Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal wrote:
“I’ve replaced my iPhone and Android apps with CloudMagic. It’s the best overall option with its reminders, improved search, cross-app cooperation and support for many email providers” via Speak low, if you speak love.
Here’s brief overview of this great, free app…
Integrated pictures, keyboard shortcuts, a decent way to track conversations and a slick new look. That’s what some users of Twitter found recently, and they were really happy. Twitter isn’t sure how long it will take to push these features out to everybody, but if you primarily use Twitter from a client such as Tweetdeck or Gwibber you may have access and not know it.
We at MakeUseOf don’t hide our love for Twitter. You can find the entire MakeUseOf staff on Twitter, and most of us are pretty active there.
Our articles about Twitter, though, largely revolve around ways to avoid going to the site altogether.
For example, I recently pointed out five Linux Twitter clients you’ve probably never heard of and Steve recommended you use Seesmic Desktop 2 as your Twitter client. The new Twitter might convince people like us to stop using a client and use Twitter directly. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of the new Twitter, as compared to desktop clients.
Personally, I’ve been stuck on HootSuite for over a year because it gives me powerful Twitter management tools and more; the ability to monitor other social media accounts and post across platforms. It’s nice that Twitter finally got their act together on their end user side, but imho they should spend more time getting their act together on the server side. btw, I like Seesmic Desktop 2 as well, but HootSuite, being a web app, is always ready for me on any platform. If you’re interested in mastering Twitter, give HootSuite a try…
OK, now this is cool! If you’re a webmail user — and by now I hope you are after hearing me tout Gmail — here’s an essential Firefox extension that you need to have…
“WiseStamp a Firefox extension enables you to easily customize & add personalized email signatures on any webmail service (Gmail ,Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail). Empower your personal and business interactions Get WiseStamp Now!” Source: WiseStamp an Email Signature that works for you!
Go to the source and download it now…
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I do! It’s one of the most important skills or disciplines I’ve developed over the past 3 years. Lifehacker recently surveyed their readership to find the best mindmapping tools…
“Mind mapping is a great way to add structure to brainstorming sessions and visualize your ideas. Check out the applications your fellow readers use to do their best brainstorming.” Source: Hive Five: Five Best Mind Mapping Applications
Go to the source and read about the 5 favorites. Personally, I use Freemind, Mindmeister and Xmind in that order. What are your favorites? Comments please…
Update 10/21/09: Since I wrote this post back in March of 2009, I have become disenchanted with Xmind due to their difficult to manage licensing scheme. I have become enthralled, however with MindManager Pro. Whenever I have something I need to figure out for myself or want to explain to someone else [like a screencast] chances are I’ll mindmap it first to help me make sure I cover all the bases. I also use Mindmeister quite a bit primarily because of their cloud computing approach to mindmapping. I can publish a mindmap on the internet and embed it in a post like this:
They also have an iPhone app that flawlessly syncs with the online version. These days, chances are I’ll start my map in MindManager Pro and make it public in Mindmeister when it’s ready to go. Only problem is that MindManager is very $$$. You can duplicate the same workflow with Freemind [which is free] and Mindmeister. Questions? Feedback? Leave a comment or use the contact page to reach me — if you contact me, I’ll send you an invitation to try out Mindmeister!
I’m a huge fan of Lee LeFever and the team at CommonCraft — no one does short, simple, insightful technology explanations better than they do and this quick tour de force on Twitter is no exception. I encourage you to watch this as well as all the great videos the have over at their YouTube channel…
My “old post promoter” picked a doozy this time! A year ago, I was quite unhappy with my smartphone choices, but don’t worry — there’s a happy ending that I’ll write later this week after you’ve read parts 1 and 2…
“Wow! What does THIS say about us?
“Smartphones tied with sex as the number one thing that business professionals can not live without in a study from cloud-based business phone system provider, RingCentral. In a survey among RingCentral’s small to medium-sized business customers in the U.S., the importance of the smartphone in daily and business life was reiterated over and over again.
The study, which surveyed nearly 400 customers, showed that smartphones are taking on the defacto role in business communication.
Here are some highlights:
- Smartphones and intimate relationships tied at 40% for the number one thing respondents can’t live without.
- 79% of respondents use their smartphones to conduct most business calls, versus an office phone or home phone.
- 34% use a smartphone more than a computer for business. 7% even said they don’t take their laptops with them when they travel for business if they have a smartphone.
- 48% of respondents said that at least two-thirds of their phone communication is via smartphone.
None of this data is particularly surprising, except for the shift to using a smartphone as a primary business device. Thanks to platforms like Android (Android) and the iPhone, you really can do a lot of work from your mobile device.” Source: Business Professionals Can’t Live Without Sex or Smartphones [STATS]
Interesting…
Speaking of sex and smartphones or maybe sexy smartphones, I’m going to take this opportunity to rant about the iPhone AND Android phones for a moment. Excuse my language, but they both suck! That’s right — they suck! Why the iPhone? Because #1 it’s a closed system — yeah, there’s an app for that but they must all be approved by Big Brother at Apple — and #2 because AT&T is the worst cellular network in the world!
Android phones, however, are a different issue and I’ll take them up tomorrow…”
…if you’re a windows user:
“Revo Uninstaller is a freeware innovative uninstall utility much faster than Windows Add/Remove applet. With its advanced and fast algorithm, Revo Uninstaller scans before and after you uninstall an application. After the program’s regular uninstaller runs, you can remove additional unnecessary files, folders and registry keys that are usually left over on your computer. Even if you have a broken installation, Revo Uninstaller scans for an application’s data on your hard disk drives and in the Windows registry and shows all found files, folders and registry items so you can delete them.” Revo Uninstaller – Free software downloads and reviews – CNET Download.com: Click the link to go to the source of this quote…
It’s a small thing, but it has done such a good job for me in a critical area that I just wanted to mention it. Thanks again to my good friend Bill for recommending it.
I love it when I find a quote to support my preconceived notions because if I say it, it’s just opinion, but if an ‘expert’ says it, well, it must be true. In this case a designer talks about web design…
“This one will probably get me into trouble.
I’ve worked as a graphic designer for over two decades and I’m not supposed to say this stuff. After all, it’s my job to make miracles. To wave my magic design wand and make a business look stronger, smarter, and more powerful than it really is.
Before I start dodging rotten tomatoes, though, I’m going to go ahead and say it out loud.
It’s a smart business move to have a well-designed website.
But good design — even great design — won’t solve all your business problems. Not even close.” Source: The Myth of Beautiful Website Design | Copyblogger
Although I do design websites, I think of myself less as a web designer than I do a social media technologist. In my methodology, a blog enabled website is a homebase or hub for a social media publishing network. My goal in design is simply to have the site load fast, connect to social media outposts and not be so ugly that a user won’t roll around on the floor clawing her eyes out. That’s it. As Pamela says in the quoted article “Don’t expect miracles from your graphic design. It’s definitely a valuable part of creating your business’s image, but it’s not a substitute for a sound marketing strategy.”
Not only does Secunia Personal Software Inspector provide extensive details on the software installed on your computer, it also gives you direct links to update programs that are older and potentially not secure.
The interface mixes professional layout with a text-heavy, spartan design. At the top right of the program window, users can choose a Simple or Advanced layout. Under Simple, Secunia provides basic information about the installed program statuses, with a chart to gauge their security over time and a simplified listing of any errors. Clicking on an error leads you through the proprietary Easy-to-Patch program update process, which automatically excludes more challenging updates. The Advanced layout tab exposes more details and more updates. It also checks your Microsoft XML, your Adobe Flash player installation, and others programs, looking for mission-critical holes and their respective updates. Installed programs get flagged as Patched, End-of-Life, and Insecure, with the most recent reported threat noted with a colored bar and a mouse-over label on the right column.
A big part of my ‘anti-Norton’ security suite. Try it!
John Jantsch recently wrote on the topic of “Profiting from other people’s content”. He says…
“Don’t be alarmed by that title — I’m not talking about stealing content for gain, I’m talking about adding the filtering and aggregating of content to your content consumption, creation and sharing routine.
Pretty much everyone has bought into the idea that they need to produce lots of valuable content in order to build the trust and search engine eyes of today’s online prospect. One way to supplement your content strategy while still providing lots of value, is to get good at finding and filtering other people’s content that your prospects and customers will find useful as well. (Done right, the other people will thank you for giving a wider audience to their content).
It should go without saying that giving credit to the original source and full attribution to the author when appropriate is a must.” Source: Profiting From Other People’s Content | Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
John talks about his “consumption, creation and sharing routine” — my mantra is ‘listen, publish, promote’ which is a little more elegant in my book but we’re both trying to say the same thing and use an alliteration in the process. If I were John, I might go for ‘consume, create, communicate‘ — in fact, I might start using that instead. Either way, the point is that gathering good content effectively and commenting on it is a great way to build your personal brand. I’ve been using this strategy for years — most recently, I amped it up by using Posterous [another tool that John advocates] and saving more content directly to my blog instead of shared bookmarks as I used to do. Here are the results:
I think the results are really quite good for an ‘army of one’, don’t you? I do all my ‘creation and communication’ as a result of my daily ‘consumption’ — because my system is easy to implement and use, I work it frequently. I call quoting other sites ‘curation’ and my rare original thoughts ‘creation’. The curation works to draw people to my creation. Does it work? You betcha [you’re reading this, aren’t you?]. The average person drawn into my blog through effective communication reads 3.3 pages and spends 2:52 minutes on the site, while only 4.75% ‘bounce’ to another site. Over 71% are new visitors…
Jantsch goes on to give three tactical implementations of his ‘profiting from content’ suggestion. They are…
“Make yourself a better resource
Creating a habit of filtering content related to your industry, products, competitors and customers will make you better at what you do, allow you to keep up with trends and give you data to help you build deeper relationships with customers.
Share content to draw attention
Pointing out useful resources and good finds is a great way to build your social media and blog followings. Consistently sharing relevant links and sharing them on Twitter is a strategy that many find helps them be seen as follow worthy. Creating a once a week blog post roundup of good stuff is a great way to add content and keep readers engaged.
Filter personalized content
A more advanced strategy is to use your filter skills to create your own industry research briefs. If you specialize in several market niches you can create laser specific new pages and email newsletter roundups that feature the best of what you find each week. You can even use RSS technology to deliver dynamically changing web content password protected for your best clients.” Source: Profiting From Other People’s Content | Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
Clearly, John and I share a lot of the same ‘common sense’. He goes on to list 10 different resources [you can follow the link] you can use as tools to find other people’s content. One of them — Kurrently — is one I’ll have to add to my toolkit. For me, however, this is where we part ways. My paradigm is “Google Reader is the answer. Now what is the question?“.
I use Google Reader like a tactical nuke. It’s the one tool I use to manage the ‘rest of the internet’ and I use it like a virtual newspaper or better yet, news bureau, where I manage hundreds of little newsbots that do my news aggregation for me. I have 5 great ways to get relevant content into Google Reader and they include most of John’s 10 tools — it’s just that in my book, Google Reader is the one tool that rules them all. It really is the driver in my ‘e1evation workflow’ outlined below. Either you get it and you can use it or I can help you implement it but the point is that if you have a brand and you want to build it online, we can help…
Have you tried NutshellMail? I’m officially ‘blessing’ it and calling it ‘recommended’ today, even though the pricing model is currently unclear. One of the challenges of social media is that there is no ‘dashboard’, however, I have found NutshellMail to be a usefully summary of what’s happening in my social media world…
One of my favorite apps, Freemind, came in in the top five in a recent quest for the top five outlining tools @ Lifehacker…
“Traditionally one thinks of outlines as a linear progression down the page. Many Lifehacker readers, however, opted to outline their projects and ideas in mind-mapping applications like the popular and open-source FreeMind. You still get a hierarchical structure, headers, sub-headers, and so on, but the information is presented in a mind-map format instead of a simple list. FreeMind is very keyboard friendly—it’s possible to create your entire outline without your hands leaving the keyboard. You use customize item flagging, color coding, and more. FreeMind also made an appearance in and won the Hive Five for best mind-mapping tools.” Source: Five Best Outlining Tools – Outliners – Lifehacker
It also won the best of the mind-mapping tools. I’ve been using it for years and it’s one of my most important tools. If you need to get YOUR thoughts together, you can download it here!
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What do you mean you don’t have a social newspaper? Go to http://paper.li to get one!
Ninite.com has been one of my top Windows resources for a long time. Linux or Windows, check it out for easy batch installs of all your favorite apps. Great when moving to a new computer…
Priority inbox has been rocking my world since it first appeared a couple of weeks ago. It helps me focus on the people and tasks that are most important at any given time — something a lot of my compadres from which a lot of my compadres could benefit. Have you tried it? You can follow the ‘via’ link above to go to the source and read the rest of the article if you’re interested in learning more…
How about you? Have something better?
This is why they say that a picture is worth a thousand words. The Oatmeal has communicated volumes about how the world perceives your email with one image:
You can move to the top with one simple tool: Google Apps! Google Apps allows you to attach Gmail and other powerful business apps to your internet domain in about 10 minutes…
Use it if you don’t want the world to think you’re a Yahoo!
Facebook has launched several new policies and features since the F8 Conference ‘Crusade of Colonization’ which has resulted in a large backlash from media around user privacy. It’s not clear if beyond the vocal media if users will leave the site in droves. Perhaps more importantly, Facebook launched “Facebook Community Pages” (read the official post) a feature that aggregates content from wikipedia and Facebook wall posts. Think of it as a cross between Wikipedia with user comments –sometimes unwittingly. These changes cause confusion for users, diminishing control for brands, and strains on the already torrid relationship between Facebook and brands.
While most of the recent uproar around Facebook has been about privacy, this subtle other change may have even more impact. Follow the ‘via’ link for the rest of the article…
Have you gotten the Gist yet?
Seriously! I’ve posted on Gist over a dozen times in the past few months — it’s that good! Remember this? I called Gist the ‘cherry on top of my social media Sundae’ back in February. The screencast features my ‘holy trinity’ of morning news aggregation; Google Reader, Feedly and Gist — Gist starts at about 5:25 [although the whole screencast is worth a reprise]…
Yesterday, I received notice that Gist was now available for another of my favorite tools, Google Apps! Here’s a quick overview…
All the Gist info I used to go to the website for is now available per contact at the bottom of every email adding ‘people power’ to every email I receive. I’ll still use the Gist dashboard every morning to see what my powerful network is up to, but this new Google Apps functionality is the bee’s knees…
btw, if you’re still stuck on Outlook, there’s been a Gist plugin for that too! Go to Gist.com and sign up NOW!
Bright, shiny objects! 
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