A few essentials to get you started! Don’t forget to also add a bookmark to your library’s mobile site (at CU: mlib.colorado.edu/ )
Evernote - Free app for taking notes on the go on your smartphone; includes convenient widget. You can also take notes in your computer browser, or on a standalone computer app. You can clip text or entire pages on your computer browser. Online sync. Recently acquired Skitch, which has the potential to become an interesting program for making notations on images.
Executive Assistant by Appventive – (Android only) Summarize calender/agenda, new emails, new texts, new Twitter updates, and new Google reader updates on one screen. Summary screen can also be used as lock screen; several convenient widgets.
Dictionary.Com Thesaurus, Encyclopedia, Quotes… Free apps for Android, BlackBerry and IOS. Unfortunately, ad supported.
DropBox – Automatically sync files between multiple computers and cloud storage; Access all stored files from Droid or IPhone with free app.
I’ve been using this on my computers for years, and it is quite reliable. A change to a file in my DropBox folder, is automatically is synced to an online backup, as well as to any other computer on which you have installed DropBox. Access all files and their previous versions online as well – so if a file is corrupted, you can rollback to an old version. FREE to 2 GB, but I pay for the 50GB. Well worth it for the automatic back-ups!
Language Dictionaries
- LEO – Dictionary for language pairs German to English, French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, & Russian. Originally web based, there are now free apps for Symbian and Android. The LEO project had stagnated a bit in the mid 2000s, but has taken off in the last years, and now includes definitions, conjugation tables, audio files, and comments sections where you can request help with translating difficult words or idiomatic expressions.
- SpanDict – Dictionary & word game, free app
- English-Turkish Dictionary by Baris Efe – simple, but the best free Turkish dictionary for Android.
- Google Translate – translate between 57 languages. Web based and free Android standalone app. It has a long way to go, but I’m including it here because it accepts audio input. Because users can suggest better translations, it has potential to become a powerful tool in the future. I use it primarily when I need an alternative to my Turkish dictionary.
Twitter Clients – If you only use Twitter to follow others, than the standard Twitter client is adequate. Seesmic is small and fast, and easily allows you to view and follow other profiles. HootSuite allows you to post from multiple accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc), and to schedule posts for specific times. Hootsuite also has a web interface. Both have free apps for mobile phones.
Zotero - collect, manage, cite, and share your research sources for free - with free online backup! Browse your sources through your mobile browser, or consider Zandy . First : Zotero:
Free, sponsored by grants from the Andrew Mellon Foundation.
Citation info can be easily captured with one click from most library catalogues, Amazon, MLA bibliograpny, Google Scholar, and many other scholarly databases as well. Funded by the Andrew Mellon Foundation, Zotero just received another major grant and announced Zotero Everywhere, an initiative that will lead to a standalone client as well as IE and Safari integration. The first mobile apps are also appearing after Zotero opened it’s API in 2011 – I’m most excited about Zandy.
Archiving: you can capture web pages and save copies of files, videos, etc. to the Zotero citation – and take unlimited notes, which are searchable. If you would also like to sync these attachments to Zotero.org’s cloud storage, you can do so for a very reasonable price.
Citation plug-ins are available, also for free, for OpenOffice and Microsoft Word.
Added bonus: EXCELLENT, speedy support, even if the replies are occasionally a bit grumpy.
This mobile app for Android allows you to view all of your Zotero references from your Android phone or tablet. Easy to use, continually evolving, and excellent support from the developer if you are having trouble.