<div><strong>Weather Coming Up</strong></div><div>It isn't just the British who talk about the weather. Indians are equally interested. Especially when the weather has been particularly variable as it has recently. The Android app Weather Timeline, which costs Rs 50, is a really detailed look at weather with predictions from the next hour to the distant future. Obviously, the immediate weather is based on satellite information while distant future weather is based on typical patterns — very useful for when you're traveling somewhere.<br /><br />There are a whole bunch of widgets associated with Weather Timeline so you can choose what kind of information to put on your screen. There are lots of options for fine tuning, including changing colour automatically with the weather. What's really nice is the qualitative style of alerts: "Light drizzle, starting in the evening," for example.<br /><br /><strong><img width="120" height="120" align="right" alt="" src="/image/image_gallery?uuid=58b04ca9-b955-4007-b0d0-edf541ed7d7a&groupId=222861&t=1429016279532" />A Precise Workout</strong><br />I've been looking for something like this for a long time. I finally chanced upon this app that goes by the strange name of Chrono List, on the Play Store.<br /><br />Chrono List is a simple timer for exercise intervals. You can create timers by naming them, setting time, entering multiple tasks and selecting the alerts you want throughout. I like it because I like to switch on some music that paces my workout and at the same time get alerts for exact times. Often, music has its own built-in intervals, but it's also nice to do a precise number of repetitions. With this app you can set for example, 10 rounds of 50 seconds each . It can include a certain time for warm-up and cool down and you can get different beeps or other sounds to indicate start, finish and intervals. Useful fuss-free app.<br /><br /><strong><img width="120" height="120" align="right" alt="" src="/image/image_gallery?uuid=defd7031-dd59-4468-bec7-fc1514bb57c7&groupId=222861&t=1429016299040" />A Nuzzle Of News</strong><br />This isn't the first app to give you news your friends (let’s be clear, they’re contacts) are sharing. But it’s a popular one and you can get it on the App Store for Rs 60.<br /><br />The approach in this news app — and there are so many out there — is to present you news that more than X number of contacts from your timeline are sharing. Since you will have contacts that share interests, here’s your cue to not just read the content but share it further with the confidence that it has a greater chance of being appreciated. There are several ways to consume your news. You can look at recently shared content, or look at featured feeds, friends’ feeds, friends’ friends’ feeds, and news you may have missed. There’s quite a degree of control over notifications. You can save stuff to read later, of course.<br /><br /><strong><img width="120" height="120" align="right" alt="" src="/image/image_gallery?uuid=948cbb39-5aa3-4bc4-bcd1-f6a9cb752b34&groupId=222861&t=1429016314778" />Take A Safe Ride</strong><br />anyone who's taking buses, cabs or autos somewhere could benefit from firing up RideSafe before setting out. There are so many safety apps out there but each takes a slightly different approach. This app for Android just looks for deviations from your chosen route to a specified destination. Put in the two addresses and select some contacts you would want informed, and then make sure you follow a known standard route. If there's trouble and you're not able to reach out to your phone, your contacts will get an alert. The app makers have promised to pay for the SMSs that go out — though they hardly need to.<br />Friends and family could also use the app to track each other's rides though most of the cab apps also now have this feature.There have also been SOS apps. It's just that RideSafe doesn't need manual intervention.<br /><br /><strong><img width="120" height="120" align="right" alt="" src="/image/image_gallery?uuid=d7cf0177-3fee-4c46-b127-a903bb78ef3b&groupId=222861&t=1429016331358" />Traffic Goes Social</strong><br />there was a time when, if someone said “jam” you’d reach for the bread and butter. Not today. Jam means badly stuck in traffic, going crazy with frustration. Well, if traffic particularly drives you up the wall and makes you late for everything, try these updates. Traffline, an app on iOS, Android, Facebook and Twitter, is India-specific and it maps your city’s traffic with colour codes. Google Now users will know that you can get an idea of traffic and time to travel from there, including suggestions on when to leave, but here’s a deeper level of information if you’re up to getting involved. You can contribute to the information yourself. People can message each other, put up photos of traffic conditions and work around the routes where there seems to be too much of a traffic pile-up. Enter your location, set your destination, and take recommended routes.<br /><br /><strong><img width="120" height="120" align="right" alt="" src="/image/image_gallery?uuid=c6b361a9-4472-4d2a-986c-b4fb69be50d8&groupId=222861&t=1429016349243" />For The Hyper Friendly</strong><br />Social networks have increased the amount of access people have to each other, that’s for sure. But it also means friends and contacts can be scattered all over across these platforms. It gets to be a mess. Connect is an app for iOS, Android and the Web that puts all your people on a map. Clusters are in overlapping circles but you get a pretty good idea of how they’re distributed. The Connect app is meant to let you keep tabs on your contacts to a fault. You can get notifications on their social activities and also, to some degree, their whereabouts. So, if someone visits your city, you’ll get an email notification.<br /><br />For a person who wants to network intensely, it’s a boon, but watch out if you’re roughly happy with your current level of interactions. Even after offloading the app, you continue to get alerts.<br /> <br />(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 04-05-2015)</div>
BW Reporters
Mala Bhargava has been writing on technology well before the advent of internet in Indians and before CDs made their way into computers. Mala writes on technology, social media, startups and fitness. A trained psychologist, she claims that her understanding of psychology helps her understand the human side of technology.
