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16 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | MARCH 2018 By Steve Benoff There are apps I use every day. Every morning I check my calendar app, my weather app, my NY Times app, my messages app, my stocks app, and my Podcast app. There are many other apps I use at least once a week. But there are apps that fit special purposes that may not occur frequently, but when the time comes, they come in very handy. The first app is one I hope neither you nor I need to use. I found First Aid by American Red Cross after reading an article on the importance of stopping bleeding. Using simple techniques to stop bleeding can save lives. Bleeding is just one of almost two dozen topics covered by this app. What I like most about this app is how it simplifies these topics into a few important steps, often just two or three. There are five steps listed for "CPR – unresponsive not breathing." Each step is one or two concise sentences. You don't have to read a lot before acting. There is always an illustration and, in some cases, a video. Beside the steps, illustration, and video, each topic has a list of FAQs (frequently asked questions). For example, under the three- step bleeding topic there are eight FAQs including "should I apply a tourniquet?" and "how do I treat nosebleeds?" There is even a "test yourself " section. First Aid by American Red Cross is both simple and comprehensive. We should all have it on our phones. There are all kinds of emergencies and not all are life threatening. How about being presented with writing in a foreign language? Not long ago, at a meeting of the Classical Music Club, we listened to a performance of a piece by Erik Satie entitled Ogives. None of us knew the meaning of the word, but because I had the Google Translate app, I learned that ogive has two meanings in French (Satie was French): a pointed arch (which wasn't the relevant meaning) and a cumulative frequency graph (which is highly relevant if you listen to much Satie). With Google Translate you select a language from and a language to. Each choice is made from many dozens of available languages. Then you select an input style. You can use your camera to input a word, a paragraph, a menu, a sign, etc. If you select the microphone icon, you can speak the words in English and the phone will "speak" the words in the language you've chosen. Or you can choose the pen icon and type or handwrite the word(s). It's quite an amazing app, and one that can come in handy on any number of occasions. Surely I'm not the only one to have forgotten where I parked my car. Actually I'm pretty good at remembering where I left my car, but that ability fades the longer I'm away from it. Well, lo and behold, there's an app for that. It's called Find Your Car with AR. AR is augmented reality. By now we should be familiar with the terms AR and VR. VR (virtual reality) is a substitute for reality and is most often found in electronic games with headsets over our eyes. Augmented reality doesn't substitute for the real world, it adds to it. Find Your Car with AR is only one of a limitless variety of AR applications. You start by pressing the "I parked here" button on the app. Using the GPS function on your phone, the app will guide you back to your car. It acts like a compass, but instead of pointing north, the arrow points towards your car. Of course, you can use it to find your way back to anyplace, not just your car. Hansel and Gretel could have used this app and saved themselves a lot of trouble. Do you use an app you'd like to share with others? Let me know at steve.benoff@verizon.net. THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT! Three Special-Use Apps

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