BL Magazine

Technology
Whether you want to organise your work life
or choose a bottle of wine with confidence,
we’ve picked five apps that will help you
kick off the new year with gusto
Words: Chris Wheal
CAMCARD
‘Good intentions’ is the name I give to the
pile of unsorted business cards on my desk.
Thankfully, I now have the CamCard app.
On the way home from meetings, I simply
take a snap of each of the business cards I’ve
collected and CamCard adds the details to
my contacts. It lets me edit them before I
save (though sometimes its guess at which
category to put each bit of text in is wide
of the mark). All new business cards are
immediately in my address book, which
syncs with my computer. Now there’s just
that old pile of cards to get through …
Free
iSCANNER
If someone sends you an official document
in the post and you want a digital version
or you’ve been asked to email it to a
colleague, iScanner is the app for you.
Using your phone’s camera, you can quickly
turn any paper document into a PDF. There
is a free version of the app, but that leaves
you with a visible watermark at the top of
your PDF, which is annoying. So it’s worth
paying the small sum for the full version to
give you a clean scan. It’s much quicker
than putting paperwork through your
scanner and the quality is almost as good.
Free/£0.79 (premium)
Five apps to make
life better in 2016
MICROSOFT OFFICE
It’s ubiquitous; you use it everywhere you
go; and at long last, thanks to this handy app,
it’s actually pretty good on your phone as
well. If you don’t already have a Microsoft
account, you’ll need to sign up for one in
order to access all the functions of Word,
Excel and Powerpoint (each a separate app).
This gives you the freedom to edit documents
on your phone wherever you are and save
them to access later on your computer. One
big plus, if you’re a fan, is that you can use
Outlook on your iPhone instead of Apple’s
Mail programme, which gives you the same
look and feel as on your computer.
Free
HOW TO TIE A TIE
There are lots of apps on tying tie knots, and
many use an identical interface and graphics,
but this one by Damir Nigomedyanov is the
high-class end of the market and uses its
own moving artwork. The free version gives
you limited access, while the paid-for app
shows you how to tie all the knots. Different
knots suit different collars – and then there’s
that occasional black tie event. There’s
nothing more stylish than untying your real
bow tie at the end of the evening and leaving
it draped casually around your neck. This
app means you can tie that knot confidently
rather than wearing a tacky clip-on.
Free/£3.99 (premium)
VIVINO
Scan a wine label, or even a wine list, into this nifty little app and Vivino will tell you all about the wine,
how much a bottle might cost and what your fellow drinkers think of it. This means you can scan a wine
list to find the bottle that’s either best value or most likely to suit your palate. Many venues – restaurants,
shops and wine merchants – are already included on Vivino, so you can look up the wine list before you even
enter. You can add your own comments to help others too, and there are special offers for wine lovers.
Free
66 January/february 2016 www.blglobal.co.uk