A Review of the "Clips" Clipboard Manager App

About Clips

Clips is a new clipboard management app for the iPhone that allows you to easily "clip" bits of content from the internet and organizes those clips (along with links to source contents) within the app interface.

You can also share the clips via email, message, or social media, add them to the Apple Reading list, or add them to other productivity apps like Evernote.

Getting Started

After you download the app from the App Store, there are a few steps you need to take before you can begin clipping. First, access your Control Center by swiping down from the top of your iPhone home screen. Make sure "Today" is selected at the top of the screen, and scroll to the bottom to find the "Edit" button. Select "Edit" and add Clips.

Next you need to add the Clips keyboard. Go to the iPhone Settings app, then General > Keyboard > Keyboards, and you should see an option to add the Clips keyboard. Then you're ready to go!

Clipping Content

Once you have everything set up, simply find some content on the internet (text, image, or both) and select and copy it.

Once you have done that, open the clips app and you will see your content listed on the main screen with a link to the content. At first it will be highlighted in red with a blinking white dashed line around it. You will need to select the plus icon to save the clip.

Once you have saved the clip, you can select the right-arrow icon to see the entire clipping.

From there, you can copy or open the URL or select "more" for additional sharing options.

Conclusion

This app a quick and easy way to archive interesting content or save it for later use/reference. It could be especially helpful in quickly sharing key content from online articles with team members in school or professional settings. I am a big user of Evernote, and if I were compiling web sources for a project, I could clip key points from sources and send them to Evernote to access later, maybe even in a shared Evernote document that could be seen by other team members.

If you save or share a lot of web content, I highly recommend giving this new clipboard manager a try!

2 Free and Simply Awesome Game Apps

These two apps show that you don't always need complicated game structures or a lot of fancy graphics and effects to make a good game app that's hard to put down. Sometimes the simplest game apps reign supreme. 

1. Pancake - The Game 

Warning: May cause pancake cravings.

In this simple game, all you do a flip a pancake. But don't be fooled, you might just get addicted. Flipping the pancake isn't as easy as it seems, either. I failed miserably the first few times, but I just couldn't resist tapping to try one more time. Then started to develop some strategies. I realized I could  tilt the pan to have more control of the catch, and that higher flips are riskier but don't get you any more points. This is a good game for players who are "problem solvers" by nature, because there are no guides to help you figure out how to successfully flip the pancake. It's all trial and error. The way the game is set up, you are always trying to beat your own high score (number of consecutive pancake flips). So far, I'm at 10, which isn't very good judging by comparisons with friends in the Game Center!

The app is also clean and well designed. The only visual you see is an arm holding a pan against a stark white background. They show your current high score in a clever way, too. It is tattooed on the side of the arm. When you get a new high score, a tattoo gun comes in and revises it with the new number. The only part of the game that bothers me visually is that each new pancake is cracked from an egg shell and dropped in the pan. I've never seen a pancake come straight from an eggshell before!

Here's a look at the game play in action:

Pancake - The Game is FREE in the App Store - Download Pancake

2. aa 

This super simple game will test your reflexes, but once you pick it up, it's hard to put down. When you begin playing, you have a big wheel with a bunch of spokes that is spinning. Below the wheel there are numbered circles. Your job is to tap the screen when you think there is room for another spoke, and one of the circles will move up to become a new spoke. But, you can't hit any of the other spokes, or you're game is over.

It seems, too simple at first, but as you progress, the wheel changes directions and speeds to make it more challenging. Also, the number of circles you have to add to the wheel increases, making it more difficult to find space for them all without bumping into other spokes.

aa is FREE in the App Store - Download aa

Apps That Make Weather More Fun

The east coast has been buzzing about weather this week as temperatures dropped and many of us saw the first snow we've seen this year. It inspired me to check out the current selection of weather apps available in the Apple App Store, and here are a few of my top finds:

Storm by Weather Underground, LLC

This is a new app by internet weather service, Weather Underground. It features a full screen, interactive, high resolution radar map. Users can also view customizable data layers over the map like tropical data and severe weather. When a storm is approaching, users can see it's speed and direction, find out which cities will be affected by it and how much time those cities have to prepare.

Swackett by AGLogic, LLC

It's called the "Different Kind of Weather App" and it definitely is. Swackett makes the weather a little more fun by letting users select characters called "peeps" that appear on the home screen with current weather info that is accurate but not overwhelmingly detailed. It also includes fashion advice on the home screen -- a list of suggested clothing items for the day's conditions. There is a grid navigation that accesses other extra features like "This Day in Weather History" and lifestyle and health advice, including what kinds of activities are best for the day's weather conditions. I found that navigation to be confusing, but otherwise thought this was a cool twist on the everyday weather app.

Weather Puppy by Weather Creative, Inc.

Everything's better with puppies! Nothing too fancy about this app. You just get to look at a cute puppy each time you open it to check the weather. You can choose the puppy on your home screen from the app's 18 themes of puppies Example themes include Glamour, Outdoorsy, Holiday Pups, and Puppy Love. Many are free, but a few are themed for dog-related non-profits and require a small donation to use. Purchase of a paid theme also removes all ads in the app. For $1.99, you can also upload pictures of your own dog.

Effing Weather by Kevin Blakeley 

Of the weather apps I tried, this was my favorite. It's simple but entertaining and offers some options for customization.

The app opens to an uncluttered home screen with a plain blue background. The only content items are current temperature, city and day of week, funny "effing" phrase about the weather, and a list of temperatures for weekdays at the bottom. There are also 2 small icons - a share icon to share current conditions and the "effing" phrase on social networks, and a camera icon, which can be used to customize your background on the home screen with a photo.



Today the phrases i got were:

You can use a toggle in the settings area to turn explicit language on and off - basically changes all the effings to the real deal.

In the "Effing Store" you can buy themed phrase packs.

They also invite users to submit their own phrase ideas and claim to add their favorites to the default message pack.

Organizing iPhone Apps

According to Nielson data, the average American accesses 26.8 apps each month. As we put more and more apps on our mobile devices, app overload inevitably ensues. Finding a way to organize all those apps on your phone can help you use them more efficiently and ensure you don't forget about important apps or get lost in distracting ones.

Yesterday, I was snowed in at home and decided it was the perfect time to finally get a functional organization system in place for my apps. Below is a look at my process, which will hopefully inspire you to examine how your own apps are organized.

I considered a few strategies based on this helpful article from Mashable, including:

Verb-Based Folders
Categorizing apps info folders and labeling the folders according to the action you take when you use them, such as "Read" for news or book apps, and "Listen" for music or podcasting apps.

Color Coding
Grouping apps in rows by color. This can help if you are a visual person, but it would require that you can recall the color of the app you're looking for in order to find it quickly.

Alphabetical
Sorting apps outside of folders in an alphabetical sequence by name.

Themed Rows
Grouping apps on rows based on theme, such as social media apps on one row and photography apps on the next. This could pose problems if you have lots of variety in app themes or if you have OCD tendencies that are put on edge when all the apps for a theme don't fit nicely on 1-2 rows, or when apps fit in more than one theme.

My Process

In the end, I employed elements of a few of the strategies mentioned above.

First, I identified apps I use multiple times every day and would want to have quick access to from my home screen.

Next, I categorized the remaining apps into folders based on the use/functionality of the app. As part of this step, I created a folder called "Unused" containing all of the apps that i don't use but that Apple won't let you delete.

I then segmented the app folders into 1st and 2nd screen folders. I wanted the first screen to contain folders of apps I would access at least daily. It also doesn't include folders of apps that could be distracting during the day, like games. The second screen contains all other folders.

On the home screen, I used the dock for the 4 apps I use most often and ones that I typically want to access quickly as soon as I unlock my phone. I then arranged the remaining apps and app folders in 3 rows. I like having only three rows because it doesn't give you visual overload on the phone home screen. I also alternated a row of app icons, a row of app folders, and another row of app icons, to add more visual contrast and make things easier to find quickly.

On the first page, it seemed most appropriate to use the verb naming strategy for my folders. On the second page, it was more logical to use noun descriptors. I also used some color grouping on the first page, within the 3rd row (Asana, Twitter and Facebook together, with Blogger isolated on the right).

Here's my final setup!

First Screen

Second Screen

Third Screen

Valentine's Day Apps You'll Love

Enjoy this roundup of sweet Valentine's Day apps! xoxo 

M.A.S.H. Valentine (free)- A blast from the past! I still remember playing M.A.S.H. in elementary school every single day at lunch. I'm sure if you're a female born in the 80s, you can relate. This app takes the classic game into the digital age with a Valentine's Day twist. Instead of wondering if you will end up living in a Mansion, Apartment, Shack or House, you play to discover whether you and your Valentine will end up Married, Aquaintences, Soulmates, or Happy. 

Love Quiz (free)- Take some time with your sweetheart this Saturday and try this "Newlywed Game"-style app to test how strong your love connection really is. It's all in fun! (Not responsible for any arguments caused by playing Love Quiz).

Tom's Love Letters (free)- With this app, you can send animated Valentine's Day card to tell someone special how you feel about them. What more could you ask for?If you said cats, you're in luck because all the cards feature cute animated talking cats who delivery your message to the recipient (either one of their pre-written messages or a custom message of your own).

Couple (free)- This "app for two" is like having your own private social network for just you and your significant other. It has private messaging and content sharing features, just like other social networks, but it also has a somewhat creepy feature called ThumbKiss™ that allows both partners to touch the same spot on their respective phones, and no matter how far apart they are, the phones will vibrate simultaneously. Couples can also use calendar features, share to-do lists, sketch together, send "secrets" (essentially Snapchat-style messages that only display once for a limited time) and make phone or video calls. 

Shari's Berries (free)- Skip the traditional box of chocolate this year and indulge in some chocolate dipped strawberries or hand decorated hand pops. You can order quickly and easily from this app, and you can choose to order for yourself or send something as a gift with a personalized message created right within the app.

Snapchat, You've Changed

I first downloaded the Snapchat mobile application back in 2012. I had seen it on some kind of "trending apps" list and thought I would see what it was all about. It mildly entertaining to be able to send these temporary picture messages, but a conversation through mostly facial expressions and 31 characters of tiny text can only entertain for so long.

As more and more of my friends joined and I discovered the color drawing and filter features, things got more interesting. Then they added the ability to manipulate text, use emojis, and broadcast your content to all your friends through the "My Story" feature. Yes, it was all coming together for me. Suddenly I was an everyday snapper, and of course watched all my friends' stories each day (to keep my stories page clear if for nothing else).

What I like about Snapchat is that it is simple and focuses on the one function of letting users share moments. You really don't have to think when you use Snapchat -- it's just an entertaining way to share and communicate. At least, that's how it was...

At the end of last month, the latest Snapchat app update was released with a new feature called Discover that broadcasts content from brand channels like CNN, Cosmopolitan, and ESPN. The content shown on each channel is selected by an editorial team. In fact, Snapchat makes a point in the notes about this feature that it is "not social media" for that reason. There is also a Snapchat channel where the company is broadcasting its own original series. So far that content has gotten less than stellar reviews.

If you want to learn more about Discover, don't watch Snapchat's promo video for it because you won't learn a thing...

When I explored the Discover feature, it didn't impress me. The content shown on the channels I watched seemed like repurposed clips from web or television content. The whole thing just felt forced, as if Snapchat wanted a way to say, "we aren't just for teens anymore!" I would have thought they might be more loyal to one of the main demographics that built their success!

To add insult to injury for the teen group, Snapchat removed the "Best Friends" feature with that same update. This was a feature that allowed you to click on a friend's name and see the 3 other Snapchat users that person interacts with most. It is a great way for teens to spy on each other and create gossip, so it was obviously a favorite. However, reports assure us that "Best Friends" will be making a comeback.

My point is that Snapchat seems to be abandoning some of the core simplicity that made it great in order to play in the major leagues of apps. They may be in store for growing pains if many teen users drop off and aren't replaced by adults at the same usage levels. It could be that these new features simply make Snapchat more appealing to everyone and all will be well in the app-sphere, but I fear the new features aren't useful or engaging enough to bring in a substantial new adult audiences.

With this new focus on brand channels, I think we all should brace ourselves - ads are coming...