Emma Jones - Top 5 technology apps of 2008

Top 5 technology apps of 2008

Posted by

emmaljones

Monday, 1 December 2008 at 08:41 am

As we enter the month of December, I can’t help but look back at the year that was. The thousands of new businesses started, the people we’ve profiled, and the technology applications that have made our lives complete. In no particular order of preference, I give you my top 5 technology applications of 2008.

Basecamp [www.basecamphq.com] – the backbone of the business. This project management software helps us keep on top of things. By logging in, the team can see the status of each client and contribute to future projects. It saves on sending group emails and files and keeps your thoughts and intelligence in one place. To clients, it makes you look super-organised. Cost: $49 per month (£32)

Skype [www.skype.com] – our virtual water cooler, video conference system and podcast production kit. Yes, we do lots with Skype! It’s a versatile product that, at its most basic level offers an instant messaging service. Taking it to the next level allows you to connect with customers by webcam or group calls.Cost: Free to download. £20 for basic hand phone or headset.

Twitter [www.twitter.com] – a perfect way to show off your expertise .. and, yes, see what your friends had for lunch. Twitter has had a bad rap for being ‘lightweight’ and ‘a form of virtual stalking’ but anyone who uses it will know it’s no such thing. Twitter is a tool that is low maintenance, yet powerful. It provides an outlet for your expertise as you tweet in less than 140 words on your thoughts and motions of the day. To be sure, there is a social angle to this neat application but that’s what home business is all about; business mixed with life. Cost: Free

Surveymonkey [Surveymonkey.com] – take polls and run Awards with this cheeky piece of software. Our 2008 Home Business Awards were managed by surveymonkey.com - it was a delight to use and is also cost-effective. Cost: Basic package is free. Cost to upgrade.

Blogger and Wordpress [blogger.com/wordpress.com] – the launch pad for many a home business. These blogging tools have allowed thousands of people to turn a hobby into a business and create a home on the web that generates a financial return. For that reason, blogging platforms make it in to the top 5 list! Cost: Free

There are many other quality applications on the market. A number have been mentioned by members in our forum; from accounting packages like Freshbooks to mail shot programmes like Mailchimp.

As for the applications we’ll be testing at Enterprise Nation in 2009, they include news feed Yahoo Pipes, sales tool Go To Webinar and customer relationship software, salesforce.com. It’s going to be another busy year!

Emma Jones is Founder of Enterprise Nation [www.enterprisenation.com] and author of ‘Spare Room Start Up – how to start a business from home'

Comments

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torpidai wrote:

Monday, 1 December 2008 at 03:38 pm (UTC)

£20 for basic hand phone or headset.

*Gasp, a set of headphones and a mic would set you back just £1 each from most £1 stores :)

I'm surprised you mentioned no security software there either for example Mcafee site advisor, and MS has a new piece of kit I'm finding extremely useful, Steady state which returns your machine to it's power on state on restart, handy if your a regular visitor to rather suspect sites.

Looks like you have some good links listed though TY, I'll check some of them out.

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emmaljones wrote:

Monday, 1 December 2008 at 03:46 pm (UTC)

Thanks for your suggestions - I'll check them out!

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torpidai wrote:

Monday, 1 December 2008 at 03:52 pm (UTC)

No worries, Thanks for yours too :)

Researcher for hire.... lol

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skype

gizbun wrote:

Monday, 1 December 2008 at 05:46 pm (UTC)

gizmo5 is infinitely better (and cheaper) than skype.

qv http://gizmo5.com/pc/

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Re: skype

torpidai wrote:

Monday, 1 December 2008 at 08:57 pm (UTC)

According to Site advisor That one tries to change your home page :S

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Re: skype

gizbun wrote:

Wednesday, 3 December 2008 at 07:21 pm (UTC)

By default Gizmo will install the Ask.com Toolbar and set your home page to Ask.com. You just make sure to uncheck the proper boxes if you don't want that to happen. You do need to be careful when going through the setup screen, because it may automatically send out notices to all of your contacts, recommending they use Gizmo. However, this is nothing compared to the evil things Skype does.

http://ultraparanoid.wordpress.com/2007/06/19/why-skype-is-evil/

http://www.pagetable.com/?p=27

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Re: skype

torpidai wrote:

Wednesday, 3 December 2008 at 07:34 pm (UTC)

I'm still waiting for that "Knock on my door" for a recent post regarding the lack of sensible triggers on all these nasty suicide bombers of late, Damned Terrorists making me point out the obvious it seems all their degrees just addled their brains too :S

Even encryption of that level these days makes me giggle, even this "old heap" machine is theoreticaly capable of 6 million processes per second, and the enigma machine did a damned fine job even though That was not much more than a converted typewriter. With All the cracking software available to the US Government agy's for spying on big biz in order to get the contracts they desire, is there really any point in security? It'd only be worthwhile IMHO if you managed to change your encryption code just as, or just before they crack the last one and with 6million operations per second, can you realy see you changing it every hour?

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