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Podio Now Free for University Students
Podio has released its online productivity platform free to university students around the world. Podio includes personal communication and productivity tools, such as messaging, contacts, calendaring, and tasks, and provides a large collection of free plugins to extend functionality. Podio works in a Web browser and is also available for iPhone and Android.
New users of Podio are greeted with a personal home page that automatically includes an inbox for messaging, as well as contact management, calendar, and to-do list tools. The rest of the Podio experience is completely customizable. Users can create groups called workspaces for collaborating online with other Podio users, and they can customize their personal workspace by installing apps. The App Store offers more than 80 education-related apps, as well as numerous education app "packs," including Class Work Collaboration, Research Project, and Student Study Group packs.
"We started using Podio for a project and found it greatly improved group productivity," said Harvard University junior Chris Kilgore. "With Podio, we can collaborate in a free workspace, build apps to help us get our work done quickly, and feel like we're being really productive with Facebook-style interaction. It's great not to be dependent on long e-mail chains and messy spreadsheets."
Key features of Podio include:
- Centralized storage of information, communication, and contacts;
- Instant, customized intranet;
- Secure file, calendar, and task sharing;
- Simple implementation and customization; and
- Ability to create Web forms.
For more information or to sign up for a free account through Podio's university program, visit students.podio.com.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at leilameyer@gmail.com.