We're almost at the end of the list – it's time to reward those power users who are looking for a way to really get the most out of their devices. If you don't mind a fairly steep learning curve (and a $6.49 price tag), the Tasker app is the best way to make your smart phone smarter. The program uses "states" and "tasks" to automatically respond to all sorts of situations. So, for example, you could tell the phone to automatically mute its ringer when it's turned facedown. Or you could have it turn on GPS when certain applications (like Google Maps or Navigation) are active, then turn it back off when those apps close to save juice. Or you could have the phone's screen automatically dim to a preset level after 10 p.m., so you don't blind yourself if you have to take a call in the middle of the night. Or you could automatically bring up a list of music apps when you insert headphones into your phone or tablet. Or you could automatically mark your GPS location when you get out of your car, so you don't forget where you parked later. The possibilities are pretty much endless. Check out this video of a Lifehacker blogger using Tasker to create the ultimate alarm clock, complete with fading music and a personalized greeting.
Mark Sappenfield
Dear Reader,
About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:
“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”
If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.
But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.
The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.
We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”
If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.
