Working On The Go With Only A Smartphone

Everyone has a smartphone these days. Lots of people have adopted them as one of their main sources of entertainment. But for a lot of us, they are more than that. Sometimes when you are traveling, they can be one of the only tools available to get a job done. You need to be able to stay productive no matter what situation you're in. Today we're going to show you a few different apps that can get you by when you are away from your office and still need to take care of your responsibilities.

Dropbox

Dropbox is one of the biggest providers of cloud storage, and whether you are on your phone or your computer, it is one of the most useful tools for many different business applications. As far as cell phones go, did you know that you can back up your phone completely with Dropbox? If it gets lost, stolen, broken, or damaged to the point where it isn't usable, as long as you have backed up your files and contacts to Dropbox, you are completely fine aside from needing a new phone. You can also set it up to automatically upload photos and contacts every time you add a new one. You can access your files from your smartphone or computer, so it is an awesome storage tool for all of your important documents, even aside from what is on your phone.

CoPilot GPS

Obviously, when you are traveling, you have to know where you are going and how to get there. You may think that Google Maps is the best GPS service for your phone, but what happens when you are in an area that doesn't have very good cell coverage? We've all been there: Stuck in the middle of nowhere, and can't figure out where to go because you have no service and Google Maps won't load. CoPilot downloads your maps and stores them offline so that you will never be stuck without them again. If nothing else, its great as a backup when you are in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night and scared for your life when you have no service.

WhatsApp

Instant messaging might seem like a thing of the past, but this app is actually one of the most useful things to have when you are communicating with co-workers or any other situation where you have to speak within a group. For those of us who have iPhones, and only talk to other people with iPhones, group messaging isn't a problem. The problem with that is the fact that it never happens, because not everyone has an iPhone. WhatsApp allows you to have super easy group text conversations, no matter what type of phone or service you have. I really don't have to explain why this is necessary, do I? Also, you don't have to come up with a goofy and unprofessional screen name, it just uses your phone number.

These are just a few apps to help you get by in every day life while you are on the go. You can get all of these apps for either iPhone or Android. Have fun staying rich and productive.

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How To Keep Your Android Device Clean And Fast

There are plenty of reasons why you should make sure to clean out your Android device periodically. When you have tons of apps installed, a lot of them have routines that run constantly and can take away from the performance of your phone. What is even worse than that is the fact that some of them continuously access the internet. This can be a big problem if you do not have unlimited data, which most of us do not.

On top of that, expandable storage on smartphones is becoming more rare with every new smartphone launch. So having all of these old apps and all of their data is taking up useful storage space that you could be using for something... useful.

If your cell phone is suffering from a lack of storage and/or slow performance, then you should take advantage of this article and figure out how to identify and remove the useless things that are taking up all of the precious space on your device.

Store Your Media Elsewhere

All of your media doesn't have to travel with you in your pocket for the rest of your life. Let's face it, you're never going to look at most of it ever again, even if you don't want to delete it. So, if your phone storage is getting low, offload your media to a PC.

if you open your device's settings, you can see a graph that shows all of the storage in use and the available space you have left. You can look at this to determine where you should start freeing up space. Pay attention to the pictures and videos section. These take up a lot of space, and they make the most sense to store on your computer instead of your phone.

To do this, open the settings option under "Storage" on the device. Touch USB connection on an Android KitKat device and then connect as Media Device. Then plug in a USB cable from the device to your PC and let the drivers automatically install on the PC. After that, all you have to do is use Windows Explorer to browse through all of your phone's files and drag them on to your computer into any folder that you would like them to be saved under. After they have been successfully removed from the device, just delete them off the phone. You can even reverse this to put them back on your device later if you want to.

Organization

 You can also get a couple different organization apps and third party screen locks, like Cover Lock Screen. Some screen lock apps are useful if you have tons of app launch icons on your home screen. They can even learn which apps you use, when you use them, and from where, and then deliver them as you need them. This is pretty successful in cutting down on date usage.

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Application Strategy in a Mobile World

Did you know 64% of the time spent on mobile phones is spent on apps? Ever since the start of mobile applications in the late 20th century our world has been changed. Mobile apps have been on the rise, and our society has developed an “I need it yesterday” mentality. We all think, the quicker the better and mobile applications play a key role in that. With the rise in this field people may be asking “What makes a good application?” or “What are the key components to create an application that will take off in the market place?"

There are a few things to look at when developing an application for your business or for your personal needs. The main thing is why; why do you need this app? Finding the underlying issue will help develop an applications that meets that specific need. Another key component is making your application user friendly. No one wants to use an app that they hate or is difficult for them to use. Make your application simple, to the point, and flexible. Always leave room for change and improvements. One last key component people look for in an app is price. Far more people go for a free application over one that costs; even if it is only $.99. You can always have extra content that a user would have to pay for once they've downloaded the app.

In other words, in creating an application always think of the user. Make sure it solves a specific need and that it is user friendly and easy to use. By doing these things you will always leave people wanting to come back for more.

Wireless technology simply allows small business enterprises to make up in flexibility, speed and efficiency for what they might lack in workforce and physical infrastructure. Looking for help, and a smile, on your mobile technology rental needs for your next event or show? If so check out our full line of tablet rental options!

iPad Users Can Now Display PowerPoint Presentations

Brainshark, a company that creates software for online and mobile video presentations, has created a great new app for iPad users. The app, SlideShark, gives iPad users the ability to professionally display PowerPoint presentations from their tablets, and the best part is that it is free!

There have been some issues associated with users importing and viewing PowerPoint presentations on their iPads. Mostly, there have been problems keeping the original formatting of the presentation. Well, with SlideShark, all of those issues are eliminated.

Users are now able to upload their PowerPoint presentations to their online accounts on SlideShark’s website. There the presentation is converted to an iPad viewing format, and then, using the SlideShark app, users are able to download and view the file on their iPad.

"The iPad is supporting business mobility like never before," said Brainshark CEO Joe Gustafson. "At the same time, and as the mobile workforce continues to grow, the need to present PowerPoints on the iPad is becoming more critical. We're pleased to offer the SlideShark app to resolve this issue—allowing mobile sales, marketing and training professionals to present their business content both reliably and effectively, and helping companies maximize productivity."

The best thing about SlideShark is that it preserves all of the original fonts, graphics, colors and formats of the PowerPoint presentation. Users with an iPad 2 are then able to connect their tablets to a TV or VGA projector in order to project the presentation. SlideShark also has the ability to support gesture. This means that users are able to swipe or tap the screen of their iPad to control the presentation being projected.

"As more and more companies make tablet investments, it's important they do so strategically—with a game plan for how they'll use the devices," said Scott Nelson, managing vice president, Gartner Research. "It often comes as an unpleasant surprise—particularly for salespeople and others in the field—that there's not a simple way to convert some collateral material that they rely on. Addressing this market need will help companies maximize their technology investments and enable business professionals to be even more agile and effective when presenting on-the-go."

Source: PCMag - Slideshark Brings PowerPoint to iPad

A Copier Rental is a quick way to mass produce important documents for potential customers at an event or conference. Renting office equipment is simple and easy and it can also save you loads of time and money. Rentacomputer.com has been offering copier rentals to more than 1000 cities worldwide for over 20 years.

Yahoo’s Livestand Digital Newsstand Coming Soon

To start things off at the Mobile World Congress on Wednesday, February 16, Yahoo offered a demo of its Livestand digital newsstand app which the company plans to release soon. The executives at Yahoo have promised that the app for tablets will offer personalized content in an elegant format which will cater to the millions of Yahoo users who access the company’s content via their mobile devices.

"We have 630 million users who come to Yahoo on a monthly basis, and we noticed that our users are going more and more mobile," said Cris Pierry, senior director of Yahoo Mobile. "What Livestand is designed to do is to facilitate that transition from the PC to mobile [so they still] have a compelling way to consume content from Yahoo."

Now, this does not mean that Yahoo will be disappearing from the Web. The company said that it will not only be offering a tablet version of the Livestand app, but a little later in the year, a smartphone version and Web version will be made available. For now though, the company really wants to focus on catering to the tablet industry and more specifically to the iPad and Android-based devices. Recently there has been quite a bit of buzz about publications being built explicitly for tablets including Rupert Murdoch’s “The Daily” and Richard Branson’s “Project” magazine; however, Pierry says that Yahoo isn’t looking to compete with those publications but instead to compliment them.

"I consider them a potential partner," Pierry said. "I consider Livestand as a platform where 'The Daily' content can also be published and distributed. For us this is really about creating this eco-system to enable publishers ... to distribute that content through a variety of devices."

Since Yahoo wants to be consider a “potential partner,” this means that Livestand will feature content from both Yahoo properties and other outside publications. Livestand itself is very easy to use. On the iPad, if you tap on the app, you will be brought to a screen that shows one main story on top and three or four smaller stories on the bottom. All of the stories include fantastic pictures to go along with the articles, and all of the stories that show up are customized based on the preferences that have been determined by your previous Yahoo activity.

As you continue through the story, Livestand will organize advertisements and comments that are customized to you. Say you decide to post a story to Facebook, if someone comments on it, that comment could appear as an in-line box in the story, and you can simply click to discuss it further. There are also interactive ads that make things a little more interesting.

Now if you’re concerned about privacy at all, Pierry said that all of your Yahoo data is completely secure.

"We take privacy very seriously; we're not sharing that information with third parties," he said. "We're basically using the same technology that we use today. The idea is that the publisher will take all their content, they'll submit it into the Yahoo content repository, and then we're going to [take] what we know about the customer and the content the publisher [submits] and then we'll mix and match. We're not really sharing your personal information; we're just using what we know about you to deliver content for you."

Pierry said that as of right now Yahoo has no plans to charge for their content on Livestand. Later on though, publishers may have the option for a subscription model for access to their content.

On Wednesday at a keynote presentation at MWC, Yahoo’s chief Carol Bartz said that Livestand really offers content with a “unique blend of science, art and scale.”
"We all know that the world's entire content is going digital; it has to," Bartz said. She said that she really pushed the concept of "content in context" as the "sweet spot" for Yahoo. She said that it is definitely something that Livestand will highlight.

"We want your content to be personal," she said. "We've tailored a solution and the whole concept is that it's built from the ground up ... publish once, run on any device and have it actually be tailored."

Pierry said that the solution is to simply have a algorithmic page layout (ATL). The layout decides how Yahoo wants to lay out the Livestand pages "based on a variety of different signals," he said. "Some of it is on the relevance of the content to me, some of it is based on popularity across the platform." ATL also will take into account if there is any multimedia that is associated with the story.

This app is really cool. It caters completely to the user. Yahoo really did a fantastic job. It will be very interesting to see what they do with the smartphone and Web versions later in the year.

Power Point Projectors
Are Great for Business Meetings

Most business class projectors will do a good job displaying your PowerPoint presentation. If you have a small presentation group, a 2000 lumen LCD projector will be able to produce a nice and clear picture. For larger audiences you should consider a 5000 lumen LCD projector.

Best Business Apps for Android

The Android operating system that is taking over the smartphone market is becoming increasingly popular among business professionals. But where do you look to find the best apps to fill your specific need? You could go to the Android Market, but it's often hard to find the app you need by simply browsing. Here is a list of the top 10 best business apps, from Forbes.com

1) ALOQA - Aloqa is an app that is a must have if you travel a lot. Even if you don't, it's quite handy. What it essentially does is take your location and based on the things you like, it will show you on a map where those things and places are. So if you're in a meeting with a client, and someone suggests heading out for coffee, you can simply look at your Aloqua map, and if there's a Starbucks in the area, you'll know exactly where to go. It also lets you know the location of gas stations, movie theaters, parks, wifi hotspots, restaurants and your business contacts.

2)GoAruna - GoAruna allows your phone to link up with your desktop for simple file sharing. This app is a two-parter, there's a desktop application to easily upload your files to a cloud-based storage device. Your Android phone can be used to download and upload files to and from your phone without the hassle of connecting it to your computer.

3)Mobile Defense - This is a must have security app for your phone. What mobile defense allows you to, should your phone ever be lost or stolen, remotely lock, backup, locate or wipe your Android phone.

4)Quote Pro - Quote Pro allows you to check multiple portfolios with the swipe of your finger. It provides advanced stock chart and details, news feeds, and quotes from yahoo. Quotes are delayed by 20 minutes, but prices are refreshed every 10 seconds.

5) Hoccer - Hoccer is an app that literally allows you to throw information at someone or, if you're so inclined, a large group of people. If you want to exchange your contact information, you simply flick your wrist at the person your sending it too, similar to a Frisbee, and the transaction is done. You can also "Hoc" your texts, pictures, a file, even an entire presentation!

6) Evernote - Evernote is an app that allows you to literally save files, notes, even voice recordings all in one place. You can access your account with your Android phone and via the internet.

7) Seesmic - Seesmic is a great twitter app to have in your arsenal. It allows you to quickly access multiple twitter accounts so you can switch from your business twitter account to your personal account with the swipe of your finger. It also allows you to use your bit.ly account, to track your link data. The interface is nice and smooth and very easy to use.

8)BuzzDeck - This is an app that allows you to take all the websites you use to gather your daily news and integrates them into one central location. You can get news and updates from over 1,200 sites and make a customized feed to only get the news and information you want.

9) K-9 Email - K-9 is an open sourced email client for your Android phone. It has more features and controls than the default email app on Android. You can configure to IMAP, POP3, and WebDAV email protocols, search multiple inboxes, and my personal favorite feature: you can change the frequency it checks for new mail.

10) Google Voice - Google Voice is a great app! It allows all of your phone numbers to be synced with one central number. It will transcribe your voicemails and send them to you in an email. "Other features include listening to messages while they are being left, recording calls, making low-cost international calls and blocking annoying callers by marking them as spam."

There's so much Android can do, and the Android Market is full of great apps for business as well as personal use. I suggest starting with these 10 apps to help you work on the go.

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HelvetiNote App for iPad: Best Note Taking App Available

The iPad is a fabulous piece of equipment that is useful for many things including: checking your e-mail from the comfort of your bed, watching a movie on a long flight, or simply entertaining yourself on the subway. You are most likely fascinated with vast amount of state of the art applications this sleek little device provides. You may also find yourself quite disappointed in the performance of the note taking app that comes standard with the purchase of your iPad in comparison to the other apps your iPad provides. That is why Apple has been working to bring you their newest note taking app, HelvetiNote.

The Standard note taking app that comes with the iPad is somewhat useful, but it seriously lacks in note taking features. HelvetiNote is much more efficient. It is set up to get the thoughts out of your head and onto your iPad. The app is simple in its functionality and is aimed to replace the Notes app on your iPad with its smart, elegant, Helvetica-font-oriented interface.

HelvetiNote is an incredibly simple app to use. To begin creating a note you simply tap the screen and type away. The process is both quick and straightforward, and the app works in both landscape and portrait mode. Portrait mode allows you to view more of your note as you jot down your thoughts. However, if you like having more room to type, you would certainly opt for the landscape view. It offers a nice roomy keyboard and still allows you a view of your note that’s just not quite as generous as portrait mode.

While you are typing out your note, you can choose to have the toolbar open on the screen or hidden away. The toolbar includes a search field, an option to add new notes, and a button to hide the toolbar. The toolbar also displays all of your created notes, cataloged in chronological order. When the toolbar is hidden, the note itself takes over the whole display. The background takes on the appearance of a lined piece of notebook paper and places the title that you have chosen for the note at the top.

One of the most attention-grabbing features of HelvetiNote is its sketch mode. Located in the upper right hand corner of the display screen are two little buttons that permit you to toggle between text input and sketch. While in text mode you can type away your thoughts, then at a touch of a button you can flip over to sketch mode and draw out a diagram within your note. Sketching is quite simple you just use your figure and you can sketch anywhere in your note. If you make a mistake, no need to worry you simply tap the eraser or press a button that will remove the entire sketch without causing any harm to your text.

One of the biggest disappointments about HelvetiNote is that the text doesn’t recognize a sketch and will type right over top of a drawing. Likewise, you can sketch over text. It would have been nice if Apple could have made it so text was aware of the sketch and could avoid it on its own, but overall it is a small inconvenience.

Another let-down about HelvetiNote is that it doesn’t sync apps with your desktop or any other service. This didn’t really bother me but some people did find it disappointing. However there is a button in the lower right hand corner to e-mail your notes.

Overall HelvetiNote is an excellent note-taking app. It’s well designed, easy to use, and has lots of great features that make it very enjoyable to work with. It’s perfect for taking notes in meetings and classes or just jotting down your thoughts when inspiration hits. Also, it’s an excellent value from the Apple store at only $2.99.

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Never Be Late Again with the iHome+Sleep App

Do you find yourself getting to work late or missing important deadlines? What about when you're on the road? Does that hotel wake-up call really wake you up? If you're looking for a new alarm clock with lots of other neat features, iHome+Sleep is the app for you!

Made by iHome, a popular iPod and iPhone accessory brand, iHome+Sleep has a lot to offer. You can create multiple bedtime and wake-up settings with alarms, wake and sleep music, social networking updates, personal reminders, and more. Basically, you can create your own sleep profiles. In addition, the app can be used with some of iHome's hardware or "App-Enhanced" products.

You can also choose music to wake up to from your iPod library, get the weather with the weather widget from The Weather Channel, check up on your sleep stats, and even use it with Facebook and Twitter.

But according to iHome, the app is not yet finished. In the weeks and months ahead, the company will be adding even more features. These will include the ability to sleep and wake-up to internet radio stations, background alarms with multi-task support, improved alarm settings, an improved menu, separate wake and sleep volume/fade settings, and iPhone landscape mode, among others.

You can currently get the free app for your iPod or iPhone, but in the future, iHome plans to make it available for the iPad, as well. For more information, visit iHomeAudio.com.

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BMW's New iDevice Makes Your Commute Entertaining

BMW is stepping things up a notch when it comes to listening to your iPod in your car. Sure, there are several ways to do that in many cars now, but BMW's next-generation iDevice will let you control your apps while you drive, from your dashboard. Or, just to be safe, when you're sitting in a parking lot or your driveway, right? Perhaps your passenger could do the controlling?

Anyway, the new iDrive allows you connect your iPod or iPhone through the iPod out connector and in turn, you'll be able to get data from your media players. If you check out the video below, you'll see that it's really a very gorgeous-looking new feature and would really come in handy during long commutes. It almost makes me wish I still drove 45 minutes to work each day! OK, not really, but it is that neat!

As for safety, it's probably a lot safer than switching songs on your actual iPod while driving because it's a lot bigger and located on the dash. You won't have to worry about messing around with your touchscreen or the wheel on your iPod. On the other hand, BMW may see this as an easy way to avoid putting a fancy entertainment system in its new cars.

Check out the video for more information about the plans to integrate BMW cars and your iPod or iPhone.




Check out these related stories:
1. BMW's Vision EfficientDynamics Concept Car
2. Emergency Stop Assistance from BMW
3. The PoolPod: Floating Waterproof Wireless iPod Speakers

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Track Business Expenses with iSpend

Finally, there's an app to keep track of business expenses. Often, it is difficult to keep track of expenses on business trips, especially for small businesses. Maybe you don't have time to record and file each transaction you make, maybe you're in a situation where it would be impersonal to do so. Whatever the reason, at the end of the trip you have to organize all your loose receipts at the end of the trip to try to determine your costs. It's almost always a headache because of the difficulties of recording and examining every transaction.

iSpend will solve all your expense tracking needs. Recording a transaction literally takes seconds and you can even take a photo of the receipt if necessary. At the end of the trip, you will have all your expenses organized by time and date of input. It will even condense your expenses into a report that you can export directly to any web browser.

Because no exceptional organizational skills or effort are required to use this app, no longer will you have to worry about being reimbursed properly for expenses incurred on business trips. You can then focus more time and effort on the more important things. You'll be surprised at how much more productive your trips can be when you don't have to waste your time on frivolous expense tracking.

Read reviews and learn more about iSpend at Apple's official site. Don't go on another trip without it!

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Cooking With Your iPad

When you're working long hours and then coming home to cook at night, you probably don't have time to copy down recipes. I know, there have been many times I've found a recipe online and lugged my laptop into the kitchen to work from being careful not spill anything on it. Apparently I'm not alone and now iPad owners can turn their new gadgets into virtual cookbooks with a couple of new apps. The New York Times recently took a look at some of those apps and they chose two that stood out above the rest.

First of all, the Times' Test Kitchen says the iPad is so much easier to cook from than your laptop and or cell phone and in the beginning it offered, at least ten cooking apps, with more being added weekly. But the app they chose as the best one is BigOven Pro. The BigOven Pro app is free for iPhone but you have to pay $9.99 to get it on your iPad. The 170,000 recipes are a group effort, entered by the app's 800,000 registered users. The second runner up to BigOven Pro is Epicurious, which features over 28,000 recipes from Conde Nast publications such as Gourmet and Bon Appetit. Epicurious is free.

So how do the two compare? The two apps have lots of similarities. Both apps offer duplicates of the same dishes with slight variations, which can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on who you ask. If you put your iPad in a horizontal position, the search and navigation controls on both apps move to the left side. With both you can email recipes or compile a grocery list based on the recipes you choose.

According to the New York Times, BigOven's grocery list feature is easier to use. In addition, its Use Up Leftovers feature is another cool thing to take advantage of. You can take three ingredients from your fridge or cabinets and type them in to get a list of recipes you can create with them. As the Times points out, this is especially great when your brain is fried from work and you're not in the mood to get creative with recipes. Big Oven also has a nice, if not always helpful glossary.

Another cool feature of BigOven is What's Cooking Around Me? It shows you the recipes people in your geographic area are cooking. The New York Times calls it "strange" and "creepy" but I think it sounds kind of neat and like a great way to find recipes you may not find otherwise. Then again, do you really need to know if your neighbor is making spaghetti that night?

Epicurious is said to be better for "those who like to browse" and of course if you don't want to dish out the $10 for BigOven, Epicurious is free. But hands down, BigOven is considered the better option due to all of its extra features.

Read more about the two apps at the New York Times.

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Grow a Garden With Your iPhone

With spring in full force, and summer just around the corner, many people are looking for things to do outside of the office. One great idea that's not only fun, but can be very economical and burns calories, is growing your own garden. But if you're anything like me, your thumbs aren't exactly green. Never fear, if you have an iPhone, these ten apps, as picked by ABC News, can help you plant, grow, and harvest your very own garden.

1. Landscaper's Companion (Price: $9.99) If you're looking for tons of information, this is the app for you. This encyclopedia-type app features over 1,400 plants from 16 categories such as shrubs, annuals, and house plants, and has nearly 6,000 photos.

2. Fruit Garden ($1.99) If you're growing fruit, this is a great app! It explains harvesting, tips and tricks, soil preparation, planting, and recommended varieties of 22 different fruits.

3. iGarden USA ($4.99) This app allows you to pick your zone and harvest fruits and vegetables based on it. Simply select your seed an it'll show you which days to harvest, planting depth, space between rows, and the best temperatures for germination. It even suggests insecticides to keep pests off your plants.

4. Bugs & Insects ($0.99) With over 900 pests in its database, this app is great for determining who is eating or visiting your plants. You can even create a "favorite" bugs list. Though "favorite" may not be the right work here.

5. Botany Buddy ($5.99) Here you'll find information on over 1,300 trees and shrubs. You'll get very detailed information and share your collections with other gardeners through their website. This app is normally $9.99, but for a limited time, you can get it cheaper.

6. Botanical Interests ($5.99) With this app, you'll get advice on 287 different kinds of vegetables. Who knew there 26 types of lettuce or 20 different types of tomatoes?

7. Herbs+ ($1.99) This app is great for herb gardeners and offers information on 25 different varieties, including how to plant it, how to cook with it, and even how to use it for health purposes.

8. Garden Pilot ($2.99) This app features over 14,000 different plants and covers everything from diseases to fertilizers, chemicals, and organic gardening. It also shows you which plants you can purchase from your local retailer.

For more information and more gardening apps, check out abcnews.go.com.

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The BookLover iPhone App for Book Lovers

If you love to read, you probably squeeze it anytime you can. On your lunch break, during your commute, and when you're waiting for an appointment. But summer is just around the corner and that means vacation time, or for book lovers, even more time to read. If you've been too busy to keep up with new books or old titles you ran across and thought sounded good, you're in luck. There's now, as they say, an app for that.

The new iPhone app, appropriate named "BookLover," will help you build your own personal reading list. You can keep track of books you want to read, make notes on them, and even share your lists with others. If you already know what books you want to read, add them to your virtual bookshelf by simply typing in the title. The shelves show your books by cover picture.

Once you've set up your bookshelf, you can create categories for your books, such as genre, book type, and even books you want to read and books you want to give to someone else. Simply drag and drop your book covers into any category you want.

You can also touch any book in your collection to add notes. Maybe a friend told you the book is on sale at Borders, just pull out your iPhone and make a note of it so you'll have the information handy for later. You can even share those notes via iPhone email or Facebook.

The app could have more features but it's cute with its little bookshelves and its inexpensive. You can purchase BookLover at the iTunes store for $0.99.

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The Sound ID 510 Blutooth Headset

A reviewer at CNET calls the Sound ID 510 Blutooth Headset a "truly excellent Bluetooth headset for iPhone owners." So, what makes it so great? For starters, the headset comes with its own customized iPhone app, which allows you to adjust the quality of your sound among other cool features. As for the headset, itself, it has three microphones, which is great for canceling out noise, it's got a green mode for those who are looking to be environmentally-friendly, and it even offers multiple ear fittings so that you can find the right one for your personal comfort. These features, alone, make this $130 headset one of the best you can buy for your iPhone.

Size-wise, it's small and light-weight. The headset is 2.1 inches long, 0.6 inches wide, and 0.3 inches thick. The reviewer at CNET compares it to a stick of gum. You can purchase either a black or white model and it comes in a hard plastic cover. It's very plain, according to CNET, but appealing all the same. The tiny multifunction button is easy to reach by feeling for it, and it's located on the front surface. Use the rest of the front surface as a touch sensor volume control.

The left side features the power toggle, which makes power conservation a breeze, and on top, you'll find the charger jack. The back has the earpiece, inside a Sound ID Real comfort ear loop, which, according to CNET fits snugly on your ear. Despite the fact that it comes with optional ear hook, wearing it is not necessary. It's said to be comfortable and even offers three different sizes so you may choose which one is the most comfortable.

The accompanying app is called EarPrint. it's free at the iTunes store but it only works this version of the headset. So, what does the app do? It allows you to measure how loud your surrounding sound is by decibels. It also acts as a personal audio equalizers in Personal Sound Mode. Personal Sound is a grid interface that lets you tap your finger to adjust the volume and ton of the audio. The Tools section lets you go back and forth between the in-call status indicator, a noise reduction demo, and Environmental mode, which lets you listen to surrounding noise. And even that can be set on Surround Sound or Focused Sound. Another tool, called Find My Headset, allows you to do just what the name says. Simply tap the locator button and a lost or misplaced headset will sound an alarm to help you find it. You can also check the headset's battery life via the app.

The headset's other features are pretty generic: ending, answering, rejecting, last-number redial, and transferring call capabilities. According to CNET's reviewer, the Sound ID 510's outgoing call quality is excellent and callers could hear the speakers clearly. Battery life for the headset is 5 hours of talk time or 5.62 days.

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New Google Chrome Web App Store

Earlier this week, Google announced the Chrome Store at the I/O conference, and shared some details about what to expect. The app store will be Google's own place for you to buy web applications or just download free ones.

According to PC World, the Chrome Web Store will open later this year (before the Chrome operating system ships) and will only sever users of Google Chrome (about 70 million), at first. Developers must follow the developer's guide and only use technology that will work with Chromium Apps.

A few of the apps were unveiled at the I/O conference. According to PC World, these included Google's own Docs, Calendar, Mail, News, Maps, Picasa and Wave. Insiders assume those types of apps will be free, while apps from magazines, games, news and other utilities will have to be paid for (supposedly about $3 or $4). The free apps will appear when you open a new tab in Chrome, as well as a link to the app store.

Gizmodo has some pictures of what is currently being offered. This includes: Pandora, Lego Star Wars, Plants vs. Zombies, Digg, Sports Illustrated, Who has the Biggest Brian, Tweetdeck, NPR, Zoho, LinkedIn, Bejeweled 2, Scrabble, FIFA World Cup 2010, Darkroom, and Poker Rivals. The apps are said to be impressive and high-quality. As a matter of fact, Engadget describes the apps as better than "most anything we've seen on the iPad thus far."

The Chrome apps will be developed with existing open source coding such as native HTML code C and C++, and in the future with coding such as WebM. It is also expected to be a lot less restrictive than the Apple App Store. Some say the future may hold Android apps which can be synced between computers and mobile phones and the store may even cause people to abandoned other browsers, in favor of Chrome.

But some don't see such a bright future. CNET has questioned whether or not there is a difference between visiting a website and having an app for that website. Others feel that Chrome as a whole will essentially be a big flop. Even so Steve Jobs and Apple are feeling the threat and are already on defense. Jobs has been taking shots at Google's products lately (most recently, Android) and will probably do the same with Chrome.

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The Official iPhone Twitter App

If you noticed Tweetie 2 missing from the Apple App store yesterday, you weren't just seeing things. The app has been replaced by the new, official iPhone app for Twitter. The uniquely named app is called, well, "Twitter." Twitter actually bought Tweetie about a month ago, from creator Loren Brichter, and it looks like they basically added their own brand to it. The new app is being called "version 3.0."

According to CNN, aside from being absolutely free, the new app is basically the same as the old version of Tweetie, with no "big update" or "iPad support." Tweetie has been a popular app for iPhone users but if you were looking for big improvements, you might want to stick with what you have.

New features include viewing people's Twitter pages without having your own account, as well as signing up for a new account with the app. Once you do sign up, the app generates a suggested user list for you. "Top Tweets" have been added to search results and the "More" tab is a little different, with more popular options being moved to the main bar.

According to CNN, many developers worried about the future of their own applications when Twitter purchased Tweetie. Twitter, in turn, said they needed to have an official client. The company has been increasing its presence in the mobile world, in an effort to improve the user experience. The company's user-base has grown overwhelmingly lately and third party apps can often be confusing.

Twitter for Android was released in early May, as was the Twitter app for Blackberry, released by Research in Motion. iPhone, Android, and Blackberry make up the majority of the smartphone market, so now, no one has an excuse not to use Twitter...on the go!!

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Cisco's New WebEx iPad App

With the weekend release of the iPad, as expected, a lot of apps are being released and many of them are business-minded. In a press release issued last week, Cisco announced that it was creating a Cisco WebEx Meeting Center app for the iPad that is available now through the Apple App Store. The app will allow iPad users to participate in online web and audio meetings like never before.

With just a "few taps on the screen," users can join a meeting via the URL found in the email or calendar invitation, so long as they have WiFi access.

So what all does the WebEx app have to offer? It uses animation, special visual effects, user movements, and touch to make the user experience easier than ever. Participants can view shared presentations, applications, and desktops, as well as view the meeting participant list, see who's talking and chat privately with attendees using the chat window. Those using the app can also take full advantage of Cisco WebEx VolP audio directly from their iPad or request a call-back on a phone.

In the press release for the app, Debra Chrapaty, the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Cisco Collaboration Software Group said, "This latest innovation continues to showcase Cisco's ongoing commitment to bringing the value of collaboration. When a powerful collaboration solution like Cisco WebEx Meeting Center for the iPad is combined with an intuitive and WiFi enabled user experience, businesses and users both win."

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New Apps for Medical Professionals

This year, at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society conference for doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals, keynote speaker and Spring CEO Dan Hesse said it's time to take healthcare "out of the 70's." It seems as though some companies have already taken this message to heart.

Nuance Communication has announced a new line of their popular Drag products, which are specifically for medical professionals who want to put their smartphones to work. Their Dragon Medical Mobile App Suite contains three new apps and a software development kit. The products are aimed at making it easier for users to transcribe short notes, as well as allowing professionals easy access to Electronic Health Records (EHRs).

The first app, Dragon Medical Mobile Search, should be available by April 30th. It allows users to search websites by voice, using the company's Naturally Speaking recognition technology. For now, it only includes high profile websites: Google, Medscape, MedLine, and Epocrates. More should be available in the future.

The second app is Dragon Medical Mobile Dictation, which is designed to take notes based on dictation, email, and text. The third app is Dragon Medical Mobile Recorder, which is for organizations that use Nuance's eScription Service or its Dictaphone Enterprise Speech System. It has full transcription capabilities and generates high-quality documents. The SDK will allow developers the option of working with Dragon technology.

The company says it does not know when the second and third apps or the SDK will be released but they did offer previews at the conference. You can also sign up for free updates about the apps at Nuance.com.

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A New App for Teachers

It seems as though there's an app to help with every career these days, and now that is true for teachers! And it's about time. Teaching isn't just about teach. There are so many records to keep and so much paperwork to keep organized. That's why two former school employees, Ben Threadgill and Ryan Haight, got together and formed BrighterLogix, a company that makes software applications for teachers and schools. Their goal is to make the paperwork and organization part of the job easier for teachers.

As of right now, Threadgill and Haight are the only employees at their one-year-old, Tulsa, Oklahoma-based company, but they've already created the app "SideKick." SideKick is a lesson-planning application that is customizable and has already been adopted by several school districts, as well as several individual teachers.

For example, in Oklahoma, Catoosa Public Schools is using the software. The principal of one school that teaches pre-K through first-grade students, said the teachers love it. "It's been working very well. They've made lots of enhancements that have made it very user-friendly for us," Kerry Sitton told Tulsa World.

The founders of the company are no strangers to the education world; Haight worked in the Catoosa Public Schools technology department, and and Threadgill worked for Western Heights Public Schools in Oklahoma City. By working the field and getting a first-hand look at the technology offered to teachers and other educators, the two men realized most similar technology was expensive, complicated, or just too inflexible.

Threadgill said his experience proved to him that lesson-planning was an important first task to accomplish, "Teachers often write them out on paper, make copies of them and hand-walk them to the office to submit them." But SideKick changes that. It involves a searchable lesson plans database and an interactive calendar that allows teachers to make plans day by day. It also incorporates state standards that teachers must comply to.

Currently, the two creators are signing more individual teachers up to use the apps in hopes they'll take them to their school districts.

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5 Great iPhone Apps for Your Business

iPhone users don't go anywhere without their phone and they've found they can put it to great use. From planning your travel itinerary to your grocery list, there's an iPhone app for just about everything you can think of, and now many people are even using their iPhones to run their businesses. Here is a look at five great apps, suggested by TechStartUps.com's Rick Singer (via bloggingstocks.com).

1. Bento: For $4.99, this app helps you keep track of contacts and calendars, monitor projects, to-do lists, and keep up with inventory. It even lets you keep up with your diet! The app is is created by FileMaker (which is owned by Apple).

2. Box.net: Box.net is a web-based collaboration service that allows you to edit and share large files with anyone. Its app allows you to post, view, or reply to comments on any file or folder, such as editing Microsoft Word files. Best of all, it's free!

3. HoursTracker: If you need to keep track of your employees or contractors, this app can do it all for just $2.99. Simply click on a clock and add a description to keep track of any timesheet. You can even calculate hourly wage and estimated tax percentages.

4. Invoice2go: This app allows you to create invoice, bill your client, or generate reports, using several different customizable templates. It is $9.99.

5. Business Card Reader: This one is probably self explanatory. If you have an ever-growing pile of business cards that you need to enter into your contact list but don't feel like doing all that typing, just take a picture, and the cards will be scanned and converted into a contact list for only $4.99.

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