Google's Makes Major Changes To User Interface

Google is rolling out a new look with a black top bar, and changes to their search and map results pages. Simple changes like bolder colors for actionable buttons or hiding navigation buttons until they're actually needed are aimed at helping you focus on what you need, when you need it. Tell us what you think of Google's new changes.

Microsoft Announces Office 365

Today Microsoft announced that Office 365 is out of beta. Microsoft Office 365 enables you to work with familiar Microsoft Office productivity and collaboration tools delivered through the cloud. Access your email, important documents, contacts, and calendar from virtually anywhere with almost any device.

Microsoft Office Web Apps are included as part of Office 365. View your Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Microsoft OneNote documents online and make changes on the go. Office Web Apps work well with the Office applications you already know, so your documents always look the way you want, from your PC to the Web, and back again.

Microsoft Exchange Online gives you access to your email, calendar, and contacts anywhere, anytime, from laptops, desktops, and mobile devices. Office 365 provides each user with a 25 GB mailbox and lets them send email messages up to 35 MB. Connect with Microsoft Outlook 2010 or Outlook 2007 and use all of the rich Outlook functionality you already know and use.

Microsoft SharePoint Online makes the power of the cloud work for your organization. SharePoint Online lets you create a central place to access all your documents and important business information online. SharePoint Online can help teams work together efficiently and create, edit and review documents and proposals in real-time.

Microsoft Office 365 is a pay-as-you-go subscription service, with tailored plans for businesses of all sizes. Their plan for Professionals and Small Businesses is $6 per user/month, and for Midsize Businesses and Enterprise users they have plans ranging from $10 to $27 per user/month.

Call Cloudscape today at 810-844-1801 to see if Microsoft Office 365 is a good fit for your business.

How Cloudscape uses Google Voice

Google Voice is a free service that provides a single phone number for all your phones. When someone calls Cloudscape's Google Voice number, it rings our office phones, as well as my mobile phone, and Gmail voice chat.

Google Voice allows you to set personalized greetings based on who's calling. I can create contact groups for family, friends, and co-workers. Anyone that isn't in one of my groups will receive the default greeting, while family and friends will receive a greeting customized for those groups. Along with customized greetings, Google Voice automatically transcribes my voicemail so I can read messages in addition to listening to them.

Google Voice also has a mobile app, which allows you to navigate between voicemails and read the transcriptions Google Voice provides. If you have a Google phone number, calls made from the Google Voice app will display that number as the outbound caller ID. The Google Voice mobile app is free, and is currently available for Blackberry, iPhone, and Android mobile phones.

Click-to-Dial is another great feature in Google Voice. With Click-to-Dial, Google Voice turns phone numbers on websites into clickable links. When you click a phone number link you'll have the option to select which phone you want to place the call. Google Voice will call that phone, and when you pick up you'll be connected to the number you clicked.

These are just a few Google Voice features Cloudscape uses on a daily basis. Call Cloudscape today at 810-844-1801 to see if Google Voice is a good fit for your business.