Productivity Hacks

iCloud Vs. MobileMe, is there any difference?

With hype surrounding cloud-based services at an all-time high, Apple has officially announced the release of the highly-anticipated iCloud. While many were thrilled to hear about the new development, Apple’s decision to shutter its MobileMe service, in favor of a more efficient and capable cloud platform, left some Mac users concerned about the future of their data and mobile services. Nevertheless, the technology company has stated that the transition should be seamless, as the new service includes many of the great benefits previously provided by MobileMe. All of which begs the question: Is Apple’s newest system any different than MobileMe?

MobileMe first became available to Mac users in January of 2000, as a subscription service that provided, among other things, an email address @mac.com. Following the release of the iPhone 3G in 2008, the service was rebranded as MobileMe, and became available to users across the operating system spectrum. One of the many features MobileMe provides includes the popular “Find My iPhone” function, that allows users to locate their mobile device via the internal GPS tracking dot. The service also offers remote storage options, and the ability to publish websites through iLife.

Apple’s announcement of its new cloud-based services means that MobileMe will be shelved, as the company’s focus shifts towards providing storage options and contact management to a larger swath of tech consumers. Though the service will no longer be available, many of the great functions MobileMe provided will be available through the new cloud platform. In fact, the new service even offers features that MobileMe users were previously unable to access.

Mail synchronisation, contact management, and Find My iPhone will all be available to MobileMe users who choose to migrate their data to the new service. Documents in the Cloud, iTunes in the Cloud, and Photo Stream are further benefits that will be available to all iCloud users. In spite of all of these great features, however, MobileMe users will lose some features previously available to them. Individuals who previously synced system preferences and applications with MobileMe will no longer be able to do so. Furthermore, iCloud does not offer an email address, nor the ability to publish web sites.

As Apple’s cloud offering gains clout in the technology world, many other companies that already provide cloud-based service have been catapulted to the spotlight. Many of these companies provide similar functionalities as those provided by Apple. Furthermore, their immediate availability is of particular interest to those who’d like to begin utilizing such services immediately.

Amazon CloudDrive vs. iCloud

One of the biggest companies to announce cloud-based services is Amazon. Better known for its massive online shopping destination, Amazon has begun expanding itself into the technology market in recent years, with such developments as the Kindle eReader. The Amazon CloudDrive is a major competitor of the Apple cloud platform, and is already available to consumers.

Just like the Apple’s new system, the Amazon CloudDrive offers 5 GB of free storage to all users, with additional storage available at the cost of $1 per GB, per year. Pricing for additional storage on the iCloud is not yet available. The iCloud offers a music-streaming application that allows users to play the audio files in their digital database, and is available on any device that supports Adobe Flash. While the Apple cloud system is available to both Mac, iOS5 and Windows users, however, functionality is limited for those using Windows.

• Both provide 5 GB of free storage and the option to upgrade for additional storage.
• Amazon CloudDrive is available for all devices that support Adobe Flash; iCloud offers fully functionality only for iOS 5 devices and Mac users
• Amazon CloudDrive is managed through a browser-based protocol, whereas the iCloud syncs with applications in the background.

Google vs. iCloud

Google has also released its own offering in the world of cloud-based services. Unlike the Amazon CloudDrive and the iCloud, Google offers different storage quotas for each area of storage available. For example, users can store up to 1 GB each of Google Documents and Picasa files. 7 GB of general storage are offered free of charge, and additional storage up to 16 TB can be purchased. The Google Music Beta allows users to upload up to 20,000 songs from their personal libraries.

• Offers 7 GB of general storage, and 1 GB each for Google Documents and Picasa files; iCloud offers 5 GB of free storage.
• The Google cloud can be accessed by any device with a web browser; Full-functionality for the iCloud is only offered to iOS 5 and Mac users.
• The Google Music Beta allows up to 20,000 songs to be uploaded; Apple iCloud offers immediate storage of all iTunes purchases, and the ability to match existing music in the cloud for a fee.

Dropbox vs. iCloud

Finally, Dropbox is another popular cloud service that has gained popularity in the past year. Dropbox offers a desktop client that can sync files with the server, or it can be managed through a web browser. Dropbox offers 2 GB of free storage, and also has a music player for audio files uploaded to the cloud. Further storage space can be purchased, for a fee.

• Dropbox offers 2 GB of free storage; iCloud offers 5 GB of free storage.
• Dropbox operates through a desktop client or a web browser; iCloud acts invisibly in the background.
• Dropbox offers a music player for uploaded audio files; iCloud automatically syncs purchased music to the cloud.

Web users have many different storage options available to them. Whether they prefer options like Amazon CloudDrive and Dropbox that act as digital storage lockers, or are looking for a service like the iCloud that invisibly syncs content as it is created or purchased is a matter of personal preference. One thing important to remember is that it can be difficult to keep all of your files organized and keep contact management under control.

One great service that allows such management is the critically acclaimed Scrubly service. This service removes duplicate files from your many different contacts and address books, allowing freelancers to be more productive and organized. Another great feature Scrubly offers is the ability to fix formating errors in contact information.

Regardless of your specific cloud needs, the plethora of options means finding something that works for you should be a piece of cake. Armed with a contact management service like Scrubly, and a cloud service that keeps your files safe and sound, you’re ready to conquer productivity in one fell swoop. Cloud services help keep you better organized and more productive, making them a freelancer’s dream.

While iCloud is useful for online storage, up Next: “Microsoft’s Newest Cloud Offering, Office 365”

Using Gist to increase productivity and consolidate your work

Gist is an extremely useful tool. It allows you to collect a lot of data from a lot of places. Gist takes your contacts from your phone, Facebook, twitter and many other places. Next, Gist brings these contacts together and displays them in an easily accessible format. When using Gist, finding information on a contact such as their phone number, address or e-mail becomes as easily as checking your Facebook page. As well as this, Gist allows you to check other things such as news reports and your email with the press of a button.

You can use Gist everywhere, whether you are on the go, or sitting at home. This is because of the simple fact that Gist is an app that is viewable on both your phone and on your computer. This allows you to do a variety of things with Gist. First of all, it allows you to use Gist solely for the purpose of storing, collecting and accessing contact information on the go. As well as this, you can use Gist for checking the news and your email as an alternative to going through various sites to do this.

Gist is available on smart phones such as blackberries or iPhones. Having the Gist app on your phone would allow you to access information on one of your contacts quickly. All you would need to do is open up your phone and connect to Gist. Then you would simply search up the contact that you want to find out about, it’s that simple. However, if you are not in a rush, there are more things that you can do on Gist on your mobile. You can check blog posts, you can send emails and you can access twitter to tweet and look at other people’s twitter pages.

Similarly, you can do all of these things on Gist on your computer. Gist is available on many different places on the computer. It is available on web browsers such as Google chrome and Firefox. As well as this, it is available on websites like Gmail and applications such as Microsoft outlook. When you use Gist on the computer, you can carry out the same functions as Gist on mobile, you can check your Facebook, twitter, blog posts and your email. However, in addition to this, you can also check news updates. Gist allows you to check news from around the world from a multitude of sources that Gist has to offer.

One of the many benefits of using Gist is that it automatically updates its information. This means that when you use Gist to access information, it is all the latest information. It is all the latest status updates, all the latest blog posts, all the latest tweets, all the latest emails and all the latest news reports. Overall, using Gist is a fast and simple way to make your life easier. Using Gist gives you easy access to information that would otherwise be scatter across the Internet. Gist saves you the time of navigating the Internet in search of information making it both practical and useful in many, many situations.

Gist is not the only answer to increasing your productivyt. Up Next: “Another 7 Ways to Increase Meeting Productivity

Quickly & Easily Remove Duplicate Contacts using Scrubly!

Eliminating one more hassle from modern everyday life is Scrubly.com. This innovative online application lets anyone quickly and easily clean up their email address book(s). Use it to get rid of duplicate, junk, and mismatched contacts, plus integrate those containing identical elements.

Scrubly uses cloud computing to accomplish this simple yet so important task, no matter if you use one or all of the following email platforms:

• In MS Outlook you can scrub one or all of your folders, clear out duplicates in all or any PST files, and supports Microsoft Exchange folders (even public contacts). Scrubly is compatible with all Windows Operating Systems from NT through 7. Outlook versions include 2000, 2002 (XP), 2003, 2007 and 2010 (the only non-compatible version is Outlook Express).
• You can easily clean up email contacts in a Mac address book to eliminate formatting mistakes, conflicting data and duplicate contacts. Operating systems supported are both the 10.5 Leopard OSX and newer, and the 10.6 Snow Leopard OSX.
• GMail from google will also tidy up nicely with Scrubly. Fix formatting errors, get rid of any duplicate contacts and straighten out any conflicts. Scrubly works incredibly well to de-clutter the contacts in your Google Apps address book as well.

The secrets to Scrubly’s success are its unique method and powerful algorithm that quickly compare each field of an address book contact. Whether it’s exact duplicates, closely matched contacts, or conflicting data, Scrubly is designed to find and flag the problem contacts for your perusal, prior to deletion.

The “Conflict Resolution Wizard” speeds up the entire process by identifying and eliminating the commonly found error patterns that are the result of syncing various platforms. The Wizard also takes care of mis-matched data across contact fields. Doing this work manually would be a horrible, time-consuming project!

With the above email platforms, Scrubly backs up your contact data before beginning a clean up. This backup is kept on the Scrubly server, so if you need to reload your previous settings it’s easily accomplished; you never lose your information even after a de-cluttering is complete.

In addition to ease of use, a very important consideration is data security, and Scrubly has that well under control. They use a sophisticated combination of complex password requirements, multiple server locations across the country (Seattle, Dallas and DC), server firewalls, and 128-Bit SSL encryption.

Just like the clean up process itself, setting up Scrubly is fast and efficient. The first step is to sign up with a username, your email and a unique password. Next, set up your Scrubly profile by choosing what type(s) of email address book platform you’d like to de-clutter. If you’re a Mac or Outlook user you’ll need to install a small client file. Then you just hit “process” and while you watch, Scrubly resolves conflicts, merges matches and eliminates duplicate contacts. The final step is to “update” and the newly tidied contact list is imported into your email address book(s). It’s that simple!

You should go to http://www.scrubly.com and take this uber-convenient email clean-up tool for a test drive. You won’t have to pay a dime to try it out – Scrubly offers a trial version that will clean up to 250 contacts! Once you’ve tried it – you’ll love it!

As business professionals, Scrubly can be used for your professional contact lists as well! Next we talk about implementing Social Media Policies in the Workplace.