Tag: web apps

Launchrock helps your start-up make a website in minutes

by Justin Alcon

As a developer, I always have a few web start-up ideas incubating.  And as the technology arm of a new venture, it’s up to me to get something put together quickly so that we can start building an audience and a name for ourselves.  At the same time, I have to balance that with quality and stability.  If you throw something up too fast, the technology (and sometimes the entire concept) may not be fully fleshed out, with embarrassing results.

Thankfully, I’ve found launchrock, a great new site that lets you toss up clean-looking ‘launching soon’ pages really quickly.   Read More

Premade Recipes Make ifttt Awesome

by Justin Alcon

A while back, we found “if this then that”, a cool new way to automate some of the logistical work of your social media campaign.  “If this then that”, or just “ifttt”, is a way to write custom recipes or routines that fit your social media campaign perfectly.  That’s awesome, and what’s even more awesome is that you can share these recipes with the world.  You’re also free to use the recipes that have already been shared by others, rather than having to make them all up from scratch. Today I’m going to take a look at some of the coolest recipes I’ve found, and let you know how you can put them to work with your social media outreach. Read More

ifttt makes social media a breeze

by Justin Alcon

Social media is a big part of any modern marketing campaign.  However, managing social media properly can mean a lot of time-consuming work.  It’s one thing to have a solid plan, but the real work comes with the day-in, day-out hands-on implementation of this plan.  There are lots of products that claim to automate this process, but they’re all missing a key thing: variety.  You can set your tumblr to auto-update to your twitter, and your twitter could update your facebook, but this creates a single monolithic, repetitive structure.  So, how do you add nuance to your social media plan without adding complexity and hours to your day? Read More

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.

WriteThat.Name App Helps You Keep Your Contact List in Check

by BrothaTech

You can almost bet that when people change their email address, phone number, or other pertinent contact information, they may not send out a mass email to EVERYONE in their contact list instructing them to update the changes, but you better believe they update their outgoing email signature. An email signature (if done correctly) should tell the recipient of the message everything they need to know to get in contact with you to respond to your message, in addition to leaving your mark/brand on every piece of information that leaves your possession.

On the other hand, your contact list may not reflect the most recent contact information about the people you correspond with and if left unchecked for too long, can leave you scratching your head when it comes to retrieving that important phone number, email, or web address LONG after the emails have stopped and been purged from your inbox. That’s where this cool little web app called WriteThat.Name comes in and checks your contact list’s information against the information found in a correspondent’s email signature.

It works like this – Every time you receive an email from a person, WriteThat.Name checks their email signature for contact information can compares it against the information you have in your contact list (That is, if you bothered to add them to your contact list in the first place). Once you sign up, login and connect your email account, you’re ready to allow the service to check your email messages. WriteThat.Name currently only works with Gmail or Google Apps contact lists.

The service is pretty simple and the only major setting you have to adjust is whether or not to allow WriteThat.Name automatically change your contact list as soon as it finds a conflict, or to notify you if there is a change. If you choose to turn off the Auto-update, you will have to manually make the changes yourself. I say if your contact list is already out of whack, why not let WriteThat.Name have a crack at it?

The service is free for the first month, after that you have the choice of getting billed $3 monthly, or opting for a discount and getting billing out of way yearly for $20. Drop us a line in the comments section if you would pay for a service like this, or if you’re as anal-retentive like me, and keep your contact’s list lean and mean?

Record and Share Meeting Minutes Online with Minutes.io

by BrothaTech

Me, Myself, and I all in a meeting togetherWho REALLY likes taking meeting minutes? No one (present company included) but it is one of those necessary evils that needs to get done to give meeting attendees a reference as to what were the key meeting points. Now, there are a bajillion ways you could take meeting minutes. It doesn’t have to be pretty, it just has to get done. With the Minutes.io web app, you can make recording minutes painless and sharing minutes instant.

There is no need to set up an account, verify an email address, or subscribe to anything to take advantage of this free little web app. Simply visit Minutes.io, enter the meeting information (meeting name, date, place, attendees, and minute taker) and you’re ready to start. Recording minutes is list-based, and the web interface gives you a couple of options to categorize your minutes:

  • To Do
  • Okay
  • Info
  • Idea

You can then describe the minute, designate a owner or responsible party of the minute recorded, and add a due date. Once you’re done adding minutes, you have the option of printing or sharing the minutes via email. If you choose to email, Minutes.io will populate an email message complete with your name, email address, addresses of other attendees an a nice little message in the body of the email.

The cool thing about Minutes.io is the fact that since it’s a clean and straightforward web app, any device with a web browser can create meetings minutes. So if you are out and about and remembered that you are the designated minutes taker for the meeting you totally forgot about, you can get the job done via your smartphone or tablet device.

Minutes.io is free and ready for you to try out now. So check it out and see how easy it is to record meeting minutes. It just may make recording meeting minutes fun [/sarcasm]

GetContact.Info: Add Analytics To Business Cards with QR Code

by BrothaTech

Adding a QR Code to your business card that allows people to scan the code with their smartphone camera and a QR Code reader app is genius. The ability to track actual scans and manage multiple QR Code contacts is on a another level entirely.

This free service from GetContact.Info allows users to create an online profile using their contact information. That profile is then embedded onto a QR Code that you can either download and add to a business card design, or use the free business card template, complete with your contact info and code, to create your own business card. You’re just not limited to business cards either. You can add the code to stickers, t-shirts…anything.

Embedded in your code from GetContact.Info are analytics that display data on when and where your card/code was scanned, in addition to receiving email notifications when your cards are scanned.

When a user scans your code, they are taken to mobile-friendly site where they have the option to add their contact info to your account, or download your vcard directly into their phone’s address book. Note: iPhone users don’t quite have this ability yet, but you can opt to send the vcard via email, then add the vcard from the message once it’s received.

Since GetContact.Info is a free web application, any gadget with a web browser can create and edit contact profiles, while any mobile device with a QR Code Reader app can get your contact info by just scanning your code.

People are still mentally trained to ask for a business card, but with your info embedded onto a QR code, they can get your contact info right into their phone just by scanning your code, instead of the normal “throw your business card in the junk drawer of their office along with the other poor [business card] souls.”

Google Apps Adds More Services To Expand Its Reach

by BrothaTech

Starting today, Google Apps administrators can enable the complete array of Google services, including Google Voice, Reader, Maps and more. Before, Google Apps users were could only use Gmail, Docs, Calendar, and GTalk/chat. Now that Google has added these additional services, you can sign in to services using your Google Apps account, and not have to use your basic Google account (yes, they’re different).

This also means that if you belong to an team, organization, or company that uses Google Apps, admins can customize and even brand how team members/employees see and use Google Apps. Admins for example can control what group uses what services. Drivers can be restricted to Google Maps for directions, writers and bloggers can be given access to Blogger & Reader. Everybody in the office can now have their own Google Voice number, et cetera.

I just posted yesterday how Google is making documents editable on the go. Now this story about Google making more services available for even more users. from Android smartphones to Google TV, to Google Fiber – you name it, Google has it. Looks like Google is positioning itself to be Skynet a one-stop shop for all your personal, entertainment, and business, needs.