Need to collaborate with others from different locations to create a document? Sync.in is a free realtime document conferencing tool that allows you to quickly and easily create text documents with others.
Here’s how it works
No sign up - No sign up is required to use Sync.in, you just need to click the Create a new note button on homepage. Sync.in will then open a new document with a unique URL which you can send to those you would like to collaborate with.
Different colours for different users - Each user has their own colour so you can see who is writing what and all edits appear instantly on everyone’s screen.
Discuss changes with the chat feature – There is a chat box to the right of the document which lets users talk things out as they are editing the document.
Review what changes have been made – Sync.in records all the action as it happens, so if you want to review the evolution of your document you can. To view an animation of all edits over time you just need to click on the Time Slider button.
Save multiple versions – You can save what has been written as a new version at anytime. You can also name each version so you can easily find previous revisions.
Export the document – When you are done with editing you can then export what you have created as a text or Html file.
If you really like the idea of Sync.in but would like to have your session protected by password and to take place over an encrypted SSL (secure socket layer) there is a Pro Version which can do this. This costs $2 US per user per month, but it’s free for the first 30 days.
If you would like to try out Sync.in for yourself click here
A couple of months ago we began asking LANcom customers if they would like to record video testimonials, letting others know how they felt about LANcom’s services. We are really happy that everyone that we have asked has said yes and has had great things to say about us.
If you are interested in finding out what they said the first 3 videos we recorded are now available on the homepage of our site. Click here to take a look.
We would also like take this opportunity to say a special thanks to everyone who has taken the time to record these so far and to those who will be recording them in the future.
Still using Internet Explorer 6? Microsoft has just launched a new campaign encouraging those that sill use IE6 to upgrade because it is not as secure as IE8, and could leave your computer at risk of malware.
To find out what version of Internet Explorer you’re using click on Help or the Help icon (looks like a question mark) in Internet Explorer and select About Internet Explorer. Next to the word Version you will see the number.
LANcom has a new service called the LANcom Hosted Phone System which allows you to have all the benefits of an advanced VOIP phone system without a large capital investment. With this service you just pay a small monthly fee per-user and LANcom will set up and run your phone system for you.
Here are some on the main benefits of the LANcom Hosted Phone system.
Cost – Switching to a VOIP phone system can save you a lot of money on phone calls, but in the past these savings had to come after a large capital investment to get your phone system set up. With the LANcom Hosted phone system we will deliver and manage your phone system for you, allowing you to have a feature rich system for just a simple monthly fee.
Mobility – With this technology you will have access to your phone system anytime, and anywhere you have an internet connection. If users want to work from home they can simply take their phone handset home with them, log in to the phone system from their home internet connection, and take calls as if they were at the office.
Flexibility – This system can integrate with Outlook and mobile phones allowing you to make and take calls how you want. You could for example set both your desk phone and your mobile to ring when you have an incoming call, so you can answer your calls no matter where you are. You can also setup rules for how your calls are directed such as ‘whenever I’m out of the office for the day calls go straight to voicemail’ or ‘whenever I’m at lunch calls go to my mobile’. You can also have your voicemails sent to your Outlook inbox.
Scalability - With this service you will not need to worry about upgrading your phone system as your business grows. The LANcom hosted phone system can easily grow and evolve with your business. Adding a new user is easy, and whether you have 20 users or 20,000 the LANcom hosted phone system can to support you.
Collaboration – The technology in this system makes conference calling easy. You can setup a conference from your computer, creating a number for everyone to call or have the system call you. You can even have the whole conversation recorded so anyone who misses it can catch up. You can also share your computer screen or just a particular document with other computers, meaning you can create and edit documents together.
Unified communications – One of the best things about this system is the Unified Communicator Client. It is from this program on your computer you can access everything to do with you communication. From this client you can: see who else in your organization in online and their availability, securely instant message others in your company, see your voicemail and call history, set up audio or video conferencing, and much more.
If you would like to learn more about the LANcom Hosted Phone System please contact us at info@lancom.co.nz or 09 377 8282.
Google Translate, the translation tool that allows you to easily translate 57 different languages is now even better. Google Translate now has text-to-speech functionality for 34 different languages. This means that you can now hear how the translation to another language sounds instead of just seeing the text.
To use this new feature all you need to do is click on the speaker button next to the translation
Evernote is a powerful free tool which allows you to save and manage the information you find both on and off the web. Whether you are researching for a project and need to compile information from many sources or you just want a way to store and remember random but important details Evernote can help you do this.
Here’s how it works:
You create a Notebook for each of your projects and within each Notebook you add multiple Notes.
A Note could be: a text note you type, a clip of information from a webpage, an entire webpage, a photo, or a screenshot
You can add notes by: putting them directly to Evernote, highlighting information on a webpage and clicking the Evernote Web Clipper on your internet browser, or by emailing them to you unique Evernote email address.
Everything you add to Evernote is instantly processed, indexed, and made searchable so you easily find it when you need it. If you want to you can also add titles and tags to notes to make them even easier to find.
You also have the option to share a notebook with others meaning you can collaborate on compiling information.
Perhaps the most impressive feature of Evernote is its ability to read text within pictures (OCR). This feature means that you can take photos of text you see out in the real world, send them to your Evernote account, and then at a later date be able to easily find them. For example, you could take a photo of a bottle of wine you liked with your phone, email it to Evernote, and then the when you wanted to remember the brand name just search for the type of wine and Evernote will bring up the picture.
Want to create a Flash website really easily? Wix is a free online tool that allows you to create a Flash website without the technical skills. With Wix all you need to do is choose from one of their 271 templates and then use the drag and drop interface to edit it to your liking.
There are a lot of things you can do with Wix including adding galleries, videos, motion effects and much more. Another good thing about Wix websites is that they’re search engine friendly because behind each Wix creation there is Html code.
One downside to the free version of Wix is that it will add a small ad to the bottom of your site stating ‘This website was created using Wix.com’. The editor can also take awhile to learn how to use.
If you would like to visit the Wix website and try it out for yourself click here.
If you are interested in finding out about a really easy to use online tool for creating Html websites click here to learn about Weebly.
Did you know you can use Google to find websites that are similar to a website that you have found useful? Last week Google announced that they will soon be displaying a list of similar pages at the bottom of search results when you search for a particular site, but the ability to find similar websites has actually been around for a while.
To use the similar pages feature all you need to do is click on the Similar link which appears underneath a search result.
So in this example if you wanted to find other news sites similar to nzherald.co.nz you would click Similar and see a list including stuff.co.nz, tvnz.co.nz, and scoop.co.nz.
To read more about this feature from the Official Google blog click here.
LANcom has a new service called the LANcom Hosted Phone System which allows you to have all the benefits of an advanced VOIP phone system without a large capital investment. With this service you just pay a small monthly fee per-user and LANcom will set up and run your phone system for you.
