I am always on the prowl for new apps, websites or tools to make my life easier, better or just more interesting.
This week I thought I would share a potpourri of just such resources. Be warned: I am not responsible if you end up wasting time.
Currently No. 1 on my "this is a cool app" parade is Skitch, from the Evernote people. Evernote, frequent readers know, is my favourite all-time app, easily the most useful smartphone app ever!
Skitch is an image and photo markup app. You take a picture or an image, and you can annotate it with Skitch before sending it on. It has a simple-to-use tool kit including the obligatory colourful arrows, a text tool, and other highlighting options. Skitch runs on your desktop, iPad and Android phones. It is surprisingly still not there for the iPhone.
You can use Skitch to take screen shots or capture areas of your computer screen, then mark up the photo. I have used it recently to make a map, captured from Google maps, with my own notes and arrows to the significant location. I also used it to snap a picture of a graphic being produced for a project I am working on to offer notes back to the designer of changes and issues. It's free, and it is fabulous.
On the website side, what can be better than the Khan Academy (www.khanacademy.org)? This website has thousands of brief video tutorials for students and parents. Need to learn about trigonometry functions? Go to Khan. Don't know how to calculate R squared? Go to Khan. The videos are clear, concise, relevant and free; made with a minimum of fuss and production value, but packed with great information. Without fail, every parent and kid I have talked to about Khan have either already visited and see the value, or are blown away by the rich resource it represents. Certainly, math and science are the main subjects supported at the Khan Academy, but there are some humanities as well.
If you are done with being productive and just need to kick back and make fun of people for a while, waste time with Failblog (www.failblog.com). It's full of photos and videos of people doing what we do best: failing at something. As I write this, I am still smiling after wasting four minutes watching some hapless Spanish woman try and park a SmartCar in a huge parking space, back and forth, back and forth, FAIL. Time well spent.
Finally, the current darling of the online world is Draw Something, a simple game you play with friends. You are asked to draw something, and they get to guess. I know: sounds silly, but that silliness just sold for $200 million, so somebody is doing it! [email protected]
