There are many collaboration tools available to help manage local and virtual teams but they tend to be fairly complex to use and can be expensive to deploy and manage.  New web-based applications promise to make it easier and more affordable for small business owners to get things done.  Offering a simple and elegant user-experience, SmartSheet may have raised the bar for online collaboration tools.

At first glance, SmartSheet may look like a run-of-the-mill spreadsheet interface but if you dig a little bit deeper it becomes evident that SmartSheet is anything but typical.  This web-based project and work management program has a multi-faceted app-like interface that can be customized to support any aspect of your business.

To get started, users can browse through a library of templates and choose one that will help jump-start their project or start a project sheet from scratch.  The beauty of SmartSheet is how flexible it is.  Every aspect of your project can be accessed from the dashboard view.  The project manager can organize and prioritize milestones and tasks in an intuitive way.  Projects can be managed in real time with up to the minute status updates, file sharing and task alerts and reminders.

SmartSheet’s unique interface is just one more blow to the old concept of comprehensive software suites for your desktop loaded with programs that are rarely if ever used.  It’s an interesting idea.

Want to learn more about The Cloud?  View our archive recording of our latest webinar, “The Cloud Has Finally Landed.  Should Your Company Head In?”

You may have noticed that everyone has been enthralled with their iDevices more than usual this week.  It’s probably because they are busy organizing their 1,947 apps into structured folders or multitasking by listening to music on Pandora while uploading pictures onto Flickr.

This week Apple released its newest operating system, iOS 4. The upgrade, in some form, is available to iPhone 3G and 3GS users, second and third generation iPod Touch owners and will be available to iPad users in the fall.  While Apple brags that iOS 4 offers 100 new features, the buzz seems most to be surrounding these improvements:

Multitasking: You are now able to run and switch back and forth between third party apps without slowing down the performance of the main app or draining the battery.
Folders: Gain access to your favorite apps at the drop of a hat by organizing them into folders.  Users are able to manage up to 2,160 apps by simply dragging and dropping them into the appropriate folder.
Enterprise Support: iOS 4 works with Exchange 2010 so users are now able to sync their calendar, contacts and email with more than one Exchange account.

Convinced you want to download the iOS 4 upgrade yet? Maybe adding that it is free will help persuade you. Still not sure? How about adding that it’s only four simple steps:

1. Upgrade your iTunes version to 9.2.

2. We recommend you back up your data before running the install, so plug in your iOS device via USB and hit Sync.

3.  When you’re done syncing, click Check for Update.

4. Download iOS 4, then follow the on-screen instructions to install.

That’s it!

For more information about the Apple iOS 4 upgrade, contact sales at (813) 920-0788 x202 or email sales@launchpadonline.com.  Need accessories for your iPod?  Shop our B2B Web online store.

Recent studies have shown that on the average, the small business workforce spends almost 25% of its time on the road.  Wireless or hands-free devices increase productivity while on the road when they work properly but it can be a challenge to find a decent Bluetooth headset.  Quality of sound, ease of use, and performance are often overshadowed by style, size and compatible accessories.  That may be about to change with Sound ID’s new 510 Bluetooth headset; the world’s first Bluetooth headset with its own iPhone App.  

Sound ID, a company with roots in audiology, designed the 510 with “ear-gonomics” in mind.  The set comes with multiple earpieces and an earhook so users can get a comfortable fit.  While it has the standard onboard features of answering calls and volume control, it’s companion EarPrint iPhone app allows you to tune the audio quality to your own ear.  The app works as an equalizer while adjusting audio compression; softening loud noises and increasing soft ones.  You can also enhance your hearing when not on a call, allowing ambient sounds to pass through your ear rather than acting as an earplug.   Noise-suppression technology separates voices from other sounds making outgoing audio clearer.  And if this isn’t enough, if you misplace your headset the app’s Find Me function will help you track it down. 

With the enhanced app features, the Sound ID 510 really takes bluetooth integration to the next level.  Priced at $130.00, the 510 will be available in June.

Recently, Research in Motion (RIM) released BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express, a free download that enables BlackBerry users to synchronize with their business email, calendar, contacts, tasks and more.  While it’s a great solution for smaller businesses who were looking for an alternative to purchasing the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, no cost isn’t really free because the software still requires a Blackberry (BES) server to be configured on an existing server in your network.   It must also me managed.

Most business Blackberry users know that you can still use the device with your Exchange system and activiely have your email pushed to you with some advantages over standard “POP” accounts such as immediate (push) delivery of messages (rather that waiting for the BlackBerry service to poll the POP3 provider), no opening of POP3 ports through your firewall, items sent via your BlackBerry are kept in your Sent Items in Outlook/Exchange.   For some users not being able to actively sync calendar, contacts and tasks while not cabled isn’t an issue.  Having the BlackBerry sync when attached to the PC is enough.

In a nutshell - here’s how this solution works:  When an email is received, it is forwarded immediately to a mobile provider’s BlackBerry address.  When a new mail or reply is sent from the BlackBerry, it is sent masquerading as the Exchange email, and a copy is BCC’ed to the Exchange email address. The email is then sorted into the Sent Items folder using a server side rule.  Here’s the setup:

1. Find out the PIN & IMEI
You can get this information by doing one of the following actions:
• In the BlackBerry device options or settings, click Status or
• Turn the BlackBerry device off and remove the battery. Look for the sticker on the BlackBerry device with the PIN information where the battery is usually located, usually placed above the SIM card.

2. Setup via the mobile providers web interface
You can set-up your BlackBerry directly using the BlackBerry Internet Service web interface.  Just ask your provider for the address of the web interface.

Common BIS Login sites:
•  AT&T - https://bis.na.blackberry.com/html?brand=mycingular
•  Verizon - https://bis.na.blackberry.com/html?brand=vzw
•  T-mobile - http://www.t-mobile.com/bis/
•  Sprint - https://bis.na.blackberry.com/html?brand=sprint

Register the BlackBerry via the web interface using the PIN and IMEI and create your personal BlackBerry email account.

3. Exchange Setup
•   In Active Directory Users and Computers on the Exchange Server, set up a Contact for the BLACKBERRY address  (you’ll see in the “Email accounts” section of the BlackBerry Internet Service that you can get a providers email address.)  You may want to hide this from the Global Address List after configuring everything.)
•   Set up a forward in Exchange on this account to the new “Contact” mail account.
•   Hide the new Exchange contact using the AD/Exchange manager afterwards (this part is optional - we’ve found that some people get confused when the contact is in the Global Address List).

4. Outlook Setup
Set a rule in Outlook (because you are using Exchange this will be a constantly working server side rule) to move any emails received from yourself into the Sent Items folder. (This of course works on the assumption that you don’t normally send emails to yourself.)

After you have set everything up, sending and receiving email will be transparent through the BlackBerry and are sent and received as the primary email address in Exchange.  Emails sent from the BlackBerry will be stored in the users Sent Items folder in Exchange.  Completing these steps will take a little time but it will be much less complicated than setting up a BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express on your server and having to start up and open POP3 on your Exchange server.

AstraSync™ - a Blackberry Server alternative for over the air sync.

For organizations with Exchange that that need the full over-the-air sync of calendars and contacts without the hassle of BES management, there are some alternatives.  The one we found easiest and reasonably priced at $49 per user annually is AstraSync™.  This  is a BlackBerry synchronization application used to perform two-way over-the-air synchronization of email, calendar and contact data with Exchange and other ActiveSync compatible servers including, MailSite, Axigen and Google Sync.

For more information on mobile solutions for your business, contact Megan Meisner at mmeisner@launchpadonline.com or 98130 920 0788 x210.

If you are looking for something that will inspire you, expand your way of thinking, or even sometimes amuse you, I guarantee that you will find it on TED.com.  TED.com began in 1994 as a small nonprofit devoted to “Ideas Worth Spreading” and over time has expanded it’s scope to include annual conferences, a community program, an annual TED Prize, and the award-winning TEDTalks video site.  The organization believes in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world and posts video presentations on a range of topics organized by theme by some of the most inspired thinkers of our time.

While many of the talks are riveting, the TED Technology pieces are particularly interesting.  The technology presentations topics range from illuminating talks on what’s next in technology, how technology, history & destiny are intertwined, and the environmental debate between economic progress and preservation of the planet.  One of my favorites is George Whitesides: Toward a Science of Simplicity.

We have an unofficial policy at The Launch Pad that we all watch a TED.com post every day and tweet the presentations that really resonate for us.    Take some time to browse the site,  but be careful, it can be a little bit addictive.