5 Types of Apps That Can Transform your Smartphone Into a Mobile Office

It's convenient to have a laptop -- you can do your business or finish a report wherever you are. But sometimes, carrying a laptop can still be a hassle and you know that things have to be done. It can be impractical to use a small screen to get the work done, but there are times when you don't have a choice. If you're an on-the-go professional, you need your smartphone to be more than a Facebook machine. Below are five app categories that will transform your smartphone into a work powerhouse.

Document conversion

If someone emails you a PDF file and you need to make some changes to it, it needs to be converted. In this case, you can depend on apps like PDF to Word, wherein it can pull from email, Dropbox, and Google Drive, and with just a few taps produces a .DOCX from PDF format.

Though you have to wait for about an hour unless you pay $5.99 for its premium version, which is not so bad especially if you're going to do a lot of PDF conversions. There are also other document conversion apps like the easyPDF (for Android and iOS), which can convert both ways.

Document editing

That .DOC file is no use for you if your smartphone doesn't have any word processing app installed. You can choose from any of these document editing apps: Microsoft Word (Android and iOS), Google Docs (Android and iOS), and Pages (iOS only).

Make sure you have a digital signing app installed on your smartphone as well. This is useful when you only need to sign a PDF file instead of converting and making edits to it, which is the purpose of the DocuSign (Android and iOS) app. You can sign and email documents straight from the app itself.

Cloud storage

Since we're living in a post-desktop computing era, most of us believe that storing documents directly in a computer is not a wise practice. That goes double for mobile devices, which are more likely to disappear than a desktop computer.

Cloud storage is a must for anyone doing work on a mobile device. The most commonly used are Google Drive (iOS and Android) and Dropbox (iOS and Android), but there are also other apps that you can also try. See to it that whatever document you are working on are synced to the cloud so that you'll still have a copy even if your phone dies, gets stolen, or breaks.

Business management

Operating your own business, or you're small part of one, doesn't mean you have to be tethered to a desk anymore. Many applications that are used to manage businesses have a cloud-based component, which means you can use them wherever you happen to be -- it's up to you whether that's a good thing or not.

Platforms such as Salesforce have mobile apps for iOS and Android that reportedly feature all the same content as their desktop apps. There are also various PM platforms that also have mobile apps: Trello (iOS,Android), Asana (iOS, Android), and Basecamp 3 (iOS, Android) all have on-the-go options available.

Communication

Sending emails and texts is not enough when it comes to business communication. There are times when you need to make a face-to-face call on Skype (iOS, Android) or a quick group conversation in Slack (iOS,Android).

Now, if you're taking a lot of business calls on your personal phone, you may want to consider using a secondary number, like those provided by Google Voice (iOS, Android) or Citrix Convoi (iOS). You can give your number out to clients or colleagues and you'll never have to worry about getting called on your personal one anymore.

You can also get eFax (iOS, Android), an mobile app that allows you to send and receive faxes. While most of the world has moved on to digital documents, there are still some hardcore faxes out there who still prefer doing business the traditional way. In that case, you don't have to scramble looking for a FedEx or UPS Store since you can do it directly from your smartphone.

4 Reliable Encryption Tools for Pre-Android Marshmallow Devices

If your Android device is running below version 6.0 Marshmallow, it's completely wide open since they weren't encrypted by default. This is fine since encryption isn't a life and death concern, and if you really wanted full encryption, you can do so on your Android device.

Below are some helpful tools that let you arm your pre-Marshmallow Android device with full encryption, which hopefully gets the job done. Check out which supplemental tools will best suit your encryption needs.

Andrognito 2

If you're searching to get your files encrypted on Android, Andrognito 2 is a great way to go. The great thing about this app is that you'll be able to use "military-grade" AES 256-bit encryption to secure your individual files. This means you don't have to worry about prying eyes getting access to your important data. This app also supports invisible mode, a "fake crash" mode to deceive unwanted users, dynamic PIN numbers, automatic backup, file import, and themes.

Boxcryptor

Do you have the need to encrypt something before you share it to a popular cloud storage service? Well that's possible with Boxcryptor. The app supports a multitude of storage providers (mainly Google Drive, Dropbox, and Microsoft OneDrive). When you lock up your file, it's secured and encrypted with the AES-256 algorithm, and both encryption and decryption is done directly on the device itself.

The free version just allows for basic encryption, but if you buy the Unlimited version of the app, you'll also be able to obfuscate individual filenames as well. Such a feature is incredibly useful when you're looking to secure your data and files from prying eyes.

Vault

Vault is a simple and pretty straightforward, unlike the other apps on this list. In fact, it's an easy-to-understand program, which is perfect for those who don't normally know a lot about encryption. However, if your goal is to just to protect different types of files, this application should be considered a serious contender.

The app supports pdfs, images, videos, and mp3 files. The encryption algorithm used is 256-bit AES, and it also supports password protection, as well as native camera support, automatic logout, break-in alarms, and even a stealth mode. If you need a basic encryption app, then you might just need Vault.

SSE

Even though SSE is not as modern as Andrognito 2, this app proves to be an entire encryption tool set for Android doesn't have to be. With SSE, you get more than just a file encryption tool -- you'll also get a vault to store all your important password information, a text encryption tool to lock up important documents, and the ability to encrypt entire directories or individual files.

In addition to that, the SSE encryption tool also comes with a secure password generation tool and a clipboard cleaner. Everything is run with particularly strong encryption algorithms, such as AES 256-bit, RC6 256-bit, Serpent 256-bit, Blowfish 448-bit, Twofish 256-bit, GOST 256-bit (and more in the pro version).

Use Privacy to Make Your Online Shopping Safer

One of the benefits of online shopping is that it saves a lot of time and lets you find the best prices without leaving the comfort of your home. It's now easy getting those things you want or need as putting them in your virtual cart and checking out. However, during the checkout process, do you slightly hesitate whenever you enter your credit card number? Well, don't worry because it's completely normal as you are worried that your credit card number is going to fall into the wrong hands.

If you usually shop online, then you're going to love Privacy. What this app does is it generates a one-time credit card number for your online shopping that will only be valid for one purchase. This will repeat itself every time you buy something online. This way you will never have to give your true credit card number, and as a result it minimizes the chances of you becoming a victim to identity theft. You will, though, have to give your information to Privacy in order to complete your online purchases.

Here's how to sign up and learn about the great features of Privacy.

How to Sign Up

The sign up process is pretty simple and easy. To start, you need to fill up a short form wherein you will be asked to enter your email, password, address, name, and birthdate. The last step would be to connect the bank account you will be using for your online purchase, and Privacy works with banks such as Citibank, Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo.

Your login information is transferred through a safe TLS (SSL) connection. Privacy also uses 256-bit encryption to keep your information secure while transferring your login details. You will also be asked to install the Privacy Chrome extension to make your online shopping a lot easier. At the moment, the extension is available for Chrome and Firefox only, but support for Safari and Internet Explorer are on the way.

Other Cool Features

At checkout you will notice a small Privacy icon next to the credit card field, and when you click on it Privacy will automatically create a new virtual credit card particularly for the website you are shopping on.

You will have the chance to choose from what account you want the money to be withdrawn from, similar to a debit card. You can either use Privacy's mobile app or the web app. To cancel cards from there, pause them or set charge limits that go from $1,000 per day and $2,000 per month.

You can also have a credit card number for a specific service. For example, you can create an alternative credit card number only for your Hulu subscription. That credit card number will be used only for that and nothing else.

You can also avoid those annoying 30-day free trials that make you give your information to try their service. This way, if you forget to cancel it on time, you can just eliminate that Privacy number you had for it.

Highly Recommended Devices That Will Increase Your Productivity

Professionals who want to be highly productive are always on the lookout for tools to make their work faster, simpler, and more efficient. Check out some of the coolest tech devices that will get your productive juices in the next level.

Dell UltraSharp 34-inch Curved Monitor	Using a curved monitor eliminates the need for dual monitors, offers 21:9 aspect ratio and 3440 x 1440 resolution. The idea of curved monitors is that by curving the image slightly forward, the world you're watching seems to 'wrap around' you more, entering slightly more into your peripheral vision, thus drawing you deeper into the world you're watching. Curved monitors also enhance the sense of depth because curving the edges of the image towards the viewer enhances the visual perception of depth in what you're watching. You can find these for as low as $750 at Amazon.
Microsoft Surface Book	The world's first Microsoft-branded laptop provides high-end graphics, a powerful stylus, solid design and aesthetics, and 2-in-1 tablet and notebook versatility. It can be a pleasant experience especially for graphic designers, project managers, Microsoft Office power users, photographers, and other types of creative professionals. You may feel a bit awkward with its hinge design and its heaviness, but it is compensated by the device's mix of standard laptop, touchscreen, and pen computing.
Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge	There are two kinds of feedback people give to the Edge edition of Samsung's Galaxy phones -- it's either they hate it or they love it. For some, they appreciate the phone's elegant design, but for some they find it annoying because they often hit the curved side of the screen unintentionally. The S7 Edge has a fantastic display, zippy processor, fast fingerprint scanner, and a top notch camera.
Apple Magic Trackpad 2	One of the best way to boost your productivity, especially if you're a Mac user, is to get the Apple Magic Trackpad 2. Force Touch is the new pressure-sensitive technology from Apple that promises to change the way we interact with our Macs by offering shallow and deep layers of interaction on the trackpad.
iPad Pro with Apple Pencil	For some professionals and Apple enthusiasts, they consider the iPad as a laptop replacement (or companion) because it forces them to focus on one task at a time -- whereas multitasking provides a big chance of getting distracted. For them, the 12.9-inch iPad Pro is the tablet to beat. The humongous screen (with 2732 x 2048 resolution) is a huge canvass that can be used for drawing, editing photos, looking at highly visual websites, viewing documents, and marking up files and images with the new Apple Pencil.
Samsung Galaxy TabPro S	The Galaxy Tab Pro S is a Windows 10 Pro slate with solid specs and great integration with Samsung smartphones. It offers Microsoft Surface-like capabilities, starts at $800, and gives you phone notifications and lets you respond to texts straight from the tablet. This 12-incher is more tablet than a laptop, so it's considered to be more of a competitor with the iPad Pro than the Surface Book. As a pure tablet, it's one of the best Windows 10 slates you can buy out there.

Apps and Gadgets You Need to Get a Good Night Sleep

Having enough hours of sleep is a huge privilege for anyone. Why? Because not everybody gets to enjoy it. Whether you use up most of your time in front of the TV or PC before going to sleep or you have a sleep disorder, not getting ample sleep hours can disrupt your life. If you are trying to swallow that sleeping pill as your cure for your sleep problems, you might want to choose the healthier way -- and techie that is.

There are lots of apps and gadgets that can help you sleep using different methods, like soothing sounds, hypnosis, meditation, colored lights and some other proven methods. Below we have listed six apps and gadgets that may help you sleep.

Apps to Help You Sleep

Check out these three apps that will help you get a good night sleep using different audio-based techniques.

Relax & Sleep Well Hypnosis

A self hypnosis and meditation app popularized by the famous British hypnotherapist Glenn Harold, Relax & Sleep Well basically consists of recordings of Glenn Harold on multiple self hypnosis types. The free version comes with a 29-minute self hypnosis recording for falling asleep with background sounds and Glenn's calming voice. You will also get a meditation music track of 639 hertz Solfeggio Sonic Meditation that will surely help you relax. As for the rest of the tracks, you will have to buy it as in-app purchases. They each cater to different self hypnosis and meditation needs like relaxing, losing weight, gaining confidence, staying happy, lucid dreams, and smoking cessation.

Relax & Sleep Well is compatible for iOS and Android devices.

Pzizz

The Pzizz app plays a different soundtrack each time you use it to help you relax and fall asleep using sounds, music, voices, and binaural beats all together. The makers of the app claims that it can solve insomnia using its unique random algorithm that generates a new sound track every time you use it. It also claims that there are more than 100 billion combinations, which means it's almost impossible for you to hear the same track twice. Aside from that, it gives full control over track duration (from 10 minutes to 12 hours) and controls individual voices/music/sounds and audio type like stereo or 3D. The best part is that the app is completely free to use now, although it was $9.99 before.

Android and iOS users can get this app.

Sleep Genius

Sleep Genius comes with tracks created using neurosensory algorithms that help your brain get ready to sleep and then guide it during the sleeping cycles. This enables you to sleep easily and deeply the whole night through. It also comes with a unique alarm that takes five minutes to wake you up energized using varying sounds. The app is primarily created for NASA astronauts to help them sleep while in space, and in a NASA 2015 annual publication it was a featured technology. You have to pay $9.99 to enjoy all of the features of Sleep Genius, including power naps and sleep tracking.

Android and iOS users can avail this app.

Gadgets to Help You Sleep

Here are three gadgets that help you sleep using different methods.

Withings Aura

The main function of Withings Aura is sleep tracking, but it also does a great job of helping you fall asleep. Aura comes with a sensor that tucks under your mattress, which tracks body movements, heart rate and breathing cycles, etc. Aura itself works as a lamp and releases light that stimulates melatonin (a hormone responsible for sleep), and it also has soothing soundtracks to help you sleep. If you want a good sleep tracker that also helps you sleep, then you might want to consider Aura.

Price: $299.95

BluBlocker

Do you know that the blue light coming from your PC or TV's screen affects melatonin hormone inversely and makes it hard to sleep afterwards? BluBlocker glasses block the blue light and also UV light to ensure you sleep easily after using a digital device and see things more clearly on them. They come in many styles to suit your styling needs.

Price: $99.95

Drift Light

Drift Light is a bulb that is designed to help you sleep well. This device emits blue light than regular bulbs and comes with a 37-minute dimming time (equal to a sunset) to help you go to sleep. The bulb is capable of emitting light equal to a 40 watt regular bulb, but it only uses 7 watts power.

Price: $24.95

5 Useful Tech gadgets for People With Disabilities

People with disabilities should have the same opportunities in life like normal people have. Nowadays, there are many assistive tech gadgets that are made specifically for people with disabilities to help make things easier for them. They may not be able to cure a blind person or make a speech-impaired person to speak, but they can definitely convey their message and provide help whenever needed. Check out these five helpful gadgets that can assist people with disabilities.

UNI

UNI is a new gadget to assist deaf and speech-impaired people communicate with each other. It's a two-way communication device that has the ability to detect sign language by its integrated camera, and then instantly coverts it into speech. On the other hand, it will also convert speech into text to allow two-way communication. It also has a built-in software to create custom sign language and customize it according to your need.

Currently, this product is available for pre-orders since it will be available for purchase on the summer of 2016. There are two versions: one with offline access and another that requires constant online access.

BRAILLE EDGE 40

The Braille Edge 40 is a device that designed specifically for blind people to enable them to control their PC, smartphone, or PDA. It connects with your device via Bluetooth or USB connection and converts the text on the device display into braille. It also allows you to navigate the device and its built-in buttons, such as Esc, Tab, Shift, Ctrl, Windows key, etc. to make it easier to perform most of the tasks you need to accomplish.

Apart from a controlling device, it also has built-in apps and data storage capacity to carry your data with you. Its apps include Alarm, Notepad, Scheduler, Calculator, Clock, Stopwatch, and Countdown timer. Additionally, it has support for a 32 GB SDHC card to store documents and books and read them in braille.

The Braille Edge 40 costs $2,795.

Tobii Dynavox PCEye Explore

Tobii Dynavox has created PCEye Explore device to help people with limited movement control a Windows PC just with their eyes. It connects with your Windows 8/10 PC (laptop or desktop) and uses its eye tracker to let you control the mouse and perform clicks. It also has a built-in software to personalize PCEye Explore according to your needs.

You don't have to worry about the light coming out of it to track your eyes, as it is very low and doesn't damage the eyes. This device will cost your around $899 for both the device and software.

Sesame Phone

Sesame Phone is a completely hands-free smartphone phone made for people with limited movement such as a paralysis or spinal cord injury. It is actually a modified version of Google's Nexus 5 device that tracks the user's head and enables full control of the phone just by using the head. The user's head will act as a finger and allows swipes, taps, gestures, and more to control the smartphone. And since it's Android-based, you can also download apps and use them with your head. You can even play games on it, although fast-paced games may not be the recommended choice.

You can get the Sesame Phone for the price of $700.

Liftware

Liftware is an eating utensil that allows people with motion disorders, like Parkinson's disease, to eat their food without any help. It's actually a stabilizing handle you can attach a Liftware eating utensil to, including a fork, spoon, and soup spoon. The handle is capable of reducing hand tremors up to 70%, which makes it good enough for moderate tremors. It uses an on-board computer system to detect motion and then moves the handle in the opposite direction of the hand tremors.

You can purchase Liftware for $195 along with additional utensils amounting to $34.95.