The developers at S4BB are having a 50% sale on all productivity and self-improvement apps as well as their series of eBooks. There are some great deals here so take advantage before the sale ends September 16th.
I do not know about you, but I am at a point in my life that remembering something is a near impossibility. Try as I may, my memory is constantly failing me. If it were not for checklists, I would never get anything done. Suffice it to say, organization is not my strongest attribute; however, I am never without my BlackBerry.
Having a checklist app in my pocket all day, every day, is the only way I can remain productive. Knowing what you have to do, and where to go to get that information is absolutely essential in today’s high demand work force, unless you are blessed with an eidetic memory.
Did you get a new BlackBerry this holiday? Are you looking to trick it out with some sweet applications? Mashable has come to the rescue, posting their top 20 productivity and organization applications for BlackBerry. While the list is by no means exhaustive, it’s a great starting point and we agree with pretty much everything on this list. You can find links to the 20 apps after the jump or check out Mashable’s original article below.
The fine folks over at S4BB just let me know that they have a new production in their popular line of productivity applications for BlackBerry (S4BB also makes both NextAction! and TaskMaster for BlackBerry). Dubbed ActionPad, the application is now in open beta for members of the BlackBerry Nation to try out.
ActionPad Beta 1 feature list:
- Quick: 2 click memo creation.
- Category quick switch: known from TaskMaster(TM) and NextAction!.
- Supports multiple categories.
- Export memo to / send memo via EMail.
- Compatible with desktop memo applications. more…
- 3 Font sizes: small, medium, large.
- 100% compatible with internal Blackberry® Memo(TM) Application.
- Functions: add / edit / delete memo, add / delete category.
The ActionPad beta test is totally free of charge and open to everyone. Just head to the link below to download the application, and don’t forget to leave lots of helpful feedback!
The gang at BerryReview posted about S4BB announcing that anyone can score a free copy of DoneIn2Minutes with the purchase of any one of their other productivity applications such NextAction!, TaskMaster, and HabitMaster. Most of the applications, including DoneIn2Minutes, are based on the GTD (Getting Things Done) “life management system.” One of the tenets of the system is that any task which can’t be completed in under two minutes should be delegated or deferred. $9.95 is a bit steep for what is essentially a glorified 2 minute timer, so this promotion makes it a bit more palatable if you’re into that sort of thing.
Mentat is a lightweight task management system based on the growingly-popular Getting Things Done philosophy. BlackBerry software is paired up with a web client to help organize tasks into categories, assign them to particular people, update status, leave comments, and plenty more. It’s a solid step up from the built-in Tasks application primarily by virtue of sharing a daily agenda with others and being able to communicate about those projects. There are some basic things that Tasks has that would be really great to see in Mentat, but it’s still in beta and features are being added on an ongoing basis.
Marketcircle recently announced an update to their Daylite productivity tool. A quick look over to their blog reveals the big changes, namely turning a single-device sync application into a calendar and contact sharing service for up to 50 users. They’ve included a Trash bin to give you a little extra wriggle room when it comes to accidental deletes, and around 300 help articles to help you work your way around the software. If BlackBerry isn’t your thing and you’re all about the Apple, Daylite works with the iPhone and iPod, in addition to Windows Mobile and Palm devices. If your Mac-ified office could use something like this, check out Marketcircle’s site.
A recent article from the Bapco Journal examined a pilot program to equip Bedfordshire police with BlackBerrys. From a human-resources point of view, police are not only very mobile, but also extremely dependent on up-to-date information and quick communication. Of course there’s plenty of other smartphones out there that can provide for those needs, but the Bedfordshire police went with BlackBerrys for a few particular reasons.
Discussing why the force selected BlackBerry, [Insp. Jim Hitch, Project Manager, Bedfordshire Police] said, “Many of the solutions we trialled did not allow us to mobilise the computerised systems that we already have in place. With the BlackBerry solution, we were able to do this quickly and easily. The solution operates securely with a low overhead which means low costs to the public. Managing our deployment of devices through the BlackBerry Enterprise Server has also been hassle free. We can change a security policy or push out a new application remotely, saving both time and money,”
Above all, the police seem altogether satisfied with the security of data transmission, and you’d better believe they’re dealing with some sensitive information.
An editorialist over at ITWeek has suggested that software should be developed for metering time spent on BlackBerrys so that corporate users could be paid overtime for working while not at work. With the feds here in Ottawa, it’s a given that you’re either on your BlackBerry nonstop, or you’re not a “team player” as it were.
The viability of something like BlackBerry overtime happening would not only rely on the corporate goodwill of management, but also on the costs of setting the system up. There would be an excessive amount of back-end paperwork in terms of payroll, involving dishing out pennies and dimes for two-second e-mail checks, not to mention administrative costs of maintaining whatever software solution was involved.
Of course, those aren’t absolute roadblocks – there are reasonable solutions to be found that could encourage extra productivity through BlackBerry usage while not being too much of a managerial hassle. If any corporate users out there have a system like this in place, we’d love to hear from you.
Ipsos Reid has completed a study of return on investment for BlackBerrys, and the general conclusion is that each user turns one hour of downtime a day into productive time. The report was a follow-up to a similar 2004 report to see how the productivity scene had changed. Fewer people strongly agreed that 24/7 BlackBerry e-mail access increased their productivity, even though reported daily usage went up an average of 15 minutes. That seems to suggest the further BlackBerrys become entrenched in routine, the more seamless productivity increases become.
The gang at BerryReview 
Mentat is a lightweight task management system based on the growingly-popular 
Marketcircle 
A 
An editorialist over at 
Ipsos Reid has 
