Digital Life Simplified
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Meet me…online
Oct 15th
Communication is a vital aspect of any organization, company or group. With the rise of the internet, face-to-face meetings are now being replaced with emails and shared documents. Although this is a great way to save time, it can still be frustrating waiting for replies, whereas in person, you can get an instant answer. Thanks to the speed of real time, we can now share, view, and edit documents with coworkers or classmates instantly! Below I will introduce 3 useful tools that will help you save time and get things done quickly!
1. ThinkFree
With ThinkFree, you can either choose the web version or the download version that allows you to work offline. You will get up to 1GB of storage space for all your documents. Go ahead and create your documents free of worries because everything is Microsoft Office compatible. You can easily create word documents, spreadsheets, or power point presentations. Even if the receiver does not use Microsoft Office, they are still able to view the document through the free ThinkFree viewer.
2. Zoho
One of the big highlighted features of Zoho is the capability to create groups, making all your projects and meetings more manageable. You can also collaborate with any coworkers or classmates through private or group chats. Other highlighted features includes: 1GB of online storage space, create folders and tags, secure file sharing and much more. You can also upload files directly from Google Docs to work on. For a complete list of features click here.
3. Google Docs
You can find Google Docs under the Google start page, in your Gmail account, or just simply Google it. Similar to ThinkFree, Google Docs also allows the user to create word documents, spreadsheets, and power point presentations. However, it doesn’t end there! The option to share drawings and forms are also supported by Google Docs. With cool new features being release, and even more under construction (see a list here), you can definitely make online meetings more manageable and fun. Click here a tour of Google Docs.
Hopefully you will have an easier time hosting group meetings and sharing documents online. Here at MeshTop, we strive to help you save time and increase productivity through integrating MSN, twitter and Facebook onto Outlook. So go ahead, give it a try 
!
Whats your experience with document sharing?
Share a thousand words…heck, share a million!
Sep 29th
As I was cleaning out my room couple of months ago, I found my first camera. It was one of those old ones where you had to actually use the eyehole to aim and shoot and did not have many features like the cameras nowadays do. You couldn’t instantly delete pictures you didn’t like, no digital screen to preview the photos you took, and best of all, it used actual film — yes, the kind you had to take to the store and get it developed. Who still use that kind of antique?!
With the growing technologies, new cameras are developed. Big professional ones, tiny grab n’ go ones, pink ones, purple ones, green ones, and all the other colors of the rainbow available for the everyday consumer. There is even an instant share feature available on certain models where you can instantly upload the photos from your camera onto social networks like Facebook or Twitter. With that, pictures are no longer a personal keepsake to remember precious memories but with the exponential growth of the internet, you can share captured moments with practically anyone, anywhere in the whole world.
They say a picture is a worth a thousand words; when you are far from family and friends, a picture can be worth even more than that. Through pictures, families are able to reconnect -to a certain degree- and friends are able to keep each other updated with what they have been doing, where they have traveled to or rediscover some captured memories buried by time! Which brings us to this week’s topic: Photo sharing. There are numerous websites that provide photo sharing services, and it’s hard to pick out just a couple to share with you all. So after much research, I’ve narrowed them down to three highly rated and most dependable websites to share with you (for more websites, scroll down to the end of the post):
1. Photobucket
One of the most popular photo-sharing websites out there, it is very straight forward, and very easy to use. With a free Photobucket account, you will receive: up to 1GB of hosting space for photos and videos; 25GB of bandwidth per month, public or private albums, Adobe Premiere Express editing features, custom URLs for up to 10 albums, and the option to order prints, books, cards, and more!
2. Snapfish
If you’re looking for an inexpensive way to print photos or buy customized gifts, look no further: Snapfish is the place to go. In addition to low costs, you can also find a lot of coupon codes for even cheaper prints.
3. Picasa
Picasa is a photo sharing service owned by Google. It offers touch-up features and it has a desktop feature that allows you to connect your account to your hard drive, making it easier for you to organize your photos and pick which ones you want to add to your web-based account. and organize your photos.
Not only can you share photos on the internet, you can also let out your inner artist and edit photos to share with your friends and family:
1. BeFunky
Does your head hurt when it comes to editing? This super easy-to-use website allows anyone to easily enrich their photos with “one-click” photo effect options.
2. FunPhotoBox
With a plethora of photo editing options, you will definitely find yourself having way more fun editing photos than ever before! Not only that, its easy as 1, 2, 3…literally! Just 1. select effect, 2. upload photo, and 3. save result!
3. Pizap
For those who enjoy wackifying their photos, this one is for you! You can add funny faces, text bubbles, and lots of fun shapes and stickers to your pictures! Perfect for creating profile pictures or fun avatars!Create and share, easy as that!
MeshTop also allows you to upload pictures onto Facebook directly from Outlook, making it extremely effortless to share pictures with your friends instantly! It also automatically retrieves pictures your friends uploaded onto Facebook, making sure you are always on top of your social network activities.
Other Photo Sharing websites:
Flickr
Webshots
Fotki
Dotphoto
Smugmug
Myphotoalbum
Kodak’s easy share gallery
Pbase.com
Photoshop express
Jalbum.net
Image shack
Pixa
Iimmgg.com
Tinypic
Imgur
Other Photo editing websites:
Smush.it
Web resizer
Iresize
Pic resize
Shrink pictures
You too can have the whole world in your hands!
Sep 21st
In order to succeed in this over- stimulated society, we must learn to keep up with new tools, gadgets, software, and all sorts of products that are constantly being thrown at us. It becomes a hassle and a waste of time to manually keep up with each one. One prime example is my assortment of buddy lists. With different people on AIM, Gchat, MSN (Windows Live Messenger),QQ, and Facebook chat, it is blinding to see so many boxes blinking at me on the computer screen! Luckily someone must’ve felt the same way and had some super smart developers (like the ones here at Minesage [MeshTop]) whip up programs where it can aggregate all your contacts from different applications into one place! Yes, this makes our digital lives simpler. Although we haven’t been around for very long, we here at MeshTop want to provide some valuable tips to help you simplify your digital life!
I’m sure there are a lot of wonderful programs out there, but the two that I use and trust the most are Adium and Disby. I’ll give you a brief description of each one and you can choose for yourself 
For you Apple lovers out there, this is a great alternative to iChat (which you could download chax in order to have the same effect). In addition to the services mentioned above, Adium supports a variety of other services, aggregating everything into one list. You can customize it so that your contacts show up alphabetically, by sections, by groups, however you want them, wherever you want them! For more detailed information check it out here.
For those who are not exclusively Apple users, there is Digsby. Similar to Adium, it accumulates your contacts from various buddy lists so that it is all in one place. In addition, it allows you to check your email and reply directly from your IM window. Not only that, you can receive updates from your social networks like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or LinkedIn. Now you can really say “I’ve got the whole world in my hand.”
Of course, the customization option is complete with both applications, giving you freedom to express yourself however you like!
Here at MeshTop, we are all about saving time and increasing productivity! We’ve integrated Facebook, Twitter and MSN into a Microsoft Outlook add-in so you don’t have to waste time opening all those applications separately. Optimizing your desktop space and your time!
Hopefully you found this post helpful in solving your buddy list clutter! Please check back next week for another tip to help make your digital life simple!
Internet Radio for Work, Home, and Travel
Jul 29th
It is common to see people walking around plugged in to an ipod, iphone, or other portable mp3 device in almost any city around the world. Having music at your fingertips is a necessity these days, and the internet has made that even more convenient with a host of free internet radio sites. These sites are unique as they let you choose the type of music, or even the songs, that you enjoy and then create playlists of similar music. As opposed to YouTube, which plays one video at a time, internet radio continually streams music based on the user’s personal preference. This can provide for free music all day with limited to no commercial breaks! Even better the sites can be accessed via computer or Smartphone. Once the app is downloaded to the iphone, blackberry or other device, users can listen on the go or plug the phone in to a car or speaker system.
There are three stations that immediately come to mind, but with the high traffic of users and possible advertising opportunities, there are sure to be more to come. As of right now, the sites are free, but the user has the option of upgrading to claim certain perks, such as the elimination of the few commercial breaks, for a small monthly fee. Personally I am not bothered by the commercials and tend to use internet radio on a daily basis. The three most popular would have to be Pandora, grooveshark, and slacker radio.
1. Pandora- Simple and easy to use, just enter a song or artist and it creates a playlist of songs that are similar to your taste. You can create a profile of what songs you especially like and even make different “stations” based on what genre comes to mind.
2. Grooveshark- This site gives the user more freedom than choosing one song or artist to represent a playlist, you can compile your own playlist or choose one song and let the website pick the rest. Another perk, this site has zero commercials between songs, they have chosen to generate advertising revenue solely on the picture ads on the web page. One drawback here, once it starts the random selection of songs you can’t see the title or artist for future reference.
3. Slacker Radio- In addition to entering a song choice, this website allows the user to click on genres to create a more general playlist. This can be helpful or frustrating, for those interested in having music tailored directly to their taste this may not be the best option but it certainly beats listening to a traditional radio station.
For those who are constantly on the go and need music to fuel their day, internet radio is the way to go. It’s free, easy, and available anywhere there is an internet connection.
Press Release June/July 2010
Jul 20th
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Meshtop for Outlook 2010 utilizes OSC and Facebook Graph API.
BELLEVUE, Washington, June 30, 2010 – Today Meshtop released a new version of their Outlook plug-in that organizes Facebook, Twitter and MSN social networks into the popular email client. As social networking services (SNS) become more important to maintain business and personal contacts in the professional world, Meshtop helps users link email addresses with their respective contacts on Facebook, Twitter and MSN, bringing ease and organization to the use of multiple social networking mediums. This will allow businesses to seamlessly connect professional email clients to social networking streams.
Meshtop’s plug-in displays as an expandable sidebar in Outlook and searches through Outlook, Facebook, Twitter and MSN contacts to discover links between accounts, recommending suggestions to link possible matches. Expanding Meshtop to the Network view offers an intuitive way to organize contacts by creating groups and tagging contacts. These organizational tools achieve the company’s goal of simplifying SNS’s to reap their benefits more effectively.
This release of Meshtop utilizes the built-in OSC in Outlook 2010, allowing a simple sync between your Outlook data and Social Network data. This allows you to see up-to-the minute Facebook and Twitter information for your Outlook contacts.
Meshtop for Outlook 2010 also takes advantage of Facebook’s Open Graph API. You may browse your contacts by Facebook activity, Likes or Books (linked to profile information) in a floating panel.
Users who do have not yet upgraded to Outlook 2010 may still continue to use Meshtop for Outlook 2003/2007.
As online social interaction continues to increase, Meshtop is producing a series of products to manage and link contacts from various SNS’s, saving time and increasing productivity by bridging the gap between social network mediums.
Highlighted Meshtop Features:
• Contact management through visual networks – Right click to group multiple friends by tagging or to send them emails.
• Upload photos to Facebook – Batch upload local photos and captions as well as comment on friends’ photos.
• Browse your friends’ Facebook photos either online/offline – Meshtop will schedule a sync-up to Facebook to download the latest photos from your friends, which is a great feature for the business traveler who may not have constant access to an internet connection.
• Integration of Facebook OpenStream and Tweets into Outlook – Easily follow and interact with friends’ latest updates. Meshtop offers the option to view just Facebook or Twitter updates, as well as combining them into one list.
• Monitor trending topics and search real time topics on Twitter in Outlook – In addition to this search function, Meshtop saves custom search queries for repeated use.
• Publish your status simultaneously to Facebook, Twitter and MSN – in the “What are you doing?” field, Meshtop also offers URL shortening and photo sharing from TinyURL, Bit.ly, and TwitPic.
• Intelligent contact mapping connects Outlook contacts with Facebook and Twitter profiles – Meshtop’s intelligent match engine will find your friends’ social profiles between Outlook, Twitter, Facebook and MSN and combine the information into one contact card.
Phone calls on the cheap
Jun 25th
“Phone” calls aren’t just for phones anymore. There are several ways to call people via the internet these days, and this week’s blog will look at a couple of them.
Probably the most famous is Skype. As an American citizen that has lived in Latin America, Europe and Asia, Skype has become one of my favorite programs. It’s so common, in fact, that “to skype” someone (to call from a computer) has become a verb in many circles, much like “to google” something. Here are some of my favorite uses for Skype:
1. Video chat. It’s great to talk to my family on the other side of the world, but it’s better to see them. I’ll never forget how amazed my 80-year-old great uncle was when he visited my parents and talked to me in China. As a man who grew up during World War II, he was completely amazed that he could see and talk to me from half a world away. Also, on those days when you really miss home, it’s nice to be able to see your house, see the dogs playing and hear the birds outside singing their songs. Perhaps the greatest part of video chat is that all Skype-to-Skype computer calls are free! You just can’t beat it!
2. iPod Touch App. There are three things I don’t leave the house without: my wallet, my phone and my iPod Touch. For numerous reasons that I won’t detail here, it’s practically a necessity for life overseas. Most of my friends don’t have iPhones because of the hassles of signing a contract and paying large amounts of money to AT&T when you don’t even live in the USA. Fortunately, Skype has an app that can turn your iPod Touch (2nd generation) into a telephone! All you need is the headphones that come with it and wi-fi! It’s so great to be able to call home from wherever I am. Since there is a huge time difference, it’s hardly ever convenient to call home when I’m at my apartment. Thankfully, I can just find an internet connection, and I’m good to go!
3. Skype “Online number”. This is really great for those of us who travel a lot. Basically, you get a phone number in the country you choose, then people from that country can make local calls to you for standard phone rates. You can answer the call for free from any place that you are logged into Skype! You can also have all of your call forwarded to your cell phone, no matter where you are; this option isn’t free, but the rates are reasonable.
4. International calling rates. Skype is the most economical way I’ve found to call internationally. It’s roughly 2.1 cents per minute, but you can see the prices for yourself here.
There are plenty of other reasons to love Skype; these are just my personal favorites.
The big news this week is Skype’s most recent competition. Google Voice was released to the U.S. public, after a previous invite-only release. Here are the key benefits I see for Google Voice:
1. Free calls and texts within the US. You can call to mobile phones and landlines in the US for free. Since Skype still charges for these calls, Google Voice has a clear advantage here.
2. Automated transcripts. If you have trouble typing for any reason, Google has voice-to-text and text-to-voice conversions. I’m not sure how accurate it is, but it’s certainly cheaper than buying speech recognition software. Also (and this may be the coolest part), Google Voice automatically transcribes your voicemails so that you can read them without listening to them. You can see them faster, and at a glance, as well as have them sent to your email Inbox! Nice!
3. Call Forwarding. Like Skype, Google Voice can forward all your calls to one place. You can pick a Google number and add numbers to be forwarded to it. This will be really convenient if you move a lot or need to change landline or mobile phone numbers. Your Google number can stay the same; you only need to add the new numbers to your Google Voice account.
The biggest drawback is that Google Voice doesn’t have an app for the iPhone. However, it isn’t for lack of trying. The Google Voice app was removed from the App Store because it was “duplicating features that the iPhone comes with.” I’m a huge Apple supporter, but I definitely question this decision. I’m a bit confused on why the Skype app is okay, but the GV app is not. Perhaps time will tell.
If you have any thoughts on this week’s post, or if you use a similar product, post a comment and tell us about it!
How much do you know about viruses?
Jun 11th
Influenza Virus image by renjith krishnan
This week’s blog is going to be fairly concise. I’m sharing a few helpful articles that I found about computer viruses and security. Instead of giving you a long introduction, I’d rather you just spend the time reading the actual articles for yourself!
The first article,from lifehacker, is an excellent explanation in layman’s terms of different types of computer bugs and how they affect your computer.
Business Insider posted the second article, outlining the most important data-security action steps for businesses.
Lastly, and in my opinion the most bizarre, yet amazing thing I’ve heard in a long time: First human ‘infected with computer virus, from BBC News.
I hope you all find the links as useful and informative as I did!
Thinking Outside the Box: Language Translation
Jun 4th
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_software
This week’s tip is on translation. There are hundreds of websites devoted to language learning. There are dictionaries, translating widgets, online courses, etc., etc. There is no “best” website; it all depends on which languages you are translating, the length of the translation, and what you are trying to get out of your online language search.
We all have lists of go-to sites that vary depending on what we’re searching for. My question is: Have you ever thought to use Wikipedia as a translating tool?
Living abroad, I’ve met people from all over the world. We speak a myriad of languages, so translating can be a bit tricky, especially if you’re trying to translate a technical term that wouldn’t be in a standard dictionary or if the translating dictionary lists multiple entries. That’s when I turn to Wikipedia.
If you pull up a page in Wikipedia, there is a sidebar of pages under the same entry in other languages. For example, I searched for “application,” which I chose specifically because it has more than one meaning. Here, I’m referring to computer applications, or application software. On the left-hand side, there is a list of “application software” Wikipedia pages in over forty languages! The best part about this method of translation is that you don’t need any prior knowledge of the language you’re translating to. With most dictionaries or online translation tools, you need a base level of both languages to pick the proper translation and use the appropriate grammar. With Wikipedia, everything is done for you!
Hope this tip shortens your translating time and shrinks the language barrier!
Epicurious – Free digital cookbook
May 28th
My mother and I making gnocchi - Dec 2009
At my parents’ house, there is a chalkboard hanging in the pantry where my mother writes her shopping list so that she won’t forget. Then she writes everything down on a piece of paper when she goes into town to go shopping, a trip that takes at the very least an hour and a half. My mother cooks every day, so the list can be quite lengthy if she can only make it to the store once a week.
I’ve developed her habit of going to the grocery about once per week, even though I live in the city and could theoretically go every day without much inconvenience. I generally dislike standing in line, so I avoid the grocery store as much as possible. When I do go, I like to spend a lot of time wandering the aisles, examining products I haven’t seen before… a bit like a kid in a candy store.
It was through my love for cooking and lack of a paycheck as a full-time student that I first began using Epicurious. If you aren’t already familiar with the website, it’s from the folks at Condé Nast Publications. It’s a huge compilation of recipes from Bon Appétit, SELF, Gourmet and others. In short, it is an amazing free cookbook! There are even video cooking lessons, ideas for entertaining and special parties and cocktail recipes, among many other features.
About a year ago, I saw an ad on Epicurious.com for their iPhone app. It was free (my main requirement), so I checked it out. Not only does it allow you to search and browse recipes by ingredients, cuisine, course, etc., it makes your shopping list! Talk about a time saver! There are even options called “I Can Barely Cook” and “I Cook Like a Pro” to help you find recipes that are suited to your skills. As with Epicurious.com, you can also save your favorite recipes. My only complaint is that my favorites on Epicurious.com don’t link up with my favorites on the iPhone app.
And just in case you thought that both the Epicurious website and the iPhone app were unbeatable, the company came out with one of the first iPad apps, and it is phenomenal! It turns your iPad into a full-page sized digital cookbook. You can see a nice screenshot here.
But wait, there’s more! For those of you who don’t own the iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone, you’re in luck! Last Tuesday, the Epicurious app was released for Android!
So for this week, happy cooking!
Google Search Tips and Tricks
May 21st
This week’s blog is going to be short and straight to the point. From time to time, I’m frustrated when I search for information on the web because many results come up that just aren’t relevant. For simplicity’s sake and because they have a majority market share, I’m going to focus on Google search.
The best example I can think of is when google “meshtop.” I’m constantly bombarded with images of girls in tops with holes in them and tables with metal lattice surfaces.
I know that we all have this problem on occasion, so I decided to compile a list of the most useful tricks to use and share with you. However, when I was searching for tips, I found that Google has already put together a perfectly concise list. Realizing that this is probably exactly what you (and I) need, I’m just going to share the link with you.
Google Tips and Tricks PDF
Extended Tips and Tricks from Google’s website
Happy searching!
