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New technology got you baffled? Our crib sheet can help.

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The New-Technology Crib Sheet

Baffled about B2B versus P2P? Can't tell a WAP from an ASP? Never fear. Here's a basic IT primer for anyone who thinks Bluetooth is a swashbuckling pirate

It happens to everyone, sooner or later. Techno-Panic.

Say you're meeting with a vendor or a customer and someone casually drops the latest tech buzzword into the conversation. You've heard the term before, but you're not quite sure what it means. What do you do? Are you confident enough to stop and ask for a definition and risk looking foolish in front of your staff? Or do you let it pass and risk letting the conversation get deeper into the topic, leaving you further and further in the dark?

Technology can be pretty complicated, especially if you're not in a technology-related field. You may not need a maven's grasp of the latest whiz-bang application, but you definitely want to know about technologies that will make your business more competitive.

To help you in your technology quest, we've assembled a crib sheet, including a plain-English description of each technology, as well as our bottom-line take on whether you really need to care.

Application Service Provider (ASP)
What is it? Not a new technology, an ASP is just a different delivery model for something you're already using: software. ASPs offer access to software applications and functions over the Internet. Customers usually pay a monthly fee for Web access to applications maintained and hosted on the ASP's equipment.

What's the big deal? Going with an ASP erases the headache of buying a software license, installing the software on your own hardware, and taking care of routine upgrades and maintenance. The ASP performs all those tasks for you. And it's much cheaper to use the service than it is to buy the software or hardware -- at least in the short term. Many gurus believe the ASP model is the future of software delivery, since it guarantees vendors an ongoing revenue stream and saves customers the up-front labor and expense of implementing software programs themselves.

What's it good for? You can outsource almost any aspect of your technical operation and software needs to an ASP: E-commerce functions, sales and order processing, accounting, payroll -- you name it.

What'll it cost me? Costs are all over the map, depending on what you're outsourcing. At the low end, Intuit's QuickBooks for the Web starts at $14.95 a month. The more robust packages -- such as accounting, finance, payroll, and time-and-billing applications -- typically run between $100 and $150 a month.

Is it soup yet? Many ASPs have folded in the past 18 months, a trend that's sure to continue. You might want to stick with the well-known brand names until the dust settles. But don't even dream of trying an ASP unless you have a high-speed, always-on Internet connection such as a cable modem or at least a souped-up phone line called a digital subscriber line (DSL). Dialing up every time you want to access your information is no fun.

Should I care? Absolutely. ASPs represent the end of packaged software as we know it.

--Lauren Gibbons Paul

Bluetooth
What is it? Bluetooth is a wireless technology that operates over radio waves. The technology's promoters say that Bluetooth will allow all your electronic devices to "talk" with one another without messy cable connections.

What's the big deal? Bluetooth is expected to eliminate the tangle of wires behind computers and the jumble of connections from cellular phones, laptops, PDAs, and the like. The technology is being developed as an international standard (by companies like IBM, Nokia, Intel, and 3Com, among about 2,000 others) so that devices that work in New York City will also work in Singapore.

What can I use it for? Imagine syncing your Palm Vx with your PC without having to put it into its charger cradle. Or linking your laptop to your office network from any hotel room -- whether it's business friendly or not. Or printing a photo from your digital camera just by wandering by a Bluetooth-enabled printer and hitting "Print." Of course, those scenarios are all in the future. For now, Bluetooth usage is pretty much limited to a few phones, some laptops, and some pocket PCs.

What'll it cost me? Bluetooth add-on cards that convert some existing laptops and PDAs into Bluetooth devices are available for $100 to $250. The prices are expected to tumble as more Bluetooth applications come on the market, attracting more users.

Is it soup yet? Definitely not. Some analysts are predicting that within 18 months, Bluetooth will be standard fare. But to date the technology remains impractical for the average user. If Bluetooth ever delivers on its promises, though, the results could be quite exciting.

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