- Security - gives you a copy of the file on your hard disk and in the cloud
- Ease of access - keep multiple machines up to date with the same versions of files
- Share access to work on files with a group
- Even access from your smart phone
- Safer and more reliable than memory sticks (unless your phone is insecure)
Michael Veale's blog. Varied posts with special interest in business technology and economics
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Dropbox - an easy way to share files without emailing
For anyone operating without Dropbox, I strongly suggest reading this short review. I have been using it myself for a couple of years and it is great for the following:
Friday, March 11, 2011
Finding the interesting news using news aggregators
What does it do?
A news aggregator is software that allows you to collect sources of changing information (such as the BBC and FT) and sort the articles into an order that is useful to you. The paper equivalent would be having an assistant prereading the newspapers that you specify and arranging the articles in the order that you would find most interesting.
What's so good about that?
You probably don't have time to read a newspaper from cover to cover or to read every article from every source that you would like to. By sorting them in order, you can concentrate on reading the most interesting or important articles first and read others only if you have time. Better than that, many readers monitor what articles you actually read so they can continually update their model for what you will find interesting in future.
Is it free?
It certainly can be. I use Google Reader which is free.
How can I use it?
Google Reader has its own instructions but in a nutshell, when you find yourself reading an interesting article on any website, look for an RSS logo like this:
If it has one, cut and paste the URL into Reader (using 'add a feed') and that will be added as a news source. Easy.
Will it work on my Smartphone?
Yes. I use an Android phone and can access my news in 3 ways:
A news aggregator is software that allows you to collect sources of changing information (such as the BBC and FT) and sort the articles into an order that is useful to you. The paper equivalent would be having an assistant prereading the newspapers that you specify and arranging the articles in the order that you would find most interesting.
What's so good about that?
You probably don't have time to read a newspaper from cover to cover or to read every article from every source that you would like to. By sorting them in order, you can concentrate on reading the most interesting or important articles first and read others only if you have time. Better than that, many readers monitor what articles you actually read so they can continually update their model for what you will find interesting in future.
Is it free?
It certainly can be. I use Google Reader which is free.
How can I use it?
Google Reader has its own instructions but in a nutshell, when you find yourself reading an interesting article on any website, look for an RSS logo like this:
If it has one, cut and paste the URL into Reader (using 'add a feed') and that will be added as a news source. Easy.
Will it work on my Smartphone?
Yes. I use an Android phone and can access my news in 3 ways:
- Use the web browser to go to Google Reader
- Use the Google Reader App
- Use the My6sense App
My preference is the My6sense App which will can import all the feeds from Google but also picks up Twitter and Facebook and ranks the whole lot in interest order - and continues to learn about what you find interesting. It just gets better and better.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Square payments - cheaper than Paypal
It seems that the cheque replacement cost cutting battle has begun. Square is offering a cheaper and simpler charging structure than Paypal: a straight 2.75% of the transaction. Even better (for most businesses), this is designed for 'customer present' transactions and designed to work from a mobile rather than a PC. Note that if the customer is not present, the charge is 3.5% which is close to Paypal's charge. See this link for more.
What does the end of cheque guarantee cards and cheques mean for business? | Liquid Accounts
I think the end of cheques is a great idea - removing all those pieces of paper. The problem is for many small companies clubs, schools etc., cheques are a cheap way of transacting. Paypal can facilitate the payments but at upto 3.4% plus 20p per transaction it is expensive. There is room out there for cheaper competition.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Switching to Android
After careful consideration I have retired my Nokia E63 (mobile phone) in favour of an HTC Desire Z running Android. I almost kept my Nokia for a few more years feeling the technology had matured - I could already phone/text/email/surf/sync calendars and what more could there be?
One week on, I can confirm that the difference is enormous.
Speed
The first thing I notice was the speed - especially when searching or using the internet. The 'Z' is so much faster.
Ease of use
The multi-finger gestures really are intuitive - once tried they become obvious and make it so much quicker and more precise to scroll down a page. By day 2, I caught myself with my fingers on my laptop screen trying to do the same thing. Data entry is also easy - there's the on screen keyboard (landscape or portrait) both of which let you dictate your message if you prefer. For normal typing, the gadget tries to make sense of what you are typing so even if you missed the correct key, it often manages to correct the word. For typing email addresses and strange passwords, there is also the slide out physical keyboard which seems to work well.
Google
I have been a user of Gmail and Google Calendar for years. They work well with Windows (using Goosync); they work reasonably well with Symbian (using Goosync) but the calendar would only sync by manually pressing a sync button. With Android everything syncs oh so simply and almost instantly. Multiple calendars are easy to use and gmail labels and folders sync too.
Available apps
One of my main reasons for moving from Nokia was that many PC apps that I wanted to use - such as Evernote (see earlier post) are not supported on Symbian. Moving to Android has fixed this and there is so much choice of apps now available.
Screen
I knew that the screen on the 'Z' would be twice the size of that on the E63 but the resolution seems much sharper too. It's easy to read conventional web pages by looking at the whole page first (to orientate yourself) then with a quick gesture zooming in on the part that you want to read.
Unresolved issues
The only issues that I have not found workrounds for so far relate to reminders. With my Nokia, if you set an alarm call, the phone would switch itself on and give you the reminder - the HTC only gives you the alarm when you switch it back on. With the Nokia, it was easy to make emails arrive silently and texts to make a noise. So far with the HTC, I have not found how to do this.
Conclusion
The step forward is immense and I highly recommend anyone changing their phone considers using Android.
Footnote
I found the best deal at Phones4u using Compare Mobiles as £20.42 per month for 24 months, 300 mins, 300 texts for an HTC Desire Z (with slide out keyboard).
One week on, I can confirm that the difference is enormous.
Speed
The first thing I notice was the speed - especially when searching or using the internet. The 'Z' is so much faster.
Ease of use
The multi-finger gestures really are intuitive - once tried they become obvious and make it so much quicker and more precise to scroll down a page. By day 2, I caught myself with my fingers on my laptop screen trying to do the same thing. Data entry is also easy - there's the on screen keyboard (landscape or portrait) both of which let you dictate your message if you prefer. For normal typing, the gadget tries to make sense of what you are typing so even if you missed the correct key, it often manages to correct the word. For typing email addresses and strange passwords, there is also the slide out physical keyboard which seems to work well.
I have been a user of Gmail and Google Calendar for years. They work well with Windows (using Goosync); they work reasonably well with Symbian (using Goosync) but the calendar would only sync by manually pressing a sync button. With Android everything syncs oh so simply and almost instantly. Multiple calendars are easy to use and gmail labels and folders sync too.
Available apps
One of my main reasons for moving from Nokia was that many PC apps that I wanted to use - such as Evernote (see earlier post) are not supported on Symbian. Moving to Android has fixed this and there is so much choice of apps now available.
Screen
I knew that the screen on the 'Z' would be twice the size of that on the E63 but the resolution seems much sharper too. It's easy to read conventional web pages by looking at the whole page first (to orientate yourself) then with a quick gesture zooming in on the part that you want to read.
Unresolved issues
The only issues that I have not found workrounds for so far relate to reminders. With my Nokia, if you set an alarm call, the phone would switch itself on and give you the reminder - the HTC only gives you the alarm when you switch it back on. With the Nokia, it was easy to make emails arrive silently and texts to make a noise. So far with the HTC, I have not found how to do this.
Conclusion
The step forward is immense and I highly recommend anyone changing their phone considers using Android.
Footnote
I found the best deal at Phones4u using Compare Mobiles as £20.42 per month for 24 months, 300 mins, 300 texts for an HTC Desire Z (with slide out keyboard).
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Free business web site and domain name - no catches
To anyone out there who does not yet have a website for their business, the link below could save some money. It seems to be a joint project with Google, BT and some public money. It's simple but allows a free domain name (www.yourcompanyname.co.uk) and sets it up in Google Sites where the user can start designing their own web site.
Getting British Business Online
Quick, clean and free.
Getting British Business Online
Quick, clean and free.
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