Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
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March 2014 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com 11 FROM THE TRENCHES double the speed of 802.11n and 24 times faster than 802.11g. T he sof t ware included w ith the unit can perform more sophisticated S S L V PN (Sec u re Soc ket s L ayer v irtual private net work) f unctions and represents a w ide array of new w i re le s s produc t s w it h r ad ic a l l y greater speed. Belk in acquired the Lin k sys d iv ision of Cisco in ea rly 2013 a nd is usi ng t he i ntel lec t ua l property acquired to innovate during the past year. Many of you should replace your w ireless access points (WA Ps) this year. In past columns, we have described the benefts of the LiveScribe pen. Tis product traditionally required special paper and allowed you to take notes while recording speech. Later your notes could be used to play back s p e c i f i c s p e e c h t h a t h a d b e e n recorded. Te new LiveScribe 3 ver- sion suppor ts the Apple iPad w ith handwriting recognition and integra- tion into note taking tools like Ever- Note. Even without the handwriting recognition and interfaces, the way this product now works on paper and on the iPad make it a technology tool worth trying. Upgrading your conference room or ofce for productivity is possible with new touchscreens and confer- encing sof ware prov ided by many d i f ferent vendor s . I n add it ion to connecting Apple T V and McTivia u n it s for sm a r t phone, t ablet a nd c om p ut e r w i r e le s s c on ne c t ion s , video conferencing is more practical t h a n e v e r b e t w e e n o f f i c e s a n d between a frm and its clients. Besides the inexpensive video conferencing p o s s i b l e t h r o u g h S k y p e , L y n c , Facetime, Oovoo or Vidyo, vendors like Samsung, Citrix and Cisco have made conferencing easier with their eCon ferenc i ng produc t s , G oTo - Meeting and WebEx. It is probably one year too early for 4K T V, but 4K w i l l become more common for our computers this year. DisplayLi n k 4K is a new USB 3.0 adapter that can support 4K moni- tor s . A dd- on vendor Ta r g u s h ad developed a universal docking station for 4K, the ACP7101 USZ. This USB 3.0 universal dock ing s t at ion a nd power s uppl y de v ic e supports the following connections: Integrated gigabit Ethernet and 5.1 aud io, up to a 9 0W laptop power s uppl y, t he de v ice s uppor t s du a l 2560x1600 displays over DisplayPort or DV I-I , a nd is compat ible w it h HDCP 2.0 encryption. Te product is now available with a retail price of $169.99. Tese types of devices will allow 4K monitor to be connected to laptops and desktops alike. Further, vendors like Toshiba showed their 4K laptops at CES in 2014. Sof ware-as-a-Ser vice (SaaS) has made i n novat ion on a la rge sca le possible for small and large publishers a like. One of the interesting tech- nology tools using this technology is FileTis. FileTis.com is an automatic s t a t e m e n t r e t r i e v a l a n d s t o r a g e product, accord i ng to CEO Br ia n Berson. Consider using this product in frms that ser ve high net wealth individuals or for yourself. Te product is designed to retrieve al l statements, automatical ly, on a rel i able sc hedu le, 2 4/7. Fi leT h i s securely fetches your online state - ments, bi l ls a nd ot her doc u ments f r o m c o m p a n i e s l i k e A m e r i c a n Express, Chase, A nthem, A mazon, and many more without you having to log in to every site individually. In ef fe c t , Fi leT h i s i s you r per son a l assistant that gets the job done. It is an online app that gets statements online from vendors and works with cloud storage tools. Te pricing is free for up to 6 accounts, used week ly, with 500MB storage. Tere is a pre- mium version for $2/month, for up to 12 accounts, used week ly, w it h 1GB storage, and an ultimate version for $5/month, for up to 30 accounts, used daily, with 10GB storage. A not her cha nge to watch for is bater y recharging capabilities. For example note the Fuel Cells in this picture from CES: A l s o av a i l a ble i s t he U p p P e r s o n a l E n e r g y Dev ice, which is $199 at Brookstone, available in the frst half of 2014. Tis technology is already being deployed in A frica. A lt houg h t he pr ic i ng of ref i l l s i s unknown at this time, Upp™ conve- niently powers and charges all your compat ible h a nd-held elec t ron ic dev ices v ia USB. Just connect t he Upp f uel cell to a replaceable Upp fuel cartridge and experience instant energy gratifcation from replaceable fuel cartridges. Stay connected with your favorite device on the move and liberate yourself from the wall socket forever. Pictured is Ron Rabinowitz, CEO of Duracell PowerMat (picture by Br ia n Ta n kersley). Du racel l Pow- ermat Charging coming to Starbucks. You will purchase a power receiver (colored loops) and put on the table, which w ill transmit power to your p h o n e w i r e l e s s l y. T h i s w i r e l e s s cha rg i ng u ses t he BM A st a nda rd (which is diferent from the Qi stan- da rd c u r rent ly ava i lable on ma ny devices) and will be available on 5+ phones on AT&T; i n 2 014. Power charging units can be moni- tored remotely and non-func- tioning units can be identifed via wireless diagnostics. But remember, please… Just because a new technology is introduced doesn't mean it is right for you. Do you have t he busi ness need? How w i l l t h is technolog y tool help your personal product iv it y? W hat does it do for ot he r s? How muc h t r a i n i n g a nd maintenance is needed to suppor t t h is tech nolog y? W i l l t he vendor remain in business? How long has the product been available? New technolog y products can be intox icating and inv igorating , but you should not purchase while under the infuence of a great sales pitch. S t e p b a c k a n d u n d e r s t a n d y o u r needs, application and the return on i nvest ment before spend i ng you r hard earned cash. It is perfectly fne being an early adopter, but try tech- nologies out on a limited number of users, in efect, sandboxing the idea. If the sandbox works and the business c a se i s t here, adopt i ng t he l atest t e c h nolo g y t o ol s c a n g i v e you a competitive advantage and help you prov ide better client ser v ice while giving you more time for the things you like to do, too. cpa_10-11_Johnston.indd 11 3/24/14 10:37 AM