Posts tagged Works
Why the iPad Works For Productivity
Jan 18th
When the iPad first launched two years ago, it was derided by some for its limitations. The first iteration didn’t even have a camera on it, and it may never get a physical keyboard, so the notion of the device being used for content creation was laughable. Instead, the iPad was seen as a tool best used to lean back and consume content. For the most part, that’s how things have played out. People use their iPads for reading, watching video, listening to music and gaming.
Despite that, the iPad is finding a place in business all over the world. About 67% of iPad-owning professionals use their tablets at work, even if the vast majority of the devices are not supplied by employers, according to a recent survey by IDG. Of those people, 93% use the device for work-related communication.
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The iPad’s role in business and worker productivity is fueled in large part by the efforts of app developers. Between the “Business” and “Productivity” sections of the App Store, there are over 12,000 iPad applications available for download.
Some of the more popular choices include apps for word processing, document reading and signing, remote desktop, file-syncing, communication and collaboration. There are numerous apps that turn your iPad into a whiteboard, let you attend virtual meetings and focus more intently on what you’re writing. For any business or sole proprietor with goods to sell, downloading Square or one of its competitors is just a no-brainer at this point. There’s no shortage of business intelligence apps and even IT can use server admin tools, FTP clients and mobile device management software.
A Supplement to – Not Yet a Replacement For – the PC
The iPad and its chief competitors in the tablet space are not poised to replace laptops and desktops just yet, a fact confirmed in IDG’s survey. Only 6% of respondents said their tablet has “completely replaced” their PC and 16% said the iPad had ousted their laptop from their lives. Instead, the tablet is serving as more of a supplementary device.
With cloud syncing of calendars, email and documents, the tablet becomes sort of an extension of the desktop. Content can be shifted seamlessly across devices via Dropbox, Instapaper or email. There are, of course, limits. Graphic designers and high-end video editors aren’t going to get much of their work done on an iPad. But for basic work-related tasks like reading, writing, communicating and even accepting payments, the tablet is a fit. Sure, the lack of a physical keyboard can make extensive writing cumbersome, but a small, wireless keyboard can fix that.
It’s not just the apps available for the device that make it ideal for productivity. Indeed, the very thing that many critics cited as one of the iPad’s biggest flaws makes it better at getting certain tasks done. As it turns out, the device’s tendency to allow users to only do one thing at a time provides a much-needed boost in focus. For many, the iPad serves as a place to go when prolonged focus on a single document or task is needed. It can be a refuge from the cluttered, multi-windowed, multi-tabbed, chat notification-buzzing world of the desktop.
It’s worth noting that the tablet revolution is still in its early stages, and that the iPad isn’t the only player, even if it is the dominant one. Android-based tablets have grown up quickly and offerings from Amazon and others may force Apple to reconsider its $500 entry level price point when the iPad 3 launches this year.
View full post on ReadWriteWeb
Dumpster Rental Service in Indianapolis Works with SEO Firm to Increase … – PR.com (press release)
Jan 15th
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Dumpster Rental Service in Indianapolis Works with SEO Firm to Increase …
PR.com (press release) Using search engine optimization techniques (SEO), Prospect Genius is increasing visibility for the local junk hauling company when area property owners search for help with yard waste and junk removal. As a result of the SEO campaign, Joe's Hauling … |
View full post on SEO – Google News
Dumpster Rental Service in Indianapolis Works With SEO Firm to Increase … – openPR (press release)
Jan 13th
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Dumpster Rental Service in Indianapolis Works With SEO Firm to Increase …
openPR (press release) Using search engine optimization techniques (SEO), Prospect Genius is increasing visibility for the local junk hauling company when area property owners search for help with yard waste and junk removal. As a result of the SEO campaign, Joe's Hauling … |
View full post on SEO – Google News
Attend SMX West for What Works and What’s New in Search Engine Marketing – Feb. 28 to March 1
Jan 5th
You need proven tactics to build site traffic, grow sales and boost ROI. And, since search marketing changes daily, success often means knowing what’s new – and how to adapt. SMX West delivers both… what works and what’s new. Here are 10 reasons you should join us February 28 to March 1 in San…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
View full post on Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
How One Mobile Device Manager Works
Dec 21st
I have written frequently about the BYOD trend (such as my article last week on why managing devices isn’t easy. The other side of BYOD is using some form of endpoint management product to make sure that you can track and secure all of your devices. These go under various headings, such as Mobile Device Management (MDM), endpoint security, or network access controls. No matter what you call them, using these products aren’t easy and have lots of issues. Fiberlink was game to show me around their software, called MaaS360, and while I don’t mean to pick on them I will show you what some of the drawbacks are with using these tools and what you are in store for if you are interested in trying to get a handle on your mobile devices across your enterprise.
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I tried out MaaS360 on both a Kindle Fire and an iPad and got them under my corporate thumb within about an hour, including the time it took to learn more about the various requirements for the service. Fiberlink claims that they are the first Fire supporter, I wasn’t able to verify that. Here is a nice short video explanation of what the product does with an interview with our own Dan Rowinski.
If you are going to evaluate any of these products, the first thing you want to examine is which devices do they manage. For that, you will need special client software. If you want to allow anything on your network, you need some kind of agent that keeps track of what your end users are doing with it, and can protect it in case of malware or other infections. MaaS360 has versions for iOS, Android/Kindle, Blackberry, Louts Traveler, and Microsoft Exchange, among numerous other tools. Its download page (you can freely try any of these out for 30 days) is almost overwhelming.
Depending on what platform you are protecting, you will have to go through a process to install the agent and set things up. Any iOS device requires a series of cryptographic certification installation steps to get things going, which is somewhat annoying (this is from Apple, not the fault of anybody else). MaaS360 is fairly straightforward: you register your device on this screen:
And then it sends you an email with the download link that you open in the mobile’s browser to finish things up.
Once you have your agent up and running, you go into your portal to track what is going on. You can get lots of detail such as the report below on a Kindle Fire (running the Android OS) that you see below:
MaaS360 can integrate with your Active Directory or LDAP server so you can bulk load up your management system without having to do much manual installation, but there still is some work involved.
A second issue is in understanding the portal page where the service tracks what is going on across your network. What information is presented, what is actionable, what you can safely ignore. It could be more work to understand what you are seeing than you bargained. This is somewhat akin to when intrusion detection products first came into corporate networks; we needed to train our security staff what they were reporting and what they needed to pay more attention to.
Next, you want to examine how flexible the device management policies are with the service. With MaaS360, you have dozens of different levers you can push to prevent the device from connecting to particular Wifi networks, allow installation of particular apps from outside the approved marketplaces, and enforce device encryption.
Finally, what is all this going to cost? MaaS360 starts at $6 apiece per month in quantity of 100 devices and discounts are available as the number of devices increases.
MaaS360 is just one of dozens of MDM and endpoint products that are out there. One of my favorite for ordinary Windows and Mac desktops is Symantec’s Endpoint Protection, which currently doesn’t offer any mobile agents – yet.
View full post on ReadWriteWeb
Fab.com: The Social Shopping Experiment That Actually Works
Dec 16th
Picture a full-screen Facebook news feed filled with all the beautifully designed items that all your aesthetically inclined friends have purchased. Now clean up the user interface so there’s no spammy news ticker. Got it?
Then you have arrived at Fab.com, the Web’s fastest growing flash sales site specializing in design. Today it launched an irresistible (and I do not use this word lightly) new feature it likes to call Live Feed, which uncreepily surfaces what other Fab.com members are buying, liking, tweeting and sharing across the Web. Unlike Facebook’s opt-out privacy features, Fab.com made the live feed on this new feature completely opt-in. You can choose to reveal your username whenever you purchase something, or not. If you don’t want other Fab.com members to see what you’ve purchased, you’ll just be known anonymously as “A Fab User.”
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Not long ago, I wrote about the epic fails of Facebook commerce (f-commerce). Facebook is not a mall, and f-commerce is not the future. To be fair, Facebook’s one shot at f-commerce may come with the recent Facebook-EBay integration.
Facebook is still a site where people go to socialize, to enjoy photos and videos of babies and children and events, to share links they like and to, of course, stalk their ex’s. A Pew Research Study revealed that 67% of online adults use social media to stay in touch with friends.
Fab.com has 1.4 million members to date. CEO Jason Goldberg, a serial entrepreneur who, in a previous life, worked for Bill Clinton in the White House, writes that Fab.com is “going to take social shopping to the extreme.” With a site that’s both beautiful and non-invasive, this might actually be the truth.
The site originally launched in April 2010 as a social networking site specifically for gay men. CEO Jason Goldberg called it a “cross between Facebook and Yelp”, a site for gay men to discuss cites their travels. One year and 400,000 users later, Fabulis.com transitioned into the design-focused flash sale site Fab.com. It raised an additional $40 million in funding earlier this month.
“Online shopping is continuing to evolve, and we believe we are in the beginning stages of e-commerce 2.0,” Goldberg tells us. “Moving forward, we think online shopping will be more about discovery than search, and at Fab.com we are developing a very unique and innovative browsing experience that is more akin to someone walking down 5th Avenue browsing items in the store windows, and being inspired and wanting to find out more about certain items.”
View full post on ReadWriteWeb
Google+ Stream Filtering Upgrade In Works
Dec 10th
Google plans to add filtering mechanisms to Google+, allowing users to receive more relevant social content as the company seeks to challenge rival Facebook.
“Noise control” will soon be added to the social site, and “we have a team figuring out…
View full post on Search Engine Watch – Latest
Appliance Repair Service in Merrillville, IN, Works with SEO Firm to Reach … – openPR (press release)
Dec 3rd
 openPR (press release) |
Appliance Repair Service in Merrillville, IN, Works with SEO Firm to Reach …
openPR (press release) Jordan Hooks, owner of Schererville Appliance, hired Prospect Genius for its SEO expertise and its strategy for improving the appliance repair company's search engine positioning. A major reason for launching the online marketing campaign was to help … Appliance Parts Store in East Brunswick, NJ, Uses SEO Firm to Reach Out to … |
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A 4 Step Multivariate Testing Process That Works
Nov 22nd
When we talk about website testing, we mostly talk about what to test: unique selling propositions, headlines, calls-to-action, etc. It’s equally important to understand howto test (i.e., the process that produces better results).
The more…
View full post on Search Engine Watch – Latest
PROOF You Should Make Sure Your Website Works on Tablets
Oct 25th
Nothing irritates me more than a site not working on my iPad. I use my iPad for fun and to get away from all the responsibilities that come with my laptop. I don’t check email and I try really, really hard to not check Twitter. My husband, my son and I all have iPads and we all use them daily. There are way too many websites that have either not been updated or didn’t plan to work well on any type of tablet and I think everyone should be focused on a site that works for everyone (and every browser please).
Journalism.org released an infographic based on a study. You can view it below and please look at the data closely. You, your friends, your clients, your family and everyone else needs a site that works well on tablets. This IG is focused on news, but we all know that people are using tablets to look at everything. Take the time and money to invest in a site that works.
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