I see a few apps listed on the 23 Things page to try: The ESPN app (I like sports, remember?) and I think I'll look at The Sibley eGuide to birds of North America app since my daughter and I like looking at birds and though she's very young, I think we can both get something out of it.
Note to all: It maybe just me, but ESPN Score Center is now ESPN SportsCenter for iPhone as well.
I see that the app wants you to log-in or create an account...blech, enough of those...though I suppose I can use Facebook (FB) to sign in since that's an option. Of course, FB wants to give ESPN or ESPN wants access to everything in your profile, so one may want to pass on that. On the upside, you can comment on stories and manage your favorite teams, leagues, etc but even without signing-up or signing in, you can still access scores, news, etc.
I like ESPN's app over the plethora of other specialized sports apps since it's a one stop shop, no need to download the apps for all the teams and leagues I like to follow but there's still the fact that the so-called ESPN bias can creep into stories and "news". Good joke I saw on social media the other night was how the Wild forced Game 7 of their playoff series but ESPN needed to spend a half-hour talking about Bryce Harper's broken thumb...if you don't completely get it, Bryce Harper plays on D.C. 's baseball team and is one of ESPN's favorite topics.
I don't want to spend a lot of time blabbering on about ESPN so I'll wrap up and reiterate that while ESPN has their faults they are still a good source and their app streamlines finding scores and news about my teams and my favorite sports. It's easy to use and has a lot of content.
Bird watching isn't a hobby of mine per se, but I do enjoy reading about wildlife and I really enjoy passing on a love and respect for nature to my child since we spend a lot of time outside going for walks around the parks and various nature "sanctuaries"in our neighborhood. This app can help us learn about the species we see commonly.
The first impression I get from the app's "title page" or "cover" is that it's very graphic and detailed, (upon further use, I'll find that that's true!
The first bird I thought I'd look at is the ubiquitous American Robin. Lots of good illustrations showing sexual dimorphism, regional variations, what the juveniles look like along with a nice map of their range, an example of their calls and some encyclopedic info about the species. Take a look for yourself:
For fun, I tapped the the little stylus-like icon on the upper right corner and added the bird to my list, which is useful as a pretty simple log of where and when you saw the bird along with a box for comments. Again, not much of a bird watcher here, but that would be a great feature for those that are.
I might add this app to my home iPad and heck, we might even leave it on the work one since we can see the Mississippi River and the surrounding environs, never know what we might see.
I will give a brief overview of a couple of apps I use for hobbies: IGN, Star Walk and Star Chart
IGN is a well-known video game magazine that also slightly caters to Hollywood buffs and comic fans. Their app allows you to break down your interests and caters them to you; for instance if you have no interest in Role-playing (RPG) games, but love sims, shooters (FPS) and sports, you'll be able to hear less about RPGs and plenty about FPSs; you can also indicate your interests in TV, movies and technology. The downside is in order to all of this...yup, you guessed it, you need to create an account or log-in via Facebook. If you've been following me here, you know my reservations about having eight zillion accounts and especially connecting things with Facebook, if not, to summarize, I hate it...so invasive! The app itself allows you to look at reviews about games, DVDs, movies, etc. It lets you know what's coming out soon that you might be interested in and allows you to watch various videos, etc. To be clear, if any fellow semi-gamers are reading, IGN's app is not IGN magazine mobile or ign.com.
One more thing (insert Columbo voice) To be honest, if you're into Hollywood, there's better apps than IGN. IMDb comes to mind...
Star Chart and Star Walk are two astronomy apps I use. I love gazing at the night sky, looking through a telescope or using Augmented Reality (AR) on my tablet. A layman's definition of AR is by using coordinates from your device's built in compass(/GPS), the app creates a replica of the sky you're looking at, it's almost like a hand-held Planetarium! Star Walk is arguably the more popular of the two but it costs $2.99 so I'm not putting it on my work iPad, though I have it at home. Star Chart is free, but a lot of the "expanded" options (dwarf planets [i.e. Pluto], satellites, expanded star catalog, etc) have to be purchased...and in the end Star Walk costs a little less than letting Star Chart nickel and dime you. Star Chart does have a sibling app called "Star Chart Infinite" that bundles all of Star Chart's expanded options, but it still ends up being $4.99...so Star Walk ends up being cheaper. In a way, it's a Coke vs Pepsi or an Acura vs BMW thing. Maybe Honeycrisp apples to Florida oranges...anyway, it's hard to compare the two exactly; while they do the same thing one starts free but ends up being more expensive and some people might expect and want more from the more expensive option. They both have their strengths. My honest (long-winded) opinion is this: Star Chart looks better graphically, is a little more intuitive and even without the premium content, lets you see a lot of things in the night sky. Star Chart also lets you explore the planets (and their natural satellites, if purchased) in more depth. Star Walk has a companion app called Solar Walk that I hear does a neat model of our solar system, but it's a totally different app and costs another $2.99, while the solar system upgrade in Star Chart is $0.99. Star Walk on the other hand has more initial content and actually ends up being a bit simpler to use once you get it figured out; for instance, Star Chart has this tendency to automatically "snap" to the closest constellation, so even when I wanted to center on Mars, it snaps to the Constellation Virgo, on Star Walk, I can center on Mars. It's hard to describe without really experiencing...as for the graphics, it's not that Star Walk's are horrible, but Star Chart's were (supposedly) created by people with backgrounds in the video game industry and I find them a little more pleasing. A few things that Star Walk has that Star Chart can't duplicate though (and this is what gives it a narrow win in my book) is access to NASA, the European Space Agency and other international government space agency photos of celestial bodies. There is a feature that uses your device's camera and then creates an overlay of what's there and Star Walk also has a "sky live" feature that tells you sunrise and sunset, moon rise and set, moon phases and any/all planets you can see and when to look for them.
I'll give a few pictorial examples of Star Chart and Star Walk for comparison's sake; top 3 are Star Chart, others are Star Walk
Honestly, the reason I kept Star Chart after purchasing Star Walk was because I more or less accidentally purchased the solar system upgrade and found it superior to the solar system content in Star Walk. I'm not that big of a star nerd.
If you read this far in, thanks. There are so many hobbies and apps for them, one could blog forever about them.
I'll give a few pictorial examples of Star Chart and Star Walk for comparison's sake; top 3 are Star Chart, others are Star Walk
Honestly, the reason I kept Star Chart after purchasing Star Walk was because I more or less accidentally purchased the solar system upgrade and found it superior to the solar system content in Star Walk. I'm not that big of a star nerd.
If you read this far in, thanks. There are so many hobbies and apps for them, one could blog forever about them.
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