Wea've always had a good relationship with Shoeboxed. Ita's no wonder, really, considering we have so much in common: Efficiency, style, a deep hatred of loose pieces of paper.
Our partnership has been going so well, we decided it was time to take things to the next level. Shoeboxed and Skyclerk has seriously committed to each other. To celebrate this joyous occasion, we wanted to share the love.
Starting today, any Premium or Infinity Skyclerk user will get a free Shoeboxed account. Free! Herea's how:
If you dona't have a Skyclerk account, just register one and wea'll do the rest, from setting you up with Shoeboxed to linking the two accounts together.
If you already have a Skyclerk account, all you need to do is activate Shoeboxed.
If you already have a Shoeboxed account, wea'll transfer it over to Skyclerk. Dona't worry; wea'll pick up the tab so you only have one monthly bill.
Like any strong relationship, this one is based on a seamless give-and-take. When you have both accounts activated, your Shoeboxed transactions will be automatically imported to your Skyclerk account every day. How sweet is that?
Waltz on over to Skyclerk to get started. Aina't love grand?
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Here at Cloudmanic Labs, wea're always looking for ways to tame the document pile. Whether ita's receipts or certificates, emails or e-bills, paper or digital, the trappings of running a business can be difficult to keep track of.
Thata's all about to change.
We want to let you know about something wea're working on. Ita's called Heapless, and ita's an organizational tool will help you lose the heap. Ita's going to be like having a dozen assistants at your beck and call.
Like all of our products, Heapless was designed to enhance the efficiency of your office. Heapless is a solution to a problem almost everyone has.
Heapless isna't ready for prime time just yet, but wea're hard at work on getting it there. If youa'd like to be notified when Heapless launches, visit our website and sign up for Heapless news.
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As the year comes to a close, wea're thinking about all wea're grateful for in 2011 and what wea're looking forward to in 2012.
First and foremost, wea're thankful to you for making 2011 a terrific year. This has been a stellar 12 months in many ways:
- Skyclerka's growth this year was beyond our wildest dreams. In order to keep our product up to par, we spent a lot of time scaling Skyclerk and making tweaks based on your feedback. Having to switch our name to Skyclerk was a setback, but we came out of just fine and love our anewa name. It was one glitch among many highlights. We released iPhone and Android apps, which have been well-received by users. We also built and strengthened partnerships with other companies, including Shoeboxed.com.
- Grapeshare, which started as a side project to satisfy our love of wine, was launched. This project is still very new but is off to a fantastic start, with more and more users posting about the wines they love every day.
As good as the last year was, wea're eagerly looking towards what wea'll be bringing you in 2012. A few of the things to keep an eye on:
- With Skyclerk, wea're going to build on the successes wea've had so far. That means doing more of what wea've been doing: Listening more to users, building more features based on that feedback, and doing more to find new and creative ways to make bookkeeping and accounting dead simple. Youa're the reason wea're here; ita's always our goal to meet your needs.
- Just like a fine wine, we anticipate that Grapeshare will only get better as time goes by. However, Cloudmanic Labs has moved on from Grapeshare. It has become very clear Grapeshare is going to grow into a thriving business. Grapeshare has a great team working on it everyday. While we are no longer formally involved we chat with the team every day and will continue to promote Grapeshare. We love our focus on small business and felt Grapeshare was too far out of our wheel house. Grapeshare made our 2011 New Year letter because it was a big part of our year and we know it is going to have a very exciting 2012.
- Finally, wea'll be rolling out our newest project, Heapless, in early 2012. Heapless is another tool a like Skyclerk a to support the paperless office. You know those heaps of paper that can pile up on your desk? If so, then you have a pretty good idea of what Heapless can help you with. Look for more on Heapless in the coming months.
Again, without you, none of the highlights on this list exist. Thanks for your input, which keeps us striving for our best. Herea's to you! Cheers!
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It was probably a decade ago, in the midst of my angst ridden teen years, that I decided New Year’s Resolutions were a load of crap.
My own personal case study has proven me correct: January 1st means a month of fighting to get on a treadmill at the gym. All the people who hate to work out, but resolve to go every day because HEY! NEW YEAR? NEW YOU! Time to flatten those abs and tighten that ass, right? No more carbs or chocolate, RIGHT?
Wrong.
“Diets” are always the new black in a new year. At least until February when the gym clears out again.
So yeah, I gave up trying to be “better” every new year. And who could blame me with all that Y2K (and now 2012) end-of-the-world stuff? Why not just party like it’s 1999? Live fast, die young. Mr James Dean said so.
But that doesn’t really work either. I don’t really believe that I will live to see the world end. And I don’t really care to die young.
So my mantra the last few years has simply been: Outdo Yourself. Basically, have a better year than the last. Do something different. Fly by the seat of your pants. Whatever the cost, go do interesting shit so you have something to put in your memoir. Or at least a great Facebook status to make your friends jealous.
It’s been an interesting few years: in 2009 I was art directing a magazine in NYC and working myself to the ground. A layoff at the end of the year turned 2010 into a tour of South America and part of the US. 2011 I decided to give the deuces to my beloved Brooklyn and try out a low key west coast lifestyle.
That brings us to 2012. The ghost of Christmas future.
I had a few vague ideas of what this next year should accomplish, but it wasn’t until this fine gentleman pointed me in the direction of this outrageous lady’s blog post that I discovered I could indeed make resolutions. In the form of specific and attainable goals. In a way that gives me time as opposed to the First Of The Year Cold Turkey Syndrome.
Basically you pick a word for the year, choose 9 “life buckets”, 3 goals for each, and write down an action step for each goal at the beginning of every month. If you don’t do it, ask yourself why not? Maybe you didn’t want to do it in the first place. Reevaluate. Carry on.
My word for the year? Those of you who know me outside of the interwebs will probably get a fantastic laugh. Patience. She of the instant-gratification-let’s-hop-on-the-next-train-out-of-town-I-wanted-that-done-yesterday persona has chosen the word “patience.”
Why this particular word? Because I feel like I run around with my head cut off most of the time. Because when I don’t get something I want within 10 seconds, I get over it and move on to the next. If there are more than 2 people in line for coffee, I turn on my heel and walk out the door.
And I live in a town with serious slacker mentality. You’d have thunk some of it would have worn on me by now. You’d have been mistaken. Apparently you can take the girl out of the rat race, but the rat race stays severely embedded into her system.
At any rate, I’m hoping that this methodology brings more focus and attention to everything I do. Instead of walking out the door sans caffeine fix, why not take the time to snap some shots on the good old iPhone as a location reference for future photos shoots? Or use that time to simply be, well ummmm, patient?
I live in Rose City and I rarely stop to smell the damn roses. Here’s hoping I understand the idea of Patience a little better by 2013.
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Let’s go back a couple weeks ago - prior to Twitter’s launch of the massive redesign that has been all the rage the last few days. New, seemingly minor features kept rolling out on a pretty frequent basis. The problem was that they were being stuffed into spaces that, at least in my mind, were supposed to be pure. The system was getting convoluted.
My biggest beef was with the Activity tab. Quite frankly, I don’t care who my followers are now following. That information doesn’t deserve its own space. I figure the suggestions provided by Twitter must have some algorithms that create an educated guess on who and what you’re interested in. My trust in technology is greater than my trust in most users of technology.
Overall, I was starting to get confused. And I work on websites for a living. In fact, I design user interfaces. Not your average interweb persona looking for funny photos of cats to forward to my BFF and posting shout outs to my homies for a job well done drinking jagerbombs all night.
It felt as if these changes (really, additions) were taking away the simple structure that Twitter was built upon from day one. Not to mention the iPhone app was a process unto itself. How many taps should it take to get to your own Tweet feed? Definitely not as many licks as it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop.
I was THIS CLOSE to deactivating my Twitter account. I cut the cord to Facebook a couple months ago and once the initial withdrawal was over, I felt lighter. My life was my own again. Therefore, might as well slash every social networking service that isn’t serving me.
Fast forward to the morning of December 8. I opened the Twitter app on my iPhone and gasped with delight. 4 lovely icons populated the navigation bar.
Almost immediately I knew what they had done. But I had to be sure.
I booted up my laptop and went straight to my first visit of the #NewTwitter. A bigger gasp this time. Everything was different. Everything was lighter. Everything was more sane than it had felt in a long time.
I’m not going to go on about the actual changes. If you use Twitter, you’ve already seen/used the new interface. If you’re not a Tweethead, then I’m not sure why you’re reading this in the first place.
What is by far more important to me is the WHY of this redesign. I had an inkling, but checked the Twitter blog* for confirmation. And I was correct.
The redesign was due to careful consideration of how users were, uhhh, USING the service. Through @ symbols to connect with people and hashtags (#) to discuss topics. So what did those smart cookies over at Twitter do? They reiterated the entire site to make a better service for their consumer base REFLECTING how they were already using the site. These design decisions were not based on what they THOUGHT users MIGHT want in their Tweet world. They were based on evidence. Cold. Hard. Facts.
This is the business model of the technology age: iteration and reiteration (hat tip to Steve Jobs). Putting a beta version out there, seeing how it fares, and course correcting. Testing A vs B vs C. Streamlining instead of bloating your product with unnecessary crap. Integrating rather than adding on like those parasites that live off their mothership shark for life.
My favorite part of the new design? So glad you asked. The “Compose New Tweet” icon—that perfectly lovely feather pen which shows those designers are thinking about the details. It says “We’re a classic now. We’re here to stay. Maybe you should, too. And write something while you’re at it. Just keep it 140 characters or less.” And yes, that quote is exactly 140 characters.
*Twitter must have edited this blog post. When I read it the day of the launch they discussed the topics above, as well as making it easier for new users to adapt. The post also discussed that they expected some backlash on the new interface, but that they would educate the population using this site.
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When someone reaches out to our company trying to get something from us, such as a job, or to sell us something, I always apply what I call the the “Joker Test”. All our products are free in at least a basic way, and it takes less the 30 seconds to sign up for an account. Our products are what define us. Every decision we make is going to be in terms of how we can make our products better for our customers. So why the heck would someone not take the time to learn a little about what we do before reaching out to us?
The aJoker Testa is simply a quick search to find out if the person reaching out has created an account and engaged with our product at least a bit. If the results are positive, the person passes my first screen.
It takes very little to time to understand us; with very little effort you can discover how we tick. Your proposal to us will be so much more valuable and our willingness to give you the time of day will be much higher if you just do some research before picking up the phone or sending us an email. Or you may choose to be a Joker.
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I admit it. I have made many friends and family membersa' ears bleed with my constant raving of a particular product once and again. When I fall in love with a product I make sure everyone around me knows. I form a complete disdain for the use of any other product. I have never understood why until recently. Beyond my comprehension, I have always loved Basecamp over Jira even though Jira does way more. It puzzles me why I love my Mac more than any other computer when Linux gives me all the control in the world. I always wondered why I am willing to pay up for a JetBlue flight when United will get me to the same place cheaper.
I stood in line for hours to be the first to buy the iPhone. The phone really was a game changer. After a year or two I dumped the iPhone and went all Android. I had this concept that I wanted more control over my phone. I did not want Apple telling me what to do with the hardware I paid for. After almost 2 years of using the Android I went back to the iPhone. I realized all the features, control, and freedom Android offered was at the cost of a shitty product. To me there was nothing engaging about using an Android. There was no emotional connection.
I think feature bloat in most products is nothing more than mind tricks. We get wrapped up in the fantasy of all the stuff we can do with those features. We feel a product is so much better because the feature list is longer. We feel if we have the control to hack away on our products they are somehow better.
So, when I say a product is no good, or better yet, another one is simply amazing, I cana't aways give you a bulleted list of the reasons for my affirmation. I cana't always define in words why one sucks me in while the other just sucks. You just sort of know when a product is top notch. You get the feeling great care and attention to detail was put into building it. You know because you find yourself engaged using it; you look forward to the next time you get to use it. It becomes a friend to you, rather than a utility.
Think of it this way. I cana't tell you every reason why I love my wife, I dona't really know. I am not completely sure why I chose to spend the rest of my life with her. There is something so engaging about her that it brings out all my passion. Products that dona't suck are the same way.
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Exciting news: We just launched Grapeshare, new social network that lets you share the wine you love with friends.
At Cloudmanic, we like wine. For years, the team has talked about wine, discovering new wine, keeping track of wines we have enjoyed, and how there needed to be a better way to share wine with friends. We looked at different wine apps, but there was no elegant tool for what they wanted. We wanted something easier and beautiful. And something that we could use to not only track wines, but discover new ones. Discover people who are like us and like the grapes we like.
So naturally, we decided to take matters into their own hands. The result is Grapeshare, a new social network for oenophiles that lets you share the wine you love with friends. You can record and rate wines, upload label photos, make connections and get recommendations.
If this venture seems a bit different from our other work, it is a and it isna't. See, Cloudmanic Labs believes in the power of creativity. Every week, we take a little time off from our regular projects to work on other thingsa—or to just brainstorm about what the world needs. At the very least, we have stimulating conversations. Grapeshare is one of those “other” projects. Like all of the things we do, Grapeshare was sparked by passion, and it continues to be fueled by hard work.
It’s great to be able to share that passion with the rest of the world. To get started with Grapeshare, go to the website and sign up with your Twitter, Facebook, or Google account. You can also follow us on Twitter (@grapeshare) and like us on Facebook. Check out our blog for wine tips and stories, and to keep updated on new features.
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Never turn your back on a mountain.
Note: Earlier this summer, my husband and I found ourselves in an unfamiliar dilemma: we both had a chunk of vacation time we needed to use immediately. The situation called for an epic road trip across the wilds of Washington, Canada and Montana. More background in earlier post: Northwest road trip, part I: Ghosts and vampires
While Olympic National Park is home to the majestically named Olympic mountain range, it didna't prepare us for the peaks of British Columbia. The first attack came just after we left Vancouver. We wound our way north along the famous Sea-to-Sky Highway, admiring views of water and forest, and when we came to a sign for a waterfall at a provincial park (kind of like a state park here), we turned off the road. Our reward was the sight of Shannon Falls’ 1,000-plus-foot foot cascade.
That should have taught us something. But instead, when just down the road we came upon a scenic viewpoint sign with a little mountain graphic on it, we hardly noticed.
“Stop?” my husband asked, not taking his eyes off the road.
“Nah,” I said from the passenger seat. We hadn’t been driving very long; we’d just stopped at the waterfall; plus, I figured we weren’t going to get a dramatically better view of the distant peaks than what we could see out our car window.
We zipped by the turnoff. A moment later, we went around a corner.
“Oh my God! Wow! Holy—- ! Wow!”
Giant, glacier-covered mountains loomed to the west. They were so big, and so unexpected; it felt like they were nearly on top of us. I grabbed for the camera and got off a few through-the-window shots while my husband tried to keep from driving us off the road.
Honey, therea's a mountain at the window.
And thus we learned our first lesson of Canada: When they tell you there’s something to look at, they really mean it.
From there, the sights only got bigger and more impressive. Any bend could yield a breathtaking vista. We expected that in the national parks, but realized the whole freaking province was stunning. We even started joking each time we neared a provincial park: “Oh, it’s just a provincial park. It’s probably something like Yellowstone, only twice as big with five times as many geysers.”
Just another amazing, giant mountain in Canada.
Of course, once we did reach the national parks and the Rocky Mountains, the alpine attacks only became more frequent. I finally stopped taking photos of mountains. Partly, it was because they were literally everywhere I looked. But also, I knew their grandeur wouldn’t have the same power when I was home, looking at them on a computer screen, instead of staring up at them from an avalanche zone.
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Note: Earlier this summer, my husband and I unexpectedly found ourselves needing to use a chunk of vacation time. The situation called for an epic road trip across the wilds of Washington, Canada and Montana. Here, in four parts, are the highlights.
Olympic National Park is only a few hours from our Oregon home, yet until this summer, wea'd never been. Did we think that it was too far? That it wouldn’t be worth it? Whatever the reason, we were repentant even before we actually entered the park boundaries. All it took was a glimpse of snow-capped peaks beckoning in the distance and we realized the error of our ways.
First look at Olympica's mountains. Yes, this was taken through a windshield.
These days, the damp and beautiful Olympic Peninsula might be better known as the home of the Twilight series than the home of a national park (and if youa're not familiar with Twilight, skip to the next section). Nowhere was that more evident than Forks, the little town Stephenie Meyer implausibly turned into a stop on every teenage girla's bucket list. Groups posed at the “Forks Welcomes You” sign, the high school, the hospital. As we waited at a stoplight, a girl in a Twilight shirt and a middle-aged woman, presumable her mother, clutching a Twilight map crossed the street in front of us.
First Beach, on the La Push reservation, was similarly populated a except here, werewolves, not vampires, decorated signs (again, this is a Twilight reference, apologies). It was impossible not to mock things like aJacob Blacka's Fireworks Stand,a but my laughter faded when we reached the coast. All those times Bella complains about the backwaters of Forks and La Push, she neglects to mention part of it is in a national park a ita's freaking beautiful.
First Beach. No bare-chested would-be werewolves sighted.
Of course, many of the beachgoers had obviously been drawn there by Meyer. I saw a man pick up his teenage daughter, who had a leg in a cast, and carry her down to the beach. Now that, I thought, is love.
We spent a few days exploring the beaches, forests and mountains, but as alluring as the idea of sexy vampires and sexier werewolves were, we had many miles left to go. A ferry ride across the choppy Puget Sound later, we were across the border in Victoria.
I was ready to stand on solid ground, but not ready to let go of the feeling of mystery wea'd had in Olympic. As the sun started its downward slide, we plastered stickers on our chests and joined a large group of people for a Ghostly Walk. Two guides traded off telling us about macabre incidents in Victoria’s past, from gruesome murders to horrific car crashes, and the spirits that couldna't seem to let go. Cheesy? Perhaps. But it was also a surprisingly good time. Even if the supernatural had been left out, it still would have been a fascinating tour of the seedier parts of the city’s history.
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