Tech Apps: A Few of My Favorite Things

I can remember not too long ago being reluctant to get a smart phone. I had a regular cell phone, of course, but the idea of a smart phone just seemed so complicated to me. And a lot of my friends felt the same way. But then one Christmas, Phil and I had family visiting us here in New York, and we piled them all into a van to go and see "The Lion King." I noticed that my three-year-old nephew was playing with his mother's smart phone. I thought he was just playing a game or something until he yelled out to Phil, "Watch out! There's a big curve coming!" It turns out he was tracking our journey on the phone's GPS! And I thought, "Wow. If this little three-year-old year old can do that, then what am I so afraid of?"

After that little lesson, Iimmediately got myself an iPhone -- and an iPad, too. I'm all plugged in at this point. And now I'm constantly discovering new apps, gadgets and gizmos that I just love. My friends and colleagues are always sending me brilliant new applications and fun things to try. I've been sharing them with everyone -- and I thought you'd like to see them, too!

 

Follow Marlo Thomas on Twitter: www.twitter.com/MarloThomas

Comments

[Hexandra]

06:59 PM on 06/04/2012

Ok that sounds very nice. You really can't do landscaping with an app. One needs to take a soil test to see what the grass, trees, shrubs need. An app cannot do this, it can only tell you things in writing it can't take a soil test. Now the big picture is "What happens when Tec. goes DOWN" No apps, no cell phone, no electric, you might have your car provided it is full at the time. Everything goes BLACK.
Learn to whistle, blow a horn, or a Wind instrument. Try to do with out. Someday, this may happen. Then What, everyone will go crazy, like the crazy ants. Go figure this one out... It is called SURVIVAL of the FITTEST! One must learn to survive without. An app can't lay an egg.

[scout eliot]

10:53 PM on 05/17/2012

do you have the "pow wow chow cookbook" app?

[Thinking 4 Myself]

10:50 PM on 05/17/2012

So the first app "i mirror"...that's just the camera right? I'm unclear why you need a separate app for that. Doesn't it give you that exact view when you turn your camera on normally and point it at your face?

[JenuineJenius]

08:30 PM on 05/17/2012

If using an app or buying something online saves countless hours of phone calls and/or running around trying to find a particular item, instructions, recipe or anything else....and that, in turn, allows us to spend MORE time with our family and friends, then what are you all grumbling about? Thanks to the evil internet, I have replaced my own refrigerator water hoses, learned how to make some recipes the way my traditional grandmother made them, and found coupons and offers to save money on hotels, flights, and restaurants. Not to mention that I can check reviews of Doctors and products and before I buy. In the long run, I save time and money...and these, to me, are a precious commodity.

[pastgone]

06:35 PM on 05/17/2012

How about an app that deletes ridiculous, adolescent articles from Huffpost's first page?

[Aitch5]

06:03 PM on 05/17/2012

I'm interested in an app where you can have a stimulating or meaningful conversation with someone.

[dsimms]

07:20 AM on 05/18/2012

That app is called a sit down lunch with an interesting friend and all the electronic devices are turned off

[Kuki Airani]

05:56 PM on 05/17/2012

I think there's a certain level of fatigue that naturally follows on from these 'discoveries' and 'applications' within the digital sphere. Eventually it all gets to be a bit much. Finding your comfort areas with the gadgets though is great, and it can enrich your work and social life. Just don't let them erode your real and natural communication skills as a person. If only someone can come up with a hand-held device that also makes my espresso, I'll have everything I need!

[sharonlmomofthree]

04:20 PM on 05/17/2012

I know I'm the last one on the planet, but I don't even own a cell phone. I am sometimes looked at in amazement by others when asked my cell # and I reply I don't have one. I've never texted in my life. I wanted a phone, but just never got around to getting one. Then, I just figured it to be another bill in the mail I could do without. My 15 year old daughter has one and it never leaves her side. But, enjoy your apps. Maybe one day I'll get "techno-savvy" myself.

[rmrgdr]

04:18 PM on 05/17/2012

Lost interest around number 10 or so.
MMM, woman like shiney objects. shiney good.
Fer cryin out loud, get a life.

[EAbraham]

04:15 PM on 05/17/2012

Technophobes, get real. Not all apps promote rampant consumerism. My smartphone has saved me from being lost countless times. I use it daily to find my best public transportation options at any particular time, I have an app that sorts all my confirmations & reservations for when I travel (so that I never arrive at the wrong place or wrong time or without my confirmation number in hand). I have apps that track grocery store sales so that I can decide, on the fly, where to stop for a particular item on my way home from work (and how far it might be from my train stop).

Of course, I can live without my smartphone; I just live a fuller life WITH it. I DO choose to live without a car, which my smartphone makes much easier than it used to be. I'll keep it as long as I can afford it, thank you.

And thank you, Marlo, for sharing your favorite apps.

[Theda]

08:42 PM on 05/17/2012

People also once complained about airplanes, saying "if God wanted humans to fly, he would have given them wings!"

[ecceme]

01:12 PM on 05/17/2012

I'm sorry. I don't deserve your patients

[Northlite]

12:56 PM on 05/17/2012

I've read several of your previous columns and have been impressed with your intelligence, insight, and compassion. But now reading you breathlessly promoting gadgets is a real turn off. So many people here are living and working so far below their potential. So many people are suffering in this world and in this country. Can't you think of something less selfish to write about?

[Vballboy60]

12:45 PM on 05/17/2012

Enough of the beeps and buzzers. Electronics are helpful for certain things but when people forget the age old bumper sticker.....

The Best Things in Life Aren't Things......

Then materialism and marketing invades our lives too much.

Try conversation version 1.0. Sit down and talk to your friends and family face to face. Put down the text and cell phones that over-clutter our lives. Or at least turn them off for some part of each day so you look up and see the sunshine and the humans around you.

[Terry Ambrose]

12:39 PM on 05/17/2012

I've used an app similar to the Grocery Gadget app on my iPad, but the iPad is too big to take to a grocery story. With an iPhone, however, it would have been perfect.

[rosscamera]

12:20 PM on 05/17/2012

Very nice if you can afford it !!

[Vballboy60]

12:46 PM on 05/17/2012

Too much materialism and marketing.

Electronic devices are here to assist us. Not dominate the day.

For some time each day, turn off the beeps and buzzers, look up at the sun and the people around you.

And realize that .... The Best Things in Life Aren't Things.

[Theda]

03:34 PM on 05/17/2012

I love my iPad. It doesn't mean I don't "look up at the sun and the people."
Get real---we co-exist with many brilliant inventions in the 21st century. It doesn't mean we can't appreciate people or "the best things."