By Chris Powers – Web Editor
Google Drive/Docs
If you’re on Android, the entire Google suite is worth checking out, but Drive and Docs are probably the most important bit for most students. You can use Docs to write that paper on the go and have it saved automatically to your Drive. In addition to your own docs, you can also upload syllabi from your classes or any other files (up to 15GB) you need to have access to from the cloud. Works with your GRCC student email.
eAccounts (Blackboard Connect)
Ever get to your car and realize that you don’t have enough money on your Raider Card to get out of the parking lot? With the eAccounts app, you can easily add money to your account. If you’ve added money from your debit card online before, that card information will be stored so you can just top off your account without having to log into Blackboard and then into the Raider Card site.
ParkMobile
Park at a meter without worrying about having change. The first step to using this app is to create an account at the ParkMobile website. Once you’ve created your account and added your license plate number and billing information, just scan a QR code or use NFC to tap and pay.
OverDrive Media Console
Once you’ve loaded this app, you can use your Grand Rapids Public Library card to check out thousands of ebooks and audiobooks for free. Classics like Pride and Predjudice are always available, while you might have to be put on a waitlist for newer titles.
Mint
Keep all your accounts under one roof AND budget your money. From Intuit, the TurboTax people, Mint allows you to have your bank account, credit cards, and PayPal account all in one place. Mint will automatically categorize your expenditures and show you your monthly cash flow.
Amazon
You can use your GRCC student email account to sign up for Amazon Student. New Student members receive six months of free two-day shipping which is great for textbooks! After six months, it will automatically renew for $49 per year and will give you access to Prime Instant Videos, Prime Music, and one free Kindle book to borrow each month in addition to the free two-day shipping.
Evernote
An extremely powerful note-taking and task management app. It allows you to create different notebooks for different classes or areas of your life and tag them for future searching. This app can be used on your desktop or laptop, too, along with a handful of companion apps that extend its usefulness even further. Upgrading to Evernote Premium for $45 per year (or $5 monthly) gives you more space (1GB vs. 100MB), offline notebooks, the ability to edit shared notes, and premium support.
Feed.ly
While Samsung Galaxy S5 owners have Flipboard pre-installed, Feed.ly seems to be the better choice for a news reader app. The killer feature is that Feed.ly allows you to add any blog or site that has an RSS feed unlike Flipboard which requires the site to be set up for it.
GasBuddy
Find the lowest gas prices in the area. GasBuddy is a crowdsourced database of gas prices. You can set favorite gas stations and search by area. Also helps if you don’t know where the nearest gas station is. Wouldn’t you drive an extra half mile just to get cheaper gas?
Waze
This GPS-based map app provides not only turn-by-turn directions, but adds crowd-sourced traffic information. While stuck in traffic, users can see what exactly is causing the backup based on reports from other users ahead of them It can also help you reroute around those traffic jams altogether.
