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Why monday.com is the universal team management tool for your team

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Every project management tool seeks to do the same instrumental thing: keep teams connected, on task and on deadline to get major initiatives done. But the market is getting pretty crowded, and for good reason — no platform seems to have gotten the right feel for what people need to see, and how that information should be displayed so that it’s both actionable/relevant, and contextualized.

That’s why monday.com is worth a shot. The platform is based off a simple, but powerful idea: that as humans, we like to feel like we’re contributing to part of a greater/effort good — an idea that sometimes gets lost in the shuffle as we focus on the details of getting stuff done. So projects are put onto a task board (think of it like a digital whiteboard), where everyone can have the same level of visibility into anyone else who’s contributing set of tasks.

That transparency breaks down the silos between teams that cause communication errors and costly project mistakes — and it’s a beautiful, simple way to connect people to the processes that drive forward big business initiatives.

Whether you’re part of a tech-forward team or not, monday.com is a welcome relief to cumbersome Excel files, messy (physical) whiteboards, or meetings that waste time when actual work could be completed.

The scalable, intuitive structure can effectively work for a team of two, or an international team of 2,000+ — and a beautiful, color-coded board lays out tasks you can cleanly see and tag for various stages of completion. That way, employees can see exactly what needs to be done (and who needs to do it), while managers can optimize their time re-allocating resources as necessary to optimize processes. It’s a win-win.

monday.com also allows teams to communicate within the platform, cutting down on the amount of laborious sifting through various email threads to figure out a workflow. Messages can be sent inside of tasks — so all the communication is contextualized before meeting resolution or seeking it.

The platform also supports uploads, so documents and videos can be added to facilitate more collaboration, and integration with other productivity apps. So, if your team is already using tools like Slack, Google Calendar, Dropbox, Microsoft Excel, Trello, and Jira, there’s specific, clean shortcuts to integrate the information from those platforms into monday.com.

And even beyond team communication and management, you can use monday.com for client-facing exchanges, so all your messages are consolidated into a single place.

The platform recently raised $50M in funding, and received nods from the likes of Forbes, Entrepreneur, Business Insider, and more for its ability to empower international teams to do better work together. Best of all, unlike other team management software, which can be pricey and time-intensive to scope, test and run, you can try monday.com today — for free.

Don’t just take our word for it; the tool is already being used by major brands and companies, including McDonalds, Fiverr, Philips, DHL, Discovery Channel, and more!

See if monday.com is the right fit for your team: create your free account and start using the platform today.

Motorola Moto E5 Play review

AndroidGuys
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For more than a couple of years now, Motorola’s E series of phones has delivered entry-level, straightforward phones for users who don’t demand a lot of their device. It makes sense that they do so well in developing and emerging markets; it’s all that you need with just a little extra left over.

As a no-frills line of handsets, the Moto E is solid, budget-friendly, and offers up an excellent first phone experience. The 2018 model, the E5 is more of the same. We’ve spent time with an E5 Play and are happy to share our impressions.

If you’ve ever had the chance to use a Moto E phone, you know that’s it not an overly sexy device. Simple in design and straightforward in its approach, it’s what we would call an “everyman” phone. That’s the same for the Moto E5 Play.

Design and Features

The E5 Play follows the same design language set forth by its predecessors and goes with the same approach internally, too. In essence, look for a utilitarian phone with capable specs, and not much else.

In terms of hardware, the Moto E5 Play packs a 5.2-inch 1,280-by-720 IPS panel, a quad-core processor (1.4GHz), and 16GB storage. Additionally, it offers up a microSD expansion card slot for external storage of media; a 2,800mAh battery powers the show.

As for cameras, this one has an 8-megapixel shooter on the back with a 5-megapixel sensor on the front. Taken as a whole, there’s nothing too fancy, to be sure.

Despite not being a “rugged” phone, the Moto E5 Play does have a water-repellent coating and can handle life’s spills and accidents.

You’ll find the volume and power buttons on the right side of the phone with a 3.5mm headphone jack at the top edge. A microUSB charging port is located along the bottom; the rear cover removes to access the SIM and microSD slots.

It’s worth noting that while the Verizon model comes with a fingerprint reader on the rear, not all versions are the same across carriers. At last check, the Boost Mobile and Cricket Wireless models do not include the sensor.

Where we do find the Moto E5 to be really interesting, though, comes in the supported network bands. And, while our particular review unit is offered through Verizon and its prepaid line, it supports LTE bands 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/14/17/25/26/29/30/38/41/66. In other words, that’s pretty much anyone you’ll encounter carrier-wise.

Staying with networks, you can purchase the Moto E5 Play through the following providers as of today: Verizon, Cricket, Boost Mobile, T-Mobile, Sprint, Virgin Mobile, and Xfinity. Color options vary but you’ll find it in Black, Dark Lake, and Flash Gray.

Performance & Impressions

In our testing of the phone we found this to be about the baseline for an acceptable smartphone experience. It’s somewhat frustrating to go directly from a flagship to something like this as the differences in hardware are glaringly obvious. With that in mind, we expect that more casual users, or those who don’t replace their phones all that often would complain much.

Powered by Android 8.0 Oreo, the Moto E5 Play has but a smattering of extra touches. Motorola, as always does a fantastic job of keep the platform pretty much untouched. There’s nothing added to the user interface, meaning it’s basically what Google envisions for its software experience.

Viewing angles are good for the Moto E5 Play and the picture is decent enough for our tastes. Because of its resolution it’s not the sort of phone you’ll want to put in a VR headset.

We did find the phone to feel larger than the 5.2-inch display, at least physically in hand. There’s more bezel around the screen than you’ll find in other phones, but that is a trade-off we’re okay with considering the price. The top and bottom edges could shrink somewhat, though, if we’re being totally honest.

When it comes to taking pictures, the Moto E5 Play delivers passable results. Images look good on the phone and when viewed over social media but close inspection reveals fine details are lacking at times. Lower light conditions seem to impact things more than we expected. Pictures taken in cloudy or rainy days were dull and uninspired and not simply because of the subject and environment.

The front-facing camera is alright but nothing spectacular. If selfies are super important, or if you spend a lot of time video chatting with others, you might want to temper your expectations.

The Moto E5 won’t win any benchmark awards. It also won’t take first prize in a beauty contest. Do we care? Not really. It’s all about practicality at this level. You’re not buying this phone because you expect to get a tier-one experience for less than a night on the town. No, you’re buying it because you need a phone or are just starting out with your first one.

With prices that range from around $40-$100 at different outlets, it’s a terrific pickup for the money. And, when you understand that it can go with you from carrier to carrier, that peace of mind is worth it alone. Hell, assuming you opt for something more expensive later on, we’d suggest keeping this one for backup purposes or travel.

If you’re going camping for the weekend, headed to an amusement park for the day, or spending a few weeks abroad, the Moto E5 Play does the trick. In all of those instances you are not going to spend a ton of time using the phone. What’s the point in buying an expensive phone for those purposes? Moreover, why take the risk in losing or damaging one?

We like that the Moto E5 Play is paired with a variety of prepaid carriers. It’s the perfect demographic for it here in the US. Many of those user types are lesser demanding and the price point is right in line with its hardware.

Admittedly, battery life could be better. The phone’s 2,800mAh is touted as being “all-day” but that’s stretching things a bit. With that said, you don’t exactly have to keep a charger on you at all times. And, even when you are charging, it’s super fast (10W) and you’re back up and running before you know it.

In our testing we found it to last plenty long enough for our liking just so much as we plugged it when driving and didn’t pass up any opportunity to charge during meals. If you have a charger at work, you may really only need it once every so often.

Software

While the overall Android experience is excellent in 8.0 Oreo, and Motorola’s extra gestures and enhancements are minimal, we can’t say the same for the installed apps. There’s plenty of carrier-branded influence here, at least on our Verizon review unit.

Among other titles, we found ours to have Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, Solitair, Slotomania, Word Blitz, Yahoo Mail, Wish, and Weatherbug. This was in addition to the Verizon stuff. Fortunately, we were able to uninstall these non-essential titles.

We noticed that there was approximately 40% worth of storage space already spoken for so definitely look for a microSD expansion card. A few apps and games later and you’re sitting on the down side of the hill. That’s not even counting the pics and videos you’re likely to take.

We recommend at least trying out some of the Motorola gestures and functionality. A lot of them provide a bit of handiness and practicality. And, really, we miss them when they’re not activated or enabled.

Conclusions

Regardless of where you buy it, the Moto E5 Play makes for a solid all-around value. It’s everything you need in a device (web, social media, email, and messaging) with just a little bit left over.

There’s nothing overly sexy about the phone but we appreciate having the 3.5mm headphone jack, fingerprint sensor, and microSD card. It runs a very modern version of Android and the custom Motorola touches are essentially opt-in. We might like to remove some of the Verizon branded stuff but that ought not reflect on what Motorola’s done here.

For a first time smartphone user, less demanding consumer, or someone who might need a phone in a pinch, the Moto E5 Play is a great bargain. If your phone use is a mix of want and need, you may wish to look elsewhere.

The tech and apps you need for hurricane season

Jason England
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Hurricanes are one of the most destructive natural disasters that wreak havoc for miles upon miles. It leaves in its wake flooding, millions of dollars worth of property damage, and of course power outages.

Currently, the US is bracing for what looks to be a very active hurricane season beginning with Florence; this one looks to be a massive storm unlike one we’ve ever experienced on the East coast in recent memory.

Whether you’re bracing for a direct hit from a hurricane or you’re simply near the path, you need to be prepared. If you haven’t already, check the National Hurricane Center on how to prepare for the storm.

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Be Prepared

If you’re wondering what tech and apps can help you through the hurricane then that’s what we’re here for. Before we start with what items you need to pick up you should think about what you already own.

After a hurricane comes through causing flooding or other damage you’re going to be dealing with insurance companies. To make this process go more smoothly it helps to have pictures of all of your big-ticket items.

Make sure to take photos of the inside of your home, including serial numbers of some of your larger purchases such as TVs, laptops, and more. While you’re at it, don’t forget to sync these photos to the cloud service like Google Photos for example.

Weather Radio

A weather radio is essential in times like these. If cell coverage is taken out then you’ll be glad you have one of these to hear weather reports. With this weather radio from Esky, you get everything you need in an emergency situation. It is compact, lightweight, brightly colored, has AM/FM/NOAA radio, includes a flashlight, and can even charge your phone. There are also three handy ways to power it through solar, batteries, or a dynamo crank.

Buy from Amazon Buy from Newegg

Check below for some alternatives that you can try picking up locally from Best Buy and Walmart.

Midland – Weather Alert Radio Midland ER210 Weather Alert Radio

Stay Powered Up

It doesn’t matter if you’re in the path or just near it, power outages are an inevitability. That means you’re gonna need other sources of power. Especially to keep your lifeline to the world powered up because it’s never more important to keep your phone from dying than in an emergency situation. Luckily power banks are an easy and portable way to do just this. Below are a few good choices to choose from.

Amazon

Best Buy

Walmart

Another great option to have is a power bank that can jump-start your car. If you’re evacuating then you don’t want to get stuck with a car that won’t start or stuck behind someone who can’t start their car. This one from iClever has served me well over the past year and even comes with a flashlight built in.

Buy from Amazon

Check below for some alternatives that you can try picking up locally from Best Buy and Walmart.

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Solar Chargers

In a situation where you can be days or even weeks without power having a solar charger can be a lifesaver. These tiny panels won’t be super efficient and are only helpful if the sun is out to directly hit them. Still, it is better than no power at all.

Check below for some alternatives that you can try picking up locally from Best Buy and Walmart.

Shop Best Buy Shop Walmart

Lighting

Storms can hit at any time, including night time and there is nothing worse than being in the middle of a storm with no light. Not only that but the resulting power outages will leave you without light as well. For that reason, it is very important to have some flashlights and lanterns to use during or after the storm.

Check below for some alternatives that you can try picking up locally from Best Buy and Walmart.

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Waterproof Phone Case

While it’s true many flagship phones these days are waterproof, it’s not foolproof or perfect by any means. They also weren’t tested against storm surge or murky flood waters full of chemicals and other garbage.

A phone is one item you don’t want dying on you in the middle of a natural disaster. It’s better to be safe than sorry and get some sort of protection against the elements for one of your most important devices. This JOTO case comes highly rated and works for all phones up to 6 inches in length.

Buy from Amazon

Check below for some alternatives that you can try picking up locally from Best Buy and Walmart.

Shop Best Buy Shop Walmart

Important Apps

Another reason you’ll be glad you kept your phone charged up is for all the useful and vital information you can get using it. When a storm is coming that could threaten your life or your family is when you’ll be wanting to stay as up to date as possible with the latest news. Here are some apps to help you out.

Notifying Friends and Loved Ones

Whether you’re in the storm yourself or you have loved ones in the path you’re going to want to know if they are safe. It is important to know that during an emergency situation such as a natural disaster, cell towers can be damaged or clogged with calls. The best way to keep in contact is through text messages which have a higher likelihood of getting through.

Another useful tool for updating your friends and loved ones is through Facebook Safety Check. This is a feature Facebook enables during national disasters and other emergencies that allows you inform your friends and family quickly and easily that you’re safe.

Google teams with Samsung to make RCS messaging more widely available

Alexandra Arici
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Wish your Android phone had iMessages? Well as it turns out, this might soon become a reality. In a blog post this week, Google announced it has partnered up with Samsung to bring Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging to Android devices.

RCS is a next generation SMS protocol that upgrades text messaging. In case you don’t know, the biggest advantage RCS Messaging has over SMS it that it will enable users to send rich, verified messages. This means messages will be able to carry more info, so users will also be allowed to send things like photos, videos and audio messages.

We know what you’re thinking. These are features that messaging services like WhatsApp and Facebook have offered for some time, but Android phones have gone without in a default application.

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Samsung and Google enter collaboration to push RCS

Well, by teaming up with one of the largest Android handset makers in the world, Google is making sure to that its new text-messaging standards get pushed to the masses. In the blog post the search giant explains that the collaboration will ensure Android Messages and Samsung Messages work seamlessly with each company’s RCS technology.

Samsung will begin rolling out these features soon to some of its existing phones, starting with the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. But RCS will also come to newer devices including the Galaxy S9, Galaxy S9+, Note 8 and Note 9. Samsung’s mid-range lineup has also been taken into account. So select Galaxy A and Galaxy J devices with Android 9.0 or later will also get RCS.

The blog post goes on to say that new Galaxy phones will benefit from native RCS support, depending on wireless carrier. So at the moment in the US, we’re looking at Sprint and T-Mobile.

The new partnership hopes to further the adoption and availability of RCS globally, and honestly, Google couldn’t have chosen a better partner, given Samsung’s large share of smartphone market.

LG V40 ThinQ will be unveiled on October 3, ahead of Google’s Pixel 3

Alexandra Arici
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October is going to be a busy-busy month in terms of smartphone releases. And as it turns out, the first company to unleash a new flagship phone is going to be LG.

The Korean phone maker just announced it will be hosting an event in New York on October 3 to unveil the V40 ThinQ. This will be followed by a second event in Seoul, South Korea on October 4. The invitations to the release party have been sent out and LG also rolled out a 10-second video to tease the new camera on the V40.

While LG doesn’t explicitly say in the clip, it does hint towards the fact that the phone will arrive with a triple camera setup. Other than that, we expect the phone to arrive with a Snapdragon 845, 6GB of RAM and a 3,300 mAh battery.

The next phone in the V series is coming early October

But in contrast to the current LG V35 which features a classic display, the V40 will apparently take advantage of a notched display. According to a source, the phone will boast a screen-to-body ratio of up to 90%.

LG hasn’t confirmed any of this so far, so some things might turn out to be a little different when the company finally gets around to launching the device. So if you want to know the full story, don’t hesitate to tune in on October 4.

LG V40 concept

As we told you above, October is shaping up to be quite a month for smartphone lovers. Google is all set to unveil its next-gen Pixel phones on October 9. Then Huawei is also expected to unleash its Mate 20 lineup on October 16.

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Last but definitely not least, if rumors are true, OnePlus could end up unveiling its next-gen flagship, a day after Huawei’s event. The company hasn’t confirmed the date it, but chances are we’ll see the 6T make a debut on October 17.

Which of these flagships are you looking forward to the most? Let us know in the comment section below.

Google’s Inbox app days are numbered

Jason England
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Fans of Google’s innovative email app Inbox will have to look elsewhere in the coming months. The good news is, you have until March 2019 before you have to switch to Gmail or another app. Just another case of Google killing off an app or service, Google giveth and Google taketh.

Inbox began as an email experiment nearly four years ago for Google. It was created to test out innovative features and give users a new way to interact with their emails. At the time when it launched Gmail lacked many of the features it has today. However, with the launch of the redesign of Gmail Google has brought most of Inbox’s most popular features to their main email app.

Over the years features from Inbox have migrated over to Gmail including smart reply and most recently snoozing. Even tasks have made there way over from Inbox with the recent redesign. Currently, one absent feature is bundles which groups similar emails into a single block.

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Never fear, as Google says that bundles are in the works for Gmail. Yet, at this time there is still no word on when we can expect that feature to roll out to Gmail. Hopefully, we see it before the March 2019 retirement date for Inbox.

No one likes losing their favorite app or service and being forced to transition to another. Luckily fans of Inbox still have Gmail to fall back on and won’t have to lose many of the features that made them love Inbox. In fact, Google has even thrown together a support guide for Inbox users who are switching over to Gmail to make it easier.

Google informed The Verge that none of the Inbox team had been let go which is good news for the future of Gmail. Without splitting focus between Inbox and Gmail, it’s most likely we’ll see Gmail continue to evolve and be a worthy successor and alternative to Inbox.

Winc is the new, affordable way to discover new wines

AndroidGuys
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Even though most people love wine, few people know how to select wines based off their actual taste preferences — which is where Winc comes in to help. This wine delivery service not only eliminates the need to go to the grocery or liquor store for your bottle, they also handle all the work and research of picking the perfect bottle for you.

Here’s how it works: once you sign up, Winc asks you a few questions to build your taste profile. You’re sent a box of four wines, that you rate — your feedback is used to improve the next set of carefully curated bottles. How does Winc sell such high-quality range of wines for so little? They select and produce the wines in-house, cutting out the middleman and acting as your own personal wine club, winery and sommelier.

From crisp, drinkable Sauvignon Blancs, to elegant sparkling wines that taste like French champagne, to buttery, 100% Pinot Noirs, there’s something to suit everyone’s taste. Sign up today and start enjoying delicious recommendations and their pairings.

What Are The Wines Actually Like?

Winc was founded in 2012 by Xander Oxman and Geoff McFarlane, based on a shared belief that wine should be easier to get and to enjoy. They collaborated with winemaker and sommelier Brian Smith to create the personalized wine club that evolved into Winc.

Their passion is creating distinct and interesting wines, and Winc’s business model makes it possible for them to create more value and get granular with the stories surrounding each of their wines — like with the below five featured examples.

2016 Diviner Sauvignon Blanc

The future is best served chilled. This Sauvignon Blanc comes from the Santa Ynez Valley in California. The vineyards of this region are as high caliber as those in Napa Valley but because they are lesser known, it’s possible to create high-quality wines at a next generation price point. Crisp and lean, with light body and mineral notes, this Sauvignon Blanc is great with shellfish and cheeses.

2016 DIME Red Blend

If this wine was a celebrity it’d be James Dean—cool and elegant, a guy who can fit in anywhere because he doesn’t take himself too seriously. DIME is a blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot from two prime spots in the Santa Ynez Valley. Pop it open about 20 minutes before serving and enjoy its robust, dark fruit flavors.

2016 Field Theory Mourvèdre

If you’re the type of person who appreciates discovering handcrafted or unusual products then this is a perfect bottle of wine for you. Field Theory highlights curious varietals from unfamiliar places. And this old-vine Mourvédre (pronounced “mohr-VED”) from Enz Vineyard in the Lime Kiln Valley is a rare opportunity to taste a small lot wine without needing a wine collector’s budget. Mourvédre is typically deep in color, almost black, and delivers big, intense flavor. It’s best consumed with stews, red meats, or pasta with red sauce.

2017 Finke’s Sparkling White Blend

Celebrate independence. Celebrate yourself. Or just celebrate Tuesday with Finke’s Sparkling White Blend. This blend of Chenin Blanc and Chardonnay gives sun-kissed California vibes with tasting notes of pineapple, honeysuckle, and lemon. California Sparkling is just beginning to come into its own as a recognized category set apart from, not imitating, French Champagne. Finke’s has the celebratory feel of champagne, without the special occasion price tag.

2016 Folly of the Beast Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir is known as the “heartbreak grape”—thin-skinned and finicky, it’s a difficult grape to grow. For that reason, anyone would be mad to attempt to deliver a 100% Pinot Noir for under $20. Enter Folly of the Beast: a high quality, crowd pleaser with notes of cherry, clove, and oak. Enjoy it with poultry, pork, and cheeses. You can afford to get obsessed with Folly of the Beast.

Typically, four bottles from Winc can be delivered to your door for $52 (with complimentary shipping), but you can receive $22 off your first purchase right now.

Why your business needs to switch to HelloSign for eSignatures

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For companies, managing paperwork well is one of the most essential parts of a strong foundation. Transferring a workflow from paper to digital is not only responsible, it can be a revenue game changer. In fact, collecting and completing paperwork digitally helps businesses prevent user drop-off — and moving to eSignature increases revenue on average by 8% in its first year.

HelloSign is a platform that helps businesses collect legally binding signatures on documents. The platform also reduces administrative overhead by automating signature reminders, optimizing workflows by standardizing the entire process. And because the tools that businesses use vary, the HelloSign API lets you integrate eSignature capabilities into your own app, or set it up where there’s the most interaction with the eSignature process.

If you want to learn more about digitizing your workflow, look into HelloSign’s Digital Strength Program, which focuses on training enrollees in effective methods for organizing and executing successful transformation programs in your company. Signing up is free: click on the link to determine how you can increase ROI and improve customer experience.

What are the best cloud storage services for my Android?

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Having a mobile phone that’s capable of taking pictures and videos, creating documents, and downloading media is something we often take for granted. That such a small device is so powerful and able to house so much is lost on a lot of us.

In the early days of PDAs it was a different situation, and for a number of reasons. Chief among them was the fact that much of what was stored on these phones was locally housed and not backed up. Drop the phone and break it, or simply lose track of it, and you were in a bad way. All of those precious photos and important documents were often gone.

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Thanks to the advances in data speeds and cloud services, we can now routinely back up our files. Whether manually synchronized from a computer, scheduled to run, or automatically done, it’s now possible to ensure your stuff is safely stored in a secondary location.

Android users have no shortage of options to choose from when it comes to places to safely and securely back up files. Be it pictures, videos, music, important documents, or something else, there’s plenty we want to keep long term.

Finding the right place to house them can be daunting, if you allow it. But, do a little digging and you’ll see that there are a few that do much more than others, and often for free. Here are a handful of the best cloud storage services for your Android device.

Google Drive

You can’t have Android without having Google. Thankfully, nearly every single Android phone on the market is built with Google Drive right into the experience. Use it.

Not just designed for office-like files, Google Drive is your one-stop-shop for things you want to have readily available. Share items from your mobile email, sync from Chrome OS, upload in the web browser, and so much more.

You can create folders, set sharing permissions with other people, and give variable rights to view or edit. Have a bunch of memes you want to keep close? Upload them to a folder and pull them out when the time is right.

Everyone gets 15GB of space for free, but you can add on more as your needs change.

Dropbox

Perhaps one of the first names you ever learned when it comes to cloud storage, it’s still rocking and rolling in 2018. Not only can you use the service to back up your private files, but you can also work on files with other users through shared folders.

Need to deliver a massive file to someone? Upload it through Dropbox and send links to your co-worker or colleague. For those of you who want to keep track of expenses or important documents, use your camera to scan receipts or notes and turn them into PDF files.

You start out with just 2GB of space in the personal accounts but you can quickly add more by referring other users. Also, different products sometimes come with additional space, even if for a limited time.

Access files from pretty much anywhere in the world, regardless of platform. Log in via Windows, iOS, Android, Linux, OS X, and you’ve got everything at your fingertips. We also like that there are so many third party apps that tie in nicely with Dropbox’s APIs.

OneDrive

If you spend a lot of time in the Microsoft ecosystem of Office apps, you’ve probably encountered OneDrive along the way. Indeed, it’s a great resource for backing up your Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and other documents. It’s also an excellent cloud-based backup tool for your other files and media, too.

Those of you who make it a habit to upload or back up your photos, you can tag them for easier location and identification. Organize them into folders and share birthday parties, graduations, and other collections at once.

This one might skew a little more toward students or professionals but there are enough of them out there for us to recommend downloading. We live in a world of collaboration and sharing; OneDrive is the best you’ll find for Office and Microsoft fans.

Box

An awesome all-around cloud resource, Box allows you to not only back up your files, but collaborate and share, too. Start out with 10GB of space and house your images, videos, school documents, and other important files.

Once you’ve got your files uploaded you can easily locate them with the search tool that can also look inside of PDF docs. And, lest you worry about security, Box provides multi-layered 256-bit AES encryption. Heck, you can digitally watermark your files so you know if someone’s been sharing them with the wrong crowd.

If your needs are more business-based, you might find comfort in the different plans and services here. Plan to scale your company or grow over time? There are a handful of affordably priced options to support you along the way.

Mega

While a lot of cloud-based storage solutions simply provide 10GB-15GB of space, Mega throws down the hammer with 50GB. With end-to-end encyrption you can sleep well knowing your media is tucked away securely.

Pictures and videos are precious to us, and we want to access them from anywhere. You can back ’em all up across your various phones and pull them up from essentially anywhere in the world.

Not only is there an Android app, but you’ll also find iOS, Windows Mobile, and MEGAsync for desktop computers. What’s more, there are extensions for Firefox and Chrome to quicken loading times and increase performance.

Google Home review: After nearly two years, is it still worth it?

Jason England
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0

Google Home is the original Google Assistant enabled smart speaker. When it launched competition didn’t exist. If you wanted an Assistant enabled speaker, it was your only choice. Since then, there have been several Assistant smart speakers released. Your choices are no longer as limited as they once were. Now the question is, how does Google Home compare when it is no longer your only choice?

Design

The Google Home has a neutral design that blends seamlessly into most rooms. It mostly resembles an air freshener in my opinion, and I mean that as a compliment. Google Home simply blends in and won’t draw any extra attention to itself. It is not meant to look like a piece of tech and it excels at this.

A lot of this comes from the color choice and shape of the device. However, if you want yours to stand out you can easily buy replaceable bases and even skins for the top plastic section. The fabric base is held on securely by magnets and is easy to slide off and on. I’m happy to let mine look like a fancy air freshener.

My favorite part of the design would be the hidden LEDs on the top of the unit. The purpose of these is to give you feedback when Assistant is listening, thinking, or speaking to you. There is something so satisfying about watching the four multicolored LEDs light up and dance around. It’s honestly what I miss most when using any other Assistant enabled speaker.

Besides the animated LEDs on the top, there is also a touch sensor for controlling the volume. By running your finger in a circle around the top you can lower or raise the volume as indicated by the white LED volume meter. Then, of course, there is the mute button for the microphone on the back.

Features

Google Home launched with some fantastic features such as controlling your smart home, music playback, alarms, timers, updating you with your daily news and weather, and more. All you had to do was utter the command and like your digital genie, Assistant would light up and do your bidding. Over time it has gained more and more abilities such as making phone calls, adding reminders, playing games, and the list goes on and on.

Read More: 9 Tips and tricks for your Google Assistant speaker

While all Google Assistant smart speakers share essentially the same features, there is one exclusive to the Google speakers. For whatever reason, you can only make calls using the Google Assistant speakers at this time. Asking any other Assistant enabled speaker to make a call will be met with the reply “sorry I can’t make calls yet”.

Microphone Performance

The far-field microphones used in the Google Home speaker are some of the best I’ve ever used. Through my testing of several other smart speakers, I’ve always found the Google Home to be one of the top performers in this category. In fact, it even works better than the one on my smartwatch. Many times when trying to activate my watch only inches from my face Google Home would light up while the watch laid dormant.

Sound Quality

As a bit of an audiophile, I’ve been disappointed in the audio quality of the Google Home speaker since day one. The good news is the Google Home speaker has tons of bass and is very loud. I didn’t expect that given the compact size of this speaker. The bad news is, the bass is overwhelming and it lacks any detail in the high end making audio sound muddy overall.

An overwhelming amount of bass isn’t always a bad thing. For instance, when listening to rap, pop, or dance music it can be nice to feel the impact of the bass. Thankfully, if you’re not enjoying the sound quality of the Google Home speaker, there is a solution. Nearly a year after its release, Google finally added an equalizer option into the settings.

With the ability to tweak the bass and treble you can greatly improve the sound quality. However, even after adjusting the equalizer audio quality still falls short of some other Assistant speakers on the market. While the equalizer is a great feature, it also appears to be another Google speaker exclusive. None of the other speakers I’ve reviewed have included this option.

Final Thoughts

The great thing about smart speakers is they don’t age the same as other tech does. They don’t get slower over time, the battery life doesn’t decline, and a new faster one doesn’t come out every year. That means your smart speaker never gets worse, in fact, it actually gets better over time. Your smart speaker is always evolving as the AI improves and new skills and features are added.

With that said, there is no doubt that Google Home is better now than it has ever been. However, it no longer stands alone and you now have more choices than you have ever had when buying an Assistant enabled speaker.

Read more: Here are all the Google Assistant speakers, headphones, and displays you can buy

My biggest complaint about the Google Home was always the audio quality. However, after the introduction of the equalizer setting Google has almost negated that entirely. There are still slightly better sounding speakers in the same price range, but none are as fully featured as the Google Home. Making it one of the best choices when it comes to buying a midrange smart speaker. If you’re interested in picking one up you can get it from one of the links below.

Google Store ABT Best Buy B&H Photo Frys Newegg Target Verizon Walmart

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