The latest and greatest digital tool you've found?
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Part of this class is testing, and learning about new digital tools that can help you future career. So I have to ask, what is the latest and greatest digital tool you've found that can help others in the class? Tell us about it here.
One thing that I think is pretty cool is this site called NameChk where you can search for username availability on all social sites and see if yours is available. Give it a try. Oh, and don't list this as your lastest tool - show me something new!
Thanks - Derek
Comments & Feedback
I think that the site NameChk has a lot of potential to be more popular. I think the design of the site is unappealing and could be much more creative. However, the latest tool I have discovered is a website called SimplyNoise. It's purpose for playing white noise in the background, and is incredibilty helpful epsecially for studying purposes. It offers three noises to choose from: white, pink, and brown. I find lyrics very overwhelming when trying to memorize information. I think this site could also be helpful to those with sleeping problems because often people prefer a light noise to fall asleep to. Recently, I noticed that SimplyNoise has even expanded and created a site called SimplyRain. From personal experience, when had difficulty sleeping I would YouTube hour long rainstorms so using SimplyRain would be much more convienent.
Namechk seems to be a fairly interesting, albiet somewhat pointless beyond one feature it seems. The sites I already have that user name on obviously come up as taken and it doesn't neccessarily matter whether its taken on other sites or not. When it comes to my personal preference, I think calm.com is a fairly unique and useful tool. It's a very simple concept, a site dedicated to simple relaxation. I've used it countless times and I enjoy it thoroughly.
NameChk is really cool, I find it weird that a user name such as "jzultowski" which is what I use for everything, is taken on random sites that I definitely am not a member of. I think http://www.reddit.com/ is pretty cool. It is where people go to find news that is not so mainstream and some of the stories are pretty crazy.
My latest found of greatest digital tool is wearable smart device such as google glass and galaxy watch. In near future, smart device goes as part of our lives, so it should be handy. The example that I mentioned above are really handy and the things that people mostly carry or move easily with them. So I was really impressed that the devices have as same as wat we use for today in smartphones, but more handy than the phone. I saw some video for google glass, it recognizes motion from people doing function. I will definately get one when it launch for future.
I just recently found a digital tool called Medium. It was created by the founders of Twitter. Medium is a new place on the Internet for people to share ideas and stories that are longer than 140-characters, like on Twitter. It is similar to a blog, but I like it because there is no constant commitment to it like with a blog. You can post something whenever an idea comes to mind and you feel it would be worth sharing with everyone. It is also cool because unlike a blog, you get instant feedback and an entire audience with your posts. People can share their feedback with you, so it is kind of like writing a story WITH someone. Medium is somewhat new still, but I definitely feel like it has a ton of potential to be a huge hit in the social media and blogging world.
A new technology that is starting to gain populartity is smartglass. Xbox is implementing this technology as an additional feature that you can use when watching TV. Smartglass can change your tablet or smartphone into a second screen that compliments the program that you are watching. For example, if you were to be watching a NFL football game on your television, you could access the smartglass application on a secondary device and have fantasy football statisticts and players statisticts presented for the game that you are watching. As people become more familiar with this new technology it could become a fun and entertaining way to enhance the television experience.
On my phone I have had hundreds of apps over the years, but one app is starting to grow on me and I can say that it is my favorite. The app is called instatube it is an app that uses youtube to create playlist that you can listen to whenever you want. All you have to do is download the app and you look up the song watch the youtube or not depending if you want to at the the time and click add to a song and it will be added to your playlist. So if you are just sitting around with your friends listening to music you can add all the songs that you are listening to that maybe you didnt know the name of. The only downfall is that the app comes at a cost of $ 1.99 which is pretty steep for an iphone app but I think this one is worth every penny.
It is hard to say which form of social media is the greatest digital tool. I think for all around purposes, Facebook is the most useful, as it is the most used and most accesible throughout the world. It lets you keep track of almost everything, from relationships and pictures, to education and career opportunities. The second latest and greatest digitial tool I have found, sadly to say, is Twitter. I think for personal use, Twitter is almost totally useless, I do not typically care to post what I am doing or thinking all day long, however, for businesses and campaigns, I think Twitter gives these types of things huge opportunities to increase awareness and draw more attetion to their product or service.
I know it's not really new, but the most recent digital tool I have came across is Instagram. I am from Vancouver, British Columbia, so sometime it is hard to keep up with what friends and family are up to. Facebook and Twitter, are good tools as well to keep up, but I like Instagram because it is all photos and I can see what my friends back home are up to, as well as stay connected with my family. It's also very convenient to have Instagram on my iPhone and iPad, so I can see what everyone is doing with the push of a button.
A new tool that I just recently found is GroupMe. This is a messaging group app made I'm pretty sure only for iPhones. It allows you to add and remove people from the group as you wish. This is different from iMessage becasue you may not add or remove anyone once you create a messaging group. Pictures are able to be shared over this as well. One thing that is really cool is that you can like peoples messages. So if you are in a big conversation and someone says something that you find interesting, you can like it and show them that you read it.
My most recent digital tool that I have found is Twitter. I am a bit late on the Twitter wagon since not many of my friends use Twitter, but I have finally started using it. Most importantly, Twitter helps me get by my class very quick. The tweets are short and some of them are pretty interesting. I really enjoyed that.
So I have checked out various sites and honestly the simple answer is my favorite: Facebook. It is really incredible all that you can do with it. it's a great way to connect with old friends and family and make new friends. You can manage photos and videos as well as music and pretty much anything else you can think of posting. It is also a great way for businesses to get to alot of people at once because basically everyone is on it. It is a great tool with so many capabilities and new ones all the time.
The other day I was helping out a fellow MSU freshman decide which major he should choose. He's very picky and confused about what he wants so I was telling him my experiences of picking a major, what steps I took to figure out what I was interested in, and what I was good at. I came across a new website called MajorFinder on a Mashable article and wish it existed when I was a freshman! Basically you can browse majors, see if your school has it, talk to people who are in that major, and see more information about the jobs you can achieve with that major. The website is still in the early stages but once it's in full force it will be one of the best tools out there for students figuring out what they want to do in life! It's certainly much better than those crappy career quizzes online that always tell you the randomest career paths like "garbage truck driver".
It just so happens I recieved an email the other day about new apps! One of them was called Statigram and it helps you keep track of how your Instragram pictures are doing and can be used for Instagram advertising/marketing campaigns. It keeps track of your Instagram prescense and although I am not on Instagram- could be pretty cool for business owners to use if they are.
I recently used this app called, "Keek" which is an iphone app that allows you to capture, watch, and upload videos right from your phone. You can also share the video you post on other social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and even email or text it. I probably wont use it that much because I barely used YouTube. It did however, let me view my friends singing videos instantly from my phone once he posted them.
For an honest answer, here's mine. http://www.listentoyoutube.com/
It's simple, easy and has absolutely no BS in it. Every time I find a song that's hard to find somewhere else on the internet, this is what I'm using. Yes it's a social media class, but this is what I'm using as my biggest tool on the web these days. It's the only thing I can think of that's new and something I'd genuinely recommend.
A while back, somone made a blog post on here about Vine, and I commented saying it seemed pretty useless. I have since caved and downloaded it, and I now realize the brilliance in it. There are so many creative vine videos out there, and I think it would be a great tool for some business. You could use it to make short ads to demonstrate a product's use, or host contests for people to upload their best videos. The 10 seconds really force you to be creative.
I recently purchased Coda 2, which is a web development software that is very complex but man is it convenient and awesome! It has four main sections: Sites, Files, Editor, and Preview. Sites is where you can open all of your projects, it basically has all of the folders readily available to you so they're easy to access. Files is set up as an FTP where it lists the files available for that project. Editor is obviously where you are able to edit the code, and Preview is where you can preview your site and the changes you make. It's easy to split the screen so everything is available to you in one screen. It's so convenient and easy to use once you figure everything out. This will definitely be my editor choice from now on!
I really like Weebly, I feel like other people may have posted about it already, but the dang thing is just so convenient. In a culture where we are always looking for the easiest way to accomplish a task, Weeblys drag-and-drop feature does just that. Very convenient.
I don't really use any digital tool and I haven't tried anything at all till recently. Recently, I tried LinkedIn for this class and I thought it is pretty cool digital tool to make resume. It helped me alot to organize my education or job history and any other activities that I have done so far.
I usually don't use a lot of digital tools, mostly because I don't know how but this class has really helped me! I'm sure it's been mentioned, but the one that I KNOW will help me now and in the future is LinkedIn. I never knew what it was until this class, but I don't know how I didn't discover it's benefits sooner! I've already connected with people that I know will be able to help me in the future, and friends older than me who are doing things I would love to be a part of. I know it will continue to help me during college and after I graduate.
A great SEO tool would be Weebly. Using a simplified drag and drop engine, Weebly makes it possible to create a content rich website in minutes, with loads of features. The best part: it’s completely free. Seriously, use it. The SEO part of the class will be a breeze with this tool!
I'm not terribly tech savy or athletic, but one of my favorite apps is c25k for my smart phone. C25k is a training program that helps train even the most couch surfer person into an amature runner. If you're like me, you have the desire to work out, but don't really know where to start, this app is exactly what I needed. It is practical for people who don't know where to begin and is compatable with whatever music app or stored music on your phone, it just simply turns the music down to announce when to change intervals.
I particularly like this app because in a fast paced lifestyle sometimes you need that extra piece of motivation to help your self. Also, admittedly it's challenging to spend any amount of time even working out without feeling the pressures of social networking and the need to be connected to people.
One cool app I have discovered is called Bandsintown. This app imports all your artists from one of your music services and provides you with all upcoming shows in your area. It saves a lot of time searching for new concerts and artists. It also sends you an email of the latest shows that have been announced. I use this app all the time. It is definitely one of my favorites.
I like to use the running log app as it helps me keep track of the miles, trainning, reults of my trainning and competition. It can also help those that are coaches that would like to have a rooster to keep track of their athletes results. This can help to those in the sportig career to keep track of results.
I love using who.unfollowed.me - it shoes me who has unfollowed me on Twitter since the last time I checked. As an avid, opinionated Twitter user, i can see when my followers unfollowed me. For people that I know, I usually check the timestamp and see which Tweet could have pushed that friend over the edge. I have sometimes sent them a little post-"breakup" tweet, relating to the subject. Not sure how well the site could be used for business, but it definitely helps me contrl what I should and shouldn't say on Twitter.
I found a
tool called Screenr. It’s an online tool that lets you create screen capture videos,
with audio. It is also free. Lets you create just about any type. .instructional
video and then easily share with your social networks or even em
ail.
One new digital tool that I've found is Seelio. Seelio is a new student portfolio website created by former UofM students. I was fortunate to be reached out to by them to be one of their campus ambassadors for MSU. What Seelio does is kind of a lot like LinkedIn, but instead, Seelio focusses on being able to really share and express what you've done in more than just bullet points by displaying pictures, videos, etc.
I recently found one digital tool called "Weebly" Weebly is simple drag and drop engine. It is free to create new own pages. it is also supported by 24 hours crowdhosting system. Also, there are variety of multimedia features such as photo gallary, slides, HD video, Audio player and so on. They have supproting team as well. Of course, You can create the blog!
I really like the new technology of using eSignatures to get business processes done quicker. For example, Docusign is a new resource that uses eSignatures to speed up normal business processes. This is very useful to get things done quicker (contracts, documents, expense reports, etc.) Something that could take days to get done (because of snail mail, faxing, busy schedules, etc.) How you take normal everyday business processes and making them simple via a digital aspect. It’s great to see the growing convenience of business productivity.
Perhaps this one isn't groundbreaking, but it's new to me: HootSuite.
For a long time, I felt overwhelmed by social media. There are so many different social networks and profiles to flush out. Since I also manage the social media accounts for a student magazine at MSU, I sometimes feel like I'm losing my mind trying to keep all of my social media accounts in line. It helps to have a manager like HootSuite
The latest and greatest digital tool that I've found is Prezi. Prezi is the new way to do presentations. It is very popular among innovative advertising students as well as other students here at Michigan State University. It is a very creatiive way to make a presentation and is very different from the standard format presentation. I recommend that everyone use Prezi for their next project so you can surprise the people in your class with the fun and interactive interface.
One tool that 'helps' out in a different type of way that I have discovered is Local. This is an app that uses your location, not to post to social media, but to input specific settings. For example, a student can set their specific location in a classroom to turn their ringer on silent and turn their Wi-Fi off. Or at the office the same type of settings can be set for a conference room location. It is really simple to use, too. All the user has to do is create a new geographic location by dragging and dropping the pin on the map, and resize the radius of the location. Other plug in's that Local can sync with include: Caller, Location, Prientation, Bluetooth, Display Brightness, Shortcuts, Wallpaper, and Calander.
On a more business like topic though, the app Time Clock--Time Tracker is a program that tracks billable hours and expenses, then inputs the date into spreadsheets or invoices. A app like this can help anyone from a freelancer to a team manager. Also, since this app is automatic, is actually saves time so instead of spending 20 minutes going over recorded times and a spread sheet, that is an extra 20 minutes to double check the final piece. Neither of these apps are free, both they are both very beneficial.
I just recently discovered swarm.fm, which is a Spotify app that lets you discover new music in ways that you never could before. It lets users be aware of ALL new releases that come out. In this sense it complements the spotify lover user experience. It is basically an integration of Facebook and last.fm that keeps you up to date with all the musical activities and likes of your friends. What I love the most about this app is that it extracts a complete library of your musical likes through pages of bands/artists you already follow on Facebook and sincronizes them with your entire Spotify library. Then it updates you with every new release of each one of the artist that interests you (a lot more useful than Spotify's built-in recommendations, which are usually inaccurate). If you love music and use Spotify, CHECK IT OUT.
So far my favorite app has to be Vine. I did not understand the application at first, creating 15 second videos and editign them seemed hard and pointless. However, the usability is super easy, and the application itself is fun to use. I found out about Vine through a previous blog post on this site and think that Twitter did a great job implementing this application fast onto the social media market.
One helpful digital app I recently discovered is TurboScan. The iPhone’s camera can scan any document and save it as a PDF, PNG, or JPEG file. It's a quick and effective way to scan an item. The app detects the document’s edges and enhances the image. You can create multi-page PDFs. It lets you save, send, or share directly from the app, or print the scanned item with AirPrint. This is app is very practical for a busy college student.
I recently downloaded an app called Genius Scan that lets you scan documents and send them through email as JPEG or PDF files. It's really easy to use and you can upload the document to any cloud system on your phone like Dropbox or Evernote.
One of my favorite new apps is called TempoRun. It was actually developed by a group of MSU Engineering students. TempoRun sorts all of the music on your iPhone into different levels of pace. Starting your run, TempoRun keeps your pace and selects songs accordingly. You can challenge yourself by speeding up, and TempoRun will tell you if you're going too slow! The app is still in development, but soon will have features allowing you to share your runs and challenge your friends. It's a great way to stay motivated, and keeps me from getting distracted by hating the music that comes on during my run.
I study creative advertising, so I'm always conscious of what my personal portfolio should look like. As an active member on the Behance network, I was please to see them roll out with a new Portfolio App that allows you to sync your work on Behance onto a tablet or iphone. In some cases this method of presenting your work may be preferable to an actual portfolio. Having these options available is definitely nice, and the clean visuals and ease of usability are really nice to have.
So, if anyone is looking for an additional way to display their online work for a future interview, this app is a great resource to have!
I'm big on organization tools since it helps with time management and keeps my stress level minimum. One of the most useful digital tools I've been using to organize my busy life recently is BusyCal. Unfortunately it's not free (however there is a free 30-day trial) but it has a ton of useful tools that I love. First of all, it organizes every calendar by color so I'm able to organize each of my classes by color. It also make sit really easy to filter calendars and only view certain ones; something I find really useful when looking at what I have due the upcoming week. Aside from the typical calendar features, it has alarms, reminders, a to-do list, and even a weather forecast for the upcoming week!
BusyCal syncs with my iPhone and Macbook calendar just like the regular iCal does, except BusyCal also syncs with Google Calendar! It makes the various schedules I receive via email really easy to synch all in one place. BusyCal is also way easier to work with—especially when using an iPhone. It's so easy to add events, drag-and-drop images, look up birthdays, etc. BusyCal even has a variation of calendar view options so you can choose which date ranges to look up and/or view it weekly... in addition to the usual day/month/year options. Definitely a great investment to keep my future as organized as my life is right now!
While not brand new, I've found a lot of people aren't familiar with Prezi, which is an online presentation tool. It has a much different flow to it than PowerPoint, which I think is great for breaking-up a presentation as most individuals have become accustomed to slides coming in and out with the same transitions we've been seeing for the past 13 years. Prezi is also nice in that you do not have to worry about carrying around a flash drive nor logging into your e-mail and worrying about files or compadibility - if you can load something as basic as flash, you can log-in and give your presentation on Prezi.
The latest digital tool that I have been using is Codecademy. It is a site that helps you learn how to properly build code for a website. Its pretty cool since you can get tips and find solutions for any problems but you can also post tutorials or your own guides on how to do a something. Since I am in a lot of programming classes its nice to see an interactive website that is helpful and continually being updated. I like that I can get real-time advice from other coders who have had the same problems I am having.
I have always used Shazam or Soundhound to listen to a music that is being played when I am in public to get info on the song and the artist names. These apps are so useful when I hear a song that interests me in my current mood and want to add it to my collection.
I think Pinterest is the lastest and the greatest digital tool for me. I like how visual it is. For fashion industry, it is really a really good tool!
I just came across something called Frontline SMS. It's a tool where you are able to text large numbers of people. It could be useful for business settings because the phones' SMS capabilities now only allow a maximum of 10 people in group messages and some don't allow messages sent in the same text thread.
One of my new favorite apps is MyFitnessPal. With this app you can monitor your food intake and follow trends. It sets daily goals for you and isn’t an app that is focused on weight loss but instead is focused on helping you maintaining a healthy diet. You can scan the barcodes on the food you eat and it uploads all of the nutritional values for the food scanned. If you work out you add your workout and you get more calories added to your daily goal so you can eat more. The thing I like most about this app is that you see your weekly intake, and can see more of a big picture of what you are getting too much of and what you aren’t getting enough of. Its a cool way to figure out what changes you need to make to your diet to be more healthy.
My latest craze has been touristlink, and it is a social media network for tourist traveling the country. I love it! I am going to Austrailia this summer and I have already found out some really great things that I want to do once I get there because of this site. It is also used for helpful do's and dont's for new travelers like myself. You can connect your profile to facebook or twitter to meet and chat with other travelers!
MSU New Media Drivers License Copyright 2017
I believe that the latest and greates digital tool that I've found that can help me out in the class is blog and linkedin. While having hard time to figure out any technical issues or others, I always look up on google to find any bloggers that can give me directions or ideas that may help out. Also, having bloggers and linkedin will definitely maximize the way to have more networks that help me out for getting to know more people who may give me better thoughts and concepts too!