GigaOM » Collaboration

Facebook just a healthier smoke break, says iPass

Jessica Stillman — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 14:00:45 +0000

Just how ubiquitous have smartphones become among mobile workers? According to the latest quarterly Mobile Workforce Report from iPass, 95 percent of mobile workers have one.

That will come as no surprise to plugged-in professionals who have taken a look around at their colleagues lately (though the finding that, for the first time, iPhones have unseated BlackBerry devices as the top choice for respondents may come as happy news to Apple fans), but what impact is this near-universal adoption of smartphones having on knowledge workers’ lives?

In one sense, the impact is grim. The survey of 2,300 mobile employees worldwide found that many are giving up exercising and sleep in favor of a constant connection to work.

One in three respondents told iPass they sleep less due to work, with one in four mobile workers reporting less than six hours of shut eye a night
More than half exercise erratically or not all, and 60 percent of the loafers blamed work for their sedentary lifestyle

We’re also emotionally dependent on our gadgets; 59 percent of plugged in workers said they’d be disoriented, lonely or even distraught without their smarthphone.

But one thing smartphones aren’t guilty of, surprisingly, is being a major time suck. We waste only about as much time checking emailing and Facebook and handling technical hiccups than we used to spend on cigarette breaks when that was the most common office addiction: a measly 28 minutes a day.

So in the one column, we’re filling our lungs with fewer toxic chemicals and getting massive amounts of stuff done. But in the other, the new way of working means little sleep and next to no exercise.

Are we better off?

Image courtesy of Flickr user shnnn.

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Google kills Gmail app for BlackBerry

Om Malik — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:28:22 +0000

I understand BlackBerry is not a top priority for Google or one of the other major software vendors, but to kill off a decent app that many of us BlackBerry owners used is just wrong.

Beginning November 22, 2011, we will end support for the Gmail App for BlackBerry (installed native app). Over this past year, we’ve focused efforts on building a great Gmail experience in the mobile browser and will continue investing in this area. Users may continue to use the app, if installed, however it will not be supported by Google, or available for download starting November 22.

I am guessing they want us to use the “exchange” equivalent for logging into Google Mail for Business, but for me, it was a great way to use personal Gmail account in an easy and efficient manner. Others too are lamenting Google’s move.

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Secure documents on BlackBerry with WatchDox

Aliza Sherman — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 07:34:01 +0000

As mobile devices become more prevalent at work, the need for security continues to rise. WatchDox provides document control, tracking and security features through a web app, apps for iPad and iPhone (we covered it late last year) and now for BlackBerry. WatchDox aims to ease concerns about mobile devices being a risky way to transmit and view sensitive documents by adding a layer of security and control to documents sent through its system.

On the BlackBerry, WatchDox users can render PDF and Microsoft Office. It offers features allowing users to:

Share and view documents securely on BlackBerry devices.
Restrict shared documents from being copied, printed or forwarded.
Eliminate documents remotely, if needed.

The company also announced updates to its Apple iOS app, including:

Document sync. Users can securely sync their online documents or their virtual data room folders through the secure app versus less secure consumer-grade syncing methods.
Passcode protection. In case of device loss or theft, a passcode provides an additional layer of security against information leaks.
Performance enhancements. Access to documents should be speedier.

While there are several subscription levels for WatchDox including Personal, Team and Virtual Data Room, pricing is customized so you’ll need to contact the company for a quote, although general plans typically start at $49.99 per month per user. The company does offer a 14-day free trial.

How are you securing your documents on your mobile devices?

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Create a seamless workspace for greater productivity

Terri Griffith — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 21:04:27 +0000

Our “workspace” is no longer just the place we sit while working, it’s come to mean the entirety of how we get our work done. Our offices, practices, devices and software. Note that “work” comes first in “workspace.” Tools and specific locations may be required to get the work done, but they are generally secondary to the work. Ideally, once we have designed a solid work practice, we don’t have to spend much time thinking about our tools as we get the work done. Thinking about tools means we aren’t working and being productive. We need a seamless workspace to be able to focus on our work; our tools and practices should allow the work to flow from activity to activity with as little disruption as possible.

Thinking about how we do work takes time. It’s time well spent at the beginning of a project or at critical junctures. However, thinking about the work instead of doing it during a project can be disruptive and counter-productive. When we find effective practices and tools, we want them to become so ingrained in our process that we use them without thought.

Creating a seamless workspace

As a user, be thoughtful when you develop your personal workspace. Consider your options in terms of human skills and needs, technology, tools, and organizational practices — but then get to work once you have found an approach that is effective for the given setting. Create a system for re-evaluating your design choices, but be biased toward stability rather than change. It may make sense to re-evaluate your workspace by the project rather than by the day or week.

If you are a content, tool, or practice supplier, do not create hurdles to seamless working. Here are some examples of vendors that have inadvertently created hurdles to seamless working:

Tool functions that do not match the cycle of the work. In an early use of BlackBerry handsets for law enforcement, the officers found themselves having to re-login in the middle of pursuits.
Device blocking. The NY Post recently began blocking iPad users who are browsing via Safari. Users are redirected to a page explaining that they must purchase the NY Post iPad app to see the content. This, and all sites that admonish iPad users to download an app rather than just showing the page, break search flow.

Examples of tools that remove hurdles to seamless work are those with options for distraction-free screens (such as iA Writer for Mac) or the ability to easily control notifications (such as Tweetdeck).

Should application design or our personal work design help us navigate these hurdles? Both.

While choosing the right tools can help, your efforts to design a seamless workspace should not only be limited to the tools you use; you also need to consider your work practice. Think about the online reading you do, for example. There have been calls for placing links at the end of posts rather than in-text. The argument for moving links to the end of posts is that in-text links are a distraction — they entice you to click rather than continue to read. Perhaps clicking is a distraction, but being able to hover my mouse cursor over a link to know the source is of great value to me. I would rather have the link but school myself to hover, understand the source, and then either continue reading, or click through if it’s clear I need to dig deeper for the work I’m doing.

Scheduling work is another area where tools and practice are tightly intertwined. Dawn has written about a variety of design strategies for reducing distractions and staying focused. For example, she advocates scheduling in chunks with similar activities calendared together.

Whatever the form of your work, as users and workspace designers we have decisions to make. A thoughtfully designed, seamless workspace can help us with workflow, concentration, efficiency and reduced frustration.

What are you doing to help create a seamless work environment? I’d like to hear from users as well as suppliers — we are co-creating our workspaces.

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Developing Apps for the Future of Work

Darrell Etherington — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 15:02:11 +0000

Last week, I discussed bring-your-own-apps (BYOA), a shift that will piggy-back on the bring-your-own-device trend, and which will see increasing numbers of workers making their own choices about which applications they use to get their jobs done. This week, I’ll be focusing specifically on what developers can do to ride that BYOA wave, and make products that will gain traction in the workplace.

Cross-Platform and the Network Effect

Recently, I got the chance to catch up with LiveProfile CEO Phil Karl, whose messaging app recently managed to rack up approximately 1 million new users in just five days. The secret sauce that led to the app’s rapid growth? LiveProfile is available on all major U.S. smartphone platforms, including iOS, Android and BlackBerry, and it can operate between and on all three platforms, allowing platform-agnostic messaging.

Users in distributed teams want collaborative apps that work well on their preferred smartphone platform, but that also allow them to work with friends and colleagues using different devices; multi-protocol IM clients tend to do better in the App Store than do single-service offerings, for example. Many developers will be focusing on Android or iOS, but those that target BlackBerry (which, despite relatively flat growth, still commands a very large user base, particularly in the enterprise space) in addition to the newer entrants stand to gain the most traction now, even if only because BlackBerry users will become their most vocal supporters among other device owners in their circle.

UI and UX Are the Keys to the Kingdom

Once upon a time, you could get away with making an ugly app for enterprise use. As app selection moves from the hands of corporate IT to the general worker population, user interface and user experience design become much more central to an app’s likelihood of adoption. When a user isn’t just assigned a tool and given a certain number of hours training on that program, they’ll lean instead towards the apps that are most intuitive, and that require the least time investment on their own part to complete the task.

User interface (UI) and user experience (UX) are no longer things developers can take for granted. If I’m faced with a choice between four spreadsheet apps, all of which use the same universally-accepted document formats, and all of which can get the job done, UI/UX is going to be a (if not the) key differentiator. App developers should recognize this and invest resources accordingly.

A Smart Web App Is a Safe Bet

Web apps may not have the same sex appeal as a native app, but a well-designed one that’s customized for the various smartphone platforms is a good bet. It’ll help you cast widest possible net in terms of device compatibility; it future-proofs your app against the whims and dangers OS platforms are subject to. Apple can’t reject a web app, for instance, and investment isn’t lost if, say, Windows Phone 7 gets axed by Microsoft.

That’s not to say going with a web app is easy, however. Building a good app that provides a solid experience no matter what platform it’s being used on is a challenge that can exceed platform-specific development in terms of degree of difficulty pretty easily. But making something like Facebook’s new mobile site, that intelligently monitors and responds to visitors’ hardware choices, will eventually pay off in terms of long-term development costs and user satisfaction.

Making apps that people want to take to work with them is the new backdoor to widespread enterprise adoption. It’s exciting, because it means even the smallest development studios can potentially compete with major publishers, but it also means competition will be fierce. But if you can strike a chord early with users by beating the competition in ways that are most appealing to the remote workforce of tomorrow, you’ll be ahead of the game.

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New BlackBerry Dropbox App: Access Files on the Go

Simon Mackie — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 13:26:12 +0000

It might soon be quicker to note the devices that you can’t access cloud file sharing, syncing and storage service Dropbox on, because the company has just announced the availability of a BlackBerry client, to join the existing mobile clients available for iPhone, iPad and Android devices.

The new BlackBerry client provides access to files while on the go (including being able to stream music and video files from a Dropbox account), plus the ability to upload and sync files from the device.

In addition to the new BlackBerry client, Dropbox has also announced some updates to its existing mobile clients. The iOS clients get automatic offline caching for frequently accessed files, support for HD video and high-resolution photo capture, a souped-up UI, full-screen, landscape document viewing on iPad; and support for multitasking to allow files to upload in the background. The Android client gets support for photo galleries and multi-photo upload, the ability to automatically send files to Dropbox from other apps, a progress bar and notifications for file transfers, and the ability to place a shortcut to a folder on the Android home screen.

The new BlackBerry client is available to download for free from Dropbox (it requires a Dropbox account to use; a free Basic account is good for 2GB of storage). The iOS and Android clients can also be updated for free.

Let us know what you think of Dropbox for BlackBerry in the comments.

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Xobni Unveils BlackBerry App

Doriano "Paisano" Carta — Mon, 03 May 2010 16:00:58 +0000

Xobni — an app that aims to help people get more from their email — is coming to the BlackBerry with Xobni Mobile. The models supported will be the Curve, Storm and Tour lines. Just as the Xobni plugin does for Microsoft Outlook, Xobni Mobile offers the ability to gather more information about your email contacts. You’ll be able to see not only threaded email conversations but also the contact’s social networking details, such as their Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts.

Here’s what it looks like when you enter the Xobni Mobile app. You’ll see what looks like a regular contact list:

However, click on any contact and you”ll see a additional options such as your correspondence history with that particular contact in phone calls as well as emails. It also shows all of their accounts from the most popular social networks such as LinkedIn and Facebook:

The thing I like most about Xobni is the way that it finds just about every contact you’ve ever communicated with. It improves the feeble search capabilities of Microsoft Outlook and the BlackBerry email client by automatically aggregating all of your contacts from emails and call logs — a huge time-saver. I’ve gotten so spoiled by this feature that whenever I use a system without Xobni installed I miss it.

Xobni One is a premium subscription service that adds more features and capabilities if you want to use Xobni Mobile together with Xobni for Microsoft Outlook. The plans available are either $3.99/month or $39.99/year. One of its most useful features is the way it automatically ranks your contacts according to the ones you communicate with the most. It’s another time-saver.

Xobni Mobile for BlackBerry costs $9.99 if you buy it without a Xobni One plan. If you get Xobni Mobile and Xobni One together, then the app costs $6.99 if you choose the $3.99/month plan, or it’s free if you opt for the $39.99/year plan.

I’ve been using Xobni for a few years now so I’ve seen it evolve over time. Releasing a mobile version of the useful product makes a great deal of sense and is perhaps overdue. It’s also interesting to see that the company released an app for the BlackBerry before the iPhone — I am sure that one is coming soon, though.

Let us know what you think of Xobni Mobile below.

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Tedious Twitter For BlackBerry Beta Needs Work

Meryl K Evans — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:00:27 +0000

Twitter for BlackBerry

Since I had been away from my home office for a few hours, I decided to check in with Twitter using the beta of RIM’s new Twitter for BlackBerry app. Unfortunately, the experience wasn’t as good as I would have hoped for.

The application works and feels like the similar Facebook for BlackBerry app; not necessarily a good thing, as working with it takes too much effort. Most BlackBerry Twitter applications require patience, but Twitter for BlackBerry is the worst. Much of the time, the screen remains blank while the data loads.

Like its Facebook equivalent, Twitter for BlackBerry comes with a menu of icons at the top of the screen. These include Home, @ Mentions, My Profile, DM, Find People, Search and Popular Topics (note that Twitter for BlackBerry has no Lists capabilities). But reaching these icons takes time, and then it takes even more time for the screens to load.

The application offers few options. It lets you include Twitter Messages in the BlackBerry Messages Applications, but who uses that? Other options include refresh rate, distance measurement and spell check. It has no options for changing the interface to make it faster and optimize the small screen; no ability to turn off notifications; and no option to exit the application without logging out. UberTwitter (my BlackBerry Twitter application of choice) has more than double the number of options available and still works faster.

To ensure that Twitter for BlackBerry’s poor performance wasn’t a network issue, I used UberTwitter at the same time. UberTwitter still called for a little patience, typical of BlackBerry Twitter applications (I have yet to find a truly great BlackBerry Twitter app), but I accomplished tasks noticeably faster than I could using Twitter for BlackBerry.

Additionally, if you don’t want Twitter for BlackBerry using up your BlackBerry’s juice, you must log out of Twitter from within the application — not just close it. Closing the application still leaves the door open for it to notify you when you have new messages.

Twitter for BlackBerry isn’t yet available as a public download and is still in beta; I would hope that prior to being launched it receives some serious performance upgrades.

What mobile application do you use for your Twitter needs?

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Seesmic's BlackBerry Twitter Client

Meryl K Evans — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:00:33 +0000

The BlackBerry apps I use for Twitter activities generally do a fine job. I use the no-frills Blackbird for its performance and Ubertwitter for its features. Still, I watch out for new Twitter apps because innovation knows no end and developers find ways to make an app more usable and faster.

Seesmic, known for its desktop and web-based Twitter apps, recently updated its feature-rich Seesmic for BlackBerry client, which was first released late last year. It has potential, despite several uncooperative features.

The Good

Twitter has added a few new features since we published our roundup of free BlackBerry Twitter apps, such as lists and saved searches. Seesmic includes both in its BlackBerry app.

Twitter Lists in Seesmic BlackBerry

Any saved searches you have on your Twitter account appears in the Seesmic menu, a feature not present in Ubertwitter. You can also save new searches in Seesmic, which are carried over to your Twitter account.

Seesmic BlackBerry shows saved searches

Seesmic’s search, reply and all other basic features get the job done, taking about the same time and effort as in the average BlackBerry Twitter tool. You can “Quote” someone’s tweet, which is an editable retweet, or select “RT” to automatically retweet a message without edits. Seesmic comes with picture previews in the timeline when someone links a picture using yFrog, Twitpic and tweetPhoto. However, previews appear to be limited to these three services because images from Flickr and img.ly don’t appear in the timeline.

The Bad

A video on Seesmic’s web site shows how its notifications work, which should let you know when you receive @replies and direct messages. Notifications never worked for me. To be fair, I ruled out the possibility that it was the fault of my BlackBerry Curve 8310 or my AT&T network by verifying that notifications worked in Ubertwitter — and they did.

Seesmic appears in the camera’s photo viewer menu, but sending a photo using this option did not work for me, even though it spends a long time uploading the photo. Nothing happens. No URL to the photo appears. Next, I tried posting the photo using all of the three available photo services and none worked. I even took a photo from within Seesmic and that failed, too. Again, I switched over to Ubertwitter and tested the same feature at the same time using tweetPhoto to send a photo — and it worked.

I mentioned both issues on Twitter and someone from Seesmic responded saying the features worked fine for him. I kept trying over several days and saw no change. If you have a different BlackBerry and/or network, you still might have better luck with Seesmic for BlackBerry. It’s a free app, so doesn’t cost you anything but time to try it. If all the features had worked, it’d definitely be a viable option for those seeking a feature-rich Twitter application for BlackBerrys.

Which mobile Twitter application do you use, and why?

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Transient Apps: The Consumer Influence on Enterprise Mobility, Part 2

Access Computers Remotely With RDM+, Major Sale On iPhone Version

Charles Hamilton — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:30:42 +0000

The remote access tools provider RDM+ is having a sale, with its iPhone/iPod touch app available for $1.99 (iTunes link). This is a significant reduction from the normal $20 price.

RDM+ allows users to control desktop computers from mobile devices. The software comes in several versions covering many mobile devices, including the iPhone/iPod touch, BlackBerry (which WWD reviewed in 2008), Windows Mobile, Palm and Java-enabled phones. There is also a web version.

In order to control a computer, one must have the desktop software (free, available for Windows or Mac) running. Setup is easy, and doesn’t require any special rules to deal with firewalls or dynamic IP addresses. During the setup process, one registers the desktop, and it is assigned a computer number, which is then used to access the machine remotely, together with a username and password combination you create.

RDM+ works well. With the software that the company provided to me, I found the interface easy to use. It takes good advantage of the iPhone’s landscape mode and zoom capabilities. There was only minimal delay in response time on an iPod touch connected via Wi-Fi, although I’m sure that data speeds will affect performance, depending on which network you are using. The software has an impressive list of other features, but doesn’t have file transfer capabilities.

There is a free trial, but don’t wait too long, as the sale on the iPhone version probably ends today; it’s unclear from the RDM+ web site when the normal price will return. The other mobile versions are also on sale, reduced by $5 – $10, depending on the version. Web access is also reduced — the basic price is down $5 to $24.95, or you can choose to buy a subscription for $5.95 per month. Costs for remote control software on mobile phones are definitely coming down — a similar product, LogMeIn Ignition (which Samuel wrote about back in September) was recently also on sale, with its normal $30 price reduced to $20.

Do you use RDM+ or other remote desktop software on your mobile phone?

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gwabbit Offers Free Version of Its Blackberry App

Scott Blitstein — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:00:20 +0000

gwabbit is a handy application that automatically identifies and parses contact information from your emails to help ease the process of creating new entries in your contact list. I’ve written about the Outlook version as well as the paid BlackBerry edition in the past and was impressed by the offering.

The team at gwabbit recently released a free version of the BlackBerry app. It offers the same functionality as the paid version, except that it automatically notifies the folks whose addresses you’ve grabbed via email. I’m not usually a huge fan of this sort of thing, but it could be useful to let people know you’re trying to keep in touch with them. Personally, I think I would spend the $9.99 annually and spring for the paid version. The time savings make it a no-brainer, as does the knowledge that you’re not bugging your friends, clients and contacts.

You can download gwabbit (both free and paid editions) at the BlackBerry App World.

Would gwabbit Free help you keep your contacts in order?

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Anagram Becomes Copy2Contact, Gets BlackBerry App

Simon Mackie — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:00:24 +0000

Anagram, a clever Windows app that can automatically parse text snippets for contacts, leads, appointments and tasks and capture them into your organizer or CRM software, has had its name changed to Copy2Contact. I liked the product very much when I reviewed it earlier this year.

Along with the name change, a BlackBerry app is now also available, letting you get the same functionality on your mobile device. The app costs $9.99 (BlackBerry App World link) and a 14-day free trial is available.

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Nimbuzz: Voice, Social Networking and Instant Messaging in One

Charles Hamilton — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:00:22 +0000

There are many apps available that try to bring together various communication protocols. I’m always interested in programs that manage multiple services, since for me, Adium on the Mac and its PC relative, Pidgin, are indispensable for dealing with my eight (!) IM accounts.

After my recent post about the betas I use, I was introduced to Nimbuzz, an IM program that is now offering voice services in competition with Skype and Gizmo5 (which was recently purchased by Google).

The origins of Nimbuzz are in Europe. It claims a 20 percent market share in several European countries, and it’s popular in the Middle East. The company says that it has 12 million users, and is adding 40,000 users per day — not bad for a service that’s less than two years old. Nimbuzz is less well known in North America, but that may soon change.

Nimbuzz Mobile

Nimbuzz focuses much of its effort on developing mobile clients for a wide variety of mobile phones, including the iPhone/iPod touch, Android systems, and BlackBerry (a native BlackBerry app is new today). Nimbuzz clients are available in several languages.

The Nimbuzz Mobile client supports the IM services one would expect (Windows Live/MSN, Yahoo, Google Talk, AIM, ICQ); social networking chat (Facebook, MySpace); plus some services not often seen in North America, but which are popular elsewhere (the VZ Networks, Gadu-Gadu, Hyves, Giovani).

The client also allows you to make VoIP calls using any SIP account (like Gizmo5), Skype, or its own NimbuzzOut service. Nimbuzz claims that its international calling rates are cheaper than Skype’s.

I found the Nimbuzz mobile client for iPhone/iPod touch to be attractive and easy to use. Both the IM and voice functions work well. I have some minor grumbles, which I’m told will be remedied in upcoming versions.

In order to make voice calls, the phone number to be dialed must be entered into your device’s address book in full international format — like +1 (555) 555-1212. However, one can’t edit this data directly from Nimbuzz.
The client supports only one account per service, so if you have, say, two Google Talk accounts, you must pick one.
Nimbuzz does not yet support GTalk for Google Apps accounts.
I was recently required to change my GTalk password due to “suspicious activity,” but Nimbuzz for iPhone doesn’t seem to have a way to change service passwords. I had to delete the GTalk account in the client, then re-create it.

Nimbuzz for Mac

The developers at Nimbuzz say that they are “big Apple fans,” and it shows. The Nimbuzz Mac client comes close to the elegance of Adium. I hope the program will maintain its Mac-friendly design as it matures. The Windows version looks good, too, although I haven’t tested it.

The desktop client has most of the features and limitations of the mobile version, although it doesn’t yet support voice calling or Skype chat. It also doesn’t share data with the mobile version, which would be nice, so as to avoid having to input account data more than once. And I would have liked to have seen integration with the Mac Address Book app.

Nimbuzz also offers a web version, which isn’t as full-featured as some other web-based IM services, such as Meebo.

Nimbuzz doesn’t work with Twitter, although I think that’s a good thing. Twitter isn’t a messaging service, it’s a microblogging service, and I have found that Twitter functions in IM clients don’t work very well.

I’m very encouraged by the development of Nimbuzz so far. The company tells me that, instead of adding features willy-nilly, they have chosen to “do it right.”I can certainly agree with that in principle, although given the speed with which other apps are being created and updated, let’s hope that Nimbuzz can keep pace.

Have you tried the new Nimbuzz BlackBerry client? Let us know what you think of it below.

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RingCentral Office: Comprehensive Internet-based Phone Services

Charles Hamilton — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:00:55 +0000

A few days ago, Aliza provided some excellent planning advice on how to pick a company phone system. I’ve written in the past about three options for incoming service: Google Voice (which now lets you use some of its features with your existing number), 3jam, and Grasshopper (which is now reportedly profitable.)

This time, let’s look at a business phone system that provides both incoming and outgoing service, plus actual phones. The folks at RingCentral have kindly set me up with one of their packages, the RingCentral Office. They also offer RingCentral Online, an inbound service similar to those listed above, but we’ll focus on the Office package for simplicity.

Options

RingCentral Office has three pricing levels, ranging from a one-line, 10-extension plan for $49.99 per month to an 8-line, unlimited extension plan for $179.99 per month. Each plan comes with various combinations of toll-free and local numbers, as well as toll-free or local dedicated fax numbers. You can also port your existing local or toll-free numbers to RingCentral.

All plans are advertised as having “unlimited minutes,” but (as is apparently the norm among VoIP providers) “unlimited” actually means 5,000 minutes per month; if you go over that, you’ll be charged 3.9 cents/minute. That works out to roughly 2.5 hours of talking per day. Are you and your colleagues on the phone that much? At my company, we aren’t, but some folks might need to be aware of this limit.

What You Get

RingCentral Office includes all of the features that have become standard for Internet phone services. They offer numbers in the U.S., Canada and the UK.

RingCentral offers two types of phones. The phone RingCentral provided to me is a Linksys (now owned by Cisco) SPA942. At first glance, it looks much like a modern business phone. But instead of plugging it into a phone jack, one connects it to the Internet using a standard RJ-45 network cable. If you only have one Internet connection, you can plug the phone into your internet connection, and then plug other devices into the phone. I was pleased with the phone. It’s relatively easy to operate, but strangely, it doesn’t support a headset, something I’ve gotten quite used to.

If you would prefer to use your existing phone equipment, RingCentral also offers an ATA adapter which connects the Internet to regular phones. Since most people aren’t technically-minded enough to want to fiddle with ATAs or configuration of phones, RingCentral ships their equipment pre-configured. All I had to do was plug in the power and the ethernet cable, and the phone was online and ready to use. RingCentral tells me that they provide their phones at or below wholesale cost; a little research confirmed that their equipment prices are quite low.

When you or your colleagues are out of the office, you can use the web site and Windows- or Mac-based softphone application to send, receive and manage calls and messages. One of the unusual features of the softphone app is the ability to view incoming calls and reply with a short message like “I’ll call you back in 10 minutes” without actually answering the phone call. There’s also integration with Outlook’s contact list.

For iPhone users, there’s a native application that provides easy access to voicemail (separate from the iPhone’s built-in voicemail) and faxes. You can also use the iPhone app to make calls showing the Caller ID from your business line — without displaying your iPhone’s telephone number. Similar native applications are being developed for other platforms; I gather that the BlackBerry is next on RingCentral’s list. I didn’t test RingCentral’s software, but I’ve gotten positive feedback from others who’ve used it.

Ordering

When ordering, you’ll be asked to specify the plan you want, the number of lines needed, as well as the number of local and toll-free numbers. You can create a plan that meets your specific needs, and you can change plans at will, since you don’t need to sign a contract. If you return the phones, the return will be subject to a restocking fee.

RingCentral boasts that its services can be priced and purchased directly from its web site without needing to call (although it does offer ordering by phone). While web ordering is certainly possible, I found the website to be less than clear in explaining the differences between the various plans and options. RingCentral tells me that a redesigned site is on the way.

Quality

Of course, in a business environment, call quality is key. In my tests, I (and the people I talked to) agreed that our conversations were clear, loud, and with none of the delay that sometimes plagues services like Google Voice. RingCentral tells me that the service is SIP-based, but that they’ve done significant signal processing so that anyone with a DSL, cable or faster Internet connection should hear excellent sound quality. Dialup connections aren’t recommended, for obvious reasons.

Reliability

RingCentral has been around for several years, but only started offering the Office product in early 2009. According to the company, it is now providing its Office service to over 3,000 organizations of various sizes, including some of over 50 users, with the four-line option is the most popular. They have multiple levels of redundancy and backups, but of course, if your local Internet connection or power goes out, you’ll be unable to use RingCentral, or any other Internet-based phone system.

If you are in the market for a virtual PBX system that provides phone hardware with incoming and outgoing service, you’ll want to look at a number of options, including Accessline Digital Business Phone System, FreedomIQ Hosted PBX, and Phone.com Business Phone, Whatever you choose, RingCentral Office is certainly a strong competitor.

Do you use RingCentral?

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Socialtext Adds Smartphone Compatibility With Socialtext Mobile

Simon Mackie — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:00:22 +0000

Socialtext, an innovative enterprise social network/collaboration app that we’ve covered previously, has just launched Socialtext Mobile, which provides smartphone compatibility and lets you stay connected to your team even when you’re on the go.

The beta version of Socialtext Mobile supports iPhone, Android and BlackBerry devices. The site detects if you’re logging in with a mobile browser, and automatically directs you to Socialltext Mobile, which has a mobile-optimized interface but still lets you access all of Socialtext’s key functionality, including giving you full access to Socialtext Signals (Socialtext’s private microblogging tool), Activity Streams (keeping you up-to-date with what everyone’s doing), collaboration via Workspace pages, and — perhaps most importantly — access to your colleagues via People (which lets you look up colleagues’ contact details and connect with them while you’re on the go).

Socialtext Mobile comes free with Socialtext, the cost of which varies depending on your needs (a 30-day free trial is available). If you’d like to see a demo of Socialtext Mobile, check out the video.

Let us know what you think of Socialtext Mobile in the comments.

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Free BlackBerry Twitter Apps Roundup

Meryl K Evans — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:00:53 +0000

If you own a BlackBerry and use Twitter as much as I do, you’re more than likely frustrated with the experience of using the Twitter web site via your phone’s browser. With more Twitter applications available for the device, do any succeed in turning the BlackBerry into a great Twittering tool?

I compiled a list of the current free BlackBerry Twitter apps and tested them out to find the strengths and weaknesses of each. All of the apps have the basic features (timelines, replies and direct messages), with some standing out more than others due to speed, ease of use, or additional functionality.

All of these apps underwent an obstacle course on my BlackBerry Curve 8310 to test their strength, agility and durability in order to find the better-performing apps.

Blackbird: Easy to use text-based interface that works with older BlackBerrys

What Blackbird lacks in looks and features, it makes up for in speed and usability: BlackBird performs fastest out of all the apps tested here. It only includes the basic features: timelines, replies and direct messages.

Pros: Fast. Easy to use.

Cons: Fewer features. Unclear error messages.

TinyTwitter: Works with any device that can run Java apps

TinyTwitter has a smooth timeline that scrolls fast, even with avatars. It can pull latest trends, do searches, copy/ paste tweets for easy retweeting in one move, as well as handling the basic Twitter functions. However, even with shortcuts, some of the actions take two clicks when one would do, a problem with many BlackBerry Twitter apps.

Pros: Efficient timeline. Runs on any Java-compatible device. Shortcuts. More than the basic features.

Cons: Too many steps to get where you want to go.

Twibble: Tweet photos from your BlackBerry camera

My first impression of Twibble was soured by the troublesome login screen. The app kept capitalizing the first letter of my username and password, causing the login to fail. Once past that, though, the rest of the experience wass Tribble-free. You can save time with shortcuts and by entering and saving often-used words as text templates to use in search or tweets. Screen shots are available from the Twibble site.

Pros: Runs on any Java-compatible device. Text templates. Share photos.

Cons: Not user-friendly. Location tool doesn’t work well. Sluggish.

TwitterBerry: Attractive interface with average features

TwitterBerry looks easy on the eyes, but sacrifices load time for looks. Features include the basics that you find in most Twitter mobile applications, without any extras. If you go to Pictures, you can select a picture to send to TwitterBerry, but this option may not appear if you have other Twitter apps loaded on your BlackBerry. With few extras, you’d think the application would run faster than it does.

Pros: Sharp look-and-feel. Easy to use.

Cons: Slow. Lacks search and unique features.

Ubertwitter: Wealth of features

If you have multiple IDs, you’ll have to go through the wizard to change the login credentials, something that should take fewer steps (Tip: after you change the ID, hit the BlackBerry button to the left of the scroll wheel to save changes and exit rather than finishing the wizard). Despite this, most features take fewer steps to access compared to other apps and you can use shortcuts. You can take a picture from within UberTwitter. A map of your location appears with the photo. You can find people near you and view them on a roadmap, satellite map or hybrid map.

Pros: Take pictures within update. Control location options. Feature rich.

Cons: Time-consuming to change IDs and options. Sometimes dawdles.

Viigo: Add a new channel for every Twitter ID and search word

You can use Viigo to get news, local information and other customizable content. The Twitter app lives in the Social Networks tab, where you can create a channel for each of your Twitter IDs and frequently-used search terms. For example, if you participate in a weekly chat, you can create a search for the chat hashtag. Its performance is notably slower than its competition. Viigo has neat features, but the sluggishness tested my patience.

Pros: Set up multiple Twitter IDs and search words. All-in-one app.

Cons: Slow. More steps to reach Twitter channel.

The Verdict

UberTwitter offers the most features, while BlackBird has the best performance. But none of the free tools tested here really stand out; I’d still rather use a Twitter client on my PC or laptop.

What is your favorite BlackBerry Twitter app and why?

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Transient Apps: The Consumer Influence on Enterprise Mobility, Part 2