When you’re traveling in a foreign country, reading signs and printed material can be tough, even if you have a basic understanding of the language. That’s why I love the Word Lens app. You just launch the app on your iOS or Android device, look at the foreign text through the viewfinder, and presto! The words change into a language you can read right before your eyes.
It’s five bucks for every language pack — well worth it.
It’s awesome (and fun) to watch!
I’m infatuated with drag-and-drop online and app tools that help you create posters and more without having the software.
For an instant poster, try the Phoster app (iOS), which lets you add your own pictures and text to their templates for printable and shareable posters for events, ads and more. As of this writing, their templates were pretty rigid, but they can be great for a quick sign. You can also use Checkthis, a site and app that create “social posters” you can share online. I also like an app called Over, which lets you artfully arrange words over a picture for a modern poster look.
A hidden online template resource comes from printing sites, such as Brother Creative Center, Tweak, MyCreativeShop and the ubiquitous Vistaprint. All have a plethora of designs you can personalize online. Brother offers the service for free in hopes that you’ll use a Brother printer to print it. Tweak is free, but the PDF download has very robust and obtrusive watermarks, so the only thing you can do with it is print it through Tweak.
Like Tweak, Vistaprint lets you design for free and download a watermarked PDF (for which they charge you $1.99). I’d definitely go for Tweak over Vistaprint since the latter’s designs are incredibly generic and definitely not a step up for your professional look. MyCreativeShop also wants you to print with them, but they charge 20 bucks a month for their design software so you can download high-quality documents and use them how you wish. Both include access to a large library of stock photography, which helps you avoid the cost of buying images.
Are you one of those people who just has to keep your password written down? PasswordCard can take that scrap of paper to a whole other level of security with a super secret password system.
Both the site and the mobile apps (Android and iOS) generate a complex card with random password characters. To create a password, you simply choose a row then a column to start, and then count the number of characters you need.
Let’s say I needed a 10-character password for Facebook. I’d make up some kind of mnemonic phrase such as, “Facebook says it’s gonna rain March 3″ so I can remember to look in the umbrella column and the third row. Then I’d count 10 characters over, and there’s my password, accessible from the printed card or electronically via the app or website.
To get the true picture of PasswordCard, simply watch this short video.
I stood in line behind 750k people waiting for my turn to install the Mailbox App on my iPhone. Was it worth the wait? Watch this Deep Dive video for a full review.
Whuda thunk that technology startups would seek to make teleconferencing more fun? The new options for meeting people via phone are very cool indeed. Instead of the traditional phone number and PIN code, the new systems connect with the web, smart devices and your computer with just a click of a button rather than a series of pound signs and access codes.
One shiny new tool is Speek. Go to their app or the site, and you’re prompted to create a private URL for your teleconferences. Then send that link to your invitees, and they can connect through devices or computers. The system will even call out to participants at their desktops or dial a phone for them through a device.
On your Speek site, you can watch the interactions, mute and unmute callers and invite more attendees. You can also drop files into the web interface to share with others. Speek even offers to create a Dropbox folder for your account that will save the shared documents.
UberConference is similar to Speek with a limit of five participants, but you can earn spots for up to 17 by spreading the word. When people call in, they show up on your own UberConference web page, and from there you can share files, record the session, mute or unmute participants and more. When people speak, their icons (or pictures if they’ve hooked up their accounts) pop to the top of the screen.
If you pay for the UberConference pro version, the system will actually call participants for you at the appointed time. And iOS and Android apps let you take all the features on the go with you.
If you’re not ready for web-based audio conferencing, there’s always the reliable free conference call companies such as the appropriately named FreeConferenceCall.com. I’ve long relied on sites like FreeConferenceCall.com for a free phone number and PIN that I can share for teleconferences. Up to 96 attendees can join in by dialing a regular old U.S. phone number. The attendees incur regular charges for making a long-distance call, and no one has to pay any extra. Because so many people have flat-rate plans for calling or lots of minutes through their business accounts, there’s no need to feel guilty for not offering a toll-free number.
Podio is one of the tech tools that is making it impossible for me to finish the chapter on Project Management Tools for Release Your Inner Nerd. Here’s why:
Siri has a sense of humor. Watch this video of a recent conversation I had with Siri, and visit this site for some Siri-ous humor.
Way back in the early days of voice recognition, here’s a sample dictation session with my 1997 version of Dragon Naturally Speaking.
I say: “I want a cupcake.”
Dragon writes: “The man picked up the rake.”
I say: “Delete that.”
Dragon writes: “Deplete cats.”
I say: “CHANGE THAT!”
Dragon writes: “Change bats.”
I scream: “STOP IT!”
Dragon writes: “You started it.”
Lordy but I hated that blankety-blank program.
Flash forward more than a quarter of a century, and speech recognition is almost effortless, both on your computers and your mobile devices.
I don’t think I could live without Siri, a pleasantly perky voice recognition system built into the iPhone. You can speak to Siri as if she’s a personal assistant or even a friend, and she translates commands and questions into actions easily and with amazing accuracy.
Siri has a number of competitors for many mobile platforms, all with their own specialties and weaknesses. On Android devices, the top personal assistant tools are Maluuba, Skyvi and the EVA/EVAN “twin” apps so you can choose a male or female personality.
Siri is a voice-activated personal assistant that Apple created for the iPhone a couple of years ago. Since then, a number of Android apps have popped up to serve the same purpose on the other platform.
Android is a Google product, so it stands to reason that their own personal assistant tool, Google Now, would have a huge advantage over, well, everything else. In addition to being a serious Siri-competitor, perhaps a victor, Google Now integrates your personal search history and more into “cards” of information, which are displayed at your command, when and where you need them.
For example, on your morning commute, a card might show your commute time and an alternate route to avoid traffic. You can get a report of how many miles you drove or walked/ran each month. If you’re a sports fan, Google Now might feed up cards with up-to-date scores and news. And if you’re headed to the airport, Google Now may help you pull up your boarding pass and show you the weather at your destination. And if you’ve been searching the web for Kim Kardashian news, you may get an automatic update if she announces a pregnancy, divorce or prison sentence.
And much, much more. Watch their short promo video:
What Do You Think about Google Now Technology?
My thoughts on Google Now… are we ready to have a machine (and the company behind that machine) know that much about us? I suppose I’m naive to think that they don’t already know that stuff, but perhaps I would rather remain a little in the dark about the information I’m providing. Ahhh, progress.
What do you think?
Once a year I offer on this site the super-fresh, super-awesome, super-updated Quick Reference Guide that attendees in my sessions receive as a handout.
This document has the top 75 tech tools that I love, PLUS some completely awesome discounts from some of the tool providers.
Enjoy… and share!
