Thing #10: Sharing Photos (Instagram)

Alright, one more, and then I think my brain has done all the app exploring it can handle for today....
I had a hard time deciding which app to explore for this category, as both SnapChat and Instagram are apps my friends have been talking a lot about/using. But as I don't take a ton of pictures, I really haven't had a strong desire/reason to use them. I ended up deciding to explore Instagram, as SnapChat really seems pointless to me.
At first, when I searched for Instagram in the App Store, I couldn't find it....which is odd because I know it exists. So, I used the Google Search app I installed earlier today to do a web search, and install it from there, which worked like a charm.
I do really like the social aspect of Instagram, as I said, I'm not a huge photo taker, but do enjoy looking at other people's photos. And very few of the photos that were posted on Instagram were also on Facebook. The photo taking/sharing process was also very easy to use. So if I took more photos, I can definitely see myself using this app!

Thing # 9: Taking and Editing Photos (Color Splurge)

This app was very enjoyable to experiment with. The whole "recoloring" areas of a photo that had been grayed out brought me back to those magic paint books that would magically make color appear on certain areas of the page.
At first I did have some technical issues with this app. It unexpectedly closed on my a couple of times. But one I "started a new project" by taking a photo and then editing it, those issues seemed to stop.
I'm not sure how much I will use this app on a day to day basis, but as I said, it was fun to experiment with. Perhaps I can show it to my 3 year old nephew - I bet he would find it enjoyable as well.

Thing #8: Social Media Management Tools (FriendCaster)

My thoughts on FriendCaster.... the info on the 23 Mobile Things Blog said "It has many of the same features as the Facebook app, but you may find it easier to use." Not sure if it's easier to use or not.... I guess it's just different..... Things are in different places, etc. I will say that the home screen has a more streamlined look. But I compared my news feed in FriendCaster to my newsfeed in the Facebook app and there were news items that weren't in my feed in FriendCaster...... So I guess that makes me a little leery that Friendster is an easier to use substitute for the Facebook App.

Thing #7: Content Sharing and Saving (Bitly...er Pinterest)

So my intent was to explore Bitly (as I already feel like I have a good grasp on Pinterest). However, when I searched for this app in both the App Store and iTunes store on my iPad, I couldn't find it. So.... Pinterest it is. A lot of my friends rave about how much time they spend/waste on Pinterest, and I just don't see the draw....I don't know if it's because I'm not crafty or interested in crafts.... or really don't have much in the way of hobbies that I could discover new information on Pinterest. But, I'm giving it another look/try for the sake of this learning experience. And, it grew on me, a bit. There is definitely lots of information, and it's interesting to see what intriguing things my friends have found. Maybe I'll become a Pinterest user after all... Maybe....

Thing #6: Creating and Editing Docs (QuickOffice)

Creating and editing documents is something I've always considered that I'd primarily do on a laptop or desktop. Primarily because if I'm going to be doing a lot of typing, I don't really want to use the onscreen keyboard. I realize I could solve this by getting a wireless keyboard of sorts.... Anyhou, being able to do quick edits on a document without having to lug my laptop around would be handy. But since I store most of my documents on a flash drive, and my iPad obviously doesn't have any USB ports, that would be a roadblock as well. I do have a Google Drive acct set up....
Anyhou, on to QuickOffice.... I can definitely see the usefullness of this for quick editing. Example: earlier this week I was meeting with several other area library directors to review/edit a draft of a PowerPoint presentation we are doing to our County Board in April. We wanted to be able to edit as we were talking so that one of us didn't have to do so once the meeting concluded and we returned to our libraries. It was a lunch meeting, so we met at an restaurant. I brought my laptop along, and it was a bit cumbersome to pass that around etc. Using a tablet instead would have been a better solution.
So, QuickOffice made the cut and will be staying on my iPad.

Thing #5: Notetaking (Remember the Milk)

I have a grocery list app that I use regularly on my Android Phone (Out of Milk), so I was interested to see how the functionality of Remember the Milk compared to that. Right off the bat, I wasn't a fan that I had to create an account.... I realize there are probably benefits I get from creating an account.... Then, I realized that my notion going into this was wrong. This isn't a grocery list app (Though I guess you COULD use it that way). It's a to do list app. And this, I really don't have a ton of usefulness for..... Except in times where I have LOTS of balls up in the air and things to do, I'm typically not a to do list person. And when I do make a to do list, I guess I'm old school in that I do it on paper. So, another app I'll likely delete as soon as I finish this post.

Thing #4: Keeping Up (Zite)

I'm not a person that reads a lot of news/blogs, etc online, so an app like Zite doesn't have a whole lot of usefullnes to me. I get my news from TV, the radio, and yes Facebook. 

And just functionally, I found Zite rather clunky and overwhelming. I know the idea of the tiles was to look like a newspaper or magazine, but I guess I'd prefer something more like a "news feed" that is just a list of articles/posts, etc.

So needless to say, I'll be deleting Zite as soon as I finish this blog post.

Thing #3 - Utilities (Google Search)

I chose to explore the Google Search app - mostly since I've been seeing a number of TV commercials about it lately. Though even as I chose it and was downloading it, I wasn't sure how useful I would find it. I typically just open up Safari on my iPad and use its search feature, and it works just fine. However, because Google is just in general a more robust search engine, this app does provide more than the one in Safari. Things like images, vidoes, news, blogs, etc.

So.... this skeptic may have just turned into a believer! :)