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The best way to communicate visually online

By Startupmaid | Published

A picture is worth a thousand words, right?

That’s because a visual image can instantly communicate key aspects of a mind map, org chart, wireframe, process flow, or any other vital business diagram. But chances are, your business doesn’t have a flexible, collaborative diagramming solution.

That’s where Lucidchart comes in.

Lucidchart allows you to create diagrams for standard and niche use cases with any device, on any operating system, from any location. They have some powerful collaboration features that allow an unlimited number of collaborators to work simultaneously on a document; plus, the interface is incredibly easy to use.

If you (or your boss) is a diehard Visio fan, you’ll love their Visio compatibility. It allows you to import VDX and VSD files and export Lucidchart filex to VDX format. You can now work seamlessly with Visio users and quickly migrate your old docs to the cloud. Lucidchart also supports Visio stencil and shape library import, which means that you’ll always have the shapes you need, no matter how funky they are.

Another awesome feature they have is built-in Google Image Search. Use GIS and the graphics panel to transform drab diagrams into colorful, dynamic creations!

Next time you have a genius idea, set aside the pen and paper and fire up your laptop (or smartphone, or tablet, or…you get the idea) to try Lucidchart.

TakeAway5:
1) Sign up for a free trial at lucidchart.com
2) Start dragging shapes and dropping them into the editor
3) Invite friends or coworker to collaborate on your doc for free
4) View and touch up your docs from anywhere in the world
5) Tell your boss about Lucidchart’s incredible security and affordable team deals. You’ll never be lonely again!

Posted in Business tools, Communications, Productivity, Uncategorized | Comments Off

Cut your PC boot time

By Startupmaid | Published

A couple of weeks ago, I fired up my laptop (Acer) and then went to make a cup of coffee. I took a shower, read the daily news and sipped my finely brewed Colombian roast.  And by the time I was finished and ready to start working, my laptop was almost done booting!

The truth is I’ve exaggerated for dramatic effect but yes, is sometimes feels like an eternity for my computer to start up.

There are 2 solutions to this problem 1) Get a Chromebook which promises super-fast load times. Or, save your $250 for a valentines gift and download Soluto.

 

Soluto has saved me so much time I don’t know what I am going to do with all the extra hours.  It’s the smart way to get the most out of your PC, and help others with their PCs too. You can manage all your PC’s from one login, view stats, Stay up-to date with silent app updates and catch hardware issues before they cause problems.  You can See what apps are crashing or hogging CPU and install must-have apps-  you can do all this even if the PC is off or in another country.

In the words of Soluto, “It’s a little like magic”.

So, get out of the shower, drink your coffee and install Soluto. Send us the extra hours you’ll land up saving in your week!

Takeaway5:

  1. Visit Soluto and Click on the downloaded file Solutoinstaller.exe.
  2. Allow Soluto to make changes to your PC.
  3. Enjoy managing your PC from anywhere digital.
  4. Pretend you’ve never installed Soluto and learn Spanish during the time you would have spent on booting.
  5. Impress your friends with your language skills.

 

 

 

 

Posted in Business tools, Productivity | Comments Off

Are you serious about getting a grip on your emails?

By Startupmaid | Published

We think that email is key, it’s the communication tool of the foreseeable future and so it’s important not to suck at it (What does it mean to suck at email?)

Now part of not sucking is to keep a really neat, clean inbox at all times. You’ve been using this for a while no doubt: Boomerang for email but you need something more feature rich, that works across multiple devices and has more attractive price points. We’ve been testing Sanebox for a couple of weeks now and we have two words to say: IT WORKS!

Sanebox

Sanebox has some really strong features; SaneBlackHole unsubscribe, Defer an email until you’re ready and Follow-up reminders, making it an application of choice if you are serious about getting a grip on your overflowing email inbox and staying sane.

Takeaway5

  1. Realize you have a million emails that your’e never going to get to and you need a solution.
  2. Sign up for Sanebox for 30 days free trial (use this link to save $5).
  3. Watch how Sanebox “learns” which emails are important and which not so much.
  4. Go fishing with all your spare time.
  5. Invite family and friends to Sanebox- spread your newly found sanity.
Posted in Communications, Email, Home, Productivity | Comments Off

Send & receive faxes, sign documents & fill out forms- from your computer

By Startupmaid | Published

It’s 2013, do you know where your fax machine is?

For all those gen x’s & y’rs, you can read up about this outdated technology here: Fax machine. However, despite all the advancements in technology, the fax machine is going to be around for some time, so you may as well get on board.
At Startupmaid, We don’t usually use a fax machine, but when we do, we use this awesome tool called HelloFax.com

HelloFax send & receive faxes
sign documents and
fill out forms

HelloFax.com allows you to send & receive faxes, sign documents and fill out forms. So not only can you get a fax number to receive faxes, you can store your signature and insert it into any document and then fax it- all from your computer, avoiding the ”print, sign and scan” problem.

Another cool thing they have going is the ability to upload documents from Dropbox, Google drive and Evernote, as well as a bunch of other applications!

All in all, we find HelloFax.com to be an easy to use, feature rich application which really does replace that beast in the office we (used to) call the fax machine.

Takeaway5

  1. Sign up to HelloFax.com
  2. Save your signature in your profile.
  3. Invite others in your office to sign up if you need multiple signatures.
  4. Upload docs from anywhere.
  5. Throw out your fax machine.
Posted in Business tools, Communications, Home, Productivity | Comments Off

Conference calls as easy as…

By Startupmaid | Published

You’re launching this project you’ve been working on for months. Luckily, you’ve been sharing all the relevant documents using DropBox so everyone’s on the same page, literally. But you’ve gotta get everyone on a conference call to hash out some details.

We’ve found the perfect tool for just that, something free, light (nothing to download), easy to use and reliable. Drum roll. Enter Speek.com the easiest way to make conference calls by far.

Speek – Fast and easy conference calls on the go from Speek on Vimeo.

Registered users get a personal link that becomes yours to keep (like a phone number). You then share this link (in anyone one of these 6 ways) with people you want on the call (invitees need not be registered). And it’s that simple.

As a security measure, because the personal link, once shared is public, the owner can see who is on the call at all times by glancing at an easy to read online dashboard. If there’s someone on the call who doesn’t belong there, well, just give them the virtual boot. And that is Speek.

Takeaway5

  1. Sign up for a free account at Speek.com
  2. To organize a conference call, share your link with people.
  3. You can manage the call by using your online dashboard, share files, see who’s talking and give people the boot.
  4. Get a summary of the call after your’e done.
  5. That’s 5.
Posted in Communications, Phone | Comments Off