Management and planning
Keep
This service, designed to create and store notes, was launched by Google in 2013 and has since acquired many additional features. Google Keep supports hashtags, recognizes text and has an extension for Chrome. Thanks to artificial intelligence, he sorts records and creates clever shopping lists. Google Keep uses more than 10 million people. Part of the Layfhaker editorial board is one of them. Do you want to use Google Keep to the full? Read this article.
OneNote
The hearts of the rest of the editorial staff belong to a notebook for notes from Microsoft with a hierarchical record organization. OneNote is an excellent free alternative to Evernote. For a simple way to transfer data from Evernote to OneNote, read here. Microsoft OneNote is available on Windows and macOS, as well as on mobile devices (iOS, Android, Windows Phone).
Google Calendar
This service for planning meetings, events and cases for ten years. You can create several calendars at once and use them together with colleagues. Not to miss important events will help reminders, and due to the function of the task list with “Google Calendar” you can completely abandon other managers. From it you can make even a diary of your life. “Google Calendar” supports synchronization with mobile devices and is able to restore deleted events.
Trello
This application for project management and planning in the style of kanban, released by Fog Creek Software in 2011. Every year Trello is getting better and overgrown with useful additions. The application can be used not only as a task manager, but also for studying foreign languages, conducting research and organizing events. Read more about Trello’s unobvious features here.
This year I finally discovered Trello. Very convenient for team work. I know that it is used for personal planning. I have not tried it yet, but I really want to do it in the near future.
Outlook
The email client from Microsoft is supplemented with the functions of the organizer, the scheduler and the task manager and is associated with the file storage and calendar. The service allows you to exchange events by mail, send and receive files, postpone messages for a certain time. There are versions for Windows, macOS, iOS and Android. This year, there was a long-awaited global update of the service, as a result of which Outlook got features that challenge Gmail.
Gmail
Free email service from Google, working through the web interface and the protocols POP3, SMTP and IMAP. One of the best, and therefore one of the most popular in the world (and we have in the editorial office). Convenient interface, adaptation for mobile devices, spam filter, the function of canceling the sending of letters and the large volume of the mailbox – all this has won and continues to win the hearts of users. In addition, Gmail has created a huge number of additional tools that make working with this mail service even more enjoyable.
Inbox
One such tool is called Inbox. This is a mail application created in 2015 and initially available only by invitation or application on the official website. Now anyone can download it. There is a version for Android and iOS, as well as for browsers Chrome, Firefox and Safari. At the same time, thanks to a number of features, Inbox even surpasses the convenience of Gmail itself.
Google is slowly developing the postal service of the future. But you can start using it right now.
Communication and social networks
Skype
Despite frequent disruptions in work, Skype and this year was a favorite sharing service for many of us. Moreover, this VoIP service received many innovations. Now you can call without registering the account (although only in the web version), and for already registered users who sometimes log into Skype from someone else’s computer, an important function of the remote end of the session was added. Group video calls in Skype became available on iOS and Android, and for Russian-speaking users finally made simultaneous translation.
Another popular instant messenger, which recently supports video calls. WhatsApp was founded by Jan Cum and Brian Acton in 2009. To date, the application is used by over a billion people around the world. The client works on Android, iOS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry OS, Symbian, as well as Windows and macOS platforms. In October 2016, the application received a major update: added the ability to interact with photo and video attachments.
Telegram
But the messenger number one for the editorial Layfhaker throughout the year was the brainchild of Pavel Durov. The first release of the application took place in August 2013, since then the service is actively developing. In addition to the usual stickers, group chats, channels and bots, Telegram recently acquired a number of new functions: search by date, read mode, games, integration with IFTTT, fixed chats, GIF animation and others. So, to conduct personal and working correspondence and read news in Telegram it became even more convenient. By the way, are you subscribed to our channel?
The main messenger is working and personal, to which he transplanted all friends, using his “authority IT.” ????
In contact with
This year the social network “VKontakte” turned 10 years old. This is one of the most popular and visited Russian-language sites in the world. Users spend so much time there that any innovations are initially met with hostility. So, the new design, which appeared at the end of this summer, caused a wave of indignation mixed with a massive desire to roll back to the old version. But people quickly get used to updates and continue to write messages to each other, listen to music, read public messages and so on. Especially since the official VKontakte applications for iOS and Android are more convenient than all alternative ones (in the iOS version the audio section was returned).
Folio and Metal
But the official mobile client of the social network Facebook, on the contrary, is one of the most resource-intensive applications and significantly reduces the battery life of gadgets. Unsurprisingly, users are looking for simpler and more convenient solutions. These are Folio and Metal. Layfhaker already did reviews of each of them.
Another social network, where we regularly looked throughout the year. Twitter created Jack Dorsey in 2006, and the service quickly gained popularity. In early 2016 Twitter received another major update: the tape is now being formed differently. Well, if you want to radically update the content, try clearing the list of reads and subscribing to other people.
And be sure to read our guide on the unexplored possibilities of Twitter.
Everyone knows that in Instagram you can upload photos and short videos using various filters. Still there subscribe to the tapes of friends and enjoy the works of photo art. But also the service is successfully used to promote goods and brands. Now you rarely find an iOS or Android device where this application is not installed, and recently Instagram released a full desktop version. He generally updated a lot and got a lot of new features: video broadcasting, Boomerang mode, Stories and others.
I am an active Instagram user. I like to share my photos and see the photos of people who are subscribed to. But I do not like living stories of people I do not understand in the recommendations. As a rule, these are celebrities or friends of friends. It is worth looking at one such story, as everything is immediately visible in order and you are displayed by a person at a party.
Internet surfing
Google Chrome
This is one of the most popular browsers in the Runet and in the world and one of the most loved by the Lifkhaker team. We have already told you how to use Google Chrome to the maximum, writing about hotkeys that speed up and simplify the work with this browser. We also compiled a list of the most needed extensions for Google Chrome and the best free VPNs for it.
Opera
One of the oldest browsers available on Windows, MacOS and Linux operating systems, as well as on mobile devices based on iOS, Android, Windows Mobile, Symbian and others. This year, Opera has greatly refreshed: there was a built-in ad blocker, a laptop battery saving mode and a free VPN. The latter is especially convenient, since the register of forbidden sites is growing. Many people in our edition of Opera like it because of these additional features, which are not in Chrome.
Flynx
This browser for Android entered our last year’s list of the best applications and this year did not give up positions. Flynx can open sites without distracting the user from the main occupation, clear pages from advertising and save them for deferred reading. And while it is fast and light.
The Flynx browser offers a very convenient mode for loading web pages. If you click on the link in any application, Flynx does not open the entire screen, but only creates an icon on it for quick access to the desired page. It’s great to help out when you need to open multiple links in a row without leaving the source program. For example, while watching a news feed on Facebook.
Finance and shopping
CoinKeeper
This application for accounting for finance is your personal accountant, which is always at hand. A simple and intuitive tool even for people who do not like and can not count money. The application is free, but a number of features, such as synchronizing data with cloud storage and working with family members, are available only in the premium paid version. However, to monitor revenues and costs is quite enough and the basic application.
Tinkoff
The feature of “Tinkoff Bank” in fully remote maintenance. He does not have retail outlets and ATMs, but he has excellent Internet banking. Analytical agency Markswebb Rank Report for the second year in a row puts iOS- and Android-applications “Tinkoff Bank” in first place in its annual ranking of mobile banks. Payments and transfers are made there in just a couple of clicks. The commission relies on transactions for cards of other banks.
Sberbank Online
Sberbank is the oldest commercial bank in Russia, serving more than 70% of the country’s population. Sberbank has almost 18,000 units in 83 regions. Until recently, the work of the bank was often joked, almost as much as “The Post of Russia.” But with the introduction of the electronic queue and the improvement of Internet banking, people have become much more loyal. Service “Sberbank Online” allows you not to leave the house to pay for a communal and Internet, to transfer money to relatives, to cancel loans and much more.
With Sberbank Online, I generally forgot what cash is. Even when you make purchases with friends, you do not need to have money or a card with you. One buys, the other immediately transfers money to him through the application. It’s horrible as convenient.
Aliexpress
AliExpress is one of the largest Asian trading platforms. Site with funny headlines, which you open for five minutes to order batteries, and you close after three hours with a full basket of hundred-ruble goods. AliExpress is so popular that Lifshaker even created an exhaustive guide to shopping there. In addition, we regularly share the Ali-novelties in a special Telegram-channel. Applications AliExpress has acquired not so long ago, and therefore actively promotes them. For example, through discounts available only there.
Navigation and travel
Google Maps and Yandex
Orient in the space and navigate the routes to us most often helped the card from the search giants. “Google Maps” this year became much clearer, and the Android-version of the service learned to route through several points and save traffic.
In “Yandex Maps” you can now make pedestrian routes. Well, electronic cards can be printed in good quality.
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