Remember The Milk

Remember The Milk is a cloud based task management tool that allows you to organize your business or personal affairs. It can be accessed via the web, an android device, iPhone, iPad, and the Blackberry phones. It even allows you to synchronize task with Gmail, Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook and Twitter. You don't have to worry about forgetting the "milk" or anything else because you can always have alerts sent to your phone via sms, email or instant messaging. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1QdwolacbnLt-x8qJk7BW10XAPJ3QalAX7sX4stiVG-w/edit?usp=sharing

Cloud Based Tools

Apps on Cloud

Apps on Cloud is a cloud based tool that provides businesses with tools that will help effectively organize, manage, and track day to day operations. Employee Management allows business to manage employee data, secure HR records and provides charts to view your business structure. With Account Management you can store your contacts and leads and stay up to date with the real time activity feeds. The Customer Support feature provides a portal that customers can use to get help. It also offers Document Management, Project Management and Enterprise Social. With no credit card required you are limited up to 200MBs of data storage. The premium upgrade will give you 500MBs for $10 monthly.


http://appsoncloud.com/

Google Apps

Google Apps is another cloud based business tool designed to keep your team connected. Google Apps provides emails, calendars, drives to store your files on the cloud, documents that can be created and shared in real time, spreadsheet management, and a slide presentation editor that can publish presentations on the web or be shared privately. Free for up to 10 users and then $50 per user/ yearly for premium version.

http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/business/

Appy Pie

Appy Pie allows users to create mobile apps and iOS applications in the cloud. Users do not need to have programming experience at all. The app is designed to work on several platforms including Windows 8 and Blackberry phones. Appy Pie has collaborated with OpenTable, Grub and SoundCloud in order to tailor its cloud services to restaurants and bands. The free version allows you to create HTML5 apps.


http://www.appypie.com/

Remember The Milk

Remember The Milk is a cloud based task management tool. It "reinvents the to-do list" by providing users the ability to manage tasks from anywhere, get sms and email reminders, share tasks, access from mobile phones and you can even access the tool while offline. It can be used with Google Calendar, Gmail, and Twitter.

http://www.rememberthemilk.com/

Aviary 

Aviary is a cloud based photo editing tool. It is fully customizable and can be used on both mobile and web platforms. It allows media, audio and images to be edited for free online. The catch is that in order for the service to remain free you must be willing to share all your files with the Aviary community. Should you desire privacy you will have to upgrade to a premium account.

http://aviary.com/

Real Drugs Virtual Help!!! Technology does it all!!

Just when you thought you have heard it all, you haven't. While many of us can't imagine even using an illegal substance or abusing alcohol someone somewhere is making a virtual world for it. It's suppose to help those who abuse alcohol or are addicted to  drugs such as heroine, cocaine or crack.While it doesn't necessarily claim to treat the addiction it does claim to help users cope with their drug and alcohol cravings.

Duke University's assistant professor, Zach Rosenthal, has been researching virtual rehabilitation for quite some time with actual drug addicts and even veterans. The program received it's funding from The National Institute of Drug Abuse and The Department of Defense. The software works by simulating environments that an addict may find him or herself in according to their addiction of choice. An alcoholic environment may simulate a party with cocktails and friends while a crack addicts environment may include a crack house with discarded pipes and drug deals taking place. The program will have users rate their cravings and every few minutes until the craving goes away.

In this virtual world users are put into a situation where they have the choice to say no, however one user is actually noted for reaching out to actually grab a drink from the virtual environment.   "Rosenthal is hoping that each recovering substance abuser will take the coping mechanisms from the virtual world back to reality."   (Lecher)

 

The above picture is a simulation of a virtual crack house.

Lecher, C. (2013, April 19). Can Virtual reality Treat Addiction? Retrieved April 20, 2013, from Popular Science: http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-04/addiction-therapy-and-virtual-reality+

Programming Just Got Fun

As a mother raising 2 boys in the "Video Game Era" I often try and find games that will not only entertain them but educate them. Trust me, It's hard! So you can imagine how I feel about finding out about a video game that teaches Java Programming to it's players.Well computer scientist William Griswold and graduate students of the University of California have done just that. The Game is called CodeSpells.

CodeSpells is designed for elementary to high school students (ha...I bet a few of us college kids will need it too). In CodeSpells the Player is a wizard who has to resort to using Java Programming to cast spells because they've are unable to perform magic. So far the game has been tested on 40 pre-teen girls who  seemed to get a knack for some of he basic programming codes in less than an hr.

 According to the university, “By the time players complete the game’s first level, they have learned the main components of the Java programming language, such as parameters, for if statements, for loops and while loops, among other skills.”  Coxworth

CodeSpells announced just today, April 9th 2013, that it's Beta version has just been released. unfortunately it has only been released for MAC with promises of the Windows version being released soon. The MAC version however is now being tested in elementary schools.

"In this stand-alone version you can expect to be introduced to basic concepts such as looping, conditionals and methods/parameters in this explorative magical environment. We are working hard to ensure that you get to experience all of the quests and explorative world!" Esper

Coxworth, B. (2013, April 9). Video game teaches Java programming language to players. Retrieved April 9, 2013, from Gizmag: http://www.gizmag.com/codespells-java-video-game/26992/

Esper, S. (2013, April 9). Code Spells: Learn to Program by Crafting Your Own Magic Spells, BETA Release! Retrieved April 9, 2013, from http://codespells.blogspot.com/: http://codespells.blogspot.com/

Shuffle Your PC???

What will they come up with next? How about a PC that is designed to look and feel like....paper. The PaperTab designed by Queens University, Intel Logic and Plastic Logic  will do just that. The idea is to make using  a tablet just like shuffling papers. This way the user can have more apps open ans all running at once. The PaperTabs can even be combined joining them together or you can even exchange data between PaperTabs by touching them both simultaneously. The most interesting thing about the PaperTab to me just as they stated in the article written by Clay Dillow on Popsci.com is the user interface. You don't have to swipe, point or press any keys you only have to Flex the tablet in certain directions. I personally feel that while this is a really cool concept it is very inefficient, will cause disorganization and I seriously doubt companies are going to go for something like this.

Dillow, C. (2013, January 09). Flexible, Paper-Like Tablet Computers Work Together To Make Computing More Like Shuffling Papers. Retrieved March 24, 2013, from POPSCI: http://www.popsci.com/gadgets/article/2013-01/flexible-paper-tablet-computers-work-together-make-computing-more-shuffling-papers

Windows 8 Microsoft Surface Tablet

Ok.... I will try to remain neutral when speaking about the Microsoft Surface Tablet but who am I kidding, I just don't want one. While I am sure it's a nice little gadget to have the tablet runs windows 8 of course which has not gotten the best reviews. It is also hardware...by Microsoft. I'm sure they have the capability to produce some good hardware but I just haven't heard much about it yet and I am not quick to spend hundreds of dollars just to try it myself. Never the less let's check it out.

The 32 GB hard drive with out the bells and whistles is going to run you $500...plus tax. Bells and whistles included, which is nothing more than a touch cover, that adheres to the tablet with magnets and you're looking at $600. Want a 64 GB hard drive well then lets make that $700.
The touch which is most likely a spinoff of iPads Smart cover works by sensing your hands over the keyboard.

Nosowits, D. (2012, October 16). Microst Surface Will Start at $500. Retrieved March 18, 2013, from Popular Science: http://www.popsci.com/gadgets/article/2012-10/microsoft-surface-will-start-500

Now Thats a Hard Drive!

Steel, padlocks and deadbolts are not something you'd normally  find on the computer isle.  At least not until now.  The ioSafe N2 has changed all of that. The hard drive is "built to with stand anything" says, Safford, who recently wrote an article on it featured in POPSCI. By anything we do mean fire, water, theft and the occasional fall. This sounds like the soldier of hard drives. It literally sounds like it's ready for combat. take a look at some of the specs:

• 4 terabyte dual mirrored hard drive
• 0.05 in steel shell protects against fall
• Padlock accessory
• 1 in. heat resistant insulation that protects hard drive up to 1,550°F
• Customized circulation vents help keep flames at bay
•  0.07 in waterproof aluminum barrier with removable gasket cap
• Water barrier protects up to 3 days in 10ft. of saltwater

Talk about protection the ioSafe N2 is also capable of being bolted down to either a floor or a table.  The company is even willing to pay for forensic recovery cost in the event that the hard drive fails. The cost will run you close to $600 but IoSafe likes to compare that $600 to the $8000 that you would spend over the course of three years using Amazon's S3 Storage.

ioSafe. (2012). N2 NAS RAID. Retrieved March 10, 2013, from ioSafe: http://iosafe.com/products-n2-overview

Safford, M. (2012, December 06). http://www.popsci.com/gadgets/article/2012-12/indestructible-hard-drive-can-survive-fire-stop-theft-and-more. Retrieved March 2011, 2013, from POPSCI: http://www.popsci.com/gadgets/article/2012-12/indestructible-hard-drive-can-survive-fire-stop-theft-and-more