A former boss of mine used to preach the virtues of mobile. This was back in 2009, when I was still rocking a flip phone — and damn proud of it, too.
Mobile, she’d say. It’s all gotta be about mobile.
Whatever, I’d say, and go back to using T9 on my flip phone.
I’d like to say I came around quickly on mobile, but I didn’t. I’ll confess that as recently as April, I was running a blog called Smartphoneless. I enjoyed the untethered life.
Then my reporting finally demanded that I get a smartphone, and so I got off my high horse and did.
At first, I hated my smartphone. A few weeks later, I started to see that it could kinda sorta sometimes be useful. A few months later, I’ve turned into one of those guys who makes fun of Blackberry users.
So yes, I’ve bought into the cult of the smartphone. I am one of you. And today, I’ve got two really excellent mobile apps to share — one for Android, one for iPhone.
For Android: MightyText — The Phone-to-Desktop Client You Never Knew You Needed (But You Do).
This was the app that first made made me appreciate the smartphone. In short: It allows you to seamlessly sync texting between your phone and your desktop.
First, download the app from the Google Play store, and then download the Chrome extension to your computer.
Whenever you get a text, MightyText will automatically send a copy of the message to your computer. It’ll pop up in a little window at the top of Chrome. From there, you can respond to the text directly.
And here’s the magic part: If you then check your phone a few seconds later, the full message history will be there.
I spent a lot of time this summer working out of quiet spaces: Libraries, coffee shops. I hated being the guy constantly picking up his phone to respond to texts.
But with MightyText, I could answer all my texts right from my computer.
And for the students on this listserv: MightyText is a way better solution for texting during class. (NOTE: If you tell your professors that I advised you to do this, I will deny it.)
Click here to download MightyText for your phone and browser — it’s free!
For iPhone: DayOne — Journal Everything In Your World As It Happens.
(This one comes via one of the newsletter’s own readers, Mark Armstrong. Thanks for the suggestion!)
A few weeks back, I told you about OhLife, a private online diary that’s managed via email.
DayOne is similar in that it’s a journal of what you’re doing/thinking about, but what’s great is that it allows you to do it in real time. So you’re out on your beat and you see something that’d be great for a future story. With DayOne, you can snap a photo and add a few notes for later, or you can use your phone’s GPS to keep track of where you had that great story idea.
And DayOne also has an iPad app and a desktop app for Mac, which means that the notes you take sync across all your devices.
This one’s going to cost you a little — to get all the apps will run you about $15 — but they’re really well designed, and highly useful.
Click here to get the DayOne apps for your phone and other devices!
Now get out there and tell some great stories today!