With the average small company spending $400 a month on faxing, you've got nothing to lose but your long-distance phone bill. --S. S.
Ether O'er
For most of us, wireless computing is still a remote option. But that might not be the case for long.
AirMedia (800-Air-Media), a division of Ex Machina Inc., located in Newport Beach, Calif., recently took the line out of on-line with its latest release, a $99 software program that comes packaged with a wireless device--a small pyramid-shaped antenna that attaches to your computer via the serial port. Once the system is installed, AirMedia intermittently broadcasts to your computer the news and information it's been gathering on its Internet server from sources like Reuters and SportsLine USA.
To get you hooked, the company offers a year of free use. After that, price ranges from $5.95 to $9.95 a month, depending on the services you select. If you happen to use one of the E-mail service providers that AirMedia has partnered with--like Compuserve or EarthLink Network--you can even receive E-mail alerts through the ether. Of course, like any radio, the AirMedia system only receives information. So you probably won't want to cancel your phone service quite yet. --J. M.
Block Buster
Worried about how your employees spend their time on-line? Just make sure you look before you leap onto the blocking-software bandwagon. Some of the packages that restrict access to certain on-line material may censor more than you think.
To find out which products ban what, go to the site of those you're considering (most publish a list of criteria) or call the manufacturer and ask. While most companies won't give out a roster of banned sites, they will tell you how they decide which sites to ax. Stay away from the all-or-nothing products, that is, those that require you to disable the entire program in order to have access to anything on their verboten list. With topics as broad as "computer hacking," these lists can keep your employees from important information. One last tip, from the corporate side: To keep your own site from getting blacklisted, make sure your Internet service provider (ISP) isn't in trouble with any blocking software. In some rare instances, an entire ISP can be banned. --S.S.
Extra! Extra!
In the tumultuous Internet industry, new lingo develops even faster than new software. The latest addition to the evolving lexicon: "extranet"--as in "extraterrestrial." Like its intranet cousin, the extranet can be defined as a Web server for sharing documents and sending E-mail. The big difference: You don't own and maintain the server, and you don't design the Web pages. You leave both to an outside party.
HotOffice Technologies Inc. (888-4-HotOffice), a developer of Internet technology for small businesses, in Boca Raton, Fla., is one of those providers. Starting at $24.95 per user per month, HotOffice's system lets each user upload 15 MB of information each month (each additional MB costs $1). You could use the HotOffice server to store anything from a presentation your employees need to access from the road to spreadsheets you plan to collaborate on in real time.
The service throws in a business news feed, an electronic bulletin board for your company, and private chat rooms in the bargain. --J.M.
A True Visionary
Jim Misener might be blind, but that doesn't mean he can't spot a market niche.
Eight years ago, Misener got into what he calls the "adaptive-technology business." Acting as a consultant, he showed blind and low-vision clients how to make technology more user-friendly. Over the years, Misener grew increasingly frustrated with how little product information there was for the visually impaired and how difficult it was to find products they could use. No wonder the unemployment rate for the blind was a staggering 80%, he thought. How could people acquire up-to-date skills when they couldn't even use the latest technology? So in 1994, with the help of a Small Business Association loan, Misener set up a store geared toward helping the blind get state-of-the-art equipment and training.
From the start, Misener stocked Beyond Sight Inc., in Littleton, Colo., with high-end products aimed at putting visually impaired people back into the workforce. Products like Arkenstone's Open Book, which actually reads aloud printed materials placed on its surface, and Blazie Engineering's Braille 'N Speak, a four-by-six-inch transcriber with a Braille keyboard, a talking word processor, and a talking scheduler.
Of course, the visually impaired aren't Misener's only customers. He also sells to potential employers. Misener spends a good deal of his time convincing employers that it's just as easy to hook an adaptive technology like a Braille printer to a network as a regular one. And he's found that with a little nudge from the Americans with Disabilities Act, employers are usually willing to give the adaptive technology a try.
Since he opened Beyond Sight two years ago, Misener's revenues have grown to $1.2 million. He recently signed a deal to set up his first franchise store and is searching for the best location. Because of his mission to lower the unemployment rate for the blind, Misener hopes he can find visually impaired owners for the franchises. That rate, he notes, is now almost 10% lower than it was when he got into the adaptive-technology business--a drop he'd like to think he had something to do with. But he knows there's still a long way to go. --S.S.
Things We Love
Jim Dieroff likes things simple. When he travels to Europe on business, he rarely even changes the time on his watch. He can't be bothered fussing with the dial. Instead, he whips out a miniature 5-ounce travel alarm clock, flips open the display, and begins speaking into a small microphone.
After a number of bad experiences (thanks to forgotten wake-up calls and broken hotel alarm clocks), Dieroff, president and CEO of Connaissance Corp., a $2-million consulting, continuing-education, and product-marketing business for dental professionals, in Fort Collins, Colo., was determined to find an easy-to-use timepiece that he could take on the road. Now, using the Voice Clock, made by Voice It Worldwide Inc., also in Fort Collins ($75, exclusively at Brookstone, 800-846-3000), Dieroff just presses a button and then speaks a command. For example, to set the alarm for the morning, he need only push a few buttons and announce what time he'd like to be roused; the clock then announces the time selected to let him know it's registered. "I've freaked people out on planes because they can't figure out where the heck the voice is coming from," says Dieroff.
The only problem is, the clock may be too simple to use. After all, isn't an alarm supposed to make it difficult to sleep? With the Voice Clock, all you have to do to catch a few more zzz's is utter the word "snooze." Acknowledging a potential problem, the manufacturer has designed the clock alarm to automatically increase in volume after every snooze interlude.
Although Dieroff originally bought the clock just for travel, he now carries it with him everywhere. He finds it especially useful at corporate meetings, where a nonchalant glance at a watch can seem rude and inappropriate. "I just set the clock out in front of me on the conference table," explains Dieroff, "and that way I never get in trouble for looking at my watch. You remember when George Bush looked at his watch during the debates back in '92, don't you?" --J.M.
