App of the Month – Meetup

Our application of the month this month is Meetup.

Meetup – the Meetup application allows you to access meetup.com on the go. Meetup is a site that helps people coordinate meetings, both business and/or personal. Meetup allows you to search for local meetings that may be happening in your area and join other individuals that have similar interests. It also allows you to share and comment on meetings. Meetup is great for those event organizers and/or people who have moved and want to mingle.

Cost: FREE

For more information on Meetup, feel free to contact Office Solutions ^ME!

App of the Month – Drop Box

Our Application of the Month is Drop Box.

Drop Box – The Drop Box application allows you to easily and efficiently share files on multiple computers, mobile devices (such as smart phones and tablets), and via a web-based system. When files are added to Drop Box, they become instantly available in all locations where the app has been downloaded, and via the Drop Box website. Files can also be shared with others, even if they do not have a Drop Box account. This is a great tool for efficiency, collaboration, and productivity! Perfect for virtual professionals!

Cost: Free

For more information on Drop Box, feel free to contact Office Solutions ME!

App of Month – WordPress

Here is our Smart Phone Application of Month for August:

WordPress – The WordPress application allows you to manage multiple blogs from your smart phone! This application let’s your write, edit, add pictures, view comments, publish, and more from virtually anywhere. Plus, any changes made via the application are also saved on the traditional site.

Cost: Free

App of Month – TweetDeck

Our Smart Phone Application review for the Month of July:

TweetDeck – TweetDeck is a social media application for Twitter

Why we like TweetDeck ?

1. It allows the user to update and manage multiple social media sites and profiles simultaneously.
2. It allows the user to arrange information from different profiles, topics, and sources into easily viewed columns.
3. It makes it easy to add pictures and videos to your social media sites.
4. It makes it easy to ReTweet or Reply in Twitter, follow, and also monitor what’s said about or to you or your business.
5. It notifies us of how many new messages we have in column.

What’s it missing?

1. The ability to delay posts.
2. The ability to view (retweet, reply, etc…) to posts that are not in a column (i.e. when viewing someones profile)

Cost: Free

Need help learning how to use TweetDeck or any other Smart Phone Applications? Please Contact Office Solutions ^ME .

QR Codes Decrypted

If you haven’t heard of QR Codes, then you should check them out! These are custom ‘bar codes’ that direct readers to any website, text, etc. that you choose.  

What is a QR Code?  

According to Wikipedia;  

A QR Code is a matrix code (or two-dimensional bar code) created by Japanese corporation Denso-Wave in 1994. The “QR” is derived from “Quick Response”, as the creator intended the code to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed.  

QR Codes are common in Japan, where they are currently the most popular type of two dimensional codes. Moreover, most current Japanese mobile phones can read this code with their camera.  

Although initially used for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing, QR Codes are now used in a much broader context, including both commercial tracking applications and convenience-oriented applications aimed at mobile phone users (known as mobile tagging).  

QR Codes storing addresses and URLs may appear in magazines, on signs, buses, business cards, or just about any object that users might need information about. Users with a camera phone equipped with the correct reader software can scan the image of the QR Code causing the phone’s browser to launch and redirect to the programmed URL. This act of linking from physical world objects is known as a hardlink or physical world hyperlinks. Google’s mobile Android operating system supports the use of QR codes by natively including the barcode scanner (ZXing) on some models and the browser supports URI redirection, which allows QR Codes to send metadata to existing applications on the device. Nokia’s symbian operating system is also provided with a barcode scanner, which is able to read QR Codes.  

Visit Wikipedia for more information.  

So, being a web based, technology friendly company, we naturally thought these were interesting and wanted to share them! So, we went to Kaywa  (there are many free code generating sites) and created our own QR Codes, then we created material to share these codes and the technology. We hope you enjoy this information and will find creative ways to put it to use for you!  

Want to try it out? Use a reader application to take a picture of the image below…  

Office Solutions ME QR Code. Try it out!

 

The Power of Presentations!

The ability to get in front of a crowed and captivate them is certainly an ART! There is so much that goes into a good presentation. There’s the ability to articulate, the physical appearance of the presenter, the setting of the venue, the content of what’s being presented, and the visuals being utilized. While majority of attendees are ‘visual learners’, we often place too much emphasis on the visuals of our presentation.

Here are a few things to consider when creating and using a PowerPoint or any other slide presentation;

Include;

1. A title slide – Show your audience who you are as you are telling them. This gives them the correct spelling of your name and company.
2. An outline slide – This is a basic agenda of what is to be covered, it sets the expectations of your presentation early.
3. Pictures and graphics – You’re creating a visual, so make it interesting, use images that correlate with the topics being covered.
4. Bulleted lists – Organize your topics into short bulleted lists. Avoid paragraphs of text.
5. Summary page – Finalize your presentation with a wrap-up slide and be sure to include you contact information at the end.

Avoid;

1. Reading your slides – Your audience can read (generally), they do not need you to read the slides to them. Your slides should only be outlines of what you are covering.
2. Alternating slide transitions – Don’t make your slide transitions so crazy that they take away from your presentation. Keep it simple, consistent, and professional.
3. Clip Art images – Don’t use standard clip art just because it’s there, it will make you look generic. Find and use images that are unique and meaningful to your topics.
4. Make it readable – Make sure that you use a font style, color, and size that the person in the back row can read easily.

Remember, a PowerPoint presentation is simply a fancy poster board; YOU are still giving the presentation!

If you have any examples or additional suggestions to add, please feel free to comment.

Bookmark & Share

 

iPhone: 4 Apps, 7 Features, 3 Wishes

I’ve owned my iPhone 3GS since August, and have yet to share my favorite applications (apps) or my review of the phone overall.

In a nutshell, I LOVE IT!

My favorite  apps;

1. TweetDeck – Twitter (social media) platform that allows me to manage multiple accounts at once, post Tweets, attach pictures, etc…
2. Word Press – allows me to manage multiple blogs at once, update posts, attach pictures, read comments, etc…
3. Facebook – (social media) keeps me informed of new messages and information as needed, allows me to update, add friends, etc…
4. Conquest – a mobile version of Risk that allows me to spend my down time conquering the world.

My favorite features;

1. Access to the Internet virtually anywhere! – even without an app, I can access e-mail and websites any where that I can get a cell phone signal, priceless especially for a virtual assistant!
2. Calendar – I live by a schedule and having an easy-to use calendar at my finger tips is essential!
3. Maps – this is almost as good as my GPS and it’s free.
4. Cut, Copy, Paste – this is such a time saver. I can copy a name or an address and then paste it to a contact or calendar item
5. Screenshots – by pushing the ‘home’ and ‘power’ button at the same time, you can take a picture of your screen, very helpful.
6. World clock – with friends and family all over the world, I can now know exactly what time it is and avoid call them at 3am.
7. Being able to look up a business on the Internet and then just touch their phone number to call them.

My wish list;

1. Spell check – while there is a sort of predictive text feature, I am a terrible speller, and a built in spell check would be amazing.
2. Record phone calls – there is a record feature and many downloadable apps, but none of them seem to work while you are on a call. I would find this useful during a business call, because I wouldn’t have to take as many notes.
3. Camera flash – while this is trivial and not standard on most phones, there have been occasions of dim lighting that were photo worthy.

Overall, this is an amazing piece of technology and I continue to find more ways to utilize it. And as a virtual assistant it has been invaluable as a business tool, saving me time and making me money.

If you have thoughts on the iPhone or additional features to add, I would love to hear them!

Bookmark & Share