Tech Table Tuesday, December 31, 2013
December 31, 2013
Justin: Welcome to MPA’s Tech Table. I’m Justin.
Diana: And I’m Diana.
Justin: And we’re your hosts. We’ll be serving up a heaping spoonful of all things tech.
Diana: We promise it’ll be easy to digest. Well, hello, Justin.
Justin: It’s New Year’s Eve!
Diana: I know. I’m so excited!
Justin: It is exciting. I don’t really get excited about New Year’s Eve itself but I get excited about the New Year.
Diana: The New Year, sure.
Justin: So, you know, today we’re going to talk about a few fun apps.
Diana: Yes, and they’re New Year’s specific.
Justin: Yeah, they’re New Year’s fun apps. That’s what you’ve titled them.
Diana: Yeah, so we’re going to kick it off by, of course, everyone knows about the ball dropping in New York, the Times Square ball, right?
Justin: That’s right.
Diana: So, there’s actually an official app. It’s called Times Square Official New Year’s Eve Ball App. It’s only for iPhone, so sorry Android users.
Justin: There you go.
Diana: We’ll talk about what you can do later. But what you can do with this app is you can watch live streaming events in Times Square leading up to New Year’s Eve. So, you can get on there right now, you could’ve gotten on there yesterday if you had it.
Justin: Wow, and you just kind of watch.
Diana: I know. Go back in time. And you can watch and see what’s going on. They also have some exclusive video content. You can customize your countdown clock.
Justin: Ooh, with a personal photo and timezone. I always got so confused when I was a kid because you’d be watching the ball drop and it would be early. I was confused, like what’s going on? The ball just dropped and I missed it. Yeah, I was very confused by that.
Diana: Yeah, I know. Yeah, and then you can also follow and interact with the Times Square ball on Twitter.
Justin: That’s odd, but okay.
Diana: It has its own Twitter.
Justin: Alright, and then there’s New Year’s Fireworks, which you’ve been loving. You’ve been showing me this on your Android.
Diana: Yes, look at that.
Justin: It’s fireworks on your screen.
Diana: And it says 2014. You can change the colors. You can change how many fireworks, how often. Yeah, it’s pretty cool. There’s even sound.
Justin: That’s pretty cool. What else is there?
Diana: So, then there’s some apps that will help keep your New Year’s resolutions because a lot of us set the resolutions.
Justin: Yeah, we do.
Diana: Mine is drink more water. I don’t really have a specific goal as to how much water, just a little bit more than normal. But some people set goals regarding finance, fitness, nutrition, just habits. So, I’ve outlined a few of those. I think it’s Toshl, T-O-S-H-L, Finance. And it’s an all-in-one finance manager and it syncs with all of your devices within one account on a website. You can track expenses, your budget, ensure you’re not overspending.
Justin: Yeah, I’ve seen this.
Diana: It also has an option to add bills so you get reminded.
Justin: Wow. That’s great.
Diana: Yeah, and there’s a couple other ones to try.
Justin: So, in other words, if I died, you’d have to use that because right now you use the husband app.
Diana: Oh, yeah.
Justin: Ba-dum-ching! Just kidding.
Diana: You can also try Expensify and HelloWallet.
Justin: Yeah, those are good, too. Expensify is fun. I’ve messed with that a little bit. Right, so you’re pointing at me because apparently, I need to know about restaurant nutrition, which is an app itself, called Restaurant Nutrition. Someone was creative there.
Diana: Well, at least you know what you’re getting.
Justin: Anyway, I guess you know what you’re getting. So, in Restaurant Nutrition, the app, well, it’s loaded with over 250 restaurants and 60,000 food items, which is great. You have a Points Plus calculated for you in the paid version.
Diana: Yes, some people use Points Plus.
Justin: And then, you can rate and review menu items, journal your food, which is interesting. I don’t really know, is that really beneficial with a restaurant app? Because you’re not eating at a restaurant every day. Shouldn’t you use a broader app?
Diana: Some people do.
Justin: Shouldn’t you use, like, MyFitnessPal and journal everything in that?
Diana: That’s an option, too.
Justin: I like MyFitnessPal.
Diana: Yeah, I do too.
Justin: We have used that before.
Diana: And a couple other ones to try are Juice and My Diet Diary.
Justin: Cool.
Diana: Yeah, there’s all sorts of them out there, though.
Justin: Absolutely. So, those are hopefully going to help you out with your New Year’s resolutions and with celebrating the New Year. There’s a lot of fun apps out there. So, until next time.
Diana: Take care.
Justin: Tech Table is brought to you by MPA of Bloomfield, Iowa, and God’s Country Radio. You can visit us online at AskMPA.com.
Diana: If you have questions or comments, please send them to questions@askmpa.com. That’s questions@askmpa.com.
Justin: And thanks for listening.
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