Hispanic Enterprise - December 2007/January 2008 - (Page 20) BRIEFCASE BizTech By Jeffery D. Zbar THINKING BACK OVER THE PAST YEAR, HOW PRODUCTIVE WERE YOU? HOW SAFE WAS YOUR OFFICE AND DATA? AND HOW MUCH FUN DID YOU HAVE? YEAR-END ISN’T JUST A TIME TO REVIEW YOUR FINANCIALS AND BUSINESS RESULTS. IT’S A CHANCE TO RECALL HOW WELL YOU WORKED—AND WHETHER THE ADDITION OF A NEW TOOL, PRODUCT OR SERVICE COULD IMPROVE THE WAY YOU PERFORM. GEAR FOR THE NEW YEAR * PRODUCTIVITY HEY BUD, CAN YOU SPARE A PORT? LISTEN GOOD Computerized voice recognition has come a long way in the past few years. Large corporations are saving millions of dollars on customer support by replacing humans with sophisticated Interactive Voice Response systems that, in many cases, do a pretty decent job at not irritating the customers.The latest edition of Naturally Speaking may also allow you to save a few dollars and a lot of time. After a few voice training sessions the dictation software will type your words with impressive accuracy. Its other features allow you to replace many frequently used operations with voice commands and can also transcribe from digital recorders. $100, www.nuance.com COPY PASTE, REPEAT The ubiquitous signature lines at the end of e-mail messages with the sender’s contact information are used by many to create a new entry in their Outlook addressbooks. But the cumbersome operation, which often involves several copy and paste actions can be replaced by a single keypress with the help of Anagram, a new easy-to-install application that automatically turns signatures into outlook contacts. The program cap- From printers and scanners to cameras, flash drives and even VoIP phones, the small or home office often shares a variety of peripherals. Add a mobile worker whose laptop needs to tap into the network, and sharing can be a challenge. Enter the Buddy Hub. This portable seven-port USB hub allows two PCs to share devices—without ceaseless plugging and unplugging. $39.99, www.ultraproducts.com 20 tures the information in any signature formatted text and turns it into a neat Outlook contact. If you highlight an event invitation instead, Anagram will recognize it and create a calendar entry instead, filling in date and times for you. $30, www.getanagram.com HEY, A LITTLE HELP HERE! We’re not all techies. Some of us frequently need a little help with our gadgets. If you know a small or home business December/January 2008 HISPANIC ENTERPRISE http://www.getanagram.com http://www.nuance.com http://www.getanagram.com http://www.ultraproducts.com
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