Tag: Technology

Image representing Gmail as depicted in CrunchBase
Image via CrunchBase

Nice praise for one of my favorite tools…

“Financial Times reports that Gmail has about 100 million users and the growth rate is still significant: “[Gmail] has been gaining ground in the US over the past year, with users growing by more than 40 per cent, compared to 2 per cent for Yahoo and a 7 per cent fall in users of Microsoft’s webmail.” 

Even though the competing mail services improved their offerings and storage is no longer an important differentiator, Gmail still offers an unmatched user experience. After using Gmail, you’ll no longer understand why Yahoo Mail places the “Send button” above the message, why Yahoo Mail thinks it’s more important to show news and weather information instead of your inbox, why Yahoo Mail still charges for features that are available for free in Gmail, why Hotmail shows a large banner at the top of the page or why you can’t auto-forward mail to a non-Hotmail account. Gmail made so many right choices that it’s easy to ignore some of its quirks, downtimes or bugs.” Source: On Gmail’s Success

Don’t forget that you can also outsource your corporate email to Google as well! Ask me how…

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Netscape Communicator
Image via Wikipedia

Somehow this escaped my attention…

“Given AOL’s current business focus and the success the Mozilla Foundation has had in developing critically-acclaimed products, we feel it’s the right time to end development of Netscape branded software. Read the history page for more details about this decision.” Home :: The Netscape Archive 

It’s the end of an era, although Netscape as a company and a product has been dead for a long time. Long live Firefox! Get your free copy here.

Powered by ScribeFire.

…

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…and use Google Apps! I had a chat with a business owner yesterday who was still using a pop mail account to run his business — scheduling meetings with his partners is a nightmare! Enter Google Apps! Here’s a quick overview…


Contact me! I’ll be happy to talk you through it because your organization needs Google Apps, too…

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Go to the source to learn more: preyproject.com

Travel much? Concerned about losing your computer to a thief? You might be interested in how one man used Prey to track down the man who stole his computer, all played out in social media via Storify…

<script src="

A man’s laptop is stolen, but he’s able to track it remotely and with the help of social media, recover it. (NSFW language. More story links at bottom.)

http://storify.com/btballenger/man-tracks-stolen-laptop-thousands-of-miles-away.js”>%5B<a href="

A man’s laptop is stolen, but he’s able to track it remotely and with the help of social media, recover it. (NSFW language. More story links at bottom.)

http://storify.com/btballenger/man-tracks-stolen-laptop-thousands-of-miles-away&#8221; target=”blank”>View the story “Man tracks stolen laptop hundreds of miles away, calls thief” on Storify]

h/t Mitch Joel…

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I am thoroughly enjoying Gina Trapani’s book “Upgrade your Life“. Here’s a sample of the great content from the book…

“You don’t need to remember 100 passwords if you have 1 rule set for generating them. One way to generate unique passwords is to choose a base password and then apply a rule that mashes in some form of the service name with it. For example, you may use your base password with the first two consonants and the first two vowels of the service name. Say your base password is “asdf.” (See how easy those keys are to type?). Then your password for Yahoo would be ASDFYHAO, and your password for eBay would be ASDFBYEA.” Source: Geek to Live: Choose (and remember) great passwords

Go to the source to read more. And you’re welcome. For the tip about passwords, that is…

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Image representing Gmail as depicted in CrunchBase
Image via CrunchBase

Gmail recently kicked butt in a Mashable poll asking users for their favorite email client. Adam Pash writes…

“Way back in 2006, I showed you my favorite tips, tricks, and tools for making the most of Gmail. A lot has changed in the Gmail world since then, so much so that it seemed like a good time to revisit our favorite tips, tricks, and tools for getting the most from Gmail. Most, if not all, of these tips and features will also apply to the Google Apps accounts set up by businesses and organizations, but your administrator may not have enabled everything you see here.

No one really needs to be sold on Gmail anymore. Either you like the threaded conversations, powerful search, built-in filters, and awesome Gmail Labs functionality or you don’t. I love these things, and below I’ve attempted to put together my comprehensive guide for turning Gmail into the ultimate communication and productivity hub. (I’m focusing on covering territory that I didn’t cover in my previous guide, so if you’re looking for a more beginner guide, read that first. Much of it remains true.)

I’ve broken things down into sections, starting with keyboard shortcuts, then moving down into the best Labs add-ons, third-party add-ons, search techniques, etc. Ready to power up your Gmail? Let’s get started with how to set up and use Gmail’s robust keyboard shortcuts—my favorite Gmail productivity booster.” Source: Become a Gmail Master Redux – Gmail – Lifehacker

Gmail [and Google Apps for Business] is the killer app for email. If you want to become a Gmail master and master your email, follow the link and read Adams article. Comment, call or contact me if you’d like to know more about how to leverage Gmail in your business…

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picasa-logoThen join me in a free training session this morning at 10:00…

Recently I wrote about ‘rediscovering’ Picasa on my trip to Germany. I’m doing a free session for a couple of clients and friends and I’ll be opening up the remaining spaces to anyone that can join us. Here’s the login info…

1. Please join my meeting.
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/join/797914947

2. Use your microphone and speakers (VoIP) – a headset is recommended. Or, call in using your telephone.

Dial 712-338-7131
Access Code: 797-914-947
Audio PIN: Shown after joining the meeting

Meeting ID: 797-914-947

GoToMeeting®
Online Meetings Made Easy™

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Are you using Gist? It’s a pretty awesome tool — kind of like crm for all your social media contacts. Here’s a webinar on getting the most out of it…

Gist Webinar, “Tips on Getting the Most from Gist”, 1/20/2010 from Robert Pease on Vimeo.

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A client asked me what is the best way to include pdfs in WordPress. Since I really hadn’t thought about that for awhile, I asked the smartest WordPress guy I know what he does. He answered “I like to upload to the media library, grab the URL link and then link to it in the post. More work but better control over appearance and such.” Now I’m sure that works fine, but for now, I’m going to use Scribd [an example of which you see below]. Me? I’m always thinking ‘home bases and outposts’ [use the search box] so Scribd makes perfect sense for me. If I post my pdf there and copy the embed code here, not only do I get some powerful viewing tools [full screen, print, etc.] someone my find my blog because they found my document in Scribd…

Here’s his approach:

Here’s Scribd:

Either way works — which one is more effective depends on your objectives but I’m biased toward being ‘social’ and Scribd helps me accomplish that objective nicely. Questions? Feedback? Leave a comment or use the contact page to reach me…

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SAN FRANCISCO - JANUARY 27: Apple Inc. CEO St...
Image by Getty Images via Daylife

An interesting perspective from Jay Baer…

“If you read Convince & Convert, this probably doesn’t describe you, but if your computer usage consists primarily of email and the Web, I would seriously consider making the iPad your primary device. I think I sold about seven of them to older ladies on a flight from New York last week. They were instantly in a swoon over the size, light weight, and ability to do what they consider to be “everything” in one package.

I am considering with at least moderate seriousness getting rid of my iPhone and getting something that actually functions well as a phone (hello Verizon), and using the iPad for all the rest.

Now, the bad news.

The iPad is not a computer. Not even close. The virtual keyboard is barely better than the iPhone, and you still cannot touch type. You can’t save or store files. There’s no USB port. Or CD drive. Or camera. Or ability to run two programs at once. I would never, ever, ever write this blog post on my iPad (although people that bought the external keyboard for it might disagree).

As a content creation device, the iPad is pretty much pointless for anything exceeding a two paragraph email. The exception is content that is created by touch. The drawing apps I’ve played with are simply incredible, but that’s not really my line of work – and probably not yours either.” Source: The Truth About the iPad | Blogging and Content Creation | Social Media Consulting – Convince & Convert

Is Jay just cranky? What’s your take…

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Holy shit!!! I just updated my iPhone to 3.1 a...
Image by jimrenaud via Flickr

While the Vikings were sticking it to the Packers on Monday Night Football, Verizon was sticking it to Apple and AT&T in the only way they really could; on the issue of reliability and connectivity…

Recently, I had the chance to use both my BlackBerry Curve and an iPhone 3Gs on a trip from Green Bay to Nebraska and back. My assessment? The iPhone excelled in every area except one: phone calls and connectivity leading me to ponder ‘what does it profit a man if he gains all the apps in the world but suffers the loss of his phone call’ [sorry, Lord!]. The BlackBerry on Sprint outperformed the iPhone on AT&T in phone calling, streaming inbound audio from Pandora, and uploading to the internet. Unfortunately, the quality of photos and videos on the Curve is less satisfactory than the iPhone making IT a less than useful tool for the social media applications I was using. So what’s the answer? There is no answer! The iPhone fails in the one thing a phone is supposed to do; make and hold calls and Verizon stuck it to them good in this new campaign…

Don’t get me wrong — the iPhone is truly amazing — but by partnering with AT&T Apple has left the door open for someone else to dominate in the smartphone space like maybe Google/Verizon. The moral of the story? Think before you buy an iPhone and ask the users where you live what their experience has been. The best advice is still to go with the best network in your area and then get the best phone they have. If you want that slick iPhone capability without the phone, get an iPod Touch — you’ll be happier!

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Image representing Google Reader as depicted i...
Image via CrunchBase

This one really has me scratching my head…

“One of the interesting trends of 2009 has been the gradual decline of RSS Readers as a way for people to keep up with news and niche topics. Many of us still use them, but less than we used to. I for one still maintain a Google Reader account, however I don’t check it on a daily basis. I check Twitter for news and information multiple times a day, I monitor Twitter lists, and I read a number of blogs across a set of topics of most interest to me.

Frankly I’m more likely to use Google Reader to search for specific information nowadays, than to scan my subscribed feeds for their latest posts. So what’s happened to RSS Readers. Do people still use them and is there still a viable market for them?” Source: RSS Reader Market in Disarray, Continues to Decline

Personally, I consider mastering RSS feeds to be a key competitive advantage for thought leaders. I think the reason why RSS readers are in decline is because feeds are still hard for most people to master and they just don’t get it! If you’re one of those folks, contact me and I’ll be happy to help you figure it out…

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Desert

In December of last year, I embarked upon an experiment to see if I could leverage a website with a blog combined with social media tools to increase traffic to a site. In that month, my sandbox site had a grand total of 670 pageviews. In the month that ended yesterday, I had a total of 15,985 — an approximate 25 fold increase in traffic! This morning I got 670 pageviews by 10:00. Here are some other statistics… Continue reading “Is your website a ‘billboard in the desert’?” →

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via gizmodo.com

Chrome OS netbooks will be a gamechanger — make no mistake about it! imho, the key to computing success is leveraging desktops, notebooks, netbooks, and smartphones so that they make sense for YOUR particular lifestyle. Read more about it here; http://elevation.company/2009/12/30/buying-a-new-notebook/

Posted via web from e1evation, llc

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via lifehacker.com

Lifehacker has a great roundup explaining the good and the bad of maintaining Windows. Definitely worth reading in its entirety! Click the ‘via’ link…

Posted via web from e1evation, llc

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Official Ubuntu circle with wordmark. Replace ...
Image via Wikipedia

Open source software may be the answer…

“There’s a persistent perception that open source software is being ignored in the enterprise, that IT management fears it and it ends up being more costly to deploy than proprietary solutions. That’s certainly the perception that some major software vendors would like you to have. But it’s Jeffrey Hammond’s job to dispel those perceptions, at least when they aren’t accurate. As an analyst for Forrester Research, Hammond covers the world of software development as well as Web 2.0 and rich internet applications, so he sees how open source is being used on a daily basis. He’ll be speaking at OSCON, the O’Reilly Open Source Convention, talking about the true cost of using open source, and he gave us a sample of what’s going on in the enterprise at the moment.” Source: Open Source is Infiltrating the Enterprise – O’Reilly Radar 

Go to the source…

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httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04Q9tuSaCYA&feature=player_embedded
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Asus EEE PC black
Image via Wikipedia

I have great hopes for this product, but the experience of this reviewer is not so hot…

“Everex’s CloudBook aims to one-up the Asus Eee PC with a larger hard drive and a flashy new operating system. 

Along with our review of the CloudBook, we’re taking a closer look by using this new UMPC to perform everyday activities from blogging to editing images to listening to music. Follow along with our CloudBook adventures.”

The hardware is from Everex and the OS is a version of Ubuntu optimized by the folks at Google for use with Google Apps for Domains and other applications.

Based on what I’m reading here, I’m more than underwhelmed. Let’s hope these folks get their act together. Click here to read the full article online…

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Have multiple computers? Across multiple platforms? Forget about usb sticks and all that jazz. Check out Dropbox…

“In mid-September, the file sync-and-store service Dropbox came out of private beta, boasting smooth file synchronization between computers and across platforms. I gave it a try on Windows and Ubuntu Linux, and I was quite impressed by what I found.

Dropbox is part online storage, part data back-up, part file-sharing, and part data synchronization. After you install the free program, the Dropbox icon appears in your system tray. Click on the icon to open the “My Dropbox” folder. All the contents of this folder are automatically synchronized with the Dropbox servers and any other computer you have Dropbox installed on. The files in that folder are then available on your other computers or through the Dropbox website. The folder acts like any other folder on your computer, and it also shows up in your My Documents or Home folder.” Source: DropBox review | BestFreeApps

I have used this for months without incident — in fact, Dropbox just saved my bacon because it holds on to deleted files and allows you to resurrect them. How cool is that? Sign up for your free account here!

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