For this month’s Netted Staff Picks, we brought in some true tech experts: the staff of the VICE publication Motherboard. From drone racing to Bitcoin mining to net neutrality and more, they’re covering the latest tech news every day. With a Webby Win for “Connected,” their digital short featuring Pamela Anderson, under their belt, Motherboard is also developing some of the most interesting and creative work on the Internet today. Read on to get their picks for the apps and websites that help them do it.
Insight Timer
Ankita Rao / @anrao Associate Editor Favorite App/Service: Insight Timer “It's probably cheesy to pick a meditation app, but Insight Timer is the one tool that has helped me meditate regularly after years of trying. It's simple, free, and you can connect with your friends or do it solo. The crowdsourced guided meditations help avoid the Western mindfulness tropes, and the simple non-guided timer system is intuitive and comforting.”
Kaleigh Rogers / @KaleighRogers Staff Writer Favorite App/Service: OverDrive “I’m a major library evangelist. It’s free, better for the environment, and jives well with my community-minded sensibilities. So when I discovered I could borrow audiobooks, in addition to hard copies, using a simple app on my phone linked to my NYPL account, I was thrilled. OverDrive isn’t the prettiest-looking app but it’s easy to set up and use, and expands the offerings at my local branch to include reads I can consume in a moving vehicle without getting carsick. Total win."
Jason Koebler / @jason_koebler Editor-in-Chief Favorite App/Service: Ascension "Ascension is a deck building card game that is similar to Magic the Gathering in lore and Texas Hold’Em in gameplay. The IRL version takes forever to set up and play, but the iPhone version takes just a couple minutes per game and is both addictive and relatively mindless. The game serves no productive purpose whatsoever, but is a good way to kill a few minutes and is completely unrelated to journalism, online content, or any sort of notification-adjacent tasks on your phone, meaning it’s a good way to 'unplug' without actually putting your phone down. I love it."
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / @lorenzoFB Staff Writer Favorite App/Service: oTranscribe “This is the simplest, easiest-to-use transcription service I've come across. It works inside a web browser, but your files don't leave your computer. The interface is clean, intuitive, and does just the right amount of things—such as having keyboard shortcuts to control the recording—to help you transcribe audio files or YouTube videos.”
Brian Anderson / @thebanderson Features Editor Favorite App/Service: Merlin Bird ID “In these dark, uncertain times, I find myself looking up into the trees and then down at my phone, specifically at this easy-to-use birding app from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, which lets you instantly identify birds and do a little citizen science while you’re at it. Oh, wait, is that a Cooper's hawk?”
