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Messenger, Viber, WhatsApp, Kik me, maybe

March 24, 2013March 24, 2013 Max Limpag Leave a comment

The headline screamed “install me now!” It was for yet another mobile messaging application and this time, one that promised, according to TechCrunch, “A Richer, Faster Messaging App That Quickly Grabs Doodles, Videos & Images.”

The article about MessageMe got me at: “It’s light, It’s fast and it isn’t just limited to texting or photos.”

I promptly opened the website and was invited to “experience the free messenger that everyone’s talking about.”

The app was quick to install and set up. After activating my account, it immediately scoured through my social networks to look for contacts already in the system. Of my 797 phone contacts, MessageMe was able to find only one who already signed up. One out of 797, imagine that. And that person signed up, I suspect, because he wrote about the service for a tech website. After a few days of checking whether other friends would sign up and seeing none, I uninstalled the app.

Mobile Internet messaging is currently among the most fragmented sectors in technology. There are probably as many messaging apps as there are groups of friends in your contacts database. It is the Balkanization of our social networks.

Multi-network IM apps

Among the first mobile Internet messaging applications I tried was Fring on the SonyEricsson P1i close to five years ago. The app offered multi-network instant messaging and voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) capabilities to Symbian and Windows Mobile devices. I used it extensively to chat on the go with GoogleTalk and Yahoo contacts.

When I moved to Android and later, iOS, I used various multi-network apps until I eventually settled into imo.im.

Apps like Fring and imo.im unify the Internet messaging experience. The new crop of mobile messaging apps break it apart.

WhatsApp Messenger is a cross-platform mobile messaging app available for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Phone and Nokia. (Photo taken from the WhatsApp website)

Among my contacts, Viber is the most popular. It is a cross-platform messaging and calling service that had 175 million users as of February. It is the app I use to get in touch with old friends.

Then there’s WhatsApp, which, according to the Financial Times in 2011, “has done to SMS on mobile phones what Skype did to international calling on landlines.” I managed to chat with six people in the app but I basically used it in the past year to get in touch with one business contact, who has since stopped using it. WhatsApp indicates when a person last used the app so you’ll know whether you’re better off sending an email or text message.

Group messaging

Kik, on the other hand, offers a more responsive messaging experience, especially on lower-powered devices. I use it to send messages to my kids and two other people I collaborate with.

Another messaging app that generated quite a buzz is Line, which was reported to have 100 million users in January. Apart from calling and messaging, it allowed people to use virtual stickers. Even the photo-sharing social network Path got into the messaging act in its latest version.

There’s also ChatON by Samsung but I used it only for a couple of days when all I could find in the system was a newsroom colleague within earshot. Why chat when you can just talk?

The messaging experience in iMessage, on the other hand, is really good and seamless but it’s limited only to iOS devices. One hopes for a similar feature in Android or better yet, a cross-platform equivalent.

For group messaging, I tried GroupMe and managed to coordinate a couple of projects using it. Eventually, my contacts stopped using it and the app is unused and in danger of being uninstalled.

Facebook messaging

Earlier this year, however, I decided to just stop asking people to use whatever mobile app I fancied. SMS is so cheap and reliable there’s no urgent impetus to move to messaging applications.

I decided, instead, to take advantage of existing networks imo.im for IM chats and Facebook Messenger. Most people are on Facebook, anyway. With the fragmentation of the messaging space, Facebook might just become the default mobile communication app. It’s agreement with carriers all over the world for free or discounted airtime to use the app will help the social network cement that dominance.

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Stop paying for (or pirating) Microsoft Office, get LibreOffice

February 10, 2013February 10, 2013 Max Limpag Leave a comment

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LibreOffice released version 4.0 of its office productivity suite a few days ago and early reviews and feedback point to a solid release.

LibreOffice is the free and open source equivalent to Microsoft Office. Unlike Microsoft Office, which costs as much as P10,995 for a single license under the Home and Small Business edition, LibreOffice is free.

It is, as advocates are wont to say, free as in beer and free as in speech, meaning it costs nothing and does not come with license restrictions.

The LibreOffice suite of applications includes Writer (for word processing, the equivalent of Word), Impress (for presentations, think PowerPoint), Calc (a spreadsheet program similar to Excel), Math (a program for dealing with mathematical formulas and causing nose bleed), Draw (a drawing and diagramming tool similar to Visio), and Base (a database program similar to Microsoft Access).

LibreOffice Writer is a good word processing software and for the price of free, a better alternative to Microsoft Word. The latest release offers better support for DOCX and RTF files.

Leaner, faster

Developers say the release is “leaner and faster.” It does seem leaner, with the installer just 183mb compared to previous versions that exceeded 200mb. In the two days that I’ve been using it on Windows XP and Mac OSX, it seems a bit more responsive. I still have to test it, however, on my main desktop, which runs Ubuntu Linux.

The new version, according to various reports, contain 10,000 changes in code by more than 500 contributors.

Among the major changes that come with the recent release is compatibility with content management systems (CMS) like Microsoft Sharepoint, Alfresco and Nuxeo using the Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS) open standard. According to an IDG News Service report, the new version of LibreOffice will allow you to “check documents in and out” of enterprise content mangement (ECM) systems from the application itself.

Another key improvement is better interoperability with documents that come in DOCX and RTF formats.

The new LibreOffice version also allows you to customize its interface using Firefox Personas, which are themes you can use to change the look of your browser. With the new feature, you can change the visual appearance of LibreOffice by choosing a design at http://getpersonas.com, copying the design’s web address and setting the office suite to use it in Tools > Option > Appearance > Personalization.

Presentation remote control via Android app

Another exciting addition to the suite is the addition of a presentation remote control app for Android. With the LibreOffice Impress Remote, you can use your Android phone to control your slideshow presentation via Bluetooth. You can view slide previews and speaker notes on your phone. The feature, however, currently only works in Linux but developers said other platforms will be included in upcoming versions.

I’ve been using the software and its various incarnations for close to 13 years now – from StarOffice to OpenOffice to LibreOffice and the software suite has really gone a long way to become a serious competitor to Microsoft Office. When I first used it, many people I know derided the software as a poor copy of Office that had no future.

PRESENTATION CONTROL. The Impress Remote app for Android will allow you to control your Impress slides through your phone via Bluetooth. The app currently works only with Linux but developers said they will include other platforms in upcoming versions.

But open source development fueled continuous improvements. LibreOffice is released under an open source license, a license that allows its users to run it anyway they want, share the program, see how it works (meaning source code is available) and improve it.

Today, I can’t think of a reason to use Microsoft Office. I’ve been told that there are some esoteric accounting functions you could only do with Excel and not with Calc but I never got around to having someone point this out for me.

My go-to office suite is still Google Drive. It fits my need for word processing and some spreadsheets work and has the advantage of being always “there” out in the cloud just as long as you have Internet connection. You don’t have to worry which drive you saved the file in, it’s just “there” in the digital ether.

But for working offline, LibreOffice is my go-to office application. It more than fits my need as a blogger, start-up co-founder and journalist. I don’t see why one has to pay thousands of pesos or be kept up at night by the guilt of piracy (or not) for using Microsoft Office.

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To do: Install to-do apps on phone

January 4, 2013January 4, 2013 Max Limpag Leave a comment

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(I wrote this for an article on digital to-do lists for the Sun.Star Cebu Weekend)

I arrived home to the ding of my phone reminding me to run 5K and finish writing this article on to-do lists and a blog post on Inbox Zero.

My phone flashed the reminders because it detected, through global positioning system (GPS), that I was home.

Beyond calling, today’s phones have become our main computer. For many people, it already is the main device to read or send e-mails. Increasingly, it is how people access social networks like Facebook.

If there’s one task phones are really good at, it’s keeping to-do lists. Even before smartphones, people were already keeping to-do lists via the SMS editor, alarm system, calendar feature or the rudimentary notes facility built into some phones to keep track of tasks.

CHECKMARK. The app, which is available only on the iPhone, allows you to set location-based reminders. The images above, taken at various times, show notifications flashed by the app.

Productivity apps are a dime an unli-SMS bucket today and you’d have a hard, albeit fun, time figuring out which app works best for you.

What makes the task of choosing an app even harder is the tight competition for features and users, with developers releasing updates every few months or so in a frenzied apps race where users, millions of users, are the top prize.

I’ve gone through the gamut of the top productivity and to-do list apps. My failure to stick with one isn’t as much as being fickle as making sure that I’m using the best app currently in the market, or so that’s how I justify it to myself. And I also need to constantly try out applications for my blog and technology column.

My current trifecta to handle tasks consists of a small notebook (of the paper kind) and the apps Checkmark and Podio. I use Checkmark for location-based reminders and Podio for project management and collaboration. But ask me again a few months from now and I’d likely name different apps – only the paper notebook is constant.

Here are some apps that I’ve tried in using apps and digital tools to keep track of tasks in the past couple of years.

Checkmark
The app allows you to set reminders by locations. The technical term for this is “geofencing.” The app is still exclusive for the iPhone and costs $4.99 but I got mine for free when the developer held an “end of the world sale” last Dec. 12. Thank heavens for Mayans, if only because I got the app for free.

Getting location-based reminders is already part of the feature of the iPhone’s built-in Reminders app but Checkmark simplifies the process.

Checkmark is beautifully designed and easy to use. Adding locations is just a matter of zooming into a map, dropping a pin and deciding on the radius. The app also allows users to designate recurring reminders.

I find the app so useful that I actually turn on my phone’s GPS, which eats up power and allows systems to keep track of your movements, so that I could use it.

PODIO. Podio is among the best project management systems available on the Web today. It allows you to customize your space to fit your workflow. It’s iOS and Android apps are also very good and can be customized.

Podio
For project management and collaboration, nothing available for free today beats the features of Podio, a project management service with premium paid plans.

Podio is a very useful app for companies or groups. It offers the usual task management and tracking and the accompanying bells and whistles for collaboration but excels in one thing—it allows you to add functionalities via free apps you can download from the Podio app market or build on your own using a visual drag-and-drop editor.

Podio has good apps both for iOS and Android that you can also customize.

Any.DO
Before I got Checkmark for free, Any.DO was my to-do list of choice. It works on iOS, Android and the Web and keeps everything in constant sync.

Any.DO segregates your tasks by deadlines – Today, Tomorrow, Upcoming and Someday. The app is great-looking, responsive and easy to use. In Android, the app has the added functionality of listing your tasks in a homescreen widget, allowing you a quick look of pending duties.

The Chrome app also makes it easier to enter tasks or manage existing ones.

Any.DO recently added location-based reminders on the iPhone but it isn’t as polished as Checkmark. That will change, I think, in the coming months and when it does, I’ll swap apps in an instant.

Astrid
Astrid is a robust productivity tool with collaboration capabilities. It is a Web-based service with apps for iOS and Android and Google Chrome.

Astrid was picked the most popular to-do list manager last July in the Hive Five of Lifehacker, the favorite portal of geeks and productivity nerds.

I used Astrid for some time last year and the mobile app was fast. The only reason I left it for Any.DO was because the latter’s widgets on Android were better. To get bigger Astrid widgets on Android, you need to buy its premium pack.

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Tabula rasa

January 3, 2013January 3, 2013 Max Limpag Leave a comment

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What better way to start the year than with a clean e-mail slate?

I went through my e-mail accounts on New Year’s Day to process it back to Inbox Zero – the state it was in weeks ago, which I wrote about in a blog post here.

INBOX ZERO. Merlin Mann, who cooked up Inbox Zero, said, “Just remember that every email you read, re-read, and re-re-re-re-re-read as it sits in that big dumb pile is actually incurring mental debt on your behalf. The interest you pay on email you’re reluctant to deal with is compounded every day and, in all likelihood, it’s what’s led you to feeling like such a useless slacker today.”

It took me less than a day to process the e-mails that had accumulated in December. It took much less time because I had done the grunt work in September. For weeks after that initial work, I was able to maintain the Inbox Zero state of my main e-mail account with regular reviews.

The emails, however, started accumulating in December as I rushed to meet one deadline after another heading to the holidays and could hardly keep up with processing messages.

It’s the start of the year and the blank slate tells the universe I’m ready to take on even more challenges.

If you are drowning in e-mails and want to process your accounts to Inbox Zero, check out my earlier post here: Inbox Zero. The Guardian also published an excellent guide on how to clear your inbox: “The definitive eight-point guide to email inbox nirvana”

“The point is to think of the inbox as somewhere that emails pause, temporarily, en route to somewhere else, rather than as a place where you store them. How frequently you actually clear your inbox isn’t so important. The key is to cultivate a very mild degree of stress about every email in your inbox: like a greasy mark on a mirror, or a heap of dirty laundry in a hamper, it doesn’t belong there: it needs, eventually, to be dealt with.”

Oliver Burkeman: The definitive eight-point guide to email inbox nirvana

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Inbox zero

September 9, 2012September 9, 2012 Max Limpag Leave a comment

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IT took two long weekends but I finally got to inbox zero and that state of bliss you find yourself in after having processed all pending e-mails and seeing an empty inbox.

Like many people, I felt that I’ve lost control of my e-mail. My inbox was full of messages that needed to be replied to or dealt with. Instead of immediately acting on an e-mail by sending a short reply, I’d put off sending a response until I had the time to send a fuller e-mail. My e-mail even served as a digital filing cabinet for documents, contact details and event invitations. And that was how the messages piled up.

It was Sisyphean. I’d clear a few messages only to get so much more and by the end of each day, my inbox kept growing.

Heading to the two long weekends last month, I decided to revisit the Inbox Zero philosophy of dealing with e-mails. It was started by writer Merlin Mann of 43Folders, a blog “about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work.” Mann, in turn, said he got inspiration from the getting things done philosophy espoused by David Allen.

The best resource on the topic is a video of Mann during a Google Tech Talk last July 23, 2007. That video can be accessed at the Inbox Zero website.

Mann stressed that e-mail “is just a medium” and “not where the action is.” “You don’t want to be focusing exclusively on e-mail,” he said.

Mann said the technique is to “process” e-mail and not just check. He describes processing as “more than checking and less than responding.” He said the act of processing answers the question, “so what?”

5 steps to process e-mail

He suggests five steps to take in processing e-mail: to delete or archive, delegate to somebody else, respond to very quickly (in 1 or 2 minutes), defer or do right away.

Mann also suggests finding “one place for everything” and getting things off e-mail.

In my case, however, I couldn’t find a single place for everything because of the way I work. For tasks and other notes I either transferred it to Podio, which I use with other people, or Trello, which I’m trying out by using for myself. There is no shortage of project management services that you can use and many of them free. You can try Any.DO, Asana or Astrid.

For documents, I chose to centralize on Google Drive and use an excellent browser plug-in called Attachments.me, which integrates your e-mail with cloud storage like Box, Dropbox and Google Drive and simplifies the transfer of e-mail attachments to your cloud storage.

For appointments agreed on in e-mail exchanges, I transferred everything to Google Calendar, which syncs everything to all my devices. Contact details were also transferred to Google Contacts which did the same.

E-mail followup

For e-mails that I needed to attend to on a future date, I used Followupthen, a useful free e-mail reminder service. The service is easy to use: if you need to be reminded of an email in three days, just send the email to 3days@followupthen.com and the service will send you back the email that you sent after three days. The service allows you to delete or archive messages knowing you will get a reminder later.

By using the services I listed above, I was finally able to clear my inbox, archiving most mails so that these can still be searchable if I needed to do so in the future. For that, I have to thank Gmail, which I use to manage my own domain’s e-mail.

While it is still a constant battle to keep my inbox free of messages that needed action, it is much easier. I now make it a point now to act on an e-mail as soon as I receive it. The clearing of my inbox helps me focus on messages that need to be acted on.

The tip, Mann said, is to do e-mail sprints and not constantly check your e-mail. Doing so allows you to be more productive.

“Process to zero every time you check your email. You never check your email without processing,” Mann said.

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