Web Worker Daily

What’s Your Favorite Web App, Håkon Wium Lie?

Posted: 25 Mar 2009 04:00 PM PDT

We spoke with the inventor of CSS, Håkon Wium Lie, at SXSW. Lie is a CERN alum, alongside the granddaddy of the web, Tim Berners-Lee. Lie is also the CTO of Opera Software, maker of the Opera browser, and works and resides in Oslo, Norway.

Lie is a fan of Google Docs (yes, another one!), and here’s how he uses it.

What is Your Favorite Web App, Håkon Wium Lie? from WebWorkerDaily on Vimeo.

We have a few more video interviews from SXSW about web apps coming up. Find out when by following us @webworkerdaily on Twitter.

ScreenToaster: Simple, Free, No-Download Screencasting

Posted: 25 Mar 2009 03:00 PM PDT

Written by Simon Mackie.

logo2 If you need to create a screencast, perhaps to demonstrate an app, there are many tools out there that can help you get the job done. We’ve covered Jing and CamStudio previously here on WebWorkerDaily. If you want a really simple free solution that you can use from any browser, though, you might like to check out ScreenToaster — especially in the light of some great new features that have been announced today.

ScreenToaster is an eay-to-use application that runs as a Java applet; it works in pretty much any browser on any operating system. It can record audio from a microphone and video from a webcam, as well simultaneously recording the action on the screen. The results are high quality and you can add subtitles after you’ve finished recording. Here’s a quick screencast of ScreenToaster in action (made using ScreenToaster, naturally!)

WWD Screencast: ScreenToaster from WebWorkerDaily on Vimeo.

ScreenToaster announced some nice new features officially today, although I believe they may have actually been available for a little while. You can now choose to upload your screencast to YouTube in HD, or download your video in .mov format. This greatly increases your flexibility: it means that you’re not stuck with hosting your screencasts at the ScreenToaster site, and you can also edit your screencast videos. Choosing one of these options has a few drawbacks though: you’re left with a ScreenToaster logo on your videos, and you lose your subtitles and webcam footage (as you can see in my video). The other new feature is a beta test of the Recorder API, which might be interesting if you’re a web developer looking to add screencasting into your app.

What do you use for recording screencasts?

Track Time and Create Invoices on Your iPhone With Timewerks

Posted: 25 Mar 2009 01:00 PM PDT

Written by Meryl Evans.

If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, you may be interested in track-tracking and invoicing app Timewerks. Timewerks is probably best-suited for those who don’t have laptops with them all the time. But for web workers wanting a more portable invoicing solution, Timewerks is still a good option.

Overview

Timewerks creates invoices and tracks billable hours and materials used on a per-project basis. You begin by creating projects. The application contains five primary screens: Projects, Invoices, Clients, Work Items and More. The features in More include Data Export, Help and Invoice Color, while the Clients section integrates with your phone’s Contacts so you don’t have to enter contact information twice.

Timewerks Projects Timewerks Add Item

Using the Timer

In my test, at first I thought that the timer had a bug. As you’d expect, you tap Start and Stop to manage the timer as you work on a task. After stopping the timer, you can associate the hours with a work item. The problem I had was that the work items I added when setting up my projects didn’t show up as an option right away. Eventually, the items did appear in the list of tasks — but it’s not clear what made that happen.
Timewerks Timer

The Project Summary screen provides a clean overview of the project, complete with time spent, billed and unbilled items and direct access to that project’s invoices.

Timewerks Project Summary

Create and Customize Your Invoices

You can invoice by hourly rate or by item and create items for expenses and materials. To include your company’s information on invoices, go to Settings on the iPod Touch or iPhone and look for the green Timewerks icon. The only customization option available (through Invoice Colors) is the background color of the invoice. I’d recommend leaving it as the default white, as the limited color choices don’t really improve the invoice’s look. For example, here’s a wheat-colored invoice.

When you create the invoice, you can add the tax rate, if applicable, and email it to your client. If you need to accept credit card payments, Timewerks integrates with Inner Fence’s Credit Card Terminal. The credit card application is a separate product, but at least you have a way to accept credit card payments as part of the invoicing package.

Timewerks Email Invoice Timewerks Invoice

Export Your Data

Data Export gives you the ability to export Timewerks data to use in another app. You can access the exported Comma Separated Value (CSV), or a Tab Separated Value (TSV) files from any web browser connected to the same network as your phone through an address provided by Timewerks. It took me a little fiddling to get this feature to work. The app provided http://localhost.local:8000 in my test, which didn’t work. I had to use the following steps to get my local IP address:

Go to Settings on your iPhone or iPod Touch.
Tap Wi-Fi.
Tap > next to your network, under Choose a Network.
Copy the info next to IP Address, typically something like 192.168.1.1.

To get your data, open your web browser and enter the IP address plus port 8080, for example: http://192.168.1.1:8080/ (include the backslash).

Timewerks Export Data

The exported data can be imported into a spreadsheet or another billing app, as many accept CSV and TSV files.

Sorth, the company behind Timewerks, provides documentation and screenshots so you can get a detailed feel for the app before deciding if it’s right for you.

If you love portable solutions, you’ll dig Timewerks. It’s available at the iPhone App Store for $4.99.

What business apps do you prefer to use on your cell phone or handheld device instead of on a computer?

Xobni Loses Beta Tag, Adds Speed

Posted: 25 Mar 2009 08:00 AM PDT

Written by Simon Mackie.

Xobni, a very useful Microsoft Oulook plug-in that we’ve covered with glowing reviews previously, has droppped its beta tag with version 1.7, released today.

As well as dropping the beta tag, the latest version concentrates on performance improvements. According to Xobni, Outlook now starts 31 percent faster, while Xobni itself loads 42 percent faster. Users with large inboxes should notice even greater benefits. You can also now choose not to start Xobni until you need it.

Xobni is a free download, although the company is working on a premium service due to launch this summer.

Do you use Xobni?

Manymoon: Project Management with Google Apps Integration

Posted: 25 Mar 2009 07:00 AM PDT

Written by Darrell Etherington.

There’s no shortage of options for those looking to manage projects using web-based applications these days. Manymoon is another recent entry in this expanding category, and they are a serious contender that doesn’t lack for professionalism and features. Question is, is there something you can get at Manymoon that you aren’t already getting with your current project management solution?

Manymoon is well-designed, with a clean interface throughout. Of course, that’s true of a lot of project management web apps, and especially the free ones targeted at the independent, rather than the enterprise, user. Commands and tools are housed in submenus and tabs to keep visual clutter on any given page to a minimum. And I do find that everything is located where I intuitively expect it to be, which is not necessarily always the case in other apps.

Your home screen looks more like a Facebook newsfeed than the dashboard-type interface you might be used to from other comparable services. You receive updates here based on the recent activities of members of your project team. Things like the creation or completion of a task or a project, what any member is currently working on, and additions to the project team will all show up here as they occur.

Setting up a project is easy, and assigning sub-tasks within that project is as complicated or as simple as you need it to be. By default, task addition is shown in a convenient quick entry mode: all you need to enter is a title. Clicking “Show options” allows you to add more detailed information, like a due date, priority, project staff responsible and file attachments.

One really nice feature that sets Manymoon apart from other similar services is its Google Apps integration. You can tie your project and task deadlines to Google Calendar, right from within the web app, automatically. And you can attach documents directly from your Google Docs account, as well as those you upload from your hard drive. It’s definitely a huge plus if you depend on Google Docs as much as I do.

They’ve taken some cues from Facebook and Twitter, in that you can quickly and easily post about what you’re currently working on, or a useful link, from entry fields on the right of the home page. This certainly comes in handy when you want to draw your team’s attention to a useful resource without going to the trouble of sending a mass email.

While the basic version is free, Manymoon also offers two levels of upgrade, which offer you more storage space, and other custom options, for $5 and $10 a month. Since, for my purposes the 5MB allowed on the free version is more than enough, I highly recommend Manymoon as an inexpensive project management solution, especially to those who already depend heavily on Google Apps.

Does the Google Apps integration in Manymoon appeal to you?