Apps & Online Tools: Essentials for the mobile knowledge worker [updated again]
This list started out as a post of useful web apps and tools I wanted to evangalise to colleagues. However, it raised quite a lot of interest and discussion so it's become a refererence post.
There's no firm criteria, but the aim was to offer people a list of well-designed, low friction, easy to adopt tools which specilaised in addressing one paticular need very well. Ideally they needed to be:
- Simple to use - minimal learning curve.
- Single task - not requiring wholesale adoption of that tool for the whole business / all your data.
- Free or very cheap.
- Easy to adopt (not requiring clients or colleagues to change the way they work).
- Flexible (can be used on work, home or customer's computers).
- Supportive or at least compatible with industry best practices.
Information / Information Management
Google Alerts - Customised e-mail alerts for news on any search subject you define delivered 'as they happen', daily or weekly. Ideal for tracking industry topics, clients in the news or commentary on your firm / project. Web-based sign-up, delivery by email, free, Google account required.
Evernote - Note-taking application which can also recognise text in images. Ideal as a universal notepad or for capturing images of hand-outs or whiteboards to be searched later. Web-based but also with clients for Mac, PC and loads of mobile devices - can also capture notes by email, free for features described but chargeable for very high capacity and additional PDF searching, each user requires login to their notepads but can share notepads to anyone without login.
Scanr - Image correction and recognition service for business cards and whiteboards. Ideal for turning mobile phone pictures of business cards or whiteboards into cleaner more usable PDFs. Website promotes applications for most popular mobile phone platforms but works well by email, free but low-cost subscription available for larger volumes, requires login for person submitting images.
Google Maps - On-line mapping application with street-level imagery and annotation tool. In addition to standard mapping and route-planning also offers street-level photography and map annotation. Ideal for identifying a building before travelling or for plotting maps of meeting. Web-based, free, standard mapping / routing and street view available without login, map annotation requires Google account for author.
Collaboration
Etherpad (due to close) / TypeWith.Me (Etherpad's new home) - Immediate collaboration on simple documents. Ideal for joint drafting, keeping a real-time activity log or collaborative meeting minutes. Web-based, free, no login required, all changes tracked and version-controlled.
Campfire - Group instant messaging. Ideal for distributed team conversations such as team meetings or a 'back channel' for conference calls to pass messages to a chairperson or moderator. Web-based, free for small groups, chargeable for larger groups, organiser requires login but other parties don't.
Drop.io - Short-term file store for files up to 100mb in total size. Ideal as an alternative to mailing large documents around and has some simple collaboration features for leaving comments on the document store. Website-based, free to use but with additional premium features available to pay for, no login required.
Doodle - Simple decision-making tool with features to 'select a date' or 'make a decision'. Ideal for running a simple poll between a team or select a meeting date from a range of choices. Web-based, free, no account required (optional for easier re-use), people being polled contacted by email - no login required to respond.
Minutebase - Tool to plan, document and follow-up meetings. Ideal for sharing agendas and meeting outcomes / actions. Web-based, free for accounts with one person arranging meeting with unlimited number of attendees, meeting organiser requires an account.
Posterous - Blog platform that allows messages to be submitted by email. Ideal for creating a team journal or project diary - multiple authors can contribute and access can be restricted by password. Web-based, free, owner requires an account but other contributors can just submit from by email.
Tungle - A tool to share your availability and to schedule meetings with people - initiated by you or them (has some feature overlap with Doodle). Ideal for deciding when to meet instead of the normal to and fro with lists of dates to all the meeting attendees. Also a great way to make you availability visible to someone outside your organisation without access to your corporate calendar. Tungle's connection to your calendar is via a desktop sync program (for Outlook) or web interface (for online calendars like Google's), free, user requires an account but contacts see availability via the web without a login.
Box.net - An online file-sharing and collaboration tool with online editing, sharing and the ability to assign 'tasks' to be performed on documents. Ideal for creating a project workspace with controls and tracking normally requiring a complex enterprise tool like Sharepoint. Web-based, free for simple features such as file-sharing but complex features are paid-for, users require accounts for most tasks but files can be shared or received from others without a login.
dimdim - Web-based online meeting service with screen sharing, video conferencing and document sharing. Bills itself as a direct replacement for GoToMeeting, but is entirely browser-based. Web-based, free for basic meetings, paid-for for additional security and analystics tools. Meeting organiser requires an account, but attendees can join directly from a link without an account.
Present.ly - Enterprise micro-blogging platform replicates status sharing features of Twitter for business users adding permissions, group working, media sharing and mobile device access. Free to use hosted version, each user must have an account but securty permissions can be set to open or limit access. Support contracts and a version to privately host on your own servers are paid-for options.
9 comments
@moof: bzr certainly looks like it will do the job, but looks to be too complex / technical for the audience I'm targeting.
I've recently started using DropBox and ZumoDrive. DropBox seems like it may be a good add on to your list. It gives the user the ability to share files across computers or with other users. 2gig free.
ZumoDrive is a great as well but for different purposes. Seems like it's good for sharing files but focused on music and pics. 1gig free.
there is a premium version with some extra features.
@Jeb: Thanks for the suggestion. Dithered about Dropbox, but I think I will add it. Music and pics aren't (for me) really a focus for the community I'm addressing so I'll leave ZumoDrive for now.
On a notebook/desktop/browser:
Mozy for backup - works without you knowing it and, yes, I have restored from backup. Paid for.
Remember The Milk - great online task manager that aligns well with David Allen's Getting Things Done. Free version works well and integrates with Google Mail. Paid version only needed if you have a Blackberry or iPhone. No S60 client yet.
Google Chrome - the sync'd bookmarks across multiple machines are brilliant!
Google Apps - I know you said good for a single task, but Mail and Calendar are just so easy, available (offline too) and free!
Fujitsu ScanSnap S300 (I think that's the model) - just brilliant for scanning stuff and dropping straight into Evernote. Unfortunately different models for Mac and PC. Not free!
Google Desktop client - for finding anything on your machine.
Dropbox - as mentioned by another poster. Online service and client that keeps directories in sync on the web and multiple machines without you worrying about it.
Microsoft's SyncToy - for keeping a directory sync'd to a USB memory stick. Useful when you need to use someone else's machine.
Also useful for that USB memory stick, a portable version of Google Chrome so that your fave's and history are there.
TweetDeck - simply the best Twitter client. Log in to keep stuff in sync.
Salesforce.com Personal Edition - doesn't allow very neat calendar sync'ing, but the best tool for managing relationships with clients, potential clients etc. Paid for.
MindManager from MindJet. Fantastic desktop client for brainstorming, high level planning etc. Integrates well with Office. Paid for (£200+)
Solar Accounts - desktop accounts package that beats QuickBooks hands down for ease of use and functionality. Also good support. Paid for (£100+)
CentralDesktop - good collaboration tool. Wikis, blogs, versioning, calendars etc. Best I've used. Free for less than three users.
Aviary - online image manipulation tool. Free.
On my phone (a Nokia E71):
GooSync for syncing Google Calendars to S60 devices. Paid for.
Google Mail client
Gravity Twitter client. Paid for.
Sky mobile client - so I can set Sky+ when I'm out.
