Posts Tagged
Collaboration
Collaborating online with a team is still in its infancy. You’ll need to daisy chain a few different apps to get done things with as little friction as possible. There isn’t yet a “one app to rule them all” in sight. When you have to switch back and forth between multiple apps to collaborate, the focus and productivity levels take a hit.
I’m like curious George when it comes to discovering apps. I’m only too happy to try them all as and when they are launched. Except when it comes to team collaboration apps. It’s one vertical that still feels like snake oil and if you remove the branding and fancy copy, almost all of them have the same set of features.
Volerro got my attention with the bold proclamation that it can help users create, refine and distribute content. It’s the creation part that got my attention. No app is better in that aspect except for Google Docs. So, I had to try out this app and benchmark it against the competition.
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Within education there is a big debate going on about whether or not it is a good idea to let students bring their own mobile device (BYOD) to school to use in the classroom. As an educator who has been given the opportunity to test pilot an iPod Touch adoption in our school district, I definitely have my own thoughts on this issue. I think, whether we like it or not, we have to prepare and encourage students to bring their own devices. But, no matter what side of the debate we land on, one thing is for sure, the web is going to be a powerful place for education. It is a space that if developers can conquer and create great products, they will do well in the education space.
Now, we can also debate for a very long time about the future of technology in education and the how the web will or will not play a part in that. But, for now, I think it is the way to go, especially for its low cost and its accessibility. For example, for the past few weeks, I have been playing around with Presefy, which is a web based application that you can use to share your presentations. I originally started using it to see if it could work in my classroom and as a way for others to use it as well.
One of the things that I truly love about social media is how you can make connections with people that you have never met before in real life. For example, my editor and I live on practically opposite ends of the earth, we have never met face to face, but yet, I feel like I know him decently well. It is amazing how many people I have been able to connect with and share ideas and talk tech through social media. There is something about it that makes people feel “safe”, and they can let their guard down and be themselves.
Over the past year or so, I have started to see a different type of social media avenue crop up around the web. These are sites where you can throw out a question to people, and you let the power of social media help with getting you an answer. There are formal sites like Branch and Quora that are set up for this, and then you have informal ones like Twitter and Facebook where you can solicit feedback as well. But, the app that I have been testing for the past few days, Yabbly, takes a somewhat different approach and so far, I like what I see.
I’m not only a confessed app junkie, I’m an email hoarder, too. I just counted the number of accounts in Thunderbird and there are a whopping 19 email accounts that I monitor for various reasons. That’s not to mention my various social media accounts. As you can guess, I am always on the lookout for the next great app and I may have stumbled upon one.
Enter Unified Inbox, a new app designed to bring all of your inboxes together. It’s currently free in invite-only beta, and let’s find out how Unified Inbox can wrangle your email and social media accounts and keep you on top of your game. (more…)
The web has opened doors for many ways to share content. Up until a few years ago, when one gave a presentation and wanted others to see a visual, they had to have a projector. It was just a given. Now, though, with most people carrying an internet connected phone or tablet around these days, a projector is hardly a necessity.
Presentation.io is an app that’s actively trying to help make projectors less needed, in the board room, classroom, and anywhere else. If you remember, a while back I reviewed Canvas Dropr, an app from the same people who created this web app. The two apps have some similarities, but Presentation.io is a somewhat stripped down version of Canvas Dropr designed just to present ideas, speeches, and anything else you want to show to others. Let’s take it for a spin to see how it works and how it can possibly benefit you.
There are so many project management apps available online. Actually, it’s one vertical where web apps rule, and native apps have been relegated to an afterthought. The competition is intense and customers have so many choices in front them. Yet, trust me when I say this, there is still room in the market for new players who focus on clean layouts and simpler workflows.
In my experience, we are stuck between horrible bloat and ridiculously featureless project management and team collaboration apps. So, I’m always in search of the one app that has the right set of features. With a catchy name, Siasto pitches that it’s the perfect way to collaborate with your teammates. Let’s go check it out, shall we?
RealtimeBoard: an app with an unusually non-cryptic name. It’s an online board where you can collaborate with your colleagues in real-time. Not a new idea, by any means, but RealtimeBoard has a new take on it, making it actually nice to use. It provides you with is what amounts to an essentially infinitely large whiteboard which you can use to brainstorm ideas, share notes and documents, work on designs with colleagues, and much more.
Let’s take a look.
About two months ago, I started the process to hire some new personnel at my day job, and I needed a way to keep track of who had applied and where they stood in the hiring process. After some research into basic CRMs, I found Streak.
According to the development team, Streak is CRM in your [Gmail] inbox. And boy, is it ever. Let’s find out how Streak integrates with Gmail and how it will make your life easier. (more…)
There’s many times you might need to make some sort of chart or diagram. Lots of people really like to mind map, web and app designers have to make wireframe layouts of design and interface ideas, and business workers might need to make charts to explain facts and figures to clients and co-workers. There are plenty of full-featured and affordable desktop options for making such charts, so why look for an alternative web app?
Social features and sharing are where diagram-making web apps really start to show some unique innovations and Cacoo, the app I’ll be reviewing today is no exception. Cacoo is an online chart/diagram/wireframing tool. Within the app you can use templates or create your own project from scratch using a number of advanced features. You can then collaborate on the project with some co-workers or share and export it to show clients. It’s a handy app with a mile-long feature list, so stick with me to learn more about Cacoo and whether it’s worth using or not.
When you’re working on a project, from a huge project like building a house or starting a new business to a smaller job like making a new website, effective project management is the key to success, particularly if you are working with other people. Collaboration with other people has always been something of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it’s possible to share the load and draw on the talents of different team members, but the major downside is finding an effective means of communicating with your collaborators to convey ideas and give feedback on progress.
ThetaBoard is an online project management tool that can be used to help keep track of how you are progressing through the various tasks that need to be completed for the projects you are working on, exchange messages with the people you are working with, and assign tasks to your co-workers. Online project managers are hardly a unique category, but ThetaBoard has a unique twist that might make it the simple tool you need if you’ve found project management apps too difficult to use.
