I have been using Box.net’s service for more than a year now. During that entire time, I have only had one service issue and it was a very brief interruption. When discussing internet related services, once a year is a fantastic ratio. I use Box.net’s service to host many images, audios, videos and documents for this blog as well as others. It is a fantastic service with a list of features a mile long: The following features were taken directly from their site. However I personally know that there are more features available, through their Open Box platform, than they have publicly listed on their site. And they are adding more and more all of the time.
Manage and share content easily
Familiar file and folder structure: Create and organize multiple layers of folders for all your content.
Share with links: Share a file or folder of content with direct web links. Send them through Box or paste links in an email or instant message.
In-folder collaboration: Share an entire folder of content with one or more people.
User permissions: Manage variable user permissions, from view-only to edit.
Global Folders: Turn any folder into a public web page in one click and give it a vanity URL.
File widgets: Create widgets to share files on a company web page or blog or create a public “dropbox” so people can submit files to your Box account via your web page.
Mobile access: View and share files on-the-go using your mobile device. Use our iPhone or BlackBerry apps or use http://m.box.net on your mobile browser.
Full-text search: Box Business and Enterprise users can search for files with Box’s full-text search engine, which lets you search for documents, presentations, spreadsheets, PDFs and more based on file content.
Project collaboration and workflow
Online workspace: Turn any folder of content into a shared online workspace and invite others to view, edit or add their own files.
Discussions and commenting: Add comments to specific files or exchange feedback with team members using discussion threads, so everyone’s in the loop.
Version History: Box Business and Enterprise users can view previous versions of files even after changes are made and new versions are uploaded.
Web Documents: Create wiki-style documents right inside Box to share meeting notes, ideas and manage projects. Invite others to contribute and edit.
Tasks: Keep workflow organized by assigning tasks to approve, review or update files.
Update feeds, user profiles and email notifications: Discover new and updated content with a real-time activity feed on file uploads, downloads and comments, as well as individual activity feeds on Box user profiles. Customize and receive email notifications on activity within your Box account.
Business administration and security controls — Business & Enterprise editions
User management: Manage user settings and permissions easily in a centralized administration console. Add and delete users individually, import users in bulk, set login credentials, allocate storage quotas and designate file and folder permissions.
Security and permissions: Select what folders individuals and user groups can access. Designate access permissions, including editing, viewing, previewing and uploading. Decide what permissions users can grant on shared files and folders. Get 256-bit SSL encryption on file transfer.
Password management: Password-protect files and folders and set expiration dates for shared file and folder access. Perform mass user password resets. Gauge password strength. Require users to reset passwords periodically and on initial login, based on your security policies.
Reporting: Access a complete audit trail of what’s happening with your company’s files on Box. Generate and export file and user activity across everyone in your Box account or get a breakdown by user groups. Run reports on logins, downloads, edits and uploads for a specified date range. Find and sort usage reports based on logins, download and upload frequency and user group.
Groups: Manage users and set access permissions by a company department or project team. Create user groups, add/delete users, select what folders they can access and what access permissions they have for each folder.
Custom branding: Customize the Box interface and login page to reflect your company brand. Add the company logo, select a color scheme and add other basic information, such as a link to the company homepage.
Extensibility and third-party services
Easy customization: Build new online services for your company’s specific needs using Box’s open platform.
Integrated third-party services: Use files with more than 20 integrated third-party applications and services, including:
Zoho: Edit documents and presentations online.
Google Gmail: Email links using Gmail or Google Apps.
Google Analytics: View download stats on your shared files.
eFax: Fax agreements within Box.
EchoSign: Sign contacts electronically.
FedEx: Print and ship documents to FedEx.
Watchdox: Set permissions and track shared documents.
Twitter: “Tweet” file links to followers.
Access Box through popular third-party sites:
Salesforce.com: Access marketing collateral and other content easily from any page in Salesforce.
LinkedIn: Display a portfolio of work on your profile and collaborate with connections.
Intuit QuickBase: Browse through your Box files from within QuickBase.
Ning: Share content on your Ning profile and collaborate with people in your network.
Open IT Online for Firefox: Save documents on the web directly to Box.
Box.net has a 14 day risk free trial to test out their service. Click this link to get started. Still need more info? Watch the following video and then check out their site. If you have specific questions about my unique user experience with the service, send me your question on our contact page.
To all of my fellow CrackBerry addicts, I was recently shown a fantastic little app for the BlackBerry. It is called the BlackBerry App World.
The BlackBerry App World is a catalog of software available for installation onto your BlackBerry. Some of the applications have an associated cost. But many are absolutely free. You can download and install the app to your phone. Then, when you are looking for a particular application to perform specific functions, you can peruse the catalog of options directly from your phone. If you find one that you like, you simply select it and click on Download. The BlackBerry App World program will take care of the rest.
As I was looking through the catalog, I found two programs that I thought were noteworthy. The first is the new and improved BlackBerry Messenger. The new messenger has a new interface that I find to be much more intuitive. In addition, you can easily view your own profile. The reason why that is great is because it prominently displays some key info there. One is your PIN. That’s right. now you do not have to search through the bowels of your phone to find your PIN. Also, you can find your bar code. You read that correctly, your bar code. Another option to adding someone to your messenger or you to theirs is through the bar code. You display your bar code on the screen, your friend takes a picture with their camera (from within the messenger) and you are added to their messenger. Another great feature is you can now see if someone has their phone on or not. you view the profiles of your contacts and it displays whether or not their phone is on and active. The messenger, in my opinion has been greatly improved.
How many of you have been in the dark and used the screen of your mobile phone as a flashlight? Many of us have. I find this next application very useful. It only has one purpose. But it does that one purpose well. It is called Flashlight. And the name says it all. You download this app and it allows you to use your notification light as a flashlight. It won’t replace a full blown flashlight. However, if you are trying to see to put your key in a lock or something simple like that, it works well. You can control the color of the light in case you are looking at a map in a car at night. You can make the light red. For maximum brightness you can make it white. It also has the options of blue, cyan, green, magenta, orange and purple as well as high, medium and low for brightness levels. It is simple and it works. If you don’t download it, you will wish you had the next time you are caught in the dark without a flashlight.
If you have been a reader of this post for very long, you know that I love the Research In Motion Blackberry as my communication tool of preference. Additionally I have always defaulted to Google when searching, whether it be on my laptop, desktop or BlackBerry. The Google mobile site worked quickly and displayed well on my BlackBerry Curve.
Recently I have my lead on-site technician at NorthStar Global (my data protection and management company), come to me and began trying to pitch me on using the Windows Live Search Mobile app for my BlackBerry rather than utilizing Google’s mobile site. Don’t get me wrong, Live Search works well on the desktop and laptop. But it did not perform as quickly and accurately as Google. So, I had resistance to the idea. That’s when he pulled his BlackBerry out to show me the app. It took less than one minute and I was sold.
The Live Search Mobile application had 7 icons in the application. They were categories, map, directions, traffic, movies, web and weather. The categories icon organizes many popular search subjects into a list format such as Arts & Entertainment, Restaurants, Nightlife, Government & Community and many more. In each topic it is further broken down into finer categories. For example, Arts & Entertainment has Trade Shows, Expositions & Fairs, Vineyards, Bingo Halls, and more. Once you select the finer topic the search begins and the results are rather quick.
The map icon brings up, you guessed it, a map. It pinpoints your location and allows you to scroll around the map, zoom in and out and toggle between aerial view and road view. The directions icon will display step by step directions from one address or city to another address or city. When highlighting any step and selecting it, your map from the map icon will activate and show you where you are on the map along with that step in the directions. The traffic icon activates the map icon with the traffic conditions overlaid. This function can be accessed from the map icon itself and believe having its own icon is irrelevant. When in the map function, bring up your alternate menu and it has “show traffic” listed. The traffic function seems to be limited which is logical that it can only show the traffic for which places report the conditions.
The movies icon is fantastic. You can type in the city and state or the zip code in the “Near” section before accessing the movie icon. When selecting the movie icon it will search for all movies, theaters, and show times in the surrounding area. When on the “Movies” tab, it displays the movie name, rating (G, PG, PG-13 or R), category (Family, Action, Comedy, etc), time length, star rating, and how much the movie has grossed. When selecting a movie, it brings you to a new window that allows you to select “Theaters Playing” and “More Movie Info.” Theaters Playing of course shows you where the movie is playing near you. The More Movie Info option launches a browser and directs you to MSN Entertainment to give you a synopsis and review. The Theaters tab displays the theater name, address, phone number and distance to the theater from where you are. When selecting a theater, a new window opens with the following options: Map, Movies Playing, Directions To Here, Directions From Here, Search Nearby, Save To Address Book and Mail to a Friend. The movie icon seems to be very integrated, intuitive, and extensive.
The web icon does nothing more than launch a browser and direct you to Bing. Bing is Microsoft’s reinvention of Live Search which was a reincarnation of MSN Search. I did a test search and it returned the results in categories: web, images and news. Nice touch to the plain jane type of search.
The last icon is weather. It seems to work as you would expect. The current temperature is displayed big and bold. The days high and low are displayed next to it with the current weather conditions below to include cloud coverage, wind speed, wind direction, and the humidity level. Below the area where the current weather is displayed is a brief forecast for the next four days. The day, cloud coverage and the high and low temperatures are displayed inline. When looking at the screen, it is very easy to view and navigate, as the direction for scroll is a simple up and down.
It has been my experience that Microsoft does not always put out the quickest responding software or the most trouble free software. However, on the Windows Live Search Mobile application that runs on the BlackBerry, I think they scored a homerun. I can easily suggest this application without equivocation. You can download this app from your phone at mobile.search.live.com. If you download and try it, please leave comments on your experience.
My name is Chase and I am an addict. I have recently traded my Sanyo Katana phone (which is truly a resilient and awesome phone in its own right) for a BlackBerry Curve. Now I am addicted and I understand why people refer to it as the CrackBerry.
I would hear stories of people who loved this device and could never quite figure it out. That is until recently. My partner (Jason) in NorthStar Global, my technology solutions company, and I went to meet with some potential investors in Nevada. On the trip I brought my normal requisite tech gadgets needed for a 3 day event, my mini note and my Katana. No heavy lifting required so my mini note would suffice, or so I thought. It was not processing power that was the issue, it was connectivity. Some of the airports had fast and easily accessible Wifi while others had slow and problematic Wifi. Our hotel had Internet connectivity for my mini note, but the issue was that we spent most of our time at both formal and informal meetings that took place in restaurants.
Upon our return and my subsequent checking of my email, I realized that I missed out on some opportunities simply because I did not respond to some of my clients’ emails in time. Many of my deals transpire via email due to the fact that I and my clients are finding it exceedingly harder to carry on uninterrupted conversations on the phone. But, as you can plainly see, I have to see my emails in order to respond to them. In the past it was cost prohibitive to have a smart phone with a data plan. But then two things came into alignment for me that mad me change my mind: Sprint went to the $99 everything plan and the amount of revenue I missed out on exceeded the cost to switch to a smart phone with the increased cost of my mobile plan. That made fiscal sense and I took the plunge about a month ago and I am very happy that I did.
I chose the BlackBerry Curve as my smart phone. My two main reasons were two features that it claimed to support: synchronizing with my Outlook and setting up my own third part email accounts. Naturally after I got the BlackBerry those were the first two things I tried out and they worked flawlessly. My calendar, notes, tasks, and contacts sync without issue and I setup email accounts for two of my entities on the phone and they come through without a hitch, attachments and all.
After exploring the BlackBerry at greater length I found many other features to be useful, both included as well as available through 3rd party apps. It has both a Facebook and MySpace application. I utilize Facebook for business and MySpace for personal interaction. But now I am notified when someone sends me a FaceBook message, friend request, or writes on my FaceBook wall. The web browser that is built in is quite zippy for cursory views of web pages or to perform quick Google searches. One of my favorite news aggregators, News Gator, has an application so that I can view all of my RSS feeds on my BlackBerry. It is set to only show me new feeds so that my screen is not cluttered and I do not have to sift through old feeds to get to the new ones. Although the BlackBerry comes with a password manager, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that there was a BlackBerry version of my favorite password manager, KeePass. With KeePass, you can copy your password database file from your computer to your BlackBerry so that you have all of your passwords while on the go. I have only scratched the surface on useful 3rd party applications for the BlackBerry and will post a follow up in the future.
The built in features of the BlackBerry gave me a very pleasant surprise. The camera takes pretty good pictures that rival those of a stand alone digital camera. The camera can also record video footage. It has a light that you can use for the video camera that doubles as a flash for the digital still camera. The BlackBerry has an easy to use voice recorder for taking quick notes and the sound comes across quite clear. It can play mp3s and utilize them as ringtones also. The BlackBerry has built in support to play videos as well. It has a map program that can help you with point to point directions and has GPS support to track your progress along the way. The BlackBerry also has some of your requisite applications like a calculator and alarm clock. The alarm clock can use mp3s as the alarm so you can wake to your favorite tune. A unique feature with the BlackBerry that I do not see on other phones is a trackball. That’s right, a trackball located in the center of the device. It makes navigation a breeze.
There is one application that is included called Pocket Express. I found it to have many useful functions. But after a few weeks, I was notified that if I wanted to continue to use all of the functions I would have to pay $10 per month. $10 per month would be worth it if I did not have Internet connectivity. The pay for features in Pocket Express include things like looking up movie schedules and maps & directions. As I previously stated, a map application is included separately and free of charge. You can also put your local movie theater in your browser’s bookmarks and access it directly. Pocket Express does have many useful features like weather, news, horoscopes and the like. The trial account parts simply were a surprise.
This little device has increased my efficiency and surpassed my expectations. With more and more programs moving to the web through hosted applications, I can carry my office with me. All in all, I am hopelessly addicted to my BlackBerry. However, this is one addiction that actually pays me back.
I have recently had the good fortune of utilizing a new and useful product. It is called the CellKeeper. This is a wallet and holster in one. The particular model I was using was the professional model. The following is a description from their site about the Professional Smooth Black model I am using:
This larger model CellKeeper comes in butter smooth and supple black genuine leather with silver-plated hardware & halter square. Adapts to your preference of cross shoulder or waist positioning. Features include: extra-wide pocket flap with expandable snap closure, adjustable shoulder strap, id window, key hook, zippered internal coin pocket, lip gloss / pen sleeve, 3 credit card sleeves, internal cash pocket, exterior pocket to hold all your portable electronics. Elasticized side panels of pocket expand to fit any size cell phone, iPod, Blackberry, Treo, pocket PC and digital camera. Fabrication: Genuine Leather with plastic hardware & halter square. Dimension: 3″W x 4 1/2″H x 1 1/4″D
I used the CellKeeper for a week before I decided to write a review about it and it held up to its claims. Although there are not enough card slots in it for my daily use, it was more than ample for quick outings and I will definitely use it again when I travel. During the course of the week I upgraded my phone from a Katana to a Blackberry Curve and the CellKeeper Professional held both devices just fine. I used the CellKeeper during the hustle and bustle of my Christmas shopping. It easily detached from the belt clip, accessed my credit and debit cards with ease, the cashiers were able to plainly see my ID, and my phone stayed securely in the CellKeeper the entire time.
For any of you who travel for business, take vacation, go to the gym, or venture on an all day outing, the CellKeeper fits the bill. Quickly and handily take your phone, a few bucks, credit card or two and your ID all in one holder. The CellKeeper Professional is sturdy, convenient, and efficient and I have no reservations recommending it to the entrepreneur on the go. They sell the Professional model for $29.95. For more information visit www.cellkeeper.com.
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