Bringing you the best android, iOS, desktop and web apps available, as well the sleekest hardware, the Elite Business tech team have been scouring the web like pigs on the scent of some fine burgundy truffles
Trello
One of our favourite project management apps has come to Android. Trello is a pleasingly straightforward tool, using the nigh-on ubiquitous ‘cards’ system. You can sort projects by organisation, invite contributors, vote on cards to action and create action points on the fly. It doesn’t make waves but then again it doesn’t need to – it’s effective, has a clean and clear user interface and, most importantly, is 100% free.
Cleartouch
Okay. Hands up. TransluSense’s stunning Cleartouch isn’t actually available yet. Production is due to begin this month. But a hackable touchscreen keyboard and trackpad – especially one this beautiful – should have you salivating good and early. Fully customisable, gorgeous and, given it’s made of solid glass, 100% coffee- and crumb-proof. If you want your office to look like a graphic design agency circa 2075, Cleartouch needs to be on your Christmas list.
OS X Mountain Lion
Despite fears OS X Mountain Lion isn’t a repackaged iOS, merely adding some nice tweaks on its already strong design. A few built-in apps have migrated from the iPhone; both Notes and Reminders make cameos. But the neatest things are the fresh touches. iChat has been retooled as Messages, allowing users to send unlimited free messages to iOS devices. Notifications can be accessed by swiping two fingers off the trackpad.
Branch
If you took Menshn and stripped away the authoritarian desire to control subject matter, the security issues and the ludicrously self-aggrandising name, you might find something like Branch. One of two new offerings from the team behind Twitter, Branch is a tool to stimulate ‘branches’, groups of Twitter users invited to discuss subjects in depth. Beautifully designed, Branch promises to be an incredibly useful discussion tool.
Discovering UK Growth
Qlikview’s Discovering UK Growth is a novel app for monitoring business growth across the last two decades and has some rather interesting functionality. It presents the user with a nice visual interface of both regional and national growth, allowing them to view not only the best decade for growth (2000s) but the best prime minister (Gordon Brown). The growth analytics tool of choice.
