management

Sprint's Dan Hesse just got a warning notice from his board

Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse should probably think about doing some networking on LinkedIn.

Today's Wall Street Journal has a rare, insider-rich piece targeting Hesse. A betting man would say his own board of directors had a lot to do with the story. No, no one on the board is quoted directly. But the picture the WSJ paints is certainly a flattering one of an engaged, hands-on board. They are served well by this story.

You don't see this sort of knifing when an exec is secure in his job. It usually means board members are trying to … Read more

Reminder Tool for Mozilla Firefox

There are quite a number of calendars and to-do tools readily available out there. These are normally large applications that are intended for a lot of heavy-duty stuff. We're talking campaigns, business plans, and other time-based activities where you need to see the big picture. However, if you are looking for something that will simply remind you of specific dates and tasks on a daily basis, try this new add-on for Mozilla Firefox. ReminderFox is a free, simple tool for setting reminders without leaving your browser.

Once installed, the add-on sits unobtrusively in the status bar until needed. Reminders … Read more

Flash Manager makes the most of your Flash vids

Flash Manager by Free Grounds is built upon Adobe Flash Player, but with a few extras. It plays your Flash and Shockwave videos and creates, imports, and exports playlists, and it offers the basics like full-screen view and scale and align modes. But it also packs some interesting tools; the Single File Flash Packager, Flash Gallery Maker, and Screensaver Maker, for example. It's freeware, too.

Flash Manager embeds Flash Player and includes a full set of player controls. To the right of the main window, Flash Manager displays Playlists. At the top, File, View, Tools, and More menus round … Read more

XPad is a fast, lightweight, portable Notepad replacement

Many Windows users prefer to replace Notepad with a more capable text editor. XPad Text is one of the many contestants for the job. This portable freeware has full Unicode support for UTF-8, UTF-16, and UTF-32, including multiple languages. It's compact, lightweight, and uses little memory. Among its features are automatic copy selection to the clipboard, multiple clipboard selections, active links, a calculator, and various decoders and converters. Since it's portable, it can run from USB drives and other directories.

XPad's developers said this portable tool is fast, and it opened almost instantaneously when we clicked its … Read more

Has Apple's iBooks Fair Play DRM been cracked?

When users purchase digital books through the iBookstore for their iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch, those files are only able to be played on iOS devices. That's because everything sold through the iBookstore has Apple's Fair Play digital rights management (DRM) software protecting it.

Now it appears, much to the chagrin of e-authors and digital book publishers, Apple's DRM has been cracked. The news comes from a forum post on MobileRead by user pdurrant:

"It is now possible to remove the DRM from epub ebooks bought in Apple's iBooks store. 'Brahms' has recently released a … Read more

How to ignore texts on Android

You may have recently learned how to block annoying callers on Android by adjusting settings in the caller's contact information. Now, you can handle the next step of ignoring someone--not seeing texts from them--by using NetQin's Mobile Manager for Android. Here's how to get started:

Important note: This app will ignore alerts for people on your blacklist, not prevent them from incurring charges for texts on your monthly bill. If you need a more permanent solution for blocking texts from your phone completely, you will need to contact your wireless provider.

Step 1: Install Mobile Manager&… Read more

Getting started with Clear (video)

Clear is in a class of its own when it comes to both user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) in an iPhone app. It's simple, yet elegant as Jason Parker described it.

The no-frills approach to adding, deleting, and completing tasks with such a minimal UI can confuse some people at times, though. This short video walk-through will cover the basics, enough to get you started using Clear.

Once you get the hang of the gestures, moving around the app is intuitive. As I mentioned in the video, you can unlock up to three themes, each changing the … Read more

The Clear method to complete tasks

I wrote my previous app collection about Advanced task managers on iOS, but a new app came to my attention this week that's too good to pass up.

Clear (99 cents) is a to-do list app that lets you use simple gestures to manage your tasks with an interface that's as intuitive as it is easy on the eyes. People seem to like this simple task manager, because it's now No. 1 in the iTunes App Store. This app won't take the place of Reminders or other scheduling apps that offer alarms--Clear sticks to simple list making, and it does a fine job.… Read more

How to unlock three hidden themes in Clear, the new iOS task app

Clear, which is a task-managing app for the iPhone, launched and almost instantly became No. 1 in the App Store.

The rich UI, mixed sound effects, and a long list of usable gestures, make for a unique experience on your iPhone. There really isn't another app out there like it.

In the settings for the app you will find themes, five in total. One thing you may not know is that there are actually three (that I can find/know of) themes that can be unlocked by the user in the app itself. Here is what each of them … Read more