PERISCOPEApple has chosen Periscope as the best app of the year, and nobody disagrees. Periscope, which launched at almost the same time as Meerkat, is the app that empowers anyone with a phone to become a broadcaster. In fact, users are known as broadcasters in Periscope lingo. All you have to do is fire up the app and press its broadcast button, and aim in the general direction of whatever you’re trying to shoot. The video streams straight on to Twitter, which owns Periscope.
If you’re on WiFi, you’ll see that viewing other peoples’ video streams is pretty quick as long as you have a half-decent Internet connect. With the patchy state of affairs that is cellular connectivity in India, the streaming may not be as smooth. That’s sad, but doesn’t take away from the immense potential of Periscope. Even television news anchors are beginning to pay serious attention to the app, though for consumers it’s really rather nice that Periscope is the ‘anti-television’ way of consuming news. It’s because it’s so different from watching a regular news bulletin that Periscope is so interesting.
But news isn’t the only thing on Periscope. It can be used to bring education to remote places — if only people would go ahead and use it. It can also be used by medical professionals to take advice to places where there isn’t any and it can be used for citizen journalism, just to name a few uses. The use cases are limitless. Some use it to livestream their Uber rides, just for enhanced safety. Unfortunately, there’s also vast quantities of garbage spewed out using Periscope. Some of it is just people trying it out, and a lot of it is people just being silly. The New Year should see Periscope settling down to some seriously useful streaming.
MICROSOFT OUTLOOKWhoever thought to see Microsoft apps on iOS and Android. But all through the latter half of 2015, Microsoft came up with impressive apps for other platforms. Such careful attention has been paid to making these fit into other operating systems that it’s difficult to choose which of them is best. Right on your phone, you now have all of Microsoft Office — not the full monty with millions of features, but usable for all basic work. You also have Microsoft’s OneDrive for very easy sharing and storage and OneNote. There’s even a Google Keep-like note-taker called Parchi and a translation app just like Google’s. But Outlook is perhaps one Microsoft app that people will find most useful because it means they can pull in their non-Gmail work related email in. In fact, they can pull in Yahoo and Gmail as well. Outlook is an incredibly easy app to use and has a clean, simple friendly interface. It surfaces what it flags as important mail first and then gives you the option of looking at other mail. It’s definitely worth trying out if you want to get your work mail on the go and don’t happen to be a Windows phone user.
KHAN ACADEMYKhan Academy, the free education network, is not just a website but an app on iOS and Android. The work done by Khan Academy can’t be underestimated and now that it is available on any smartphone, it can be used by students and learners anywhere easily. Khan Academy has a large amount of content on many academic subjects, both in the form of videos and in text. It’s simple to search and use and a welcome addition to smartphones and tablets this year.
GOOGLE STREETVIEWStreetview, Google’s 360 degree photo app for places, came to Android only in 2015, at least in India. This app is a great way to sit back and browse through photographs of many places you always wanted to see, and some you never knew existed.
Pan around and examine spots that interest you or revisit places you’ve been to — it’s an absorbing pastime. It’s more beautiful if you screencast it on to a large television. But also add your own photographs of interesting places, enhancing the database.
ENLIGHTThe App Store is brimming over with photo editing apps — too many, one could say. But Enlight, for iOS, has featured on so many lists it’s worth a mention. Enlight is for those who are serious about touching up their photographs. There are many apps that have one-touch filters, but Enlight has some classy ones and works with a beautiful smooth interface. It comes into its own on the iPad Pro, as would most good photo editing apps. It also has face healing features that add to its popularity. It costs Rs 250.
APPLE MUSICFirst Microsoft makes apps that work on Android and now Apple does too. Apple Music, launched earlier this year, offers a Rs 120 per month subscription to music services that let a user look for any song on the iTunes ecosystem and play it. You can also create playlists, follow artists, check out recommended music and more. The Apple Music app is now on Google’s Play Store and looks very Android indeed. You sign in with your Apple ID or create one if you don’t have, and you have access to all the music on the iTunes store plus your own purchases.
DRUPEThis little convenience is a great favourite with Android users, though many also stop using it after swearing by it. Drupe essentially puts a column of dots on the side of the screen. Those are contacts. You drag them to the other side and place them on any communication app such as the phone dialer, Whatsapp, Messenger, etc. You can see recent contacts or favourites and you can change the apps you want listed on the other side. This app is great for those who keep having to quickly call people through the day.
INSHORTSInShorts is a news app that gives you the newsbyte in 60 words, summarising and condensing, leaving out the fluff and fillers. It has a big visual, headline, and a news summary of an item. You can click to read more. It has a nice widget as well, which makes flipping through news cards a great way to scan through the news. It’s available for iOS and Android.
NUZZELAnother content reader, Nuzzel picks up on what your social network is sharing. You immediately see how many people have shared a story and can capitalise on it by sharing it yourself or discussing it with someone you’re connected to. Basically, Nuzzel helps a user be part of the conversation. If you’re quite focused on growing your network, Nuzzel gives you a lot of notifications — if you’re not that enthusiastic, you can drop the alerts.
(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 11-01-2016)
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.
