Thing 9. Taking and editing photos.

Line Camera was my choice for this "thing." It's a fun little app. Like many photo apps, you can either take a pic or access the camera roll, then do the usual stuff like cropping and adding colors and tones. There's also the ability to frame your image using various types of frames. Text can be added as well, in a variety of fonts. What I really liked about Line Camera is the dual functionality of the entry tools called Beauty or Design--get your pic and choose one to get started. The former lets you touch up your images; the latter lets you apply the above-mentioned fun stuff like frames and text.

Thing 8. Social Media Management Tools

I downloaded Hootsuite for this Thing and did some practicing with various social media. I belong to a social-media group at the library where I work, and other folks on the team have mentioned the value of using a cross-platform tool. I don't see the need for this personally, and so tailor what I write to the type of social media I'm using (Facebook = friends, chatty, casual; LinkedIn = work, colleagues, former classmates in the field; Twitter = newsy stuff to a broader network). But for institutional/library posting, where you'd want to get the same message out various ways quickly and easily to different sorts of people, a social media management tool like Hootsuite is the cat's meow.

Thing 7. Content Saving and Sharing

I downloaded Pinterest for this Thing. I admit I looked down on Pinterest for a while, thinking it belonged in the realm of scrapbookers (sorry!) but now I can see I was wrong. Visually, of course, it's great and must be especially impressive on a Retina iPad. I also like how you can structure and annotate your pins. The examples linked from the Thing website, showing how libraries are using Pinterest, show how creatively the app. can be used to promote library content, events and provide info about their communities. Again, it's a little clunky to use on the phone, but Pinterest is a pretty nifty app.

Thing 6. Creating and editing docs.

I used Google's Quickoffice for this Thing. All in all, it works well for creating a simple document on the fly or doing some quick edits. Of course, Quickoffice would be much easier to use on an iPad than my phone, simply because any typing or editing is better accomplished on a larger screen. Still, I really like how fast the app. is, and how simply and cleanly it interfaces with my Google Drives accounts and documents. I'm impressed by the search function as well, and it's pretty cool having the option to display all the docs in a folder via list or gallery.

Thing 5. Notetaking

I downloaded Remember the Milk from the Apple app. store. While Remember... seems to be a pretty powerful tool for notetaking, reminders, etc., I'm finding the app. is clunky. After setting up an initial note, it stuck on a calendar screen, leaving me unable to access any other features. Also, I say it "seems" to be valuable only because I logged onto Remember's... website and checked out the features and help menu. They seem to be pretty much non-existent via the app. I'm thinking of deleting Remember the Milk and sticking with Evernote. At least I know that app. works!