Author: BrothaTech

Google+ Wants Your Small Business

by BrothaTech

A couple of weeks ago, SmallBizGoMobile writer Nick Muntean wrote a piece outlining reasons why he thought the new social networking site Google+ is Not Yet Ready for Business. Maybe Google read his piece, because recently, the company has rolled out its plans to let businesses create Google+ profiles, similar to a LinkedIn or Facebook Page.

Google is planning to run a small beta experiment within + with a select group of businesses that will enable them to create a business profile and try out tools and features aimed at productivity and further sharing news and information about the business/brand. Google product manager Christian Oestlien announced on YouTube that the Google+ business profiles will include “things like rich analytics and the ability to connect that identity to other parts of Google that businesses might use on a daily basis like AdWords.”

So imagine if you already use Google Apps for Business. The ability to share your documents, email conversations, calendar events and other Apps data/content with individual users or all of your businesses Google+ Circles may push Google even higher up on your “One stop shop for ALL your business needs” list. Furthermore, a Google+ profile may be even more valuable than your LinkedIn or Facebook business profile due to the possibility that more than just sharing information and connecting with other users may be happening over on your businesses Google+ profile.

Currently, that’s all speculation due to the fact that the Google+ for business beta hasn’t rolled out yet. But you can’t help but wonder: Will a Google+ personal, profession or business profile be worth the trouble of adding yet another social networking site to the list of stuff you have to manage? Let us know what you think in the comments section.

Google Voice Spam Filtering Stops Telemarketers In Their Tracks

by BrothaTech

One of the cool (and free) little services I use for my business is Google Voice. My GV number is what I use as my “official” business number…but I set it up to ring to my smartphone. That way, I don’t have to give out my personal number for business, and I don’t have to worry about missing a call since my phone is always with me…always.

Now SkyNet Google has added global spam filtering that let’s you stop telemarketers from reaching you if they happen to find your GV number. If your number was recycled by Google, this setting will stop folks that hassled the person that owned the number before you as well. By enabling the feature, Google will catch already recognized spam by Google (or other users).

Simply log on to your GV account online, click the “Voice Settings” cog in the upper right corner, go to the “Calls” tab and click the “Global Spam Filtering” check box. All spam recognized by the system will skip your inbox and go straight to the spam folder.

Since a Google Voice number is still a phone number, telemarketers will still try to sell you windows, siding, free vacations (if you SUFFER through a timeshare presentation) and everything else under the sun. At least now you have a weapon to push those persistent so and so’s to your spam folder.

[via Google Mobile]

The Mobile Hotspot Elevate Will Be AT&T’s First 4G/LTE Device

by BrothaTech

AT&T has announced today that the first device capable of working on its 4G LTE/HSPA+ wireless network will not be a smartphone or tablet, but rather a mobile hotspot that can connect your smartphone, tablet, or laptop to the carrier’s faster 4G network soon to deployed sometime later this summer in select cities.

A mobile hotspot, for those that don’t know, is a device that creates a Wi-Fi network that you can then connect other devices, just like your wireless network at home or in the office. Unlike your router, however, a hotspot delivers data access just like your smartphone does, over the carrier’s cellular data network. The big difference between older, 3G hotspots and the new Elevate 4G device will be speed. 4G data transfer rates are considerably faster than 3G speeds. Exactly how fast? Well, we’ll have to wait to get a device in our hands to find out.

The AT&T Mobile Hotspot Elevate 4G needs so software to get all your mobile devices up and running on 4G. The handy LCD screen on the front will walk any user through setup. Have multiple devices that need that stupid-fast connection? Up to five users or devices can connect to the Elevate 4G over Wi-Fi.

Finally, if you’re an international jet-setter, the Elevate 4G lets you stay connected even when traveling the globe…just be ready to fork over for those international roaming charges.

There is no official word on when AT&T will roll out smartphones capable of handling the new 4G network (my safe guess would be the next generation of the iPhone), but if you are an AT&T fan looking for even more speed (and possibly more reliability), then you can get a 4G capable device in your hands soon. Head on over to AT&T’s site to sign up to get a notification when the Elevate 4G becomes available.

Central.ly – Maybe Your Business Doesn’t need a Website?

by BrothaTech

“Your business needs a website” is what just about EVERY person will tell you when dishing their $.02 cents about running a business. Maybe your business doesn’t need a website. I know that’s a pretty cavalier statement, but what if all you REALLY need is a web presence? Central.ly wants to be your businesses professional landing page that you can set up without any coding knowledge.

The hook to Central.ly is how easy it is to set up. Similar to the about.me service that gives users the ability to create a personal landing page (check mine out here), Central.ly lets you enter your businesses basic information – name, introduction, and upload your logo. Your changes happen real-time, so you can actually see your progress as you add, remove, or edit your content. You can also add a high-resolution background to really give your landing page some pop. You can choose from several designs and add links to all of your social-networking sites. Central.ly also offers a small level of analytics so you can track when somebody visits your page.

Your Central.ly site will reformat to look good on mobile devices as well. So in one fell-swoop, you can quickly get up on the web (traditional and mobile) in no time. Central.ly site is good for any size business, but in my opinion, it’s great for the entrepreneur, independent contractor, freelancer, sole proprietor, small business owner, self employed, musician, free agent consultant, artist that ONLY needs to be able to answer the question “What’s your web address?”

For more information, check out the Central.ly page and let us know what you think in the comments section.

Mobile Google Docs Improves Sharing Features

by BrothaTech

You don’t really need a native mobile app to view, edit, and share your documents stored in the Google Docs cloud. The mobile site does a dandy job of letting you do what you need with just a data connection. Now users have even greater sharing capabilities to make sure your colleagues and clients have access to all the right documents, no matter where you are.

According to the Google Mobile Blog, all you have to do is visit the site, drill down to the correct document(s), press the Share button, and select Share, get the link to share for public or unlisted docs, or Email as an attachment. This method is nothing new. In fact, it’s the same way you would share a document if you were using the full desktop version of Google Docs.

There’s nothing like getting a phone call or email, stating that your colleagues or clients “did get it” (even though you know for a FACT you sent them the document). Since “the customer is always right”, it just makes more sense to understand the situation at hand, and mak sure they get what they need. with the Google Docs mobile site, you can share your documents with ease even if you’re on the go, so you can go back to enjoying your day.

OfficeMax Releases Impress Mobile Print Center Application

by BrothaTech

As much as I hate to say it, sometimes you MUST print something out. For those times when all you have on you is your smartphone, OfficeMax’s new mobile printing center solution may just get you out of those “we only want print” jams.

The ImPress Mobile Print Center lets Android and iPhone users access, upload and print your documents fron anywhere. They can be PDF’s, images, emails…whatever your device can store, ImPress Mobile Print promises to be able to print. In addition to files stored on your device, you can also send GoogleDocs files stored in the cloud to an ImPress Print Center for printing. You can submit a new print job or access previous jobs for reprints, etc.

First and foremost, the Mobile Print Center helps users locate the nearest OfficeMax with directions to that location from your current location using your phone’s native map app. Once you’ve found a location, you can add a file to your document library, customize your print settings, enter your contact info, review and confirm your orders details (cost will be outlined during this portion) and quickly and securely pay for and pick up your printed file at the desired location.

So if you’re dealing with colleagues, clients/customers who haven’t quite adopted the whole paperless thing yet, you can rest assured that the free OfficeMax ImPress Mobile Print Center has your back just in case you need to quickly print out document hard-copies on the go.

[Android Market Link]

[Apple iTunes Link]

Box.net and GoogleApps – Complete Online Content Management

by BrothaTech

On the online content sharing/collaboration side, Box.net was one of the first cloud services that everyday consumers could use. Its services still make online collaboration a viable option for small business owners looking to move to the cloud. On the “everything else” side, there isn’t a bigger name than Google and its popular GoogleApps services that gives users access to online document editing, calendar and email organization, and more.

Add them together and you get the ability to move your entire business/IT structure to the cloud. Now with GoogleApps document editing integration into Box.net functionality, now you can stay in one application from start-to-finish content creation, collaboration, and management. You can upload and share files amongst colleagues and clients, edit documents with version control, and synchronize documents across most of your devices. No need to switch between Box.net for collaboration and sharing, Google Docs for document editing, Gmail for communication, and Google Calendar for time management. It can all be done in the Box.net platform.

Box.net also gives users mobile access so you can access, share and collaborate on files anywhere. Share folders in a tap, exchange feedback or save files for offline access. Box.net apps are available for iPhone, iPad, Android and via the Box.net mobile site.

A regular Box.net subscription of one user is free, but to take advantage of the new Google Apps integration and add up to three users on one account, it will cost you $15 per month. Both services on their own are ideal for any small business owner looking to use their time and resources more efficiently. Together, well, don’t take my word for it, visit Box.net and sign up for a free trial and let us know what you think in the comments section.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_KnRwoKbJs&feature=player_embedded#

Google Sites Adds Automatic Mobile Rendering

by BrothaTech
Before

Using the uber-powerful Google Apps service, small business owners can manage email, contacts, calendars, documents, and add-on additional business management tools/apps/services that can essentially handle ALL of your business needs. One service that may be under-valued is the ability to create a full-blown website for your business in a matter of minutes (maybe just a tad longer) using Google Sites. Maybe the addition of automatic mobile rendering of Google Sites may entice more small biz owners to create a Google site and also knock-out your site’s ability to be visually appealing on mobile devices in one fell swoop.

As fast as it takes users to create a Google site, it is as equally as fast to make your site mobile. A new option in the general settings named “Automatically adjust site for mobile phones” adjusts your site on the fly whenever it’s viewed by Apple  (OS 3.0+) and Android (OS 2.2+) devices.

After

Activate the above option, and several portions of your site (header, site width, sidebars, etc.) will be formatted to look all nice on iPhones and Androids. Additional modifications you can make include hiding or enabling “View Site as Desktop” option, “Sign-in” or “Print Page” link. You can view your changes and tweak them on the go as well by visiting http://sites.google.com from any iOS or Android device.

Now with the new Google Sites mobile rendering feature, there is NO EXCUSE for your business, no matter how small, to NOT have 1) A website 2) a mobile-friendly website.

Evernote Lands on Windows Phone 7

by BrothaTech

That’s right – The note/voice memo taking, task conquering, web clipping, all-in-one productivity app finally gets a native version for Windows Phone 7 (WP7). There are so many use-cases for the Evernote app. Now WP7 users can explore all the ways Evernote can be used for personal/business tasks.

I am a fan of the WP7 user interface – It’s just beautiful. The Evernote app for WP7 exploits that beauty and lets you save and find your ideas and memories any time, anywhere. All of the features that Android, BlackBerry, and iOS users are accustomed to make an appearance, in addition to some cool Microsoft-specific features that can only be found on the WP7 version like note mapping that uses Microsoft Bing mapping technology to to show you where your notes were created. To allow the app to save your location, go to the Location panel in the Settings menu and check off the options. Then, you can view you notes on a map.

For those users who want to share some of your ideas captured in Evernote, Facebook sharing is built-in as well. Simply connect your account and the Facebook post option is prominently displayed as one of the three note options for every note. Hopefully, Evernote will add Twitter and maybe Tumblr sharing as well in future updates for even greater social networking capabilities.

So if you’re one of the brave ones and stepped into the new mobile platform realm via WP7, visit the Evernote blog to learn more. If you’ve been waiting on Evernote to come to WP7, you can jump over to the WP7 Marketplace (be patient if it isn’t there), and download your copy…and let us know what you think in the comments section.

Three Productivity Updates to Google Sync for iPhone and iPad

by BrothaTech

Adding Google email accounts, contacts, and calendars to their iDevice is one of the first things Google software addicts do when they get their shiny new Apple hardware. Google recognizes that a huge chunk on their mobile customer base carry Apple gadgets, so they have updated some of their Google Sync features to further enhance the Google experience on the iPhone and iPad.

Now you can search through ALL of your emails versus just the range of messages you selected to sync on your device. Before, you had to access the mobile-friendly Gmail site to search all of your mail (live or archived) on your account.

You can also accept, decline, and edit calendar appointments directly from your device. Now I can turn off all of those email notifications to alert me somebody sends a calendar appointment!

Finally, “Send Mail as” works in any account you have set up on your device. In other words, if you manage multiple accounts from your device (I personally manage 5), without physically switching accounts, you can select from which account you want to send or reply to a message. For example, if somebody sends me a message to my personal account, I can [passive-aggressively] send them a reply from the right account by tapping the “From” field and selecting that address.

The new features work for both Gmail and for all the small businesses (myself included) using Google Apps accounts. Google Sync is a must-have if you live by Google software AND by Apple hardware. Visit the Google Mobile Site to learn how to setup Google Sync on your iDevice.

[via: Google Mobile Blog]