All apps-all access!

This week, CMLE’s Recommended Ed Tech Tool is Quixey (beta site.) Quixey is a free, clean, easy-to-use, and uncluttered website that allows users to conduct quick, functional searches for apps.  It stills gives you (the end user) the option to search for an app by name, with the added flexibility to also identify a list of apps by specific tasks and functions.

How does it work?

This site uses a proprietary, algorithmic based system to gather data from the web found in blogs, tweets, articles, product descriptions, and even reviews. This information is used to generate a profile for each app.  At Quixey’s homepage, a large single search box appears in the middle of the screen. You can enter a task you would like an app to preform,  such as reading. Then, a list is created based on the app’s profile along with a brief product description, the cost (if any), and current reviews.

Additional functions:

• Search by mobile device (Android, iPad, Windows Phone, etc.), desktop (Mac or Windows), or browser (Chrome, Firefox, etc.)
• View currently trending apps, top picks, and games.
• Browse by category (play, work, live, or learn.)
• View samples of apps with screen shots.
• Sorted apps in list form, by image, or price.
• Connect using an existing Facebook account (not required). This will allow you to save and sync your bookmarks (favorite or interesting apps) to multiple devices.

Why does this matter?

It is easy to become overwhelmed. The market for app development has been growing exponentially since 2008.  According to About.com (October 2013), there were 775,000  apps available for download in the iTunes Store in January 2013. Approximately 300,000 of these apps were native to iPad devices.  AppBrain (October 2013) estimated app development each month, peeking in June of this year, with approximately 57,000 new apps.