Category: Small Biz Applications

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]

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]

It’s Official: Smartphones are More Important than Hygiene

by Shy Mukerjee


When we last checked in with Manta, they released some promising survey data indicating that Small Businesses are hiring. Their latest survey, however, tells us a little bit more about the modern Small Business owner and entrepreneur. While it’s within their margin of error, more small business owners check their email on their mobile device first thing in the morning (32%) than brush their teeth (31%). The age of the smartphone has truly arrived.

That said, it’s important for Small Business owners and entrepreneurs to make the most of their time spent on their mobile devices. Reading this site is one way. Signing up for Manta might be another. If you missed our previous coverage, allow me to recap: Manta allows small biz owners to ‘claim’ their online business listing, network with other small business owners, and participate in a rich Q&A-style forum called Manta Connect. The best part? Manta just announced the latest version of their mobile app for iOS devices. And it’s all free, so you really have no excuse.

The new version of the app allows you to search for small businesses in a variety of ways, offering search filters by category, name, number of employees, proximity and more. They give you maps of company locations, and let you bookmark other small businesses you might be interested in networking with. But the best part? If you’re using the new Manta app on your iPhone, you can easily add a biz’s contact info straight into your phone book.

One last bit of data from the survey: Manta found that a full 73% of business owners are working remotely while on vacation this summer, checking email or documents from their smartphone or tablet computers. I know that it’s tough working for a small business sometimes, feeling like you have to work twice as hard as your competition just to stay afloat, but you need to remember to relax too. Maybe you should be using the Manta app to find yourself a decent spa or massage parlor.

Oh, and if you want to check out the full release of Manta’s new survey data, head on over to their site. Just don’t drop your smartphone in the toilet while trying to juggle your floss with your iPhone.

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#

Even Construction Workers are Doing Mobile Teleconferencing with ooVoo

by Justin Alcon

Last week I attended the “DIGITAL EXPERIENCE! 2011” conference (yes, that’s the official name) in NYC.  The event was a showcase for some exciting new mobile products that either launched recently or will launch soon. There was some great stuff there, and I’m definitely looking forward to using a lot of what I saw.

One exhibitor that really caught my attention was the ooVoo booth.  You may remember from my post a few weeks ago how I have trouble with Skype for teleconferencing.  Well, the folks over at ooVoo claim they can fix this problem, and from what I’ve seen in my brief experience with it so far they might be right.  Basically, ooVoo is a cloud-based service that allows up to 6 devices to connect in a video conference.  So, you can easily meet with the guys in LA, New York, Detroit, Austin, and Chicago simultaneously –  even from your mobile device.

When I dropped by the booth, Brogan Taylor at ooVoo told me a great story that really illustrates the changing world of small-biz-gone-mobile.  Brogan’s father-in-law is a contractor who manages several building sites.  In the morning he meets with supervisors at several remote sites.  Some of his guys are on laptops, some on tablets, some on smartphones.  The owner leads the meeting from his truck cab, a couple guys have Android devices, and one guy even uses a Motorola Zoom.  In just a few minutes all the guys are on the same page about supply chain issues, changing labor needs, and even impending bad weather.  A few years ago I could never visualize a guy with a hardhat pulling a touchscreen computer out of a tool belt; now, it’s apparently a daily occurrence.

ooVoo follows the freemium model by offering some enterprise goodies with its paid offering.  If you’d like to check it out, though, the free app is all you need to get started and it works on lots of devices.  The best part?   Unlike iPhone’s Facetime feature, WiFi is’t required because ooVoo does the heavy lifting on the server side; which means it can be used at regular 3g network speeds.

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.

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.