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Many of us face the need to log into a single service with distinct identities one time or another. For instance, you want to access your company or client’s AdSense account, but you’re logged into Gmail. Instead of logging out of Gmail, you can fire up a different browser. Say, your main browser is Firefox. You can open IE for this purpose.

But with Google Chrome’s Incognito mode, life is now easier. You don’t have to open an entirely new application just to login with a different identity. Lifespy has an excellent tip.

Since it handles cookies separately, that also means that you can load two sessions of the same service and log in via separate accounts for each window. Well, this isn’t too different from launching a Firefox window and an IE window but at least you’re just running the same application.

You can even login multiple times. The fact that each of Chrome’s tabs and windows is a separate process makes it even better. Each session is distinct from the other.

Just be sure to open a new Incognito Window by typing Ctrl-Shift-N, or selecting the feature from the dropdown box at the right of the unified URL/search box.

Do you use Google Docs? Perhaps Google Spreadsheets? Sure these are great for sharing text and data with friends and colleagues online. Especially with today’s virtual office setup these free tools have made it easy to draft documents, work figures and even share notes with people from across the globe.

Web apps have taken the place of full-blown computer software for many people. This is because of the ubiquity of fast Internet connections and even mobile connectivity. Add to that the fact that portable tools are widely available these days, and not to mention cheap! Today $400 netbooks have replaced big, bulky notebook computers as the gadget of choice for the traveling person. There’s also the iPhone and other mobile phones that can let you get online even while on the road. With these broadband-enabled phones you can even connect your laptop or netbook while on the go.

These days, one app is turning out to be very popular among the online working crowd – Evernote. This app basically lets you clip, create, share and edit information from various devices and interfaces, including mobile, the web and a standalone app.

There’s also the Google suite of apps, which includes the documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and even other apps that let you access data from any web browser, like notebook and even Gmail.

Advantages

• Access from anywhere. Of course the main come-on of web apps is that you can access data from different computers. You don’t need to be stuck with your PC at the office. As long as you have a web browser, you can access your documents.
• Compatibility with different platforms. Being web-based you can access your information from different computers, and you’re not limited to the OS or platform. You can use a Windows PC, an Apple computer, a PC running on Linux, and in many cases even non-standard devices like mobile phones!
• You can easily collaborate. Sharing is easy. With many apps, two or more people can even edit a document at the same time, and the changes will be reflected real-time. There is also change-logging, so you know what was changed and when.
• Security from crashes. When your hard disc crashes, your data goes with it (unless recovered, but this can be expensive and will take time). When your data is online, you don’t have to worry about system crashes, unless it’s the web app provider itself that crashes or loses your files.

The Drawbacks

• Offline access. Face it, even with mobile broadband, there are those cases when you just can’t get online. No signal perhaps? Or how about slow ISP? Having a standalone app and being able to open a file from your hard drive or USB drive can sometimes be quicker!
• Unavailability of the Web app. It happens! Sometimes even Gmail goes down! What do you do when that happens? What if you have a critical presentation and you can’t access your documents because Google docs is offline?
• Security concerns. When your laptop is lost or stolen, your information goes with it. Sure, but with documents online, it could potentially be easier for thieves to steal your files. No physical access is required. Passwords are not always secure. You never know when you can fall victim to social engineering or even password sniffing!

With any technology there are ups and downs. So as a business user, it pays to cover your bases. Always keep backups and always have contingencies!

A lot of people today are working in a telecommute setup. Or they run their offices from their own homes. It’s sometimes called a virtual office environment, and in these cases it pays to be smart with the tools you use. For instance, here are some questions to ask yourself, and some issues to address:

• How do you communicate with your colleagues when you rarely (or never) see face to face?
• How do you manage tasks, when you can’t physically be with your colleagues?
• How do you transfer resources (money, equipment, etc.)?
• How do you share documents and other information?
• How do you secure your files, information, and other such important material?
• How do you deal with regulatory issues (taxes, business registration, employment matters) when you and your colleagues are mostly in different parts of the world?

It gets more complicated, and I think people are still trying to work these out, since the freedom from geographical boundaries that the Internet has brought about is a fairly new thing.