Find Out Who You're Dealing With - Automatically

This neat little application allows Gmail users to instantly find information about people with whom you're exchanging emails. And display that information right alongside the email itself.

Rapportive extracts information from LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and a number of other sources. An overview of this information is then displayed in a panel on the right hand side of your email in-box.You can even request a "connection" with your correspondent right there and then.

If there is more than one email address in a message, simply float your mouse pointer over any alternative address to get information on that person.

Twitter fanatic? You can follow, reply, and retweet all without leaving Gmail!

There are also a number of extensions available - called Raplets -  these allow your Rapportive side bar to pull in information from a number of 3rd Party applications including MailChimp, BatchBook and CruchBase.

  

As from July, you can even use Rapportive when you are composing an email. This allows you to enhance relationships with your correspondents by mentioning items from their latest posts on Twitter and Facebook.

Write Better Emails With Rapportive

For busy Gmail users, this product is a must have. Download Rapportive at http://rapportive.com/install

Easy, Secure Access To All Those Pesky Passwords

KeyPass is secure password storage software with a range of easy-to-use features.

The software and passwords reside on your own PC and are secured by advanced encryption. A master password provides access to the password details. But don't ever forget the master password because even KeyPass themselves can retrieve it for you!

This product makes it really easy to manage the wide range of passwords we all need today to secure information and resources. There is even random password generator if you can't be bothered to make up your own passwords.

Passwords can be organised into groups to make them easy to locate. You can even cut and paste passwords from the KeyPass display, saving you the hassle of re-typing (or mistyping) them when they're needed.

You can download KeyPass from http://keepass.info/download.html

How safe is your password?

A very pertinent article on passwords is published in today's edition of the UK's Independent newspaper. Some fascinating details and very sage advice.

How safe is your password?

If You Use Lists......You'll Love Remember The Milk

Making up lists of activities is an almost essential part of running your business and personal affairs. 

But what do you do with these lists and how do you keep them up-to-date? There's a neat on-line application called Remember The Milk (RTM), which can really help out. 

When you join RTM, it provides you with four pre-configured lists, including an InBox. The layout looks smart and is pretty easy to use. You can even email or Twitter, tasks directly into you InBox.

The key features of RTM include:

Lists - New lists can be created to suit your personal needs. These might include phone calls, urgent actions, projects, invoicing or whatever else you find useful.

Tasks - You can create tasks within any of your lists (or transfer them from your InBox if originally created by email or Twitter). These tasks can all be allocated with names, priorities, due dates, repeats, notes, URL's etc. They can also be modified at any time.

Reminders - You can send yourself reminders about any particular task via email, SMS or one of several instant messaging services.

Google Integration - Neat integration options are provided with Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Maps.

Microsoft Outlook Integration - Synchronisation is also available with Outlook tasks.

Mobile Phone Support - iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows and Blackberry mobile devices all have support options for RTM.

RTM was launched in 2005 and claims to now have over 2.5 million users. The on-line list management service is provided free of charge. However you will need to upgrade to the $25 per annum "pro" version for the iPhone, iPad and Outlook options.

You can sign up for Remember The Milk at  http://www.rememberthemilk.com/signup/

Hint - Your lists are normally displayed in alphabetical order. If you wish to change this order simply add numbering prior to the list name.

LinkedIn Voted Most Important Networking Site

In a recent survey by ROI Research, 59% of respondents nominated LinkedIn as the most important social networking website. The same survey showed that 20% of LinkedIn users visit the site daily and 50%, at least, once a week.

The importance of personal referrals was also highlighted, with 60% being likely to take action when a friend posts information about a product or company.

The survey was sponsored by Performics, an SEO consultancy, more information can be found on their blog.

The Ultimate Networking Accessory

Coming soon to an optician near you!

Imagine walking into a business event and being able to see each person's written profile projected alongside them. This is NOT science fiction. Right now "smart" contact lenses are in the process of being developed.

The scenario painted above will use facial recognition technology to identify other people in the room. Pull down their profile information from the Internet. Then project it into your eyes. All done via your contact lens. (I always knew I'd find a benefit of being short sighted sooner or later!)

This type of capability may take 20 years to come about, or it may be a lot nearer than you think. Either way you had better get your on-line profiles looking good. You never know who or how somebody might be looking at them.

See the Economist's video about smart contact lenses directly above or for the full article click here.

Cloud Computing in Comparison.

In his recent letter to the Economist entitled Cloudy-sky thinking, Professor Milo Martin makes a great point about the reliability of Cloud Computing.

Anybody who has relied upon an in-house IT infrastructure will surely remember the angst created by system downtime due to faults, upgrades and the like. The occasional unavailability of Cloud Computing resources and the ease with which you can back-up your data compares very favourably. Not to mention the cost savings.

It's just great to log-in to one of your on-line applications and find there is a range of new features available, without anything to organise, no downtime and no additional costs.

Never Lose Those Vital Snippets Of Information Again

I've been using Evernote for more than a year now and it's become an increasingly important part of my work routine.

Evernote software allows you to type notes, copy text, save screen shots and store photos. You can even store voice recordings and "handwritten" notes. It's available as a free, easy-to-install download.

All the information your store with the Evernote software can be backed-up on their servers and accessed via virtually any web browser. Versions of the software are also available for a very wide range of mobile phone operating systems, which again can automatically synchronise with your data storage on the Evernote servers.

But will you use it? 

That was the question I first asked myself. I quickly found out the answer was yes. The primary reason being is that it makes it so quick and easy to save useful items of information. Just those sort of items that in the past you may have written on a sheet of paper or saved in a folder, then never have been able to find again.

Evernote allows you to quickly store information in "notebooks" that you can create to suit your particular needs. All this information is also searchable, you can even search for text within images.

How do I use Evernote?

There are four key areas where Evernote has really helped me:

1) Preparing articles like this one. You can quickly "clip" related information from web pages and documents. Start sketching out the structure of your article. Write individual paragraphs. Even complete the whole article. All the information is in one secure, easy to access place. Which is especially useful if you want to develop the article over an extended period of time.

2) Saving key sections from emails and letters. How many times have you rewritten virtually the same paragraph because you couldn't find the place you originally used it? Evernote has allowed me to quickly save and retrieve those those treasured snippets. A massive time saver.

3) Have you every searched through a PC or software user guide to find a vital piece of advice and then have to repeat the process again a couple of months later? With Evernote, I've found it really easy to store and retrieve the particular instructions that are useful to me. 

4) Inspirational thoughts, neat ideas, great quotations. I couldn't begin to count the number I've come across then lost track of. Evernote has helped me to build up a store of little inspirational gems.

I'm sure there must be dozens of other ways in which people use Evernote. If your already an Evernote user, please let us know about your favourite application below.

What Does It Cost?

There is no cost to download the software and the free Evernote subscription allows you to upload up to 60MB of data to their servers every month. The $5 per month Premium version extends that to 1GB per month.

Conclusion

The thing that has really made Evernote important to me, is the speed with which you can save, organise and retrieve, even the smallest items of information.

Evernote have just passed 8 million users. In the next few weeks that could hit 10 million users, I'd strongly recommend that you're one of them.

Do You Offer Rewards For Referrals?

Referral Key is a website which offers to help you simplify the process and reach more referral partners.

This networking resource is aimed primarily at small business operators. It allows you to post a business profile and link with other business people. Membership is free.

Referral Key has been around since 2007 but has expanded dramatically since it started allowing members to offer a “reward” for successful referrals. The value and terms for awarding the reward are entirely up to the member making the offer. It can be in the form of gift vouchers from a selection of companies, or simply cash payments.

Importantly, the website also provides a facility allowing you to automatically track referrals, both given and received.

Whilst some professions have a code of conduct that prevent them from accepting such inducements, in other instances it may prove a nice way to reward people for taking the time and effort to send you referrals.

Referral Key is based in Boston, USA and was featured in this Boston Globe article.

I can't see this facility ever matching the benefits of face-to-face networking or the facilities available on LinkedIn. However, I've decided to give it a go and offer a reward of $100 for successful referrals. I'll let you know how well it works.

You can link with me on Referral Key at http://referralkey.com/richardcarter

Referral Key - Referrals for Small Businesses Video

Three Simple LinkedIn Features You MUST Consider For Your Website

Make it easier for website visitors to promote and connect with your organisation.

LinkedIn have recently made available a new range of facilities that can be integrated with websites. The three features I recommend you implement are:

Member Profiles - Facilitates the display of Profile Summary Cards for selected LinkedIn members e.g. company staff. Your website visitors will also be able see how they're connected to the displayed personnel. Profile Summary Cards will not only encourage prospects to make initial contact with your organisation but will also help to grow stronger relationships with your existing clients.

Company Insider - This feature shows your website visitors which company employees are in their LinkedIn network. Once again, making it easier for people to build stronger ties with your organisation.

Share on LinkedIn - Provides a simple way for individuals to publish favourable comments. The button provided allows visitors to send a LinkedIn Status Update without leaving your website. The update automatically includes a link to your website and space for comments.

For website visitors to experience the personalised aspects of the above features, they will of course need to be logged-in to LinkedIn. However, it is no longer uncommon for businesspeople to remain continuously logged-in to key services, such as, Google and LinkedIn.

The features highlighted are free and relatively simple to implement. They provide an innovative way to grow relationships with both clients and prospects. What are you waiting for?

How do you implement these features?

To access these features go to the LinkedIn Developer Network. This sounds a bit daunting but don't worry, the features I've selected have been made as simple as possible to implement.

The above link will take you to a page showing the various LinkedIn website "plugins" that are available. Select the feature you require via the "Get it" button, enter some basic information, then click "Get Code". You will be provided with the HTML code required for your website.

If you're already doing your own basic website support, entering this HTML code should be plain sailing. Alternatively, it is a simple task for your website development company.

You will notice that there are some other "plugins" which are available from LinkedIn. Some of these may also be attractive for your website but just be aware that they require significant HTML expertise to implement.

Share Files The Easy Way

Just select the files you want to share via your browser.

Ge.tt is a recently launched free file sharing service which makes the whole process as simple as possible. Once you have selected the file you wish to share, Ge.tt provides a website address (URL) which you can pass on to people who may wish to download the selected file. 

The stand-out benefits of Ge.tt are:

• Simple drag-and-drop process to load files to the Ge.tt website.
• Immediate access to the service which uses your web browser only, no software to install.
• Supports almost any file type including documents, pictures and videos.
• No file size limitations (although some web browsers may only handle up to 2GB files).
• File downloads can be started immediately, even before your file is fully loaded on to the Ge.tt website.

Your files may be deleted from the Ge.tt website if they have not been accessed for over 30 days. If you want to get some larger items distributed quickly, however, this is a great way to do it.

Hint: If you're on the Ge.tt website and want to get back to the file sharing page, just click the the Ge.tt logo.

Dump That Email Footer

Many, many emails now include a footer imposing conditions, disclaimers and instructions related to the email.

By James Cridland

Do you ever read them? Should we be wary of their contents? Is the footer on your emails valid?

According to The Economist "Many disclaimers are, in effect, seeking to impose a contractual obligation unilaterally, and thus are probably unenforceable". Click here to read their full article "Spare us the e-mail yada-yada".

So, should we discard email footers altogether? Has anybody come across a legal case reliant on the contents of an email footer? Your comments are welcome.