Can you work without having your computer and the files that are on it? Do you need to drag your laptop with you to get work done?

I have actually never worried about it too much, I have always brought my laptop with me. But my laptop is not working and I am logged in on a desktop that has absolutely nothing of mine on it. I thought that my day will be a complete waste but I was pleasantly surprised on how much of my life is stored in the cloud. Within 10 minutes I was able to have access to everything that I need. This now makes me think that a netbook or the next generation Macbook Air might do everything that I need.

I have broken this down to see how it all worked out. I had to download few apps and extensions, other than that everything was available just by logging in.

Email and Calendar

Gmail – I don’t think I need to explain this. Log in and all you email is there. The same as on your home desktop or your personal laptop.

Calendar – Same as gmail, really one and the same.

Documents:

Google Documents: Once again this is available just by logging into your gmail account. Over the past year I’ve switched most of my documents and collaborations here. The best part is that you don’t need to send drafts back and forth. You can give access to the others and everyone can edit from one place. If you don’t use or haven’t tried it, you should.

Communication:

GoogleVoice – Love the service. Check out the video below.

Skype: Call and chat with family and friends internationally.

Browser:

Google Chrome: Sync with my account. Imports all bookmarks and bookmarklets. They don’t import the extensions, but I’m sure that will come soon. I had to download few that I use.

Files and Storage

Dropbox – Syncing of files across different computers or access everything from their website. This can be your backup to your files as well a great place to keep all the files and documents that you need anywhere you go. I also back everything on my computer with another service.. I know it’s an overkill but I’d rather be safe than sorry.

What is Dropbox?

Access to Passwords:

1Password:  I use 1Password, I think it’s the best thing out there. Now that they have an android app my life is mush easier, before this I could not get into my accounts when  I was away from my computer. (Every password is different on each site that I use. And anyone who knows me knows that means I am SOL if I don’t have this app with me.)

Social Media Management:

Tweetdeck: My de facto social media management app, I use it on my phone and on my computer. It is not as seamless as the Hootsuite web based site, but for some reason I like using it better. I guess it’s just my personal preference.

Hootsuite: I’d say it’s the best option for web based social media management, you log in and everything is the way you left it.

Music:

Pandora, Grooveshark, Last.FM: I use all these sites, with Pandora and Grooveshark getting 95% of my attention. I think I will cut out Last.FM totally. I use Pandora when I want to hear random songs and don’t care exactly what I listen to. On Grooveshark I can be more specific with what songs I want to listen to.

Not saying that the sites listed above are the best, just the ones I know about and like. Would love to hear anything that I could add to this list to make it better. Thanks!

Main Photo by Lost in the RP

Living in the public for the most part is a good thing. You can make business connections (LinkedIn or FastPitch), find info about a new hobby (Twitter), get reviews and tips for a new restaurant in your city (Yelp or Foursquare).

Embrace the openness. You will enjoy it. And you will find that most people will not bother you.

I share all my contact information on my website. I find this to work very well, if someone has a real question for me, they can find my email and phone number (Google Voice, just in case I have to block them)  and contact me.

Robert Scoble – Shares all his contact info. Says that he doesn’t get bothered too much. This is someone who has hundreds of thousands of contacts. Someone who makes it his life’s mission to be seen at every event and interact with the most people there.

Guy Kawasaki – Lists his email and other contact info. I’ve contacted him couple of time when I had a question. He replied, answered my questions. Was very easy and eliminated a lot of headaches in trying to find someone who knows someone who knows his grandmother.

I’m not telling you to list your bank pin code or your home address. Just to make it easy to get in contact with you. Be smart and don’t overshare, you know what is safe and what is too much information.  i.e. Don’t create your home as a venue in Foursquare…

Be smart and connect with the world!

A quick post on my new phone.

Droid vs. iPhone

http://tveskov.com/blog/droid-vs-iphone.png

In this post I wanted to go over my recent switch from the iPhone to the new Motorola DROID. I will go over things that I find important in a phone. I won’t me too specific, but cover the basics that matter to me. It’s important to get a sense of what the phone is geared towards. This becomes easier if you closely match the specifications of the phone to the aims of the manufacturer – for example the Blackberry Bold is a business phone, the I phone 4 could be just as much for play as organizing meetings and sending company emails. The basics paint a picture of the kind of experience you’ll have with that particular handset.

Call Quality: The Droid wins this battle with relative ease…. I have not a had a dropped call since getting the phone. Something that I had not experienced with the iPhone and AT&T. I also use Google Voice and LOVE it! This feature alone is worth the switch. I get transcribed voice-mails, custom settings for different callers, and native use on the Droid with the Google Voice app.

Oh and did I mention not dropping calls??  Verdict: Droid

Applications: The Apple app store is way ahead of the android market. However, with the influx of new android phones, the android market will start to catch up. 90% of the apps I used on the iPhone are available in the android market. They are not as polished, but I think this will keep improving as more developers embrace the android marketplace.

Take a look at the latest data by AdMob:

The two dominant operating systems, iPhone OS and Android, account for 75% of all requests by  Smartphones. With the introduction of the Droid and other phones like it, the Android market will keep growing. With that the apps will improve and will be a real competitor to the Apple app store.

The ability to run apps in the background on the Droid is useful. I play Pandora, and check my email at the same time. I get notifications about my favorite teams from SportTap and get news article from the Feedr app. Verdict: Split

Ease of Use: The Droid is not as polished as the iPhone. Things take a bit longer to figure out, but compared to anything besides the iPhone, the Droid is very easy to use. But, you just can’t compete against Apple and their UI. Verdict: iPhone

Keyboard: Mixed feelings here… I’ve started to use the physical keyboard on the Droid more than I thought I would. This is mainly because the touchscreen keyboard on the Droid is not as good as the one on the iPhone. The physical keyboard makes up for it now… But the whole android OS needs improvement to really compete with the iPhone. Verdict: iPhone

Battery: Battery Life is comparable to the iPhone, when a lot of apps are running you have to be careful that the battery doesn’t run out. I will most likely buy another battery once there is a nice charging station. The nice thing is that I can replace a battery easily, something that I couldn’t do with the iPhone.

Verdict: Droid

Favorite Droid Apps:

• Google Voice
• Foursquare
• Twidroid
• Seesmic
• Last.FM
• Pandora
• Tripit
• Cardio Trainer
• Movies
• OpenTable
• Evernote

Screen: I had no problem with the screen on my iPhone, but the screen on the Droid is in another league. Very clear, just gorgeous.

Camera Test:

Droid–

iPhone–

Conclusion:

The Droid is a good phone on a great network. The iPhone is a great phone on a bad network.

I signed up for a 1 year contract for a couple of reasons:

• To see if the iPhone will be available on other networks.
• How will the android market mature
• The unknown…
  • Other phones
  • How long will Apple have an exclusive deal with AT&T
  • What platform will the public embrace

Buy if call quality is very important and you like the adventure of having the new exciting toy. Don’t buy if you want the phone to be perfect… it’s still a work in progress.

The Droid is the 18 year old rookie with a lot of potential going up against the 4 year pro who knows all the tricks. The rookie has more raw talent but needs time to mature.

Let me know if you have made the switch or just general thoughts on the Droid vs. iPhone discussion.

I Need Your Vote!

My tweet of the Miracle on the Hudson is up for Tweet of the Year and TwitPic of the Year. I need everyone who reads this post to click on the links and vote for me. This will take you 1 minute to do. I have timed myself at 53 seconds.

Thank you, I’ve listed the tweet and twitpic below. Post in comments if you are confused on how to vote and I will explain it again.

My Tweet:

Vote for Tweet of the Year: http://twitpic.com/135xa

My TwitPic:

Vote for TwitPic of the Year: @jkrums

Top Competition for the Awards (I looked at the voting page to see who has multiple votes):

Tweet of the Year:

• Barack Obama
• • Does not actually tweet…
• Astro Mike
• • This is pretty sweet, he tweeted from space.

TwitPic of the Year:

Don’t know anything about these guys, they seem to be good people. But, I want the win. So go out and vote for me!

• collective_soul
• andyskib

1st Video: Political and Celebrity Impressions Views: 1.7 Million

“You learn from success, kid – not failure. If you’ve
only touched it once , a term paper, a temp job, hitting a homer, dissect it.
Was it timing, focus, homework? Get to the core. Find the whys, the hows. That’s
the key. Use it … go with it, don’t be afraid. When you get your shot, then you’ll
be ready. Success ain’t easy, kid, but the more you taste it, the easier it
gets. No different with failure” The wise man smiled. “The more you taste it,
the more you get it.” Putting his fingers to his lips, “Shhh … don’t spread it.
It’s tough enough out there. Keep it to yourself.” (Robert Evans, The Kid Stays
in the Picture)  

Our Deepest fear is not that we are inadequate,
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented,
And Fabulous –
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people
Won’t feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
It is not just in some of us: it is in everyone,
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously
Give other people permission to do the same.
(Nelson Mandela addresses these words of Marianna Williamson’s to the world at large)

You are only a success at the moment that you do a successful act. (Tex Winter)    

Now there's another thing I want you to remember. I don't want to get any messages saying that we are holding our position. We're not holding anything. Let the Hun do that. We are advancing constantly and we're not interested in holding onto anything except the enemy. We're going to hold onto him by the nose and we're going to kick him in the ass. We're going to kick the hell out of him all the time and we're going to go through him like crap through a goose. (George S. Patton)   

Make no small plans for they have not the power to stir men’s blood. (Niccolo Machiavelli) 

You can't get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good. (Jerry West)

Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should accomplish with your ability. (John Wooden) 

Nobody's a natural. You work hard to get good and then work hard to get better. (Paul Coffey)

There are only two options regarding commitment. You're either in or out. There's no such thing as a life in-between. (Pat Riley)  

Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure. (Confucius)

Confidence doesn't come out of nowhere. It's a result of something…hours and days and weeks and years of constant work and dedication. (Roger Staubach)  

If it aint written down, it’s not collectable. (Robert Evans)

I Love Getting Up In the Morning, I Clap My Hands and say “ This Is Gonna Be a Great Day” (Dicky Fox)

“You find out life's this game of inches, so is football. Because in either game – life or football – the margin for error is so small. I mean, one half a step too late or too early and you don't quite make it. One half second too slow, too fast and you don't quite catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They're in every break of the game, every minute, every second. On this team we fight for that inch. On this team we tear ourselves and everyone else around us to pieces for that inch. We claw with our fingernails for that inch. Because we know when add up all those inches, that's gonna make the fucking difference between winning and losing! Between living and dying!” (Tony D'Amato, "Any Given Sunday") 

Cosmo Kramer: The bus is outta control. So I grab him by the collar, I take him out of the seat, I get behind the wheel, and now I'm driving the bus.
Jerry: Wow.
George Costanza: You're Batman.
Cosmo Kramer: Yeah, yeah, I am Batman. Then the mugger, he comes to and he starts choking me. So I'm fighting him off with one hand and I kept driving the bus with the other, ya know. Then I managed to open up the door and I kicked him out the door, ya know, with my foot, ya know, at the next stop.
Jerry: You kept making all the stops?
Cosmo Kramer: Well, people kept ringing the bell. (Seinfeld)