5 Apps for Your Phone in 2018

Dark Sky

Dark Sky continues to gather the best weather data. Its new look and best feature which includes the unified timeline that has an easy to read scrollable timeline hours and days ahead. In my opinion, it is the best weather app available, and it presents a vast amount of information while being user friendly.

 

Karma

Karma is an App that connects you to charities and nonprofits. Maybe you want to volunteer or make donations?  It’s set up to make it seamless for all the groups looking to reach out. However you want you want to assist, there are various options such as..homeless and animal shelters to orphans and much more.

 

Smart Phone

 

Noted

The app records audio, allowing users to type out notes (with rich text and image support), automatically time stamped with “time tags” . The iPhone can be used as a audio recording and note-taking tool  for lectures, meetings etc.  Of course it is synced through iCloud.  Save up to five recordings, while adding features such as noise reduction and exporting notes to PDF.

 

WhatTheFont

A basic, user friendly App helps you identify fonts, using optical character recognition and your iPhone’s camera lenses as a viewfinder. Just snap a picture of the font you want to, and the app takes over. Simple…

 

 Clips

Apple’s Clips video app is an all-in-one package. Its purpose is to take video clips, edit, share with your social media contacts. The user friendly controls allow the editing tools, make it easy to insert voice, filters, special effects and much more. the best part is the ease in sending it to your contacts to Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and other social media outlets.

 

 

Government Websites to visit

 

Goverment

Ten Resourceful, Informative Government Websites 

1. Healthfinder.gov

Official site of Affordable Care Act. A site with access to tools, information.

A solid source for information and current uptdates.

Health Conditions and Diseases /New technology in the medical field. Healthy top to bottom.

2. Census Bureau.gov

The census is to figure out how many seats each state receives in the House of Representatives.

But the census is much more than just apportioning seats. It’s a once-a-decade chance to track the shifting demographics of America.

How many people live in big cities? How many children live in each household? What is the nation’s racial and ethnic breakdown? Federal and state governments rely on census data to budget for social welfare programs and design public transportation systems. Cities and private industry use demographic figures to plan hospital expansions and housing developments, and assess the need for new schools or new strip malls.

The Bureau collects population data for the purposes of accurately congressional districts, the federal government uses census data, among other reasons, to determine: The allocation of federal funding for education programs in states and communities.

Every year, federal and state governments use census data to allocate more than $400 billion toward public services and infrastructure [source: U.S. Census Bureau].

Because this data is so important, all U.S. residents (regardless of immigration status) are technically required by law to faithfully and accurately fill out the census form. When Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann announced that she would only answer the first question on the 2010 census form — and not provide individual names, ages or ethnicities of household members

3.Congress.gov

The mission of Library Services is to develop qualitatively the Library’s universal collections, which document the history and further the creativity of the American people and which record and contribute to the advancement of civilization and knowledge throughout the world, and to acquire, organize, provide access to, maintain, secure, and preserve these collections.

4.Data.gov

The home of the U.S. Government’s open data You will find data, tools, and resources to conduct research, develop web and mobile applications, design data visualizations,

The heart of Data.gov is the catalog . The Data.gov catalog brings together datasets from hundreds of agency sources across the federal government and from 50 non-federal sources.

5.MultiState.US

MultiState Associates is the nation’s leading state and local government relations services firm. They uncover legislation and regulations of interest at all levels of government—federal, state, and local—whether potentially adverse or beneficial to their organization.

To solve our client’s needs, they identify the best advocates in the states and localities. They build and manage coalitions to amplify an organization’s voice. The resulting messages resonate with policymakers and constituencies.

Providing confidential benchmarking and strategy, they help optimize the government affairs function. Most importantly, they ensure our clients and their employees comply with federal, state, and local ethics and lobbying laws when carrying out their work.

6. IRS.gov

The funds donated, raised are neccesar taxes to contribute in many important areas. To name a small few. In addition to paying the salaries of government workers, tax dollars also help to support resources, our law enforcement police and our Park Patrol. Fire ladies and Men. Tax dollars are to ensure the bridges highway, road systems that are to provide trust safe travel on are safe and well spent-maintained. Taxes fund public libraries and parks, Schools.

7. USPS.com

USPS- all things delivered, to your home, business. The public staple, a mail box to drop off ones letters etc. a Post Office supplied with a P.O. box in many towns and cities.

8.USCIS.gov

They push for humanitarian programs that will be part of the protection advocacy group to individuals involving the United States displaced through Political, Civil unrest, Famine, and many are escaping death or torture and leaving their countries to live. (See the “Humanitarian” page.)

Citizenship (Includes the Related Naturalization Process)

Adoptions

Civic Integration

Much more

9.WhiteHouse.gov

Official site of the US Government

10. USA.gov

U.S. Government Services and Information

Find government information and services by topic.

Benefits, Grants, Loans

Consumer Issues

Disability Services

Disasters and Emergencies

Earth and the Environment

Find government information on energy, green technology, pollution, wildlife, and more.

Education

Find government information on education including primary, secondary, and higher education.

Government Agencies and Elected Officials

Find information for federal, state, and local government agencies and elected officials.

Health

Find health resources from the government.

Housing

Get information and services to help with finding and keeping a home.

Jobs and Unemployment

Find out how and where to look for a new job or career, get help if you are unemployed, and more.

Laws and Legal Issues

Learn how to report a crime, locate a federal inmate, research common U.S. laws, and file a complaint against the government.

Ten Government Sites with Endless Resources, Information History, Links, Up to date info and more .

 

Image: Pexels

iPhone or Android?

3 phones ago I was a Droid person but I do have to admit I got caught up in the iPhone frenzy and moved to dark side and have not moved back. Why? Well not because of durability or software compatibility that’s for sure. Yet you gotta love the Apple for its innovation, creativity and expensive looking camera like photos. Convenience and familiarity within surroundings is a solid reason. When I had the Android phone it was a stable, flawless, SMART phone. I find that to be less than a complete description for 2 of my 3 iPhones. Yet, 90% of the individuals I associate with have the iPhone and it does make a difference. Or does it? What do you think?

iphone-android

Free Useful Sites

It is always important to keep learning. Today the web provides access to so many amazing free sites that we can take advantage of continue to “grow our brain.”

Some sites that I like to visit when time is available…

Camera

https://www.edx.org/

edX is an online learning destination and MOOC provider, offering high-quality courses from the world’s best universities and institutions to learners everywhere.

https://www.fitocracy.com/

Fitness tips etc.

https://www.memrise.com/

Learn a variety of subjects etc.

https://www.ted.com/

Short talks with different, informative messages.

Just a sample of many that I like to use.

 

Reporting Software

Some useful reporting software:

# Business Objects
# Crystal Reports
# Information Builders’ FOCUS and WebFOCUS
# Izenda Self-Service Reports
# Jreport by Jinfonet Software
# LogiXML
# MicroStrategy
# MicroStrategy Reporting Suite
# Oracle XML Publisher
# QuSheet (shareware)
# SAS, as part of the BI Server suite.
# SQL Server Reporting Services

Writers Block

I think often we start a blog with so many ideas and information that we think each day it will continue to flow writers-blockeffortlessly. Well in my case content is my biggest challenge and often I find myself with writers block. I mean who really cares what I have to say….not very interesting and just a bunch of ramble pouring out of my thoughts.  I came across a fantastic post that offers much insight, and ideas to keep your blog going, check out—-> 101 Great Posting Ideas That Will Make Your Blog Sizzle.

Business Blog – What can it do for you?

As more and more people are geting involved in the blogging world the benefits are becoming more obvious.

What is a blog? “A blog is a web page made up of usually short, frequently updated posts that are arranged chronologically—like a what’s new page or a journal.”

Blogs fall into two general categories:

Personal Blogs: a combination of a personal diary, opinion posts and research links.

Business Blogs: a corporate tool for communicating with customers or employees to share knowledge and expertise.

Blogs are an excellent method to share a company’s expertise, build additional web traffic, and connect with potential customers..

What does Blogging Provide to Small Business?

# Blog software is easy to use. Simply write your thoughts, link to resources, and publish to your blog, all at the push of a few buttons. Blog software companies such as: Movable Type, Blogger.com and Typepad all offer easy blogging tools to get started.

# Blogging is a low-cost alternative to having a web presence. For small business owners without the time to learn web html or the money to hire a designer/developer, blogging offers an inexpensive method to get your company’s name out on the Internet.

# Updating the weblog is a much quicker process than contacting a web designer with changes or doing the coding and uploading yourself.

# Business blogs provide your small business with a chance to share your expertise and knowledge with a larger audience. A powerful benefit for consultants and knowledge workers.

Maybe bloging is in your future?

Source About.com