Last month was pretty much full of exciting apps and VR! We looked at the following: an app to keep track of your mileage so that you always know what to claim, a power thesaurus that ensures you are never lost for words, a sat nav reflector and exciting news from Microsoft in the world of VR!
MileIQ
MileIQ is an app that can be downloaded to your smartphone. The purpose of the app is to track your mileage so that you can have a complete record of all your tax deductible and reimbursable mileage. The way this works is that the app runs in the background as your drive with smart drive detection. You can add your vehicles, locations and purposes so that it is tailored to you. An accurate record of your mileage is stored securely. The in-app reports give you snapshots of information, however you also will have access to a full web-based dashboard where you can see a full breakdown. Another feature of the app is that you can classify your drive. You swipe left on the screen to define that the drive is a personal one and then you swipe right on the screen to define that the drive is for business purposes. You can download this app form the App Store and Google Play today for free.
Power Thesaurus
If you are a writer then you it’s likely you already know about this tool. Power Thesaurus is a website where you can type in a word and you will receive a set of results. You can choose between Synonyms, Antonyms, Broader terms, Narrower terms and Related terms. These will then be ranked in order of popularity. An example would be searching the term ‘Happy’ you then will see a list of 1.5K synonyms with the top rated being ‘Joyful’. You can also now get Google Chrome extension for Power Thesaurus. You will get a button on your toolbar that allows you to search and view synonyms, antonyms etc. You can also select a word and right-click it to open Power Thesaurus.
Hudway Glass
One of our team members recently discovered something called Hudway Glass. It is a mount with a little glass screen that flips up in front of your windscreen. You then lay your phone on the mount and the reflection from your phone will show on the glass screen. For this to work you will need to download the two Hudway apps. You have an app that will show your speed and another app that acts just like a sat nav . This will work with any phone and will work in day and night. The great thing about this rather than just using your phone as your sat nav, you get a 20% larger screen reflected, making it a lot easier to see. The see-through glass screen does not alter your view so you can always have your eyes on all parts of the road.
Microsoft VR Headset and Controller Bundle
Microsoft have recently announced that they will be soon releasing their new set of motion controllers that can be bought as a bundle with the Microsoft VR headset. These should be available to purchase as a bundle by the end of this year with prices starting at $400. The reference design features ‘inside-out tracking’. This means that there will be no need for external sensors unlike the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. The sensors for the controllers will be within the headset. There is LED lights at one end of the controllers for tracking as well as a round track pad, menu button and analog stick. On the body of the controller is a side grip trigger and a Windows button. At only 350g in weight, they are one of the lightest headsets in comparison to the top of the range ones right now.