A software application that is exceptionally useful or exciting. Killer apps are innovative and often represent the first of a new breed, and they are extremely successful. For example, in the late 1970s, the VisiCalc spreadsheet was the killer app for the Apple II, providing reason enough to purchase the hardware. VisiCalc was followed by Lotus 1-2-3 and Excel for the IBM PC. In the early 1990s, the Mosaic Web browser was the killer app for the Internet. It was quickly followed by Netscape and others.

I think I have witnessed the next Killer app. For sure as far as the ipad is concerned. Apple just awared it the best ipad app for 2010. However I think the potiential is much more broad. 

My daughter bought me an Ipad for Christmas and my son said I should take a look at the ipad app called “Flipboard”. I already had but it looked too boring at first glance. But on his recomendation, I gave it a second look and it is becomming my favorite application. 

What it is

The best way I can describe it is that it let’s you produce a cool looking web magazine with content that is important to you. The source of the content comes from your facebook account, flicker picturs, google rss feeds and your twitter account. Instead of a regular text feed, you get large, bold headers, bylines, columnar stories, and a ‘zine style layout complete with images. You flip pages naturally, tap stories to expand them, and even navigate to the story web pages straight from the app.It’s all gorgeous and very functional. And now, some content sites are even optimizing their pages for Flipboard viewing, making them more ‘zine like. 

The best part of Flipboard is that it is everything you care about, laid out beautifully. When you create your Flipboard account, you basically add news feeds for it to pull in. You can also bring in social networking feeds, like Facebook and Twitter, as well as your entire Google Reader feed, and read it all like a magazine. 

To me, Flipboard is just about the perfect way to consume Digital information on from the web. Allowing you easily “flip” through wall posts, tweets, and news and information. The experience is completely immersive and impressive. Interested in something you see, tap on the article blurb, and it expands to about 95% of the screen for easy reading. Where it really becomes impressive, is if there is a link or a full article attached to the blurb, it is presented in the same window just below the text that got you interested in the first place. No need to open a browser (although you have that option) be “transported” to a different app… Almost everything is seamless within Flipboard itself. 

Twitter Users

This is where I think it really shines. It took me a long time to appreciate twitter. A long time ago, I learned you should surround yourself with intelligent people. Twitter allows you to do this. But With it’s short and cryptic posts it seemed too boring. Flipboard changes all this. Now the webpages and post your twitter mentors find important is displayed in a magaine format. Very attractive, visually appealing, it draws you in and presents relevant, interesting information quickly. 

Frustrations

It does have some weakpoints. I have multiple twitter accounts. You can only have one active. If you want to see another, according to a Flipboard employee, you have to delete the active twitter account and add the new one. He said it was not hard to do, a statemen that flabbergasted me. It is like saying you just need to plug in, print, and unplug each time you want to print something. That’s crazy. Also if you have more thant one family member sharing the ipad, you are limited to only one facebook account. I think their market research leads them to the conclusion that if you give users too many options, the interface becomes cluttered and the experience deminished. 

 

Blekko isn’t a Google-killer. Nor is Blekko proporting to be. But Blekko’s “slashtags” are a unique feature that may draw you in on occasions when you want to see how search results look when they’re skewed to a particular viewpoint.

“We’re there for searches you can’t do elsewhere,” said Michael Markson, vice president of marketing for Blekko. “Every time you search the conservative web, we want to do that search. Or the green web, and so on.”

Slashtags: Spinning Your Search Results

What would rank number one for “news” if you asked conservatives versus liberals? Blekko can give you the spin from both groups. Want your search results with a liberal slant? You can do that at Blekko, or slash your results the opposite way for a conservative view.

This is all done using slashtags, special keywords that you place after what your searching for, in order to indicate the viewpoint you want used to spin your results. Blekko maintains over 250 slashtags, including viewpoints such as

/liberal
/conservative
/catholic
/religious

But slashtags are not just synonymous with viewpoints. More correctly, each slashtag represents a collection of web sites on a particular topic.

When you search using the /liberal slashtag, you’re running your search against all the pages that Blekko has found from over 70 web sites that have been categorized as liberal. In effect, you’re searching the “liberal” web, or a least a select subset of the liberal web.

Don’t look for slashtags at Bing or Google. While Google offers vertical search in key areas, as does Bing, neither approaches the wide-range of topics that Blekko offers. There’s no “liberal” or “conservative” or “green” search you can do, as in the examples above.

More About Slashtags

So far, I’ve mostly mentioned the “topic” slashtags that Blekko offers. Blekko also offers what it calls “built-in” tags, some of which can similarly sound like topic tags. For instance:

• /people
• /news
• /blogs
• /forums

Those all bring back matches from sites that are associated with a person, are news sites, are blogs or forums.

There are also built-in tags that pull back information from third-party sources, such as maps (/map),  or which allow you to bring in results from other search engines such as Bing (/bing), Yahoo (/yahoo) and even Google (/google).

There are also three special “built-in” slashtags that filter results in ways other than by topic:

• /noporn
• /date
• /rank

The first is designed to keep porn sites out of your results. The second ranks results by date. The third? It unlocks some of the secrets of why one site is ranked higher than another.

Revealing The Ranking Algorithm

Ever wonder why a search engine ranks a particular site over others? It’s all down to a ranking “algorithm,” a formula of adding up various factors such as the words on a web page, how people link to the web page, the importance of those links and more to decide who “wins” and should show up in the top results.

Search engines like Google and Bing do explain some of the key factors in their ranking algorithms, but Blekko takes things to an entirely new level with the /rank slashtag.

Other Search Engine Alternatives

I use Google for my most of my searches, but I have also been impressed with Bing and us it regularly as well.  I don’t use AltaVista or Ask.com because Google and Bing serve me so well. But I do plan to use Blekko for it’s unique features. Another interesting search engine I love is Wolfram Alpha which searches databases not websites and returns tabular results. On the horizon, we can expect a new type of search engine that will feature social media like facebook as a main feature.

 

It could be because you have way too many items in your startup, a highly fragmented hard drive, too little hard disk space, invalid registry entries, outdated drivers or software, unnessary services starting automatically, a security software taht uses too much CPU and memory.

Or you could have Malware.

Malware, short for malicious software, is software designed to secretly access a computer system without the owner’s informed consent. The expression is a general term used by computer professionals to mean a variety of forms of hostile, intrusive, or annoying software or program code. The term “computer virus” is sometimes used as a catch-all phrase to include all types of malware, including true viruses.

One type of malware has emerged in spyware — programs designed to monitor users’ web browsing, display unsolicited advertisements, or redirect affiliate marketing revenues to the spyware creator. Spyware programs do not spread like viruses; they are, in general, installed by exploiting security holes or are packaged with user-installed software, such as peer-to-peer applications.

I use a free software called MalwareBytes with good sucess.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is a surprisingly effective freeware antimalware tool. It’s a relatively speedy malware remover, with the quick scan taking about 8 minutes even with other high-resource programs running. The heuristics engine proved on multiple computers during empirical testing that it was capable of determining the difference between false positives and dangerous apps.

The app has some nice features rolled in, too. It supports multiple drive scanning including networked drives, context menu options including a scan-on-demand for individual files, and the FileAssassin option under the More Tools section for removing locked files. The interface is simple, but pleasant-looking and well-organized. Tabs live just below the oversized logo, with few options per tab to keep down the clutter. The installation process was fast enough, but interestingly offered up the well-kept changelog and an instant definition file update.

Do note that the real-time protection is restricted to the paid version, as is the scheduler for updates and scans. Overall, though, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is a responsive malware remover that does what it should with a minimum of fuss.

For more information go to MalwareBytes.org

 

Evernote is a free, cloud-based note taking and organizational tool. It is beneficial to those who use multiple computers, travel or those who are sick of their desktop being cluttered with sticky notes (physical or software based). 

Uses of Evernote can be broken down into three actions.

1. Capture things
2. Organize them
3. Easily find them when you need to

I have found that the more I use Evernote, the more ways I find to easily incorporate it into my life. I took one baby step, then another, then another, and so on…. Here is my challenge for you: try one or two of the suggestions I have below on how to get started using it. I promise you that if you give it a try, you will want more and more.

Evernote allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform you find most convenient, and makes everything accessible and searchable at any time, from anywhere. Use Evernote to capture your ideas, snapshots, voice memos, things you see online, and just about anything else that you want to remember.

All your notes are just a couple mouse clicks away from anywhere in the world. A simple login to www.evernote.com will give you access to view, edit, or create notes. Windows and Mac users will also enjoy the benefit of using the client based software which will give you access anytime, online or not. If you are a Firefox user, you will also be able to select text and/or images on a website and click a toolbar shortcut to save the selection directly to your account.

Creating notes is as simple as typing in a document. You can customize your notes with fancy fonts and colors. Organization of the notes is also a breeze. Notes can be grouped into customizable “Notebooks”. They can also be tagged with user-defined words. This is useful if the subject matter has multiple descriptions or key words. Just tag it with whatever words best describe the note. Then you can filter through all of your notes by tags. Of course you can always type in the search bar to search through any text (tags, OCR, text within notes, etc).

The best part: Evernote is always within arm’s reach. There are versions of Evernote for Windows, Mac, the Web, iPhone, Windows Mobile, and other mobile devices. Each of these versions of Evernote is always synchronized, so any information added in one place is instantly available everywhere else.

Things to put into Evernote

• Notes and research
• Web pages clips
• Tasks and to-dos
• Photos of whiteboards and blackboards
• Business card snapshots
• Ink scribbles in a notepad
• Camera phone snapshots
• Wine labels and menus
• Faxes
• Email Attachments

Evernote also has the ability to recognize printed and handwritten text within snapshots and images.

Here are some examples of things you can use Evernote for.

1. Take notes. Taking notes in Evernote is way better than searching for that pad of paper that’s lost or at home. It’s also better than a text document on your computer because either you won’t remember the name of the document, you won’t have that computer, or you will have deleted the document inadvertently.
2. Take pictures. Got into a fender bender? Take a picture of both cars, the other car’s license plates, and the other driver’s license. Drink a great bottle of wine? Take a picture of the label. See a book that you must read? Take a picture of the cover. Evernote has a great iPhone app that enables you to upload these pictures directly to your account.
3. Save documents. When I receive a document (PowerPoint, Word, Excel, or PDF) that I’ll need again, I forward it to Evernote for safekeeping. This is easy because Evernote provides a unique email address to enter documents in your account. I do the same for pictures that people send me. This is very useful when you use more than one computer to create documents or send/receive email.
4. Photograph business cards. Rather than collecting a pile of business cards that you’ll never go through, photograph them with your iPhone and send their images to Evernote. Evernote recognizes text on the card, so you can search for names such as “Apple” or “John” when that’s the only thing you can remember about the person. If you’re using Evernote on a mobile phone, it can also geotag the photo so that if you can only remember that you met the person in Cupertino, you can still find it. And you can save trees: When someone hands you her card, take a picture of it and hand it back.
5. Track expenses. When you get a business receipt, photograph it, and send it to Evernote. Then you or your secretary can grab it later for expense reports and tracking. I lose many of my receipts, but if I stick them in Evernote, there’s a backup when I need them. If you’re really anal, you can configure your scanner to send receipts to Evernote so you have great looking scanned receipts.
6. Track checks. My bank enables me to see the scanned image of checks one by one, organized by check number. If I knew the check number, I would probably know the payee and amount. Photographed images of checks in Evernote are much faster to find because Evernote recognizes the text so that you can search for it across all your checks. This is very useful when you have a spouse who writes a lot of checks.
7. Track deposits. My bank shows me scanned images of checks, but unless I used an ATM that prints a scan of the deposit, I’m hosed. Even then the scanned image is so small, I sometimes cannot read who the check is from. Photographing and storing a deposit in Evernote is a good system even if you only use it as a backup. This is very useful when you have a spouse who makes a lot of money.
8. Archive your prescriptions. When I get a prescription, I photograph the receipt of the pharmacy. This enables me to remember who prescribed it, when the prescription ends, and which pharmacy filled the prescription. This information is very useful when I want to get a refill.
9. Store your online passwords and receipts. Whenever I buy something online or create an online account, I forward the confirmation or receipt to Evernote. Now when I forget my password, registration number, or date of purchase, I don’t have to go through all sorts of gyrations to recover them. (This happens approximately once per week.) You can, by the way, encrypt portions of documents at Evernote for greater security.
10. Retain news and content from websites. As you come across interesting article, use the Evernote web clipper to review and use later. It’s much more likely you’ll read these articles than if you bookmarked it unless you’re a fanatic about processes such as organizing, synching, and reviewing bookmarks. Even if you are, bookmarks often break when URLs change. It’s much better to have captured the article once and for all.
11. Record the wisdom of whiteboards. Think of Evernote as a poor man’s Smartboard to convert text on a whiteboard to a digital format. This means that after the enjoyable day at the company offsite, just take a picture of the whiteboard and send it to Evernote. Evernote will scan the text so that you can search for the word “mission” to find the fifty-word mission statement that you promptly forgot. This works for projected slides, too.
12. Archive voicemail messages. I use a service called SpinVox that transcribes my voicemail to text and emails me the message. I can then forward the email to Evernote to have a record of the call if I ever need to recall the content of the voicemail or call the person again.
13. Dictate your thoughts. The Evernote iPhone application enables you to record your thoughts and then upload it to your account. This is perfect for when you have a brilliant thought and want to ensure that it’s not lost among the detritus in your brain. If you give your secretary access to your account, you could make a dictation on the fly, and he can listen to it back at the office.
14. Preserve your tweets. You can archive your tweets by linking your Evernote and Twitter accounts. Then if you include the text “@myEN, Evernote will grab it for you” (not that most tweets are worth archiving).

Here are some ways to get information into Evernote;

• Forward email to your unique Evernote email address.
• Upload text, photo, or voice recordings via an iPhone, Palm Pre, or Windows Mobile phone.
• Drag-and-drop audio, images, PDFs, and files into Evernote on the desktop.
• Attach Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF documents to an email and send them to your Evernote email address.
• “Save PDF to Evernote” from the printing dialog box.
• Clip websites and blogs.
• Send documents directly from a scanner.
• Tweet text with the string “@myEN”.
• Upload from cameras directly to Evernote using the wireless EyeFi card.
• Use the Evernote “Clip” Button Below to clip this post for later reading.

 

Think of SkyDrive as your online filing cabinet. SkyDrive is a free Windows Live service that provides 25 GB of password-protected online file storage making it possible to store, access, and share files online with friends or co-workers, from nearly anywhere.

Keep everyone in the loop. When working on group projects, SkyDrive is a great tool to share the materials you’re working on — whether you share an office, are down the hall, or live in another time zone. Upload files and grant permission to view or edit them to members of your team or include your teacher or manager in a project by sending a link to your files. SkyDrive makes it easy for them to provide feedback and stay appraised of your team’s progress. After editing or reviewing files, team members can upload changes and leave comments from anywhere they have web access.

Got a new computer? Use SkyDrive to transfer files from your old computer to your new one. Simply upload files from your old computer to SkyDrive, and then back to your new computer. If you find yourself at a coffee shop or on your mobile phone and don’t have your computer with you, you can sign in to Windows Live from another computer and get the stuff you need.

Simplified file uploading. With SkyDrive, uploading files is as easy as dragging files on your desktop. Select the files you want to upload, drop them on the SkyDrive upload page, and then click Upload. That’s it. If you’re sharing files with your friends, coworkers, or family, you can make it easy for them to find what they’re looking for by simply e-mailing a link. With SkyDrive, you control who can access your files and what they can do with them

Using Skydrive

• Upload your docs. Go to Office.live.com and upload a doc (or lots of docs). If you have Silverlight (install it here), you’ll get an extra bonus: the ability to upload many more files at once, simply by dragging and dropping them all in your favorite browser. Don’t have a doc to upload? No problem, you can create Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote docs right in the browser.
  
              Drag files from your desktop directly into the browser
  
• Edit a doc right in your browser. On Office.live.com, you’ll notice that all the files you’ve recently viewed or edited—or your friends have shared with you—show up right in the “Recent documents” section so they’re easy to find.
  
                 The Office page on SkyDrive 
  Click Edit in browser, and start working away in the Web Apps without having to install any special software. If you need a feature (like 3D charts, for example) from Office on your PC, it’s really easy to open your document on your PC with little interruption.
  
               Editing a Word doc in my browser
• Work together in real time. Sometimes two brains (or ten brains) are better than one. Like when you’re updating a party invitation list in Excel, or planning a group trip using OneNote. With co-authoring in Excel and OneNote Web Apps, you can work with your friends at the same time and never be locked out of a document when someone else is working on it.
• Read your docs on your smartphone. Browse to Office.live.com  on your phone and you’ll be able to view Word and PowerPoint documents without any extra software (on most smartphones).
  
            Viewing a PowerPoint slide on my mobile phone

 

Bill.com users can receive, route and pay invoices electronically — they never have to touch a paper bill again — resulting in time and cost savings to finance personnel of over 50% versus manual accounts payable and check writing processes. 

Invoices are emailed, scanned or faxed into the Bill.com solution.  Digital images of invoices are then routed electronically for approval, ensuring a complete audit trail and eliminating lost or mishandled paper.  Users can access digitized supporting documents such as current and past bill images, cleared check images and contracts, at every step in the process, from anywhere, at any time, over the Internet. Bill.com handles check printing and mailing as well as electronic payments, and uses enterprise-class fraud protections that are impractical for small and midsized businesses to implement on their own.  Bill.com integrates with popular desktop and on-demand accounting packages, ensuring consistency of financial data and streamlined financial planning, reporting and audit activities.