App reviews: Tiny Cards, Duolingo, Google Handwriting Input

The summer is rolling on with long, hot, sticky days. But even as you lounge in your deck chair, aren't you, just a little bit, missing some mental stimulation? Enter Tiny Cards, a new flash card app that's fun and just challenging enough for brains turned to summer mush. The app is from the makers of Duolingo, a popular language app, and draws from that app and other sources for easy but informative flash card decks that you can use to expand your mind.

Users can also make their own decks. You can make private decks or public ones, so if you're trying to remember something private - like your boyfriend's relatives - you can make a deck just for yourself. But if you want to share, you definitely can. Users have submitted decks for all kinds of things, including the names and pictures of the first 151 Pokémon. It's a nice, low-key way of learning something new and maybe getting back into the rhythm of fall. Free, for iOS.

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Some days, you may just be in the mood to write the old-fashioned way on your smartphone. Google Handwriting Input lets you opt to swap in a touch screen canvas instead of your keyboard so you can write to your heart's content. Writing doesn't even have to be super legible, though mistakes can happen if your chicken scratch is particularly bad.

The app works remarkably well at deciphering handwriting - even cursive script seemed to be an easy read for the app. (Some people can't boast that skill.) It also accepts input from other languages - Arabic, Chinese, Russian, etc. - if you want to share a message in another language. That may save you some time if you don't like the layout of some foreign language keyboards. Overall, it probably won't save you much time over typing. Free, for Android.