Docusign Challenge: Day one

So I've entered this thing called the DocuSign Blogger Challenge. The premise is simple enough and as a tech addict I couldn't resist: just go through three months without signing a wet signature if you can avoid it.

Instead you use the DocuSign app on your phone or tablet. I have duly installed it and have to say it's aaving me a little time already. It wasn't much use when my sports club wanted me to sign to take receipt of something, but in business terms it's been great.

My standard process for dealing with signing stuff has so far been: someone sends over, say, a contract. I print it out, I sign it, I scan it back in. This gets fiddly because my scanner isn't that fond of my printer, so I generally end up transporting the scanned document back to my computer for sending out on a memory stick.

So far I have opened up two contracts on my iPad Mini, supplied by way of thanks by DocuSign (hence the declaration at the end of this post), dragged and dropped my signature, done the same with the date, and sent them straight back. Returning them goes through DocuSign's secure system so I can be certain it's all safe.

I have to say I can't see a downside on day one. Let's see how it shapes up later on.

This post is a sponsored post as part of the DocuSign Blogger Challenge.

Christmas presents 3: iO PLAY 2

Some time ago the people at Armour Automotive put one of their iO PLAY products in my car. It's a Bluetooth kit that enables you to play music from your phone and receive calls whilst driving (please, please tell people you're driving and cut the call short, focusing on the road). You'd think when they offered to upgrade me to the iO PLAY 2 I'd have been delighted, but initially I wasn't. I didn't see how they'd improve on something this simple - pair a phone or two and it just works. Easy.

Nonetheless I agreed - for the blog they'd offered to do it for nothing, saving £159.99 plus installation, so other than curiosity about what they'd change there was nothing to lose.

I have to tell you it's marvellous. Many new cars now link their stereos with phones anyway, so there isn't much point in buying this, but if you have a relative whose motor doesn't do this it's worth considering getting one as a gift for them. First there's the built-in iPhone charger (for the iPhone 5 you'll need an adapter as the charger has changed). It doesn't stop there, though.

There's a little display. This tells you which phone you're linked to. It has called ID. It has a voice - through the speakers it tells you who's texting and will read texts. It will, if you're linked through the charger rather than Bluetooth and using Siri on an iPhone, accept spoken commands. It lets you switch between tracks, albums (displaying the title), car audio, look up numbers in your phone book and initiate calls without taking your eyes off the road (although I'd still recommend pulling over if you're going to be thinking about a call rather than the road hazards).

The original iO PLAY set my phone free - I'm not a massive headphone fan so driving with my music is where having a music phone comes into its own. This upgrade has allowed me to do more with it than just play music, and spares me the bother of fiddling with the handset finding music before starting the car, it remembers five devices so I can have my iPad as well as my phone ready to work without booting my wife's phone out of the memory.

It is, quite honestly, pretty damned good and well worth the money. Unless your car already does this stuff I can't find a single down point.

Pimp my iPad

In the run-up to Christmas one of the things I was looking at was presents for blokes. One thing that didn't quite make the shortlist this time around but is worth a mention isiPod/iPad skins. The ones I was sent to look at were from Gadget Glamour.

The idea is pretty simple. You peel the skins off their backing and stick them on your Apple treasures.

I've tried it with an iPhone 4, which now looks considerably greener than it did. If I just used the phone then I'm sure I'd find it useful as well as decorative because I'd be able to spot mine easily if it fell out of my pocket or something, or if there were any chance of it getting mixed up with other identical models.

This isn't all that likely in my case, what with working mostly alone and using a case anyway to get over the dreaded death grip. But coupled with matching wallpaper (supplied by the company) it'll work well enough and could be a fun thing for the gadget-obsessed partner of your dreams for Valentine's Day - and goodness knows we're going to need something cheap this year...