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Posts Tagged ‘online software’

Google Spreadsheet Spreads Brower-based Productivity

Tuesday, June 6th, 2006


The race is on to deliver desktop quality productivity plus the enhancements of more web-based Web 2.0 interactivity like the real time sharing of documents than any desktop app can dream of… And, I think, with its various acquisitions, Google has taken the lead in this race. For example, they recently acquired the web-based word processing application Writely.

Next up, and soon to be released is Google Spreadsheets (click here to request an invitation to the public “beta”) which will give you Excel-like powers in a browser-based application.

Google’s Spreadsheet “Sneek Peek” preview is here.

John Markoff’s NY Times analysis is here.

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Posted in online software | 2 Comments »

Simpler is Still Better: One-Page Sites

Wednesday, May 24th, 2006

The champions of the cause of simplicity, 37 signals, who deliver online web services that are by their own proclamation, “the best web-based software products possible with the least number of features necessary” have made an interesting blog post, visually, of one-page websites. For when you don’t really need more than one (page). The most interesting part of this post is the comments. Evidence of a good (maybe great) blog… Cruise the commentaries…

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Posted in e-business, online software | No Comments »

Amazing, Useful Search Tool: Inquisitor

Thursday, May 18th, 2006

The web is definitely having a new wave of innovation. Inquisitor doubles as an SEM keyword phrase search tool (it automatically gives you related and relevant keyword phrases relating to any search string you type) AND as a way to check out search results on multiple sites (Google, Yahoo, Technorati, Amazon, Digg, etc.) with the simple click of a sidebar button. check it out

(Thanks to Lee Odden’s Online Marketing Blog for the tip.)

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Posted in e-business | No Comments »

DabbleDB: The Best Web 2.0 Application Yet

Saturday, March 18th, 2006

I’ve been tracking Web 2.0 and related applications. (For example, this previous post: “Define Web 2.0 & Ajax… Hunh?”.) But, DabbleDB is the best thing I’ve seen. It’s actually an online tool that lets you build a database-driven application on the fly, quickly and about as easily as can be imagined. No kidding. It’s still in “private beta” but should be public soon, but thanks to my new favorite blog, TechCrunch, we have a rapid fire, 7-minute video demo to show you what I mean. Check it out!

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Breakthrough Productivity Apps: Basecamp & Backpack

Friday, February 3rd, 2006

Basecamp project management and collaborationIf you haven’t checked out these very impressive online applications (ASP’s), I couldn’t recommend them too highly. As a company, we’ve been experimenting with all kinds of virtual collaboration tools, project management applications, and such. To date, Basecamp is getting the job done like none other. The fact that it’s caused us to sort our projects into categories (we can see them more clearly this way… duh!) and the way that “milestones” are distributed in the calendar is extremely useful. The interface is clean and easy. We’re just getting into the messages component which I think is going to add a whole new level of virtual teamwork.

Backpack: Get Organized and Collaborate And then I started looking for a new way to sort out some of my more personal to-do’s and realized I might want to check out Basecamp’s “little brother,” Backpack. Way easy. Way flexible. I love the easy way that you can make a page public to anyone, or make it a one page collaboration environment with specific people. And again, the interface design is excellent.

I’ve even been getting value from the developing company, 37signals‘ blog: Signals vs Noise. They’ve got more kewl products to check out like “Ta-Da List” and more on the way. These folks and their apps are seriously worthy of your time and exploration. Some of the best stuff I’ve seen on the web in a long time. Thank you, 37signals! I’m a happy new customer of yours. And no wonder some geek called them “the best little web company of 2005.”

PS. Another thing that’s really impressive is the size of the community they’ve ignited, as illustrated by the number of comments to their blog posts… quite different from most blogs including this one ;)

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Posted in online software | 2 Comments »

The truth about Flash in Email

Wednesday, February 1st, 2006

We do lots of Flash and lots of email newsletters, and I’ve always known that delivering Flash via email is problematic, although I’ve heard frequent claims from vendors who claim to have overcome the email client software compatibility issues. It appears I’m right (which I always like) and this article offers a quite comprehensive test. Verdict: don’t do it.

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Posted in computers, e-marketing, online software | No Comments »

New Intel Macs, sure. But Google Earth Mac, YEAH!

Tuesday, January 10th, 2006

Don’t get me wrong. I’m psyched about the new Intel MacBooks and iMacs, but what I’ve really been waiting for is Google Earth for the Mac. Finally, It’s here! It’s like piloting your own aircraft over the earth, or getting a real “birds eye view”…

And while I’m blabbing, eh, I mean blogging, kudos to the Apple marketing folks for the line: “What’s an Intel chip doing in a Mac? A whole lot more than it’s ever done in a PC.” Stay tuned for the Steve Jobs video keynote. A show worthy of your attention, IMHO.

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Awesome Free Online Applications

Friday, December 23rd, 2005

The Open Source movement is alive and well and if you’re not aware of all the great online software that’s out there for free, here’s a great Christmas/Holiday present for you: This page has reviews and links to some of the best online “Web 2.0″ applications. From free network disk storage (eat your heart out .mac) to collaboration tools, the great to-do list manager mentioned below, online word processors that let you share and collaborate on online docs, online calendars, and more. Honestly, this is great software and all you need is a web browser (Mac folks, Firefox is highly recommended!) and an Internet connection. Enjoy! (And thanks to Jim Pringle for this great link.)

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Posted in Uncategorized, online software | No Comments »

An Amazing, Free To-Do List Manager

Friday, December 16th, 2005

Shortly, I’ll post something longer about Web 2.0 applications, web-based software, software as service and all that. Meanwhile, I want to recommend an online to-do list manager called Voo2Do. It couldn’t be easier to use, includes all the essential fields including prioritization, deadlines and estimated time to complete. You can add categories on the fly as you add items, and it automatically reorders the list according to due dates and priorities as soon as you enter them. Very impressive. And did I say it’s totally free?

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Adobe-Macromedia vs Microsoft in Web App Dev

Tuesday, April 19th, 2005

While my first thought when I heard about the Adobe-Macromedia merger was about Dreamweaver, the reality is that Flash has more to do with it. And, it’s not really about us “creative professionals” who are the primary market for the obvious Adobe and Macromedia products. Rather, this merger is all about the enterprise market. That’s where the big money is for software companies; and on that mission critical battlefield, Macromedia will help Adobe wage war against the evil empire, Microsoft. Silicon.com explains it well.

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Posted in online applications, online software | No Comments »