Cool New Tech Tools & Toys

As the owner of a small business technology website, www.smallbiztechnology.com, I’ve spent the last several years reviewing, testing and using all sorts of technology.  I’m the guy you pass on the street whose pockets are stuffed with gadgetry — in my case, a Dell Axim PDA, a cell phone and an iPod Nano. Recently I was involved in testing a BlackBerry and a Treo, and when I added those gizmos to my portable collection, I practically had a wardrobe malfunction from the accumulated bulk. My notebook computer bag is overflowing with an assortment of USB hard drives, wires, a digital camera, a microphone and a headphone, in addition to the computer. So when it comes to tech, if I haven’t seen it all, I’ve certainly come close. 

But don't get me wrong.  I'm anything but blasé about technological advances.  Nothing gets me as excited as seeing some insanely great new application that is going to make the lives of small business owners easier and more efficient. 

Below is a list of really cool new technological advances for businesses — some gadgets, some software and some hardware. They’ve passed my “wow” test — a standard that requires that a device be supremely useful as well as technologically dazzling.  But don’t get me wrong. I’m anything but blasé about technological advances.    

Every item below might not be for you, but I’ll bet you’ll find at least one of them indispensable once you try it. Is your favorite application missing from our list? I’d love to hear about what’s impressed you lately. E-mail me at tech@nyreport.com.

Odd Cast’s Site Pal - http://www.oddcast.com 

Getting a visitor to your website is only the first step in e-commerce. Imagine if your visitors had a speaking guide to give them a gentle nudge (or a huge shove) toward what you wanted them to do on your site. Thousands of companies have found it useful to have an avatar (an animated talking head) on their websites. Using Odd Cast’s Site Pal, you first design your character (choosing the animated character’s appearance); then you add audio (using text to speech or a microphone, calling in over the telephone or using professional voice talent). Using the HTML code provided, you then add the avatar to your website. Odd Cast’s Site Pal is a good way to add some fun interactivity for serious customer engagement on your website. Cost: $10–$50 per month ($100–$500 per year).

Anthology SolutionsYellow Machine -

www.yellowmachine.com

Storage is not new, but storage in a yellow box the size of a toaster is pretty cool. The Yellow Machine from Anthology Solutions weighs a bit less than 20 pounds and contains a robust amount of storage and file management solutions.  With built-in RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks), your data on the Yellow Machine will be very secure, as RAID is designed to replicate hard disk data so that if one hard disk fails, another one has the data. This box has a built-in firewall and VPN (virtual private network) router for remote access to your files and network. Knowing that data loss is not a matter of if but when, you can sleep at night knowing the data on your PC is safely archived with Yellow Machine’s built in backup software.  Cost: $1,000, with 1 terabyte of storage.

Talario Xpaper - http://www.talario.com