The WELSTech April series called “Awesome Apps” continues as Martin and Sallie share some of their favorite smart device communication tools for texting, emailing, video conferencing and more. Sallie has to figure out how to say the name of her new car but in the process found a great car buying app, and Martin, tuning in from a conference in Salt Lake City, found the benefits of handwriting notes…digitally.

The interview:

Care giving tech – Dan Stelljes is the Product Development Lead for First Layer Health, a WELS-owned software development company which focuses on making social and healthcare communication easier for older people. He shares details of their newest product, TheirCare, which delivers video calls, messages, and more to certain internet-connected televisions. One of the uses of the tool is for church shut-in ministry. Contact Dan if you’d like to pilot a program in your congregation.

The discussion:

Communication apps – Reaching out to touch someone via a plain old phone call, is so yesterday. Martin and Sallie discuss their favorite smartphone apps for many forms of communication.

• Text
  • Messenger
  • Apple Messages
• Email
  • Inbox by Gmail
  • Outlook
  • Apple Mail
  • K-9 Mail for Android
• Video Conferencing
  • Google Hangouts
  • Skype
  • Zoom
• Background / Location
  • Apple Find My Friends
  • Glympse
• Social Media private groups
  • Facebook
  • Slack

News in tech:

Google shutters it’s goo.gl URL shortening service

Picks of the week:

• Car Gurus
• Notability
  • For better learning in college lectures, lay down the laptop and pick up a pen

Ministry resources:

Check out Faithlife’s new Ministry Team magazine

Community feedback:

The Ultimate Guide for Using Trello at Home

Featured video:

What made us laugh in Star Trek IV (circa 1986) is turning into our reality in 2018 – voice controlled devices. Enjoy this throwback to Mr.Scott (a.k.a. The Miracle Worker) communicating with a computer.

Coming up on WELSTech:

Episode 546 – Prof. Rachel Feld co-hosts, and the discussion centers around awesome apps for the classroom. Release date: Wednesday, April 25.

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