Articles about Messaging and Collaboration

QR Codes are pretty much everywhere these days, but few companies really make the most of the possibilities they offer. TagMyDoc is a great example of what can be done with them, and lets you add a QR Code to your own physical documents, directly from within Word, Excel or PowerPoint. When someone scans that code, they’ll get a full copy of the document on their device.

It saves on printing costs, and means you don’t have to worry about how many copies of a document or presentation to output for a meeting, for example, because anyone with a QR reader can get a copy of their own. It’s a great service, but TagMyDoc has just been made even more useful, as it now lets you connect to popular cloud storage services Box and Dropbox, and tag and securely share documents you store there.

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If you went to Google.com today, you probably noticed the logo was replaced with a fun little birthday cake animation celebrating 14 years of incorporation. Google was incorporated on Sept. 4th 1998, but chose today to celebrate the birthday. What does it matter when they celebrate, after all, Google has had a great year.

In April, Google released a concept video about Project Glass, fancy glasses with computers in them. In May, the search giant closed the purchase of Motorola Mobility. During the annual developer conference in June, Google made a lot of announcements, among them: Android 4.1, Nexus 7 tablet, Nexus Q and creepy but useful Google Now. The fun: skydiving, bicycles and rappelling down the side of a building. Big surprise: event participants could purchase a developer version of Google Glasses.

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As Microsoft’s recent $1.2 billion Yammer acquisition proves, there’s a growing demand for enterprise social networks at the moment. Big name firms like Citrix and SalesForce have invested heavily in the popular communications trend, and Bitrix24 has seen some 10,000 SMBs sign up to use its cloud-based service since the May launch -- helped in no small part by the fact it’s entirely free for companies with 12 or fewer users.

Buoyed by its growing user base, Bitrix24 now targets startups with a $2.4 million program designed to popularize social intranet use at firms that might consider it out of their reach for one reason or another. The company plans to do this by giving away a thousand one-year subscriptions to its flagship Professional Intranet plan (worth $2,400 each) and all companies need do to be considered for one of these grants is to fill out the short application form on the company’s website.

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You’ve found what you think is an email address for a friend, or colleague -- but is it really valid? If you don’t want to send an email to find out (or you’re checking so many addresses that simply isn’t practical), then another option is to use a tool such as Email Checker Basic to verify the address directly with the server.

The program is small, portable and adware-free, so is very simple to try: just download the 198KB archive, unzip it and you’re ready to go.

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Reflecting its recent acquisition by Microsoft, the new Skype 5.11 for Windows Beta has been released with a focus on improving integration with Microsoft services.

Users will now be able to log into Skype through their Microsoft or Facebook accounts as well as their regular Skype one. The update also makes it possible to take part in IM conversations with other Messenger contacts in addition to Skype users and Facebook friends.

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Mozilla has quietly placed major new versions of its open-source, cross-platform web browser and email client onto its download servers ahead of an official release.

Firefox 15 FINAL benefits largely from behind-the-scenes performance tweaks, while Thunderbird 15 FINAL introduces a few new features, including a new curvy user interface.

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There is lots to like in SharePoint 2013 preview. The new interface stylings, whilst inconsistent in their current form, show some nice touches. The new social features are a big improvement on what went before. SkyDrive integration is potentially very useful, and adds to what was already a very solid document management offering. But my overall feeling: SharePoint 2013 is a missed opportunity.

The new social features don’t go far enough. Microsoft all but admitted this before the beta was released, by purchasing Yammer. They are now no doubt working hard trying to integrate it with the SharePoint code base. So presumably what we have now is "SharePoint Social 1.0", a stop gap at best?

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Now that development of Thunderbird has ground to a halt, the market for alternative email clients to replace OS X mail is wide open again. One app that has proved incredibly, and increasingly, popular over the years is Postbox, which benefits from a refined interface and a fabulous turn of speed that makes it easier than ever to manage your inbox. Version 3.0.5 brings about some important updates for Mac users.

Although Postbox is available for both Mac and Windows, this time around it is Mac users who can reap the benefits of the update. The release of Mountain Lion and new ranges of Macs with Retina Displays means that there is now a flurry of activity as more and more apps are updated to take advantage of the latest display technology.

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Let me preface this article by saying I’m a long time Gmail fan. I signed up as soon as an invite came my way, and have used it as my primary email service ever since. Although I now have an Outlook address, and really like what Microsoft has done with its Hotmail replacement so far, I can’t see switching over to it full time. I’m too attached to Gmail to ever think of saying goodbye.

But, that said, I’m not as enamored with the webmail service as I used to be. There are just certain issues that prevent me from really, truly appreciating it as I have in the past. Gmail is still great, and I don’t want to appear churlish about a free service that mostly outshines the competition, but here are some problems I have with it.

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Change doesn’t happen overnight at Microsoft, but when the Redmond, Wash.-based corporation simply announced the new Outlook mail service yesterday, it was a big surprise. But surprise attacks can prove advantageous, and six hours after the Outlook team announced the service via Twitter, a million people had signed up for it.

What You Get

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Was it just yesterday that Microsoft unveiled the new Outlook, which will replace Hotmail? I ask because in just six hours, the service reached a remarkable milestone.

“One million people have signed up for a new, modern email experience at Outlook.com. Thanks!” Microsoft tweeted a quarter day after the launch.

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Microsoft updated its email service yesterday to Outlook, changing the interface and adding new features to its Live/Hotmail e-mail service. Among the new features there’s currently the possibility to change your @hotmail.com, @msn.com or @live.com e-mail address to the new @outlook.com. You should hurry to get one now, as the one you want may be gone later.

Upgrading your e-mail address takes three simple steps and afterwards you’ll be able to receive and send new mail from your @outlook.com address.

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Today, Microsoft unveiled the latest incarnation of its popular Hotmail service, and as well as a new look it’s been given a new name, although it’s one that everyone in the business world will be intimately familiar with -- Outlook.

This rebranding is a huge step for Microsoft and signals the death of Windows Live, which never really caught on in the way the company would have liked.

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Office 2013 has a new member, the Microsoft-hosted Project Portfolio Management service for people who need to participate online from virtually anywhere on almost any device in the practice of project management.

Project Online provides its user base with PPM capabilities that include portfolio selection, resource capacity planning, dashboards, and workflows among others.

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Most people are keen to share their unquestionably excellent musical taste with everyone they know, and what better way to go about it than through a chat client. ON AIR is a plugin for Skype that enables you to share details of the music you are currently listening to by having your Skype status message automatically changed whenever a new track plays.

As well as track information, your Skype status can also be customized through the use of text, links and emotions. The plugin includes an extensive history section that keeps a record of all of the tracks you have been listening to.

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