Archive for April, 2010



Stay Organized in the Cloud

April 28th, 2010 by Erin Posted in Software Development, Stature Projects, Technology | No Comments »

If you’ve ever thought the demand for administrative workers was waning…  you were right.

Springpad, by Boston-based Spring Partners, Inc., is here. And, it’s arrival is making thousands – if not millions – of jobs obsolete.

Springpad is a FREE Web service and iPhone application that does the work of a personal assistant – and more!

Jot down quick notes, snap a photo, scan a bar code, capture a GPS location, send an e-mail, or access Facebook and Twitter –  all with Springpad.

Springpad’s motto is simple, yet brilliant: “Never forget again.”  And you won’t.

Enter a restaurant name, for example, and Springpad will add the address, phone number, links to online reviews, and reservation services. Every entry is instantly surrounded by relevant information.

The goal? A personal database that grows on its own and is easily sorted and searched.

Springpad has a cool social feature as well. It lets users  search the databases of friends who also use the service.

As mind-blowing as this app sounds, there are others like it on the market.

  • Evernote
  • Cozi
  • Microsoft’s OneNote
  • OmniFocus

…just to name a few.

It’s scary to think that our personal lives – pictures, notes, e-mails – are constantly being dumped onto the Internet. And, it’s even scarier to think that I may need an app to help me organize that information – and connect with it.

Pen and paper – what?

Personal assistant – who?

There’s no need for any of that anymore. With software like Springpad, staying organized and connected to family, friends, and colleagues is all just a iPhone finger tap away.

Mouse clicks are apparently on their way out too.

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LinkedIn for BlackBerry is Missing Something

April 7th, 2010 by Erin Posted in LinkedIn | No Comments »

Apple iPhone’s red-headed stepchild, BlackBerry, is sportin’ a new application.

LinkedIn for BlackBerry is out and it’s loaded with all sorts of modules and integration features – BUT it’s missing something, something very important.

First, the good.

BlackBerry users have been waiting anxiously for this LinkedIn app for quite some time and when it was unveiled, the big “Ta-Da” generated a lot of buzz  from bloggers on Twitter.

“It’s here, it’s here!”… some of them wrote. But after really examining the app, their bubble burst. Alas LinkedIn for BlackBerry is not as feature-rich as LinkedIn for iPhone. (And why would it? BlackBerry apps are never as good as the iPhone’s.)

The app is divided into six key modules: Network Updates, Search, Connections, Invitations, Messages and Reconnect – all of which are pretty self-explanatory.

In addition to the six modules, LinkedIn has also gone ahead and integrated the app with three of BlackBerry’s native apps: Contacts, Messages and Calendar.

1. Contacts: Take your LinkedIn connections and drop them directly into your BlackBerry contacts. This gives you quick access to the LinkedIn profiles of your business associates.

2. Messages: LinkedIn messages appear directly in your BlackBerry Inbox as if they were e-mails.

3. Calendar: If an attendee of an event on your calendar has a LinkedIn profile, you can quickly pull it up.

That, by far, is probably the coolest feature and the app’s greatest strength.

Now, here’s the downside and it’s a BIG downside.

The application is missing a module that allows users to interact with LinkedIn Groups.

To me, Groups is one of the most important components of LinkedIn. It’s where users interact, engage each other, and establish new connections. It’s where I spend most of my time. I don’t spend time browsing my connections. And, I certainly don’t read the network updates. They’re all spill-overs from Twitter anyway.

The other hitch with this new LinkedIn for BlackBerry application is its software and hardware limitations. You’re going to need a BlackBerry Tour, Curve or Bold with BlackBerry OS v4.3 or later in order to really operate it.

Yes, I’m disappointed about this app. I had high hopes for it too. But, as it stands, it’s just taking up precious space on my BlackBerry.

Delete app!

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What Does @ Mean to You?

April 1st, 2010 by Erin Posted in Technology | No Comments »

When you look at the typographic symbol @ what comes to mind, besides email?

Have you ever considered @ as being a form of art?

The Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA) has.

MoMA curators have acquired the common element of typography and now have it prominently displayed on a pedestal.

@ is much more than a universal technology symbol. It’s surprisingly long history dates back to the sixth or seventh century when it originally functioned as a one-stroke contraction of the Latin “ad” – which means to, near, or at. The symbol gained new life in the 1970s when Ray Tomlinson, an electrical engineer, found a way to use the neglected key on computer keyboards in the first e-mail system.

“Tomlinson gave the @ symbol a completely new function that is nonetheless in keeping with its origins, with its penchant for building relationships between entities…,” says curator Paola Antonelli.

MoMA says @ is a piece of performance art, a gesture that expresses the idea that design innovations can be conceptual, evolutionary,  and “belonging to everybody and to no one.”

This is probably more than you ever wanted to know about @, not to mention a bit too philosophical.

Abstract thought and technology don’t go hand-in-hand.

I’m going to stick to what I know about @  - and that is to communicate.

There’s nothing more to it  - even if the MoMA curators beg to differ.

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