Tuesday Tip – Let’s Do Something Fun Today

by Cheryl Sklar

Have you been lucky enough to have a day with nothing really exciting planned but you want to do something fun nearby? Do you have out-of-town company that you’d like to entertain but don’t want to get caught up in the typical tourist trap? Or – have you found yourself out of town with time on your hands but no idea what is around and what you can do with a little spare time?

Field Trip is a great iPhone or Android app that runs in the background of your phone. When you get close to something interesting, it will notify you of cool, hidden, and unique things in the world around you.

After downloading the app (for Free from the App Store or Google Play), you login with your Google account (this allows them to remember your Field Trip settings and tailor the experience to your interests and preferences).

There is a great Help Center that introduces you to the Basics of Field Trip, along with helpful information to get you started. You can choose from 3 different modes to set the frequency of Field Trip notifications. You’ll see noteworthy places around you on a map, where you can touch the cards to pull up points of interest around you. Field trip can also detect when you’re driving and automatically “talk” about interesting places around you.

At the top of your screen, once you’re in, is a little “card” icon that allows you to customize your experience and discover what interests you. You can subscribe to one or several. The list of available feeds is constantly growing. You can preview some of the cards of publishers that interest you. History experts like Arcadia and Historvius unveil local lore. Trend-setting publications like Thrillist, Food Network and Zagat will point out great places to eat. There are many other publications that guide you to unique stores, local music and hidden gems no matter where you are.

I haven’t spent much time with this app out of town yet but it looks very exciting. While traveling locally, I have seen several things show up in a couple of areas in Atlanta (near home and near work) and it looks like I’ve got some local exploring to do. I tried to discover if there was a way to plan ahead for a location where you know you’ll be going (are we there yet?), but I couldn’t find that option. It appears that it simply runs off of location-based apps to use the information from your phone to determine your approximate (current) location. Bummer! So much for planning ahead.

This app is optimized for the iPhone, not the iPad, but with constantly changing technology, you never know when it will be available for other devices as well.

So if you’re a lawyer traveling for work with some spare time or someone in the medical field looking for something fun and different to do, this is a great adventure-finder. I plan to use this in a couple months when I take my family (of 2 teenagers, a college kid and a fun-seeking husband) to New Orleans. We’re bound to find enough things to keep all of us happy and interested.

Happy travels!

Cheryl Sklar With over 25 years of experience in sales, marketing and general coordination, Cheryl uses her varied organizational skills to enhance the behind the scenes workings of Network 1. She strives to help things run smoothly wherever she can.  csklar@network1consulting.com or 404.997.7641

Network 1 Consulting is a 16-year-old, IT Support company in Atlanta, GA. We become – or augment – the IT department for law firms and medical practices. Our IT experts can fix computers – but what our clients really value are the industry-specific best practices we bring to their firms. This is especially important with technology, along with regulations and cyber threats, changing so rapidly. We take a proactive approach to helping our clients use technology to gain and keep their competitive advantage.