People are now working digitally and working from anywhere. The internet and mobile technology make for a super effective way to accommodate your work. Devices are portable; apps are available; and online tools are free.
The only things you need are an internet connection and a device to keep you connected to the internet. While there are dedicated hotspot devices for such a purpose, you can easily do it through your smartphone.
Despite the fact that the mobile market expanded to the point where now most of the work is done on the go, AutoCAD remained one of the few software solutions to keep its desktop-first legacy intact.
The folks at AutoDesk definitely recognized the workplace evolution pattern (and even made a mobile version of AutoCAD), but that didn’t change the fact that the art of producing top quality drafts and designs still resides in the realm of the good old mouse and keyboard.
However, engineers and designers still largely belong to that group of tech-savvy people who spend a lot of free time on their mobile phones. Especially youngsters who are just starting out in the business.
That’s exactly why we decided to round up iOS apps that every CAD user needs to have.
Thanksgiving is coming up fast and you probably have a long to-do list to get your dinner menu just right. In addition, you probably also have to oversee other important things like the guest list, seating chart, table setting, and making sure that your guests are well accommodated, among other things. It’s no wonder that holidays are always the most stressful.
However, this holiday in particular is all about slowing things down and taking the time to appreciate the people and things around you. And no Thanksgiving is complete without being able to share it with family and friends.
Social networks and online tools have made it easy to instantly post photos online and make updates statuses on the spot. But everyone does that. A quick post here and there won’t do your precious memories—and all the hard work and preparation, justice at all.
To help put some life into your Thanksgiving posts and shares, here are four simple ideas that can make your Thanksgiving memories stand out forever.
Although the first place you’ll post your pictures up is on Facebook, consider creating a PDF album. It will offer you a lot more options, and with Able2Extract PDF Creator you can easily customize it with all of your digitized photos and mementos.
For instance, on top of converting your images to PDF, you can merge other pages to it with text that has been put into PDF format. This means you can add a list of what family members were grateful for, extra pages of family quotes or scanned files of the Thanksgiving dinner speech. You even attach files like digitized recipes you used for the dinner. Polish it off afterwards with things like bookmarks and customized headers. If you collaborate with other members, you can get a scrapbook album full of great Thanksgiving memories.
We covered GIF tools last time on our blog and as you saw, GIFs can be a fun way of getting all your photos and video together. Well, a new trend spotted on popular social network, Reddit, is all about getting full length movies into GIFs. Why not use that same creative approach and generate a mini GIF movie of your Thanksgiving celebration?
Take play-by-play family snapshots throughout the evening and after selecting the most memorable, upload them to a GIF generator. Then customize and create your GIF to showcase them in one long sequence. Depending on the images you have, you can come up with some awesome GIFs capturing the entire evening in less than a minute!
As much as everyone loves getting together for Thanksgiving, it might not always be possible. But you can still share the holiday with absentee family members on Twitter, the perfect tool for keeping them updated. For this, consider creating a dedicated account. With a long string of short updates, you’ll have an accurate time capsule of what happened specifically during your Thanksgiving event.
Furthermore, you’ll want to use a hashtag. This will allow your family members to zero in on the stream and easily start up a twitter chat. However, be sure to use hashtags that are short and unique like your family’s last name. If not, your stream could get lost among other Thanksgiving tweets. And don’t forget to be visual! Tweeting back and forth with snapshots and videos will add a personal, warm touch to your stream.
Sometimes all you ever want to do during a holiday get together is film the special moments in a meaningful way. Even though you can always find some handy tips on shooting the perfect Vine and Instagram video, take the editing process up a notch before you post and share.
Instead of using standard filters, try mobile apps that can do something fun with your recordings. Try apps like PicPlayPost, which creates a video collage out of your movie clips (see demo example above), or Timelapseit that lets you create a time lapse video out of your movie. If you film things like the dinner prepping process, the turkey carving ceremony, or family members having fun, these apps can turn them into quick shareable videos for the entire family to enjoy.
The best part of these tips is that you can use these ideas for any holiday occasion. So get creative and make the most out of your Thanksgiving posts. Try these out and send in your posts to let us know how they turned out!
The end of summer is near, and that means students will be heading back into the classroom in a couple of weeks. That being said, it’s time to sit down and think forward about the upcoming school year.
On top of the back-to-school shopping list and registration chaos, it’s a good time to start thinking about how technology will factor into your daily routine. We’re talking about the nitty-gritty routine spent on studying, researching, writing, and sitting in class.
So in case you haven’t thought about it yet, we’ve hammered out some basic tech advice on 6 things you should consider.
No matter how well you know your tech tools, there will always be a random issue you can’t fix in a hurry. Knowing where you can go for help is key. There’s only so much Google can do for you with 10 million results.
Do yourself a favour and get your resources mapped out ahead of time. Scout out, follow, and bookmark a good range of How-To sites, forums, and even basic support pages for your device.
When it comes to textbooks go digital wherever possible. Digital textbooks can be significantly cheaper than original hardcopy or photocopied versions, and you won’t have to lug around heavy volumes.
As a starting point, sites like Project Gutenberg offer a vast selection of books in a variety of formats. You can also take advantage of Google’s latest textbook rental and purchasing offer from Google Play Books. There’s also the iBooks app, whose iBookstore offers text books from notable publishers, such as McGraw-Hill and Pearson.
If those don’t pan out, you can check out FlatWorldKnowledge, an online catalog of textbooks where you can personalize textbook content according to your needs.
You’re used to hearing of big name software applications like Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop that are above your price range. But you can just as easily get free software that offers the same functionality as other paid programs.
Search for open source software alternatives. There are a ton of free tools out there. You can also find apps for your device like productivity suites, note takers, and mobile converter apps. In addition, desktop suites like OpenOffice and LibreOffice are great alternatives to Microsoft Office you can get for free.
If you have more than one device, you should try getting them organized according to task. You may think this is counter-productive, but different sizes, apps and OSes can actually make working on multiple gadgets inconvenient.
Think about how you’ll be dealing with your school work this year. Will you be typing up your papers on a laptop in a coffee shop? Does research work better for you on a desktop? Or will you be on a tablet for on-the-go convenience? You get the idea.
Some devices are more practical than others for certain tasks. Figure out your studying habits and get a gadget strategy and workflow in place.
Some of your courses may be offered online or have an online bulletin board component set. Keep in mind that online learning environments have different dynamics and hence, need a different approach.
Tip? For starters, keep focused. It’s all too easy to get distracted with opened browsers, the comfort of your own room, and online networks. Moreover, we’re all used to scanning stuff online. So when it comes to in-depth reading, you’ll need to really shift gears once you log in. Remember that a lot of it is about independent learning.
Also, timeliness is a big factor that can possibly affect your grades. You want to be one of the first ones to submit a discussion response. Remember there are others who can possibly cover the same points you want to make. Don’t let them steal your thunder by posting it up first. In short, constantly scout out other minor adjustments you can make to your studying habits.
All too often does a program crash on us in the middle of a paragraph, a USB gets lost, or we quickly close that 1,500 word paper without saving. But a few things can help prevent that.
Create a copy of your papers every few drafts to different storage media. Use cloud storage services like Dropbox to save a copy of your last draft.
Or conversely, create your original copy online with Google Docs. It will save your changes automatically. In addition, it will create a back up of the file’s revision history. Let’s not forget that you can always send a draft to yourself as an attachment!
Once the year starts, a solid routine will be the only thing keeping you on top of things. So make sure you plan out your tech strategy well!
In the world of mobile devices, usage falls into 2 main categories: personal and professional use. Thanks to the wide spread nature of mobile devices, the defining line between the two is getting blurred.
Having a device dedicated for work is no longer necessary. We instinctually pull out our smartphone or tablet to email a colleague or review a file while on the commute home. And with the help of cloud services and online sharing services, you can access your work from anywhere.
Yet whether you know it or not, using personal mobile technology for professional use is affecting workplaces on a large scale. How? Here’s a general look at what you need to know about this rapidly growing trend how it could potentially change the way you work.
What is BYOD?
BYOD or “Bring Your Own Device,” is exactly what it sounds like—bringing in your own device to the workplace. Thanks to laptops, smartphones and tablets, BYOD is a trend everyone is already taking part in. No doubt you’ve taken your mobile device to work, and have probably even taken it a step further by accessing your company’s networks and systems. Well, that’s the BYOD trend in a nutshell.
However, because these are employee-owned devices, businesses that support this trend need to develop regulations to accommodate them. Currently, there are companies like TrendMicro and Unisys, working to help develop BYOD strategies to make it easy for all parties to access and interact with company databases and servers safely.
Although as popular as it is to work “on-the-go,” BYOD is still a widely debated topic in data intense work environments.
The Pros & Cons of BYOD
Off the top, there are advantages which businesses and employees can gain . You can work anywhere, any time. The hardware is affordable, accessible and you can download any productivity app you need.
Combine that with company resources and IT workflows and your device becomes your most powerful productivity tool. It’s a dream for users who value productivity over location. Added benefits for adopting BYOD include:
Yet, organizations are slow to adopt BYOD as a regular business practice. Mobile device management is a major concern for IT managers. For example, changes in mobile platform or device are crucial.
Whether it be Microsoft ending mainstream support for Windows Phone 8 or the critical release of RIM’s BlackBerry 10 platform, how does IT provide adequate support and security for all individual users?
Other issues keeping companies from integrating the BYOD model:
BYOD: Stats at a Glance
Is your company looking to jump on the BYOD bandwagon? Here’s a visual look at where the BYOD trend stands so far. Where do you and your company fall on this infographic?:
Source: The Magic Blog
Overall, it’s good to have a sense of the issues surrounding BYOD and what to expect. If your company is going BYOD, get the 411 on the regulations and policies they have in place.
You can stay up to date with the latest BYOD developments on ZDNet.com.