Some Fun and Useful Apps

I've been making use of some apps and sites lately that I thought you guys might also enjoy, so here's a quick summary of each...

Coffitivity is a site that literally just plays ambient coffee shop sounds for you to listen to. Why would you want this? They've got some research that shows that it's difficult to be creative when it's too quiet and too much noise isn't great either, but the level of noise found in an average coffee shop actually helps boost creativity! Pretty interesting, right? Great if you work from home but also great if the sounds in your office aren't doing it for you. Give it a try! 

Lift is such an awesome concept: it lets you set goals and then tracks them for you, with the added element of community for motivation. You can select a shared goal that others are following, or create your own. Everyday you go on and tick off what you've done and see your track record so far, which makes it kinda satisfying. My only problem with this is that I forget to actually go on and tick stuff off! There's no Android app yet but the web version works pretty well on the phone browser.

Ever found a really good article or blog post and wanted to repost the entire thing, but couldn't for obvious courtesy and potential legal reasons? Now you can: repost works as a kind of content syndicator and makes your content available to share, and when people share it your branding and advertising ,etc gets shared too. So it's kind of like guest posting on other blogs or sites and can help gain exposure and readership. I've got it installed on my blog if you have a peek at the bottom right of each post. I came across this via my friend Anneke from the awesome blog, The Joy of Unemployment.  

And last but not least and pretty apt, is a site called Happier! I only just discovered it yesterday so my experience with it is pretty limited, but from what I see, I really like it! It's such a great idea. The general gist is that you only share happy stuff on there, which you can make private or public. I just love it, it's so in line with what I'm trying to do: “Happier was inspired by research that shows focusing on the positive and sharing good things with people you care about makes you happier, healthier and more productive.” Check out the science behind it here. Unfortunately I think this may just be another one that I forget to actually do, but I want to try and keep it up. It's also got a community aspect if you make your moments public, so when people "like" your post, it says "You made So-and-so smile"... how nice! :) Try it out and join me.

Have you come across any cool apps or sites that you're loving lately? Please share!