Useful Cloud Based Tools Presentation

I decided to do my presentation on Dropbox.  You can find my power point presentation at:
https://docs.google.com/a/myedge.cc/present/edit?id=0AWnHYmbMQYzSZGQzZmNjYmJfMGZqajVnN3Zu&hl=en

Useful Cloud Based Tools

    After doing some research on cloud based tools, I have chosen 2 tools for digital pictures, 1 tool purely for fun, and 2 home and business managing tools.
The first site is Flickr, at http://www.flickr.com/.  Flickr is from Yahoo, and is a free tool for organizing, editing and sharing photos and videos.  You create your free account, then start uploading photos from your phone, e-mail, or browser.  Flickr has five levels of privacy control so that photos can be viewed only by the people you want to see them.  The levels are: Anyone, Only Friends, Only Family, Only You, and Viewing on a Guest Pass.  The viewing on a Guess Pass is for someone that does not have a Flickr account, but is invited to see your photos.  You can edit your photos with Picnik and label, tag and organize them through the Organizr.  Flickr accounts can be connected to Facebook, Twitter, Blogging, or Yahoo Updates.  Your Flickr site can be customized to display your photos or embedded with a slide show.  Flickr also allows you to  search for friends by name or email address and will allow you to import your contacts from your e-mail account.

Manilla          The second site is Manilla, at  http://www.manilla.com/.  Manilla is a free account management site that allows you to consolidate your household accounts, financial accounts, subscription and travel accounts all in one location.  Your home page has tabs for Accounts, Mail, and Reminders.  The Accounts tab shows you a listing of all your bills and bill information, and bills can be paid from this tab.  The Mail tab shows e-mails that only relate to your accounts.  There is no spam in Manilla.  The Reminders tab show bills that are due within the next 14 days.  On this tab, you can choose to have yourself sent a reminder e-mail or text message when bills are due.  Manilla uses bank level security to protect your private information.

Pixlr        The third site is Pixlr, at http://pixlr.com/ .  This site is the self-proclaimed "most advanced online image editor in the world".  There is no membership required - just upload a photo from your computer, from an URL or from a library and start editing.  You can even start with a blank image and create your own graphic.  There is Pixlr Editor for detailed editing and Pixlr Express for quick editing.  Pixlr Grabber comes as a download for Chrome and Firefox that allows you to grab browser content for editing, sharing, and saving directly in the browser. Pixlr imm.io is available for photo sharing.  Pixlr makes the photo available to your friends and family, but removes the photo if it is not viewed in 30 days.

Blue Mountain E-Cards       Blue Mountain E-card is found at http://www.bluemountain.com/ and is a free e-card design and sending service.  It has cards tailored for all ages and genders and for all occasions that can be personalized and sent to your friends and family.  An account is required, but after that simple step you are eligible to make and send as many cards as you want.  It is a great way to remember all those who are special to you without spending a fortune.

Dropbox           Dropbox (found at https://www.dropbox.com/) is a wonderful tool that allows you to have access to any file placed in a Dropbox folder on your personal computers and phones, and access to the file from any computer via Dropbox.com.  Dropbox automatically updates the Dropbox file in all venues after changes have been made to the file.  Files and photos can be shared with friends, family and co-workers by sending specific links to files to your target viewer.  Also, you can make files or photos available to everyone by copying them to your Public folder. 
     Dropbox is very secure.  Files are encrypted with AES-256 before storage and data is transported using SSL. Dropbox provides an automatic backup source for your files with 2G of free storage. (More can be purchased with a monthly charge.)  Download the Dropbox installer on all your computing devices, upload files to Dropbox.com or drag and drop them into your Dropbox folder on your computer and you can have access to your files anytime/anywhere.

Apps That Make Life Easier

     When perusing WSJ.com, I came across an interesting article by Michelle Price of Wall Street Journal Europe.  It was entitled "Top 10 Apps That Will Change Your Life".  In the article Ms. Price proceeds to describe 10 apps that are "the most useful, most recommended and most interesting."  I'm not sure who recommended these apps, but some of them certainly could be beneficial.  See if any of these new apps could be a help to you:
OmniFocus - This app is a location-based task manager that uses GPS and WiFi positioning to remind you to do a specific task when you are near the location of said task.  For example, if you program "get prescriptions filled" into your smart phone in the morning, it will remind you to do the task if you are near a pharmacy.  (for iPhone and iPad)
DataVault Password Manager - This program is designed by Ascendo, Inc. and provides a way to store and manage passwords, credit-card information, and other essential personal information in a highly secure, encrypted format. (for desktop computers, iPhone, iPad and iPod touch)
Find My Car! - For those of you who have a difficult time finding your car when you come out of a mall or the Walmart store, this app uses the smart phone's location capability to establish the location of your parked car, then will locate the car for you on the phone's map function when you are heading back after shopping.  This program will also store visual information for those people who can't read maps.  (for iPhones)
Drinks Tracker - If you are tempted to overindulge, this app keeps up with the amount of alcohol you consume.  Just input the size, quantity, and strength of the drinks you have consumed and it will display the quantity of alcohol consumed in graph form. (for iPhones)
Word Lens - This app translates printed words in one language into another language using the phone's camera.  For example, if you are traveling and can't read a road sign, the app allows you to point the camera at the sign then gives you the translation. At the present time, this app only translates Spanish to English and vice versa  but other languages are in the process of being programmed for the app. (for iPhones and iPads)
IMDb - Internet Movie Database has the world's largest collection of TV and film trivia with a database of 1.5 million films and TV shows.  Put an end to arguments and discussions with facts from IMDb. (iPhones, iPads, iPod touch, and Androids)
Layar Reality Browser - This app uses the augmented reality technology to provide additional information about a user's location.  Just point the phone's camera at a location and Layar Reality will provide additional information relevant to the location, such as the most popular restaurants in the area or apartments available for rent. (iPhones)
Spotify - This app is for music-streaming without advertisements and allows the user to play back songs when offline.  (for desktops, iPhones, Androids)
Shazam - This is a "music discovery engine".  When you can't identify a song, just hold your phone to the music (whether it is playing on the radio or on a shop speaker) and the app will give you the song title and the artist. (Androids, iPhones, iPads)
The Good Food Guide 2011 - This app if for those people traveling or living in the UK.  (The author of the WSJ article lives in Europe.) It locates restaurants in a given area based on cuisine, cost, and reviewers recommendations using the phones GPS and WiFi location service.  (iPhones and iPads)
     With hundreds of apps to choose from, this list may provide an app that is beneficial to you.  I don't have a smart phone, but I must say they certainly are appealing! For more information, go to: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704739504576067940909870176.html?KEYWORDS=Top+10+Apps+That+Will+Change+Your+Life

Facebook's Open Compute Project

     Facebook is sharing the details for its server systems and designs for its computer facilities in hope that it will generate innovation and improvements much like the results from open-source software.  This "Open Compute Project"  hopes to lower industry-wide energy use.  According to a WSJ article by Geoffrey Fowler, Facebook's Prineville operations are "38% more energy-efficient and 24% more cost-effective than the machines the social-networking giant had been using."  Current collaborators in the Open Compute Project include Intel Corp., Advanced Micro Devices, Hewlett-Packard Co., and Dell Inc. 
     Google, Apple Inc. and Twitter Inc.  are in the process of building new data centers to provide "computing resources, data-storage capacity and software services to companies and consumers over the Internet."  A Google spokesperson said that they were still becoming familiar with the project but supported any initiative that enabled businesses to develop energy-efficient designs.  Google Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.  are two companies that are historically secretive about their computing infrastructure.
    I think Facebook's new project is admirable, progressive, "green" and great for public relations. It has made me take another look at Facebook as a corporation and not just an aggravating social-networking site.
For more information go to:  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704013604576248953972500040.html?mod=WSJ_Tech_LEFTTopNews
   

Google Becomes more Social with "+1"

     Google has decided to offer a new option for its popular search engine.  It will offer a "social search"  called "+1" or "plus one".  "+1" will allow users to receive search results recommended by friends.  According to an article by Amir Efrati in the WSJ,  the move to offer a social search is striking since nearly $30 billion in annual revenue comes from Ads placed in Google's traditional search engine.  This move by Google is an attempt to stay at the top of Web innovation and to attract and maintain advertising revenue.
     +1 works like this:
                a.  You must create a Google public profile through your Gmail or other Google account.
                b.  If searching while signed in, highlighted results will show sites that have been recommended by
                     your friends and contacts.
                c.  Search results can also contain content that has been highlighted by others using the +1 button.
Christian Oestlien, a Google product manager, stated, "Recommendations play a vital role in our decision-making process.  You look at the advice of people you know and trust."
     Google has attempted to enter the social-networking market several times before with little success.  A year ago the attempt was called Google Buzz.  This next attempt to become more "Social" won't replace the traditional Google search engine which is based on a mathematical algorithm that ranks sites on how "relevant they are to a user's search query".  "+1"  will allow friends to recommend websites via Gmail or other Google services.  The "+1" button will be similar to Facebook's "Like" button for any site that installs the button. Users can recommend the site or content by clicking on the button. One of the purposes of "+1" will be to reorder search results so that the most useful sites are listed first.  I'm sure the main purpose of "+1" is to keep advertising dollars coming in.  For more info, go to:  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703806304576232771273306208.html?mod=WSJ_Tech_LEFTTopNews