Click the image to see a larger picture

In business relationships, it’s always beneficial when you can meet face-to-face, however it’s not always possible or practical. Skype is an excellent (and FREE!) solution for this real-world business challenge.

So what is Skype? If you have 60 seconds, check out the video on their web site that quickly explains what it is and how it works. But here’s the gist….

Skype allows you to make FREE voice and video calls over the internet to any other Skype account holder. You can also do conference calls, instant messaging, transfer files and screen sharing.  

If you’ve used Skype before, then you know it is an extremely valuable way to keep in touch with both business and personal contacts. Oh, and did we mention it’s FREE? 

If you live in Kansas City and your son or daughter is away at college, you can do Skype video calls to keep in touch while avoiding long distance charges. We know families that are spread out all over the country that use Skype to stay in touch with video calling.

Jason and I have virtual offices and we use Skype regularly to catch up on Blue Gurus business or even just to shoot the breeze. The audio and video quality is excellent and we love the fact that we can SEE each other’s reactions, facial expressions, etc. while we’re talking.

Using Skype is easy. All you need is a broadband internet connection, a PC or Mac, and a web cam if you want to do video calls. You can do audio-only calls if your computer has a microphone.

If you want to use Skype for regular calls, long distance calls, and international calls, you can purchase credits at very affordable rates. 

Another cool feature you will notice once you download the software is that Skype automatically highlights phone numbers on web sites you visit. If you have purchased credits, you can click on the little green icon and place the call right from your computer!  (Note: You can disable the automatic highlighting feature in the Internet Explorer plugin settings.)

Recently I had a 45-minute Skype video conversation with Tim Tyrell-Smith, who I came across online over a year ago. The Skype call was the first time we’d ever “met” and it made our conversation so much easier and more personable. I felt like I’d known him for years. (On a side note, Tim has an excellent career search web site that has an unbelievable amount of content for job seekers of all ages. If you know anyone looking for a job or considering a career change, I highly recommend checking out  Tim’s Web Site and subscribing to his blog.)

To connect with us on Skype, search for Jason Terry or Mic Johnson using the “Search for Contacts” feature.

Happy Skyping!

Have you used Skype? If so, comment below and share your experiences with our readers.

The calendar printing assistant comes with a variety of great templates for printing daily, weekly, monthly and yearly versions of your calendar.  Also, it supports the ability for you to print a combined calendar with multiple people displayed for a unified look at your staff activities for the week.  This can be helpful for meetings or for providing to a client when appropriate.  (A good note to mention at this point is that it would be better to save the paper and use a computer to review calendars, but there are definitely times when a printed copy is necessary.)

It makes you wonder… with Office 2010 just released, why didn’t they role this functionality into the newest version of the product?  It is still an add-on.  The Blue Gurus are Microsoft Partners and WE just found out about this, so I can’t imagine how many other people had no idea this was available.  Well, now you know. 

If you end up using the Calendar Printing Assistant and it makes your life a smidge better, we would love to hear from you.

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.

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.

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!

iPad

We wrote a few weeks ago that we have adopted the iPad and love it, but wanted to give you an update.  Apple has sold more than 2 million iPads in 2 months.  There is talk that the iPad will outpace Mac laptops in terms of sales volumes.  Why does this matter?  We consult with many small business owners, and after giving our iPads a whirl, they go out and buy one themselves.  It is that simple.  The user experience is fantastic.  It is just easy to use.  Couple that with the reasonable price tag and we will continue to see the iPad fly off of the Apple retail shelves.  They are still having problems keeping them in stock at certain locations.

The other thing that we really like about the iPad is how well it can be used to do the things that you need to do as you run your business.  Email, calendar, contacts, reading books, checking the weather, using the Safari browser to hit all the web sites you would normally check out on a given day… it is all right at your fingertips.  The most important part of the iPad is that it was built for touch interface.  No external wireless mouse.  You can use a bluetooth enabled keyboard with it if you want to (and we have them but never use them).  It is a different way of consuming content on the move and it just feels right.

Don’t forget that June 7th is the assumed date that Apple will announce the next version of the iPhone.  We are going to be buying them as soon as they are available!  And if you have always wanted to be able to get insurance for your phone, prepare yourself to shell out $14/month.

RSS Feeds

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. (Wikipedia definition and more details)  It is a way for web sites and bloggers to publish their content in a standard format.  The nice thing about the standard is that there are hundreds of different “feed readers” including Microsoft Outlook, Google Reader and more.  What we like most about RSS is that you can have access to breaking news on whatever subject interests you, and because the media is not printed, it is environmentally friendly.  For a list of great RSS feed readers, check out this Mashable article.

We stumbled on an amazing RSS reader with a unique twist in an iPad application called Early Edition.  (Review by CNET.com)  This reader allows you to specify the various RSS feeds that you want to consume (list of feeds we like later…).  It then grabs all of the recent articles from those feeds, mixes them up, and presents them in a newspaper looking format that works very well.  After a week of consuming RSS feeds using Early Edition, we can honestly say that it is the best feed reader we have used.  We especially love how various topics are mixed together, making it more interesting to read.  Highly recommended.

Here is a list of feeds that the Blue Gurus pay close attention to, in case you want to add them to your list!  If you aren’t reading RSS feeds yet, it is worth your time to check out what it is all about!

Mashable.com (RSS)
Slashdot (RSS)
Engadget (RSS)
MacRumors (RSS)
USA Today Top Headlines (RSS)
CNN Top Headlines (RSS)
BlueGurus.com (shameless RSS)

Screenshot of Early Edition RSS Reader for the iPad:

MacRumors.com

If you are a follower or fan of Apple products, you should be sure to check out MacRumors.com.  This site is dedicated to all things Apple.  In the past 2 years, we have read about late breaking stories like new iPhone features and early product pictures, iPad release information, the oh-so-funny story about how an Apple employee lost their development iPhone at a bar and more.

We really like hearing about things that are coming our way from Apple before they hit prime time because we are fans of the iPhone and iPad.  We can’t wait until June 2010 for the next version of the iPhone called the 4G or HD depending on who you ask, more on that here.  Our goal at Blue Gurus is to make things work better for our customers.  One of the reasons we enjoy recommending Apple products is because they just work well.  And you don’t have to have an engineering degree to use the products.

Enjoy MacRumors.com!

Sandisk 16GB USB Memory Key

It is time for another update on our RoboForm2Go USB Password Management solution.  We have mentioned this device in the past and we are bringing it up again because we have had so many of our clients raving about it.  Our goal at Blue Gurus is to educate you, save you time and help you grow your business.  One of the great time saving solutions we offer our clients is the installation of a RoboForm USB Password key.  Think about how many times each month you type in a username and password on a web site to do your job.  Now think about how many times you couldn’t remember the password and had to go through a “Password Reminder” process just to get to the point where you could actually log in to do your work.  What would it be worth to you not to have this problem ever again?  Our clients usually say “a lot”.

RoboForm2Go running from a USB key that securely synchronizes to online storage and can be accessed securely from many devices is an excellent solution for managing your passwords and saving you a lot of time as you do your work.  If you prefer to have this set up and working for you, give us a call at (913) 944-4980! 

If you are technical, you can figure all this out on your own.  Start here: http://www.roboform2go.com

In about one hour per person, we install a password management system that includes a USB Key for your keychain that holds all of your passwords.  When you sign in to web sites, the passwords, and any changes to existing passwords you make, are copied over the internet to a secure storage location hosted by RoboForm.  (This means that if you ever lose your USB Key, you still have all your passwords and can set up another key fairly quickly)  Also, if you have an iPhone or iPad, there is a RoboForm application that allows you to access your passwords from these devices as well.) 

If you decide to have us help you with this solution, here is the process:

- We order the Sandisk USB Key and USB extension cable for you.
- When we get together, we install the key on your computer and configure the RoboForm2Go software.
- You purchase the RoboForm2Go license with your credit card for $31.95 (This is normally $39.95 but we have a discount code).
- Then we set up GoodSync2Go to synchronize your passwords across the internet.
- Finally, we teach you one-on-one how to use everything! 

RoboForm is easy to learn and the feedback we get is always something like, “that is amazing.  I can’t believe you guys are the first people to tell us how to solve the problem of managing our passwords.  This is going to save us a lot of time.” 

We hope you will do this on your own if you have the time or call us if you don’t.  You shouldn’t be wasting time trying to remember passwords and typing in your user name on web sites many times every day!

iPad Arrives

We got our first iPad delivered today and have had a chance to work with it for a few hours now.  And we love it.  Sure, it is a lot like an iPhone on steroids, but the iPad is so much more.  It is hard to describe how easy it is to do the things you want to do.  It synchs email, contacts and calendars with Microsoft Exchange Server through ActiveSync.  The calendar views are stunning and easy to read by day, week and month views.  The contacts are presented as a well formatted address book.  Email is easy to navigate and the large screen makes it easy to read.  Apple has hit a home run with this product.  For less than $1,000 you can have a device that will take the place of a handful of gear you currently lug around, and the battery goes all day long!

If you have an iPad, let us know what you think about it.  If you don’t, read on for more reasons why you should have an iPad.

We downloaded a bunch of applications from the App Store to see how they worked on the iPad.  Some were iPhone applications that get scaled up by enlarging them to twice their size.  There is a little bit of grainy going on when this happens, but the apps are easier to read and work just like they do on the iPhone. Even better : the applications that have been enhanced specifically for the iPad.  For example, the Kindle Reader for iPad is fantastic.  If you have invested a lot in your library on Amazon.com, you can view it on your iPad for no additional cost.  The USA Today application makes reading one of our favorite newspapers fast and more engaging because of the vivid pictures and links to additional content.

Was all the hype worth it?  We believe so.  The most important reason is the fact that the iPad is an excellent business tool in addition to great web surfing, gaming and text messaging.  The integration with Microsoft Exchange, Gmail and more is seamless.  Many of the applications that you loved on the iPhone are bigger and better on the iPad.  WeatherBug is like having your own weather center in your hands.  The ability to use the iPad as a secondary display for a Mac will be huge for some people.  The RoboForm2Go application allows us to have access to all of our passwords in one location.  The list goes on and on.  Our recommendation is that you get your hands on a friends iPad or drop by your nearest Apple Store to check this thing out.  (Ask a Blue Guru next time you see one of us and we would be happy to give you a demo!)  You will be pleasantly surprised with this new experience and will probably join the ranks of the hundreds of thousands of others that bought the iPad as soon as they could.