August 12 marked the 30th anniversary of the PC. It seems like only yesterday we were doing the 2-inch drop-fix on hard drives to get them spinning and sticking a dental tool in a little hole to give platters a kick start. The good ole ST-225 hard drive that came out in 1985, almost eight years before I stumbled into the computer field, had 10MB of space. To put that in today’s perspective, that’s just enough space to download three songs. It was another five years before Seagate released another model of drive, the giant 40MB ST-251.

 

The first gigabyte drive that came out in 1980 was the size of a refrigerator and cost more than $40,000. Today, 3-terabyte drives are mainstream and cost about $350. What an evolutionary jump in technology! When I think about it from a historical perspective, I’m fascinated. My first portable computer was a Kaypro II that weighed 40 pounds and didn’t even have a hard drive. When I began in the industry, things were just moving away from “main frame” computing and into the PC generation, replacing green screens with PCs and windows 3.11 was cutting edge technology.

 

Watching the evolution of computing, it seems that when you have the hardware to support the operating systems and applications, the operating system and applications evolve and, in turn, you require faster hardware. It seems that just when you catch up and you think your business is on track, your I.T. department tells you it’s time to upgrade again.

 

In the past, most of us upgrade because of a hardware failure or because of software requirements. Instead, I suggest you create a budget line item for technology to map out where and how your money is being spent. Unfortunately, companies treat technology as a nuisance rather than a competitive advantage. The return on your investment when you spend wisely on technology is incredibly fast. Your technology should complement your culture and improve the overall efficiency of your workflow. If you view your technology as just another expense that you hate paying, you hurt the overall profitability of your company. Be proactive; don’t wait until a catastrophe to upgrade the technology in your office. This includes your phone system, copiers, printers, Internet service, servers, workstations, cell phones, software and other items.

 

Yes, you can get by with the antiquated system you have. But, just know that at least one of your competitors is doing a better job because they invested in technology.

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G+ is here. I am going to give the stage to one of my pack, Bobby Kaufmann.

I’ve been using G+ for little over a week now. And
the more I use it, the more I absolutely love it. It seems like every day I
think of a different way to tweak G+ to fit my social needs. Not all my friends
and family share my enthusiasm, though. That being said, here are some G+ features
I really enjoy and others that I think could evolve into something special.

Stream

Stream is very similar to Most Recent or Top News
on Facebook. This is where you can see a Stream of information flowing to you.
One of the things that make this different from Facebook is that it’s real
time—The information automatically updates your Stream as it comes in. With
Facebook, you need some sort of interaction with the page before it refreshes,
even if it’s just moving the mouse over the active page. But, where Stream
really shines is in its comments. I just saw +Mark Cuban make a post on G+ with a picture
attached and the comments started coming in at real time, under his post. Being
part of real time conversations with people all over the world is amazing! One
of the things that annoy me about Facebook is the need to refresh a post or my
wall to see updated comments. Using the Mark Cuban reference, your Stream can
get a little overwhelming when so many people reply at once. But, if you
utilize your Circles, it really isn’t that bad. Also, if a post you’re
following is clogging up your Stream so much that it becomes annoying, you can “Mute
This Post” to remove it from your Stream.

Circles

Circles is something totally new to social
networking. When I first signed up for G+ I thought of Circles as a group of
people with whom to share. While Circles can be used simply as a way to keep in
touch with others, it can also be a powerful tool to keep your social
networking life organized. Let’s compare Circles to twitter–My twitter
timeline can get very convoluted. I follow roughly 100 people ranging from
sports personalities, tech nerds, friends, news, politics, etc. Now with G+ I
can create my Circles using these categories. I can then fill these categorized
Circles with the appropriate people. When I look at my Stream, I just click on
the Circle related to Tech Nerds, for example, and see what’s going on with +Kevin Rose, +Tom Anderson, +Mike Elgan etc. Being able to choose which
specific Circle I want to catch up on, without being distracted by unrelated
news such as what’s going on in Iran, is so convenient. Just like you can
follow/like on twitter/Facebook Pages, with G+ you can also put people into your
own Circles without accepting a friend request. What G+ does differently with
that feature is with the “Incoming” Stream. When you click the incoming Stream,
you can see what’s going on with people who are following you, but whom you are
not following.

Hang Out

I’ll be honest. At first this new feature didn’t seem
that cool to me, and I didn’t think I’d ever use it. But, after using it, I began
thinking outside the box and utilizing it to fit my life. First, this is
probably the best video conferencing software out there; and it’s totally free.
You can Hang Out with up to 10 other people. If you make it a Public Hang Out,
anyone can join or you can choose to invite one person or a Circle of people to
join your Hang Out. The reaction I’ve gotten the most is “Well, I can do that
with Skype.” Well, yes you can, but it will cost you about 9 bucks a month.
Newt Gingrich just had a public Hang Out (you can see it on YouTube now) and it
was really cool watching people come in, ask questions and interact with someone
so high profile. Also, this can be awesome in the workplace. Our company has
employees all over the state and, at times, all over the country. Coordinating a
staff meeting is a pain, trying ooVoo, Skype, the Kinect. With Hang Out, having
a quick Helix staff meeting is a snap. You can also watch YouTube clips
together in sync and have a chat session going at the same time. Probably not
something I will use much, but it’s a pretty cool concept. Also, when I want a
face to face with a customer, odds are I don’t have their Skype username; but I
most certainly have their email address! This makes it simple to invite them to
my video conference … er … Hang Out.

Sparks

Sparks is still a work in progress. I relate it most
to having an RSS feed on your Stream page. You create Sparks or interests such
as Android, iPhone, Portland Trailblazers, etc. Clicking on that Spark,
populates your Stream page with related articles. For example, I clicked on my
Portland Trailblazer Spark and was given the articles NBA Free Agency 2011:
Should the Trail Blazers Sign Carl Landry? and The History of the Portland
Trail Blazers: The Drexler Era Part 1. I use my Sparks quite a bit to help me
stay current on news.

Mobile

There are mobile features I haven’t talked about,
but I will when the iOS app is released. It’s awaiting approval as I type, and once
it’s out, we can chat about Huddles, Check Ins and NearBy.

If you didn’t notice, G+ doesn’t have a character
limit. This makes it an awesome blog interface. Reading someone else’s blog
post on G+ is really convenient. No more going to idontknow.blogspot.com; you share your blogs or posts
on your G+ page and have people follow you that way, which makes sharing your
content with your readers a lot easier. You create a Circle of your followers
and when you send out a new blog/post, you share it with that Circle. They then
get an email notification that your blog/post is ready for viewing. Gone are
the days of email newsletters getting lost in spam filters. A lot of big name
blogs have cut completely to G+ for their blogging needs–Kevinrose.com and christinaplus.com, both respected tech writers,
have switched to G+ for full-time blogging.

One of the main cons against G+ is that no one is
on this thing! My response: It’s just 2 weeks old, has already reported 10
million users and is on pace to reach 20 million users by the end of the
weekend. Those numbers, my friends, are Facebook type numbers. So, just sit
back relax and enjoy the ride.

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This was awesome to wake up to. I knew it was coming, but sheesh. Wake up call for the industry I hope:

 

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B Productive
After last month I decided I should probably do something a bit more light hearted.  This month I am going to talk about the productivity opportunities that you may be missing out on. I will admit that I take many things for granted, because I am immersed into the technology world. I get stopped like a deer in headlights every once in a while when I see things like people still syncing their phone with their computer via a USB cable.

Perfect lead-in to my first thought. I cover cell phones a lot in this article because they really have become one of the most productive business tools that you can have. If you are still plugging your phone into your computer to sync your contacts and email, well it’s time to make the next jump. Blackberry, iPhone and Android phones all sync your email, contacts, tasks and calendar wirelessly. Blackberry will add your notes as well and an alternative with iPhone and Android is Evernote (www.evernote.com). So if you are still tied to your computer to “sync” your device, it’s time to cut the wire.  Using wireless sync will enable you to be more productive and a lot less frustrated.

One of the best bangs for the buck when it comes to overall productivity is dual monitors. Study after study shows that having more than one monitor WILL increase productivity. How much is very difficult to measure because some people just naturally multitask better than others. Even if you are not a great multitasker dual monitors will help you, in fact two monitors may actually help people who aren’t good multitaskers more than the super tasker. Switching between multiple windows on your PC to get to information that is hidden requires your brain to multitask, if you have the information up simultaneously then your brain can focus on the task at hand. When you get to three or more it becomes a different story, three monitors seem to work the best for people who truly multitask. Adding monitors is a relatively low cost investment that pays huge rewards in productivity.

Something that we spend hours on with new customers is organizing their directory and file structures. When you create and save files on the fly without thought, finding those files later can be incredibly time consuming.. Think about how many times a day/week you use the search feature in windows. You can save yourself and your company a ton of time by organizing your file so they can be found and accessed quickly. On a side note, please do not save important files on the desktop of your computer. Although this may seem convenient for you, many times in a network environment those files are not getting backed up. I’ve seen too many times where people have lost important files because they are saved on their desktop and not in their My Documents or network folder.

 

Hosted vs. Owned VoIP
The evolution of the phone system has come to the point of chaos. Making sense of all the different products out there can be ominous. More importantly, marketing material can be very misleading. I’ve been installing VoIP phone systems for more than 10 years and I still get burned by marketing.  I am going to explain some of the technology and hopefully help you make an educated decision if/when the time comes to make the jump to VoIP.

I believe the most important thing to know is how the call is delivered to the phone sitting on your desk. There are three basic ways that this can happen.

The first way is through traditional copper (P.O.T.S. – Plain Old Telephone Service). These are regular phone lines like you have had at your house forever and are limited in features and functionality.

The second way is through a T1/PRI line, which is a digital phone line that delivers up to 24 lines on two pairs of wire. This format is still the standard in reliability and feature/functionality, although it is the most expensive option.

The third way is through SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), and rather than using phone lines, they are delivered to you via the internet using “call paths.” These are the least expensive in the bunch, but have non standardized feature/functionality and lower reliability than a PRI. You can team SIP call paths with PRI to create a hybrid call system as well that adds feature compatibility. We are seeing more and more of this type of configuration.

The other common confusion is hosted vs. customer owned systems. Hosted solutions are popping up everywhere. Both hosted and owned systems have their advantages and disadvantages so I will try and make sense of it all.

Hosted:

These are phone system where the “brains” are located somewhere other than your facility. The phone that sits on your desk connects back to a central location somewhere. Typically these systems are connected via your Internet connection or a dedicated data line. This allows the vendor to create their own little telephone company, sharing resources between all their customers. No different really than the big companies that provides phone service to your home. What this does is drive the costs down because you are in essence sharing the costs. All of your calls to and from the outside world go through the central system and then get delivered to your phone. These systems are usually leased like your copier and you pay a monthly service fee for the use of the phones. You also pay usage on call volume and in some cases long distance charges as well. Some hosted systems are very feature rich and are a great fit for certain companies, and some of them have very limited features and implementing the features that they do have can be difficult. Your vendor is in charge of the system, upgrades, features and call control. Overall these can be great systems in the right environment just be careful of hidden costs and reliability issues.

Owned:

The brains are located at your facility and you allow the system to make calls via POTS, PRI or SIP based upon cost/reliability and features. These appear to have a higher upfront cost, but in time you own the equipment and there are no monthly fees for the system itself. However looking at a lease for an owned system puts you on par with hosted solutions for monthly costs. Currently these systems have more flexibility and features than a hosted solution and you have complete control over what features you can and can’t use. Just like a hosted system they can be managed remotely and even upgraded remotely. These systems tend to be more current on technology trends and more reliable.

In conclusion, both types have their place in the world, and both have their strengths and weaknesses. Ultimately doing your due diligence by checking references will help you decide what route is the best for you. If the references are excited about their system and can’t stop telling you how wonderful both the system and the support are, then that is the system you should be looking at. Remember that phone systems are a longer investment than computers, servers or copy machines. So really weigh out the total cost of ownership over a ten year life span. Another important thing to look at is how well the product has evolved with the times. VoIP phone systems can evolve and morph dynamically depending on the market. If the system you are evaluating doesn’t have a solid history of enhancing their features, this can be a warning sign and something you should steer away from.

 

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I have been riding a sinking ship with RIM for a few years now. I’ve been trying to figure out why I have stood by and defended their decisions over the last few years. It comes down to loyalty, something that is very important to me. I relate this experience with RIM closely with my decision to abandon Novell. I swear its déjà vu.

I know that RIM has it in them to do great things, and I kept hoping that the “next” device would leap frog everyone. I picked up two swords and defended them, even though inside I knew I was fighting a losing battle. RIM in my opinion is making decisions that I can’t even comprehend. If you don’t know what to do or what you are doing wrong, just get on the internet and read. You will find out why nobody is buying your gear in 30 seconds. Most of us are watching your decisions and then slamming our heads on the desk in frustration.  I guess that is what really pisses me off, they seem to have their head in the sand. Balsillie take note: GET IT TOGETHER OR YOU WILL BE GONE. Stop making excuses for not staying with the curve and just get there. Concentrating on “Global Markets” that’s a crock, we all know you have no idea what to say. Go ahead and say it, “we suck, but we are working very hard to get it together. We just don’t know where to start”.

The last straw was the PlayBook (you can read the review in my blog post). I was so excited for this device and the QNX platform. I marched right into Best Buy to return my PlayBook and bought the ATRIX that had been calling my name for a month or more. I bought it outright and made sure that I could swap the SIM between the two devices, holding on ever so tightly to my Torch.

What happened next… well I am shocked. Since inserting my SIM into my ATRIX my Torch hasn’t even been turned on. Adroid 2.2 is a marked improvement over any other version of the OS that I have run. I have a Galaxy Tab that I bought, hoping it would help ease my way into the OS.  I ended up giving it to BK, it just seemed unrefined and full of apps that were useless. Honest truth is that I just didn’t give it a chance.

I have always been about efficiency. My phone is a tool, not a toy (well accept for Pandora). iPhone and Android seemed like they are designed around apps that waste your time, not optimize it. This is where I eat crow… my phone has once again revolutionized the way I work. Bobby kept telling me that it was awesome to be able to customize your phone to exactly the way you wanted it. It’s funny… one more thing in life that you just can’t grasp until you have it. It is pretty amazing and a huge jump over what iOS lets you do. I’ll mention this right now to all the iPhone users that are reading this article. Android kicks iOS’ ass even more than BlackBerry OS. It really made me realize what a box Apple puts its users in. I’ve always known it, but this really set it in stone with me. Overall the evolution of the Android OS has been amazing, and it is forcing RIM , Apple and M$ to get off their asses and actually be creative.

My phone is dialed in. First time in my life that I have a car dock and I am loving it. Snap it in the dock, hit play on Pandora and off I go. I can keep my eyes on the road while checking my messages. Send and reply to email and SMS via voice. Then I go to my desk… yes… another dock with a 32” TV… I know the TV is overkill, but I wanted to try it before I went out and bought a smaller one. I can control my phone with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, basically just like having another PC on my desk. All my cell phone related crap, SMS, LiveProfile, kik is large as life and most importantly I can use my keyboard to type. I do miss my BB keyboard, but the overall benefits of the OS outweigh my annoyance of not having a physical keyboard. I’ve found other ways around it by using a full keyboard or voice. I’ve downloaded a 100 or more apps and only stuck with a handful of ones that fit my needs specifically.

I can’t say how happy I am that I made the jump and I have enhanced my productivity without a doubt. If anyone from RIM reads this article, I really tried to fight for you. You screwed me with the PlayBook, you had your chance. You are now my enemy.

 

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After months of anticipation, reading reviews and hoping RIM was going to do something great to get them back in the race; I had my Playbook in hand. Packaging was “different” not sure why I noticed that, but it just didn’t look like what I had expected. It took about 30 minutes for me to even buy one from Best Buy because they couldn’t find the whopping 3 that they had in stock. Obviously I was the only person in Southern Oregon that even knew what a PlayBook was.

In the car Bobby started unpacking and we were both pleasantly surprised to find that it was tucked away inside a neoprene case. “That’s cool” we both said. We oooo’d and awed about the overall construction and the non-slip backing and I couldn’t wait to fire it up and see what it could do.

Now let me preface this with the fact that I was looking for RIM to produce a “business class” tablet that would make me more productive, something that would set itself apart from the iPad and Android devices. RIM’s core applications are what I was looking for, kick ass email client, BBM and corporate network access at a minimum.

So I plug it in and fire it up. Screen is beautiful and I am getting excited. The setup wizard launces, connects me to my wireless and instantly tells me that there is an upgrade available. 250+MB upgrade download via my Verizon hot spot just wasn’t going to cut it for me, so we scrambled around the office and setup an access point and got the download installed. As I went through the setup I started getting excited, the “bridge” install came up and a QR code popped up for me to scan and install the bridge on my Torch. I scanned the QR code and wham right to the bridge app on App World, but no install option. WTF? “BK Google that please”.  30 seconds later I heard Bobby saying “ATT blocks bridge app for PlayBook”. Of course we are both floored and I instantly get on the phone to ATT to share my displeasure. As with any call to a cellular carrier… it did absolutely no good and was a waste of 20 minutes of my day. I spoke with a manger and he assured me that he would let his upper management know. Thanks…

After another 2 minutes of Google searches I found the OTW download link leaked online and downloaded it to my phone. Seems that the application runs just fine, ATT was just blocking the download because heaven forbid I get “free” data via tethering. So now I am in business, bridge is up and my new apps for mail, contacts, calendar, notes, bridge browser and bridge files.

First thing I do is jump on the mail client. I am so excited to see how they have enhanced the BB mail client experience with this bigger screen. Here is where things start to really go downhill for me. The mail client looks like a stripped down version of Touchdown for Android. I am floored and I swear I could have cried… the whole reason I am still loyal to Blackberry is the mail client. At that moment the reality that I have been avoiding for a year hit me like a ton of bricks. RIM just doesn’t get it… and it’s time for me to move on.

I honestly can’t even go into a review about the PlayBook. Its design build is great, the QNX OS is fast and super intuitive and the size is great. But NO ONE should buy a PlayBook. I can’t believe I am saying this, but it’s the honest truth. Not only does the PlayBook not have any Pros vs. the competition, but it doesn’t even come close to the usability of an iPad or XOOM. The App World apps are a joke, No BMM support, No Facebook or Twitter integration. Why this device was even released is beyond even what I thought RIM was capable of. I relate the whole experience to Android .5 and RIM has a very long way to go before this device is a player. I am literally shaking my head as I finish this review up. Usually when I have a new toy, I can’t put it down for at least 3 or 4 days. I haven’t even turned the PlayBook on since I turned it off the first night. Sorry RIM, I have been one of your most loyal supporters… I believe you have lost me, at least for now. Now lets see if Best Buy gives me any shit when I take it back today.

Update:

Took it back to Best Buy with no issues at all. Simply credited my MasterCard and off I went. Be interesting to see the market reports of how many of those 50K got returned.

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The Scary Truth

 

Last week I almost snapped. So this month I am speaking my mind and making a few things very clear.  I am genuinely concerned about the lack of understanding about the risks of Social Networking and your cell phone.

Your cell phone is probably the number one potential risk for identity theft and your safety and your reputation. My fiancée said to me the other day, “Why does my phone lock up? Before all this smart phone crap, my phone never locked up.” That made a really bright light bulb go off in my head about the risks of your cell phone.

I think about the consequences of what would happen if my phone was lost or stolen and it frightens me. My SD card and information is encrypted and I can do a remote wipe of my information in seconds if my phone is lost or stolen. I would wager that most of you have no idea what I am talking about when I say remote wipe and encryption. That is exactly why I decided to write this article.

Now that smartphones are main-stream and most of us carry them, there is a lot of personal information stored on the device. Email, txt messages, photos, banking and credit card information and who knows what else. Some of you probably have a password to lock your phone when not in use, but wager number two… most of you don’t. Even if you do have a password to unlock your phone, cracking that 4 digit, numeric password takes less than a second with the right tools. Not to mention that your SD card probably isn’t password protected and all you need to do is pop it in another phone or a computer and all the information is accessible.

Now, take that you are a responsible adult… think about what your kids have on their phones. If your child is under 18 and you do not have software to monitor their phone, you are asking for problems. Sexting even among adults is more popular than most people think, and believe it or not, your teenager is most likely doing it. This has the potential to be an epidemic if we are not careful.

Read more…

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The City Inside Your Computer

The technology industry is full of acronyms and is comprised of a language that could almost be considered a foreign language.

I am going to help shed some light on some common technology terms to help you better understand the language.
Many people lump their entire computer into the following categories. I am going to relate the inside of your computer to a city to help give some understanding of the makeup of your computer.

Motherboard – Not a term that you hear very often, but it is an integral part of your computer’s makeup. It would be the actual physical land where the city is built. It consists of roads, buildings, traffic lights and public utilities. One way or another all of the components inside your computer connect to the motherboard.

CPU – It is a tiny little chip inside your computer that would be the city hall. Inside are the mayor, city council and many other jobs that keep the city running. It keeps all of the parts in sync and it makes all the programs in the computer actually work. The physical size of the CPU is actually about half the size of a penny!

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Simple Little Things

I’ve been in the technology industry for over 15 years and I find something new almost every day. Sometimes it is new technology that I just happen to find before anyone else and sometimes it has been around for ages (in computer time). I am going to list some things in that you should look into and give a short description. Then you can Google them on your own to learn more about them and how they may apply to you.

What started me on this particular article was the fact that I use something every day that most of you probably aren’t even aware exists. They are called RSS feeds, an acronym for “Really Simple Syndication”. In simple terms you can link any compatible RSS reader (Outlook, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Safari, Google Reader and many RSS specific applications) to your favorite News feeds, Blogs, Websites and other sites that support RSS. I use it to build my own personal newspaper with feeds with the content that I choose.

Something else that I have taken for granted that everyone knew about is streaming music. Unless you are a purest and have tens of thousands of dollars of stereo gear, you should be streaming your music, not buying albums. Pandora (www.pandora.com) is one of the most popular applications on the market and it is free…completely free. It allows you to create radio stations from songs or artists that you choose and then plays like music. You can stream music on your computer or phone and if you have a Sonos (www.sonos.com) system in your house, you can stream music legally for free. Rhapsody (www.rhapsody.com) is also another great streaming music source. It has a monthly subscription fee, but gives you access to millions of songs.

Other applications that you should check out: Google Chrome (www.google.com/chrome), Jing (www.techsmith.com/jing), FeedDemon (www.feeddemon.com), TweetDeck (www.tweetdeck.com),GIMP(www.gimp.org).
Tech websites that have great gadget information: www.engadget.com, www.gizmodo.com, www.slashdot.org,www.lifehacker.com.

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The Green Generation

This is the era of the “Green PC” and we all should be concerned about the unneeded power consumption by our computers and telephones. I will answer some common questions about power and help provide some ideas to help the environment and save money.
Common “myths”:
* Powering off and on my PC takes more power than leaving it on overnight. Not true. In the old days it took a lot of power to spin up hard drives and get your computer up and running. Also the cycling of hard drives years ago was not good for them. Today’s computers take such little power to actually power on that it is better to turn your computer off when not using it. Most computers also are built to withstand 40,000 or more on/off cycles. So unless you sit there and turn your PC on and off all day long, you probably won’t hit that mark before your PC is obsolete.
* Screen Savers save power. Not True: Some screen savers are actually power hogs. If you have your screen saver set to a fancy 3D rendering or pulling large pictures from the Internet you are actually taxing every part of the PC and using more power than if you were in a word processor. Put your monitor to sleep through the power settings instead.
During the day you, should at a minimum set your monitor to go to sleep when you are not using it. Check with your IT department or your IT vendor to work with them on a plan for when your PCs should be turned off, or left on for maintenance reasons. Many companies run utilities on the PCs during the night or on weekends.
Your server room is probably the biggest culprit when coming to power consumption. Servers are just power hungry no matter how you look at them. The number one way to save power and money with your servers is to virtualize them. Consolidating many physical servers into a single server can save a tremendous amount of power. You can typically consolidate 4 servers into one with virtualization, also cutting down on heat so your cooling requirements are significantly less.
Getting your company green can be a bit complicated and impact workflow. If you are unsure about the topics in this article, please contact your IT support.

 

Must Have Mobile Apps

Mobile apps are flooding the market almost on a daily basis. Not to mention that everyone seems to have a “marketplace” of some sort now. Sorting through the 1,000s of applications for your phone can be exhausting to say the least. Here is a list of applications for your mobile phone that we have compiled from our own use as well as customer recommendations.
Android/iPhone:
kik messenger: Those of you that defected from Blackberry will love this app. It is similar to BBM and gives sent, displayed and read notifications. It works cross platform between Android and iPhone. RIM has blocked this application currently and there is no ETA on them re-enabling it at this point. Unlike BBM, you cannot send pictures/video or voice files.
tikl: Just like the Nextel days, tikl gives you two-way calling between Android and iPhone platforms. This application is pretty rough around the edges, but is very functional.
ooVoo: This app features video calling between your mobile phone and your PC. Now you can have a video conversation with a PC application, mobile phone and web interface. This is a very powerful video product that has unmatched support and flexibility.
ShopSavvy: This is a fast and accurate bar code scanner. Open the application and scan a barcode to get pricing information online and locally. This is very handy when wondering if you are overpaying for something. Quickly scan it and make sure that the price you are paying is fair.
Android/iPhone/Blackberry:
Rhapsody/Pandora: Pandora is a must have for any platform. Rhapsody gives you access to 1,000s of songs for a monthly subscription. If you are buying a lot of music, you should look at Rhapsody – it could save you a lot or money!

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