ting, a web conferencing solution that we’ve written about previously, has unveiled the ability to create high-definition video conferences. The new service, dubbed HDFaces, allows users to create video conferences with up to six attendees at no additional cost. Read more »
There’s plenty wrong with the traditional office full of cubes, including terrible lighting, collaboration-killing isolation, an abundance of soul-crushing beige . But is the solution to slap some paint on the walls, cart in a couple of plants and reconfigure layouts to be more social? Read more »
GoFileDrop is an app that adds a public mailbox to your Google Docs account, enabling anyone with the appropriate link to upload files to your account. It was previously only available to Google Apps customers, but it can now be installed by regular Gmail users. Read more »
With any startup, fast growth requires investment, starting first and foremost with good people. With that in mind, I’d like to welcome the newest member of the GigaOM Pro family, David Card, who will serve as the research director of GigaOM Pro Read more »
An interesting example of the practice of open innovation is the SAP Co-Innovation Lab, as SAP and its partners have found a way to integrate hardware and software innovation in a way that is open, but also protective of intellectual property. Read more »
The latest IBM CEO study reports, “More than 62% of development projects fail to meet the intended schedule and 30% of project costs are due to rework and poor execution of requirements.” IBM Jazz is working to address these problems through greater support of developer collaboration. Read more »
We’re launching a new feature here at TAB. Every month, we’ll ask you, our readers, what we can help you with. We’ll take a few of the hottest topics, assign articles and post them to the site. Have questions? Ask TAB in the comments. Read more »
If you’re working remotely, finding ways to improve and streamline communications with your clients and team might seem like a never-ending chore, but with the right mix of tools, it’s possible to keep projects moving forward. Here are ten tools that will help improve your communication. Read more »
Cohuman, a web-based collaboration and project management app that we’ve written about previously, has been acquired and will be shutting down on August 31. Current Cohuman users should check out the company’s blog post, which contains instructions for exporting data from the service. Read more »
Many have discussed email etiquette, but for the average web worker, the notion of politesse can seem counterproductive. Here, then, are five golden rules for respectful, productive digital communication, whether you’re using email, IM, video chat, phone, or other communications tools. Read more »
IT managers now face a new challenge in the enterprise: the significant presence of a new generation, the Millennials, in today’s digital workplace. These young employees were born in the 1980s or later; they were raised with ever-present mobile phones and ubiquitous online access and social media, and they often demand access to those services and devices while at work. This report, the first in a two-part series, surveys Millennials about their use of technology at work, with a particular focus on how they communicate and learn and what they expect in regard to technology support. We aim to assist IT and tech-support management by pointing out the opportunities Millennials present and also the potential pitfalls. Companies mentioned in this report include Facebook, Google and Twitter. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
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. Read more »
Popular cloud-based notes service Simplenote has many useful third-party add-ons. One such add-on is Syncpad Webnotes, a Chrome extension that enables you to attach virtual “sticky notes” to any web page that can be synchronized across different browsers through your Simplenote account. Read more »
Simple drag-and-drop file sharing service Minus, which I wrote about a couple of months ago, has acquired the Minus.com domain name. Minus.com will be used as the service’s primary domain going forward, rather than min.us, which was used previously and was thought to be confusing. Read more »
RedCritter Tracker is a thoughtfully gamified project management tool for software development teams that’s set to launch later this month. Founder and CEO Mike Beatty walked me through the app’s key capabilities, including project management support, visibility into employee skill sets, customizable rewards, and badges. Read more »
The key to remaining productive is to not let the many distractions in your work day sidetrack you from your primary job. Here are a few tips for taking charge of your day and kicking a few of the most common distractions to the curb. Read more »
Your to-do list has taken on a life of its own, and after several failed attempts at taming it, you’re now looking for a way to peacefully co-exist. Fortunately, new apps and devices are being created almost daily to help us improve our productivity and collaboration. Read more »
Google just announced it is ending its Labs program in an effort to focus more on its existing products, and a collective gasp went up around the Internet. My first thought was, “Oh my God, what will happen to my multiple inboxes and Auto-advance features?” Read more »
Having reviewed web-based training and presentation app Knoodle before, I was interested in the new developments with the service, announced this week.. Its new features make presentation creation more streamlined, particularly if you are creating split-screen presentations combining slides and video. Read more »
LifeSize, a supplier of video conferencing products that was acquired by Logitech in 2009, is aiming to address the usual drawbacks of traditional enterprise HD video conferencing systems — cost, complexity and incompatibility — with some new products that it announced Wednesday. Read more »
Submissions to the Harvard Business Review/McKinsey M-Prize for Innovation closed July 18. For two months, management practitioners, consultants and professors have been posting their work hacks and stories of experimenting with radical management practices to share with the community, gather feedback, and gain recognition. Read more »
8×8 Virtual Room is designed to appeal to small and medium-sized businesses looking for video conferencing services. At $199 a month, it provides unlimited multi-user chat sessions with up to 20 participants at a time. But can it compete with free offerings like Google+ Hangouts? Read more »
ccLoop wants to improve email by making it into a better and more streamlined communication tool. It effectively offers a business-focused take on the familiar kind of mailing list functionality provided by the likes of Google Groups and Yahoo Groups. Read more »
Every IT department will joke about the support they have to provide to the rest of the organization: “Is it plugged in?” Every organization of a certain size has to provide internal support, but it’s a tough prospect in even the most tech-savvy of companies. Read more »
Spigit is a leading enterprise social innovation platform. Paul Pluschkell, CEO and co-founder of the company, talked to me about the product and Spigit’s perspective on innovation management, which supports the “edge to the core” philosophy that is top of mind in many high-impact organizational settings Read more »
Some gadgets help us be more productive, some are just cool, and some are both. Here are a few media gadgets that can help you organize and streamline your work, while at the same time letting you have a little fun with technology. Read more »
What apps do mobile workers need to get their jobs done? A new Forrester report has identified eight “must have” categories of mobile collaboration apps. Here’s a run-down of all the categories outlined, together with some of our recommendations for apps to use in each category: Read more »
Coworking is a relatively new, and to many people unknown, phenomenon. Angel Kwiatkowski and Beth Buczynski have written an ebook, Coworking: How Freelancers Escape the Coffee Shop Office, that offers people interested in coworking the information necessary to find a good location and use it effectively. Read more »
Mom Anne Samoilov is Laura Roeder Media’s project manger, making sure a team spread from New York to Hawaii is collaborating smoothly. So how does a woman with a background in project management and few tech credentials tame the challenges of web work? Read more »
It’s great to have access to technologies that allow us to collaborate on documents in real time. However, real-time collaboration, in fact all collaborative writing, will be more successful if you follow these five steps to integrate your writing process with your tool’s technical capabilities. Read more »
Unified Communications (UC) is an umbrella term that covers the integration of real-time communication services such as instant messaging, presence information, telephony and video conferencing. So how can UC help your business, and what are the features you should look for? Read more »
Business is all about the bottom line and web work offers new ways to bolster that bottom line. But not everyone sees paying according to the prevailing local wages as without its moral complexities, especially when companies begin to look overseas for additional help. Read more »
Most of us are drowning in email. Could a solution be to impose a Twitter-like character limit on emails? Baltimore, MD-based 410Labs thinks so; its Shortmail service enforces concise emails by limiting messages to 500 characters or less and disallows attachements Read more »
It’s no surprise that Google is looking to use its new platform, Google+, to add a social layer to the company’s existing services. It seems the company wants to forge ahead with plans to incorporate some of Google+’s social features into its flagship webmail product, Gmail. Read more »
Managers of remote teams have plenty to worry about. On top of the deadlines, interpersonal conflicts, competing priorities, and keeping everyone connected and collaborating, Wharton management professor Nancy Rothbard is adding another item to their list of potential stresses: mirror neurons. Read more »
Microsoft has rolled out a co-authoring update to Word Web App, part of the Office Web Apps suite. This means multiple users can now edit a document simultaneously via Windows Live SkyDrive in Microsoft Word 2010, Microsoft Word for Mac 2011 and Word Web App. Read more »
Today I stumbled across a nifty Windows app: Dropbox Screen Grabber. It allows you to take screenshots using a predefined hotkey combination and then instantly uploads them to your Dropbox public folder; the URL of the uploaded file is placed on your clipboard. Read more »
Brainstorm began as an internal innovation management platform at Intuit, but it’s now available as an external offering following extensive customer testing. Tad Milbourn, product manager for Brainstorm, walked me through the application’s role in the company’s own innovation approach. Read more »
Today, I stumbled across a new prospect for email management, SaneBox, which can automatically prioritize and sort email into folders. Could this new hopeful mean the end of email insanity, as it claims? Time will tell, but it looks very promising. Read more »
Looking for a way to brainstorm ideas with your remote team? Conceptboard is a slick new web app that offers an online whiteboard for real-time collaboration. What makes Conceptboard stand out is in its array of features, and that it’s optimized to work on the iPad. Read more »
