A New Way to Prioritize E-mail

In the June issue of Inc. magazine, we featured an article about AwayFind, a Web app that alerts you by text, push notification, or voice call if you receive an important e-mail. Recently, AwayFind launched a souped-up version of the software for business customers who use Google Apps.

The new app, available in the Google Apps Marketplace, sends out instant alerts, notifying users within seconds, rather than minutes, when an urgent email arrives. The app also offers business-friendly features, including centralized billing and a control panel that lets administrators add users and check the status of accounts.

Cost: After a free 30-day trial, plans start at $10 a month per user, with discounts for yearly subscriptions and multiple users.

Appsumo's Dropbox Pro Giveaway

Appsumo, the daily deal site for software, has launched a sweepstakes offering 10 free Dropbox Pro accounts for life.  The pro account, valued at $99 a year, includes 50GB of Dropbox cloud storage and the ability to access your files from anywhere and share them with others. Visit Appsumo to read the contest rules and enter for a chance to win the sweepstakes, which ends on October 13. Read more about Dropbox on Inc.com.

New Toy from Buckyballs Creator

When Buckyballs hit stores two years ago, the tiny magnetic metal globes that you mash and mold together became a hit with office workers, including some of us in the Inc. office. Now, Buckyballs creator Jake Bronstein has unveiled Buckycubes, a square version of the desk toy.

Instead of mashing the squares like Buckyballs, you fold, bend, slide, and snap them together to form different shapes. Maxfield & Oberton, the company that makes Buckycubes, sent a set of them to the office last week, and I’m quickly becoming addicted.

Buckycubes will be available for $24.95 a set at Brookstone stores nationwide and on Buckycubes.com in October.

New Yammer Plug-Ins for Business

Collaboration tool Yammer has announced Yammer Connect, a suite of plug-ins that let you integrate Yammer’s capabilities into other business applications.

One of the first plug-ins available, Yammer Embed, delivers realtime Yammer feeds to the company intranet, CRM tools, content management systems, and other business applications. You can view, post, and reply to messages in the feed, just as you would on the Yammer site. The plug-in, which is currently in free beta testing, is compatible with HTML or JavaScript-based systems that support extensibility. Embedded feeds automatically adjust in size to fit the amount of space available.

Yammer also introduced a new Java Script API that lets you add the Yammer Login Button to any application, allowing you to bring your Yammer identity and profile information with you. The Login Button and the Yammer JavaScript API are available immediately. For more information, check out the Yammer Apps page.

Mobile Websites on the Fly

Looking to build a mobile presence, without building an app? A new DIY service called Duda Mobile lets you customize your website for a variety of mobile devices, including iPhones, Android phones, and BlackBerrys, simply by pasting in your site’s URL. You can choose from a variety of mobile website templates or use Duda’s design studio. Anytime you make changes on your regular website, the mobile version updates automatically. You can also add a map with directions to your business or a click-to-call button so customers can contact you easily. Duda also offers free analytic tools for keeping track of mobile website traffic.

The basic version of the service is free. The professional version, which includes advanced features such as click-to-call, costs $9 a month.

Ovation's Audience Feedback App

Looking for ways to spice up your presentations? A new app called Ovation aims to get the audience involved and give you valuable feedback on your performance.

Here’s how it works: Each event gets its own URL that audience members can open on their smartphone browsers. Then, throughout the presentation, they can simply slide a button up or down to indicate how much they’re enjoying the show (the two extremes are Love It and Hate It). A line graph will appear showing them how their individual responses compare to those of other audience members. As the presenter, you can watch live results during your presentation to tailor your content accordingly. Or, if that’s too nerve-wracking, you can download the feedback in chart form to analyze afterwards.

Ovation, which works on iPhones, iPads, iPod Touches, and Android devices, is in free beta testing. For now, it only works with audiences of up to 10 people, though it says it is willing to work with users to accomodate larger crowds. Check out the app's FAQ page for more information.

Buy an iPhone Case, Help a Vet

Last night, as I made my way down the aisles at the Pepcom technology showcase in New York City, Speck’s new Patriotic Fitted Case for iPhone 4 caught my eye. Just in time for the Fourth of July, the case costs $29.95 and comes in two patterns: Twilight’s Gleaming Stars and Star Spangled Stripes.

The hard-shell case fits both Verizon and AT&T iPhone models and gives you access to all buttons, controls, sensors and connections. The best part: Speck will donate $15 from every case sold to the Wounded Warrior Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping injured service members. 

A New Way to Manage iPad Files

For business users, one big downside to the iPad is its lack of a decent file management system. GroupLogic hopes to solve that problem with new software called mobilEcho.

The software, which recently emerged from beta testing, lets you access files on a businesses server from your iPad and store them locally on the device. You can search for files by name or contents and browse and preview files. You can also copy or move files between a server and iPad or to another server.

The app gives employers IT admin control over employee iPads, including the ability to grant remote access to employees and lock down or wipe critical files off an iPad if it’s lost or stolen. Cost: After a 21-day free trial, pricing starts at $795 for a three-client server