Cool Tech Tools 2008

Part of my job as editor and publisher of smallbiztechnology.com is to stay on top of the newest practical tools for small business owners. Since 1999, I have tested hundreds of different software and hardware products and talked with hundreds of small business owners and technology companies about the latest advances in technology. Every day I am on the lookout for products that will help owners grow their companies. Here are a handful of the hottest new products around. They all fit my definition of cool. They’re fun, easy to use and, most important, truly useful.

Kensington SlimBlade Presenter Mouse

If you make presentations, you know how annoying it is to switch between a mouse and a presenter (the thing you click to advance boring presentations). And if you need to use a pointer, you certainly have your hands full. Kensington’s SlimBlade Presenter Mouse is a mouse, presenter and laser pointer, all in one!
http://us.kensington.com; $80.

Call Wave and SimulScribe

When your voice mail says you have 21 new messages, how do you know which are the most important? Call Wave and SimulScribe have similar technologies that automatically listen to your voice mail and send the message to you as a text message. So, the next time you’re in a meeting and are waiting for an important voice mail, you’ll be able to see what the message is about without having to excuse yourself to check your messages. callwave.com; services starting at $10 a month www.simulscribe.com; $10–$30/month.

NetBooks

Large businesses have the resources to build or buy technology solutions that are integrated with each other. Ideally their finance, CRM, sales management, marketing and inventory programs are integrated and connected to one database to mine as much data on every customer and business process as possible and reduce duplication of data. NetBooks, a hosted application, offers small businesses an integrated suite of business applications. While there are many great solutions that offer one function that your business needs, there are not many products offering an integrated solution. This one does. www.netbooks.com; $200/month for five users.

Guard ID

Guard ID’s ID Vault is a USB drive that stores and encrypts your personal and financial information. Basic protection from viruses and malware is important, but hackers are getting more sophisticated in their attacks and security exploits. ID Vault adds another layer of security by ensuring that hackers or even casual users of a shared computer do not have access to your critical information. Normally your personal information is stored in a cache on your computer’s Web browser. With Guard ID, the information is stored on the USB drive, so no information is left on the computer for hackers to access.
www.guardid.com; $39.99.

SentryGroup’s Sentry@Safe

This line of data and document security solutions adds a new twist to “document storage.” While a traditional safe is useful for protecting documents and valuables from theft, what about your digital valuables? SentryGroup has a new line of safes that embed a Maxtor One Touch hard disk into the safe. If there’s a fire or flood, you can rest assured that not only are your papers and other sources of valuable data protected by the safe and backed up by the hard disk on which your data is stored, but your hard disk is protected as well. Sentry’s safe includes a traditional safe for storing valuables; embedded within the safe is an external hard disk for data. Taking your external drive and putting it in a safe will protect it, but it’s easier to have your important digital and physical data in one place.
www.sentrysafe.com/products/dataProtectionSolutions.aspx. Prices vary.