Project Management - Tools - Tier 1

Common sense tools ready at hand

Word - white paper, memorandum, letter, contract, checklist, to-do list, meeting minutes
Excel - PM resources planning, calculation
Outlook - Schedual
PowerPoint - presentation
Gmail - email / IM
Skype - calls, videoconferencing
OmniPlan ( Mac ) or Merlin2 ( Mac ) - PM software
iPhone - with Notes, voice recording, calculator
Web-based collaboration: activeCollab, Basecamp
Invoicing: Freshbooks
Publicity generation - blog, Twitter, Facebook, newsletter, free e-book, Scribe document sharing, podcast, SlideShare slide sharing
Projector
Printer
Moleskine notebook
Pen - Schneider
Briefcase
Laptop
Dilbert comics for chill-out
Internet limitator ( limiting your internet surfing )
Weekend without phone, PC etc.

New:
Evernote - collage
Google Reader - RSS feeds
Instapaper app - news
Flipboard - social news

Update on December 31st, 2010.
Vision board
VIP Vodafone USB stick
Dropbox - storing large files
Google Chrome - superb browser
Simplenote - note taking
uTorrent - bittorrent files
Audacity - audio recording
iTunes - managing audio files




101 Web Apps to help.

To be continued...

One drop of ink may make a million think

Quote: Mark Twain

News Phrases For iPad Launch

Apparently I forgot to pre-order the ipad...what to do tomorrow!?!

It come up this afternoon after reading initial iPad reviews.

I'll bookmark in this post some interesting phrases and observations about iPad as a product and tech gadget.
It's fun to see how people spontanously are playing with device and words.


So, let me just mark it for future generations :))

Notes:

- ecstatic
- magical
- portable computing
- iPad speed
- visual appeal
- quibbles
- how will iPad fit into your digital life
- laptop replacement
- the tactile satisfaction of physical keys
- keyboard controversy
- typing on the iPad was a "horrible experience"
- but he wouldn't want to use it for writing articles.
- the device doesn't function very well as a content creation device
- challenge the primacy of the laptop
- mini-laptops must "adapt or disappear
- the iPad is mostly about content consumption and light e-mail
- iPhone's library of thousands of apps to supplement its usability
- users have a lot to look forward to in terms of attractive, easy-to-use applications coming to the iPad
- you can't read text well in direct sunlight, and doesn't believe the iPad has the ability to save newspapers and books
- app for the iPad is the best digital version of the paper he's ever seen
- didn't like the weight of the iPad over extended reading periods
- you can't read iBooks, Apple's own e-reading application for the iPad, on other devices like your iPhone or MacBook
- said the iPad was a fantastic way to read a comic book
- It's hard to trust manufacturer claims about battery life
- a device that can last for 10-12 hours for basic Web surfing, watching videos and music is still pretty impressive
- took a hit from most reviewers for its lack of third-party application multitasking
- the iPad is an advance in making more-sophisticated computing possible via a simple touch interface on a slender, light device
- Only time will tell if it’s a real challenger
- It gives portable game machines from Nintendo and Sony a run for their money
- It’s not every computer and every function. It’s a computer that’s designed for speed, mobility, and tactile interaction above all other considerations
- the excitement slips away after about ten seconds and you’re completely focused on the task at hand
- the iPad is not a laptop. It’s not nearly as good for creating stuff
- it’s infinitely more convenient for consuming it — books, music, video, photos, Web, e-mail and so on
- The only question is: Do you like the concept?
- The iPad displays books in a way that is much flashier than your black and white e-ink screen. It shows illustrations in color
- Where’s the camera? What about Flash? Um, how about multitasking?
- There may be things it doesn’t do, but what it does do, it does remarkably well
- Rich, nimble, and dense with image and sound and navigability, right there inside the flow of the story
- the techie obsession with specs and obscure features completely misses how most consumers will actually use the iPad
- Easy
- cake
- effortless
- Will big shiny images and touch-screen magic convince consumers to spend more time on eBay ?
- oversized thumbnails and bleeding image close-ups to the edges of the device
- It seems to be a vast improvement from the website and the iPhone app, in terms of feel and design but it's not quite revolutionary
- the company really researched and thought about the iPad user experience and psychology before designing the app
- the 2011 Equus will come with an Apple iPad-style tablet instead of a traditional owner’s manual
- Is iPad touch of genius or out of touch?
- or be that rare Apple flop
- The question is whether people really need another device to do all that?
- Acer, a netbook company, said this week it was introducing a tablet model similar to the iPad,
- most consumers appear to be interested in it for fairly mundane reasons
- The Kindle also has unlimited wireless access, which makes downloading books easier and, of course, cheaper
- “I’ll just open a book when I want to read ( niche market )
- The Wall Street Journal is planning to charge $17.99 for a monthly iPad subscription
- like holding a newspaper and is more intimate than reading on a desktop or laptop ( intimacy factor )
- “It’s almost like downsizing
- “Who wants to lug that big thing around?”
- It’s a less frothy time, and fewer people are willing to plunk down cash on a device that is more of a want than a need ( recession factor )
- A reincarnated Newton. Fail.
- The iPad is a nice toy that people are getting hyped up about. Yawn.
- To be iPad-ready, a Web site must be built with W3C standard Web technologies
- iPad users will not be able to block ads or save streaming video content to disk the way Internet users can
- CBS shows through HTML5 in the browser and ABC shows through a native iPad app
- Just dont be that guy at the airport staring at my tablet like a teenager at tits
- Apple requires special websites for IPAD. For a device described as the "best browsing experience ever" this is down right bizarre,
- The iPad will let you watch streaming movies from Netflix, play games from Electronic Arts, and read the latest adventures of Spider-Man, thanks to new apps announced Friday,
- Each comic has been optimized for the iPad by redigitizing and recoloring each print issue for the tablet's larger, brighter format, said Marvel
- Marvel's iPad app is free, but each individual comic will cost $1.99.
- we're thrilled to bring consumers an action-packed app with which to explore and experience MythBusters
- publishers large and small — not to mention wholesalers, retailers, and Amazon (AMZN) — are still scrambling around like a teenage girl before a date. When the doorbell rings though, they’re all in danger of being caught with their pants down
- Few have come to agreements over pricing and availability of e-books, much less author advances and royalties
- because it accepted Apple’s agency terms (Apple gets a 30 percent cut, publishers get to set the retail prices)
- And RH’s blockbusters – Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol sold 100,000 e-books its first week out, or about 5 percent of total sales for the book — represent a small, but rapidly growing, segment of the market
- starting with what they’ve historically done well ( publishers) : acquiring intelligently, editing and designing properly and marketing appropriately
- Publishing blogger Mike Cane notes that this very important detail was largely overlooked by Apple in the rush to get iPad to market and cautions publishers to sit up and take notice
- We won’t browse: we’ll search. We’ll want to find what we want, buy it, and start reading it. But without the metadata to help us along, buying is not going to be a smooth process. Apple will lose money — and more importantly, writers will lose money
- To maximize revenue, publishers need to be able to use it in every possible market and every available format ( experiment is not costly here )
- entry into the e-book market has shaken up its pricing structure. Apple has offered book publishers what has been termed an "agency model" for pricing, in which they get to control the price of books offered for sale via the iPad's software
- But even with the touchscreen and accelerometer inputs, some games just need more traditional D-pad or joystick controls. The question is, why aren't third-party accessories available to give us this control?
- Apple has filed a patent application, published today, for an "Accessory for Playing Games with a Portable Electronic Device
- The accessory could include any of the following: buttons, D-pad, joystick, a keypad, microphone, camera, speakers, and even a secondary display
- iElectribe We are not joking around when we say this: This could be the killer app for music makers
- Digging around in the iTunes story I stumped across a listing for Sam & Max Episode 1: The Penal Zone for the iPad this morning. This appears to be an iPad version of the first episode of The Devil's Playhouse, the third series of episodic games for the popular and humorous adventure games from Telltale
- No page-turning business...you swipe left/right to page through stories and then scroll to read through single stories
- the first magazine on the Mag+ platform, and you can get it on the iPad tomorrow. It’s the April 2010 issue, it’s $4.99, and you buy more issues from inside the magazine itself
- We found little games to play with the reader, having them assemble infographics in the act of scrolling, and making pages that span multiple panes, only revealing themselves when the reader does a double-finger swipe to zoom across them
- And InDesign integration so art directors are in control, not technologists. And an e-commerce back-end capable of handling business models suitable for magazines. And a new file format, “MIB,” that strikes the balance between simple enough for anyone to implement, and expressive enough to let the typography, pictures, and layout shine. And it’s set up to do it all again in 30 days. And more
- Gizmodo makes me want. But do I NEED?!
- Kind of begs the question...why weren't these great little apps being developed for any platform before? I recognize the difference in how one interacts with the content, but I would enjoy these on my Macbook with trackpad input as well. They make a typical browser window look so clunky
- A lot of them are iPhone carryovers, and a lot of them cost more than you might be used to in the App Store economy. Both are valid observations! But for a first batch, these apps do look rather spectacular
- Quite simply, more developers are building more apps for the device. Indeed, the rush to develop for the iPad has even affected the iPhone, which, though it continues to rule the market, saw it’s share of app starts slip to 67 percent from 78 percent
- Apple has published a list of “iPad Ready” websites
- The sites are all big league sluggers like CNN, The New York Times, People Magazine and MLB.com. Surprisingly, there are also a few video-heavy sites in the mix (Vimeo, Flickr, and TED) which would traditionally rely on Flash Player for video playback
- There’s no agreed-upon video format for HTML5, and the support varies greatly from browser to browser
- But that path — coding multiple versions of a website for multiple browsers — is precisely what developers have been trying to avoid for the last decade. It also opens up a can of patent license worms ( complexity is not good )
- Here at Google we’re really excited about the promise of tablet computers, which will be great for browsing the web and using apps,
- If you go to gmail.com in your browser, you’ll see something different than what you’re used to on the desktop. We’re releasing an experimental user interface for the iPad built on the Gmail for mobile HTML5 web app
- As with Mac computers and the iPhone, you’ll find Google Search in the top right corner of Safari
- particularly excited by how tablet computers create the opportunity for new kinds of user interaction. Here on the mobile team, we often talk about how mobile devices are sensor-rich: they can sense touch through their screens, see with a camera, hear through a microphone, and they know where they are with GPS
the hotly awaited apps for the iPad are some media-related ones, including a few from Conde Nast — Wired magazine and Vanity Fair — as well as the New York Times, Associated Press and Bloomberg
- NYT, USA Today, Financial Times are free, at least initially
- The iPad opened up a host of new and better ways to shop for homes, and we’ve designed a photo-driven home shopping experience built specifically for the Apple’s interactive multi-touch device
- we’ve re-imagined home shopping as a photo-led shopping experience. View large images of multiple homes side-by-side; quickly flick thru preview photos of one home versus another, or pick a home and browse large, nearly full-screen images
- I cannot wait for this device to come out. It’s so going to change my business. We are getting closer and closer to virtual reality it’s amazing. Looking forward to the future in real esate
- They should just make a standards based web version so you can run it in the background
- Apparently I forgot to pre-order the ipad...what to do tomorrow!?!
- Thinking freehand drawing in OmniGraffle for iPad might make an excellent carry-able away replacement for a whiteboard
- Perhaps more importantly, the devices access books from different online bookstores
- If you buy a Wi-Fi-only version of the iPad and have a Wi-Fi connection at home, or you want to use the iPad primarily at coffee shops or public places that have wireless Internet connections, then you probably won't have to deal with AT&T at all
- The iPad has a Wi-Fi connection, which, in theory, could be used for printing documents wirelessly through your printer. There is some debate online about what apps will perform this function
- No USB port is a deal killer for me. I understand Apple's need to control the experience and USB being an open standard opens a big can of compatibility worms
- everything is moving to wireless... having to physically attach to a device is not the future, it's rapidly becoming the past
- A work in Progress if you want.It is a proof of "having balls" and flying away from what is safe and proven.USA should be proud of Apple for being the BRAVEST tech co
- I'm not going to be able to get one because iBroke
- it's a new class of product that will appeal to different people for different reasons
- Hold the iPad opinions 'til you've used one, please
- I WANT AN IPAD. My heart beats faster just thinking about it. Or maybe that's my double-latte talking
- According to the blog over at Flurry, iPad developers are in the race for a piece of the…Pad. Within the past 60 days, iPad projects comprised 22% of total new project starts on the site
- Wow, so there are about 20,000 different emails in my inbox today announcing iPad games/softwarehttp://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=3288809
- Microsoft's iPad Strategy: Ignore It
- iPad signals the future of software. There are two old software models. The first is where the software runs on your laptop -- this is the Microsoft model embodied by Office. The second is the software as a service/cloud model with the software running on a server somewhere out on the Internet -- this is the Google and Salesforce.com model. I'm simplifying, but in the former, the software runs on a local device. In the latter, the software sits out on the network
- Software on a powerful device seamlessly (that's the key word) cooperates with services available out on the network
- But as CEO, you should be aware of the possibilities that the iPad is presenting you -- to change how software works within your company and to change the way your customers will connect to your company (Hyundai is already pursuing the latter). The first could lower cost and promote efficiency; the second could increase revenue
- Use them for four or five months. When September comes around, sit down with your executives and ask a simple question: "Can we use this device to improve our business?"
- It's really interesting how people with no experience on the iPhone are hating on the iPad
- David Letterman Before Licking an iPad: "It's Like an Electronic Slinky"
- Trying to talk the hubs into developing iPad apps. Then iPad = write off. :)
- Apple’s Ipad Bet Requires ‘leap of Faith’ From Buyers
- As if in anticipation of tomorrow's crush of traffic, AT&T's 3G network in NYC has been already erratic all week
- First in Line for iPad Also Camped for Original iPhone
- I want to know if the iPad can also be used as a weapon for self defense.. Is there an App that sprays pepper spray?
- iPad For your Entertainment,

Highlight: Young iApple Developer

He's on stage like a young rock star.

His name's Pierce and is 14 years old and comes from Bay Area ( US West coast ).
Proud developer of CardShare app, recently approved by Apple in the AppStore.

An Interview explains a lot:

What does your CardShare application do?

Pierce Freeman: It allows you to exchange a virtual business card without any paper. You can include both personal and social networking details such as your name, phone number, e-mail address, and Twitter or Facebook details.

Twitter and Facebook. That's probably more important to a 14-year-old like yourself than, say, the business card aspects of it.

Maybe. But since I run an animal photography business and do Web design, I will be using my app quite a bit, as well as the regular details.

How many lines of code actually went into this application?

On both the server end and the client end, CardShare took over 11,000 lines of code.

What kind of software are we talking about? Is this Adobe software or Apple software? What did you use to create this?

Despite the Flash anxiety that's surrounding the iPad and the iPhone, I used both Adobe and Apple's software to create this. More specifically, the graphics in the application were done in Adobe Photoshop. In order to scale down and scale up the icon, I did it in Adobe Illustrator. Then all of the programming was done in Apple's Xcode or Espresso, which is a Web design utility.

When did you find time to develop this app?

I did this whole thing primarily out of school. I talked to some of my friends and teachers briefly about how they would use an app like this. But most of the sketching and everything was done at home, after school or on the weekends.

Presumably they don't have an iPhone application development class at your school? Or at least not yet?

Not yet. I may start that one.

Have you taken any formal programming classes?

No, I haven't. I'm completely self-taught.

So when I was your age, we used to program on Texas Instruments TI-83 calculators. Does anyone do that anymore?

I don't. I think that in some high schools they do program on graphing calculators. But that is out of my level of expertise.

So where do you find other people at your level of expertise? Are there communities out there where you can find people like yourself?

I have never met another 14-, 15- or 16-year-old, even a 17- or 18-year-old who programs for the iPhone and for the Mac and then integrates this with Web services. I assume there are maybe a very select few out there, and I'm very proud to be one of them. But there's definitely not some online forum or other discussion site where I could interact with kids. So I had most of my questions answered by the really nice people in the Mac independent software community. They guided me through the steps to create this, and I'm really appreciative for all their help

Hint: Forbes.com