50 Apps in 50 Minutes: Hat Trick

This is our third year in a row presenting 50 Apps in 50 Minutes at the Texas Library Association's Annual Conference. If you missed our last two, you'll find them here and here. A note on pricing and availability: it’s been our experience that prices for apps change often, so if you like something that’s a bit out of your budget, keep an eye on it as sometimes the prices drop temporarily or even permanently. Love something that’s only an iThing? We saw several notes along the way indicating that an app’s owner listed Android, etc. as “coming soon”. So make a note of what you like and you may see it soon on other platforms.

So without further ado, here are our 50 Apps for 2014:

1. Mr. Number Allows users to block calls from specific numbers. Will also identify/label business numbers.

2. Tile Locate anything you attach a Tile to using the Tile app.

3. Lasso Photo sharing app for smaller groups of friends.

4. Jifiti Browse your favorite stores and send a perfect gift instantly to your friends’ email, phone or Facebook page. They select the size, color and style, or choose anything else when redeeming in-store or online.

5. Forgotify Plays songs from Spotify that have never been played.

6. Washio Dry cleaning and laundry delivered to your door

7. Seratis Care coordination tool that is a secure, patient-centric mobile application which enables doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers to communicate with each other via text, images, and videos.

8. SmileDrive: Records your drives and keeps track of things like location, distance, time and weather.

9. ReSound Linx: Hearing aids that connect to your iPhone.

10. Punchh Virtual loyalty card.

11. Wello Cell phone case that will track your vitals including blood pressure, heart rate, temperature, etc.

12. Chorma Household chore manager.

13. Kolibree Toothbrush app which checks regularity, monitors brushing time and tracks missed spots.

14. Fixed Helps you fight parking tickets.

15. DocuSign Sign contracts, invoices, insurance forms and rental agreements.

16. SitOrSquat Search, view and rate bathrooms.

17. Puppy Lost dog tracker.

18. Doctoralia Find a doctor, great for travelers in international cities. Also allows you to schedule an appointment.

19. Tynker Games to help kids learn to code.

20. Smart Traveler Real time travel alerts from the U.S. State Department.

21. HiConverter All sorts of conversions: international sizes, currency, tips, cooking, etc.

22. Split Helps you avoid unwanted encounters.

23. A-CHESS Addiction-Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System. Assists recovering alcoholics.

24. PayNearMe Allows customers to pay bills via cash at Family Dollar & 7-11 stores.

25. RoomScan Measures room dimensions.

26. WhatsApp Cross-platform mobile messaging

27. Paper Facebook's new app.

28. BillGuard Financial app that alerts you do recurring or suspicious credit card charges.

29. Dashlane Generates and stores passwords.

30. Penultimate Evernote's handwriting app.

31. GAIN Fitness Provides exercises based on time and equipment available.

32. RetailMeNot Mobile coupons.

33. NoWait Restaurant hosting management app.

34. Cartwheel from Target Tag items in the store and a discount is applied at checkout.

35. Onavo Extend Compresses mobile data to save money on data plans.

36. Wickr Provides secure communications that Leave No Trace.

37. Jelly Q&A app using pictures, texts and drawing.

38. DollarBird Smart calendar for your finances.

39. QuizUp "The biggest trivia game in the world" Basically a Words with Friends style quiz game.

40. Cloze "Keep track of the people and posts that matter. Filter out the noise of everything else."

41. Timehop "What were you doing one year ago today?"

42. Wonder Timer Preset timers for common activities.

43. Newsbeat Personal news radio--reads print and online news.

44. Fitbit Wearable fitness tracker.

45. Spritz Speed reading app.

46. SignNow Sign documents anywhere.

47. Uber Private car service.

48. Lyft Car-sharing service.

49. CloudGoo Connect all your cloud drives.

50. Printic "We print your memories."