Virtual Collaboration in the Workplace

Great Document Collaboration tools

Mashable, today, posts about 9 great document collaboration tools for teams.  Previous quarters of our virtual collaboration class have examined every one of these tools – plus many others not mentioned here.   Nevertheless, it is an interesting and useful list.

How to avoid getting hacked on Google Aps

There is significant controversy over whether corporate “office” work should be done in the cloud.   Some say this is the wave of the future; others say that it is impossible to overcome the various security risks of putting your data out in the cloud.

Large organizations, should they adopt cloud computing, will surely launch their own clouds (using one of several tools already on the market to do so).   Smaller orgs and individuals may not have that option.  Google Docs (and its siblings at MS-Live and Zoho) offer reasonable alternatives.   So, then, what do you do to protect yourself if you a computing in one of these clouds?

PogoPlug – A Personal Cloud Devise

Posted for Fadekemi T.

PogoPlug is a device created by Cloud Engines. PogoPlug is a multimedia sharing device that allows users to access their files remotely. It is a gateway to deliver content to one’s self or others through the internet.

This devise is a standalone 'personal cloud' devise that does not require a computer. The user connects the PogoPlug to their router then attaches their hard drive or USB flash drive to the PogoPlug. You are able to access the files by logging in from anywhere through a browser. In addition, users can give access to others. You can restrict access for downloading or uploading. The uploaded content can be searched remotely by file type or other parameters.

OffiSync Adds Google Sites Support

Posted for Jeffrey N.

Collaboration tool OffiSync released a plug-in for MS Office that allows you to access Google Apps, Google Docs and Google search from within any Office application, including Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel documents.  This helps to extend your doc sharing reach through the familiar MS Office suite to other collaboration tools available to users who choose not to use the Microsoft product. 

The next revolution?

Posted for Rin C.

Have you seen or had a virtual world meeting experience? I tried second life and watched some demos from a couple of virtual worlds.  If you have not, see this VDO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8OAAFQaFiA and you may get some idea (it's about 10 min long).

Dropbox: A handy tool

Posted for V. K.

I am starting to be a big fan of Dropbox, a popular cloud-storage sharing service that is a great productivity tool when working with colleagues and clients in different locations, where you can synchronize different devices used by different people to share files.
 
Dropbox doesn't have to be limited to simply syncing your documents, photos, and music, however—with the proper setup you can completely synchronize your digital life across any PC.

Adding Social Content to Google Searches

Posted for Janice H.

I ran across this article  recently.  The article describes Google's Social Search feature that allows you to include content from friends into your Google search results. Google's Social Search uses your own lists of contacts from various services to build up a network, and then includes content specifically from the people you know. As an active user of Google Search this article caught my attention.  I have mixed feeling about Google’s Social Search.  Social Search seems interesting enough to tryout.  However, I’m not sure I want to weed through a lot of information from friends and family in my Google search results.

What are your thoughts on Google’s Social Search feature?  Do you think this a useful feature?   Would you use this feature?

Google Wave

By now, you’ve heard of Google Wave.  But unless you have a beta account, you are probably somewhat vague about what it is and how it is going to impact virtual collaboration in the workplace.   This Mashable post is the best short description of Wave I’ve seen.

Intervals

Posted for Zahra A.

There are a lot of collaboration tools around us,but we do not know which ones are good for us until we try them. While I was searching via Internet I found this article about a new software program tool called Intervals. It is a web-based project management software for web designers and developers and, as we all know these days, there is big competition between companies to produce the best tool for their clients...   According to this article, this tool has many features to help small businesses succeed.

Opera Unite

Posted for Leigh H.

In June, Opera, a company that makes a web browser also called Opera, released a brand new feature in their Labs section called Opera Unite. This feature allows users to run their own web server from their browser. The purpose is to allow users that either don’t have the technical skill to run a traditional web server or users that can’t put in the time and effort to run a traditional web server to easily share their content with others. Users do not have to run any other software besides Opera with Unite enabled to accomplish this and it works on Windows, Mac, Linux, and even some mobile phone operating systems.