Author: Justin Alcon

A software engineer by trade and passionate about new technology and media.

How Mobile Apps averted an IT Nightmare

by Justin Alcon

We’ve been talking about mobile apps that can help your team collaborate, make meetings more productive, or even get a new exciting job; but today’s installment is for you IT guys out there.  IT is a notoriously difficult and stressful field. As today’s business culture becomes increasingly tech and web oriented, the pressure on our IT teams only grows.  The good news is, there are lots of great mobile applications out there that can finally help unchain IT professionals from their computers and lighten the stress-load.

Popular right now are apps that make it easy to check your site’s Google analytics account. Various other apps can check your site’s speed and do basic web operations like pinging, log management, etc.  The coolest thing that I’ve seen are the mobile Terminal/ssh type apps like pTerm, which offer nearly complete reproductions of every computer geek’s favorite interface: the command line.  Apps like pTerm allow IT and computer professionals to access work computers via mobile devices, which can be a life/business saver.

An example of how vital this can be: a few weeks ago (and after many months of work) we launched a major redesign of our website.  We really shot for the stars as far as design, implementation and of course press coverage.  For technical folks this meant that a) a ton of new code was deployed and b) there was a ton of traffic to the site, mostly of parties interested in exploring our new features.  What did this all add up to?  For IT, it meant stress.   The IT team worried that something may not have been tested properly, the software may behave unexpectedly when it is under heavy use, or just gremlins in the system.

When the date came, we flipped the switch and the launch went off without a hitch at first. We were excited and for the first time in months, we celebrated.  The team was all out having drinks at Tom & Jerry’s when our head of IT saw an alert on his Android device.  The web site was under heavy load, with the new code beginning to crash after a few hours running. At the time we were all a few drinks in and several blocks from our computers.  Our site was going down, which could have been a nightmare.  However, crisis was averted when our fearless head of engineering, still with a pint in his hand, fired up pTerminal on his Nexus S and restarted the servers.  We continued to monitor the situation and strung the site along from our phones until we could get into the office and fix the problem the next morning.

With this said, there’s no reason that every IT and computer professional should not have some kind of terminal application on your handheld device.  It is literally the power of your data center in the palm of your hand.

Disqus Blog Comments Give Your Visitors a Richer, More Social Experience

by Justin Alcon

Comments are a huge part of any website.  For all the work that we do to get traffic on our sites, it’s often the interaction with other users that keeps people coming back.  So, is there a superior yet simple way to implement this vital section of your business’s site?  Of course there is, and it’s called Disqus.  To see an example of Disqus commenting, look no further than the bottom of this post (we also use Disqus over at blip.tv).

Why Disqus?  As I mentioned in the earlier Yammer post, digital discussions that mimic in-person conversations are more useful for collaborative work.  Additionally, tools like Flowr highlight the need for collaborative conversations. This is not just true for those of us who are making the site; it’s true of our users as well.  Their best experiences with our site are the ones where they can collaborate and contribute. Disqus offers real time posting and updating, bringing a conversational feel to your comments threads.

Frankly, Disqus has the best social integration I’ve seen in any comments system.  Users can avoid the burden of creating separate username/passwords for every participatory website by simply logging in using their established social media accounts.  It’s a truism that bringing conversations from your site out into larger forums like Facebook and Twitter can then drive other interested parties back to your site, which then allows the largest possible group of people to participate in your community.  With social integration, people can comment using services that they are already comfortable with and already using.  This also has the added bonus of reducing “trolling” or negative comments – generally, users commenting without the cloak of anonymity are much more likely to contribute positively.

A unique feature of Disqus is the ‘community box’, which gives people an overview of the community and activity on your site.  This is a great way to make people who are new to your site, or perhaps just stumbled across it by chance, feel welcome.  They can quickly get up to speed and start participating without a steep learning curve.

Everyone is doing it.  Since so many sites like this one, CNN, Time, Fox News, IGN, Engadget, and many many more use Disqus, it instantly connects your site to an already-thriving community of users.  These people may even know each other from threads on other sites, and conversations can flow across several platforms freely.  The company offers easy plugins for WordPress, Tumblr, Drupal, and Blogger, and I had no problem using it in a completely custom site.  It works almost literally everywhere, so it is easy to use it for your site as well.

We are all about mobile here, so of course, Disqus is also the best commenting system for mobile browsers or we wouldn’t use it.  Last August on their product blog Disqus announced that it can now automatically detect mobile browsers and provide a clean and clutter-free theme optimized for mobile devices.  Now your comments section can now work just as well, including all the rich features, whether your users are visiting on a desktop or mobile device.

Chrome Notebook: Business in the Cloud

by Justin Alcon

“The cloud” is hot – you’d have to have your head buried in sand to have not heard the word “cloud” from the tech sector this year.  Apple has introduced iCloud, Microsoft has Windows Cloud and Amazon has introduced their Cloud Drive product. Although all of these products show great promise, I think that the Google Chrome notebook might be the coolest cloud product so far (given, that my definition of ‘cool’ means ‘getting business done’).  In fact, I’m writing these very words on a virtual machine mock-up of a Chrome Notebook made via Parallels 6.

A Google Chrome notebook is really any laptop that runs Google’s Chrome browser.  Yup, that’s it.  How can an OS be this simple?  Web apps.  The entire Google Chrome way of working is  a cloud-based version of  “there’s an app for that”.  You can use Google documents for your word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations.  You can even edit and store photos.  Outside of heavy design work or software development which requires a local Integrated Development Environment, there is pretty much nothing that this machine hasn’t been able to do for me.  Angry Birds is even available for free!

The consumer product is available in several flavors, including both 3g and WiFi models.  Acer makes a couple, Samsung makes a few, and all are less than $500.  The machines are simple, but quick – dual atom processors, 2gigs of ram (non upgradable), and 16gigs of solid state memory.  The unimpressive hardware is forgivable since most of the computing takes place in the cloud; additionally, it makes the machines very affordable.  Geek out to the full teardown over at iFixIt.

The great thing about the cloud is that your business can lose its attachment to physical devices.  The machine doesn’t matter- it’s a throwaway, a burner.  All your work is in the cloud. If your sales rep is on the road and pours coffee into their laptop, it’s no longer an IT emergency.  They can go to the local Best Buy, put $400 on the corporate card, log back into the Google account and keep working.  The rep’s pipeline is there, the sizzle reel is there, their contacts are all there…in the cloud.

I’m not quite ready to let go of my macbook, but I am very impressed with the Chrome notebook.  It embodies the true spirit of mobile productivity.  I had no problem blogging,  social networking, handling money management or any other task I do daily.  The machine only fell down when tasked with heavy design and development work that isn’t common to non-software developers.  Yay cloud.

Handle PDF Documents With Ease Using Stanza for the iPad

by Justin Alcon

PDF is the file format of choice for electronic documents.  It works on every major computing platform, it looks the same on everyone’s computer, and it even prints exactly the way you intended it. It’s no surprise that PDF is the most popular format choice for business documents around the world.  Like a good wine, the iPad pairs nicely with PDF as the perfect device for consuming documents (and iPhone works pretty well in a pinch). Usually, the PDF drill is simple: someone emails an important document for review, you open it from the email and can easily reply with feedback or forward it on to another party.  However, it’s not a perfect system – what about larger documents that are too big to email?  What if you have 10 or 20 documents to review? Do you want to send and/or open 20 emails?  Of course not.

Enter Stanz, the free eReader for iOS, which sets the standard for eReaders on Apple’s platform.  With Stanza installed, you can easily transfer documents between your computer and your iOS device.  Just drag and drop files into the document-sharing area of iTunes under the ‘apps’ menu and sync your mobile  It’s definitely the simplest way to get the PDF files and ebooks that you want or need in to your peripheral digital devices.

This has a couple great applications.  For instance, every day my wife (who does all of her work on an iPad) reviews a ton of contracts.  She can fit almost all of her work in her purse by using Stanza.  Not only can she easily review all of these documents, but she can annotate them right in the app.  The best part?  Since sharing via Twitter, Facebook, and email are built right in, when she has made her notes she can send out her changes directly from within this free app.

While the Kindle ads on TV are appealing, doing anything more than reading documents on it is difficult. Stanza takes full advantage of the iPad’s unique capabilities, allowing you to quickly and easily read, mark-up, and share PDF documents.  It’s one of those vital apps that boosts tablets and smartphones into daily-use, multipurpose devices.  If you’re interested in e-readers but already have an iPhone/iPad, I would definitely recommend giving Stanza a test-drive first.

Real-Time Professional Networking with Yammer

by Justin Alcon

Twitter answers the question “what’s happening?” in 140 characters or less, Facebook asks us “what’s on your mind?”, and Tumblr provides a variety of blog post templates.  All of these apps answer interesting questions, but aren’t specifically productivity-oriented.  Enter Yammer, which you can tell means business by the question it asks:  “What are you working on?”

I mostly use this application on the desktop.  However, I have found when working remotely this is a great way to keep from feeling disconnected from the office.  After setting up a basic profile, Yammer becomes a feed of updates that are posted by people that you are following (a very common networking paradigm).  It’s different from other applications in that the feeds are broken up by companies or projects rather than social distinctions.  This allows you to quickly get a view into what various project teams have been chatting about.

We use Yammer at blip.tv and it has been really useful.  First, we have several satellite offices around the country.  When people working in New York, LA, San Fran, Detroit and elsewhere are all on the same project, the ability to have real time threaded conversations gives people the feeling that they are working together in the same room.  Chats are more conversational than omnibus emails, which aren’t always timely and often are out of order. “Yams” are more natural and follow the pattern of verbal speech.

Yammer can be as serious as it needs to be.  Unlike other platforms where there is a stricter protocol of use, Yammer can be both work and play as needed.  My business uses it for everything: from the support team contacting development about an urgent bug, to announcing where we are getting a pint after hours.  Yammer is our water cooler… we make jokes, talk about sports and cut up, but important information is passed through Yammer as well.

The app itself is clean and simple to use, with a view of your feed, direct messages, a list of alternate feeds, and a company directory.  It is available for both iOS and Android, and works great on smartphones and tablets.

Facebook Makes it Easy to Reach the Widest Audience with the Least Effort

by Justin Alcon

With the popularity of “The Social Network” and over 250 million active users, most people in the modern world know about Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook.  However, I think lots of us over-30 folks might think it’s something for the younger crowd, or that it’s only for socializing and not for serious business.  I’ve got news for those of you that think this: although it took me a while to come around to it, I have to admit that Facebook is really useful, even for business-type guys like me.

One Facebook feature I like is that I can get almost all the power of the site without actually going to www.facebook.com.  For example:  I post on my Tumblr which automatically tweets for me, and then my Twitter updates my Facebook.  Everyone – from my college buddy Forrest in North Carolina to a business associate in Baltimore – can find my post in their Facebook feed, share it with others and (best of all) they can comment on it.  When they comment, I get an email notification and can even reply back by simply using my email client…all without ever going to Facebook.  As much as I love Tumblr and Twitter, Facebook definitely makes it easy to reach the widest audience with the least amount of effort.

This “reach large audiences with minimal effort” aspect is important.  Facebook is well-integrated with almost every other social networking app that there is; viddy, foursquare, social camera and any other app worth its weight. On top of that, blogs with comments sections powered by disqus have Facebook integration.  So, when I comment on or ‘like’ an article, it all ends up in my Facebook feed along with my party pictures and foursquare check-ins.  Facebook becomes a one-stop shop for people who want to follow and share in my digital life.

The event planning tool is also an essential for business (I use it to post all of my personal and professional events).  This  tool makes it easy to schedule and invite people to events, allows people to easily RSVP, and provides a forum for party-goers and party-throwers to communicate beforehand.  Schedule changes and mass communications are a breeze since you can easily send a single message to all invitees.  On a small scale, Facebook events are handy in helping me anticipate how many pimento cheese sandwiches to make for my Kentucky Derby party.  The real difference, though, is when you use it for professional events.  When planning corporate events with an open bar (like we threw last night) it can make a HUGE difference in cost to have a solid picture of your headcount beforehand. People can easily share the details about your event with their friends, so you can reach an audience that wouldn’t have otherwise been possible. Every time a new person RSVPs to your event, their friends see a notification and visibility for your event extends.

Although this post references my personal Facebook page, all of these ideas and principles can be applied to a corporate page. These touches can definitely give your business a very “human” social presence.  I encourage you to make Facebook a part of your adult life and your business – it’s not just for kids anymore.  Social networking is serious business!

Mobile Applications and the US Military

by Justin Alcon

It’s the day after Memorial Day, I’m sore from pulling ropes on a sailboat, and I’m just the right amount of sunburned.  However, we all know the Memorial Day holiday isn’t just a kickoff for the summer season.  Memorial Day honors our troops and veterans, and causes us to remember their hard work and sacrifices in the line of duty.   So, in the spirit of the holiday, today I’d like to talk about mobile tech is used by our United States military service.

The Army has had an app in the iTunes store since 2010.  To my surprise, it’s not a direct recruitment app or a game that glorifies combat.  Instead, it’s a mobile complement to the Army’s website.  The app offers news, pictures, videos, and even a logic game.  It’s a really great information source for those interested in the Army.  The “more” section this app is integrated with twitter and facebook and offers additional information about ranks and uniforms.  Of course, there’s also information on how you yourself can join and serve.

Last year, a piece in Wired outlined some plans for an Army-specific app store that would be managed by the government.  The store would allow the troops to download helpful apps while in the field.  Apparently bureaucracy and security concerns have so far kept this from becoming a reality, but when made available this would represent a major step forward in military and civilian technology.  Why would it be so revolutionary?  Well, the Army app store is itself part of the agile development process (the same process that I use to develop software professionally).  The store would not just be a place for soldiers to get applications for their mobile, but also a place where they can also offer feedback and ideas for new apps.  Users would describe their needs in the store’s form which  would then be quickly translated into requirements for developers.  This process greatly increases the speed by which developers can deliver useful apps to the user.

Finally, I found a nice list of applications that are dedicated to our Military as well as to the service of fallen soldiers.  Of course, some of the items on the list are cheesy, and perhaps you would feel silly to have a Memorial Day app on your phone a month from now. However, some of the other offerings are quite compelling.  For example, the “Inside Story of the Peace Conference 1919 HD” has information that was new to me about my favorite military subject – peace.  Also, the “USO On Patrol Magazine” in HD and the “Marines Magazine” are both free in the iTunes app store.
It is also worth mentioning that although both iPhone and Android apps are being developed by the military, no handheld device has been certified as secure enough to access government servers.

Why Skype is not quite ready for the Enterprise

by Justin Alcon

As I’m sure you’re aware, the folks over at Microsoft have gambled big recently by  purchasing Skype.  Microsoft has long been regarded as the first name in enterprise software, but does Skype fit in with the rest of the class of Microsoft products? Or, are they the weird kid that eats paste?  To be blunt: for now, hide your paste.

About a year ago my office converted to all-Skype.  The company phones are Skype phones, and most of us now just have a mic and our headphones rather than a desk handset.  Although this is a great product for people in long distance relationships, or those who want to see their grandchildren in another state, this product needs a few improvements before we can really rely on it for serious business.

As you probably know, they had a global outage this week so stability is a big concern. However, lots of services have had major outages recently and survived unscathed.  The biggest issue for the business so far is that many folks already had a Skype account when they joined the company, and they’re unable to merge their personal account with the new company-funded account.  This means they had to move all of their contacts over to a new Skype screen name, and it’s often extremely confusing to newcomers who arrive with many clients (like salesmen, who live and die by their phone).  After the transition to the company-based Skype, some employees seem to be even more nervous about missing that big call.

Another issue – with Skype, there’s no central phone directory for your company.   The closest that we’ve been able to come is to include our company name in all the usernames that we create. This way, folks can search for our names and find our people. This isn’t a great solution, though, as there’s no security provided. Nothing bars other users from using your company’s name in their usernames, potentially causing  “false positives”- imagine if a competitor caught on and convinced a customer to call them, because the customer thought the competitor was affiliated with your company?  A directory is a near-mandatory staple for enterprise telecommunication solution.

Payment is also a problem.  When you have lots of people making tons of calls all around the country, it’s common to add large amounts of credit to your account to cover costs.  With a terrestrial phone service it’s common to add thousands of dollars at a time to your corporate phone account.  With Skype, if you want to add 500 or more dollars to your account you have to fax in a special form. This seems pretty stone-age for a digital-frontier company.  And, if you need to fax in several forms, you’re occasionally flagged, causing service interruptions!  In a digital age, with a digital business, it’s a total waste of time to constantly fill out and fax forms, even when you have sites like eFax to help.

As a web-based phone service, Skype really should excel at inexpensive teleconferencing.  Although it’s touted as the ‘facetime killer” Skype actually has very little support for true video or teleconference support.  When we have a large meeting with several remote people, we’re usually unable to configure it so that we can all see and hear each other without a lot of microphone-passing and hand-waving.  Consequently, people in remote offices often feel left out of the loop.

Last but certainly not least is the fact that all of their equipment is proprietary.  With terrestrial phones, there is usually an equipment standard so that generally your handset can go with you from service provider to service provider.  Not Skype phones.  Skype phones require commitment.  So, now that we have invested in this equipment, we feel somewhat stuck with it, since we can’t re-use the handsets. We’re what a poker player would call ‘pot committed’.

Even with all this (I know that it’s hard to tell,) I actually love Skype—I really do!  I’ve had great fun with it, and it’s perfect for chatting with your family or your significant other when they’re out of town.  To really meet the needs of the business community, however, Skype should definitely take some cues from their new owners and start thinking about providing service from an enterprise perspective.

Grab Brand Traction with Sponsored or Free Apps

by Justin Alcon

As a guy who makes a video site, I know that a mobile application could help my company reach a wider audience of viewers or bring my site’s functionality to users on-the-go.  But what if I didn’t make a web product?  What if, say, I sold sprockets?  What could a mobile app do for me then?

In short: a lot.  Because of the engaging nature of mobile applications, especially those on touch devices, mobile platforms offer great branding opportunities.  For instance, I like racing games, and I like money, so my favorite type of racing game is the free kind.  I was bored in an airport, waiting for a flight that was again delayed and I decided to pass the time with some mindless racing fun.  As I typed in ‘racing’, I hadn’t gotten to the ‘c’ before I had a top hit of ‘Real Racing GTI’ in the app store.  I downloaded the app and started driving.  As I drove, I noticed two things: 1) this game was a lot of fun, and 2) all the cars were Volkswagens.  This version of the app was apparently the free “demo” version of Real Racing 1, which had been sponsored by Volkswagen to introduce the 2010 GTI  (one of their models).  I’m not sure if it had any influence or not, but my family always considers Volkswagen when shopping for cars

Another example: Again at the airport, I’m on the tarmac at LAX. As I was sitting beside my CTO (who doesn’t enjoy small talk),  I needed something to occupy my mind and I needed it before takeoff.  I had read a lot about ‘Angry Birds’, the super-popular bird-flinging app.  I wanted to know what the hype was about, but again, I also like to keep ducats in my pocket. So, I searched for the free version where  I found something really fun.  Apparently, there was a free version of the app branded for the movie ‘Rio’.  There were not as many levels available as there are in the paid version of the app, but there was enough fowl-flinging fun to get me into JFK without annoying my boss.  Here is the real value; by the end of the flight, I was interested in the movie as well as the free version of the app.  I found out that the cast of the movie included some actors that I like, and so I decided to see it.  Because Rio isn’t the type of movie that I tend to go see, and most of the advertising was targeted at children and parents, this app did a great job of reaching a separate market segment.

The flip side of this is that if mobile apps are your bread and butter, you should consider some branding for your app in the form of a smart sponsorship. Or, at least give the app away for free for a few days.  This gets your install base up quickly and gives your brand more credibility.  And the best part is, as the end user I got my apps for free – it’s win-win!

Foursquare Humanizes your Social Media Presence

by Justin Alcon

Ok, I admit it: I’m one of “those people” who use foursquare.  In case you are not clued-in to the whole ‘checking in’ thing, foursquare is a location-based social network that leverages the power and popularity of GPS enabled portable devices.  Or to put it another way, it’s an app on your phone that you can use to tell people where you are.  Pictured right, you can see some of my favorite types of places to check in (which reminds me, I really should check in at the gym more).  With this said, it is likely that you’re now asking yourself, “why?” or “who cares where you go?”.  This reasonable question was posed to me while drinking at Tom & Jerry’s the other night, when I and a few of my co-workers checked into the venue as we came through the door.

I’ll tell you what I told them (as best as I can remember it).  The first reason is ‘specials and tips’.  I’ve always been a fan of the house special, and I trust professionals to know what sets their establishment apart from the rest.  I like to let them showcase it.  Checking in on foursquare not only tips you off to specials offered by this location, but also other promotions nearby.  Often there are premium specials offered for those who check in or for the ‘mayor’ of the venue (the person who has checked in most frequently this month).  In addition, I get tips from my friends even when they’re not there with me.  For example, I was waiting at Big Bar on 7th street to meet a friend, and as I checked in I saw a tip from my friend Eric that I should avoid the tap beer there and stick to bottles.  Thanks, Eric!

The second reason I use foursquare is because it integrates really well with my other social sites.  Whenever I check in, foursquare sends out a tweet—and then twitter updates my facebook.  This way, friends from all my networks can get an idea of what I’m up to.  This is great for businesses, especially because it highlights that these are real people and not just a faceless company.  The idea that people working at your company are out and doing things is more humanizing and engaging than some other, older forms of marketing.

The third reason that I like foursquare is it’s a great way to meet up with friends.  I’ll give you an example: at Druids in Hell’s Kitchen, I met a friend who pitched me a new web series.  I checked in, and as I walked through the door my friend Charles texted me and asked what I was doing at Druids.  I responded, and it turned out that he was just around the corner. We went, met up with his group, and had a great time.

If I could ask for anything more from foursquare, it would be more gameplay features.  I like it, but I wish that there were more activities at which I could compete with my friends.  For example, I think that it might be fun to have sponsored foursquare-based scavenger hunts, or the ability to build custom scavenger hunts and/or capture the flag-type games and invite your friends.  Think about it: a competitive bar crawl where the first one to drink in all 12 locations is the winner!

So what do you think – is foursquare a good idea? Is it worth it to stalk yourself in reverse?  We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.