On Computing

Need to get away?

These apps may be particularly helpful.

Joel Howell

Article by Joel Howell Newsletter Editorial Board

Posted

Hotspot Shield VPPN Google Play Store Free

A VPN, or virtual private network, can disguise your online identity to help you access blocked websites/apps. This can be very helpful when traveling in a different country, where some apps that you use every day will be blocked. Some examples? Southwest Airlines and StubHub are blocked in Bulgaria.

Memrise www.memrise.com

Memrise isn’t just another language app. It was created by a neuroscientist who made learning a language into a game. It will teach you need to know phrases when traveling.

Avast Photo Space Apple Store

This app is perfect for the individual who takes lots of pictures and doesn’t like getting the “Storage Full” notifications. This app puts your photos into the cloud so you don’t have to worry about not having enough storage.

Flight Stats Apple Store Google Play Free

The free app, Flight Stats, does exactly that. It’s available on iTunes, Google Play, and even Apple Watch.

Units Plus Converter Apple Store

This is another wonderful travel app that downloads currency exchange rates every 15 minutes. It also converts weight, volume, area, distance and more.

Mobile Passport www.mobilepassport.us Free

This app was created by Customs and Border Protection. It does away with the long customs forms you get before coming to the U.S. You answer all the questions on the app; once you land you submit the e-form to customs. Now you can skip the line.


Helpful Apps for iOS10

The new Apple update also gives a much needed makeover to the whole iPhone. One of the biggest changes is that now you can get rid of all the apps that come with the phone that you never use! The notifications have also changed, along with some new things you can do with your text. Someone’s birthday? Send a text with balloons! Are you excited? You can make the text “Slam” onto the screen. Below are some helpful apps for the new Ios10 and the new iPhone 7. All can be found at the App Store

Sticker Pals

First off is Sticker Pals: Since the I Message has changed with the new update, it now allows for you to make a few changes to your keyboard. This app allows you to have tons of animated cartoon characters on your keyboard and allows you to send them to your friends.

Words With Friends

Most people know about this app already, however with this update it makes chatting with your friends during the game easier.

Doodle

Schedule Maker lets individuals have a voting system within an iMessage. It’s great when you are trying to pin down a good time for everyone in a group message. The only downside? Everyone in the group message needs an iPhone.

Circle Pay Free

Do you ever go out with friends and try to figure out how to split the cost when some of you have cash and some have a card? This free app lets you do a digital money transfer over iMessage.

Translate www.translate.com

The final app is similar to Google Translate. It’s called Translate and allows you to translate a conversation with an individual in real time. However, like Google Translate, the text might come out sounding like Yoda.


Questions or comments? Drop me an email: jwh3@mindspring.com