There’s a wide array of new office technology constantly being introduced. Google “new office technology” and you’ll come up with 210 million hits. There’s a lot of information out there and this column aims to cut through a lot of the clutter so you can learn what’s new in office technology that will make your life more productive and/or cut costs.
None of the items in this column will break the bank (or have your CFO breathing down your neck). One is available for $9.99 while the most expensive (yet the most practical) retails for $395.
3M MPro150 Projector
The 3M MPro150 Projector is one of those devices that is going to save company’s thousands of dollars a year. It is a mobile projection device that fits in the palm of your hand, yet has the power of almost a full-size projector. It is perfect for presentations to customers, either in their office or during hotel conferences. No longer will you have to rent a projector at exorbitant prices nor will you have to lug your projector on the road.
The MPro 150 offers a two-hour battery life, despite being slightly more than five inches long and weighing only 5.6 ounces. It can project up onto a 50-inch screen, which should satisfy most presentation needs. It was recently awarded the 2010 Thomas Edison Gold Award for Technology for best new product.
Now for the technical details courtesy of 3M: “(the) MPro150 includes 1 GB internal memory, a micro SD card slot and a USB input for transferring files from a laptop or netbook, eliminating the necessity of a pass-through device and allowing entire presentations to be pre-loaded onto the projector itself. The MPro150 supports Microsoft Office applications (Word, Power Point and Excel), as well as Adobe PDF, photos and video, allowing the user to project images up to 50-inches at 15 lumens brightness.”
The MPro150 Projector takes less than an hour to get familiar with. Once you take the unit out of the book, charge it, and then head over to the 3M website to read the operator’s guide. The literature with the projector is not that helpful.
The MPro150 has a suggested retail price of $395. More information is available at www.3m.com/mpro/.
Fast Finger Keyboard
Great inspiration is sometimes borne out of frustration. Such was the case with Faith Quintavell, who says she is a good typist. One day, she waited in a long line while her auto mechanic hunted and pecked his way through a standard QWERTY keyboard. She felt his agony and invented the somewhat misnamed Fast Finger keyboard. (It’s a bit of a misnomer because the folks most likely to use it are going to have slow fingers.)
Experienced typists are probably going to take a pass on this keyboard. However, retail outlets, call centers, and, yes, auto repair facilities are going to like this one, which works with both Mac and Windows operating systems. One potential drawback to the keyboard is it has no USB ports for plugging in a mouse as you find with Macintosh computers. It sets up instantly by plugging into an available USB port on your computer.
A five-year-old tester recruited to try out the keyboard loved it. As she said, “All of the letters are in a row and I can find them easily.” So, if it’s easy enough for a five-year-old, people who took wood shop instead of typing in high school will like it.
The Fast Finger keyboard can be used in standard QWERTY mode with the press of a button but people who use a mixture of feel and sight to type (i.e. most journalists) might find it confusing. However, even an experienced typist can get into the ABC keyboard and type at a moderate pace.
One thing Quintavell has done that you will soon see adapted on even QWERTY keyboards is convert the function keys with short cuts for instant messaging (such as LOL, BRB, etc.). As corporations expand into social networking, those function keys could become invaluable.
The Fast Finger Keyboard has a suggested retail price of $29.95. More information is available at www.fastingerkeyboards.com.
Planon’s DocuPen Xtreme X05
The DocuPen Xtreme X05 is a portable scanner that delivers a lot of results from a small package. It’s called a pen but in reality is 8.5 inches long to accommodate scanning full-size pages and pictures. The DocuPen has such a spy gadget feel to it with 200MHZ computer processor, a rechargeable battery that fully charges in about three hours, 64 MB of fast SD Ram to store many scans, with a microSD expansion slot for more storage.
The DocuPen is well-suited for business travelers. For example, you could scan a signed letter of agreement and with the DocuPen’s Bluetooth send it to your Blackberry, Windows Mobile smart phones, laptop and other devices for quick dissemination. You no longer need to hunt for a scanner or a fax machine.
What’s most impressive about the DocuPen is its resolution. Planon’s Crystal Line Contact technology provides resolution up to 600 dpi for high-quality reproductions of contracts, receipts, invoices, color pictures and other items. Included is PaperPort SE software, which delivers an image editing and organizing tool for letters, receipts, pictures, business card and also integrates with Outlook, Word, Excel and other applications.
The DocuPen Xtreme X05 retails for $299.99 with higher-price models available. More information is available at planon.com/products/docupen/xseries.
Media Share
This is a product primarily aimed at consumers but actually has a great application for small business owners. Media Share by Verbatim lets users create a centralized network storage solution with up to 1 terabyte of storage. The content can be accessed from anywhere and has an easy-to-use interface, which spares you the expense of bringing in high-priced technical help.
Media Share will allow a small office to seamlessly network among Internet connected computers to download or upload files. It’s also easy to upload content directly to the device from any portable hard drive, flash drive or single slot card reader via a USB port in the front. MediaShare also supports Apple Time Machine for Mac users or Windows Backup allowing users to backup content located on a networked computer. Additional features, including remote access through web enabled smartphones, are available as part of a subscription plan.
Media Share has a suggested retail price of $199. More information is available at www.verbatim.com/mediashare.
Cabledrop
Technically, Cabledrop probably isn’t going to save your company a lot of money but it could save employees a lot of frustration for just a little bit of money. Sold by Bluelounge, which specializes in cable management devices, it is a colorful and easily adjustable cable clip that helps reconfigure one’s desktop in many ways.
Anybody who works with a laptop that shuffles between home and work will appreciate these clips that can easily be fixed behind or onto any desktop or adjacent walls and furniture. Unplug a cord from a computer and the Cabledrop holds it in place. No longer will they drop to the floor; no longer will you have to use tape to hold your cords in place.
CableDrop is offered in two different packs: muted colors (off white, rust, warm grey) or bright colors (orange, pink, lime green), at $9.95 for a pack of six. More information is available at www.bluelounge.com.
