ADVANCEDPROJECTS
ISSUE385|COMPUTER SHOPPER|MARCH2020 127
WORKINGTOGETHER
Creddle creddle.io
Doodle doodle.com
GoProof http://www.goproof.net
Join Me http://www.join.me
LetMeGoogle
That ForYoulmgtfy.comOnline OCR http://www.onlineocr.net
Quire quire.io
Slido http://www.sli.do
Stormboard stormboard.com
Visual CV http://www.visualcv.comTHERISEOFthe app hasn’t completely killed
the collaborative websiteorweb app.There
are all kinds of toolstohelp meetings happen
and flow,from Doodle polls to find ameeting
time that suits all attendees, to Sli.do and
Stormboard forcollaborating and interacting.
Sli.do is essentially amessageboard tied to
apresentation. The host hands out acodeto
all attendees, and theycan post questions
and chat without distracting the presenter.
Stormboard creates asharedwhiteboard for
smaller groups to brainstorm and sketch.
Avirtual whiteboard might also be useful
fordistributed meetings, the sort we’ve been
promised will be normal forthe past 20 years.
Perhaps it’s the climateemergency rather
than faster connectivity that finally shifts
behaviour from face-to-face meetings.
Join Me is auseful tool forthose inevitable
‘Let me just show you what Imean’ moments,
as it lets you share your screen with other
people.GoProof is handy forjointly proofing
documents or feeding in creative input:
upload your PDF,invitecolleagues and you
can see who has made what comments or
suggestions. Youcould do that live,orjust
throw out the link forafew days and collect
everything back together forasecond draft.
Quire is agreat workflow management
tool forgroups, laying out tasks in tiered lists,
and allowing you to assign people,set
deadlines and add notes. If you’re more
visual, you could consider Trello,which uses
‘boards’ (like virtual Post-It notes) fortasks.
Being the resident brainbox of agroup,
firmororganisation can be draining; you can
only answer so many questions before
frustration sets in. Better to send passive-
aggressive LetMeGoogleThat ForYou links.
This heavily sarcastic tool creates alink from
the search term you enter,which launches a
web page explaining how to enter asearch
term intoGoogle. Once your colleagues are
used to finding
out information
on their own,
you might feel
redundant (or
possibly be made
so), so use Visual
CV or Creddle to
make aprofessional
CV easily.Visual CV
uses your LinkedIn
profile,but you’ll
have to start
from scratch
with Creddle.TRAVEL
Flight Stats http://www.flightstats.com
Hotel WiFi Test http://www.hotelwifitest.com
Scribble Maps http://www.scribblemaps.com
Seat Guru seatguru.com
Skiplagged skiplagged.com
Train Tickets http://www.traintickets.comFLIGHTSTATSANDScribble Maps are pretty
obvious tools, allowing youtocheck flights
and createacustom Google map to help
people get from one place to another.The
other toolsare more about planning your
own trips. Clearly Wi-Fi speed will be your
priority when picking your hotel –who needs
apool, gymorchoice of pillows when you
can stream 4K Netflix or work at areasonable
speed? Hotel WiFi Test allows you to book
hotels with the fastest connections in town.
You’ll need to cross-check that
information with Skiplagged (no,we
don’t know how to pronounce it either –
Ski-plagged? Skip-lagged?) or Train Tickets.
Both of these services exploit the range of
possibilities when going from AtoBto find
the cheapest waytodoso. Train Tickets
works out if it’s cheaper to book one ticket
forthe whole journeyorseparatetickets
forthe component parts, potentially by
swapping service provider foramiddle
part of the journey.
Skiplagged’s trick is essentially the
opposite. Rather than book adirect flight,
it might be cheaper to book alongerflight
with alayover in your actual desired
destination and then just not take the last
leg of the journey.
Once you’ve booked your flight, use
Seat Guru to find the best seats on the
plane.Colour-coding tells you which seats to
choose and which to avoid. The obvious
considerations are factored in, but also
plane-specific ones such as some business
class seats not having access to awindow,or
seats with armrest entertainment (at the
front of sections) being narrower than usual
and not having under-seat storage.⬆Use Sli.do to have discussions during a
presentation without distracting the presenter⬆Savemoneyonlong train journeys with aquick
and simple search on Train Tickets⬅Organise meetings
quickly with the help
of Doodle