Smart apps for a smarter planet

I have always believed that good things come in small packages . Way back in 1946 , the world’s first computer ENIAC ( Electronic numerical integrator and computer ) was built in the United States . The behemoth weighed twenty seven tons and occupied an area of thousand eight hundred square foot . From mainframes and midsize computers , the magic of micro miniaturization took the world by storm . Personal computers gave way to laptops .The tablet - smart phone combo stole the thunder from right under the nose of the desktop. In 1973 , the world’s first mobile call was put through by Motorola . In its new avatar , the smart phone - tablet duo has had a significant impact on the way we communicate and do business . Thanks to the applications , the smart phone is just not a showpiece but an agent of change . Let us look at some of the apps that increase our efficiency and productivity and help us work in a smarter way .

Mails - It is common for most of us to have multiple email accounts across providers .Everyday , you login to your Yahoo , Gmail , Hotmail accounts to check your mail . A few of us have multiple accounts from the same service , eg – [email protected] and [email protected] . Email users check their mailboxes quite often and with so many mail ids , you are forced to log into each one of them . Try the all in one mail solution which offers a single interface for all mails. Mymail.com and Solmail.com ( android / ios ) while providing a common screen , helps you flip through mails easily . Windows 8.1 also offers this built in feature on its Mail tile . These apps save a lot of time

Cloud - Very simply , the cloud is a space where you can store your data and access it from many devices . Many apps have been built around the cloud .Dropbox ( dropbox.com ) is a powerful app that will reduce your time substantially .With its simple user interface , dropbox allows you to create and share folders with your business contacts and friends . It cuts short the cumbersome process of composing a mail , attaching a file and sending it . All you need to do is to drag and drop the file into the folder . The app is available on all devices and is a great business tool.

Voice & video communications - A few years ago , nobody would have dreamt that it would be possible to talk to your friends in Asia , Europe or America ,free of cost . Today , you can initiate a call from your smart phone , tablet or laptop ,The confluence of internet , voice and video technology has turned this dream into reality . Viber is the best option for a one to one call over the internet and needs a wifi connection . Offering superior digital clarity , viber uses your mobile number as an id . Viber is mostly designed for personal use and does not support conference calls . For audio and video conferences , Skype is preferred . I was impressed by another application named oovoo ( oovoo.com ) . Primarily designed for video chats and video conferencing , this app is famous for its video quality and its ability to support a number of users during a video conference .

Language and accent - Being a trainer , I have this habit of referring frequently to a dictionary for pronunciation , spelling , intonation ,syllable and stress . The dictionary application is available on all devices - android /ios based mobiles to tablets and laptops . If you are looking for an American dictionary with sound , pronunciation , syllable and stress , Dictionary.com fits the bill. Howjsay.com offers pronunciation with audio in both US and UK accents . Merriam – Webster has a beautiful user interface and helps you with definitions and use of the word in a sentence .Another interesting app is the ispeech.org where you can listen to an entire paragraph in an accent of your choice with the option of male and female voices . This app is specially useful for voice artists where accents vary as per client requirements .

Home / Office Automation – The conventional way of scanning a paper or a document  is  to  use  the home / office printer or scanner . As opposed to mobile based apps let you scan a document while you are on the move . There are quite a few of them . The camscanner ( camscanner.com ) available on many devices uses the mobile camera to scan pages of a document . You can edit the picture and make it sharper . Further , it allows you to add the scanned pages into a single pdf or jpg file . The file can be shared or emailed via whatsapp , gmail or dropbox . A very useful app that saves time and money . Sending large files isn’t a problem anymore . Apps like wetransfer.com and filemail.com allow you to send large files ( 2GB and above ) from your mobile phone , This is very useful for sending video files .

Turbocharge your mobile with a few of these apps and see the difference .

Happy reading

Uday