Buycott: the Personal Finance App That Helps You Avoid Unethical Purchases

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There are plenty of applications out there to help you be a good consumer. In most cases they simply provide an easier way for you to shop on the go. For example, the Amazon application allows you to access your account from anywhere so that you can order goods and have them shipped whether you’re at home, at work, in the airport, or anywhere else. Then there are apps like RedLaser that scan products in stores and tell you where to buy them the cheapest (either at nearby stores or online outlets). And there are even programs that help you to make healthier choices, such as Fooducate, which lets you see how the foods you scan are rated, health-wise, and what you might try instead if you want something more nutritious. But now there is an application that has taken the concept a step further. By downloading the Buycott app you can get the ethical 411 on the products you buy every day.

While this app is free to download for iOS devices, you should be forewarned that it has gained such quick notoriety that it seems to be a little worse for the wear. But whether there’s a lag due to ramping up the servers to handle the load or they’re simply still in the beta phase, the truth is that when the app is working it’s pretty amazing. So if you’re willing to overlook a few hiccups and hope that the developer irons out the kinks over the next few months, you should definitely give it a whirl. Here’s what you’ll get when the app is functioning at full strength.

You can start off by scanning items in your grocery cart, and you’ll be amazed by what you discover. The application delivers a variety of information designed to tell you just how ethical the product is, whether in and of itself, through the manufacturing process, or via the company that makes it. For example, you can choose to take a look at the family tree of the company you’re supporting through the purchase of their products. Say you want to buy a frozen pizza. Did you know that brands like DiGiorno and Tombstone are amongst the nearly 8,000 companies under the Nestle umbrella? And did you further know that there is a global boycott against the parent company due to fair trade violations and other unethical acts? So maybe you want to get delivery instead of DiGiorno after all.

You can also get a snapshot of the unethical practices of the company itself to see if it has put money into campaigns to prevent GMO food labeling. Of course, you may also find that some of the products you buy are totally ethical and that the companies producing them are making efforts to increase ethical mandates for all businesses. But that’s not all the app does; it also allows you to join campaigns that interest you. For example, you could choose to support the LGBT community or oppose animal testing, and joining such campaigns would help the app to notify you when you scan items that are at odds with your ethical beliefs.

There are certainly bound to be people who don’t find this app particularly appealing. Some would rather live in blissful ignorance and continue eating their Dreyer’s ice cream (Nestle) guilt-free. They’ll turn to the internet and mobile space when it suits them, using http://www.ratesupermarket.ca/ to find the best interest rates or RedLaser to get the best prices on their purchases; but they don’t want their smartphone to deliver moral recriminations every time they purchase a cookie. Buycott is not for those people. If you care about the plight of the planet and its many inhabitants and you want to do whatever you can to make a difference then this app is where it’s at. You just might have to be willing to suffer some growing pains as it ramps up to handle the massive attention it has already garnered.

Yard Sale Mapper Gets You There Faster

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There are people who hit up yard sales only when they need something specific, such as a couch, a lamp, or some affordable dishware and utensils for a new apartment. Others like to take a Saturday here and there to peruse local garage sales in search of items they collect regularly like record albums, sports memorabilia, comic books, or designer clothes and handbags. Then there are people who are yard sale addicts, thumbing through the paper every week to find all of the garage and estate sales they might attend in search of that elusive something that they never seem to find (despite all the “projects” they bring home). But regardless of how often you frequent garage sales, you likely have the same issue every time: doing all the prep work to list out the sales you want to visit, along with directions on how to get from one to the next, can make for a time-consuming hassle and a total waste of printer paper. So if you’re looking for an easier way to get from point A to B to C and beyond, you should try downloading the Yard Sale Mapper application for your favorite iDevice.

You might think that this freebie is nothing more than a standard mapping app, by which you input an address in order to get directions to your destination. But there’s a lot more to it, and you’ll find that the features are perfectly suited to users that plan to attend multiple garage sales. For starters, you can input the addresses of any yard sales you find in the paper. However, you can make things a lot easier on yourself by simply using the app to search for yard sales that meet your criteria. For example, you can start by entering your own address or zip code to search nearby listings, after which you can select the day and the distance from your home. But it gets even better than that. Thanks to collaboration with Craigslist, you can use this preeminent online listing for yard sales to search ads for the sales that best match what you’re looking for.

After you input your criteria, the app will populate both a list and a map based on ads posted on Craigslist. So you can peruse the listings to find items you want and then match them up to pins on the map or you can look for pins clustered in a particular area and then click them to find info about what is available (supposing the person created a comprehensive listing). From there you can map up to seven locations in sequence and the app will give you directions from one to the next. Just a few minutes of prep work are required and you smartphone or tablet can route you efficiently from sale to sale. Plus, integration with Google maps lets you go all the way to street view so that you can see exactly which house you’re looking for. The best part about this yard sale search application is that you, too, can use it to help others find any garage sales you might host. All you have to do is create an ad on Craigslist and the app will find you!

Egg Baby: the Latest Teaching Tool for Parents

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There are tons of games out there designed to help children learn, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Some focus on academic subjects, helping kids with reading and math comprehension or making topics like science, geography, and history fun and engaging. Some help them to catalog and learn about local plants and animals. And some even track their study habits so that they can analyze and optimize their time spent on homework. But these are not the only lessons a child must learn in life; they also need to develop a strong work ethic and a sense of compassion for their fellow man. And while such life lessons are generally left to parents, you might be happy to learn that there are apps that can nurture these essential skills. Egg Baby is one such application and it provides your kids with a fun and engaging method of learning to care for another creature.

You may be familiar with the concept of digital pets, which started years ago with the Tamagotchi. But Egg Baby takes it up a notch, offering a virtual pet for the next generation of mobile users. For one thing, it is designed to be used with Apple and Android devices, so you can download it to your favorite smartphone or tablet for kids to enjoy. That’s a big improvement over the 8-bit key chains that were first introduced nearly two decades ago (yup, it’s been that long). And the app is free to download, so you can get started without spending a penny. Of course, there are plenty of in-app purchases (of the virtual coin variety) that will help users to advance more quickly, but if you’re looking for a fun diversion for kids you needn’t spend to make it happen these days.

That said, your kids will get a lot more out of this app than simple entertainment value. They’ll start off simply enough by selecting the egg they want to raise. As they progress and gain coins they’ll have access to more and more options. From there they start caring for their virtual pet. Eggs need food, rest, entertainment, and attention in order to grow, and kids can watch how their eggs respond via meters that show their level of happiness, hunger, and so on. Eggs can also be decorated and there are all kinds of options for feeding them, as well, allowing for fun customization. Eventually eggs will hatch and produce a slew of different creatures, which will then live in the backyard and provide gifts meant to help in raising future eggs.

Egg Baby may seem like a simple form of entertainment, and indeed, parents could get hooked just as easily as kids. But if you’re trying to teach your children a lesson about the rewards of work, not to mention the requirements of caring for a critter, this application can provide you with a fun tool for the job. The educational system will get your kids ready for Washington State, Harvard, or whatever school they’re set on, but there are some lessons that need to be taught outside the classroom setting. So whether you’re trying to teach your kids that work has its rewards or you want to prepare them to care for an actual pet, Egg Baby can give you a platform with which to approach these life lessons.

Amazon Student: Low-Cost Goods for College Kids

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The stereotype of the starving student is more than just a myth. Although many college kids have parents to help them pay for their higher education, not to mention scholarships, financial aid, and other loans, plenty still have to hold down a part-time job in order to earn enough to cover extras. And since they can only look forward to minimum-wage employment, that doesn’t leave a lot in the rainy day fund. With the cost of tuition, books, living expenses, and more going up every year, it’s truly amazing that so many students manage to stay in school. So anything you can do to reduce your costs as you work towards a degree is no doubt helpful. Would you believe there’s an app for that? As it turns out, Amazon wants to help all the hardworking college students out there and they’ve done so with the aptly-titled application Amazon Student. Here’s how it works.

The app is free to download for your iPhone or Android device, which is always a good start for the student trying to save some cash. And the functionality is quite simple. The app ostensibly allows you to do two things: buy and sell. In one instance it helps you to save money and in the other it helps you to earn credit. Both are good news for students that have to spend hundreds of dollars on books each semester, not to mention additional materials for class.

When it comes to buying, the app provides you with a handy barcode scanner. So if you know which books you need for upcoming classes, all you have to do is head to the campus bookstore, scan the barcodes, and wait for the app to populate a list of the cheapest prices around on the items you’ve selected. Or you can simply type in the names of books or the ISBNs (international standard book numbers) if your professors have provided them in order to find the lowest prices on the textbooks you need for class. Then you can choose the copies you want to buy and get free two-day shipping for the first six months. Even after that you can still get free standard shipping on all qualifying orders over twenty-five dollars.

As for selling items back to Amazon, you can once again use the barcode scanner (or search functionality) to find out how much each product you want to trade in is worth. Then you simply confirm the trade, print the free shipping label and packing slip provided, box up your used books, games, movies, music, electronics, and even apparel, and send them in. Once they are received your account will be credited with the agreed upon amount (supposing your goods are in the condition you specified), or you will get an Amazon gift card if you prefer, and you can begin to make purchases with the money in your account.

You can also create a wish list for later reference so you don’t have to seek out the items you want multiple times, making it easy to order when you do have money in your account. Whether you’re attending a Vermont law school or studying on the sunny southern California coast, the Amazon Student application is one that can help you to cut costs on any number of items you might need during your time in college. Since you need all the help you can get, there’s no reason not to download this incredible app.

Tesla Talks Partnership With Google on Self-Driving Car Technology

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While new technology inevitably appears every few years in the medical, mobile computing, real estate and entertainment industries, it’s the automotive world that remains the early adopter. Every time a new gadget or process comes to light, auto brands look for ways to include them in their vehicles, setting each brand apart from its competition and making each one more attractive to high end luxury buyers. As soon as touchscreen technology was mastered it showed up on the dashboards of dozens of vehicles. The same can be said for MP3 music players, satellite radio, GPS navigation and portable home entertainment systems. But no technological breakthrough has been anticipated more hotly than the autonomous vehicle. Google has been leading the charge in this arena, and its successful partnership with Toyota’s Prius brand has been well-documented. It seems that other manufacturers are now looking to get in on the action, as Tesla recently entered into talks with Google on the joint release of a self-driving car.

The report first emerged on Bloomberg News, stating that Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors has been talking in depth with management at Google about coming together to create a new product. It’s apparent why Tesla may be going this route. Their vehicles are technological wonders. Tesla has released an all-electric line, and thanks to their proprietary charging technology the company can now boast the best range of any electric vehicle currently available in the consumer market. The Environmental Protection Agency has rated Tesla vehicles for an eye-popping 265 miles off of a single charge.

Yet even with this technological mastery, Tesla has struggled. Their vehicles are expensive, even by luxury sedan standards, and the lack of infrastructure to support electric vehicles has seriously hindered sales. Tesla’s senior management has been looking for ways to make a larger mark on the industry, and set a new standard that would offer incentive to consumers who are currently on the fence. Adding self-driving technology to their industry leading electric fleet would certainly accomplish that goal.

Google is the ideal partner for Tesla to approach. They’ve been successfully testing a line of autonomous Toyota Priuses for well over a year now, with nothing but positive results. They’ve currently got these autonomous vehicles safely on the road in the state of Nevada, and there is legislation on the books in several other states to make them street legal as well. Other automobile manufacturers have considered working on this technology, but none appear to be as serious about it as Tesla.

According to Mr. Musk’s statement to Bloomberg News, Tesla feels that autonomous vehicles are obviously the next phase of automotive manufacture. It’s a quantum leap forward, and makes all sorts of things possible. But he takes issue with the term “self-driving”, which he feels paints a picture of vehicles making decisions against your will. Instead, he likens it to the autopilot system in commercial planes.

Tesla isn’t going to simply license Google’s technology, but will look to improve it. Google’s current system involves a complicated set of sensors that respond to obstructions around the vehicle. Mr. Musk would prefer to see an optically-based system that instead relies on software and cameras. He feels it would be both cheaper and more reliable. If they ever get this right, the folks at www.thecarpeople.co.uk will have their work cut out for them, and used car sales may never be the same. Once you experience a vehicle that does the work for you, how can you ever go back?

InClass a Must for Disorganized College Students

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As a college student, you no doubt have a lot on your plate. You’re most likely taking full-time classes, and if statistics are correct, every hour you spend in a lecture adds up to another three hours of homework outside of class. For the student taking twelve units or more, this amounts to more than forty hours a week spent on school-related activities. But most students don’t stop there; they also engage in extracurricular activities like clubs, sports, and Greek life, as well as applying for internships or even tackling a part-time job. To say that you’re overextended is something of an understatement. So if you happen to be a bit disorganized, as many students are, it’s easy to understand why. However, you can’t really afford to lose track of your academic pursuits if you want to get good grades and successfully complete your degree program to reach graduation. Luckily, there’s an app for that. inClass may not haul your butt to class, keep you from procrastinating, or do your homework for you, but it can certainly make sure that you’re always aware of what’s coming. And for harried students, this can be a major boon.

You’ll no doubt be glad to hear that this application for the iPhone and iPad is free to download. Even better, however, is the fact that students like yourself have seen fit to post rave reviews on iTunes and give inClass an overall rating of 4.5 stars (something that few competitors can boast). But what, exactly, does this application offer? For starters you can use it for scheduling. At the beginning of the semester you simply input your class schedule so that you can see where you have to be on a daily basis. From there you can start to add items from your syllabi to populate the calendar. Not only will this allow you to tap and swipe your way through the coming week or month so you know which assignments are due, but you can also set reminders so that you never again miss a deadline due to negligence.

In a clever twist, the app also color codes your classes. You might not think this is particularly helpful, but considering that it lists your assignments under color-coded headings, it provides you with just one more mental aide to keep you as organized as possible. Of course, it goes the extra mile when it comes to ensuring that you have everything you need to be successful. In addition to helping you keep your schedule straight, inClass also provides tools you can actually use in class. The note-taking features let you follow and record lectures via text, audio or video recordings, or even photos of handouts and information delivered on the board or on slides. In short, you need never miss a portion of the lecture as you furiously scribble out notes.

And you can also take advantage of sharing options. Thanks to Facebook integration, along with iTunes file sharing, you can easily swap notes with friends in your classes. So if you happen to sleep through your alarm and miss an important lecture, you can simply borrow the video your classmate recorded in order to soak up the information delivered in class. Whether you’re getting your film degree as USC or going for NEC’s mba in strategic management, inClass is one app you can’t afford to miss out on. If you use it correctly it can help you to get organized, meet your deadlines, and reach graduation.

The GoodGuide Beauty App Helps You Make Informed Choices

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It seems like every day, there’s one (or dozens) of new apps that are introduced into the marketplace. However, if there’s one that we feel you should consider downloading as soon as you possibly can, it would have to be the GoodGuide Beauty App. Are you not familiar with it? Well, we’d be more than happy to share what makes it a definite must-have for your personal iPhone or Android.

First, let’s provide you with a bit of information about the GoodGuide mobile app, in general. If you go to the website GoodGuide.com, you’ll see that it’s the kind of app that is basically a “one stop shop” when it comes to providing you with all of the information that you need about finding ecofriendly products that are safe, healthy and ethical.

And while there may be a few apps that will boast of being able to produce similar results, a part of what makes the GoodGuide app stand out is that it doesn’t just find these kinds of “green products” in the areas of food, beauty and household care products; it also gives the performance rating of over 120,000 of these items as well. It even has a barcode scanning feature that you can use while you’re walking through one of your favorite stores so that you can get all of the product information and its consumer ratings too.

So obviously, this is a good app to have, but if you’re someone who has a love for beauty products, then there are a couple of reasons while you’ll like it all the more. Indeed, if there is one industry that often has items that are loaded with chemicals and toxins, it would be the beauty industry. And yet, there is more and more research supporting the fact that the more natural a beauty cream, cosmetic or hair product is, the better it is, long term, for our overall health and well-being.

That’s what makes the GoodGuide Beauty app so ideal. As it relates to skin care, hair care, perfume and cologne, men’s grooming products, baby care items, soap and even deodorant and feminine hygiene products, the GoodGuide Beauty app will provide you with a comprehensive listing of well over 86,500 items on the beauty market along with the ratings that they have.

Plus, the really awesome thing is that not only does it provide ratings on the impact that these products can have on your health, but also the environment and society as a whole. As an added bonus, you can also search by term or category and if there happens to be specific issues that matter to you (for instance, you want to purchase products by manufacturers that solely market themselves as being ecofriendly companies), the GoodGuide Beauty app can help you to do that as well.

So, the next time that you’re in the marketing for a new body wash, fragrance or even if you go on a website like Epilator Central and you want a few more details on a product there, if you have the GoodGuide Beauty app, you can find all of the information that you need, before your purchase, to insure that you will be buying an item that will be good for you, your wallet and the earth—all in one.

Internet Sales Tax Bill Passes Senate

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The internet has become an absolute powerhouse for retail sales across almost every major international market. Thanks to vastly successful promotions such as Cyber Monday and the deep price discounts companies can offer without the need to maintain a retail sales outlet or a full staff of employees, millions of people now do a significant amount of their shopping online. And those numbers continue to rise every year. It will be interesting to see how this success sustains itself, now that the Marketplace Fairness Act has passed through the Senate. Known more simply as the internet sales tax, this act saw its way through Senate on Monday by a vote that saw legislators crossing the aisle, supporting the bill with a final tally of 69-27. This was basically the expected outcome, so now policymakers and industry experts will watch and wait as the act heads into the hands of the House of Representatives.

Prior to this bill, consumers that use an online sales service that has no physical, brick and mortar location in the buyer’s state of residence don’t have to pay any sales tax whatsoever. Customers are supposed to report any of this type of purchase during their yearly tax reporting. Of course, this almost never happens, and the states have begun to push back. Without this sales tax revenue, American states are losing money to the tune of $11 billion. Aside from missing this desperately needed tax revenue, consumer-focused brands that do maintain a physical headquarters feel this loophole gives those without one an unfair advantage with customers.

The Marketplace Fairness Act addresses this very issue. Basically, states will now be able to enforce sales tax collection even if the customer doing the purchasing lives in another state. Whatever address the online sales portal uses as their permanent location will be the state on record. The only online retailers that would be exempt from this collection are the smallest of small businesses, which earn less than $1 million a year.

Entrepreneurs who manage both online and physical businesses were obviously thrilled with the Senate’s decision. Speaking through Bill Hughes, the SVP in charge of government affairs for an organization called the Retail Industry Leaders Association, the goal was always to take away the unfair advantage huge online retailers hold over the smaller, local companies. The fact that the bill was passed with bipartisan approval only underlines the necessity of progress on this issue. Mr. Hughes believes the debate that will follow in the House will be constructive and fair, just like the bill itself.

However, big business isn’t about to go down without a fight. Ebay is working hard to push the house to amend the bill. Their goal is to raise the business exemption for online sellers from $1 million to $10 million a year, or to add in a maximum employee count of fifty people. Ebay’s senior director in charge of global public policy, Mr. Brian Bieron spun the Senate’s decision in a much different light. He termed the debate as ‘contentious’, and feels the specifics of the policy will keep small online retailers from growth, and effective competition with larger companies. Overall, Mr. Bieron may be correct. While consumers love using their Overstock promo codes, would a company like that exist if it didn’t enjoy these tax exemptions? Republicans in the Senate who didn’t vote for the bill feel it too strongly supports big business, which means its fate in a House controlled by the Republican majority is uncertain at best.

The Educational iLearn App Teaches Kids About Healthy Eating and Nutrition

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Children are notoriously picky eaters. Unless the meal you put on their plate is deep fried, lathered in ketchup or apple sauce, or dipped in sugar or chocolate you’ll often have to force them to even give it a try. It’s strange how this happens, but frequently it’s just simpler to give them what they want than to deal with the tears and the tantrums. Parenthood is often a war, and sometimes you have to give up the small battles in order to win out. This isn’t ideal, of course, and parents everywhere struggle to uncover ways to get their kids to eat healthier foods. Luckily, technology is coming through with a fun way to get your children excited about making healthy choices. If you have an Apple mobile device of any sort, check out the educational iLearn app that teaches kids about healthy eating and nutrition.

This is the latest iLearn offering from Tribal Nova, a company well known for award-winning, popular family-focused apps. Their specialization is the iOS operating system, so you’ll need an iPod, iPhone or iPad to take advantage. But if you do, and if you have young children in the house you’d like to be eating better, check out i Learn with Bo: Nutrition and Healthy Eating! The ‘Bo’ app joins their other great titles, such as the ‘Boing’ app, which teaches children about ocean life, and the ‘Poko’ app, which is all about emotions.

According to reviewers, i Learn with Bo is yet another app destined for major accolades. It’s designed for children who have yet to start kindergarden. This is the best time to get to them with nutritional guidance, before they’ve been swayed by all of the sweet and salty treats their friends bring to school in bagged lunches. The app works by playfully showing kids how to choose something that’s edible over stuff that’s inedible, and further to figure out which choice is healthy.

It all comes about through a series of lessons turned into adventurous quests. The goal of the game is to help an adorable penguin plan and pull off his birthday party. The player will stand by the empty table, with the penguin in a birthday hat ready for his special meal. A board next to the table shows all sorts of choices, and the player will choose the best ones, hopefully avoiding foods that are packed with fat and sugar. The app is incredibly colorful, with adorable characters and food choices your toddler should easily be able to recognize.

The i Learn with Bo: Nutrition and Healthy Eating! App comes as an initially free download, so you’ll be able to check it out in detail before investing further. In order to unlock every level of the game you’ll have to invest just under $3.00. But you won’t feel bad pulling that out of your child’s Maryville University college fund. After all, they’ve got a lot of growing to do, and anything that can inspire them towards a healthy, well-balanced nutritional life is a good thing. Start them young, and perhaps they’ll never fall prey to that dreaded ‘freshman fifteen’!

Trello Makes Group Projects a Snap for Students

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One of the biggest hurdles that many college students will have to face during their time on campus is the dreaded group project. You’d think this occurrence would make students happy since they won’t have to bear the sole burden of completing the work. You’d think collaboration would be a good thing. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case, due in large part to the fact that every student has their own ideas about what constitutes an acceptable level of workmanship. As it turns out, some students are perfectly happy submitting C work, while others want to exceed all expectations in order to uphold their stellar GPA. And this dichotomy can make for extreme anxiety on the part of the over-achievers, not to mention some intense confrontations between teammates. In fact, what generally ends up happening is that one or two students take over and carry the entire team to success. But for students that are looking to even the playing field a little, the Trello app can provide the organizational and collaborative tools that will make each group member accountable for their part of the project.

Here’s how it works. You’ll want to start by having every team member download the application to their favorite mobile device. The app is free, and with versions for Apple, Android, and Windows 8 devices, everyone should be able to find a gadget they can use it on, be it smartphone or tablet. Once the whole group is on board all you have to do is create a project and invite your teammates to join. The next step is to start creating tasks and assigning them, and you can not only assign individual tasks, but you can also select more than one team member to collaborate on certain aspects of the project that require multiple perspectives, just for example, or that seem too big for one person to handle alone.

The app takes the functionality a step further, though. Once tasks have been assigned, there are all kinds of customization options. For one thing, each task can be populated with a checklist to further break down the components associated with completion (such as compiling data, writing copy, creating visual aids, adding a bibliography, and so on). But you can also add a priority level, set a due date and reminders, and even add attachments like files, photos, videos, and so on at any time. This provides a great way for group members to stay on track, post updates, and follow the progress of teammates. In addition, the group can receive notification when any member makes changes, and they can post questions and comments for one another to stay in communication until the project is complete.

In other words, Trello provides one-stop-shopping for the “team leader” looking to keep everyone on the same page and ensure successful completion of the project. Coordinating a group project when you have to rely on college students is no easy feat. But whether you’ve got your sights set on an MBA or you’re going for a masters in public administration online, you’re going to have to learn to work with a group in a professional and efficient manner in order to get the job done. This handy app can help you to do so with less fuss, which is just what every college student needs.