Oyster – 4/4 Stars
When looking for an excuse to procrastinate finishing your calculus homework or outlining that English paper, many students turn to Netflix or social media for a break. However, three new apps —Oyster, Dull and Postmates— are quickly proving that nontraditional ways to procrastinate are just as fun and distracting as traditional ones.
In a nutshell, Oyster is an app that lets you access over one million e-books. It’s basically Netflix for e-books and is just as interactive and easy to use.
The best part about Oyster is that all of your books are finally in one place —no more spending time trying to find that one book that you want to read.
The fact that it’s a digital collection of e-books makes me feel a little better about taking a break from homework. Hey, reading a book is more educational than being on social media, right?
Dull – 3.5/4 Stars
Another new entertainment app called Dull is, in reality, anything but dull. Dull lets you scroll through streams of interesting things like animated GIFs, news stories, funny videos and music. It’s basically like BuzzFeed, but has a continuous stream of content that’s similar to Tumblr.
Postmates – 3.5/4 Stars
While you’re getting a good laugh with the Dull app, you can now order food with a new app called Postmates, which is increasing the extent of food delivery in Dallas.
Depending on your location, Postmates can deliver food from places such as Hopdoddy, East Hampton Sandwich Company and Dive Coastal Cuisine.
Simply place your order using the Postmates app 20 to 30 minutes before you want it, provide the driver with your address and your fresh, piping hot meal will arrive promptly when you want it.
The only con? The ridiculous additional charges for delivery and tip. After ordering my $8.75 burrito bowl from Chipotle, I was a bit reluctant to pay a total of $12 when extra fees were factored in. Call me crazy, but maybe it’s just cheaper and better to make the drive to Chipotle and pick up the order there.
Okay, I’ll admit, not taking the effort to get out of my chair and getting Chipotle delivered was pretty great, but the app should be saved for those nights when you’re way too exhausted and sleep-deprived to even move, not for everyday use.
All three apps are available on the App Store for iPhone and Android. Downloading Postmates and Dull is free, and a one month subscription to Oyster will cost you $9.95.
