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Jun 1, 2016

My New Role as a Technology Whiz

bearded womanI was invited to an event next week which I’m really looking forward to. It’s sponsored by the Women’s Media Group here in the city, and I was asked to accompany a friend who is a few years older than I am. The program is called Appy Hour. Don’t you love that?

For so many reasons, I can’t wait to attend. First, to spend time with this friend professionally. Also, the copy reads that “Appy Hour is a relaxed way to share our favorite apps with our colleagues and to hear about new ones from them.” As someone who is a relative late-comer to the world of apps, I love mine and am excited to hear about others during the evening.

My faves are all travel related–allowing me to call up schedules for MetroNorth, Moovit (my all-time favorite) that tells you what time your subway will arrive, and WAZE, the Israeli GPS that guides you around traffic jams and all the cabbies in NYC have adopted. Indispensable!

One of the promises for the night is that “you can tell us what you wish an app could do for you; someone in the group may have just the right solution for you.” I’m an avid learner and hope to scope out several new ones for my phone.

I had dinner on Sunday night with the woman who is bringing me as her guest. “Carol,” I said, “I’m really excited to be coming to this event with you. Which apps are you going to share as your favorites?”

“Oh,” she said, “that’s why I’m bringing YOU! You’re my beard! I don’t really use any apps.”

I’ve never been happier to serve as a cover-up for a friend.

 

 

 

 

 

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8 Comments

  1. Mary Ellroy

    You KNEW you’d hear from me!! I love “Shush.” When you turn off the sound on your phone (at the theater for example) this app asks you HOW LONG you want the sound off. You tell it, and it automatically turns the sound back on at the end of that time period. No more missed phone calls after the theater!

    Reply
    • janepollak

      @Mary – Each new app I hear about is cooler and cooler. Who thinks of these things? I imagine now that anytime someone says, ‘there should be a way to…’ someone else invents it. Thanks for sharing this one.

      Reply
  2. Abby Beale

    Hi Jane:
    I have two I can recommend: 1 – SuperBetter for helping you reach any goal in small steps and 2 – EWG (environmental working group) Healthy Living app where you scan a bar code of a product, review its rating and make better health choices.
    Abby

    Reply
    • janepollak

      @Abby – Thanks so much for these. I haven’t heard of either and will investigate both.

      Reply
  3. Janet Granger

    Jane, I totally agree with you that transportation is a major painpoint and WAZE makes driving less frustrating. To that end, I’ve downloaded Fort Lauderdale’s main parking app, PaybyPhone. You simply pay for the time you need. Such a relief not to worry about quarters anymore! Even better, it pings you a few minutes before your time is up, in case you want to add another hour. For those of us still using cars, quite a relief… I recommend parking apps highly, if you have one in your area!

    Reply
    • janepollak

      @Janet – This parking app sounds amazing. I’d love to find a way to beat the NY police system on ticketing. They can smell a low meter a mile away.

      Reply
  4. dbaliotti

    Hi Jane – sounds like a great event! Can’t wait to hear which apps you learn about. I have 2 favorites to share. One is the WhatsApp which lets you text anyone in the world for free. It’s a great way to stay in touch with friends/family who live or travel overseas. The other one is OverDrive which connects you to your library and allows you to borrow electronic books & videos for free. It’s a virtual library! I love having books on my iPad and hate to pay for them if I can just borrow them. I’m always trying to save a dime :)!
    Denise

    Reply
    • janepollak

      @Denise – These are fantastic. I’m going to try OverDrive tonight. I’m in need of a good video. Thank you!

      Reply

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