Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
Issue link: https://cpapracticeadvisor.epubxp.com/i/283007
TECHNOLOGY IN PRACTICE CORDLESS POWER One of the fr ustrations of getting ready for a tr ip is pack ing a l l t he d i f ferent cord s for t he d i f ferent mobi le dev ices we ca r r y w it h us. W hile there are shared chargers like the Kensington AbsolutePower, it would be great to get rid of power cords all together. CES featured a W i r e l e s s P o w e r p a v i l i o n t h a t s h o w c a s e d c o n d u c t i v e p o w e r products such as the PowerSound spea ker s y stem wh ich recha rges your smartphone batery by lying it o n t o p o f t h e s p e a k e r s , w h i l e si mu lt a ne ou sl y a l low i ng you to l isten to music pu mped f rom t he phone. 3D PRINTING W hile there is a lot of hype around "additive" or 3D printing, based on the number of vendors and products at CES, t here is def i n itely a con- s u mer ma rket developi ng at t he home "protot y ping" ma rket w it h dev ices such a s t he d a V i nc i 3D printer starting at $499 and industry leader MakerBot delivering "Cube" units at close to a $1,000 price point. W hile creating small plastic proto- types is one side of the 3D market, t a s t i n g c u s t om "pr i nt e d " s u g a r candy from 3D Systems' Chef Jet was a new CES experience. HEALTHTECH A nother popular pav ilion at CES was the Health technology section where biometric devices that mon- itor your heart rate, movement, and s p e e d a r e b e i n g l i n k e d t o y ou r smartphone giv ing you a recap of your daily activity. Approximately one-third of a l l smar tphones and tablet users already have a health- related application loaded (my per- s o n a l e x e r c i s e f a v o r i t e i s t h e 7 minute workout), showing that the ma rket for i nteg rated biomet r ic tracking devices is huge. On a more practical note, I've heard of f irms prov iding masseuses during busy season to help people relax so they could be more productive. Inada, maker of massage chairs was one of the most popular booths at CES and w e w o u l d g u e s s t h i s w o u l d b e e x t remel y popu l a r i n a ny f i r m's break room. ROBOTICS Most of us have heard of personal robotic devices such as the iRobot Roomba vacuum or Scooba f loor scrubber that automatically clean up when no one is looking. Well, they now have window cleaning robots such as Ecovac's WinBot that cover your windows as well. For those of us wondering how robots can help run your practice more efectively, there was a product f rom Double Robotics that lets you see what is goi ng on , e ven w hen you a re i n a not her of f ice or at home. T hei r Telepresence Robot for Telecom- muters allows you to "move around the ofce and talk face to face" to your personnel, from the comfort of a remote site. INPUT DEVICES Ever wonder why computer key- boards are laid out the way they are? It was the easiest way to ensure the most common ly used keys didn't st ic k toget her w hen st r uc k , a nd there has not been much innovation since then. W hile most of us grew up using IBM Selectric Typewriters, the next generation of accountants have grow n up in the age of ergo- nomic input devices such as game controllers and smartphone. Tese personnel are defnitely faster and more accurate on their ergonomic devices than on our current clunky keyboards, so the next generation m a y w e l l u s e "c o n t r o l l e r " t y p e e r g o n o m i c k e y b o a r d s l i k e t h e TrewGrip or Twiky input devices. AUTOMOBILE AUTOMATION Verizon and AT&T; are developing partnerships w ith the major auto- motive manufacturers to integrate digital 4G capabilities w ithin your car to make them one more compo- nent of t he "I nter net of t h i ng s" which w ill keep us connected w ith information resources in real time. W it h t h re e s t ate s now a l low i ng driverless cars, commute time can become work time (if you chose it to be). NEW SCANNING TECH No CES review would be complete w ithout look ing at Fujitsu's scan- ning tools which have been a favorite of auditors for a long time. W hile last yea r's w i reless Sca nSnap i x150 0 made it easier to transfer scanned images without the cord, this year they added the S V60 0 wh ich is a book scanner w ith auto-fatening t e c h n o l o g y t o q u i c k l y c a p t u r e i mages s uc h a s h i stor ic a l ledger pages without having to take them apart! VIRTUAL REALITY Finally, the world of virtual reality is closer than ever, particularly with devices such as Occulus R if's High Def inition Protot y pe Goggles we we re a ble to e x p e r ie nc e , t w ic e! Imagine future auditor training by being able to look in any direction a nd mo v e w i t h V i r t u i x 's O m n i device. Training trends are moving towards the concept of gamifcation a nd c ou ld be a w ay to opt i m i z e a u d i t o r t r a i n i n g s u c h a s c l i e n t inter views and inventor y obser va- tions. We l l , t h at c onc lu de s a not he r round of cool technologies from the annual Consumer Electronics show; we hope you are having a productive and proftable busy season. cpa_12-13_Roman.indd 13 3/24/14 10:55 AM