Archive for blackberry
Google Voice-One Number for Life
Posted by: | CommentsSeveral months back I was listening to Leo Laporte – all around tech guy. He was talking about how Google purchased Grand Central in order to revamp it into a new service called Google Voice. Right now, you can join Google Voice only by invitation.
I visited the website and signed up to get the very special invitation from Google. It arrived a couple of weeks ago, so I began the process of searching through a list for the perfect number that would resonate with me and the world (ha ha).
So now I’ve got my number and am wondering what the heck I’m going to do with it. What will it do for me or other small business owners?
The Google site has lots of great videos and FAQs to assist, but I turn to tech bloggers I respect to get their take and some practical applications. This time, I chose TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington because I heard he quit the iPhone because Apple/ATT won’t allow the Google Voice App to be downloaded and used on iPhones. If he put his iPhone down for Google Voice, there must be something to it.
Please read his great article. He addresses probably the biggest concern – I don’t want to lose my number! Google will be rolling out number portability later this year. That solves that problem. The next concern is that when I place a call, I want my ported number to show up, not the Google Voice number. They have addressed that as well (on the mobile side), with apps that have already been released for the Android and Blackberry.
So let’s say the porting of your mobile number to your Google Voice number has happened and you are lucky enough to own one of the supported mobile handsets that accept the Google Voice App – what next? Let’s look at features…
Google Voice Features
- You’ll have a single number that can/will ring to your home, work, mobile or any other number you own—depending on how you set it up.
- Ability to block any number you wish (think of the possibilities here)
- Set up personalized vmx greetings by group or individual
- Screen callers leaving you a vmx – pick it up if you wish
- Granular settings—you control (via your Google Voice account on the web), how calls from either a group you designate or a single person is handled. You are able to set controls so that your friends calls are automatically routed to all your numbers because you don’t want to miss their calls – right? On the flip side, you can also set your phone to have certain calls go directly to your voicemail at at certain times of the day(co-workers after hours calls??).
- Voicemail—you can set controls so any voicemails you receive on your mobile are transcribed and sent to you either via email or text message, then read it at your leisure. What a timesaver! The transcribed calls are all held in your Google account on-line and are searchable and tagable.
- Conference Calls—have up to 6 people on a conference call—and you can record the call too.
- Call Record –record calls and save them online.
Try to wrap your head around this – with your Google Voice number, you will never have to be held captive again by a phone company.Whatever phone you have in your hand can be used as your phone.
I’ve yet to dive in to my Google contacts to set all the controls and instructions, but Paul Stamatiou has and has some great screen shots and shows the multitude of possibilities at your fingertips.
For you Palm Pre users, looks like there is an unofficial app out there for you. Read Lifehacker’s article for more information.
Blackberry, Android and other mobile users can get the app you need as well.
There’s a lot of positive buzz about Google Voice and many are getting their numbers, but from what I’ve read, people are waiting for the number portability feature to start implementing.
For business owners, it is a great convenience and the service is free – at least for now. Our phones are our lifelines and helps us produce revenue. Do we want to trust it to Google—be it for privacy, security, reliability reasons? What do you think?
Google Calendar 2-Way Sync & Contacts
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It seems we all are looking for the ‘magic bullet’ of syncing software. We want to be able to access our email, contacts and calendar remotely, on our main computer and on our PDA.
A big ‘must’ for Virtual Assistants is the ability to access our clients’ calendars. We need access to post appointments, send invitations to meetings or find free time for setting up meetings, trips, etc.
When I moved a client to using gmail so I could access her email, I did some research into the google calendaring feature. I had heard so many great things about the google calendar and how easily it synced with people’s smart phones and outlook and other mail programs.
To my delight, I found that Google had introduced the very desirable ’2-way sync’ feature earlier this year. Google has all the instructions here.
So, download the file and follow the instructions to install it (you’ll have to have outlook closed). After installation, you’ll get the below box where you’ll then enter your gmail address and password. Then you will want to select the 2-way radio button. The only other option is how often to sync. Default is 120″, the lowest interval you can select is 10″.
Google Calendar Sync Options
Then pull up outlook and you’ll see a little calendar icon in your system tray. Hover your mouse over it and it identifies itself. When you see arrows moving on the icon, you know it’s syncing.
If you have more than one google calendar, it will only sync to your main calendar, so choose wisely. If you have a calendar further down on your list, you can go into the google calendar settings and decide which calendar will be your main calendar (a nice feature).
In addition to the sync function, google also has some other interesting calendar features. For example, code is provided if you want to insert your calendar inside your blog or website – handy if you have events to publicize. There are a host of options available for sharing your calendar on-line with others. Just choose the permissions you want others to have.
I’ve been using it for several months and it seems to be working well. You can also import your outlook contacts into google. From outlook, I did a file export into a .csv file (currently the only supported import/export method), and then imported that into google. More information here.
Jott – Out Of Beta and Introducing New Features
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After 2 1/2 years, Jott has dropped the beta and announced that all users must log in and choose a plan. Here’s a snapshot of offerings:
Jott’s by-line is “turn your words into action”. You register for an account on-line using your cell phone number. Set your account preferences (do I want audio, written or both reminders and where do I want them), and you’re ready to go. Call the Jott phone number and an automated voice will ask you pertinent questions. Then some mystery person transcribes your words and gets it back to you. It’s amazingly accurate.
If you subscribe to one of the premium plans, you can utilize their new ‘Jott for Outlook’ feature. This download will install software in Outlook. Cool and useful things it will do:
- Call in a calendar appointment-Jott will guide you through the information needed and it’ll be on your calendar when you get back to the office
- Dictate an email and it’ll be waiting for you in your draft folder. Say you just finished one appointment and are dashing to the next. Call Jott and dictate a follow-up email.
- Add something to your tasks list
Another new feature (free), is called “Jott Express“. If you want Jott on your desktop, download and put the app on your desktop. It syncs with your on-line Jott account.
I prefer to put Jott on my iGoogle page and view my reminders from there. Jott also has an iPhone & Blackberry app to keep the road warriors organized.
We’ve been enjoying a plethora of free products on the web the last few years. We all scratch our heads and ask each other, “how can this be free?” I think we all knew the day would come when we’d have to pony up for using these products, which is only fair. It’s great that Jott still has a free version of their product (ad supported). What are some other web apps you’ve used that were formerly free, but now are fee-based?
How I Moved A Client from Outlook email to Gmail–and did it remotely
Posted by: | CommentsLast week, I blogged about moving my email to Gmail with the intent to do this follow-up on how I did the same for a client of mine. This client lives in her Outlook email and travels frequently. Earlier this year she went from a Blackberry to iPhone. She loves her iPhone. She expressed her need for me to have access to her email and schedule. In addition to viewing her mail and calendar, she wanted me to be able to file, send and respond to emails from her mailbox. With a friend’s very expert assistance, we set up an exchange/imap account with her ISP that allowed me to do this from within my Outlook client.
Now if she had a reliable ISP, we’d still be using it, but problems developed and I removed the exchange/imap feature from her Outlook. When exchange/imap went away, so did all the nicely organized email folders that were on her iPhone. This decreased her productivity since she couldn’t file her many incoming messages. Who likes to lose features as we travel down the tech highway!
Enter Gmail and it’s highly touted IMAP features. I discussed with my client this option and how I’d be able to once again have complete access to her email and calendar and that she would again have all the folders available to her on her iPhone. She wanted me to go for it. So I first wanted to try it out on one of the family’s email accounts. Then I did it with my Outlook account (detailed in last week’s blog). Success!
I use the free and very useful Logmein to access my client’s computer remotely. I posted about this program a year ago. It’s been one of the most useful tools in my arsenal. I chose a convenient time to first back up her email and then did the set up by following the instructions from the great How-To-Geek. After adding the Gmail account from within Outlook, most of the tweaking could be done from within the web interface. I moved all of her Outlook folders (one at a time), down to her Gmail and got them organized as they were before (for the most part). There were a few odd error messages here and there. For example, one said I couldn’t move a particular folder, but then it would be there all the same. Gmail provided very easy instructions for getting Gmail onto the iPhone.
Everything has been working for the last couple of weeks. We are still working out a few kinks here and there. One irritant has been that Outlook 2007 is slow to sync all the folders and mail that are in the Google folders. It’s really been slowing her system down. I’ve been looking around for some tweaks for this and think this from Digital Inspiration may work.
So, would I do again for another client- you betcha! Of course, you have to have a client who has trust in you, a good sense of humor and a bit adventurous. The unexpected can happen, but with the proper preparation, having a back-up and restore plan of what you’re about to change and choosing a time that doesn’t impact business critical tasks, you too, can do it.
Jott – Now for the iPhone
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I blogged about Jott in May. This is a free service (how do they do that?) that is so feature rich, I’ve hardly scratched the surface. A brief refresher, Jott is a great way to remind yourself and others of upcoming appointments, birthdays, family obligations–you name it. Get yourself set up on-line with your preferences, set up groups to notify co-workers, family or friends of happenings. A feature I utilize is to set up a reminder for something that happens out in the future and I tell Jott to notify me the day of my appointment. Less chance of forgetting that way!
But today, we’re going to talk about the new iPhone app Jott developed. With the release of the new iPhone and the subsequent deluge of third party apps, this one caught my eye as being useful for a client of mine. I watched the short video and was convinced. Download and install the app from iTunes. To use, simply tap on-screen anywhere and begin to speak. Tap again when you’re finished (think there’s a 30 second limit). Then your reminder/message is sent to the clouds to be transcribed into text then back on your iPhone and in your web Jott account.
You can organize, prioritize and categorize your Jotts, i.e. business, personal, etc. When you complete a task, swipe it with your finger and a line goes through it and you’ve marked it off your list! For those of us who derive fulfillment with the pen and notebook system, this flourish gives a similar sense of satisfaction.
This is truly an elegant and cool application–not to mention, it’s actually both useful and safe to use while driving!
For you Blackberry users out there, there’s a Jott version for you too!
