dashboards
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Numerics: A customizable business dashboard app for iOS
What's a dashboard app? It's designed for business users so they can display different bits of institutional information on a single screen. Think of it like the dashboard of your car, or an informational flat screen at an airport. Numerics (US$19.99) lets you mix and match data from a variety of sources, like Basecamp, Facebook, Google Analytics, Salesforce, stock info (from Yahoo), Zendesk and more, with additional data sources coming. Think of Numerics as sort of a toolkit to let you design your custom display. The app comes with hundreds of pre-designed widgets based on 20 sources of business data. Data can be displayed as numbers or turned into attractive charts and graphs. Colors and other attributes are under user control. Numeric allows users to design multiple dashboards and then swipe between them, and the app features zooming on an individual widget as well as the setting of notifications and background updates. I tried creating some screens around stock prices and web statistics from Google, and it was easy to do. There is a complete help system built in. One nice feature is that Numerics supports Airplay Mirroring or HDMI connections so you can get your custom dashboard on the big screen in the conference room, an office or your desk. For businesses that need this kind of display, Numerics will be very popular. A similar app called Status Board is also offered through the App Store. It's half the price, but mirroring to external displays is an in-app purchase that makes the price the same as Numerics. Status Board is designed for the iPad, while Numerics works on any iOS device. There are differences in the content available between the apps, so if you are interested check out what each app offers. To get an idea what the Numerics screens look like, take a look at the embedded slideshow above. Numerics is a clever idea for those seeking this kind of display. It's easy to use, very customizable, and inexpensive. The developers say it will grow, evolve and more data sources will be added on a regular basis. Numerics is universal and requires iOS 7 or later.
The Guild Counsel: Can guilds save the economy?
Wait! Before you hit that comment button about the absurdity of the title above, hear me out! A few weeks ago, I stumbled on a video that touched on this very topic, and I felt it was a perfect discussion point for this column. The video is actually titled How World of Warcraft could save your Business and the Economy, and it's a commentary by John Seely Brown that's part of a series called Big Think. What Seely Brown argues is that he'd prefer to hire an expert World of Warcraft player over someone who graduated from Harvard with an MBA, and he goes on to explain why businesses can learn from the way top players and guilds function in game. It might sound crazy, but it's worth considering, and in this week's Guild Counsel, we'll look at the topic both from Brown's WoW point of view and from a broader view of MMOs in general.
