Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts - Jan 11

Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts is hosted by Bookishly Boisterous. This is a chance for book bloggers to dabble in areas besides books (but those are welcome too). Share your plans for the weekend, a rant on people not using their turn signals in parking lots, or your love of Sunday morning mimosas.

Let's talk apps for a minute. I'm still a relatively new app user. Technology and I are not always friends. But especially in the world of real estate you need to use apps to be on top of things in such a fast-paced industry.

One app I think it's important for people--especially those who are on the road a lot--to have is React Mobile. It defaults to "I'm Fine," but if you're feeling unsafe you can push the "Follow Me" button and the GPS will track you. If you are in danger, there is an "SOS" button that will call for help and also notify the contacts you've loaded into the app as well.

The Rover app helps you locate boarding, house-sitting, doggy day care, dog walkers and more in your area. It will list the providers by name, how far away they are, and how much they cost. Users are able to leave reviews. One of our friends swears by this app.

Waze is a fabulous GPS app that alerts you when you're approaching police, accidents, road hazards or traffic jams. Their site says it will navigate you to the cheapest gas along your route too.

The Holy Bible app makes it easy to read on the go. I use it anywhere so I can get my daily Bible reading in. You can also search for plans that include short devotionals and verses. You can add friends and also create images with Bible verses on decorative backgrounds that you can post to social media.

What are some of  your favorite apps?

PBS KIDS Launches PBS KIDS Super Vision FREE App for Parents

PBS KIDS® launched a new revolutionary app designed specifically for parents that will give them the “super power” to engage with their kids in the digital medium as never before: PBS KIDS Super Vision. The new, free app is a first-of-its-kind tool that parents can access conveniently from their mobile phones anytime, anywhere, to see what their kids are watching, playing and learning on pbskids.org, and help them make the most of their children’s PBS KIDS screen time.

With the PBS KIDS Super Vision App, now available on iPhone and iPod Touch, parents enter a simple code on their mobile device to start receiving:

• Real-time information on what their child is playing, watching and learning on pbskids.org;
• The ability to remotely set a Play Timer from their mobile device that will put pbskids.org to sleep on their child’s screen, easing the transition from playing online to another activity, such as dinner time or bed time;
• Related activities that they can do with their child off-screen to extend the fun and learning goals of the games or videos their child plays on pbskids.org;
• An Activity Summary to view the top educational skills, shows, videos and games their child used on pbskids.org.

The PBS KIDS Super Vision App will mean peace of mind for parents, while their kids build key skills in the safe and educational environment that pbskids.org provides. The app works anytime, anywhere – the connection doesn’t require physical proximity – making it easy for busy parents to check in on their kids’ online activities while they are on the go.