5 Apps To Help You Through Your Back-To-Work Week

Hello all! I hope your holidays were merry and bright - and I hope you stayed safe in the polar vortex (how epic is that name, seriously? Polar vortex)!


I don't know about you, but this week certainly has been a one-way trip on the struggle bus. According to research, the Monday back from the holidays was called "Blue Monday" - because it was supposed to be the most depressing day of the year.

So how do you bounce back from the holiday blues? With a little help from technology, of course. These apps have helped me come back swinging after New Years...or at least have kept me awake at my desk.

Coffitivity (iOS& Android) is a bizarre but absolutely brilliant concept: for those of us that can't work along to music but can't stand complete silence either. Coffitivity emulates the sounds of a coffee shop with three settings: Morning Murmur, Lunchtime Lounge or University Undertones. You can add your own music as a background, or simply listen to the soothing coffee shop sounds by themselves.

Happier (iOS) is a 21-day course that helps boost your attitude through short daily lessons. The course costs $50, or you can get the free app here. If nothing else, this app will help you keep your perspective as you are remembering how late you got to sleep over the holidays. Sigh.

Have a really great quote that always helps you get through the day? Write it down, put a really cool background behind it and then share it with the world using Quollective (iOS). Or, if that just seems to hard, just browse around the Quote Library. Someone's quote will be sure to inspire you. How do I know? Oprah uses the app. Bam. Your argument is invalid.

Need help getting your life back into shape after the holidays? Meet your sadistic new friend, Carrot (iOS). Carrot  promises to be "your new task master" and will get upset if you "persist in sloth" (Carrot's words, not mine). Complete the things on your to-do list and Carrot will reward you. It makes crossing things off of your to-do list not only fun...but necessary. 

Color Zen (iOS & Android) is an addictive soothing game that combines a gorgeous interface with soothing music that will have that four hour budget meeting becoming a distant memory. As much of a puzzle as it is an addictive zoning-out program, the object of Color Zen is to match the shapes with colors to fill the screen with one outside color. Check out the trailer, it is about as soothing as the actual game is:

What apps have got you going this work week? Tell me by commenting below!

New Year, New Apps: My Interview With Creators of yAPPer

Happy New Year, Techknows! Here's to 2014, a year that will bring new opportunities, new ideas, and of course, new technology and apps.

To ring in the new year, I decided to focus on an exciting new project that will be launched in mid-January: the yAPPer app, created by three George Washington University graduate students and an iOS developer who have taken on the challenge of closing the gaps in modern communication.   

Think about this: have you ever been at an event, and wondered who else might be there? Have you seen something in your neighborhood and thought - "Am I the only one that saw that?" 

Enter yAPPer a localized chat app. yAPPer allows you to create a message board that anyone within five city blocks, or, to be more precise, 750 yards, can see.  

What sets yAPPer apart from other chat services is after 30 minutes of inactivity, your message will be deleted, not only from the app, but from the yAPPer's servers. 

"That helps our users to be candid", yAPPer President Rob Wyant stated. "People can use the app with the confidence of knowing that what they say on our boards won't come back years later to haunt them."

Another great function of the app is the ability to privately message your friends who are around you. By using a hashtag in your message subject line, the app will know to make your chat private and will only be seen by those that you invite to the chat or use the hashtag.

"Bar and restaurant owners or event planners can use this function to create their own unique hashtag in order to send special messages out to people in attendance," Wyant explains. "Anyone within 750 yards who have the specialized hashtag will be able to see the messages, which is great for sending out special promotions or just connecting with the patrons of your bar". 

In the summer of 2013, Wyant and two of his colleagues, Justin Lichtenstaedter and Dane Hinnen, came up with the idea of creating this app on a whim. "We didn't set out to create an app, the idea just came to us while in conversation", Lichtenstaedter stated.

The three colleagues realized they had a great idea and quite a lot of business experience between them, but no experience at developing apps. That's when they found the fourth member of their team, Anthony Agby, a skilled self-taught developer who had a passion for bringing other people's ideas to life.

 Recently, they have gained notoriety by becoming one of 64 apps to be chosen by South By Southwest, the famous Austin, Texas media conference, to compete in their Startup Student Madness tournament. On January 3rd, the judges will choose eight apps to go on to be the "Entrepreneurial Eight", who will be judged by a celebrity panel of judges and compete for top honors at the SXSW convention.

The founders say that none of their success would be possible without the help of the DC tech community and those at the George Washington University, who have mentored them and supported their project.

"A lot of what we have accomplished is through talking and networking with the community around us," Wyant stated. "Each day has been a learning experience, and each day I realize I don't quite know what I am doing. But my partners and I found great help through the GW community and those who are willing to support our start-up."

For more information on yAPPer, click here. To learn about SXSW's Studemt Startup Madness, click here.