Not everyone has embraced the plethora of web apps that made online collaboration what it is today. Part of this may have to do with the fact that traditional collaboration is working well for the team, as well as the reluctance to adapt to new ways. Most of us, especially those working in a corporate environment, are used to boardroom meetings and conference calls. These tried and tested techniques have their place in the business world, but sometimes, adapting new technologies into our work process makes it more efficient.
If you’ve done your research and discovered that online collaboration will increase …read more

Pimp Your Work
If you often find yourself with ruffled feathers when dealing with collaborative works, then you might want to check out SpiceBird.
SpiceBird is an application that combines Instant Messaging, Email, Calendar and Task Management – applications essential for collaborating – under one application. Setting up is a quick, smooth and simple process. Once you have it up and running, you will be prompted to setup your mail and instant messaging accounts.
The interface is clean and quite easy to grasp. The instant messaging function is quite limiting, allowing only Gmail and Jabber accounts to be used.
The mail function features …read more

Whenever you are doing collaborative work, it is important that every player communicates with each other. To do that, you can simply email each other. Or you can use Basecamp.
Basecamp has improving communications between team members, making it easier to collaborate on a single project. Easy to setup, simple to use and very flexible, Basecamp streamlines the way the team works together.
To start using Basecamp, you just need to sign-up for an account which can be paid or free. There is no time limit on the free plan and you can use it for free as long as you’d …read more

This week online office suite company Zoho announced that they have used Google’s Gears technology and API to give Writer some offline capabilities:
Zoho announced early this morning that they’ve taken the first steps toward making Zoho Writer available as an offline app using the Google Gears tool. Initially the docs saved offline will be read only but full offline functionality is planned. Source: Zoho takes the first step towards offline apps | Office Evolution | ZDNet.com
Call me a skeptic, but I don’t think this is the best way to do the online-offline bit.  I’ve been playing with Zoho Notebook recently …read more

Something for all you Backpack fans…
37Signals relaunched their Backpack service today. The app’s back end code was completely rebuilt from scratch, according to Jason Fried, and the service also got a new UI to match some of 37Signals’ other recently updated products (such as Basecamp). The design still feels very familiar to any 37Signals app user, however. Source: 37Signals Relaunches Backpack Organizational Tool
I have to admit that I haven’t gotten into Backpack much.  I know, shock, gasp, etc.  I’m just into that many web-based tools.  However, given that my laptop is on the fritz and I won’t be getting it …read more

CrossLoop is a simple and easy remote access and control application that I’ve tried and used before…with great results.  I got an e-mail from them this week letting me know that some new features were on the way.  Profy.com beat me to the punch with a review…
So what’s new in this release? First of all, now you can share a file with another user while sharing your desktop. I have not heard of any service providing free file transfer without any limitations in file size or type (you can even transfer folders via CrossLoop as well). Files are transferred by …read more

Just last week the question of whether Facebook could be used as a collaboration tool on the cheap.  Now Zoho has announced that it released a Facebook application to connect to its online office suite:
Also included in the release is a central control panel where users can manage all of their private and shared documents within Facebook. As Raju outlines in a blog post on Monday, Zoho plans to release a similar feature for its regular non-Facebook suite, bringing it closer to its main competitor, Google Docs and Spreadsheets. Google’s application suite has a centralized document management center for individuals …read more

With all the new social media tools out there, you might wonder if I could use stuff like Ning or even Facebook for business.  Well I guess if Twitter could be for business…, Chris Brogan thinks Facebook might just be the ticket…
Chris Brogan: What if you had a completely turnkey solution for managing multi-threaded interactions with teams? What if this application handled scheduling, status updates, RSS feeds from collaborative blogs, group messaging, 1-to-1 messaging, photo and screen capture sharing, and more? What if it permitted secure group communication for people inside and outside of your company? And what if you didn’t …read more

Via Twitter, of course this morning, I found out about TwitterMail which lets gives you a special e-mail address that you can use to e-mail in Twitter updates:
How TwitterMail works
When you give us your Twitter credentials we supply you with a TwitterMail email address. For instance abcdef1234@twittermail.com. If you send an email to that address it will be posted to Twitter.com Source: TwitterMail.com – 392 people sent 1500 messages to Twitter!

I did a couple of tests, one from Outlook one from my Blackberry and that’s when it hit me…TwitterMail might be the last piece of the puzzle to Twitter for Business.  …read more

While the world seemed to be ga-ga over Microsoft Surface, Michael Sampson had some of the best, OMG this could be used for…thoughts I saw:
And … if Surface can work like this … then there’s going to be a huge revision in office desking and tables in the decade ahead. This is a sea-change for the office furniture industry … I wonder how many office furniture manufacturers saw Microsoft as a potential competitor or ally even yesterday? The rules of the game change again … Source: Michael’s Thoughts: The Team Collaboration Possibilities of Microsoft Surface

In talking with other folks I tell …read more