Author: Blancer

We do get a lot of email these days. I am not talking about spam – clean, legitimate emails from people we know and do business with. Leave it unattended for a couple of days, your email inbox will look like a war zone with the causalities being your productivity and reputation. Besides, it has become a fashion to complain about email overload.

For those who are really serious about clearing out their inbox and get things done, there are some great apps to lend a helping hand. Email Game is one such app and is a new way to read and respond to email.

Overview

Email Game isn’t a real game, but actually makes your inbox a virtual playground with scores, timeouts and victories. The web app is free to use and currently supports Gmail and Google Apps accounts.

Getting Started

To start playing the game, enter you email address in the homepage and hit Let’s Play. After intimidating you with a few quick technical jargon, you will be redirected to the Google Accounts page from where you will authorize access to this app. All authentication happens via OAuth and hence no passwords are actually stored at the web app.

You will see a neatly illustrated help page that gives instructions about the game. The game play is explained in 4 easy steps and is very easy to understand. Once you are sure of the rules, proceed to play the game.

I took a deep breath as per instructions and was so ready to play the game. But, I was taken to another landing page that once again says that the game is about to begin. Bring it on already!
Here in this page you can see the number of emails to be tackled at the top right corner of the page and the points you have scored so far. Since we have not played the game yet, the point count is obviously zero. Let me check if the points I score in the first game are saved until I return for the next time.

Playing the Gaming

As soon as you hit Play, the game will begin and the countdown clock will start ticking. You have exactly the same amount of time displayed in the countdown clock to make your first move. If you feel you need a bit more time to get familiarized to the interface, hit the pause button. Once you hit the pause button, the ticker will stop but the page will be locked and you cannot play the game.

The interface is unlike the one we are used to from an email inbox. There are no two or three column layouts, folders or labels. No search boxes either. There is just the full text view of the email from your inbox with a row of icons at the top of it. These icons are the game controllers.

The Email Game is a streamlined email experience. No clutter. Just one message at a time to focus on and you don’t have to have unread mails to play the game either. The key is to make decisions quickly, and you’ll be rewarded.

Every common email activity is rewarded. Even if you label an email, you are given points. You will lose points is if you skip an email. So try to do as much work as possible before the timer runs out. As long as you keep up with the emails shown in front of you, all is good.

But, if for some reason, you miss the deadline, you will be penalized heavily. Pause the app without fail whenever you take a break or run for an errand. If you fail or forget to do so, just like did, the app will freak out and will start giving you negative points like crazy. I just stepped out for a minute without pausing the game to attend the door and you can see that all my points have been wiped out and now I am being showered with negative points by the second.

To get out the red zone, get something done as quickly as possible to reset the timer. The negative points will be there but as long as the timer is ticking, you should be able to catch up with your point scoring spree very soon. Points and graphics make your email accomplishments feel real.

Boomerang

Boomerang is an interesting feature. When you hit Boomerang in the app, you will be allowed to choose a time period after which you want to see the same mail again. This feature could come in handy if you want to address pressing emails first, leaving the less urgent at the bottom of the pile. From an hour to a random month, there are a lot intervals to choose from.

Final Thoughts

Email Game makes clearing out a mess of an email inbox so much fun. The app is such a task master, you can be rest assured that your email overload will be cured for sure. However, the interface could have been better. It really isn’t fun to read a plaint text email.

Clearly the developers have done a lot of research before making this brilliant web app. If you make it a habit to work on your inbox from Email Game, I am very much sure that your productivity will increase by 40% as the developers so proudly claim.

Share Your Thoughts

What do you think of Email Game? If you start using the web app, do you think you will be using it regularly?

Well, it’s that time of year again where people celebrate their appreciation for Earth and our environment by doing something to contribute to being more environmentally mindful or raise awareness. Like last year, I could remind you of the many ways the internet helps people reduce their impact on the environment, but we’re all pretty aware of that.

Instead, this year, I’ll be briefly talking about why I’m NOT participating in Earth Day.

Earth Day

If you’re not familiar with Earth Day, a quick Google search will give you plenty of information to get you started. Earth Day, held on April 22, is…

…a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment. – Wikipedia

Why I’m Not Participating

It sounds a little silly but I’m not really participating because I’m not particularly fond of the idea that people participate once per year… then go on about their lives as normal or with little change. Every day should be Earth Day and we should always be mindful of our impact on Earth and our immediate environment.

Now from some of the things I say about being “green” and being mindful of our environment, some of my friends would call me a “tree hugger” (which there’s nothing wrong with). However, that’s not really the case (I’d embrace it if it was) but rather I’m a bit of a stickler for efficiency. I believe that if it can be done better, then it should be done better.

What does that mean in relation to our environment? Well, the obvious stuff: use energy efficient devices, turn things off when you’re not using them, use paperless billing (email me, I don’t like mail!) and so on. As we all know, the internet has done a great deal of good helping us reduce our unnecessary use of resources (paper, driving to a library, ordering products online, etc) while at the same time making everything more convenient, so take advantage of it everyday — not just today!

Not Just Today, Everyday

Being someone that loves hiking, camping and just getting out for some physical exercise, I think Earth Day encourages people to change their lifestyle for a day (for the environment) when they really need to be thinking more about themselves. Living a healthier lifestyle has a tremendous impact on our environment, not to mention your own body.

Ride your bike to the store when you’re just picking up a few small things, or ride to your friend’s house rather than drive. It’s better for your body and much easier on the environment. Plus, it gives you more opportunities to play with your favorite web-connected mobile electronics.

In what way do you use technology every day to live healthier (or maybe more conveniently) that also reduces your impact on our environment? What ways could you use technology more to further reduce your impact?

One of my personal favorites is using Chrome before any other browser as it’s simply more energy efficient thanks to it’s speed and system resource usage. I would strongly recommend against using any version of Internet Explorer as it contributes to world pollution.

Some other solutions?

• Developers, code better so your apps run more efficiently.
• Use Blackle (a black background version of Google)
• Photographers, focus on shooting pictures correctly the first time rather than taking a million shots and only saving one.
• Use a camera with higher ISO rather than using a flash.
• Use Wake-on-Lan when accessing your computer remotely.
• Start learning to navigate by compass and stars rather than Google Maps.
• Convince your boss to let you telecommute, which also means you can work in your underwear in the summers.
• Close your Facebook account; not only will you be more secure, you’ll be able to get more work done!

So these are obviously humorous solutions but if you think about it, they would still work!

I’d love to hear about the ways you’re using technology to reduce your impact on the environment. Leave a comment below and share with the group!

When it comes to putting files in the cloud, the most important aspect for me is accessibility. Here in the AppStorm network, we’ve already covered CloudApp for Mac, and DroidCloud, a third party app that brings CloudApp to Android devices. I think it’s about time we cover the web interface for CloudApp, a dead simple way to put files in the cloud.

CloudApp

CloudApp is a file sharing app that allows you to share images, links, music, videos and files. Once you upload a file, you’re provided with a link that you can send to anyone.

Signing Up

There are a few different accounts you can get, either free or paid, though when you sign up it’s automatically for the free account. The free account will get you 10 daily uploads and a max file size of 25MB. The paid account lifts these limitations, allowing unlimited daily uploads, a 250MB max file size, and even gives you the ability to add a custom domain. The pro account costs $5/month, with discounts for buying 6 months and 1 year at a one time.

Once you create your account, you’re brought to your dashboard, where you’ll view all of your files, as well as add new ones. The dashboard will tell you the name and type of the file, how long ago it was uploaded, and the number of views each file has (yours included). You can also choose between two different listings: a grid of thumbnails and a list of names.

Adding Files & Links

At the top of your dashboard, you’ll see the add area, where you can choose to add a bookmark or a file (referred to as a ‘drop’). Adding a bookmark, the default screen, is as easy as pasting a link into the form field and pressing “Enter.”

Make sure you include the http:// for the link. If you do not, your link will not work properly, and CloudApp does not check for this.

To add a file, click the word “File” under the form field to add a bookmark and it will change to an uploader. Select the file you want to upload (only one at a time), and upload it.

Sharing Links

Once you add a link or a file, it’s assigned a custom link you can use for sharing. There are two types of links: public and private. The difference is that the “private” links use a longer key that is harder to guess than the public ones. CloudApp explains the difference and reasoning here. While private is a bit of a misnomer- the user doesn’t need a password or code to view the file- the difference is significant.

One thing I did notice about “public” and “private” is that while the above blog post mentions any easy way to switch between the two for each individual drop, I can see no way to do this outside the settings page, which applies public or private to all future drops. There is also an area where you can make all public links private links, but not vise versa.

As noted on in the privacy area, switching public links to private will break existing public links.

Strangely, there’s not a way to grab a drop link outside of right clicking on the file you want to share and copying the link. This is a feature I feel should definitely be somewhere on the dashboard because as right now, it’s browser dependant. I realize modern browsers all allow for right click, copy link, but the user is still relying on the browser to grab a CloudApp link.

Another feature that would be nice to have is a screenshot of the link you’re sharing. For images, CloudApp creates a thumbnail preview, but this isn’t the case for links, which all get the same link icon.

Deleting Drops

In order to delete a drop, you need to click the checkbox associated with the drop, then click the delete button at the top of the page. This is nice when you want to delete several drops at once, though I would have expected a delete button associated with each drop to minimize scrolling in the event that you want to delete one of the first files you added, which would be at the bottom of the page.

It’s also surprising that you’re not prompted to confirm delete, though CloudApp does a nice job of integrating a Trash area, where your deleted items reside until empty your trash (which you are required to confirm), or the drop stays there for seven days. After seven days, a drop is automatically peremenetly deleted.

Integration

At the beginning of the article, I mentioned that CloudApp has been covered on both the Mac and Android Appstorm sites. CloudApp has a very nice Mac app that makes sharing files (especially screenshots) very easy, along with a iPhone app to share photos. Similarly, there is a third party Android app called DroidCloud that makes sharing files simple using CloudApp’s API.

I think this is something that is essential to the success of web based file sharing apps (and really, most web apps), and it’s good to see CloudApp embracing it. While these apps aren’t strict functionality of the web app itself, it speaks volumes for the developers, who realize a good web app today extends beyond a browser.

Conclusion

CloudApp is a pretty simple app for sharing files and links through custom URLs. It’s got some nice functionailty to it — shortening links, a hit counter for each drop, and a very easy way to upload files; it’s also got some nice integration with other platforms. Some of the functional faux pas, like lack of individual delete and an easy way to grab a shorted link, are not completely detrimental to the app.

If you’re looking for an easy way to share files and shorten links, you might consider CloudApp (especially if you have an Android Phone or a Mac. Luckily, I have both!).

There’s quite a few project collaboration and task management apps out there, all in varying ranges of features. These days it’s less about how many features the app has and more about its usability and interface design. Features? They’re all packed with features. But a sexy design and great usability? Well, that’s much more subjective and for each of us to decide for ourselves.

Scadaplan is a task management and project collaboration app that appears to do more with less, utilizing a solid modern interface that’s easy to use and looks great. Let’s take a look through the app and see what it’s worth.

Overview

As you’ve already gathered, Scadaplan is more than just a simple task management app. Though if you’re just looking for a powerful task and project manager for yourself or maybe a couple other people, this will still be a great option without loading you down with features and complexities.

Creating and managing tasks is easy (which we’ll get into later) and includes the kind of details you’ll want to better manage every day tasks and project-based tasks.

Pricing

Since Scadaplan is in beta, it’s free. Whether it will remain free once fully released, I’m not really sure. I wouldn’t recommend signing up for any potentially temporarily free app unless you’re prepared to pay for it should you become reliant on it.

Signup

Signup is quick and simple; not really any different from the normal process we’re all used to. Click the big Create account button on the home page, fill in your details, click the verification link you’ll receive via email and enter a password.

Should you decide you want to change your company name or URL, you can do so later from your account’s General page.

Using Scadaplan

Once you’ve logged in, you’ll see your main dashboard. Take note of the interface design; it’s utilizing your browser’s available space, leaving no unused area. Why is this great? Well, for starters, no matter how big or small your screen and chosen browser size, the app will adapt to fit the space and in turn act more like an application than a website (in terms of its interface).

Another advantage of this choice of interface design is for those using apps like Fluid on OS X, where a “desktop” version of the app is created (it’s really just a dedicated browser window with customizable settings). This makes it easier to size the app window to your preferences, rather than sizing it to fit the rigid design of the website, also leaving no space unused. And, this is a great way to run Scadaplan in my opinion.

Navigating

First thing’s first. Navigating through the app is dead simple using the navigation bar on the left.

• The top link (the faded Scadaplan logo) will take you to your dashboard.
• Your photo, once uploaded, will take you to your profile settings.
• The bell icon toggles notifications.
• The plus icon adds tasks (from any page via overlay window).
• The list icon takes you to your task list.
• The shifted bars icon takes you to your calendar.
• The little man icon takes you to your settings.

Settings

The first thing I look at in apps such as these is the choice of settings. I’m usually looking for an easy way to delete the account should I decide the app isn’t right for me and you’d be surprised to see so many apps make this incredibly difficult. Scadaplan doesn’t and to me, that show’s confidence in their product and choosing what’s easier for the user over dodgy practices.

From the settings page you’ll be able to invite users and manage your team; your account’s general settings, projects and your personal profile.

Overall I found the settings page (and sub-pages) a little dry and overall left me feeling it was lacking refinement. But remember, it’s in beta!

Tasks

Adding tasks is a snap, regardless of the page you’re currently viewing. From within the Add task window you’ll enter a name and a description, select (or create) a project, assign a user and select a due date.

Note that the name of the task and its description are created using separate lines and you are not required to select a project.

Unfortunately, Scadaplan doesn’t take advantage of today’s newest and best web technologies that enable more fluid and desktop-like interfaces. Once you’ve added a task, the page has to be refreshed to see the addition. Other interface actions such as navigating between months in the task list require page changes where JavaScript could be used to reduce full page reloads/changes.

Clicking a task brings up the task’s details and allows you or team members to add comments (with file attachments), update its status and time record or even follow the task. I particularly like the idea of selectively following tasks and status updates.

The overall task list interface is clean and simple, organized between yourself and your team and easy to get at the information you need. In comparison to other popular task management apps, however, it’s lacking in its design and use of technology to create a faster and easier interface.

If you want to time your tasks, click the black arrow on the far right when hovering over a task with your mouse. This will also update the calendar to show that the task is being worked on.

Calendar

I particularly like the calendar in Scadaplan, perhaps because I prefer line-based designs over blocks with information squished into them. This particular calendar design works better with the type of information being used and uses colors effectively for a fast overview of tasks’ status.

Clicking tasks in the calendar view brings up the task details pane for quick access to info. However, navigating through dates outside the default displayed date range is, to put it bluntly, a royal pain and completely unacceptable for this type of app. There’s really no excuse for not even implementing a jQuery popup date picker or something similar.

Notifications

Unfortunately the notifications options are very limited. You’re notified for tasks you’re following but the customizations options here are essentially non-existant. This is a rather important aspect in project management apps, especially for teams, so I hope to see some further development here.

Conclusion

Overall, Scadaplan has a decent app concept going but it’s certainly in its beta phase. It has to do quite a bit more developing before it will be ready to take on some of the more popular apps, but I think the Scadaplan team is on the right track. They have a nice, minimal interface in mind and aren’t crowding it with features (especially useless ones) right out of the gate. That being said, they need to make better use of today’s web technologies.

Though I didn’t cover it in the review, team management is pretty good and the app does a pretty good job of keeping a team on track and on the same page with where tasks and projects are at and are going. I look forward to seeing how the app progresses as I think they have a great start already.

I would like to point out that I absolutely love the short roadmap displayed on the home page. It’s simple but gives users a bit of insight into what’s being planned and worked on. I don’t think there are enough apps that do this, so kudos to the Scadaplan team.