T's Favorite Apps

Our new ipad, which I received for Mother's Day, has become T's best friend. He has a couple games he really loves, and since they are educational, I thought I'd share them.

The first is Stack the States. By answering questions about the U.S. states and stacking up the correct answers, the player wins states on a map. Questions range from easy (choosing the state that matches the abbreviation) to hard (knowing state nicknames). The bar moves up as you get better so you continually have to earn more states to more to the next level. There are bonus games that open up that are fun too - T's favorites are puzzler and capital drop (in which you have to match state shapes with their capital cities).

A sample question with states already stacked.

The goal is to have the stack reach the black and white line.

The "My States" page. Each time you stack states up to the bar, you earn a state for the "My State" map.

In one of the bonus games, Puzzler, you drag the states together to make a section of the map.

The app costs 99 cents and is worth every penny. If you play it long enough, it repeats questions, but this doesn't bother T since he loves repetition! Check it out at the itunes store here. 

T's new favorite game is Presidents vs. Aliens. Created by the same guy as Stack the States, players earn presidents by answering questions about the men who have served in the highest office in the U.S. This a bit more difficult than the states but the tougher questions have clues (like dates) that help. The hardest ones are quotes from Presidents as not many of them are well-known. [We might engage in a bit of quiz-jacking.]

A sample question - in the background, you can see the aliens hovering over Washington, D.C. 

After you get a question right, you get to help the President take out some of the aliens. When all the aliens are defeated, you win a president for your big "My Presidents" list. 

The main "My Presidents" page. In the bottom corners, you can see the bonus games: Heads of State and Executive Order. T loves putting all the presidents in chronological order in Executive Order. 

This app is also a bargain at 99 cents! Check it out on itunes here. We're going to try Stack the Countries next. Learn more about the author of these great games on his blog: http://dan-russell-pinson.com/

Trying New Apps: Weatherbug

I downloaded a new app to my phone this morning and really like it. I've been wanting easy access to the weather and haven't found an app I liked - until today, when I downloaded weatherbug.

Best feature is that it loads the current temperature into the tool bar at the top of the screen (I have an Android phone).

Hopefully you can see the blue 36 degrees at the top left of the screen:

The forecast page and current conditions page are both easy to read and easy to navigate. And, yes, it really was 36 degrees here this morning!

Do you have a favorite weather app? 

What Are Your Favorite Apps & Add-Ins?

With our new fancy smart phones, we're learning all about apps, and I have long been a fan of desktop/Windows apps and add-ins. I didn't realize how much I loved and used Rapportive until their server was upgraded last week and the service went offline. Rapportive is an add-in for gmail (it works with the google-based Case mail as well, FYI for my CWRU friends) that shows you the social networks of the people who email with. It pulls up their profile picture, and if they're on Twitter, their last 3 or so tweets. And it takes the place of the ads that usually run down the right hand column in gmail. It's a win-win.

It's also great when you get a new Twitter follower, because you don't have to visit Twitter to learn more about the person; you can see their tweets right there.

Here's a picture from their website that shows you how it looks. It's super handy, and if you use gmail, I highly recommend it.

What are your favorite apps and add-ins?