15 minutes to get a refund. Let us know if you find a new favorite Android app and we'll feature it next week.

bizologie Favorite Apps: Momento

March 24, 2011. Dear Diary, we've got a new favorite app. Actually, the diary app Momento is one of our new favorite apps. Momento starts out just like you'd use an old fashioned diary: log the date and start writing about that cute boy in math class. But the great part is that Momento lets you import feeds from all of your social networking sites and then organizes them by date. You simply add your Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Instagram, Foursquare and Gowalla accounts and suddenly you've got an automatic record of each day and you didn't have to write a thing. From there you can search by dates or tags or events and reminisce about special dates in your life. You might see that on February 27th you checked in on Gowalla at the coffee shop, uploaded a picture of your BFF to Flickr and attended a fabulous Oscar Party. Momento also allows you to lockdown the app so that you don't catch your little brother snooping through your diary. Momento is available on iTunes for $2.99 and the company is considering expanding to Android.  XOXO, bizologie.

Casual Friday: bizologie’s Favorite Travel Apps

It's Friday and we're dreaming of a weekend getaway and planning our summer vacation. Whether you're taking a road trip close to home, summering in the Hamptons or grabbing your passport for a European getaway,  your smartphone can be your best travel accessory. From translating foreign languages and calculating currency exchanges to alerting you to speed traps and picking a subway route, travel apps  provide tools for just about anything you need.  Here are a few  we think are pretty great:

• Word Lens--Translates signs from Spanish to English (and vice versa). Simply open the app and hold it up to the sign you want to translate. Check out the video below to see Word Lens in action. Available for iPhone only; Android is in the works.
• Free WiFi Finder--True to its name, this app helps you find WiFi locations all over the world indexing both free and paid hotspots. The best thing is that you can download the directory to use offline. Perfect for locating WiFi in international locations when you don't want to use that expensive international data plan. Available for iPhone & Android.
• Hear Planet--Audio guides of tourist destinations all over the world. Includes geolocation so you can hear about what's nearby. Requires a data connection so probably not a good choice for international travel. Available for iPhone & Android.
• HopStop--Public transportation and walking directions for several big cities with more on the way. I've been using this one for years when I travel to NYC for instant subway directions. Available for iPhone & Android.
• Frommer's Travel Tools--This is a nice little one-stop-shop app which includes a currency converter, a time translator, a packing list and a few other handy tools. Available for  iPhone only.
• Siri--One of my all time favorite apps, Siri is like having your own personal assistant. Simply tell it what you're looking for (a taxi, some ice cream, a movie) and Siri does it for you. I've used this for calling a taxi in an unfamiliar city before. Siri knows your location, contacts the cab company and texts you the name of the driver. Before you know it, your cab has arrived and all you did was utter the word "taxi". Brilliant. Available for iPhone only.
• Simply Postcards--We've covered this one before, but it's worth repeating. Send any image as an actual postcard right from your phone. Snap your picture, enter a friend's address and let Simply Postcards do the mailing. Love it! Available for iPhone & Android.
• trapster--Alerts you to speed traps in your area. Use it for your daily commute or a cross country road trip. Available for iPhone & Android
• TripIt--Organizes all of your flight numbers and hotel reservations. I like that TripIt allows you to forward confirmation emails from airlines, etc. and then imports them easily into an itinerary. Available for iPhone & Android.
• GateGuru--Helps you locate airport restaurants, shops and other amenities not only by proximity but by reviews as well. Available for iPhone only.
• xe--Free mobile currency calculator. You can store the latest updated rates for offline use. Available for iPhone & Android.
• Google Translate--"Allowing users to speak to translate in 15 languages and to translate words and phrases into more than 50 languages. You can also listen to your translations spoken aloud in 23 different languages." Available for iPhone & Android.
• Trip Case--Organize your hotel, flight and car rentals all in one place. TripCase will also alert you to flight or gate changes and offer alternative flight choices if your flight is canceled or changed.
• Help Call--With 126 countries supported, Help Call gives you up-to-date international Police, Fire Department and Ambulance phone numbers. Available for iPhone only.
• FlightBoard--Arrivals and departures in real time. FlightBoard's design was "based on the flight board at Charles de Gaulle Airport to give the app a beautiful, old school look." Available for iPhone & Android.

Happy Trails!

Chomp: The Search Engine for Apps

You know "there's an app for that". But how do you find it? Chomp is a new search engine just for apps. Instead of searching by app names you can search by app categories. If you're looking for games you can be really specific like "puzzle games" or "kids' games". Results are then displayed along with review ratings and one click takes you straight to the iTunes store. They've also got a great page full of "trending iPhone app topics". If you're looking for app stats, Chomp also produces "Chomp Charts" of usage trends, seasonal queries, app monetization and the "Chomp 55" which are the most downloaded and highest rated apps. "Chomp Charts" are in a nice slide show presentation that are free to download.

Of course, Chomp has its own app so you can search right from your phone.

bizologie Favorite Apps: GroupMe

Ever get that text that says "Let's all meet for pizza"? And then you're left wondering who is "all"? Am I the only one who responded "yes"? Will there be four people at this event or ten? Enter GroupMe. Problem solved. GroupMe offers group texting and conference calling. You simply create a group of friends or coworkers and GroupMe assigns each group a phone number. Whenever anyone in the group texts the phone number, everyone gets the message and can see all messages sent by other group members. I tried it for the first time today and it worked like a charm and was really easy. You can create as many groups as you like so it's perfect for things like family, softball teams, book clubs or your happy hour crew. They also offer a photo sharing feature inside the app so you can take a photo or choose one from your library to send to your group.

When you use the conference calling feature, whenever anyone in the group calls the group number, everyone gets a call and anyone in the group can initiate it. Missed the call? No worries. GroupMe will send you a text saying the group is on a conference call and you can join in mid-conversation. You can have up to 25 people in a group.

GroupMe is available free for iPhone and Android and the service itself is free although you'll still pay the regular texting fee from your service provider.

Casual Friday: Flying Chipmunks

If you are spending some time this Friday dreaming of a warm get-away, plan that fantasy trip on Hipmunk . Hipmunk has a great way to view your flight options with a clean, easy to use interface to make searching easy. You can look by airport or by city, calendars are right on the main page and you can limit to a certain airline quickly if you are racking up the frequent flyer miles. You can even filter out the early morning flights, these folks know how I roll. The sort feature is the best though. You can sort by the usual price, stops, and duration, but the great feature is sort by Agony. The Agony sort combines all 3; price, stops, and duration, because sometimes it pays to get there in a timely fashion without 3 layovers. Hipmunk doesn't sell flights, but once you select your flight and it connects you to Orbitz where you can purchase.

Hipmunk, the rising star of startups, just announced last week that they have some new investors -  former Expedia execs Rich Barton, Erik Blachford and Simon Breakwell, along with Ignition Partners, Jim Hornthal of Triporati and Rob Glaser, founder of Real Networks joined in this round of funding and invested $4.2 million in the business. Some of these investors also have interests in Room 77 and Travelpost, so there is some speculation in the blogosphere that these guys might be creating a whole new integrated travel site.

And since I’m on a chipmunk theme, download the Crazy Chipmunks app for iPhone or Android. It is 99¢ and $1.99 respectively. There are 3 games: Crazy Maze (like Bejeweled), Crazy Party (a memory game) and Whack-A-Mole. Who doesn’t love a good game of Whack-A-Mole to while away a Friday afternoon?

Casual Friday: What TV Show are you "IntoNow"?

There's nothing better on a cold and snowy casual Friday than grabbing a blanket and settling in for a day of game shows and soap operas. Ok, well maybe not exactly game shows and soap operas, but you get the idea. Today we're taking a look at a new app called IntoNow which is basically a combo of Shazam & Foursquare for television. I simply open my IntoNow app, push the green button and hold it up to my television. In about 20 seconds it not only tells me what I'm watching, but also the title of the episode, the season and episode number, what channel it's on and a small description of the episode. From there I can share on Facebook and Twitter or link out to Netflix and add it to my queue or buy it on iTunes.

IntoNow allows me to see what my friends are watching and if it's "on air" now  so I can flip over and watch, too, and discuss the show with them. I wish this had been around during Lost! I can also see what's popular in the IntoNow community. The current top three favorite shows are: Family Guy, The Office and SportsCenter.  I love that when I was creating my account, the form where it shows first and last name was pre-filled in with "Chandler Bing". A TV app for the fans by the fans. And by the way that's Ms. Chanandler Bong.

IntoNow uses an indexing technology called SoundPrint which can recognize a program even if it's airing live for the first time. And they've indexed more than 140 million minutes of previously aired shows--that's 266 years worth of video!

IntoNow is available free for iPhone and an Android version is in the works. Give it a try! Here's how my first post looked on Facebook:

bizologie Favorite Apps: Simply Postcards

One of our new favorite apps is Simply Postcards. This app lets you "mail any photo as a real postcard, right from your mobile device".  Pure genius. We all love getting postcards in the mail, but sometimes sending them can be a hassle when you're away on vacation. Now all you have to do is snap and send. No shopping for postcards or tracking down stamps when you're in an unfamiliar city. And now instead of a pic of the Eiffel Tower, you can send a pic of YOU in front of the Eiffel Tower! All you do is write your message, enter the address and for about a dollar, you can send your picture anywhere in the US (International addresses are a bit more; around $2). Simply Postcards will print and stamp your postcard the day you create it and mail it the next day. You can also add fun borders to your card. They've got borders for all sorts of occasions like birthdays, thank yous, Valentine's Day, and Christmas. You'll also find general travel ones and one that makes your photo look like a Polaroid picture.

The app is free to download and is available for iPhone. Never fear Android users, their site says that the Android app is coming soon.