Author: BrothaTech

Latest Evernote for Android Update goes BIG

by BrothaTech

Quoted from the Evernote Blog:

This is the first time that we have crammed this many great features into a single release of any Evernote product

In other words, Android folks who swear by Evernote as their go-to “put everything here” service should be in for a nice surprise the next time they check their app update status. Just a few key features include:

  • A progress bar at the top that shows you exactly what is being synced
  • A new ever-so-sexy widget bar that lets you quickly jump into the app to create text, audio and snapshot notes, as well as to perform searches
  • Maps and location. Now in addition to just tagging your notes with location information (if your phone’s GPS in enabled), you can now see all of your notes locations visually on a map.
  • Posting notes directly to your Facebook wall, Gmail, and Twitter accounts in just a couple taps.
  • Browse and edit shared notebooks. If other Evernote users have shared notebooks with you, you can now search for notes within those shared notebooks and edit them if necessary.

Those are just some of the features that come with the free Evernote version. Premium subscribers have the extra functionality of a PIN lock that enables you lock your data with a pin. This comes in handy when you share a mobile device (like a tablet) with multiple users, but still need to keep them away from your data.

The Evernote Blog claims to have even more features in store for Android users. With all the current features and capabilities currently being offered for free, there is no reason why you can’t stay organized on the go. But just in case you don’t believe me, download Evernote for Android and try it for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usUg-CdJEKo&feature=player_embedded

Square Reader on Sale at Apple

by BrothaTech

This is pretty cool. In an attempt to make even more waves in the mobile credit card processing arena, Square has teamed up with Apple to sell the Square card reader online and in Apple retail stores. Previous to this announcement, the readers were only sent via snail-mail to users who went through the Square sign up and activate process. Now Square has some help from Apple to get the popular readers into small business owner’s hands.

The Readers are $9.95 and are also available in black. If you’re an early adopter like me and signed up as soon as they were being offered, you only had a choice of white. For those with a little more patience, you will be rewarded with your choice of white or black. Those of us who MUST have a black reader to match our Apple gadgets (God only knows when the white iPhone 4 will officially surface), you can still buy it at full price, but Square is offering customers a $10.00 transaction credit when a new Square account is activated. That’s only fair since original customers who signed up were issued a free reader.

All of same features still exist for new Square users who buy the reader at Apple:

  • Quick and easy sign-up
  • No complicated contracts or monthly fees
  • Simple pricing—2.75% per transaction
  • Free Square mobile App for Apple iOS and Android devices

If you’re a small business that won’t swipe enough credit cards to require a full merchant account, but want to offer your customers more ways to pay—march into your local Apple store, pick up a Square reader, sign-up, and get to swiping.

Gmail Mobile Site upgrades to HTML5

by BrothaTech

Holding on to your feature phone with web access for fear of making the smartphone jump? Or maybe your exchange email setup on your smartphone is acting janky? These obstacles shouldn’t stop you from accessing your Gmail accounts via your mobile device. Gmail has a mobile site that breaks down the full desktop version and makes it “mobile friendly”. Now with the conversion to HTML5, the improved Gmail mobile site could get you out of a “I have no email access” jam.

One of the main advantages to moving to HTML5 is that pages load faster. Unlike before when you opened a page and got a separate “loading” page letting you know what is happening; emails, labels, and even options load within the same page and with minimal delay.

Another advantage is instead of searching your actual contacts on your phone, the mobile site searches your Gmail contacts. When you compose a message and start adding recipients, Gmail will display a drop-down list of possible contact results in an attempt to guess who your are addressing.

This last advantage may just be a reason why a smartphone user may opt to only use the Gmail mobile site over setting up an account on your phone – The ability to search ALL of your emails and not just those dating a couple months back; which is the average time-frame most people select when setting up their email account(s) on their smartphone. If you are vigilant and label, file or Archive your emails like you’re supposed to (instead of deleting them), you can now dig DEEP into your account and pull out some ancient emails all via the mobile site.

If you truly claim to be a mobile professional, why not use all of the mobile tools at your disposal? The Gmail mobile site, now upgraded to HTML5 has just become one of my tools. What about you? Check out the new site by visiting www.gmail.com on your phone and let me know what you think? Do you see yourself using the mobile site more often?

Access Stored Mozy Data on your iPhone or Android

by BrothaTech

For the record: I am Dropbox ’til I die (or until something better comes along).

Mozy: a familiar name in the cloud backup/storage game may just be that “something better” with its iPhone and Android app that gives users access to their stored data and more.

On its face, the Mozy app just appears to be a way to view files that you have backed up to your Mozy online account. But there is much more functionality that appears once you dig a little deeper. In addition to just browsing files, you can:

  • View backup history for all devices linked to Mozy Account
  • Share files via in-app email or post photos directly to Facebook Wall
  • Full resolution photo downloads to device

Similar to Dropbox, up to 2GB of Mozy storage space is free, as well as the mobile apps; but, while Dropbox is more geared towards file storage/synchronization (that you could use for backup purposes), Mozy is still a trusted name dedicated to full device backups of your computers. The Mozy app just gives you additional access to files backed up to your account.

If that’s the case, maybe you don’t have to choose either Dropbox or Mozy, use both:

  • Dropbox for complete data synchronization across all of your devices
  • Mozy for complete off-site data backup management for your laptop/desktop computer.

Visit Mozy Mobile for more information and download instructions for your device.

AT&T and LG Team up to Offer a pre-paid Android Smartphone: Meet the Thrive

by BrothaTech

If you feel a certain kind of way about wireless contracts, but want to take advantage of all the business and productivity capabilities found in a full-fledged smartphone, well look no further than AT&T and LG as they bring you the first pre-paid Android smartphone to run on the AT&T wireless network.

With traditional wireless contracts, you are subjected to credit checks, a hefty deposit if you are establishing credit, and lengthy contracts. AT&T GoPhone pre-paid services skips all of the former and offers customers the ability to pay only for the days and minutes they choose to use, add to the plan as needed, or cancel at anytime. Previously there was a wide range of cell and feature phones you could choose from with the GoPhone service.

On April 17th AT&T, will begin selling the LG Thrive Android smartphone that you can use in conjunction with the GoPhone service. Features include:

– Android 2.2 OS
– Exchange email support
– Unlimited WiFi usage
– 3.2 megapixel camera
– 2GB microSD card installed
– Text/Picture and Video Messaging support
– Access to over 100,00 apps on the Android Market

In order to utilize all of the smartphone goodness, you will need a data plan. AT&T has got your back and is offering special data plans starting at $5 for 10mb of data usage, up to $25 for 500mb. To add these data plans, customers must sign up for either the Smartphone $0.10/min or $2/day plans. The LG Thrive Android smartphone will be available for purchase nationwide at AT&T company-owned retail stores and in select national retail locations on April 17th.

What all of this means is whether for business or personal, smartphone and mobile device users are starting to see options and if they choose to, can break away from their sometimes restrictive wireless contracts but STILL play Angry Birds stay productive on the go.

Hashable App for iPhone and Android: Throw Away your Business Cards?

by BrothaTech

If you’re a heavy Twitter user and own an iPhone or Android device, chances are you meet enough people in the same boat that you could simply use the Hashable app to connect with people, trade contact information, and grow your network without having to hand out business cards like a robot.

After you’ve done your chit-chat/elevator pitch at an event, immediately following up via Twitter (“Hey, it was to good to meet up with @[Twitter handle] tonight at blankety-blank event”) a is the popular way to go. Sometimes finding a Twitter name, following them and/or sending out a tweet in the middle of a conversation can produce 50/50 results via your Twitter client of choice. Hashable looks to smooth out that process by letting you set up your profile ahead of time and trading information in just a couple of clicks. Hashable also includes several pre-defined hashtags (hence the name) that you can choose from to quickly send out a “guess who I just met” Tweet without all the fuss.

Once you’ve made the connection and added their contact information to your iOS or Android device, Hashable can help you grow your network by seeing who your friends are connecting with – There may also be a potential match there for you as well. If you feel that there’sa person in your network you think someone else should meet, you can “Send Intro Tweet” by picking the people you want to introduce, and adding a quick message. Bam! A Tweet will go out and @mention both parties. All this is done in the Hashable app without all the clutter or steps you would have to navigate through to handle the same task via your Twitter mobile client.

There is much more functionality in Hashable that I haven’t touched on, including a leader-board to see who is making the most connections, so you will have to download Hashable for the iPhone or Android and toss those business cards!

If you just love your business cards to death, you can add a QR Code to your business cards and make them interactive…but that’s another post for another day.

Portable Power for Your Moble Devices

by BrothaTech

I don’t know about you, but I break out in hives and develop a slight twitch when my mobile device’s battery indicator drops below 15%. My symptoms really get bad when I am nowhere near a power outlet and/or don’t have my laptop bag filled to brim with cables ready to power each and every device I own.

For those times when plugging in to charge a mobile device is NOT an option, portable power is the answer. The arena is relatively new, but is a must as more and more people depend on mobile devices to get them through the day. So I am going to feature three different options that will wake you up from a mobile battery drain nightmare.

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Not-So Odd Couple: WiFi-Only iPad 2 and iPhone 4 Hotspot

by BrothaTech

The iPad 2 offers a 3G version that lets you tackle any web/network task without being dependent on an external wireless network or hotspot connection. Anywhere you can receive a 3G signal, your 3G iPad 2 will connect.

So if you’re mulling over which version of the iPad 2 to get: WiFi or WiFi + 3G, while you constantly call your local Apple retailer to check their stock (let me answer that for you…they don’t have any), allow me to give you a tip if you own an iPhone 4 with iOS 4.3 installed – use your iPhone 4 as a wireless hotspot for your iPad 2.

Let’s check out the pros and cons.

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Add a Schmap to a Tweet to Get Traffic to your Business or Event

by BrothaTech

If you’re a small business, you should be on at least ONE of the many social networking sites…It’s FREE MARKETING AND PROMOTION for Pete’s sake!

My favorite site is Twitter for social media business marketing – word spreads FAST, and there’s nothing like a little word of mouth wildfire to bring attention and traffic to your business or event. Many apps/services like Foursquare, Yelp, Gowalla, etc. cater to local businesses in hopes they will actually start to pay attention to their social media patrons.

A cool service I found is schmaps/schnaps and it enables you to add maps and pictures to Tweets to drive attention/traffic to your business or event. Instead of creating yet ANOTHER social media account, schmaps integrates with Twitter and immediately gives you options to add an address or venue name and one image (schmap), or import multiple images from your computer or via Flickr to a tweet (schnap).

So instead of tweeting “Doing BIG things over @ Big Things Bar & Grill on 3rd & Pratt St.” You can actually create a schmap by adding a map complete with an image/flyer of your location or event and a map indicating exactly where it’s located to your tweet. If you want show your Twitter followers what a good time folks are having at your event, you can add up to 8 images to a tweet to create a schnap.

In both cases, a schmap.it url is created and added to your tweet, so users can click (or tap if they are mobile) to see your additional information.

Additional features include:

  • Adding additional links, Hashtags, or your own ads
  • Preview your schmap/schnap before sending
  • Allow visitors to add comments or RSVP on your schmap.it site

Schmaps also offers a free iPhone app that lets you create, edit, and manage schmaps/schnaps from your mobile device.

As far as cost, All of the above is free to use. A $9.95 monthly upgrade to Schmaps PRO will add a TON of additional features, including metrics tracking, turning off schmaps ads in tweets, permanent tweet scheduling, and more.

Don’t be afraid, social media sites are safe to use for business marketing and promoting. With FREE services like Schmaps, you’re just being silly it would behoove you to get on board and take advantage of all the additional avenues to bring business to your doorsteps.

SignMyPad App for iPad: eSign and Send PDF’s – No Printing Required

by BrothaTech

Normally when I do app reviews, I try to stay unbiased, cite the facts and point out how it can help you and your business. I will have to break character and say if you breathe air through your lungs, and get tired of downloading, signing, scanning, uploading and emailing (or faxing, if you live in the 90’s) PDF documents, and of course own an iPad…

You need to download the SignMyPad app for iPad now.

Simply put, the SignMyPad app will enable you to load a PDF though iTunes document sharing, from an email, or on the web by entering its url. You can simply sign and date the PDF then upload it back to iTunes to share with your computer, or send it via email… All without touching a single piece of paper!

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