Apps – Page 3 – IT Connect

SMU Mobile App: It’s SMU in the palm of your hand

Update: OIT is winding down its SMU Mobile app for iPhone and Android. On February 12, 2018, SMU Mobile will no longer appear in app stores and will stop working after February 28, 2018.

SMU Mobile App

SMU is releasing its first official mobile application, SMU Mobile. This new app puts SMU in the palm of your hand. As a student, you can easily access variety of information about the university, including maps, news, grades, and even the course catalog.

Find what is available for lunch in Dining. In Events, find what is currently going on near you, as all of the events from the SMU Calendar are in the app (and we’re bringing in more SMU Calendar users!). Find an event you are excited about, you can bookmark it for later or even share it to your social media account. With Social, the latest updates from SMU’s Facebook feed are available without leaving the app.

For your academic needs, not only do you have the ability to view the course catalog, but you can even view classes and grades within the app. Once you have logged into the My Courses section with your SMU ID and password, you will have access to your course listing and grades. Look for more features to be added to My Courses in the future.

The SMU Mobile application was developed as a collaboration between the Office of Public Affairs and the Office of Information Technology with assistance from the SMU Student Senate. The team will continue to refine and add new features to SMU Mobile. In the coming months, features such as YouTube and Instagram integration will be added. If you have suggestions or feature requests for the SMU Mobile App, please contact the Student Senate Committee or email mobile@smu.edu.

SMU Mobile App is available as a free download on iOS and Android. For all other devices, visit mobile.smu.edu.

Requirements:

The iOS version requires iOS 6.0 or later.
The Android version requires Android 2.3.3 and up.

SPSS License Renewal

Every summer, SPSS goes through a license renewal process. During this time, some customers will be given a countdown for when their license will expire. While this message is distressing, there is a 90-day grace period during which there will be NO disruption of service.

Once SMU has received the renewed licenses, all machines running SPSS versions 21 or 22 and have LANDesk installed will update automatically. Those who have software older than versions 21 and 22 will need to update to one of the two most recent iterations via LANDesk. Those who do not have LANDesk or would like assistance with updating to the two most recent versions should contact the SMU Help Desk for assistance. Version 23 will be made available at this time as well for those who would like to update. And of course, SPSS is available at all times via apps.smu.edu.

4 Ways to Manage Stress Using Technology

If you’re looking to relieve your life of unnecessary stress, try one of these tech-savvy methods to lighten your burden and make you feel ready to take on the world.

1. Calming Reflection

Meditation has proven itself as a common yet efficient way of managing stress, and with apps like Mindfulness and Calm, short meditation sessions are at your fingertips wherever and whenever you need them. The Breathe2Relax app provides you with breathing techniques to help you quickly simmer down in any situation.

2. Soothing Sounds

While white noise machines do exist, you can quickly find hours’ worth of relaxing sounds on sites such as YouTube or Spotify, where there are multiple playlists to choose from, or by using the handy Relax Melodies app.

3. Gadgets and Gizmos

A Dublin startup called Galvanic created Pip, a biosensor which measures electrodermal activity associated with stress levels by having the user place their thumb on a small device. After calculating your levels, Pip can suggest techniques to reduce stress, and warn you if your stress levels are too high.

4. Quality Sleep

A great device to use for a re-energizing catnap is the Phillips Wake-Up Light. Described as an uplifting alarm clock, this accessory simulates a sunrise and accompanying sounds to help eliminate grogginess. According to a review by Health.com, even after just four hours of sleep, the experimenter woke up feeling refreshed, thanks to the new clock. An app with a similar purpose is SleepBot. Previously featured on our blog, this alarm clock app measures your movement while sleeping to determine the best time to wake you and leave you feeling refreshed.

Travel This Summer With These Apps

Summer has just begun, which normally means that a future vacation is right on the horizon. Organizing a trip can get a bit wearisome at times, but with these free apps, planning can be an (ocean) breeze!

Sky Scanner

If you aren’t particular about flight dates, just choose your ideal destination and where you plan to depart from, and leave it to Sky Scanner to find the best deals!

Tripomatic

If you have a location you want to travel to and want to know what sights and experiences the destination has to offer, look no further than this app! Tripomatic gives detailed information and pictures for each major sight that your destination presents, from popular restaurants to esteemed museums.

TripIt

Ever get flight and hotel confirmation emails and have trouble keeping up with all of them? If so, use TripIt to organize your itinerary. You can also add itineraries for multiple trips, so whether you want to plan out a weekend getaway or a business trip, this app is for you.

Gogobot

If you are trying to fill your itinerary, use Gogobot to see what restaurants, sights and hotels at your destination will best suit your needs.

Hipmunk

Hipmunk compares hotel and flight prices and puts them all in one place. It also provides ratings, reviews, and pictures, so you know just what you’re getting when you book them.

AroundMe

Once you reach your destination and are looking for shopping or entertainment, use AroundMe to find a variety of locations to visit, whether it be a movie or music festivals or finding the nearest supermarket or gas station.

Get it Together: Conquering the To-Do List

As finals quickly approach, it can be a real pain to keep all of your tasks, both personal and school-related, organized and on their way to completion. Sometimes, things fall through the cracks and throw your life into chaos.

Everyone has their own methods of managing their tasks, but if your methods don’t seem to be cutting it for your needs, you may want to switch it up with some digital methods!

A very common way to keep it all together is to have a to-do list. For ages this has been done with pen/pencil and paper. But what happens if you lose your list or it gets destroyed by an eager and hungry canine? All that work is gone! For online storage and syncing of your to-do list, there are loads of awesome tools for you to try.

My personal favorite has been Wunderlist. Wunderlist is a free to-do list platform (with a premium pay service available) that makes creating your to-do list and syncing it with all of your devices painless. With apps for not only your computer but also your smartphones and tablets, your tasks are only a couple of taps or clicks away! On top of that, it has a satisfying “DING!” when you finally check those tasks off of your list!

Wunderlist is available for iPhone, Android, Kindle Tablets (FireOS), Windows, and Mac.

Some other great services include Remember the Milk, which has apps for most mobile platforms as well as the ability to connect to your Google and Evernote accounts. Speaking of Evernote, it can also be a great way to keep a to do list on top of its stellar note-taking capabilities.

Another good option for a to-do list across all of your devices is Todoist. Also free with a premium pay option available, Todoist has apps and clients that are available on fifteen different platforms! Todoist would probably work best if you’re more business-oriented, since it also includes a lot of team collaboration features that aren’t found in other services.

Apart from finding the best to-do list service for your needs, another important part of managing your tasks is to get into a routine and stick with it! You’ll be surprised how much more work you can get done.