by Fadia, Ankit
< 270 Seconds
Have you ever been late for a meeting and wished there was a way for you to share your location with your colleagues? Do you wish there was a way to share your location with your loved ones while travelling alone at night? Do you want to be able to track where your kids are when they are out late at night? Glympse can be used in these situations.
Glympse is available as a free download from http://www.glympse.com and works on most smartphone platforms like Android, iOS, Windows and BlackBerry. Once it is installed on your mobile phone, it can be used to easily share your current physical location on a geographical map with someone else for a predefined amount of time. The best part is that your location on the map that your friends can see will not be static and will automatically change dynamically with time as you move.
Glympse and the Glympse logo are registered trademarks of Glympse Inc., used with permission.
Install Glympse on your mobile phone and create your profile by adding your name and photo to the app, so that your friends know who you are. You can click on the View Map button to view your current location on a geographical map as denoted by a blue dot. Glympse uses the GPS feature on your phone to dynamically change your location.
Glympse and the Glympse logo are registered trademarks of Glympse Inc., used with permission.
It is also possible to view your location on the map with a satellite view and get different details about your location (speed, altitude etc.).
To share your location with someone else, simply click on the Send Glympse button on the home screen of the Glympse app. It will allow you to share your location with your friends via various communication mediums like text message, email, Facebook, Twitter or even messengers like WhatsApp. Moreover, you can specify for how long your friends will be allowed to view your location. Not only that, you can even enclose a private message for your friends along with your current location. In the following example, I am going to share my location and a private message (‘Almost there!’) with my friend Ankit Fadia via a text message and I want to share my location for the next fifteen minutes.
Glympse and the Glympse logo are registered trademarks of Glympse Inc., used with permission.
Within a few seconds, my friend will receive a text message containing my private message and a link to a web page that will display my geographical location. He does not need to have the Glympse app installed to be able to see my location. The link can be clicked from any computer or mobile phone, and it will show my location, which will be updated constantly. The live updates of your location can be very useful for your friends to keep a track of how far you are from your destination. Glympse also displays how fast the user is moving, so that my friend can estimate how much time it will take for me to reach my destination.
Glympse also allows you to enter your destination address when you are sharing your location with your friends. This can be very useful in estimating the amount of time it will take you to reach the destination.
Glympse and the Glympse logo are registered trademarks of Glympse Inc., used with permission.
Once the predefined time period passes, then my friend will no longer be able to view my current location and only the last updated location will be shown to him.
11. How to search your Gmail account like a pro
< 60 Seconds
If you are a heavy email user, finding an email that you may have sent or received several months ago can be quite a tough task. Gmail makes it very easy for users to find emails that match certain parameters and filters right from the search box at the top of your Gmail account page.
Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission.
Using the from: search operator, you can search for an email sent to you from a particular email address.
Using the OR search operator, you can search for an email sent to you from a particular email address or from some other email address.
[email protected] OR [email protected]
Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission.
Using the to: search operator, you can search for emails sent to a particular email address. For emails with a particular subject, use the subject: search operator. We are going to search for all emails sent to [email protected] with ‘meeting’ as the subject.
to:[email protected] subject:meeting
You can modify the previous example slightly and make the search even more powerful. Let us assume that you want to search for emails with a specific word in the subject (‘meeting’ in this case) and a specific word in the body (‘Singapore’ in this case).
to:[email protected] subject:meeting Singapore
It is also possible to search for only those emails that have an attachment using the has:attachment search operator. The next example will search for only those emails that have been sent by [email protected], have the word ‘meeting’ in the subject and have a file attachment.
from:[email protected] subject:Meeting has:attachment
The has:attachment search operator also allows you to search for keywords inside actual file attachments.
has:attachment finance
If you wish to search for emails with a specific file attachment, Gmail also allows you to search with a specific file attachment name using the filename: search operator.
from:[email protected] filename:resume
If you wish to clean your inbox and increase the space available in it, it is a good idea to start by deleting emails with large email attachments. It is possible to search for all emails in your account with file attachments larger or smaller than a particular size. This can be done using the smaller: and larger: search operators.
from:[email protected] larger:15MB
from:[email protected] smaller:15MB
Using the before: and after: search operators it is possible for you to search for emails from a particular date or dates. To search for all emails sent from [email protected] on 14 November 2012, you can use the following search command:
from:[email protected] after:2012/11/14 before:2012/11/15
Another way to find emails from a particular date is by using the newer_than: and older_than: search operators. If you want to find all emails sent from [email protected] in the last two days, then you can use the following search command:
from:[email protected] newer_than:2d
While searching for a particular email, you can also specify where in your email account Gmail should look for it. This can be done using the in: search operator. The most popular uses of the in: search operator includes the following:
in:inbox
in:trash
in:spam
in:anywhere
from:[email protected] in:trash
If you wish to search for a keyword from a chat conversation that you had with a friend in Google Chat, then you need to make use of the is:chats search operator. If you want to search for the keywords ‘nimesh’ and ‘cell’ in all your Google Chat history, then you need to type:
is:chats nimesh cell
It is also possible to click on the down arrow button on the right side of the search box in your Gmail account to reveal advance search filters and options that you make use of for finding stuff in your account.
Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission.
12. How to manage all your to-do lists
< 120 Seconds
Do you like making to-do lists when you start your day? Do you have trouble creating, managing and sharing these to-do lists with your friends and colleagues? Any.do (http://www.any.do) is a free to-do-list management app that can be installed on your Android or iOS device and even in your Google Chrome browser as an extension. It saves all your to-do lists on the cloud and allows you to create, access and manage them on the move from anywhere. The best thing about the Any.do app is its sleek and easy-to-use interface that makes creating to-do lists extremely intuitive and fun.
Start your browser and con
nect to http://www.any.do to install the Any.do app in your Google Chrome browser or any of your Android or iOS devices.
Click on the Register link to create your account on Any.do, so that your lists can be saved on the cloud and automatically synced across all your devices. You also have the option to link Any.do with your Facebook account, if you want to avoid creating a separate account.
Any.do and the Any.do logo are registered trademarks of Any.do Inc., used with permission.
Once you have registered, you can start creating to-do lists and goals for yourself using Any.do. You can sort your to-do lists based on the date or category (Personal, Work, Financial and others). You can drag and drop tasks between categories or dates as you wish.
Any.do and the Any.do logo are registered trademarks of Any.do Inc., used with permission.
You can choose to mark particular tasks as priority, so that you know they are more urgent and important than other tasks on your list. You can add comments or notes to tasks, so that you can read them while performing the task. Most importantly, you can also assign reminders to your tasks, so that Any.do will remind you about them and help make sure they get done. Finally, once you are done with a particular task, you can cross it out by simply running your finger across it.
Any.do and the Any.do logo are registered trademarks of Any.do Inc., used with permission.
You can mark a task as a priority.
Any.do and the Any.do logo are registered trademarks of Any.do Inc., used with permission.
You can add notes to a task.
Any.do and the Any.do logo are registered trademarks of Any.do Inc., used with permission.
You can set reminders for tasks.
Any.do and the Any.do logo are registered trademarks of Any.do Inc., used with permission.
Any.do will remind you about tasks to make sure you do them.
Any.do and the Any.do logo are registered trademarks of Any.do Inc., used with permission.
Once you are done with a task, you can simply strike it off.
Once you have created a task, you can even share it with friends in your contact list, but this feature only works when you are using the Any.do app on your phone and will not work in the web version.
Any.do and the Any.do logo are registered trademarks of Any.do Inc., used with permission.
My favourite feature of the Any.do app is the fact that if you install the browser extension in your Google Chrome browser, Any.do becomes completely integrated with Gmail. It will then allow you to add tasks and reminders to your Any.do app by clicking on the Remind Me button from right within your Gmail account.
Any.do and the Any.do logo are registered trademarks of Any.do Inc., used with permission.
Moreover, below every email message in your Gmail account, there will be a What’s Next tab that allows you to add tasks related to that email to your Any.do app right from your Gmail account. This is very useful, since once you are done reading an email, you can directly add tasks related to that email that you want to add to your list.
Any.do and the Any.do logo are registered trademarks of Any.do Inc., used with permission.
For example, maybe you need to follow up with the person who just emailed you and want to add a reminder to Any.do.
Using the Any.do app, you can keep all your tasks and to-do lists under control and send yourself reminders so that you can make sure you get them done.
13. How to easily split the bill at dinner
< 120 Seconds
Have you ever witnessed chaos exploding at a restaurant table the moment the bill arrives and it needs to be split among a bunch of budget-conscious office colleagues or cash-crunched college buddies? Some people at the table ate only vegetarian food and don’t want to pay for the non-vegetarian dishes. Some people at the table were teetotallers, while others guzzled down drinks like they were water. In the Indian context, it is not rare to have someone at the table keeping a special religious fast, who only ordered appropriately permitted food. The dilemma that engulfs everyone at the table is how to split the bill fairly so that no one at the table feels that they paid more than they should have.
Billr and the Billr logo are the registered trademarks of Billr.Me: Bill Splitting at The Table., used with permission.
There is a good iOS app called Billr (http://billr.me) that makes splitting the bill at a restaurant or bar among everyone at the table easy, fair and quick.
Start the Billr app on your iOS device and enter the number of people at the table among whom the bill needs to be split.
Billr and the Billr logo are the registered trademarks of Billr.Me: Bill Splitting at The Table., used with permission.
Next, you need to enter the prices of the items (drinks or food) that were ordered by specific people but not shared with anyone else at the table. You can either enter each item individually or enter a total amount that could be an approximation to save time.
Billr and the Billr logo are the registered trademarks of Billr.Me: Bill Splitting at The Table., used with permission.
In the next step, the Billr app will allow you to enter the prices for the items that were shared by more than one person at the table. Enter the prices of all the shared items that were ordered and also select all the people who shared each item.
Billr and the Billr logo are the registered trademarks of Billr.Me: Bill Splitting at The Table, used with permission.
Enter the tax and tip percentage that is applicable on the bill. Billr will proportionally split the tax and tip among everyone, based on the total value of items that each person individually ordered.
Billr will now calculate and display what each person at the table needs to pay. You can pass around your iOS device to everyone at the table so that they can see what they need to pay. Billr also allows you to share the calculation results with everyone at the table via text message or email.
Billr and the Billr logo are the registered trademarks of Billr.Me: Bill Splitting at The Table, used with permission.
14. How to convert file formats easily
< 120 Seconds
In the war among various software and hardware companies, we are left with different file formats that open on certain devices and not on others. Unfortunately, it is the user who ultimately suffers. This makes it important to have your files in the right file formats; otherwise you may not be able to view or work with them. This is where file conversion can be so useful. Some common and popular file conversions are of your favourite songs, videos, documents and ebooks from one format to another.
All these file conversions and many more can be done in a matter of minutes on the free website Zamzar (www.zamzar.com). No downloads or file installs are required.
Open your browser to www.zamzar.com and, in the Step 1 box, select the file that you wish to convert. You can either upload a file from your computer or you can select a web URL where the file is located.
Zamzar and the Zamzar logo are registered trademarks of Zamzar Ltd, used with permission.
Now you need to select the format into which you want to convert the selected file. In this example, I am going to use Zamzar to convert a Word document into a PDF file.
Zamzar and the Zamzar logo are registered trademarks of Zamzar Ltd, used with permission.
In the Step 3 box, enter the email address where you wish to receive the converted file. Once you are ready to start the conversion process, click on the Convert button. The selected file will now be uploaded to the Zamzar server, and then converted to the desired format.
Zamzar and the Zamzar logo are registered trademarks of Zamzar Ltd, used with permission.
A few minutes later, when you check your email inbox, you would have received a link from Zamzar to the converted file.
15. How to get the most out of your day
< 120 Seconds
Do you often find yourself drowning in the deluge of information being thrown at you by your emails, calendars, social networks and online interactions? Wouldn’t it be
great if you had your very own online personal assistant who would go through all the information available at different places in your online world, organize everything in a useful format and present it to you so that you can make the most of your day?
Cue is a very useful app that connects to and indexes your online worlds (social networks, email accounts, calendars, online documents and others) and presents useful information in a nice format at the right time. Why spend time connecting to your different online accounts one by one, when the faster and more efficient thing to do is to simply use Cue? Cue is currently available as an app for the iOS platform and on the web from http://www.cueup.com.
Once you have installed the Cue app on your iOS device, you will need to link it to your online accounts. The more accounts you link to Cue, the more information it will be able to index and the more useful it will become. After linking your accounts, you will need to give it a few minutes to index them.
Once you have linked Cue to all your online accounts, it will show you the most relevant information from all your online worlds on a daily basis, so that you can make the most of your day. For example, you can see that below Cue has put together weather information, birthdays of Facebook friends and meetings scheduled for the day.
Cue and the Cue logo are registered trademarks of Greplin Inc., used with permission.
If you need directions to the meeting venue or if you are running late and want to drop a message to other attendees of the meeting, then simply select the meeting listed in the Cue app.