storie: my new favorite app

So on Friday I discovered something amazing. Storie.

I found this app through funforlouis and as soon as I saw it for the first time, I couldn't wait for it to be released. The idea behind storie is to be a simple vlog-type video maker. You record clips throughout the day and then it automatically edits them all together for you when you want to publish. It's essentially a easy to use mobile youtube without the hassle. The community is amazing as well since it is only a few days old.

          

One of the main reasons why I love storie so much is that it allows anyone to share their day no matter where they are in the world. I love watching what peoples' lives are like. (That makes me sound like a stalker but I really mean it.) And can we talk about how pretty is it to look at? I'm a complete nerd when it comes to pretty looking things, even food packaging, but this app is just really nice looking.

Storie is currently only available on ios, but I believe it is supposed to come out on android soon.

At the time that I am writing this, I have posted four stories, and I plan to make many more. (I even show my face and talk ahh which is something that I never thought I would do--it is explained in my "hello" storie.)

I think this app is super great, especially since it has only been out for less than a week. I see a very bright future ahead, so jump on this train early! 

5 apps to help you with your new year's resolutions

hello and happy new year!

With the new year comes new year resolutions, most of which don't happen, but for the time being, here are a few helpful apps that I will be using in order to maybe make some progress towards my goals.

1. 7 Minute Workout

    One of the most common resolutions is to workout, get fit, etc. I've gone through this phase a couple times and tested out a bunch of quick easy workout apps and this is by far the best in my opinion. It only takes 7 minutes, can include a warm up/cool down and customizes the workout for your motivation and fitness level.

2. DailyYoga

    Yoga is great for relaxation, meditation, and fitness. This app contains lots of free yoga sessions from a range of difficulties and focuses.

3. Plant Nanny

    Lots of people don't drink enough water, and I am one of them. Plant Nanny is an adorable virtual plant that grows when you drink water. It's simple, easy to use, and just plain adorable.

4. Walkr

    This is made by the same developer as Plant Nanny and is just as cute. It uses your phone to track your steps which is then converted to energy you can use to aid you in your search through the galaxy. I've been using this app since December and I love collecting all of the different planets. If walking is your thing, this will make it a lot more enjoyable.

5. Way of Life

    For your other resolutions, you can track them with Way of Life. Just input what you are trying to achieve and then track whether you accomplished it each day.

I hope this list has helped you find at least one tool to help you achieve your resolutions! 

6 apps you should check out

I'm just going to come out and say it: I'm kind of addicted to downloading apps. I love looking through the app store for new and interesting apps. However, what usually ends up happening is that I'll go on a big spree and download a bunch of apps only to delete them after one use. I also like to keep my phone relatively freed up so I tend to purge apps that I don't use regularly. 

So here are a few of the apps that have survived for long enough for me to use them on a regular basis:

1. Wanelo 

This app used to be really popular (at least at my school) but it seems like everyone I know has quit it. I do use this app in phases and have deleted and redownloaded it multiple times, but I just really like to use it. It's basically pinterest (another one of my favorite apps/sites) but for shopping. Like pinterest, it has it's own website too. You can look through popular items, search for things, save things to organized lists and even buy things straight from the app (though I've never tried). It's especially helpful around gift giving seasons.

2. Podcasts

       

This is an app that is just made by apple but I love it. I've always been kind of a radio junkie and when I found out about podcasts, I was ecstatic. Above are all of the podcasts I listen to but my favorites would definitely be Welcome to Night Vale (strongly suggest), The Moth, This American Life, and Radiolab. If anyone would like me to do a full post about podcasts alone, I would be more than happy to. Yeah, podcasts are great.

3. Way of Life

   

I'm someone who always makes goals but never sees them through so this app has helped me so much. I've tested out tons of these to-do/habit tracker apps and this one worked best for me by far. It's simple so all you have to do is list everything you want to get done daily and each day you can mark green, red, or skip. It also has a handy little graphing feature to analyze how terrible you are at doing things. I also use this app as a way to tell when the last time I did something was. For example, it came to my attention recently that my last blog post was three weeks ago (whoops).

4. StudyBlue

This app was actually suggested to me by my latin teacher as a way to study vocab. It's basically virtual flashcards without wasting tons of index cards and time. When you go through a stack, you can mark if you got it right or not so you can go back and study everything you got wrong afterwards. It also allows you to search for other people's flashcards that they have made so you can use them for yourself (which I used frequently until they decided to charge for it...still bitter).

5. VSCOcam

        
There are tons of photo editing apps out there but this is definitely one of my favorites. I like it because aside from the broad choice of filters, it allows you to fine tune your own pictures like a more simplistic version of photoshop adjustments. It has many of the same features available in instagram editing or even the photos app editor (which I've never used), but I like to use this app as a one stop shop for all of my edits.

6. Dropbox

Lastly is Dropbox. Dropbox is cloud storage service where you can save all of your pictures and documents for access on other devices. Since I use google docs for all of my document needs, I only use this app to sync my iPhone pictures onto a folder on my computer (which comes in a lot of help when I need to get pictures off of my phone to upload on tumblr or blogspot or deviantart or something). I used to always email myself my pictures but this is by far easier.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my little list and found it helpful in some way. If you have any good app suggestions, I'm always on the lookout for new ones so let me know!