B.E. guide to business technology: turbo charge your business. (Technology).Countless things contribute to the success of a business and the technology you use is one factor. You may not need to go out and buy the hottest tools on the market; not every technology is for every business or for every businessperson. We want to make sure you know which tools are right for your business and for you. Here, we take a look at four hardware technologies that could make a difference in the way you do business. First we look at tablet PCs that pack the power of a desktop or notebook computer A laptop computer that weighs in a range from five to seven pounds. The term originated when laptops were routinely more than 10 pounds, and those that became lighter were placed in a special "notebook" category. In practice, notebook computer and laptop computer are synonymous. , and that have the go-anywhere grace of paper and pen. Next we look at wireless networks--brands that do more for your business than sport a buzzword A term that refers to the latest technology or a term that sounds catchy. If not a flash in the pan, new technologies become mainstream. For example, Java was a hot buzzword in the 1990s, but should remain a major topic for decades. that's already long in the tooth. We take a fresh look at handheld/wireless phone combos, and finally, do you know who's attacking your network? And how to stop them? We'll tell you. The Nokia 9290 Communicator (www.nokia.com; $599.99)is a large 6.22"x2.20"x 1.06" unit that weighs 86 oz., sports a miniature QWERTY keyboard The standard English language typewriter keyboard. Q, W, E, R, T and Y are the letters on the top left, alphabetic row. Designed by Christopher Sholes, who invented the typewriter, the keyboard layout was organized to prevent people from typing too fast and jamming the keys. , and has a high resolution TFT (Thin Film Transistor) The term typically refers to active matrix screens on laptop computers. Active matrix LCD provides a sharper screen display and broader viewing angle than does passive matrix. See LCD and thin film. TFT - Thin Film transistor active-matrix display. You get phone, fax, and e-mail capability, the ability to write short messages, wireless office, and other utilities in a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) A handheld computer for managing contacts, appointments and tasks. It typically includes a name and address database, calendar, to-do list and note taker, which are the functions in a personal information manager (see PIM). . Optional accessories include a $149 digital camera. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Belkin's Wireless Headset See headset. (www.belkin.com; $109.99) is for Bluetooth-enabled wireless phones. To whip up a wireless LAN A local area network that transmits over the air typically in the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz unlicensed frequency band. It does not require line of sight between sender and receiver. Wireless base stations (access points) are wired to an Ethernet network and transmit a radio frequency over an area , you'll need to buy a wireless network access point, which connects to your network switch or gateway router and ties your card-carrying 802.11 devices together as a network. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Handspring Treo 300 (www.handspring.com; $499) is a 16MB Palm organizer that fits easily in a shirt pocket and features a QWERTY keyboard and a PCS full-color screen. The SMS messages and supports IR (beaming). You can download RecoEcho Plus, a third-party graffiti program, for free. In addition to e-mail, you get Web access through the Blazer browser, which is more like a desktop browser than a mobile phone browser. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Fujitsu Stylistic ST4000 Tablet PC (www.fujitsu.com) is also a slate, but accepts a keyboard that's included. It retails from $2,099 with modem and Ethernet to $2,698 with Ethernet, 802.11 b wireless LAN, docking station (1) A cradle for a portable device that serves to charge the unit and connect it to other sources or destinations. For example, an iPod docking station charges the iPod and connects it to a computer, speakers or TV set. , and DVD/CD-RW drive. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Convertibles, such as the Compaq TCIO TCIO Task Control and Information Office 00 (www.compaq.com), let you carry what appears to be a digital writing tablet A writing tablet provides a firm surface to write upon.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The ViewSonic Tablet PC Vl100 (www.viewsonic.com) is a stand-alone slate model with an estimated street price of $1,995. A dock and keyboard are optional. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Like Fujitsu's, Gateway's Tablet PC (www.gateway.com) is a slate with separate keyboard, plus docking station with DVD/CD-RW drive and 802.1 lb wireless LAN, all of which come in a bundle starting at $2,249. The super-sized 12.1" XGA (EXtended Graphics Array) A screen resolution of 1,024x768 pixels. The term stems from IBM's XGA display standard introduced in 1990, which extended VGA to 132-column text and interlaced 1,024x768x256 resolution. XGA-2 later added non-interlaced 1,024x768x64K. TFT active*matrix color display is a real plus. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] You can buy the same tablet PC Gateway sells, without the extras, from its manufacturer, Motion Computing, where it's called the Motion M1200 (www.motioncomputing.com; $2,099). [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] For wireless networking, try the Toshiba PCX (1) A bitmapped graphics file format that handles monochrome, 2-bit, 4-bit, 8-bit and 24-bit color and uses RLE to achieve compression ratios of approximately 1.1:1 to 1.5:1. Images with large blocks of solid colors compress best under the RLE method. See PC Paintbrush. 5000 (www.toshiba .com). It comes with an 802.11b access point and an integrated 4-port, 10/100Mbps router to connect your devices. Retail price starts [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] If you're looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a cable/DSL wireless router to help you share a broadband connection, check out NetGear's MR814 (www.netgear.com), one of the new dual 802.11b/802.11a models (with an $89.95 estimated street price). [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] As with other types of LANs, a firewall, such as NetGear's Model FMl14P Cable/DSL Prosafe 802.11b Wireless Firewall with Print Server (www.netgear.com; $271), can help protect against intrusion. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Belkin's Wireless Network Access Point ($99.99). You'll need wireless network cards for devices that aren't already rigged for it. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] SMC's EZ Connect 2.4GHz, 11Mbps Wireless Ehternet Adapter (www.smc.com) converts any Ethernet device to wireless ($74.99). [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] BLACK ENTERPRISE found a product that combines a hardware biometric device with PIN security: ActivCard's Trinity (www.activcard.com). Secure sign-on pricing is $50-$90 per user, depending on volume. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] |
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