Handheld Librarian Conference 2011 - Mobile apps

Top 40 best mobile apps for handheld librarians - Scott Brown

Some of these are iPhone/iPad some are Android, some are both. I don't specifiy in all cases as Scott didn't and I'm not providing links as I'm sure you are capable of looking up the ones you are interested in. He categorised them into different areas, which I've replicated here. With the exception of Evernote I haven't used any of these apps so these are purely Scott's opinions on them.

Library stuff

iBooks - iphone/ipad - nice graphics, can search the text
Kindle on the iphone - most popular way to access Kindle content
Kindle for ipad too
Buzz deck - android app - aggregates your RSS feeds, twitter feed etc can use them by category. Can customise your own cards and categories
Reuters News Pro - quite a few vendors are doing this
GoodReads - scan the barcode of your books, rate it and share it with your network - iphone app
Issuu mobile - android app - looks really good - physical magazine reading experience
(librarything and library anywhere - don't know if iphone or android)
Scan2PDF mobile - fail - quality is really poor

Productivity
Dragon dictation - like dragon naturally speaking - translation into text. speak into your phone - send it via text, email, to twitter or fb
Dropbox - allows you to set up an account free upto 2G - allows you to draw that down on to mobile device so you can access them - put documents out in the cloud
GoodReader - handles pdfs makes it fit the screen - makes it readable, create sticky notes, annotation, markups and highlights draw on it, sync with Google docs, dropbox - $2.99 on iphone
Evernote - I love it using it :) mobile version of the web product - make them available - sync back and forth between the two pretty regularly can tag things. I used it to take notes for this conference
Wi-Fi Finder - hotspot finder

Business/news
Flipboard - ipad - larger layout - aggregate a lot of your different feeds on it
Flipbook - more of a drawing app
Curator HD - android and iphone - similar concept of flipboard only aggregates Google reader - newspaper style feed
My6sense - aggregates RSS and social feeds - android app may be a cost
MobileRSS - different interface only aggregates Google reader and makes that readable
Apps.usa.gov - several different government focussed apps

Communication
Skype - syncs with desktop account - easy to use for video chat - interface is nice
Tweetdeck and Hootsuite - allow you to manage your posts to twitter and fb - desktop utility as well as mobile. Can categorise that
Anypost - android - share to multitudes of sources
Qik - live streaming android - can do video chat, record video and share through your social elements
Stfu - Shut the phone up - android - turn phone upside down

Lifestyle
urbanspoon - decide where to go to dinner - location by type of food or cost, you shake it and they spin around, can get opinions of those places
Daytrotter - new studio set from a band, stream or download it - great way to discover new artists
Pandora - music app
SoundHound - hum or sing into it and it will try and identify the song - "what's that song?" 70% hit rate
Netflix - stream movies - picture is really good - iphone
RunPee mobile - look at popular movies and find good places to go to the toilet - it will give you a summary for what you've missed
FlySmart - airport app flight info, departures etc, layout of terminal, can search by categories works on a compass to help to locate facilities within the airport
Car locator - android only - identify where you are when you park your car - can check how long you've been parked and how far away you are from your car
Talk to me - android - translate text or voice between languages

Location
Foursquare - allows you to check-in at different sites
Gowalla - description of sites - more social aspect to it
Layar - augmented reality - real estate app, business and locations, museum of London - historical photo overlays as you go around London
SitorSquat - public restroom - weird, people take pics
ALOQA -android app - local stuff - hotspots, coffee bars, clubs etc

Just for fun
unhearit - get that song out of your head - provides you with a new song
Draft - for ipad - draw freehand - keep track of your drawings and share them via email - can collaborate using Campfire
Hipstamatic - 70s sheen to your photos - costs money
Instagram is another one