Scanning Apps

There are times when you want to save receipts, business cards, an article from a magazine, or someone wants a copy of a document sent to them as a PDF (portable document file format). Scanning apps can help you accomplish all of this and more. Allowing you to share documents or save them on your device or put them in cloud storage. Below are the four best:

Finescanner (Free) iOS and Android. - This app is easy to use and automatically finds the edges. You can save or send the image (JPG)  or document (PDF). The OCR (optical character recognition) allows you to search scanned items in 193 languages. It has a book mode that makes copying two pages at once easier.There are subscription premium features available for purchase (as seen in one of the pictures). http://www.finescanner.com/

Genius Scan (Free) iOS and Android. - I really like the simplicity and ease of use for this app. It automatically found the document and took the picture. Re-cropping and making corrections are very easy. It has multiple print options. Users can upload the item to cloud storage, a FTP server, other apps like Expensify, or e-mail it. Users can save or send as an image (JPG) or document (PDF). If you use their signing or faxing app you can easily transfer your item to either. There are premium add on features that you can purchase (shown in one of the pictures below. http://www.thegrizzlylabs.com/genius-scan/

Scannable by Evernote (Free) iOS only. - If you are a fan of the productivity app Evernote this may be the scanning app for you. The design of the beautiful and easy to use. I think this app works well, especially the auto capture and auto crop. It allows you to send multiple ways as an image (JPG) or document (PDF) or as a Scannable document in your Evernote account. They also have a scanning machine that you can use to automate the scanning of                                                               multiple items. https://evernote.com/products/scannable/

CamScanner Free (Free) iOS and Android - This is one of the first and one of the best scanning apps. I have longest and it was one of the first apps I ever downloaded. Users can easily scan, save, and share items as documents (PDF) or image (JPG). Use the OCR (optical character recognition) or tags to easily find items you've saved. There are premium features that you can subscribe to use and there is a premium version of the app for .99, but I have had the app for over three years and never needed those features. https://www.camscanner.com/

Kik, SnapChat, and the dangers to children

One of the most popular and most discussed apps is KiK. The messaging app does not require an e-mail address or phone number.  There also isn’t much to verify that users are over 13, the age that KiK feels is appropriate to use their app. Users can stay mostly anonymous and much of the information shared is kept secret which may seem good for the user but this app has been tied to a murder, kidnapping, drug crimes, child pornography, cyber bullying, and much more. The secrecy and anonymity have at time made it difficult for police in their investigations. With an estimated 275 million users, 70% of which are from the United States, the app has attracted a lot of attention from teens and millennials. Another popular messaging app, Snapchat, also allows users to send photos and videos in a fashion where they only exist for a short time period and are deleted automatically. Users are notified if a user re-watches or takes a screenshot of a "snap" and there is a user verification mechanism.  Users have a false sense of safety and anonymity but there are ways to record and keeping pictures and videos from Snapchat. Snapchat, like KiK, has also had its share of users behaving badly with underage users taking nude pictures and videos which may seem harmless but can (and in some cases has) lead to criminal charges for the manufacture and/or distribution of child pornography. Police and schools are warning teens and young adults that there are adult consequences to their behavior on these messaging apps. Nude photographs and video of persons under 18 are treated as child pornography in most municipalities. There are adults using the messaging apps to manipulate young people for their own illegal purposes.

Below are three articles going into greater depth about crimes and problems related to KiK and Snapchat:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/06/us/social-media-apps-anonymous-kik-crime.html

http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/local/2016/02/07/do-you-know-what-apps-your-child-using/79988196/

http://www.wdrb.com/story/31181366/officials-anonymous-smartphone-apps-could-be-used-to-target-children

Guardians and parents can set-up apps to send notifications allowing them to monitor use in real-time. Apple and Google account users can require a password to download a new app and can opt to receive an e-mail when an app is downloaded. There are settings on devices that restrict what can be done on them and require a password or PIN number to change those settings. To learn more about how to do this, perform a Web search for parental controls for the device in question, or look at the user manual for the device to see what setting can be adjusted. There are apps and services that allow for monitoring, control over the apps and filter the web content underage users can gain access,to  and tracking a user's device (location and use). There are a lot of good apps and services available that can be found by searching for "parental control apps". Some reviews for apps and services can be found below:

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-parental-control-apps,review-2258.html

http://lifehacker.com/circle-is-the-parental-control-for-the-internet-ive-alw-1747520805

http://familytime.io/

http://cell-phone-parental-control-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

Messages versus Allo

Last week Apple came out with one of their biggest updates to their mobile operating system called iOS 10. This update added a lot of different functions but by far the most talked about was the changes to its Messages app.

I took a bunch of screenshots of a conversation I had and tried to show all of the different things you can now do.

You can add memes.

Add stickers to a conversation or a photo.

Draw on a photo.

Send message effects.

Send in Loud, Gentle, and what I thought was really cool… invisible ink.

You can play games in your messages.

There are Digital Touch options like sending your heart beat, a burst, drawings, and much more

Canvas, Evernote, and other productivity apps have Message features so you can share easily.

I could go on and on but this week Google came out with messaging app called Allo. It has some of the same functions that Apple’s messages.

Change font size.

Share location.

Send audio.

Stickers (but not really as good a selection as Messages)

Its artificial intelligence suggests responses based on your

What really makes it special is the Google Assistant. It can find restaurants, movies, and weather. 

You can have it pull up your travel data. It can play a game with you.

You can delete your conversations, block users, and more in your settings.

Talking with a friend that has an Android phone I found out that there are certain functions like sending files from Google Drive or Google Photos from within the app only available on Android. Allo is not available on desktop devices or older Android devices. Apple's Messages for iOS 10 only works on iPhone and iPad so all of the functions are not available to non-Apple users or at this time on the Mac.

One of the issues that some technology reporters have called “disappointing” and “concerning” is that Google is storing and tracking users’ conversation data. There is an “Incognito” mode where messages are encrypted end-to-end, meaning that it is private but you have to set that up for each conversation you begin. Many people feel that privacy should be by default. In contrast, Apple does not collect, store, or view conversation data.

App In-Depth: Google Maps

One of the few "in-depth" reviews that I've done was for Waze. I still use Waze but Google Maps has a lot of great features that Waze lacks and there are certain features that they both share.

Google Maps remembers your home, work, and places that you have visited in the past. This is helpful for someone forgetful like me who remembers the street name or place name but not the exact address.

Google maps can tell you about places near you that are: restaurants, parks, gas stations (and their prices, groceries, pharmacies, and much more.

Routes are available for car, walking, bicycling, and mass transit (all kinds actually). I found this feature incredibly useful in Portland, Oregon. It would tell me when the bus would come by the bus station near me, how long it would take to get to the destination, and how much it would cost. There were times that I could see that walking would take the same amount of time. I could also get an alert from the app when it was time to leave the house and head to the bus stop.

As a Google Maps user you can easily provide reviews and user data about places you visit. You collect points and there is a program in place to provide rewards.

If you want a satellite or terrain view that's available in the app as well. With one of the most recent updates you can also download maps for offline viewing so if you are using a tablet or have a limited data plan you can download your map for later use.

The "Explore" feature gives you suggestions for places that you might enjoy for different categories.

The app has voice recognition so you can search for a place without typing, which is especially helpful when driving. The app shows traffic on the map and alerts you when you to changing traffic. Unfortunately I do not have a screenshot but one of the other things that is helpful is the app shows arrows in the top left of the screen of where each lane is going so you can decide what lane you want to get in or avoid. Another new feature is that the app will tell you the speed limit of the road you are traveling on. If you prefer to just look at the turn by turn instructions you can tap the grey bar at the bottom where it lists the amount of time and it will show you each turn and the distance between each turn.

With 3D Touch on iPhone 6S and 7 you can press to launch a quick navigation to your shortcut locations. If you have an Android you can set-up widgets that show you how long it would take to drive from your current location to each of your shortcuts.

Google Maps is available for:

Android - https://goo.gl/fjwt1
Apple (iOS) - https://goo.gl/4btbGI
Online - https://www.google.com/maps/