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My Android Apps

Oct 18th, 2010
by pollyalida.
1 comment

A few weeks ago, I was thinking how useful it would be to know what great Android apps my friends and colleagues are using. Before I could remember to figure out if there was an easy way to share this info, Nicole Engard posted her list of apps using a widget from the AppBrain site. Since I’m already using AppBrain, all my info was there and all I had to do was find some friends!

From the AppBrain web site, I can more easily browse apps and add new ones to a list to sync with my phone. It also recommends apps based on what I already have installed.  You can even browse apps popular with people of different ages, though I find the categories very funny: Youngest, 20′s, 30′s and “older people”. All you 40 somethings – welcome to the “older people” category! And the most popular app for those “older people”? A $19.99 Audubon Birds Field Guide. Clearly, only “older people” can afford really expensive apps? Though, I have to admit, it sound appealing.

So, friends with Android devices – start using AppBrain and be my friend. :-)

I’m off to buy that Audubon app now……

Need a mobile interface to your catalog? Yes, you do!

Jan 26th, 2010
by pollyalida.
6 comments

catalog on phoneAnd now you can have one easily and without breaking the bank! LibraryThing announced their new Library Anywhere project at ALA Midwinter last week. Today they’ve posted prices for the service.

Key features listed in their announcement:

  • A mobile catalog for any library, up and running in minutes.
  • Mobile web and apps for iPhone, Blackberry and Android.
  • Cheaper than you’d guess.
  • Search, place holds, and more.
  • Showcase hours, branches, and events.
  • No installation process.
  • Works with 90% of current OPACs.
  • Comes with an “accessible version” that provides a fully Section 508-compliant version of your existing catalog
  • (via LibraryThing)

They’re looking for beta libraries now. This is one of those times that I really wish I was still working in a library and could be part of this. And as a patron, I’d really love it if my own local library got in on this. I’ve been trying to use my library catalog on my phone and it’s not a pretty experience!

Google Goggles on my Droid

Dec 29th, 2009
by pollyalida.
13 comments

Google Goggles uses pictures to search the web. This conjures visions of magic glasses that  capture the world around you and flash back info right through the magic glasses. Anyone remember the tv show Romper Room? I really, truly believed that the magic mirror was real.   Well Google Goggles is indeed real and it’s kind of what I was imagining it to be, sans glasses.

It currently runs on Android mobile devices and takes advantage of the great camera, GPS and tight integration with all things Google.

Open up the Goggles app, take a picture of product, a logo, a book – and the search tries to find something about the items in the image. (more…)