If you’re a mobile warrior and have been known to set up shop at your local coffee shop to get some things done, you are at the mercy of that businesses Wifi to connect to the outside world. If for whatever reason, you can’t get a decent signal or no signal at all, you may have to relocate. If you use Gmail (or Google Apps) to send and receive emails and prefer the Google Chrome browser, you may just be able to read emails and do serveral additional functions by downloading the Offline Google Mail app from the Chrome Web Store. Read More
Category: Small Biz Go Mobile
Adobe Releases PDF Creator for iPhone and iPad
If you don’t already know by now, PDF is the ideal file format for sending and receiving a professional document. Adobe created the format, so it makes sense that a product from Adobe would be used more than any other application that can do the same. Most of us use Adobe Acrobat on our desktop/laptop computers to create PDF’s from Word documents, spreadsheets, presentations, images and illustrations and more. But what do you do when you’re not sitting in front of your computer/laptop and you need to create and send a PDF? Adobe has got you covered with the Adobe CreatePDF app for iOS devices that lets you create high quality PDF documents from your mobile device. Read More
Best Buy Combining Forces With Rent-A-Center: A Great Solution for Your Biz’s Short-Term Tech Needs
Yes, the big tech news this week was Apple’s announcement that Steve Jobs officially stepped down as CEO, but given Jobs’ persistently poor health, we all knew that, sooner or later, he would have no choice but to resign. Rather than adding to the Jobs-resignation echo chamber, let’s focus instead on some news that’s likely more immediately relevant to small business owners; Best Buy’s pilot program with Rent-A-Center.
Essentially, Best Buy will begin incorporating Rent-A-Center kiosks into its brick-and-mortar stores; if customers are unable to get credit approval for that new flat-screen television—or, perhaps, if they just want to outfit a temporary domicile with some high-tech accessories—they’ll be able to purchase the device, sans credit check or down payment, from the RAC kiosk. Though Best Buy and Rent-A-Center have been fairly tight-lipped on the specifics of the deal, it’s believed that RAC will actually purchase the products from Best Buy, and then sell them to the consumer (who, if they keep the product until it’s paid off in full, will end up paying RAC two-to-six times more than Best Buy’s retail price). Read More
TweetBook for BlackBerry PlayBook – A Native Twitter Feel
Twitter hasn’t released a native app for the BlackBerry PlayBook. They have recently improved the mobile-friendly web app that looks…good. But for those of us who want a native app that can deliver more features and customization while we surf Twitter, TweetBook might just be what you’re looking for. Read More
The Risk Is Too Great: HP Terminates Its PC and Consumer Electronics Business
HP’s Q3 earnings call last week was, in a word, a doozy. CEO Leo Apotheker announced that HP–the largest PC manufacturer in the world–would essentially exit the PC and consumer electronics markets, and focus its efforts on high-margin data analytics services (an announcement that’s more than vaguely reminiscent of IBM’s 2004 decision to sell off its PC division). Specifically, HP plans on divesting itself of its PC division within the next 12-18 months, and has announced plans to acquire datacenter analytics firm Autonomy Corporation for $11 billion. While HP’s Personal Systems Group (the company’s internal name for its PC and CE operations) will live on in some form or another, it appears that HP’s WebOS experiment has officially drawn to a close, as Apotheker explains that they “have decided to shut down operations around webOS devices and [will] be exploring strategic alternatives to optimize the value of the software platform and development capability.” Read More
Square Mobile Payment System Adds Key New Features
In my opinion, the easiest way for a small business owner to accept credit card transactions is via the Square service/credit card reader. Their is no merchant account needed, the transaction fees are very competitive, and you can easily swipe credit cards using the Square credit card reader that attaches to your iPhone or Android device via the headphone jack.
Square has stepped up its game and now makes the actual credit card experience better by making the transaction process faster. It has improved the transaction speed by eliminating a number of screens that slowed the process down. According to Square, an entire transaction can now be done in approximately four seconds. Read More
LiveShare Condenses pictures from your event into a sharable stream
We’re always throwing events at my job. We have parties to promote new product launches, new partnerships, good sales quarters and the mandatory “holiday season” shindigs. Parties are great branding opportunities, because they put a human face on your company and because everyone loves free food and drinks. After you throw a party, make sure that you get some good press out of it; parties are expensive and you’ll want something concrete to show ROI. Read More
Evernote Gets Serious on Image and Screenshots – Aquires Skitch
Evernote apparently agreed with its critics that they could do a better job of handling images and web screen shots. Specifically, the ability to annotate and/or share images was what was lacking. Well they did something about it and bought Skitch, a Mac application that gives users the ability to capture, markup, draw on, and share images with ease. Read More
Skype Wifi for iOS – Tap into Commercial Wifi spots On the Cheap
You ever come across an airport or hotel Wifi hotspot but absolutely refuse to agree to the “they want me to pay what” daily access rates? I’m pretty sure we all have. But there may be times when you just can’t afford not to sign up and pay for access for just a couple of minutes, especially if it means missing an important conference call. Sure, you could just use your phone’s wireless minutes but oh, wait, you’re roaming.
The Skype Wifi app for iPhone and iPad lets you tap into over 1 million hotspots worldwide and make Skype VoIP calls using only your Skype credit. Read More
LinkedIn Apps get Refreshed, Introduces HTML5 Mobile Website
With the updated LinkedIn mobile apps for iPhone and Android, users can network with like-minded individuals faster while other mobile device users can stay in the know via the new mobile-friendly HTML5 site.
The re-designed mobile apps have broken LinkedIn down into four areas. You can access you network updates and activity; browse your profile and view recent activity; check your inbox and send new messages; and check out your groups to join the conversation and view potential connections. The layout for each area is very easy to navigate and is attractive overall – A much better improvement from the older version. Of course, you will still want to access LinkedIn via a full computer browser to get the most out of the professional networking site, but I can definitely see users wanting to use the mobile app more especially if they have a heavy presence on the site as a result of the update. Read More