Apps We Love – Time Killers

Kacee Johnson, founder of Blue Ocean Principles, uses Uplift. “I was tired of all the negative news and political drama,” said Johnson. “Uplift is positive news stories that don’t make it to mainstream media and features success stories as well as inspirational quotes. There is also the Good News Network which is a little more stable of an app but is strictly news stories without the negativity.”

Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies, uses Flipboard in his spare time. “It taps in my social media feeds and turns them in a magazine style format that I can skim quickly to decide if I want read the original article.”

Matt Rissell, CEO at TSheets, heads to two apps in his spare time. “Twitter… I ALWAYS learn something relevant there, because I follow the most interesting people / organizations I can find. THINGS… It’s an organizational app and I an organized feen. It enables me to organize and execute super-human amounts of work.  :)”

Jean Caragher, president of Capstone Marketing, also turns to Twitter when she has a break. “In addition to the regular time I spend posting tweets, when I have a bit of time I go to Twitter to check out what’s happening in the industry, read marketing and business articles, and retweet and like. This helps keep me informed as well as my account current!”

Geni Whitehouse, countess of communication at Even a Nerd Can Be Heard, watches her son livestream on the creative channel of Twitch. She also states “I’m always on reading books on my Kindle phone app – though I hate that you can’t buy new books there,” and when she’s in need of a change of pace, she goes to Angry Birds and “of course,” Pokemon Go.

Roman Kepczyk, director of consulting at Xcentric, is seeking out positive educational content as the news has been bringing him down. “I primarily use the Kindle application to read on all my devices as it automatically synchronizes between laptop, iPad and smartphone, so it is always convenient.  I do retain more when I am on my iPad/laptop than my smartphone, but the convenience gives me the chance to peruse/re-think sections.”

And speaking of news, Will Hill, manager, training consulting & implementation services at Thomson Reuters, turns to Feedly, “which is an easy-to-use aggregator of other sources. I can pull my news sources, business & tech sources and other entertainment items as well into a single app this way.”

Mark Koziel, CPA, CGMA, vice president of firm services and global alliances at AICPA, says that “CNN and Wall Street Journal apps are great. Weather app of course. In the airports I use Flightview to track my flight and the flight before that and the flight before that.”

“Being on the road as much as I am, staying abreast on the news can be difficult,” said Kim Austin, business development manager – national accounts at Intuit. “It’s a very common sight to see me sitting at the gate waiting to board my flight, or in the back of an Uber with the CNN app up on my phone, checking in with the day’s headlines. I also appreciate the push notifications the app sends me alerting me of breaking news – especially when I’m walking into a room to meet with an accounting firm, and should alter my demeanor based on what’s going on in the world, or simply be able to have a conversation about it.”

Kelly Bruce, sales executive for Ace IT Solutions plays Yatzee when she is taking a break. “It’s pretty addicting!” said Bruce.

QuickBooks consultant Hector Garcia, CPA.CITP, CGMA, relies on LinkedIn in his spare time to catch up on his contact’s updates.

Frank Van Dyke, wealth advisory associate at Morgan Stanley, spends his extra time with Reddit. “I get to customize the content pushed to me – my interests are reported, trends, news releases – I get notification of something before the Wall street Journal and the New York Times.”

Look for Ramon Santiago, market development specialist at Canon, to be immersed in Pokeman Go. “It’s fun and it brings back childhood memories!”

Rick Richardson, CPA.CITP, CGMA, managing partner at Richardson Media & Technologies, says, “The only non-game app I use when I have a few minutes is Yahoo Weather! It is first and foremost an elegantly implemented app both on the phone and even better on the iPad. I love the level of detail and it is more accurate than other weather apps. Other than that, I’m addicted to Sudoku and Free Cell.

Samantha Mansfield, director of corporate communications at CPA.com, turns to Pinterest in her free time. “I look at Pinterest to inspire new ideas, and choose the next project to try.  Somehow there is a time warp that happens though, before you know it a couple hours have slipped by.”

When Jeff Moskowitz, CPA, partner at CohnReznick, has time on his hands, he heads for LinkedIn. “The LinkedIn mobile app is a great resource for maximizing free time between meetings, during your commute, or waiting for appointments. I like to use this app to stay connected with former and current colleagues as well as clients. It’s also a go-to resource for browsing industry articles and thought leadership and can be used to stay up to date with various professional groups that I belong to.”

For Jim Bourke, CPA.CITP, CFF, CGMA, technology niche practice leader at WithumSmith+Brown, “It is Ancestry. Whether sitting on a train, waiting for a plane, or time to kill between meetings after returning all emails…this is it. It’s interesting and obsessive. I could spend every idle minute on the app because just when I think I’ve completed my family tree, I make another connection!”

Joy Lizotte, CPA, growth planner, and business coach loves the Skimm app. “It is news, entertainment, and a time-saver in one. The Skimm posts popular daily news stories in a fun and entertaining manner. It’s short and to the point. It’s a great way to stay up to date on current events and news stories. Highly recommend!”

David Cieslak, CPA.CITP, GSEC, technologist and principal at Arxis Technology runs to Flipboard when he has time on his hands.

“My favorite time-kill app is Trivia Crack,” said Elizabeth Pittelkow, CPA.CITP, CGMA, DTM, director of accounting and compliance at Arrowstream. “I compete regularly in live trivia, and this fun app helps me build my knowledge. I usually have several games going at once in the Trivia Crack app and can challenge either strangers or friends who have the app.”

John Higgins, strategic technology advisor at CPA Crossings, said “I would have to say that reading USA Today for national and international news and the Detroit News for local information, mainly sports. I used to play Words with Friends, but that got old after a couple of years. I don’t play any games, although I am thinking about trying Pokemon Go just to learn what it is all about. Overall my most frequently used app is the Google music player.”

 

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Apps We Love is Sponsored by AccountantsWorld.