Sean Phillips' posterous

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May 7, 2012
 

Asana - the future of team project work?

I recently discovered Asana.  On their web site they say "We’re building the modern way to work together, a fast and versatile web application that connects everyone with what’s going on, their shared priorities, and who owns each part of the effort."

My one sentence summation is Asana is a revved up web based task list for teams.  It's simpler, but it also seems cleaner, than the 37signals Basecamp product. And you know I am a big fan of Basecamp. 

Asana is fast and easy to use and anyone that can browse the web should be able to use Asana.  Asana has made it very easy to create a work space then create projects under that work space.  Under projects you create tasks. You can assign tasks to individuals (even if they haven't signed up for Asana yet), assign due dates, attach files, assign followers of that task, and add notes.  Assigned team members or followers can add comments to a task.  And you can easily see the history of the task.  You can create new tasks via email and the keyboard short cuts are a great time saver.  

Asana also has apps for iOS and Android. I am using the iOS app on my iPhone and iPad and the apps give you all the functionality of the web based version. 

I am using the standard (free) version of Asana which allows up to 30 members. For $100 a month you can upgrade to a premium workspace for up to 30 members that has project level features and priority support.  For $300 a month you can have up to 50 member, $550 allows up to 75 members, and $800 a month allows up to 100 members. 

Asana is missing some of the features of more mature products - you can't assign a milestone date to a project (you may be able to do this with a paid plan?), you can't see all late tasks for a project (you can see late tasks by person), no association of tasks to each other (IE predecessors), no threading of notes, no way to see all attached files across a workspace, etc.  

And of course the big weakness of Asana, and honestly all project task lists, is you have to 1) put in all the tasks and then 2) maintain it. The tasks have to be actionable, but you don't want to overwhelm the team members with minutia. Also, the team members have to agree to participate. A task list that never gets up dated isn't helping the team get the project done.  That was one of my biggest issues with Basecamp - getting all team members to consistently mark off the tasks they had done.  Even with reminder emails, I ended up having to go over the tasks in our team meetings. With Basecamp, and I'm sure with Asana, it was quick and easy to walk through the open tasks, but still it wasted time in a meeting instead of freeing up that time to do "real" work. 

Asana is cool, and they are getting a ton of buzz right now, but they are trying to break into a pretty crowded space. There are many other completing tools out there (Basecamp, Producteev, Zoho, Jira, even MS Project, etc).  But if you are working on a team project with less than 30 members and want to improve your efficiency and communication I say try out the free version. There is very little to loose and maybe a lot to gain.  

Links:
http://yourcto.wordpress.com/2010/08/23/ready-fire-aim-aim-aim/
http://asana.com/about
http://basecamp.com/
www.producteev.com

And, for my own personal task list, I still love Omnifocus. 

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May 2, 2012
 

Bring your own cloud to work

Back in March I wrote about BYOD (iPhones, Android phones, iPads, etc)  in the Enterprise, but another worry IT management needs to address is BYOC - as in, bring your own cloud (storage). 

Yesterday I covered seven popular cloud storage solutions.  Between those seven solutions I have almost 100GB of storage.  If I was an employee on your network what could I walk out with on 100GB of storage? I just did a quick unscientific scan of my documents folder and I had many MS Word docs of 100KB or less with very few Word doc files over 1MB.  So assuming worse case and use 1MB as the average Word doc file size, that means I can walk out with over 100,000 documents!  Talk about a wikileaks waiting to happen!  Do you have digital rights management on your sensitive documents? Are you monitoring your network traffic for uploads to these cloud storage solutions?

But it doesn't have to be malicious. With BYOD and the popularity of telecommuting the risk of sensitive data ending up on a consumer grade cloud solution is pretty high.  Do your Executives have iPads?  Is it possible your CFO could be working on his quarterly report on his iPad while traveling?  And does he have sync'ing to iCloud turned on?  Do you have a Sarbanes–Oxley Act  (SOX) issue to deal with now?  Depending on your industry, you could have other regulations to deal with, such as HIPAA or PCI, FFIEC, GLB, etc. 

So, just like with BYOD, if you don’t have policies and procedures in place already you are behind… BYOC is in your enterprise already.

Links:

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May 1, 2012
 

What cloud storage is best for you?

What cloud storage is best for you?  I have accounts on Dropbox, SugarSync, Box, Microsoft SkyDrive, Google Drive, iCloud, and Amazon Cloud Drive. That gives me almost a 100GB of cloud storage. And there are even more out there (livedrive, justcloud, spideroak, etc.)!  I know most people aren't going to sign up for seven cloud storage solutions, so... which is the best for you? 

They all have pluses and minuses, but I use Dropbox for most of my day to day cloud storage needs. Years ago I started with Dropbox because it worked with my password vault, and then with apps on my Droid X.  And, now on my iPhone, again Dropbox just works with my apps. Dropbox also makes it real easy to sync from the Dropbox folder on my MacBook Pro.  Just drag a file to the Dropbox folder and up it syncs.  How easy can you get?  But, you only get 2GB free storage to start.  The good news is there are some simple ways to increase your Dropbox storage pretty quickly to 4 or 5GB (even more if you work at it).

That’s why I have accounts on SugarSync and Box.  Their free offers gave me 5GB each.  And of the two, SugarSync has a nice sync manager that comes with the free version.  With Box, you have to step up to the business version (a paid version) to get desktop sync’ing.  So, again, when I have files I want to access from my laptop and from my tablet, and my smart phone (and if I am not using Dropbox) I almost always use SugarSync.

But Box does have a nice clean web interface.  And it integrates with LinkedIn. So I find I end up using Box for sharing documents and other files with other people. It has become my public sharing cloud storage. And back in March Box ran a promotion that bumped my storage up to 50GB, so it might soon become my de facto solution just because I have the room to actually store stuff there without having to clean it out all the time. I just wish the consumer free version had more features. Box has some great features for businesses and enterprises; things like integration with Salesforce.com and Google Apps, AD groups and version control, and of course desktop sync. If a SMB was looking for a good cheap cloud storage solution, Box is what I would suggest (if they didn't also need email, then I'd suggest looking at Google Apps for Business also). But, you don’t get any of those features in the personal free version.

Honestly I ended up with my Microsoft SkyDrive by default.   I've had a Hotmail account since before Microsoft bought Hotmail (remember HoTMaIL? yes, I am old). A while ago I wanted to check out the Word Web App and Excel Web App to compare the functionality to Google Docs, so I uploaded a few documents. But that turned out to be lucky because Microsoft is giving out free upgrades to 25GB from their (generous) free 7GB. See my post on how to get the upgrade.  Microsoft also has an app you can install so you have a drive right on your computer that syncs (I am using the Mac App that's in beta).  If I was still a PC person I could see using SkyDrive more.  The integration with the Word Web App and Excel Web App is pretty slick.  Microsoft has made it very easy. 

I love music and occasionally use Amazon to buy MP3s, so when Amazon Cloud Drive launch of course I had to check it out. You get 5GB of storage free, but... and this is pretty nice... any music you buy from Amazon MP3 doesn't count towards your 5GB limit. I use the cloud player to listen to music only occasionally (I always have my iPhone), but it's nice to know it's there and I have access to it from the web. I have a few documents on Amazon Cloud Drive, but like I said, I mainly just use it for music.  It will be interesting to see how Amazon leverages the Kindle Fire Tablet (which is now accounting for over 50% of US Android tablets - Forbes) to encourage Cloud Drive usage. 

iCloud is Apple's solution to sync your email, calendar, contacts, photos, music, etc. across all your Apple devices.  When you sign up you get 5GB free. But that 5GB goes pretty far because your photo steam, music, movies, and apps don't count against your limit.  What can I say - it just works. No matter what iOS device I am using I never have to worry about sync'ing files, iCloud takes care of all of it for me.  I also use Keynote, Numbers, and Pages on my MacBook Pro and on my iPad and iCloud works great keeping everything sync'ed up. I know I am an Apple fan boy, but when something works that well you have to give them credit.  But, with that said, I still use Dropbox for most of my file cloud storage. For me iCloud is just for all the magic Apple does in the back ground that makes using the iPhone and a iPad such a great experience. 

And now Google Drive has finally launched (why did that take 5+ years?) with their 5GB of free storage. And Google doc file formats don't count towards your limit. My first thought was, "how is this different from Google Docs?" Don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of Google Docs. In my limited use since Google Drive launched I haven't seen that I lost any Google Docs functionality.  And then I found Google Drive has an app that installs a local drive on your computer that syncs automatically; seems to work well.  Which lead to my second thought of "it's actually a lot like Dropbox."  Android has a Google Drive App, but right now you have to use your browser to access your files from iOS devices. So maybe not as good as Dropbox...  I've used Google Docs quite a bit in the past, so I have a bunch of files uploaded to Google Drive.  And now all those files are sync'ed down to my MacBook Pro. 

It will be interesting to see what Google, Microsoft, Apple (and Amazon somewhat) are going to do in the cloud storage space in the near future. Box focused on the enterprise early, so I think they have a shot. At least get bought by one of the big players or someone wanting to get into the cloud storage game in a serious way (Salesforce? HP?).  And Dropbox has been the Tech Geek favorite for quite a while, but I'd like to see their strategic plan of how they are going to compete with the big boys going forward. Very interesting times.  

So, what cloud storage solution is best for you?  Do you need a couple of them? All seven?  

Links:
How to upgrade your SkyDrive to 25GB http://yourcto.wordpress.com/2012/04/30/microsoft-skydrive-cloud-storage-free-25gb-upgrade/
How to upgrade your Box account to 50GB http://blog.box.com/2012/02/android-users-get-50gb-free-get-your-box50gb-and-enter-the-box-mobile-giveaway/
A great comparison chart by ars technica http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2012/04/cloud-storage-a-pricing-and-feature-guide-for-consumers.ars
Link to get your own free SugarSync account
Link to get your own free Dropbox account

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April 30, 2012
 

Microsoft Skydrive (cloud storage) free 25GB upgrade

Skydrive

I wrote about the free Box cloud storage upgrade last month (their promotion is over now).  They bumped your storage from 5GB to 50GB!  All you needed to do was to install their new Android app.  

Well, now, Microsoft is giving you a chance to increase your MS SkyDrive storage from 7GB (which is still more than anyone else offers) to up to 25GB free.  As long as you already have an account, and had a file upload before April 22nd, all you have to do is: 
  • log into skydrive.live.com (or click on the skydrive link in the header from your hotmail page)
  • click on the "Manage storage" link on the bottom left (see the attached screen grab)
  • then click on the Free upgrade option (if you don't see this option then the offer is over or it isn't available to you)
And you are done. You now have 25GB of free storage space!  Nice!

Even if you don't have a SkyDrive account, but you do have a hotmail account, it's worth a couple of minutes to see if you can update your MS SkyDrive also. Just follow the instruction above.  Good luck!

More info from Microsoft can be found here:

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March 15, 2012
 

How to migrate your blog posts from Posterous

I had this buried in yesterday's post, but the question has come up, so I am dedicating a blog just to how to migrate from Posterous.

As I said yesterday, the bad news is there isn't an easy way to migrate your blog yet. Maybe it is coming? The Posterous FAQ made it sound like they are working on it.  But with the current functionality it isn't too terrible to move your posts to another site.  It's just manual and it will take some time to do the migration. The more posts you have the longer it will take. 

Step by step instructions:
  • Log into your Posterous account.
  • On the left click on "Manage Spaces"
  • Click on the down arrow next to the gear for the blog you want to migrate
  • Click on "Autopost Setup"
  • At the bottom of the page click on "+ Add a service"
  • Set up the new blogging platform you want to migrate to.
  • Now the long tedious part...
  • Click on "Manage Spaces" again
  • The click on the  down arrow next to the gear for the blog you want to migrate again
  • Then select "Posts"
  • Start with your oldest post click on the gear next to the post to "Edit" the post
  • You don't have to actually edit the post, but you do need to click on "Post Options" way over on the right of the screen
  • Then click on "Autopost this now" and select the new Blog site
  • And repeat over and over and over for each posting.
  • Remember to start with your oldest post and work your way to the newest posting, if you want to keep your chronological order
  • And, if you want you can then go edit each new post on the new blog site to change the posting date back to your original posting date
So it will take some time, but it's pretty simple and you can move all your old posts from Posterous to your new platform just by dedicating some time. 

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March 14, 2012
 

Posterous bought by Twitter - where are you moving your blog?

Do you blog on Posterous?  If so, have you read their blog posting abut the acquisition?  Which seems just like a simple announcement... with maybe an idea that something might be up.  Especially when you read "For users who would like to back up their content or move to another service, we’ll share clear instructions for doing so in the coming weeks." But then you read the FAQ on the acquisition and it becomes pretty clear that you need to start looking for someplace else to blog. I think Twitter bought Posterous for the talent, not for the functionality in Posterous. 

I started using Posterous back in 2009.  Mainly because they made it so easy to post, just send an email.  And it was so easy to autopost from Posterous to Twitter, LinkedIn, and other blogging platforms. I admit I am a little paranoid, I have back ups of back ups, and then on top of that I have back ups in the cloud (hey, burn me once...).  So with how easy Posterous made it to publish to other platforms, I start posting from Posterous to Tumblr in January of 2010 and then also to Wordpress in March of 2010. Why not have copies of my posting in a second place just in case, right?  I only point traffic to my Posterous site, but to me it was worth it to autopost to the other platforms in case something happened to my primary site. Looks like I made the right choice, huh?  :-)

But the $64,000,000 question is - with the future of Posterous being up in the air, what do you do? Are you going to stay put till you hear more? Are you going to migrate? If so, I'd suggest looking at Blogger, Tumblr and Wordpress.  I have read that Tumblr is closer to being a direct competitor to Posterous.  But I think I am going to move to a Wordpress site as my main site (with Tumblr as my back up still).  I like the reporting and the customization available. 

So, you ask, how do you get your old blog posts from Posterous over to Tumblr or Wordpress?  Well, the bad news is there isn't an easy way to back up your blog yet.  Notice I said yet!  Maybe it is coming?  But with the current functionality it isn't too terrible to post to another site.  It's just manual and it will take some time to do the migration. The more posts you have the longer it will take.  Sorry.

The details:
  • Log into your Posterous account.
  • On the left click on "Manage Spaces"
  • Click on the down arrow next to the gear for the blog you want to migrate
  • Click on "Autopost Setup"
  • At the bottom of the page click on "+ Add a service"
  • Set up the new blogging platform you want to migrate to.
  • Now the long tedious part...
  • Click on "Manage Spaces" again
  • The click on the  down arrow next to the gear for the blog you want to migrate again
  • Then select "Posts"
  • Start with your oldest post click on the gear next to the post to "Edit" the post
  • You don't have to actually edit the post, but you do need to click on "Post Options" way over on the right of the screen
  • Then click on "Autopost this now" and select the new Blog site
  • And repeat over and over and over for each posting.
  • Remember to start with your oldest post and work your way to the newest posting, if you want to keep your chronological order
  • And, if you want you can then go edit each new post on the new blog site to change the posting date back to your original posting date
So not fun, and it will take some time, but it's pretty simple and you can move all your old posts from Posterous to your new platform just by dedicating some time. 

What platform are you moving to or do you use (if you don't use Posterous)?  Why did you go with it?

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March 13, 2012
 

BYOD in the Enterprise

Bring your own device (or BYOD) is real and is happening now in most enterprises. Employees today have their smart phones and are bringing iPads and other tablets to work already. It's not if, it's not when, it's now. What are you doing to protect your network and your company data?

The Pew Internet Project recently reported that ownership of tablets among U.S. adults nearly doubled between mid-December 2011 and early January from 10 percent to 19 percent. According to a Cisco poll of 1,500 decision-making IT workers in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Spain, conducted in late 2011, one tablet is requested for every three smartphones. Workers in the United States and France are asking for them the most at 21 percent. In addition, 64 percent of employees in the United States polled said they were bringing in devices without consent. So the devices are in your enterprise, with or without your knowledge and consent. Are your networks ready? Do you have the correct security policies in place? With company issued laptops, you can enforce login screens, passwords, encryption and back ups. I personally always turn on the security features available to me on my devices, but how many of those un-authorized devices lack even a basic login screen when the smart phone or tablet is turned on? And the new iPad is just going to make it worse. The iPad2 was already a good device for doing presentation for a road warrior tired of lugging around their laptop (and it looks cooler too), but now the new iPad has an even better display and better graphics. Employees lose laptops. It is pretty common. How much easier is it to lose an iPad? Or get it stolen? What information is on that device? How much company confidential data is now loose in the wild? What data is in their email? What spreadsheets do they have? And confidential presentations?

If you don't have policies and procedures in place already you are behind... BYOD is in your enterprise already.

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February 29, 2012
 

Is it time to clean up your old internet accounts? Or, who really uses MySpace anymore?

So, I was cleaning out my junk mail this morning and found a phishing scam that was made to look like it was from MySpace.  My first thought was - "Wow, I haven't been to my MySpace page in years, why am I getting an email from them?"  But that thought was quickly replaced by - "What a lame phishing scam, and why would you use MySpace?"

But that got me thinking, why do I have a MySpace account still? I haven't been to my page in literally years. What purpose does MySpace serve for me anymore? And with all the websites getting compromised out there, do I want my private information just sitting on their servers? Or passwords?  I use different passwords on each website, but many people use the same password across multiple websites, if one of those old websites gets hacked how many other website will the hackers have access to? Even if they don't get hacked, what if they change their privacy policies to give away all my info?  I'm not reading their policies anymore.  Or what if they go out of business and new buyers use the data for who knows what?

But I don't mean to pick on MySpace, the thought applies to all my old accounts on too many sites to count.  Like Excite. Who uses Excite for email anymore? I was able to finally guess what my password was on MySpace, but I have no idea anymore what my Excite password was.  And to retrieve your password Excite forces you to know your zip code when you signed up.  I've moved way too much to have a clue what my zip code was way back when. I guess I will just have to add it to a list and try to delete it later. How about FriendFeed?  Did that ever take off?  Why do I still have an account there?

The more I start thinking about it, the more old accounts I can think of that I should just delete.  I don't need all those old accounts sitting out on the web like dirty socks on the floor. Time to simplify my life and protect my privacy.  It's time to clean up my Internet debris. 

Other links:
http://seanphillips.posterous.com/the-quandary-of-passwords-part-1-its-not-hard

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February 27, 2012
 

Free 50GB upgrade for Box promotion (cloud storage)

Box has a great offer of a free 50GB account for any Android user!  From their blog: 

This promotion ends on Friday, March 23, 2012 at 11:59pm PST, so grab your free 50GB on Box by following these steps:

 1. Visit the Android Marketplace and download Box for Android
2. Log into your account or register for a new one directly from the app
3. Start sharing and collaborating in the cloud

I have to be honest -  I have accounts on Dropbox, SugarSync, and on Box.  They all have pluses and minuses, but I use Dropbox for most of my day to day cloud storage needs. I started with Dropbox because it worked with my password vault and other apps on my Droid.  And, now on my iPhone, again Dropbox just works with my apps.  Most recently, it was so simple to set up Mindjet (a mind mapping app) with Dropbox on my iPhone.  Dropbox also makes it real easy to sync from the folder on my MacBook Pro.  Just drag a file to the Dropbox folder and it syncs.  How easy can you get?  But... there is almost always a but. But, you only get 2GB free storage.  

That's why I have accounts on SugarSync and Box.  Their free offers gave me 5GB each.  And of the two, SugarSync has a nice sync manager that comes with the free version.  With Box, you have to step up to the business version (a paid version) to get desktop sync'ing.  So, again, when I have files I want to access from my laptop and from my tablet, and my smart phone (and if I am not using Dropbox) I almost always use SugarSync.

But Box does have a nice clean web interface.  And it integrates with LinkedIn. So I find I end up using Box for sharing documents and other files with other people. It has become my public sharing cloud storage. Box has some great features for businesses and enterprises; things like integration with Salesforce.com and Google Apps, AD groups and version control, and of course desktop sync.  But, you don't get any of those features in the personal free version. 

So, at first, I was kind of thinking "that's nice, but I don't really need it."  But in the end my thought was, "I can always use 50GB more storage, so why not take advantage of the generous offer?  What's the downside?"  So I downloaded the Box app to my Samsung Galaxy Tablet and took advantage of the 50GB for life offer.  Maybe you should too?

External links:
Link to Box blog article http://blog.box.com/2012/02/android-users-get-50gb-free-get-your-box50gb-and-enter-the-box-mobile-giveaway/
Link to get your own free Dropbox account.
Link to get your own free SugarSync account.

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November 28, 2011
 

Nook Tablet vs Kindle Fire vs iPad2 vs ?

It's cyber Monday, so right about now people are getting tired of work and looking to waste some time till they can escape at 5PM. Time to go shopping on-line, right?  And one of the most popular electronic gifts this year is going to be tablets - either souped up e-readers like the Nook Tablet or the Kindle Fire, or full on tablets.  What to buy? It's a crowed field with over 9 options out there by my count at multiple price points and with a range of features. 

If you are mainly reading, playing on facebook, and checking a little email, from what I have seen first hand and read the Nook Tablet ($250) is the way to go.  I've heard apps seem to work better on the Nook also, even though they seem to have less apps then the Fire.   If you want music and movies (or if you are a Amazon Prime member) then the Kindle Fire ($199) is probably for you.  And other than those two nothing else in the sub-$499 price range is worth buying.  I wouldn't waste my money for anything else but the Nook Tablet or the Fire at the low end. 

But if you can pop $499 then no one has ever hated the iPad2.  Except... I personally don't like reading on it as well as my old Kindle.  The iPad screen has too much glare for me and it's just too big for reading, serious reading.  Other than that I love the iPad2. 

The Droid tablets are fine - I honestly like my Galaxy Tab.  But, so far, the Samsung Galaxy 10.1 is really the only serious also ran to the iPad2.  The Motorola Xoom has some great features.  And there are multiple other also rans out there but none of them has much market share nor features that stand out.  After a year of comparing, I have to say, if you are looking for a tablet then get the one everyone else is copying - just buy an iPad2. 

Does that help at all?

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