These days it seems quite often that I hear people say, ‘I hate technology’ and yes, I will admit there are many times technology can be frustrating, or not perform the way we expect. Is this because we are so used to the availability of being able to access the internet and our online tools whenever we want?
However, the moment it seems crucial to be able to access technology, something seems to go wrong. A website will be down, or some other drama to prevent us completing our project at the specified cut off time.
My life gets very busy, I love how varied my job is, and that I can work around the other commitments I have with my partner, children and family. One of the things that I really enjoy is that even though I live over 1000 kilometres away from my parents, I can still go shopping with my mother – internet shopping that is.
Mum is not the most skilled when it comes to technology. In fact, I would go as far as to say it can be quite frustrating teaching her how to use it. This doesn’t deter me though, there are so many great tools out there that I can use to help her use technology from this distance, it also gives me the ability to spend some mother-daughter time together while we shop online.
TeamViewer
This first one is indispensable, it really does make life so much easier to help someone with their computer from a distance. If you need to help a family member as well, please note that you need to download it on to both machines before you can connect to two. PC mag has done a very in-depth review of it.
This is like the first one, but I can log onto mum’s smartphone from my computer. (mind you I need to talk her through the process on another phone or she logs me off) It will show mums phone screen on my computer as she sees it, I am then able to tell her what she needs to do to get the outcome she wants, or do it myself. I have found this wonderful when it works, however, sometimes it just will not connect.
Skype
As I am sure you all know Skype is perfect to chat in real time and still maintain a connection with family members or clients, verbal communication is such a big part of talking to those around us. I have been using Skype in a mentoring group with 4 other business women over almost 12 months now, this has been very successful as we encourage each other in business and get to know one another. Skype has recently been updated and has a whole new look, PC Mag has a great in-depth review of it too.
Slack
I don’t use Slack with my family, but I do use it with clients that are in a different location to me. It is an amazing tool that allows my clients to upload photo’s, then I can download them when I need them. We can then chat about each picture, or create new threads to discuss other subjects. I am sure there are many more uses to this amazing program, but these are what I use it for. PC Mag once again has an amazing in-depth review, and how-to use this app.
Last but certainly not least is
Pixel Art
Yes, sometimes the creative in me takes over and I can’t live without this cute little app. It is definitely geared towards the kids end of the market, however, there are more intricate pictures to colour that children wouldn’t have the patience to do. Yes, it is paint by number, however after a busy day when my brain won’t turn off this is the perfect little game to help me relax.
I hope you have found something in here that will help you too, and I would love to hear about the apps and tools that you can’t live without. If you don’t want to post feel free to send us an email.
