Well, we did it. Not only did we get through one of the longest, coldest snowiest winters in memory, we made it through Pesach as well. It’s time to pat yourself on the back, to heave a sigh of relief and to start thinking about those long lazy summer days sitting on the porch with a tall glass of lemonade. Yup, as our thoughts turn to relaxation, we might as well take a few minutes to think about ways to make the good life easy, using none other than our all-time favorite gadget…the smart phone.
These days there seems to be an app for just about everything, making your smart phone more indispensable than ever. I’m sure that your phone, like mine, probably has dozens of apps you don’t even use. Take the time now to delete them and try out of some new additions, all free for iPhone and Android, which will hopefully enhance everyone’s favorite time of year.
Anti Mosquito Sonic Music Repeller: How many of us have enjoyed a barbeque, late night fireworks, or a night on the porch only to discover a few hours later that while we were busy chilling the mosquitoes were enjoying an all-you-can-eat buffet and that we were the main course? Keep those annoying little creatures away with this app that uses high frequency sounds to keep mosquitoes at bay and will hopefully save you hours of scratching. Both Google Play and the iTunes store offer a number of similar free apps and I definitely plan to experiment with these to find the one that works best in my neck of the woods.
Throwback: You’re on vacation and for once in your life you are totally relaxed and chilled. You want to capture that moment forever so that even a month or two or six down the road, you can relive the utter bliss. You could just grab your smart phone and take a picture, but make the moment last even longer by snapping that photo with Throwback, a cool app that will email you the photo at the time of your choice, anywhere from one month to five years later. Have you ever found yourself looking at a picture and thought to yourself, “Wow that would be perfect to send to my mom/husband/sister/friend for his/her birthday/anniversary/other special occasion”? We both know that if you just take that picture you are going to forget to send it on the right day. So do yourself a favor and snap that photo now and leave it to Throwback to deliver it on time, every time.
GasBuddy: For so many of us, summer equals road trip and road trip equals gassing up your vehicle, possibly multiple times. Given current gas prices, if you are anything like me, nothing annoys you more than filling up your car and then seeing cheaper gas down the road not two minutes later. Instead, pull up GasBuddy and find the best price, near your current location, with just a tap or two.
Waze: I will be the first one to admit it. I have Waze and have even used it, but I really haven’t had the opportunity to delve too deeply into this app that is equal parts traffic reports and social media, using fellow drivers to report traffic conditions. All I can tell you is this: when it comes to finding out where the bottlenecks are and avoiding them, Waze gives me the facts I need to know quickly and easily, and being able to watch yourself as a cute little Waze character on the screen as you report live traffic almost makes you feel like you are a character in a video game.