For those users who are traveling because of global trade, relying on a watch to tell the time of different places around the world is not easy. An app called Global Time Lite is based on the relationship between the sun and the earth. In addition to showing the time, date, and country dialing code for all the major cities, you can also observe animations of various regions of the earth, both day and night. This type of service not only greatly assists business people, it also has the unexpected benefit of helping teachers of geography, earth science, and other subjects.

The British royal wedding proved a popular topic for app suppliers

In America and Europe, the wedding of the British Royal Prince William and Kate did not escape the watch of the business world. One company launched a “Royal Wedding” App for the iPad. The app—through the integration of video and graphics—vividly describes William and Kate’s family background, the story of how they met, their common dating sites, and even instructions on how to shake hands with the queen and other such impressive fun trivia. Even more amazing is that this app has a 130 MB capacity and allows free downloads. Even without this, software developers already make a profit off of collaboration in the fashion and publishing industries to provide things like jewelry and ads in the pages of royal biography publications. This grants us an insight into a concrete example of the “practice of freeconomics in the age of the internet.”

Foreign Cultural and Educational Mechanisms Actively Spread the Use of Apps

In addition to the business world, the popularity of apps has spread into the cultural and educational realms. Foreign cultural institutions actively promote awareness of its brand through apps. For example, the US National Archives and Records Administration, the British Library, and others have created apps for the iPad and other platforms. The  US National Archives and Records Administration uses a system where they have a document a day, called “Today’s Document”, which selects files from its digital collection for the public to enjoy. Each collection is also in detailed metadata so that the files can help people understand its historical background.

This report had earlier reported to the reader on the British Library “Treasures” app, which through very precise options and editing themes shows the digitalization of the Library’s works, along with a guide from scholars and experts, so that users need not go out of Britain to view speeches such as the impassioned speech Nelson Mandela gave before being imprisoned and world’s first block printed book, the Diamond Sutra, and oracle bone script, the legacy of human civilization from China’s Shang dynasty. In addition to introductions to special articles and metadata, the British Library arranges for specialists and researchers from the Library to introduce the cultural and historical significance of the materials in the app and displays them using video on the app platform. All of this serves to decrease the distance between experts and the public. In addition, the British Library’s app provides information about current exhibitions so that users not only can explore the pieces in the Library, but also can get up-to-date information about new developments.

The British Library Treasures Android app

In addition to showing the essence of collections, many cultural and educational institutions actively support using apps as learning tools. For example, there is an app that introduces the Seven Wonders of the World, deep-sea fish, or apps for school management. In regards to education in schools, North American schools have begun to use iPods to teach grammar and spelling, natural sciences, and for activities in other educational areas, allowing students to determine their own learning pace and enhance learning efficiency. In addition to making the classroom a more interesting place, the digital resources provided by the school also promote digitalization strategies so that children belonging to families without a home computer or internet access will not fall behind in the digital world.

APP An educational app showing the Seven Wonders of the World

iPad-SunGard Public Sector-K-12 Education

A North American news report about a primary school using the iPod and other mobile internet platforms to teach

In Taiwan, people are also very actively using apps to promote education and culture. For example, those in the cram school industry in Tainan City use apps to display national junior high school teaching materials, allowing users to solve and answer problems online. The Owl Publishing House –under  Cite Media Group developed an “Identifying Birds is Simple” app,based on bird illustrations, where the user only has to provide estimates of size, beak shape, where the bird was seen, and other such information, and the system will automatically match a bird from its database, providing a picture, scientific name, call, common names, size, food, habitat, migratory status, clustering, global area of distribution, introductory articles, and other detailed information. An easy-to-use search interface makes this bird guide app extremely convenient and is well worth adding to your collection of apps for reference.

Along with the mobile internet, LBS location-based services, the increased popularity of social networking sites, and digital collections and digital learning applications comes a revolutionary change. The rise of apps could very well be said to be leading this wave, which forces one question: Are you ready to face the vast ocean of future possibility?