productivity apps

7 Essential Apps for Traveling

Mush Contribution, Happiness, Productivity , , ,

IMG_4526.jpgOver the last few years, I’ve tried quite a few apps related to different aspects of traveling. And deleted most of them. Currently I have nine apps in my travel folder, seven of which are extremely helpful:

  1. Hopper. This is one of the best apps I have ever used for finding the best airfare deals, and buying tickets straight from the app. Unlike most airfare apps, it starts with the date of travel and shows you the most expensive to the cheapest dates in that month, marked as red, green and yellow!
  2. Airbnb. If you are looking for inexpensive and unique places to stay, or a homestay with a local family, nothing can beat Airbnb. Also great for getting local advice from hosts through the built-in messenger, even before you book.
  3. TripAdvisor. Great to find local local attractions, restaurants and things to do in that city or in cities nearby. Or to read other travellers’ reviews about the suggestions you hear from the locals, and write your reviews to help other travellers.
  4. Google Maps. Indispensable whether you are walking, cycling, on a taxi or even on a public transportation. You know where you are, and where you are going, especially for people with poor navigational skills (like me).
  5. Speak & Translate. The fastest way to communicate to anyone in almost any language. Click, speak in your language, click. Then it repeats in the local language selected! I still have the Google Translate app when I want to practice speaking the local language, or showing the translation to the other person. But I miss the days of communicating just through body language, actions and expression 🙂
  6. PowerPlug. Helps you pack the right plugs for your devices. I don’t carry the bulky universal adapter any more. It also tells you the voltage and frequency for the country you are traveling to, though I don’t know what to do with that.
  7. Currency. Check exchange rates before changing money, or instantly convert local prices to your home currency, and multiple currencies at the same time.

The most recent addition to my travel apps is Travelpod, the online travel journal which I started using to keep all the photos, videos, maps and stories in one place. Needless to say, you need to have a local pre-paid sim with Internet access to make full use of all these apps 🙂  Hope you find this useful. Please share your most useful travel apps too.

My top five productivity apps!

Mush Productivity , , , ,

IMG_0482 IMG_0483 IMG_0484 IMG_0485 IMG_0486During the last six months, I have tried more apps than in the last few years, to increase productivity and efficiency in managing my business. Most of them were just average, few are dinchack (wow!) and some have become indispensable. If you are looking for useful productivity apps for your iOS devices, you might like to try these:

  1. Evernote: This app lets you take notes, capture photos, create to-do lists, record voice reminders and makes these notes accessible on all computers and devices. I use it to take meeting notes, capture ideas, maintain time logs for client consultation, and even keep all the dreams, goals and plans in one place.
  2. Receipts: This is a great app to track your personal and business income/expenses. It allows you to create different accounts, categories, fields and capture photos of receipts to be attached with each expense. Income and expenses can be entered in any currency and instantly converted to your home currency. And finally, you can export reports as Excel or PDF.
  3. SignNow: How do you send invoices to clients? Create the invoice, print, sign, scan, email? With SignNow, you can just upload the PDF, drag your digital signature, save and email – totally paperless! You can also sign any documents using your finger. Works well on all devices!
  4. Feedly: This is an RSS reader that aggregates all your favourite websites, blogs, YouTube channels and more for easy and fast browsing, reading and sharing from any device. It actually makes reading on handheld devices more fun.
  5. 1Password: Probably the best app to keep all passwords in one place – plus logins, memberships, bank accounts, credit cards, IDs, secure notes. You can also generate strong passwords, and keep them in sync across all devices.

Please let me know about your favourite productivity apps through comments.