Tuesday, July 17, 2012

A Hodgepodge Of Fun

I have to tell you, I'm totally lovin' my iPad. I can surf, read, email, take pictures, and waste oodles of time sliding my fingers across its silky screen, quiet as a church mouse, connected to the world from literally anywhere I happen to be. And the apps, as you'd imagine, are endless.

Here are some of my current favorites:
Flipboard: I was turned on to this by my friend Marlaina's husband, and I'm totally diggin' it. It's an aggregator of sorts, bringing together news from different sources. You can choose which subjects you'd like to read about, and then you just do as the name states...flip.
Flixster: What I've been looking for all these years - a place to watch movie trailers. I've always loved the previews in the movie theater and have joked that I'd pay to see the movie time equivalent of just movie trailers. My wish has been granted. I can now see most movie trailers in the comfort of my own home. For free.
Epicurious: Need a dinner meal idea? Have ingredients on hand but no idea what to prepare? Want a certain type of food but need a recipe? Oh, Epicurious has it. Thousands of recipes from sources such as Bon Appétit and Gourmet magazine; high caliber chefs like Jamie Oliver and Jacques Pépin ; and books like Adam Perry's Charred and Scruffed. There's an option for filtering recipes in different categories and even for only showing you ones with photos, which is an absolute must for me.
PicCollage: A fun way to make a collage of pictures you've taken or ones you've saved on your iPad. You can add text and graphics too, and if you need more choices, there's a pay option for that version of the app. I say see what you can do with the free choices - you'll be surprised the cute stuff you can come up with! See my creation above.
Newsstand: I can read magazines, in full color, right on my iPad. Some of them I already get at home, but if they offer a free online version for print subscribers, I'm all over it. And Ed's dad even let me access his Smithsonian Magazine print subscription information, so I'm able to read that on my iPad also. Now that's one great magazine.
Peterson Birds of North America: I'm a bird watcher. I know, I know. HUGE dork, right? But seriously, when you see so many birds - in different states, regions or even towns - you start to wonder. What are they? Where are they going? Do they live here all the time or are they just "wintering" in this area? It's kind of cool, and the app has a way that you can keep track of when and where you saw certain birds. I likey.
Leafsnap: This is sort of like the bird app, except with this one you just photograph a leaf, and Leafsnap can help you identify it. How cool is that? We see so many plants and trees in our travels and often I don't know what they are. This'll come in handy just in case I find myself trekking through poison ivy. Stop laughing.
The Collection: Brought to you by the New York Times, this app allows me to view and read about all the fashion, jewelry and cosmetics that I'll never be able to afford (all at once, anyway!). It's a beautiful app and I love it.

Canva:  Another great app for creating.  Lots of templates, lots of fun options. You might also want to follow them on Instagram. 



2 comments:

Project Girl said...

I love my iPad, too!

Thanks for the tip about Peterson's Bird app! I didn't know about that one. I have the book...

Leafsnap.. I'll have to look at that one again. I tried it when it first came out, and it didn't seem like their database didn't have much in it yet.

If you like Flixter (me too!) you should try IMBd for scoop on all your favorite actors...

Another favorite is Show of Hands -it's daily polls.

The Daily Rant said...

PG: Thanks for the suggestions - I have IMDB, but I'll have to check out Show of Hands.