It’s WebWorkerDaily’s fault that I’ve bought an iPod touch (s aapl). (That’s my excuse, anyway.) As I looked at potential subjects to write about, I kept seeing cool apps, and I need to be able to test them, right?
But why not buy an iPhone, or a Palm Pre, which I’d had my eye on for several months? The Pre seems to be a good phone, but it doesn’t yet have the apps that the iPhone does. And the monthly fees for Pre service are considerably higher than what I’m paying now. The iPhone’s monthly fees are even higher, and many folks I’ve talked to don’t find it to be a very good phone.
So, keeping my current phone and buying an iPod touch seemed like a good compromise. I can get good Wi-Fi coverage in most areas where I live, so I’ll be able to go online, even without the phone function.
Many of my WWD colleagues already have iPhones. Aliza has recently written about good apps for web workers. Dawn’s shared her favorites, too. But with the holidays coming up, here are some of my ideas for apps to put on that brand-new iPhone or iPod touch: Read the rest of this entry »
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Xobni, a very useful Microsoft Oulook plug-in that we’ve covered with praise previously, has just released a new update that now reveals more information about your contacts, including acquiring valuable data from their Salesforce account. This has been a much-demanded feature that is available for all Xobni users for free at this time. Ultimately, there will be a small fee for this feature but the return on investment for those organizations that use Outlook and Salesforce will make the decision a no-brainer.
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Gist, the relationship management service that went to open beta last month, today announces the release of an iPhone application, available through the App Store, that makes getting access to your data easier while on the go.
By its very nature, Gist compiles a sometimes overwhelming amount of information about your contacts so I was a bit skeptical about it being possible to reduce it down for the mobile interface. Gist combats this by really focusing on your most important people: those who you are meeting with next. Read the rest of this entry »
By positioning itself between traditional project management apps like Basecamp and personal relationship management apps like Gist, Liaise thinks that it has found a useful niche, which it calls “business interaction management.” It claims that it can do this with a very simple setup, no change in work habits, and without depending on others to be using Liaise.
The concept is intriguing: Using two components — a Windows desktop application and a plugin for Outlook 2003 and 2007 — Liaise automatically collects information about projects, deadlines and to-dos directly from incoming and outgoing messages. Read the rest of this entry »
One of the more exciting services I’ve had the chance to use over the past year is Gist, a personal relationship manager / news aggregator. In my review from last October, I was impressed with how well it mixes your inbox with the web to compile useful information about your contacts.
As Jennifer reports over on GigaOM, after approximately a year of limited closed beta they’ve decided to open up the gates and make the Gist beta public. The folks at Gist had taken a bit of a different take for their beta. A carefully vetted group of participants were given access over an extended period of time, along with direct access to support and incredibly responsive feedback channels. As a result, Gist has improved substantially since our last look and is a highly recommended tool to add to your business arsenal.
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There are all sorts of ways to stay connected with current and potential clients: social networks, Twitter, blogs and the like. Of course, nothing beats good old-fashioned face-to-face contact, so chambers of commerce, the Rotary Club, and the networking organizations are still important. But when you work in a place like Seattle, as I do, where everyone and their sister seems to be in the web design business, the market for potential new clients gets thin after a while.
I think people prefer to do business with people they know, now more than ever. That’s why I spend time on the social networks (mostly LinkedIn and Facebook), looking for people I know, but with whom I haven’t kept up. They seem to be scattered all over the world…Bill’s in Africa, Robin’s in Sweden, John’s in Hollywood!
So how can I find out what my old colleagues are doing, and be reminded that I haven’t contacted a particular person for a while? Enter Gist. This service, now in beta, has two main functions: Read the rest of this entry »
No one questions just how important the process of gathering business intelligence is. Knowing about the folks you are working with, or selling to, is always a key component to good relationship building. Those who do it well can have a considerable competitive advantage.
With the proliferation of distribution channels and the sheer abundance of information available though, this process is getting more difficult. We’ve discussed some helpful tools in the past and there are companies that will charge you a small fortune for their research, but a recent launch by Seattle based Gist aims to make compiling and reviewing relevant information about your contacts a whole lot easier.
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It’s WebWorkerDaily’s fault that I’ve bought an iPod touch (s aapl). (That’s my excuse, anyway.) As I looked at potential subjects to write about, I kept seeing cool apps, and I need to be able to test them, right?
Web Work 101: How To Escape The Cubicle
