AppVita » Kathryn Pope http://www.appvita.com Discovering web-based applications that just make life better Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:30:52 +0000 en hourly 1 Alltop – The Digital Magazine Rackhttp://www.appvita.com/2008/09/12/alltop-digital-magazine-rack-2/ http://www.appvita.com/2008/09/12/alltop-digital-magazine-rack-2/#comments Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:42:54 +0000 Kathryn Pope http://centurytel.appvita.com/?p=275 ss-alltop

Five years ago, when newscasters and journalists began talking regularly about something called the “blog-o-sphere,” it wasn’t always easy to find the blogs you might enjoy reading. You might love getting the scoop on environmentalism and education, but aside from Googling these topics and hoping that one of the listings among the articles, commercial sites, and personal pages was a blog or online newspaper on the right topic, there might be no easy way to find regular updates. Alltop makes this process much easier, providing a smart and simple site that allows users to see the most up-to-date and popular blog entries available on a given topic.

Alltop updates its feeds every ten minutes, moving the most recent and most read headlines to the top of the list. When users hover over a headline, a window shows a brief preview, and clicking the link will open the original source content in a new tab, keeping Alltop open for further browsing. Because Alltop organizes content so easily and updates so regularly, it’s become a popular resource for market researchers to get a finger on the pulse of the public, seeing at a glance the most popular news items and blog discussions under a given subject. Alltop is also useful for those of us not in marketing, though – including those who are new to RSS feeds or to blogs in general. For us, Alltop works a little like a digital magazine rack, where we can browse and let our curiosity lead.

Practical Uses:

  • Get news each day specialized to your area of expertise or your interests.
  • Read and comment on blog postings without committing to a subscription in an RSS feed reader
  • Use Alltop to get a quick overview of the major blogging voices on a given topic, as you prepare a press release or promotional invite

Insider Tips:

  • To view the first paragraph of a story within Alltop before committing to clicking on the link, just scroll over the title, and a pop-up will appear

What we liked:

  • Alltop provides frequently updated feeds of stories
  • The sites listed under each category are always relevant, especially when compared to what you often get in the top 10 of a Google search
  • The interface is clean, free of visual distraction, and oh-so-simple to use

What we didn’t like:

  • Alltop’s categories are general, so if you’re looking for something specific, say ‘philosophy’ or ‘criticism,’ you’ll have to go elsewhere
  • What makes the cut on the home page of categories may be arbitrary. For instance, Alltop does have “Rugby” and “Mixed Martial Arts,” but no “Tennis.”
  • The banner at the bottom of the page can take some getting used to

Alternatives:

Company Info:

  • Launched: March 2008
  • Privately Owned by Nononina, Inc.
  • Headquarters: Palo Alto, CA
  • Founded by Guy Kawasaki, Will Mayall, and Kathryn Henkens
  • Web site: http://alltop.com

Costs:

  • Free
]]> http://www.appvita.com/2008/09/12/alltop-digital-magazine-rack-2/feed/ 0 Zillow – Your Online Real Estate Guruhttp://www.appvita.com/2008/09/12/zillow-your-online-real-estate/ http://www.appvita.com/2008/09/12/zillow-your-online-real-estate/#comments Fri, 12 Sep 2008 02:50:37 +0000 Kathryn Pope http://centurytel.appvita.com/?p=304 ss-zillow

How much is your house worth? Is it worth as much as the neighbor’s house? How does it compare to houses across town – or the hot pink duplex at the end of the block that seems to have had a ‘for sale’ sign in the lawn for the past six months? Whether you’re planning on selling your home, buying your first home, or just curious about the status of the house down the street, Zillow may be the tool for you. It gives anyone easy access to records for homes that have been on the market, are on the market, and may be on the market soon. Zillow can also answer all sorts of real estate questions about things like mortgages and lenders as well as information on each home listed, like its number of bathrooms or the estimated value (cleverly called a “zestimate” by Zillow). The idea of an online application to provide this information is popular. In fact, only two days after its launch in 2006, Zillow had already received its millionth visitor – and Zillow’s tally of users has been growing ever since.

Zillow’s listings include a page for each home with a photo (if possible) and other publicly available information. What makes Zillow unique, though, is not the free access to information or their zesty real estate linguistics, but the ability for anyone to share information, ask questions, and start conversations about a home. The result is a site that’s enriched by the participation of buyers, sellers, owners, and real estate professionals. Zillow users can get useful information, but they can also discuss that information and help each other figure out what to do with it. So far, 2.5 million homes have been listed for sale on Zillow, and 100,000 real estates agents are listed on the site. It appears that, even during the days of foreclosures and mortgage lending problems (or perhaps especially during these times), web users want to know the price of their property.

Practical Uses:

  • Find information on homes for sale and have Zillow project monthly mortgage costs for each
  • Sell your home directly on Zillow
  • Use Zillow to promote your real estate agency
  • Receive quotes and make arrangements with lenders through Zillow

Insider Tips:

  • Even if you’re not planning to move, you might consider using the “Make Me Move” feature to list a price you couldn’t refuse for your home if it were offered and entice potential buyers to make an offer
  • To claim your home, edit your home’s facts, and post homes for sale, you’ll need to register. Browsing “zestimates” requires no login

What we liked:

  • It’s addictive! You’ll want to check out every home you’ve lived in or visited and see how much its worth
  • Zillow’s mobile feature allows you to get a “zestimate” on the fly when you enter an address into your cell phone
  • Discussions and user participation add a lot to the experience – especially for those new to real estate
  • Zillow’s “Real Estate Guide” helps buyers and sellers make informed decisions when deciding if you can afford to buy and how to choose the best time to head into escrow

What we didn’t like:

  • For now, most of the listings are in the US only
  • The Zestimates feature has been known to display inaccurate results in certain geographic regions because of a lack of timely sales data and market trends

Alternatives:

Company Info:

  • Launched: February 8, 2006
  • Privately Held
  • Headquarters: Seattle, WA
  • Founded by Rich Barton and Lloyd Frink
  • Web site: http://www.zillow.com

Costs:

  • Free (the site is supported by advertising)
]]> http://www.appvita.com/2008/09/12/zillow-your-online-real-estate/feed/ 0 Zapproved – Approve It, Track It, Store Ithttp://www.appvita.com/2008/09/12/zapproved-approve-it/ http://www.appvita.com/2008/09/12/zapproved-approve-it/#comments Fri, 12 Sep 2008 02:50:33 +0000 Kathryn Pope http://centurytel.appvita.com/?p=302 ss-zapproved

When it comes to decision-making – whether that decision is for the prom committee, the PTA, or the marketing department of a large corporation – two heads are better than one, and a group often trumps a pair. Still, collaboration can be tough, especially when it must happen electronically. Email conversations are difficult to track – and making decisions via email with a group of any size can be even tougher, as you try to keep track of who agrees, who disagrees, and how to keep the process in motion. A new web application, Zapproved, integrates with your email to help organize and encourage firm decision-making, taking the mess out of email approvals. There’s no more need to tally email responses, collect messages in electronic folders, or print out a batch of responses to keep track of who said what. Zapproved tracks the decision for you.

Zapproved is easy to use. To start, just click the button for a new proposal. Then, create a note and attach any files needed. Enter the email addresses of the approvers, select a due date and priority level, and hit send. Everyone will get an email with your proposal and three options to choose from: they can approve your proposal, reject your proposal, or just leave a comment. After the proposal is sent, all the action takes place within each email, so approvers don’t have to visit or register with Zapproved to participate. As these steps take place, everyone in the group can see how decisions are being made, who has replied, and who is still considering a proposal. When deadlines approach, Zapproved will remind everyone to keep the decision-making process moving on schedule. Zapproved even stores all past decisions for future reference, in case there’s ever any question. The process of coming to consensus has never been more decisive.

Practical Uses:

  • Plan fewer meetings without sacrificing team participation
  • Allow space for colleagues to review the budget carefully, without being pressured to come to a decision right after your presentation
  • Create a forum for employees in your start-up to collaborate on new ideas and innovations – while getting clear feedback from supervisors
  • Get your boss’s approval to move forward on the group project you’ve prepared without having to call a formal meeting
  • Vote on small or immediate initiatives in your community organization, PTA, or church committees without meeting each week

Insider Tips:

  • Zapproved’s motto includes transparency in all decision-making, so be aware that every approver will see the decisions and comments of others
  • In some states, Zapproved will provide legally-binding evidence of an agreement. In other states, additional, old-school documentation may be necessary

What we liked:

  • All decision-making with Zapproved takes place within email, so anyone with an e-mail address can receive and respond to a proposal
  • Because Zapproved only gives users the option to accept, reject, or comment on proposals, decisions are pushed toward a clear yes or no
  • The dashboard includes handy icons, showing how many people you’re waiting to hear from and whether anyone is waiting to hear from you for approval
  • When you send a proposal, recipients will see your name in the “from” field of a Zapproved email, so it will be clear that a proposal is coming from you, rather than a website

What we didn’t like:

  • Although emails to approvers will look like they’re coming from you, they are actually sent by support@zapproved.com, which means that proposals may accidentally get routed to spam folders
  • Zapproved is free while it’s in beta, but there’s no news yet on how much the finished product will cost subscribers

Alternatives:

There are no services similar to Zapproved at this time, but here are some web-based collaboration tools:

Company Info:

  • Launched: August 2008
  • Privately Held and operated by Enand Ventures, LLC
  • Headquarters: Portland, Oregon
  • Founded by Monica Enand
  • Web site: http://www.zapproved.com

Costs:

  • Zapproved is free while it’s in beta, but there may be a subscription fee in the future
]]> http://www.appvita.com/2008/09/12/zapproved-approve-it/feed/ 0 WePlay – Kids and Athletes Connectinghttp://www.appvita.com/2008/09/12/weplay-kids-and-athletes/ http://www.appvita.com/2008/09/12/weplay-kids-and-athletes/#comments Fri, 12 Sep 2008 02:50:29 +0000 Kathryn Pope http://centurytel.appvita.com/?p=300 ss-weplay

MySpace and Facebook have become cluttered with ads, applications, and millions of users. While these social networking sites might be good places for friends who know each other or adults to network with colleagues, they aren’t the safest online space for kids to meet new friends. A new site called Weplay has a more specialized and less cluttered social network—one designed specifically for young athletes who play baseball, football, and softball. Like most social networks, users on Weplay can post pictures, videos, and connect with each other by “friending” one other on the site. Unlike other social networking sites, all the participants are involved somehow in youth sports – including the collection of professional athletes in the network who serve as role models for younger players.

With the opportunity to connect with professional players like baseball player Derek Jeter, basketball player LeBron James, former soccer player Brandi Chastain and former swimmer and current broadcaster Summer Sanders, Weplay is an obvious draw for young athletes. What kid hasn’t dreamed of being an Olympic gold medalist or a professional football, basketball, or baseball player? And what kid hasn’t hoped to hang out with a pro to find out how it’s done? The site isn’t just for the kids, though. It’s also for parents, coaches, and fans. There are even family accounts for whole families to participate, and parents will be happy to hear that all professional players participating in Weplay were youth sports participants once upon a time, and all exemplify the benefits of youth sports: the good values and skills that come with winning, losing, and working at the game.

Practical Uses:

  • A little league coach can sign up her team for the site, then use it to share team photos and videos with parents and families
  • Families can use Weplay to share news of the kids’ sporting events with far-away relatives
  • Kids can be inspired and encouraged by professional players on the site while connecting safely with other young athletes

Insider Tips:

  • Once you’re a member, you have the opportunity to vote for your favorite photos among those taken by other members, which gives you a crack at winning gear or autographed memorabilia

What we liked:

  • Weplay allows parents to get involved so they can safely monitor potential online safety hazards. Safeguards include a strong language filter for all open text fields and moderation of videos before they’re posted
  • The site encourages positive role modeling with professional players – and inspiration for kids hoping to one day follow in their footsteps
  • Weplay also offers discounted prices on name brand apparel and equipment
  • Family accounts are available for parents of children who are younger than 13 years old

What we didn’t like:

  • We’re looking forward to more sports being added to the site to widen the playing field (so to speak), especially with soccer, swimming, and basketball
  • Professional players could update their profiles more often, to help inspire the site’s users
  • If young athletes aren’t guided toward good sportsmanship by coaches and parents offline, this sports-based online arena may become a way for young athletes to continue bad behaviors online

Alternatives:

While there are no directly comparable sites, there are a few sites for sports fans and/or high school athletes

Company Info:

  • Launched: March 2008
  • Privately Owned by Weplay, Inc.
  • Headquarters: New York, NY
  • Founded by Steve Hansen
  • Web site: http://www.weplay.com

Costs:

  • Free
]]> http://www.appvita.com/2008/09/12/weplay-kids-and-athletes/feed/ 0 Tripology – Leave Your Travel to the Expertshttp://www.appvita.com/2008/09/12/tripology-leave-to-the-experts/ http://www.appvita.com/2008/09/12/tripology-leave-to-the-experts/#comments Fri, 12 Sep 2008 02:50:14 +0000 Kathryn Pope http://centurytel.appvita.com/?p=298 ss-tripology

It’s finally vacation time, but before you can pack your bags, there’s much to do. You’ll need to find a charming bed & breakfast, book the flight, and decide what sights you’ll be visiting. If you’re traveling abroad, you’ll need to arrange for visas, exchange money, and figure out if the hair dryer is going to work in the outlets. There’s also life at home: arranging the pet sitter and holding the mail, not to mention tackling the portion of your to-do stack that just can’t wait until you get back. With all the work involved just getting away, why not get a professional to take care of the details for you? It saves loads of time – and can save a bit of money, too, if you’re working with a travel specialist. Still, finding a travel agent can be almost as time consuming as making travel arrangements yourself. A website called Tripology, which works like a dating service for travelers and travel agents, now makes the process a whole lot simpler. In fact, since it launched in June of 2007, Tripology has already matched over 18,000 travelers with travel specialists.

Tripology is not a travel agency, and the site doesn’t sell airplane tickets or cruise packages, like some travel sites. Instead, they refer users to travel agents. Once you’ve registered on the Tripology website, you can enter information for a specific trip, requesting help with flights, car rentals, trains, cruises, or hotels. You can also request information on activities at your destination, from museums to eco-tourism. Then, Tripology looks for up to three travel agents who can help you plan the trip. These agents will contact you, each hoping to be the one to take the work out of your vacation plans – and free your time for packing the sunscreen and flip flops.

Practical Uses:

  • Plan your multiple-city European vacation without multiple migraines
  • Get theater tickets and tour packages for friends and family visiting from out of town
  • Find a travel agent who specializes in alternate forms of travel, like trains and buses
  • Buy a travel package specialized for seniors who enjoy historical sites as a gift for your parents’ 50th wedding anniversary

Insider Tips:

  • Tripology is about taking away the time and the hassle of trip planning, not shaving off $20 here or there. If you need the absolute best deal, it may still be best to continue DIY travel planning
  • The skills, personalities, and fees of travel agents will vary, so keep trying if you don’t get the right match right away
  • Although you might be tempted to give only your email address, sharing your phone number can help assure that you find the three most qualified specialists to help with your trip, since not all agents will use email

What we liked:

  • Unlike many travel sites, Tripology isn’t limited to hotels and flights. Users can request information on other forms of transit, like train travel or buses
  • Tripology also asks for information on your lifestyle, so you can let agents know right off the bat if you’re traveling with seniors and kids, if you’re with a religious group, or if you’re adventure-seekers. This information can help agents know what type of activities you might most enjoy
  • The site has a feature that allows users to rate and give feedback on the travel agent(s) you work with

What we didn’t like:

  • Since Tripology hands your project over to independent agents, the level of service and expertise of the agents you’re put in touch with may vary
  • The website is still in beta, and we experienced occasional glitches in the system

Alternatives:

There aren’t other sites that link to travel agents, but here are some online travel planning websites

Company Info:

Costs:

  • Using Tripology for referrals to travel agents is free, although each agent will charge a fee for service
]]> http://www.appvita.com/2008/09/12/tripology-leave-to-the-experts/feed/ 5 Highrise – Track Your Peoplehttp://www.appvita.com/2008/09/05/highrise-track-your-people/ http://www.appvita.com/2008/09/05/highrise-track-your-people/#comments Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:43:23 +0000 Kathryn Pope http://centurytel.appvita.com/?p=283 ss-highrise

When did you say you’d call Jim back? What did the insurance agent tell you about the number of days to file a claim, and when were you going to send that report? It can be hard to remember the details of the conversations in our lives, especially with all the emails, phone calls, meetings, and conversations we may have in a day. Workers in sales have known for decades the importance of remembering the details of a past conversation to keep track of a client’s order or what happened when Bob called last Thursday. Even in other industries, though, it can be increasingly difficult but important to keep track of employees, clients, colleagues, students, and anyone else who matters to your work. There are lots of address books and downloadable sales software programs that can help keep track of the people in our lives. Those that help you track not only phone numbers and addresses but latest conversations are called customer relationship management (CRM) tools. Still, many of these programs are either limited to one computer or designed for large companies with large budgets to match. Thankfully, a new CRM tool is on the scene: a simple but robust online application called Highrise. Highrise can help small businesses, startups, families, and people with hopping social lives keep all their people and notes in one easily-accessible place. Highrise also lets you share this database with others in your company or family without worrying about synchronization or accessibility.

Highrise is simple to use. The application sets up a webpage for everyone in your contact list with contact information and records of past conversations and updates. You can view contacts according to tags, according to company, or by viewing “cases,” groups of related contacts and notes that you gather together on a single page. You can view your last conversation with a client, the latest update on that insurance claim, or details from the last email you got from your Aunt Marie. Records can include typed notes from phone conversations, emails forwarded to Highrise, and attached files or photos. You can also create tasks for a contact and receive email or text messages as reminders. Highrise’s dashboard brings all these features and your latest updates together on one page when you log in, making it easy to track and take care of your people.

Practical Uses:

  • Keep an online sales database for your small business that’s always available and up-to-date
  • Organize student and alumni information for schools and departments, including enrollment and updated contact info
  • Track conversations with insurance agents, customer service reps, the cable guy, and the holiday card list
  • Tie your to-do list with the people you’re working for or with, to have your contacts and tasks all in one place

Insider Tips:

  • Be sure to write down your Highrise “Dropbox” — an email address where you can forward messages to and from your contacts. Then, you can keep records of each conversation right within Highrise to remind you of past conversations. Also, read Highrise’s directions on how to use this address to insure that your emails reach your database safely.
  • You can cancel your subscription any time, but you might want to try the free version or one of the 30-day trial before committing to a paid plan
  • Start by importing contacts from Outlook, ACT!, or other address books, rather than manually entering each new contact
  • Use the RSS (real simple syndication) feed feature to keep an eye on dashboard updates from your colleagues in your feed reader

What we liked:

  • Highrise’s interface is so simple and intuitively designed that the learning curve is less than a bump in the road
  • Highrise’s email dropbox feature is killer—and makes it easy to keep track of important emails for a particular contact
  • You can also email a task to your Highrise account
  • With so many web 2.0 applications in beta, users have become used to period glitches in systems. Highrise stands out in its stability. As long as your internet connection is stable, Highrise is stable too
  • Accounts are password protected. Plus, Premium, and Max accounts also include SSL security (which is what online banks use)

What we didn’t like:

  • The free plan is limited to 250 contacts, two users, and just one case. Paid plans may be too steep for individuals and families.
  • You can import contacts from Mac address book, Outlook, and the sales software ACT!, but there is no way to easily import from an excel file and other non-address book formats
  • Printing contacts can be tricky (and uses lots of paper!). It would be nice to have a compactly printed option to take contact info on the go

Alternatives:

Company Info:

  • Launched: March 2007
  • Privately Held by 37Signals
  • Headquarters: Chicago, IL
  • Founded By: Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson, Sarah Hatter, Ryan Singer, Sam Stephenson, and Jamie Dihiansan, Matt Linderman, Mark Imbriaco, Jeremy Kemper, Jeffrey Hardy, and Jamis Buck
  • Web site: http://www.highrisehq.com

Costs:

  • Multiple options are available at different price ranges, from the free (but limited) plan that allows users store up to 250 contacts to the $149/month “Max” plan designed for companies needing to track conversations and files for up to 50,000 contacts. In the middle are plans for individuals and small businesses.
]]> http://www.appvita.com/2008/09/05/highrise-track-your-people/feed/ 1 Earth Class Mail – Snail Mail 2.0http://www.appvita.com/2008/09/05/earth-class-mail/ http://www.appvita.com/2008/09/05/earth-class-mail/#comments Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:43:12 +0000 Kathryn Pope http://centurytel.appvita.com/?p=282 ss-earthclassmail

We check our email online and some of us even check our voicemail online. What if you could check your postal mail online, from any computer in the world? A new service called Earth Class Mail provides the ability to do just that. While at first glance, this might seem like an unnecessary convenience, there are actually many good reasons to use a service like Earth Class mail. Frequent travelers, those in the middle of a cross-country move, people serving in the military, and small business owners may all have good reason to use an online mail service rather than traditional snail mail.

After signing up for Earth Class Mail, you’ll need to tell folks (companies, utilities, etc.) your new mailing address. What will your Earth Class Mail address be? There are several options, from P.O. box addresses in many major cities to high-profile street addresses in cities like New York or Los Angeles or to the Earth Class Mail processing office in Beaverton, Oregon. Each time you receive a piece of mail at your new address, you’ll receive an email notification with a photo of the envelope. You can choose to have the piece of mail scanned, have it shredded and recycled, or archive it. Scanned mail can be downloaded as PDF files and saved to your computer, shared with others, or deleted. The process makes it easy to sift through stacks of mail without – well, actually having to sift through stacks of mail.

Practical Uses:

  • Receive your mail without interruption while traveling overseas, summering in another part of the country, or while you’re in the midst of a move
  • Give your college-bound daughter her own mailing address, independent of the dorm she’s living in this semester
  • Create an electronic P.O. box for your business
  • Have your mail scanned as it arrives – and archive all your bills and official documents on your computer (or print as many copies as you need), rather than in a file cabinet
  • Allow any authorized employee (no matter which office she works in) to process company mail
  • Create an online mailbox for family members in the military to get their mail no matter where they’re deployed, without delays

Insider Tips:

  • You can have all your mail forwarded to your Earth Class Mail account, but the company recommends that you don’t do this, since you’ll want some companies (especially places where you order packages) to send you mail directly to your house
  • If you do get something (a business license, rebate check, etc.) that you need to have physically, Earth Class Mail will forward it to you, for an additional fee
  • Setting up Earth Class Mail does take a little legwork, since the company needs a form signed and notarized, in order to legally accept mail on your behalf

What we liked:

  • Earth Class Mail makes it easy to handle snail mail – and integrates your mail with your email for easy processing
  • The quality of scans is excellent
  • Customer Service for Earth Class Mail is responsive, available, and very helpful – which is especially important as you’re setting up the service
  • The company has many security measures in place, from online security to rigorous employee screening, to ensure that information is safe

What we didn’t like:

  • Seeing your mail does take two steps – requesting a scan (which can take a couple of days) and opening the scanned item. While this is understandable, it does require a little extra processing

Alternatives:

  • There are no services similar to Earth Class Mail at this time

Company Info:

Costs:

  • Plans range from $9.95/month to $59.95/month, depending on volume of mail and the type of address
]]> http://www.appvita.com/2008/09/05/earth-class-mail/feed/ 1 Cozi – Command Central for your Homehttp://www.appvita.com/2008/09/05/cozi-command-central/ http://www.appvita.com/2008/09/05/cozi-command-central/#comments Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:43:07 +0000 Kathryn Pope http://centurytel.appvita.com/?p=280 ss-cozi

Organizing family life can feel more like organizing a small business than a home. With work, school, extra-curricular, travel, and weekend schedules, planning can be challenging. Then there are plans about who will pick up the milk, how everyone will get to work and school if a car breaks down, where to keep the list of people to invite to the baby shower. With so much information that needs to be shared, it can be good to have a central location for it all. An online family system called Cozi can help your family put everything in one place.

Cozi is a family scheduling application, but it does a lot more than a kitchen calendar can. The site includes a family calendar, with the activities of each family member color-coded. Viewers can see what everyone is doing or view only their own events. The website also makes it easy to send messages (by text or email) to family members – right from the site. By far the most exciting feature in Cozi, though, is the lists feature. You can create shopping lists for the grocery store, the farmer’s market, and the pet store. You can also customize your own lists. Create a to do list to complete before the in-laws visit or a list of people to send holiday cards. Any family member can add to the list. Then, when you’re ready to shop (or send someone else to the store), you can send the list as a text message by phone. If you find yourself at the supermarket without your list, just call Cozi and have the list sent via text message or have Cozi read it to you over the phone. Cozi also includes some options for recording and viewing family memories. You can get a screensaver of your photos or blog about your family in the family journal. With calendar, lists, messaging, journal, and photos, you have command central to communicate with your family and get the business of home life taken care of.

Practical Uses:

  • Move the kitchen calendar to your desktop – and allow your family to keep track of things from any computer.
  • Update your grocery list the moment you remember you’re almost out of cat food, whether you’re at home or work
  • Send a quick grocery list to your spouse when he’s on his way home, so he doesn’t forget the milk
  • View schedules for the kids’ hockey practice, piano lessons, and carpool schedules alongside your husband’s travel plans to get an overview of what’s happening for your family
  • Teach kids about time management as they see their own calendars and learn to add items themselves

Insider Tips:

  • Use the Outlook connector to connect your work calendar with the family calendar
  • The photo gallery and screensaver are worth the download
  • The family journal is still in development and can currently only be viewed by those who use Cozi on your family account, but Cozi is planning to eventually allow users to invite friends and relatives outside of Cosi to view the blog, without seeing your grocery and holiday gift lists

What we liked:

  • Being able to send your grocery list to another family member or yourself with just a phone call is a killer feature and will change the way your family shops and keeps track of chores
  • A private family blog is a nice way to keep an electronic record of your family’s news. We’re excited for the possibilities with this service once relatives and friends are able to view this information
  • The photo screen saver arranges and displays family photos from your computer and also displays upcoming calendar items

What we didn’t like:

  • The ads that show up on some of Cozi’s pages are large and animated, which can be distracting
  • It would be nice if Cozi could sync directly with other common calendars, such as Google calendar
  • Currently, users can message only one family member at a time. An option to broadcast text or email messages would be convenient—especially for large families.

Alternatives:

Company Info:

  • Launched: March 2005
  • Privately Owned
  • Headquarters: Seattle, WA
  • Founded by Robbie Cape and Jan Miksovsky
  • Web site: http://www.cozi.com

Costs:

  • Free (supported by advertising)
]]> http://www.appvita.com/2008/09/05/cozi-command-central/feed/ 0 AwayFind – Living Outside Your Inboxhttp://www.appvita.com/2008/09/05/awayfind-living-outside/ http://www.appvita.com/2008/09/05/awayfind-living-outside/#comments Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:43:03 +0000 Kathryn Pope http://centurytel.appvita.com/?p=278 ss-awayfind

Whether you get 30 messages a day or 330, email can be overwhelming. Today, many of us spend all day in the inbox, replying to requests the moment we hear the ping of email notification. The pressure to deal with bloated email inboxes with increasing speed has hit workers hard in recent years. Some high-profile professionals have even had to declare “e-mail bankruptcy” when their inboxes get out of hand. It’s not just the stress of dealing with email that’s a problem, though. The habit of checking email 10, 20, or 50 times a day hurts productivity and makes it tough to get the real work of the day done. In fact, a 2005 study found that workers distracted by incoming email scored, on average, 16 points lower on IQ tests than those who weren’t distracted – a score lower even than study participants who were exposed to marijuana. But what can we, as workers, do when the world expects immediacy? Should we hire an assistant to help us get through that inbox? Should we work through the night to get the inbox to empty each day? Not necessarily. Instead, we might try an innovative solution called AwayFind.

AwayFind is a simple, but effective way to separate urgent email from messages that can wait. Once you register, AwayFind will create an online form for people to use when sending you an urgent message. This form is shared with your contacts either in your email signature or as part of an auto-response. When the form is submitted by a contact, you’ll receive an urgently-marked email or text message from AwayFind, alerting you that someone needs your help right away. It’s a simple, but brilliant way to let your contacts know that you’re not in your inbox 24/7 but that you will respond if they need you urgently. When I first tried the program, I was hesitant about sending an auto-response to my contacts – and worried about appearing non-responsive to the needs of those I work with. Surprisingly, I found that my contacts were not only tolerant of the AwayFind system, but relaxed in knowing that their messages were received and that there was a trusted way to reach me, if they needed to speed up the response time. My inbox may still be full, but I know that messages there can wait at least a little while, as I make some serious headway on other projects.

Practical Uses:

  • Handle truly urgent issues immediately, without having to wade through the entire inbox
  • Manage the expectations of those who email you about when you can be available
  • Arrange for urgent messages to reach you while you’re traveling – without hiring an assistant to field messages for you
  • Use AwayFind to create a general contact form for your company. AwayFind can route and notify different departments and workers, depending on the type of message

Insider Tips:

  • If you’d rather not send an auto-response to everyone who sends you an email, try using your personal AwayFind link in your signature line instead
  • Do customize your contact form and auto-response. This helps your contacts know they are really reaching you and understand which types of messages count as urgent
  • AwayFind is still in beta – and currently available via invite only

What we liked:

  • AwayFind is designed to work with gmail, Yahoo!, MSN, Outlook, and other email providers
  • The program includes specialized email templates to help you explain AwayFind to others
  • You can personalize your contact form and your auto-response to meet your needs
  • Quality screencasts make AwayFind easy to set up
  • For users of the professional plan, AwayFind can route messages to different numbers for delegation to others or categorize incoming messages for easier response

What we didn’t like:

  • AwayFind provides lots of tips and tools to help your contacts get used to the system, but there is still a learning curve, for those emailing you. When I first tried it, I found that, while most people see the difference between an urgent and a non-urgent message, some contacts will treat everything as urgent, and others may think they have to fill out the form each time they email you, just because it’s there. Keep in mind that you’ll need to educate your contacts, so they understand how the process works

Alternatives:

There are no services similar to AwayFind at this time

Company Info:

  • Launch Date: AwayFind is still in beta but will launch in the next few months (as of 9/08)
  • Privately Owned
  • Headquarters: Washington, DC
  • Founded by Jared Goralnik
  • Web site: http://www.awayfind.com

Costs:

  • There is a free plan and a Professional plan, at $5/month. The professional plan includes SSL security, message routing by category, and a place for your logo on the contact form
]]> http://www.appvita.com/2008/09/05/awayfind-living-outside/feed/ 0 Jaxtr – Globalize Your Phonehttp://www.appvita.com/2008/09/05/jaxtr-globalize-your-phone/ http://www.appvita.com/2008/09/05/jaxtr-globalize-your-phone/#comments Fri, 05 Sep 2008 02:50:03 +0000 Kathryn Pope http://centurytel.appvita.com/?p=296 ss-jaxtr

One of your best friends from college lives in Seoul. A business contact lives in the United Kingdom, and a nonprofit you support does the bulk of its work in China. As our world becomes smaller and as more businesses, students, and families travel and connect with others across the globe, it is becoming increasingly more important to stay connected. With differences in mobile phone systems and intermittent connections with Internet phones, talking across continents can be more trouble than it’s worth. Jaxtr, along with a few other web phone services, have stepped in to help alleviate this problem – and make international phone communication almost as simple and inexpensive as domestic calls. Jaxtr is one of the leaders in this area, with over ten million users connecting with friends, family, and coworkers internationally.

Jaxtr has a group of features designed especially for international callers, including phone calls, voicemail, and text messaging for the transcontinental jet set. Jaxtr users can add a badge to their website, MySpace, or Facebook page. When someone clicks on the badge, he or she gets a number to use for a local call that is redirected to your mobile or landline. You can set these calls to ring your phone or to go straight to your Jaxtr voicemail (which is emailed to you as an MP3 file). Jaxtr also gives users the capability to send free text messages internationally and to connect with other Jaxtr users in the web social networking section of Jaxtr. Whether it’s with a quick text or a much longer phone call, Jaxtr hopes to make it easier to communicate with friends who live down the street as well as those who live across the ocean.

Practical Uses:

  • International students can use Jaxtr to keep in close contact with friends and family at home
  • Families traveling overseas can call home for updates – without an international cell phone or internet connection
  • Workers and business owners can use Jaxtr to talk with international clients and global partners

Insider Tips:

  • Use Jaxtr to exchange phone numbers with others on a blog, or social networking site without giving away your real number
  • Use the call screening feature to eliminate calls from unwanted callers
  • Read the small print when viewing Jaxtr’s rates, to avoid accidental charges
  • Since Jaxtr turns voicemail into downloadable MP3 files, you might use Jaxtr to turn your cell phone into a digital recording device

What we liked:

  • Free international texting is available in 150 countries
  • Jaxtr allows social networking among Jaxtr users on the website’s “Café Jaxtr” page
  • Calls to other Jaxtr members are free

What we didn’t like:

  • The fee schedule is tricky. For example, when reading the fine print, you can find that click-to-call calls have an additional charge
  • Users are billed for calls forwarded, as well as outbound calls

Alternatives:

Company Info:

  • Launched: March 2007
  • Privately Owned
  • Headquarters: Menlo Park, CA
  • Founded by Konstantin Guericke, Touraj Parang and Phillip Mobin
  • Web site: http://www.jaxtr.com

Costs:

  • Rates for calls are $0.01-$0.92/minute, depending on the country
  • International text messages are free
  • Calls to other Jaxtr members are free
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