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Phones
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Nokia, Along With Microsoft, Is Doing Something New, Cool And Different From iPhone And Android |
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Wednesday, May 09, 2012 19:04
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Tags: microsoft | mobile apps | tablet
I haven’t followed the developing field of augmented reality but a post about Nokia City Lens going to beta test caught my eye. It’s further evidence that Microsoft is on the comeback trail and could start challenging Apple and Google in smartphones and tablets. This Website Is For Financial Professionals Only
Augmented reality modifies the real world with digitial information. It enhances your current view of reality.
Nokia, Microsoft’s smartphone partner, is rolling out a new app for its Luimia phone models to easily find all the places you want to go.
On your phone’s camera display, City Lens instantly reveals what you’re looking for — whether it’s down the street or around the corner. Just tap your chosen destination on your screen to get walking directions, make a reservation, or more detailed information about your locale.
So if you are on a street and looking for the nearest sushi restaurant, you see the names of all the restaurants on your display and can drill down on any of them to see reviews and menus.
What makes this really interesting is that I have not written about Nokia or the Windows mobile platform in a long, long time. But Nokia, along with Microsoft, is doing something new, cool and different from iOS and Android.
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Google's Navigation App For Android Is Great |
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Friday, April 20, 2012 18:38
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Tags: android | mobile apps For the first time in a year, I used Google’s latest technology for getting around in a car, and I found that it has improved tremendously.
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Visiting Atlanta earlier this week, I rented a car and was asked if I needed to rent a navigation system along with the car. I always get the rental-car navigation for $12 or $13 a day because it’s much better than wandering around a city I am visiting. However, this time I said “no” because I wanted to give Google Nav a try.
I had downloaded Google Nav on my Android phone months ago but never used it. I’m glad I did.
The app worked almost flawlessly, reading directions to me as I navigated from the airport to my destination. Don’t hesitate to rely on it.
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Have You Seen Zite? It's A Great Content Personalization App For iPad and Android |
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Wednesday, April 04, 2012 01:55
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Tags: android | apple | iPad | iPhone | mac | phones | Social Media | Tablets Zeitgeist is "the spirit of the times," says Wikipedia. It's the mood of an era. Appropos of the concept, there’s an app for that. It's called Zite and it’s great.
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I found Zite in the Mac App Store and downloaded it to my iPad. Zite for the iPad presents content elegantly and simply. If you want to be able to open your mobile device and in an instant view content you find fascinating, Zite is a great solution. For advisors or anyone seeking specialized knowledge, it’s a great app.
Many apps personalize news based on your interests. On Android, for example, Google Currents and Pulse let you choose topics and then stream content to you throughout the day based on your choices. They're not as good at content personalization as Zite. In fact, they seem crude next to Zite’s Mac version.
Zite lets you fine-tune topics. Once you select your topics of interest, you can ask for more content about a particular subject, written by a particular writer, or originating from a particular website.
Zite recently launched a version for Android. While Zite for the Android is better at personalizing content than any other Android app I’ve found, it’s not nearly as elegant as the Mac version on my iPad.
If you own an iPad, search the App Store for Zite. Likewise if you own an Android.
Please let me know what you think of Zite after giving it a try, or leave a comment if you have a content personalization app that you would like to recommend.
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Monitored An Employee Phone Call With An Advisor This Morning And Felt Compelled To Interrupt: VOIP For RIA Owners And OSJs |
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Monday, January 30, 2012 17:23
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Tags: business owners | client communications | client satisfaction | leadership | managing | phones | VOIP My company’s VOIP phone system gives me the ability to monitor employee calls without their knowledge. I was monitoring a sales call with a financial advisor this morning, when I felt compelled to interrupt.
This Website Is For Financial Professionals Only
This is one of the great features about VOIP. Here’s why.
The advisor was going back and forth with an Advisor Products salesperson.
“Doing everything we need — a new website, SEO copywriting, AdvisorVault for PortfolioCenter — will cost $7,000,” the said the advisor. "My partner and I need to figure out if we want to take a pay cut.”
My salesperson and the advisor were both missing the point.
I was losing it.
The VOIP system lets me instant message employees. So I IM’d the salesperson and asked him to patch me into the call.
Admittedly, I felt a little awkward.
I told the advisor that I was monitoring the call for quality control purposes and felt compelled to interrupt because he and my salesperson were missing a key point: If you’re on a tight budget, focus on pleasing existing clients before marketing.
The advisor could improve his firm’s client experience significantly using AdvisorVault for PortfolioCenter. That was the most bang for his buck. Forget about SEO and everything else if money is so tight. For $2,400 a year, he could get AdvisorVault for PortfolioCenter and offer a great client experience to clients using the system to store wills, deeds, tax returns, insurance policies, and medical emergency information, as well as portfolio reports and other personal documents. (Sorry for the plug, but this is exactly what happened.)
My salesperson was humbled but appreciated the point about focusing on existing clients, and so did the advisor. For a veteran advisor, your existing client relationships must come first. If you give them a great experience, they will bring you more clients through referrals.
The lesson for today is that being honest with the advisor and my salesperson was the right way to handle the situation. It was honest and professional.
In speaking at conferences about technology to advisors, I sometimes mention that my company’s VOIP phone system enables me to monitor employee calls and that I routinely use this feature every day. Some advisors are aghast. Don't your employees resent it?
In my experience, they do not. If you use this feature to help people, and if the staff understands that it's for the benefit of the company and its clients, your employees respect that and cooperate. That's been my experience.
Listening in on a conversation with no need to respond gives you an advantage. You don’t get involved in ego and personality. While it may feel like eavesdropping, it's about business. Employees should not be doing personal business on company time and it improves client service and sales, which is good for the staff as well as your clients.
For RIAs and OSJs, a VOIP system that lets you “barge calls” is a great tool. To run a service business, monitoring calls is necessary.
In the rare instance you feel compelled to interrupt a call and speak to whomever is on the other end, be honest about the fact that you were monitoring the call for quality control purposes and then talk about how you feel you can be helpful. People appreciate honesty.
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Use Windows On Your iPad; A Solution For Those Leading A Bi-Platform Lifestyle |
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Friday, January 27, 2012 19:07
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If you use a PC in your office and an iPad everywhere else, here’s a way to create Micosoft Office documents on your iPad that you can also use on your PCs. This Website Is For Financial Professionals Only
PC World, in looking at OnLive today, says the web-based system puts on your iPad a basic Windows desktop with Word, PowerPoint, Excel plus a few Microsoft touch apps. It uses a touch interface that Microsoft developed for its large, tabletop Surface system.
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