Never guess at multi-time zone meetings again

I've been traveling internationally quite a bit this year, and often find myself scheduling meetings with people in a variety of locations.   One of the challenges is mapping the time zones correctly so that everyone actually shows up at the right time.

I've tried a variety of methods to resolve this, but have found an iOS app that is just great for this.  The app is called "AllHours" and it makes time zone coordination a snap. 

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In the interface, select the desired time in one time zone (generally the one you're in)  and it will adjust the time in the others to show you what the various local times will be.  

You can then tap on the little envelope button (see the screen shot) to open your email client with a pre-composed list of the cities and the local dates and times you've selected in the UI.  That makes it easy to send proposed meeting times to others to review.

If you're ready to schedule the meeting, tap on the little calendar icon and it will open a meeting request for the time you've selected.

AllHours is a great (free) solution for iOS.  If you've found a good app like this for other platforms, please leave a comment with your suggestions. 

Keeping Your Life Synced Up

Everywhere you look these days, you see someone using a tablet.  That happened fast - in fact, my daughter's school just issued tablets for every student in the school - a big change from when I was in high school.

Pew Research says that 56 percent of Americans own a smartphone, and 34 percent own a tablet. Most people have more than one mobile device. The more devices you have, the harder it is to keep them in sync. You'd like to be able to use your laptop, tablet or smartphone and have access to the same information. It's time to get your life synced up and start using the apps that help keep your life organized.

Syncing and the Cloud

Early sync technology worked by downloading the same files to your devices to make them all have the same information. Cloud technology changed that by allowing you to store your files in the cloud where all of your devices can get to that information. There are two major ways that apps keep your information synced up now: through files or through an application.

An undeniably popular cloud service has been Dropbox. This application is a preferred pick for keeping files in sync because of its reliability and ease of use. Once you create an account, which is free until you need more space, you'll download a small app onto your smartphone, tablet or laptop. This creates a Dropbox folder in which you can create other folders. Just drop files into one of the sub-folders, and it will now be accessible to any device you connect to your account.

For example, you can take photos with your smartphone and place them into a photos sub-folder in the Dropbox folder on your phone. When you get home, you can fire up your laptop and go into its Dropbox Photos folder and touch up those photos before posting them on your Facebook page. Later, when you have more time, you can bring the photos up on your tablet from its Dropbox Photos folder for review.

There are other services that offer a similar cloud service. such as Microsoft Skydrive, Box.com, and Google Drive which all do something similar and allow you to keep the files on all of your devices in sync. With the speeds available to you through broadband, high-speed cellular connectivity, and even satellite Internet now, keeping your files in sync between all of your devices is quick and easy.

Syncing With Applications

The Evernote application, one of my "go to" apps, gives you a tool on all of your mobile devices to make notes and save web pages and images, and it keeps everything in sync for you. There are no files to deal with. You can browse a website on your phone, copy it into the Evernote app, and make some notes about it. When you get home, you can bring up Evernote on your laptop, and do some further research on that website.  One of the killer features of Evernote is to do character recognition on things like whiteboards - you take a picture of them and the handwritten text becomes searchable.  Very cool.

Google Sync is a way to keep the calendar and contacts on your smartphone or tablet in sync with your Google Calendar and Contacts. This is a small app that runs in the background on your mobile device at specific intervals that you pick during its set-up.

Toodledo is an example of one of many task managers that will help you create and manage a to-do list on all of your mobile devices and keep them in sync.

For your entertainment needs, Apple's iTunes will keep music, movies, TV shows, and audiobooks on all of your mobile devices in sync. Given Apple's focus on its own ecosystem, this app is streamlined for iOS devices, and there are some restrictions for Android devices, but you can use tools like DoubleTwist to bridge the gap and make it easy to sync your iTunes content to your Android device.

Finally, some streaming services are creating apps that let you control your TV viewing from multiple devices. For example, DirecTV Mobile Apps work on smartphones and tablets. You can start a movie from your smartphone on your TV, then go into another room, bring up the app on your tablet and watch the movie from where it left off on the TV. While not truly syncing, these apps allow you to use different mobile devices to access the same information.

Stop people from spying on you using your webcam

With all the talk about unwanted surveillance these days, one of the things I've heard people worry about is the privacy of their webcams.  "Could someone spy on me via my webcam without me knowing it?"  It's unlikely, but possible. 

If you don't want to be seen without your consent, there is an easy way to handle it:  ‎Scotch® tape or its equivalent. 

I've heard of people using duct tape, electrical tape, masking tape, etc. but I prefer the clear, but opaque ‎Scotch® tape for a few reasons:

1. ‎Scotch® tape allows light through, which enables your computer's light sensor to gauge the ambient light and adjust your screen brightness accordingly.
2. This tape allows you to see the "camera active" LED next to the lens when it comes on.  This can be an indicator that someone is watching, so you'll know when it's happening.  Note that some eavesdropping toolkits are able to monitor your webcam without  turning on the light, so the light alone isn't a perfect indicator.
3. The tape is easily removable without leaving a residue.  That means you can easily use your webcam when you want to without a lot of hassle. 

How well does it work?  Take a look at these two views - one normal view, and one with tape over the lens. 

As you can see, a simple bit of inexpensive tape does the trick. 

One other thing to keep in mind:  This does nothing to keep people from listening in on your microphone... 

Out of the Office: Smartphone Apps for Busy Employees

Continuing the theme from my last post, let's take a look at things that can help you be more productive on the go.  

As you may know from this blog, I'm a bit of a gadget addict and I try out a lot of new phones.  With each release of new lines of smartphones comes not only temptation, but also plenty of new or updated apps to help you stay or become more productive. The lines are blurring between personal and work devices, as companies decide to implement 'Bring Your Own Device' (BYOD) policies. The need for BYOD polices only grows due to the fact that many of us are on the go and no longer sit at a desk nine hours a day. We need apps that keep us moving, whether we're on our computer in the office or our smartphone in another location.

One of the ones I've been considering is Blackberry - thanks to a friend of mine who's been showing off his new Blackberry Q10 with its excellent keyboard.  Although Blackberry is now targeting the main consumer audience with it's latest smartphones and OS system, Blackberry began as a phone targeted to business users so it seems appropriate to look at the best business apps currently available so you can keep your competitive edge no matter where you are.

Mobile Communication

In the car: If you are frequently on the road during your workday, you can safely deal with emails and text messages without needing to pull over with the free DriveSafely app. It reads you your emails and texts, and then lets you respond by voice giving you complete voice-controlled messaging and emailing.

At busy times: While you want to make sure you don't miss any wanted communication, it would be nice to be able to ignore annoying robo calls and unwanted text messages. AlertMatrix lets you assign priority tones to the people you want to hear from so you know exactly who is contacting you and can safely ignore non-priority contacts.

Restaurant conferences: Wanna go to lunch but still get all your work taken care of? Conduct conferences on the go with the free Panaton Conferencing app. It plays well with Salesforce.com, Plaxo, Outlook and Google and does not require that invitees have a PIN to participate.

Mobile Office

Expense reports: Keep on top of your expenses as you incur them and even export them to a spreadsheet with Exgis Expense Tracker.

No FedEx, no problem: No need to find a copy machine while you are out and about. Turn your Blackberry into a scanner for free with PDF Scanner, where you can convert paper, business cards, and documents into PDF documents and even send those documents to co-workers or your boss.

Computer at hand: If, in spite of turning your smartphone into a mobile office, you still need to access your computer, RDM+: Remote Desktop for Mobiles gives you full access.

Mobile personal assistant: Perfect for managing projects and employees on the go, Nice Office allows you to manage email, calendar, contacts and tasks. You can store documents online and send them to your customers or team members. Nice Office also includes some CRM functionality.

What about you?  Are you using the new Blackberry Q10 or Z10?  Do you have any killer productivity apps to share?  And how do you like the device so far?  I'm all ears.

Make your car more "hands-free friendly"

In my state, use of mobile devices is prohibited while driving, unless you're using them in a hands-free mode.  I've been doing that since it became a law but it was a bit of a pain sometimes because there was no good place to put my phone and it would slide around while I drove.

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I looked around for a holder for mobile devices, but all the ones I found required drilling holes, sticking an adhesive disk on my dashboard, or sticking a suction cup to my window.  I didn't want to damage my car's interior, and those ones that stick to the window block my view and fall off at inconvenient times. 

Recently, I discovered a great solution for this problem: the Mountek nGroove Universal CD Slot Mount for Cell Phones and GPS Devices.

This is a well-built mount for your mobile devices, which fits in the CD slot in your car.  There is an adjustable "gripper" that you expand to grab the inside of the CD slot to hold the mount in place.  The device holder portion of the Mountek is adjustable to fit most mobile devices and hold them in place securely. 

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I've been using this mount for a couple of months and it is great.  Not only does it keep my phone from sliding around, it also allows me to put my phone in a position where I can easily see the GPS guidance using Waze, Google Navigator, or other mapping software.

I don't use my CD player much in the car, but on the couple of occasions when I needed to, I just loosened the adjustment thumbscrew on the Mountek, took it off, added a CD, and remounted the Mountek. 

I'm very happy with the Mountek nGroove Universal CD Slot Mount for Cell Phones and GPS Devices- it seems very sturdy, meets my requirements, and doesn't damage the interior of my car.