Can apps help us keep our New Year's resolutions

Today there is an app for almost everything, from losing weight to finding a job. Can any of them help us keep our New Year's resolutions?

Yes and no, says Ananda Mitra, professor of communication at Wake Forest and the author of "Alien Technology" and several other books on digital media. He says an app can make things simpler, but it is not going to change habits.

Essentially, an app is just like any other goal-setting tool to increase personal efficiency, he says. About everything that an app can do, can be done without the technology, he says, but the greater convenience of using apps may make it more likely to follow through with plans for self-improvement.

What apps are doing is centralizing into one single digital tool many of the functions we used to handle with a diary, a checkbook or a printed calendar, says Mitra. "People want to do things without thinking too much about them. With one touch you can pay a bill or help your child prepare for the SAT."

Experts give pros and cons of apps for common New Year's resolutions.

1.Lose weight, get healthier: opular apps: Lose It!, Calorie counter, My Fitness Pal, Food scanner, RunKeeper

Gary Miller, associate professor of health and exercise science, gives pros and cons of weight loss and fitness apps.

Pros: The key output for nutrition apps that help with weight loss would be calories, fat, carbs and protein. By being aware of the content of the different foods, people can make better choices, whether at home, at the grocery store, or in restaurants. If a person has an assigned calorie budget, the apps help them know how many calories they have left for the day. It gives them immediate feedback and they can make adjustments as they go. With a counselor, they have to wait to see them before they know how they are doing. You can get programs on the Web too, but carrying a laptop is much more cumbersome than a phone or mobile device.

Cons: The main limitations with nutrition apps and weight loss apps are estimating portion sizes and finding the food in the database.

2.Save money and keep a budget:

Popular apps: Groupon (for sales and deals), Mint (budgeting), Homebudget

Sherry Jarrell, associate professor of business, gives pros and cons of money-saving and budgeting apps.

Pros: Budgeting is absolutely essential and it's a huge step: the mere fact of budgeting. People (and businesses) are always shocked to see where their money goes, and it always helps them to economize. So, any tool that helps with that is a good thing, without any doubt. People like apps (from what I've seen and from the data) so they will use them if they are easy and logical.

Cons: There are bad apps out there, so just being an app is not enough, it has to be a good one. A budgeting app still requires recording income and expenses and is only as good as the consistency and accuracy of the information you input.

3.Build a stronger family:

Popular apps: FamilyMatters, Surf Balance (safe browser for kids), Skype, Ebuddy (instant messenger), Foursquare (location software)

Samuel Gladding, professor of counseling, gives pros and cons of apps that can help families build stronger connections.

Pros: Smartphone apps are a medium that can get us to goals. Think of Lewis and Clark and the exploration of the Louisiana Purchase. They discovered the territory by using the apps of the day-boats, horses, etc. Each day on the journey with their goal of reaching the Pacific was one of new discovery and involved a new (snow shoes) or well-used app (horse). So, as families discover how to be closer and communicate better, apps can be good tools. The tools are constructive when family members are brought closer together.
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US unemployment rate hits seven-month high !!

The US unemployment rate rose to 9.8% in November, the highest rate since April, the US Labor Department has said, raising fears about the strength of the country's economic recovery.

Just 39,000 jobs were created last month, below analysts' expectations. In October, 172,000 jobs were created.

Stocks markets fell sharply after the figures were published.

Analysts are concerned that the levels of high unemployment in the US are undermining the economy's recovery.
Market shudder

The announcement - which came before the opening bell on Wall Street - caused the Dow Jones index to drop slightly at the open, before recovering late in the day to close slightly higher.

The euro jumped an entire cent against the dollar, to $1.335, following the data release.

The currency rallied another cent during the course of the day as fears over eurozone government debts receded, while expectations of further quantitative easing by the US Federal Reserve rose.

The jobs number is a first estimate, and could be revised in the coming months.

The US Labor Department said 15.1 million people were now unemployed in the US, equating to a rate of 9.8%. This is an increase from the 9.6% rate recorded in the previous three months.

Jobs were created in the business services, healthcare and mining sectors, but job numbers in the retail and manufacturing sectors fell.
Discouraged workers

Analysts were distinctly underwhelmed by the jobs figures.

The worst news was that the jump in the unemployment rate was not driven by an increase in labour force participation, according to economist Bill McBride on his Calculated Risk blog.

During the slump, many redundant workers gave up seeking new jobs altogether, meaning that they dropped out of the official labour force, and out of the unemployment figures.

As the jobs market improves, economists expect these discouraged workers to start looking for work again, meaning they would be reclassified as unemployed.

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