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Your Nerdy Best Friend Presents… The Best Tech of 2014

Your Nerdy Best Friend 2014

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Beth Ziesenis, Your Nerdy Best Friend, shares the best blog posts and topics from her 2014 newsletter, NerdWords.

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Page 1: Your Nerdy Best Friend 2014

Your Nerdy Best Friend Presents…

The Best Tech of 2014

Page 2: Your Nerdy Best Friend 2014

About Beth Z

NewestTitles

Check Out the Blog: yournerdybestfriend.com

Get the Latest Book:nerdy.bz/releaseyournerd

Sign Up for the Newsletter:nerdy.bz/nerdwords

Author Beth Ziesenis is Your Nerdy Best Friend. From her home base in San Diego, Beth Z reviews and recommends the best

free and bargain tools and apps to make you more organized, efficient and awesome at

work and home.

Page 3: Your Nerdy Best Friend 2014

2014 Yearbook

Welcome to Beth Z’s list of favorite tools from 2014!

Each year we take the best tech tools and topics from NerdWords, our Friday

newsletter, and compile them into one easy-to-digest magazine.

Table of Contents:Productivity

DesignTravelCool

SecurityPhoto + Video

Page 4: Your Nerdy Best Friend 2014

I love HubSpot resources, but I get a little annoyed when they ask for tons of info before they share stuff. I know it’s their right and they gotta make a living somehow, but I have commitment issues. Here’s a short video on how I avoid sharing my email address using temporary email sites such as 10 Minute Mail.

Temporary Emailshttp://nerdy.bz/temporaryemail

Zoom.ushttp://nerdy.bz/zoom

www.yournerdybestfriend.comproductivity

If everyone in your online meeting promises to wear pants, videoconferencing can be a great way to communicate. You’ll find a lot of common features among the videoconferencing and screensharing tools, but Zoom is stepping up and standing out.

Page 5: Your Nerdy Best Friend 2014

Oh boy. What can I say about Gmail - or rather, what can’t I say about Gmail? In my humble opinion it’s my strongest tool in my google tool box. Here are five things to know about Gmail.

Gmail: The super-duper email toolhttp://nerdy.bz/gmail

Limitless Chrome Apphttp://nerdy.bz/limitless

www.yournerdybestfriend.comproductivity

Monitor your time online beautifully. I discovered and fell in love with Limitless, a Chrome app that monitors my web surfing in real time.

Page 6: Your Nerdy Best Friend 2014

Adobe just released a pretty cool video tool, Adobe Voice. The tool (just on iPad right now) lets you create quick slide-type videos with voiceover.

Adobe Voicehttp://nerdy.bz/adobevoice

Hemingway App: Simple Writing Critiqueshttp://nerdy.bz/hemingway

www.yournerdybestfriend.comproductivity

The online app called Hemingway lets you paste or write text on the page, and with one button click, the system analyzes your words and sentence structure to give you tips for clearer, more concise writing.

Page 7: Your Nerdy Best Friend 2014

Microsoft released it’s long awaited versions of the most popular office apps for iPad: Word, Excel and Powerpoint.

Office for iPadhttp://nerdy.bz/office

Transcribehttp://nerdy.bz/transcribe

www.yournerdybestfriend.comproductivity

The online site Transcribe by Wreally studios is a handy tool to help you with transcription. Just upload your MP3 and use the littel box to type your text.

Page 8: Your Nerdy Best Friend 2014

Design projects can cost upwards of $5,000, but design contests on 99designs start at a few hundred dollars. I ended up with 281 designs from dozens of talented designers!

99designs.comhttp://nerdy.bz/99designs

Nerdy Design Favoriteshttp://nerdy.bz/design

www.yournerdybestfriend.comdesign

A list of the world’s coolest tools to make memorable greeting cards, videos and more. You’re sure to wow with this list.

Page 9: Your Nerdy Best Friend 2014

When I need to get something done my first thought is always Fiverr. Fiverr is a marketplace of literally thousands of people who do all kinds of stuff - for $5. Help is on the way!

Fiverr Tips and Trickshttp://nerdy.bz/fiverr

Quote Pic Makerhttp://nerdy.bz/quote

www.yournerdybestfriend.comdesign

Ohhhh….Another instant quote maker! This one also lets you create instant Facebook and Twitter covers as well as the quote-type posters we all love for Pinterest.

Page 10: Your Nerdy Best Friend 2014

A clean, attractive presentation that is perfect for showcasing a product or telling a story.

Slidebean: Online presentation softwarehttp://nerdy.bz/slidebean

FlipSnackhttp://nerdy.bz/flipsnack

www.yournerdybestfriend.comdesign

FlipSnack is part of the SnackTools suite of products and lets you create your own flippable online magazine.

Page 11: Your Nerdy Best Friend 2014

I’m a huge, huge, huge fan of Tripit, the travel tool that keeps your travel and reservations straight. Here are a handful of tools I’ve learned to make the most of TripIt.

4 trips to make the most of TripIthttp://nerdy.bz/tripit

Getting a Lyfthttp://nerdy.bz/lyft

www.yournerdybestfriend.comtravel

These services offer cost-effective (and super cool) alternatives to the standard transportation experience.

Page 12: Your Nerdy Best Friend 2014

Square Cash is an app (and now an integration into Snapchat). It was by far the coolest and easiest of the money services. Sending took seconds, and receiving was apparently quite fun.

Quick Send Money Serviceshttp://nerdy.bz/money

Postmates: Meals and More Deliveredhttp://nerdy.bz/postmates

www.yournerdybestfriend.comjust cool

One of my favorite new companies is Postmates, a service that lets you order food and groceries with your mobile device. The concept is simple. Open the app, choose from the many restaurants or stores, request a delivery and track it’s progress.

Page 13: Your Nerdy Best Friend 2014

AmazonFresh is Amazon.com’s grocery and same-day delivery service. For $299 a year you get a Prime Fresh membership, which means you get the right to order stuff from AmazonFresh.

Amazon Freshhttp://nerdy.bz/amazonfresh

www.yournerdybestfriend.comjust cool

Page 14: Your Nerdy Best Friend 2014

Instagram just released a cool new app called Hyperlapse (iOS only right now) that lets you capture time-lapse video and share within seconds.

Hyperlapse from Instagramhttp://nerdy.bz/hyperlapse

Augmented Reality Shoppinghttp://nerdy.bz/shopping

www.yournerdybestfriend.comjust cool

Google’s Project Tango helps technology analyze its environment to give it context in time and space. You should really watch this video to see how Project Tango could change the way you shop forever.

Page 15: Your Nerdy Best Friend 2014

Do you have a drawer with years of owner’s manuals and incomplete registration forms? Time to recycle them all with Bawte, a clever service that lets you scan the UPC code of your appliance and gadgets for easy access.

Bawte: Illiminate Your Paper Owners Maualshttp://nerdy.bz/bawte

Noisli: Beautiful Background Musichttp://nerdy.bz/noisli

www.yournerdybestfriend.comjust cool

Noisli is a web app that warms your screen with a changing color palette and lets you choose background sounds you can truly work to. Effective for increasing productivity and decreasing distractions.

Page 16: Your Nerdy Best Friend 2014

Fitbit Force is a bracelet that monitors your activity and links to online mobile apps to help you keep track of your health. I wear mine 24 hours a day and I find it quite handy to keep my activity level top of mind.

FitBithttp://nerdy.bz/fitbit

www.yournerdybestfriend.comjust cool

Page 17: Your Nerdy Best Friend 2014

This is a complicated issue and means that the free and open internet service we have always enjoyed may change forever.

How Net Neutrality Affects Youhttp://nerdy.bz/net

Heartbleed: What you need to know http://nerdy.bz/heartbleed

www.yournerdybestfriend.comsecurity

What a mess. A security hole can allow hackers to sneak in and read the systems that hold your user names and passwords. Our knee-jerk reaction is to run around changing our passwords but that may not work.

Page 18: Your Nerdy Best Friend 2014

A sneak preview from my new book which provides specific tips, tricks, and details of my favorite tech tools. Here is a feature on LastPass, password security that will change the way you work.

LastPass Tips and Trickshttp://nerdy.bz/lastpass

Credit Cards: The changes are cominghttp://nerdy.bz/credit

www.yournerdybestfriend.comsecurity

In today’s world, threats to the security of your personal information and accounts are coming from every angle. In the next year or so, we’ll see widespread use of credit card technology called EMV chips that may keep our transactions safer.

Page 19: Your Nerdy Best Friend 2014

With thousands of emails drowning our inboxes every week, we need to do what we can to get people to notice our notes and get our messages across. Eyejot is video email that you can do from your computer or mobile device.

Eyejot: Video email in a flashhttp://nerdy.bz/eyejot

Animoto in Actionhttp://nerdy.bz/animotovacay

www.yournerdybestfriend.comphoto + video

Animoto is perfect for an instant vacation video!

Page 20: Your Nerdy Best Friend 2014

Animoto is truly simple to use from both a mobile device or your computer. Here are a few of my best practices for making a professional-looking video in minutes.

Animoto: Tips and Trickshttp://nerdy.bz/animototips

Make Art from Your Mobile Device Photoshttp://nerdy.bz/mobileart

www.yournerdybestfriend.comphoto + video

I love apps that help uncover the creative genius within! Here are three of my favorite apps for making quick graphics from your mobile device photos.

Page 21: Your Nerdy Best Friend 2014

GrooveBook is a way cool idea for both your personal photos and your organization’s next event - imagine snapping pictures all night long at your company’s reception then gifting the album to your boss. You’ll be a hero!

GrooveBookhttp://nerdy.bz/groovebook

www.yournerdybestfriend.comphoto + video