Cellphones are inevitably fragile. I can’t count the number of times I’ve logged onto Facebook, with status messages ablaze of, “Send me a text, lost my contacts.” And of course we send a quick hello, secretly hoping that we never have to do it again. We with Macs can copy everything between our Address Book and our Contacts on the iPhone, but not everyone has such luxury. Sometimes something crummy will happen, and you’ll inevitably lose every contact that has ever bestowed your device. So what the heck can you do without a Mac or a PC, to get all those contacts back? The answer is quite simple, quite brilliant, or perhaps quite amazing. Any term here can apply to Air Contacts, an excellent contact sharing application.
Let’s say I happened to be at this year’s MIX (I wasn’t, wish I was though) with Federico (and he wasn’t either, but he wishes he was). So we’re touring the grounds, attending events, when suddenly my iPod that I use for Google Talk, dies. Whether it be an act of god or short circuit, my iPod is fried, I have to get it replaced, and all my contacts are lost. But being in a business, I can of course rely on sir Federico to have similar contacts to I, so we both load into Air Contacts, and magically, I can see his iPhone and pull in all his contacts. While I have to delete his mom (I mean, why would I call his mom?), most of my contacts are now available in my Air Contacts Inbox. Phew!
That’s the power of Air Contacts. Harnessing the power of wireless technologies that are completely mysterious and not understandable at all - I kid - it’s so easy now to swap contact information, restore your friends list from another friend, obtain contact information for people in your office, etc. And the whole reason why I’m excited? Because it works not only flawlessly, but fantastically. It looks good, it’s easy to use, and you can connect to just about anything.
PCs and Macs can connect to Air Contacts just by typing in a quick address in you address bar. You’ll get some 192.168.x.x:(port) number similar to how you’ll connect with Air Sharing or similar application, but because it’s through the browser, it’s super easy. Oh, and if you’re worried about nosy intruders locking in on your wireless contacts, you can password everything from the settings.
The web interface is very nice - you can download all of your contacts on your iPhone or iPod Touch, or selectively download a vCard of an individual person. You can also view the contact’s information on this page, and download the appropriate encoding for Mac or Windows. The the vCards downloaded, you can add them to your favorite addressing application.
Lastly, Air Contacts can email a contact to a client of your choice. So if Federico wants me to get in touch with a potential reviewee, he can send me his or her contact right from the application, with all of their personal information, in email format. That’s wicked convenient.
Air Contacts is an application that nobody should be without. It’s chalk full of everything you need to swap contacts with friends, coworkers, clients, and leads (given that they have the app too). We’re pretty excited about this, so we’re giving away five copies to all you potential entrepreneurs looking for a contact savvy sharing solution. Check the rules below for your chance to win. Thanks to Project Cocoa for the review copy and giveaway participation!
Giveaway
Alright alright. So while we won’t make you say “contact savvy sharing solution” five times fast, we’ll just ask you to leave a comment below, and in short, tell us how this application would improve your contact management.
