iPhone 4
FaceTime is Apple’s buzz word for video calling. This feature became available with the new iPhone. For a detailed description of this feature, head on over to Apple’s official page about FaceTime. For a good video showing FaceTime in action, go here.
Mic and I both have the new iPhone and we have been using FaceTime for a week now. It has been great. When you are talking to someone over the phone, a lot is lost in translation because you can’t see their face or body language. With FaceTime, you can see the person as you talk to them. Even better, you can switch between the cameras on the iPhone. There is a camera on the front as well as a camera on the back. So during a FaceTime call, you can toggle between your face and other visuals. For example, if you see a building or sign that you would normally describe over the phone, you simply hit the toggle button and show the building or sign for a few seconds and then toggle back to your face. Sounds simple, but the effect is dramatic. It allows more interactive and meaningful communication.
One down side to the current implementation of FaceTime is that it only works over a WiFi connection (for now). It does not work over the 3G cellular network, so you have to be in range of a wireless access point. Fring is an application for the iPhone that supposedly supports video calls over 3G and we will be trying that out. For more info on Fring, go here. Be sure to read the reviews before deciding if it is worth downloading.
On the positive side, FaceTime video calls do not count towards your cellular minutes because they are sent over the WiFi network, not the 3G network.
Mic and I have weekly team meetings and we do these via FaceTime now. It has improved the flow of our conversations dramatically. It makes the process more enjoyable. This has been a glimpse of things to come and it is a good thing. In 2 years we will all be looking back at the announcement of FaceTime and wonder how we got by without video calling using our mobile phones.
Have you ever opened one of your contract template documents, started entering data and forgotten to do a “Save As?” Now your template has real client data in it. And unless you undo everything you just entered, your “template” is screwed up. The Blue Gurus are Microsoft Small Business Specialists and we know how to fix these kinds of problems. We see this “template” problem in many of the small businesses that we work with. The problem is that you may be using a standard Word document (.DOCX) as your “template file instead of real Microsoft Word Document Template files. (.DOTX)
A template file is basically a starting point for a new document. For instructions on creating .DOTX files, visit this online tutorial provided by Microsoft.
Once you have created a .DOTX file, all you have to do is double click it in File Explorer to start a new document that uses the template as a starting point. When you make changes and click “Save”, you won’t be saving your changes to the template file, but to a new Word Document (.DOCX) This stops you from accidentally writing over your template file! It also makes sure that you give your document a useful name because you can’t save it without naming it.
For more advanced users, you can implement form fields on your Word Templates. What this looks like for your end user is that the fields that need to be filled out can simply be clicked on and typed into without having to mess with annoying underlines! You can also place checkboxes next to appropriate choices in your content. It makes your forms more professional looking, more consistent and easier to put data into them. What a great tradeoff… better looking forms that are easier to use! (Click here for instructions on turning on the Developer menu option that gives you access to placing these controls.)
This is a good concept to apply to your sales contracts, standard forms or any other document that you regularly fill out in your day to day processing of data.
If you are like me, you have laughed and rolled your eyes at “those” people that spend their time playing social games like Farmville and the most recently launched Frontierville. If you haven’t heard of these games (gasp!), they are the creation of a company named Zynga. (Valued at over $1 Billion…) They build Flash based games that plug in to the Facebook social media network. In the majority of PC based games, you play against the computer. The twist on “social gaming” is that you play online with or against your friends. Also, the people playing don’t have to be playing at the same time. One person does something in the game in the morning, and their friend can respond when they have time to play that evening. In other words, it is closer to turn-based games like Risk.
The title of this article is “Frontierville – Waste of Time?”. I have assumed the answer is YES for so long and realized that I needed to at least play one of these games so that I could have an opinion based on experience. This hit my radar when my brother Mike asked me to be his Frontierville friend when he was at my house 2 weeks ago. Apparently, he and his wife Elizabeth both play the game and they were looking for “neighbors”. The concept is that the more people you invite to be neighbors of the Frontier that you are building, the more perks, resources and awards you get in the game. So basically they didn’t care if I played or not, they just wanted me to sign up to be a neighbor. <grin>
Nostalgic Interlude
When I was growing up, I remember that we would get together to play board games for entertainment. Life, Scrabble and Parcheesi were fun nights for the Terry family. (I know, might not be the most exciting, but it allowed our family to spend time together.) I will come back to this…
How many of you have ever sent or received a LinkedIn invitation that says “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn”?
What did you think about it?
We can tell you what we think about it….DON’T DO IT!
We tend to cringe any time we see the standard default message pop up in our LinkedIn inboxes from someone that wants to connect. In fact, we often joke that the default message might as well be: “Hello. I’m lazy. This invitation isn’t important enough for me to spend the 15-20 seconds it would take to write a personal message telling you who I am, how we know each other, and why I want to connect.”
That said, we understand that there are a lot of people that are new to LinkedIn and are learning the “do’s and dont’s” around using the tool. As we work with clients throughout Kansas City, we’re making sure that people personalize their invitations and stop using the standard default invitation.
Think about it in conversational terms. When you meet someone in person or are talking on the phone, do you use stuffy, boring, impersonal language like “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn?”
Of course you don’t! (At least we hope you don’t!)
So, going forward, when sending LinkedIn invitations, do yourself, the Blue Gurus, and the recipient of your invitation a favor: PERSONALIZE IT!
We would love to hear your horror stories, so feel free to comment!
iPhone 4
You are probably seeing all kinds of press related to the Apple iPhone and the Sprint HTC EVO. For a good comparison chart of technical specs, check out this article at Wired.com. I think they are both great phones and it is amazing to me how much we are able to do with them. (Don’t forget that texting while driving is now banned in Kansas.)
HTC EVO (link to Sprint’s site)
I was recently in New York with Trista for our Honeymoon. We were waiting in line to get into Carlo’s Bakery, home of the reality TV show Cake Boss. The guy ahead of us had the HTC EVO and I was able to play around with it for a few minutes. It is a GREAT phone and definitely worth looking at if you are not already drinking the iPhone cool aid like I am. We are going to get Trista the EVO when it is not such a pain in the rear to actually find one in stock.
Apple iPhone 4 (link to Apple’s site)
I went into the AT&T store today to figure out what the process is going to look like to upgrade to the newest iPhone. They have closed all pre-orders due to overwhelming response and the breakdown of the pre-order system. Thursday, June 24th at 7am is the first opportunity you will have to walk into an AT&T or Apple store to order your shiny new iPhone 4. I am waiting until Saturday. <grin> Mic and I will both have iPhones and we will do a follow up hands on about the new phones from our perspective in July.
Quick Tip: I currently have our business lines under my personal social security number. The sales people at the AT&T store suggested that I combine our 3 business lines into a small business plan using the Blue Gurus EIN with AT&T so that we could receive an 8% discount on service. After an hour on the phone with 3 different people, I find out that you have to have at least 5 (five) lines to get the 8% discount. Come on people, train your sales staff! Anyway, if you have 5 or more lines with AT&T, you should be on a small business plan!
