It's Business Time

Question: where would a modern-day tech-know be without their business apps? That's a trick question. Because the answer is: I definitely don't want to know.

I use apps all the time to make myself smarter, better, faster, stronger. Especially when it comes to the working world. But, note: these apps aren't only for those who are taking on the world one cubicle at a time. They can be used for any kind of industry.

Except miming. I mean, why have a phone when you can't talk? And if you're texting and communicating via chat as a mime...well, that's just cheating.

Communications 

I have to brag a little bit about my company now. PGi has great web conferencing tools that fit every business' needs. iMeet and GlobalMeet (Android & iOS) are web conferencing solutions that will help keep employees connected, no matter where they are. iMeet is a video conferencing service that enables you to meet with up to 15 people at a time with HD video quality, and GlobalMeet is a web conferencing service that allows you to see who is talking in a meeting, with up to 125 guests per meeting. Both have apps on Android and iOS for on-the-go, easy meetings. Check out their website at PGi.com.

Hootsuite (Google Chrome, Android & iOS) is a must-have in every social media guru's toolbox. Manage multiple social media accounts and schedule tweets or posts through this all-inclusive app. It makes social media management easier and makes you look like you're in five places at once. Magic.

MailChimp (Google, Android & iOS) is a marketing tool that allows you to reach your customers through mass email campaigns. It will let you design your own newsletters, keep track of your email lists and will track the click-through results for you.



Budgeting

Slice (Android &iOS) was made as a personal shopping app, but can be extremely useful for business. Simply input the email address that you use for your shipments, and it will track your shipments and analyze your budget for you. And anything that does the work for me is automatically my best friend.


Organization

DropBox (Google Chrome, Android & iOS) is a cloud-based storage tool that allows you to download files from your computer or mobile device and store them in one place. You can give the login information to your coworkers, and they can drag-and-drop files into your Dropbox as well. Best of all, it cost FREE.99.

CamCard (Android & iOS) saves you from being the only employee to have a Rolodex still sitting on your desk from 1998. Take a picture of a business card, and CamCard will scan the card and input all of its information into your phone's address book.

 For an easy way to sort out your email inbox, check out Mailbox (iOS). Just swipe your screen to organize each email and clean out your inbox in SECONDS.

Presentations

Skitch is one of the Evernote apps that I wrote about on a previous blog post. It allows you to edit any document on any device, and create PDFs.

Mural.ly allows you to make presentation boards by syncing a clipping tool with Google Chrome so that you can clip from any web page and drop it on your board. Makes creating presentation pages super easy, and almost does the creative work for you. Let me repeat, anything that does the work for me = instant friendage.


What do you think about these apps? What do you use for your business needs? 

Also, if you don't get the reference of the title, please see the following video. And then watch the rest of the Flight of the Conchords' videos. This is non-optional.

*Thanks to Natasha Hernandez and Kathryn Garvin for the help! Couldn't have done this post without your recommendations!

I've Been Nodding My Head and Smiling At: Google Plus

Welcome to my new segment called: "I've been Nodding My Head and Smiling At:" where I give you the low-down on things that you will hear regularly, but you may just be nodding and smiling because you have NO IDEA what it is. Google Plus (or G+ as people in the biz call it) just so happens to be one of those things.

Now, we all know that Google is run by aliens that secretly want to take over the world, one part of the internet at a time.What you may not know is the purpose of these Google applications (made by said aliens, respectively), and how you can use them in your daily life.

What Google+ Is

Google+ is Google's social media tool that can be used to chat, promote your business or share interesting articles or news bits. Part online community, part social media and a whole lot of content, Google+ can be managed easily with your existing Google account and you don't have to see your whacked-out high school friend's theories about the upcoming apocalypse strangely mixed with their political beliefs. Breathe the free air, my friend.

A Little Bit of History

Many think that Google+ is Google's answer to Facebook. However, Google had been experimenting with social media before Facebook and even before the social media dinosaur known as MySpace. Under different names, Google has been creating social media buzz (pardon my pun, or click the link to actually get my pun) since 2004. Hipster Google was social media-ing before it was cool.

Marketing Tip

One main difference between Google+ and Facebook is the way that businesses have to market to those on Google+, and gain recognition. Like Facebook, businesses can make pages that fans can then "follow" to read their posts and updates. For instance, here is my company's Google+ page.* As you can see there are two different groups of people. One is "followers" and one is people who have PGi in their "circles". When someone follows a page, they can choose to put the person or business that they are following in a category (Friends, Family, Aquaintences, etc.), or as Google calls it, a "circle". While Facebook marketing measures how many "likes" a page receives  Google reps actually measure how many people put your company in one of their circles  If you have enough people put your business in their circle (Google reps won't tell you how many it takes, but it looks like you have to have 100 or more), then you will get a badge underneath your Google Ads. This badge lets customers know how many people are looking and participating in the content you put on your page, and adds credibility to your company.


I really enjoy Google+ because I love the clarity that comes with a social media site that lets me pick and choose the content that I see. But, if you still have your reservations, always remember: the Google aliens come in peace.

*This post does not reflect the views or opinions of PGi or any of its affiliates 

Wedding Bells

In honor of my best friend getting married this weekend, I have decided to dedicate this post to wedding and party apps. Yes, I know what you're saying.
Weddings? There's an app for that?
There's an app for that.
Several, in fact.

For the Bride:

Loverly is like a Pinterest purely devoted to weddings. Called the "first ever wedding search engine", you can click on images and look through individual pictures one-by-one to add to "bundles" that you make for different categories (such as Decor, Dresses, Flowers, etc.). WARNING: it is every bit as addictive as Pinterest. And come on, you know you mostly use Pinterest to look at wedding pictures anyway.

Wedding Dress Lookbook, created by the all-knowing website, TheKnot.com , lets you pick your body type, size, personality typ and your best feature, and then will recommend dresses via your choices. An app that chooses your dress for you? Count me in!

Gift Registry 360 is a very easy-to-use registry app. Simply scan the barcode of the item you want to add to your registry via the barcode reader built in to the app. It syncs with GiftRegistry360.com so that your guests can easily look online or their app for your registry. Simple!

Appy Couple is the best and most comprehensive wedding app I have seen so far. Create your own wedding app by choosing from a multitude of themes that best fit your wedding. Add a photo timeline and personalize the app, complete with hotel and flight information, maps and RSVP details. Then send the invites out to your guests to download the Appy Couple via their iPhone or Android devices, and they will receive your "Wedding Code" that they use to login to your personal wedding site. Guests can then get all your information, including the wedding party details, as well as add their own pictures and stories and send an electronic "toast" your way.

Wedding Party is somewhat like Appy Couple. It allows you to create a "wedding app" that guests can download and add their own pictures and stories. Wedding Party includes downloadable place cards and posters that you can put on tables and around your reception that have the download information for your app. People will be able to document your wedding for you.

For guests:

Takes is an app that I recently learned how it works, and let me say, it is awesome. When you take snapshots with this app, it will allow you to turn them into a short movie and add your own music. What better way to surprise the bride and groom than with a short clip of the highlights of their night?

Tie Right: Hey men, don't know how to tie your tie for that swanky wedding you're going to? Here you go. You're welcome.

And for the groom: 

RememberWhen is an app that allows you to put in all your important relationship dates, so that you never miss an anniversary, birthday or holiday. It adds all the dates automatically into your iOS calendar and will send you a notification so that you will never forget and never have to sleep on the couch.

P.S. For those of you that love browsing websties, check out OnceWed, my favorite wedding website. And Congratulations to my best friends, Francesca Pefianco and Jordan Price on their upcoming nuptials. Mazel Tov!

P.S.S. Here's some advice for those of you who are working on your second marriage: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/07/second-wedding_n_3232247.html#slide=2422182

My Top 10 Coolest New Apps of This Year Thus Far

The idea for this project all started on a mountain weekend with my friends. During breakfast, the more marketing/PR minded of my guests (including myself) started talking shop. We mentioned Mashable, Vine and whether or not Pinterest was a useful marketing tool or not.

We were getting blank stares from the rest of our friends. We ventured into their territory. "How about Facebook making the decision to put video ads on their site? Sucks for college students, amiright?" More blank stares.

Apparently, PR/Marketing = the new kind of nerd. The kind that knows the new technology, can speak HTML and loves to talk about the new apps that make their lives easier.

Or in the case of my Candy Crush Saga addiction, more expensive.

This blog, therefore, is to educate those who aren't using their lunch hours to download the new apps that Mashable and Tech Crunch say is cool. This is for those who don't know hot to get what they need from apps. This is Tech-Know for the Tech-No.

So, in order to start the blog off right, I have decided to choose the 10 Coolest New Apps of This Year Thus Far. Long title, but I had to get specific lest someone leave an angry comment. I'm a sensitive little duck. Note that this is personal opinion, but these are the apps that I use in my work, play and every day.

10 Coolest New Apps of This Year Thus Far:

1. Vine

The new kid on the block as far as social media goes, Vine allows you to take 6-second videos you can upload to either Facebook or Twitter that will continuously loop. With Vine coming to Android soon, this will be an app for all those who've ever wanted their Instagram pictures to move.

2. Flipboard

This app MORE than makes up for the death of Google Reader. Choose the sections that you most care about (Art, Science, Politics, Fashion, etc.) and it will start posting relevant articles to your "board" that you can flip through. Use the plus sign in the corner (+) to add content to personal "magazines" that you create to keep your clippings in.


3. PopAGraph

This is seriously one of the coolest picture editing apps out there. "Mask" over the part of the picture that you want to make stand out, then choose from different backgrounds, like sepia or blurry. The part of the picture that you mask will stay in original color, while the rest of the picture stays in original form and color. 

 4. PicMonkey 

This Google Chrome App makes it easier to edit pictures right from your desktop. Drag a picture into the picture editor and add backgrounds, filters, objects, even mustaches to your pictures. Who needs Photoshop when you have mustaches at your fingertips?

5. Glide

Glide is the sort of app that are making your message carrier nervous. This "video walkie talkie" app allows you to send videos back and forth between your friends. It's a TechCrunch Disrupt Finalist this year at the annual TechCrunch conference in New York City and was an early crowd favorite.

6. Evernote Apps

Evernote has come out with so many great apps lately, they make it almost impossible not to be productive. ALMOST. Download these on your Google Homepage, your Android or your Apple device. Seriously, Evernote is EVERYWHERE.

• Everclip: Allows you to copy text and images from any other app on your phone, organize them, and then send them off to your Evernote account.
• Evernote Hello: Take a picture with your phone of a business card that you want to add to your contacts, and Evernote Hello will upload the information from the card to your phone's address book. It will also schedule meetings for you and connects to LinkedIn so that you can add that person to your connections. If anyone near you also has the app, it will allow you to automatically upload their information as well. So handy!
• Evernote Food: With so many great restaurants where I live, I find myself always saying "yeah, it's the one restaurant...with the trendy decor...I had a really great chicken dish there...." and its never helpful. This app allows you to bookmark restaurants, as well as recipes that you can search through via the "Explore Recipes" section. You can even add your own recipes to "My Meals" and it will save it all to your Evernote account to have wherever you go.
• Skitch: Skitch allows you to mark up any document, including PDFs on any smart phone or tablet device. Super useful much? 

7. Seesaw

Seesaw lets you ask the masses their opinion on a topic of your choice. Upload two pictures to compare to each other, or ask a yes or no question, and let people make their choice.

8. Knotch

 Another place to share your opinion (and who doesn't like to do that?), Knotch allows you to rate things based on hot or cold. You scale things according to color, red shades being hot, blue shades being cold, and comment on the topic of your choice. It may sound basic, but it is highly addicting.

9. Ness

This app is for the foodies out there. Ness starts by your location and asks you to rate some restaurants in your area. It then starts recommending restaurants based on your likes, and will even calculate how likely it is that you will like a certain restaurant. The more you use the app and rate places, the more accurate it is. It's like it KNOWS.

10. Yahoo! Weather

Although this app is sort of reinventing the wheel, I now use this instead of the standard weather app that came with my iPhone. Beautiful pictures that correspond with the city whose weather you are looking at are the background to this app that, when you scroll down, will tell you everything from the weekly weather forecast to when the sun is going to set to what moon will be out tonight. But did I mention the background pictures? Because they are GORGEOUS.


Honorable Mentions: 

• Hello Cupcake App 

I'm sorry, this app is all about how to make amazing looking cupcakes, complete with stop-motion videos and easy how-tos. Your argument is invalid.

• Phoster

Ever wanted to turn your pictures into super trendy posters? Today's your lucky day. Phoster has pre-made templates of posters that just need you to upload your photos, and add the text you need. Instant hipster artist appeal.

• Takes

This is a photo app that allows you to take snapshots and turn them into videos. It's really a great app, I just never remember to go into the app to take my pictures, and I can't get it to sync to my photo album. Maybe I'm just derpy.


What do you think about these apps? What are some other new apps that you use everyday?