Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
Issue link: https://cpapracticeadvisor.epubxp.com/i/643338
14 February 2016 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com FROM THE TRENCHES By Randy Johnston Simple Tools for Productivity It w a s c le a r t h a t i n 2 016 a nd beyond, a few trends are obv ious: higher speed 5G cellular and net- works, resolutions and brightness that improve the images we see on cell phones, tablets, computers and monitors, beter and faster storage, as well as improving the fundamen- tals of interfacing with our devices w ith voice and t y ping. A ll can be expected this year and beyond. Low Cost Improvement in Productivity New ideas for common devices have created solutions you should buy. For example, Matias from Ontario, C a n a d a , h a s de v e lop e d a s t a nd called the iR izer for use with com- puters, tablets and phones that is simple and should be included in everyone's portable kit. iR izer holds devices at various angles to ease use, reading, and ergonomics. Te angles that can be set in the iR izer product makes any situation where you are trying to be productive much sim- pler. A t t he e x t remely low pr ice point, we'd recommend trying a few and then making this product part of everyone's standard equipment. Just as interesting was a series of keyboards. Te founder and engi- neer ex plained how the manufac- turer of "positive click " components had stopped ma k ing these items, and we lamented the loss of the old Keytronics and IBM keyboards. Matias had to create new genera- tion key switches themselves. Tey created t h ree d i f ferent keyboa rd switches, which you can see in the t wo accompany ing pictures. One key switch model makes noise with a strong, positive touch, one has a strong, positive touch, and one has sl ig ht ly less pressu re needed for people with arthritis issues. If you pr e f e r f l a t s t y le k e y b o a rd s , t he company makes these as well. A nother winner from this year's CES is the Logitech M X A ny where 2 mouse. If you have mobile workers you wa nt to put t he best m ice i n their hands. Te mouse is very pre- c i s e a nd w or k s o n a n y s u r f a c e , including glass. Logitech mice are available in a variety of ergonomic confgurations. For desktop mice, you might want to consider products like the Perfor- m a n c e M o u s e M X o r t h e M X Master. Remember that on mice, you are looking for high precision, but a single mouse model does not ft everyone's needs. You'll want to ofer multiple options. A practical solution to portable, enc r y pted storage w a s L I N K by Fasetto. This portable Solid State Drive is available in 256GB or 2TB models. Connections are made via 802.11ac technolog y, and the unit can have up to 36 users attached. Tese connections can be used as central f le rooms by auditors, for strea m ing v ideo or as storage for digital cameras. Te small size and strong security make it an option for anyone who has to carr y f les and share them securely. However, the L I N K w a s n o t t h e o n l y m a j o r storage improvement in this year's CES. Samsung announced a number of h ig h per for ma nce Sol id St ate Drives completely eclipsing the old p e r f o r m a n c e o f 2 0 , 0 0 0 I O P S (I n p u t/O u t p u t O p e r a t ion s Pe r S e c o nd). S o me e nt e r p r i s e S S D m o d e l s a r e n o w d e l i v e r i n g 1,000,000 IOPS. A nother vendor that has delivered multi-monitor technology for years i s D i s p l a y L i n k . D i s p l a y L i n k included new products for multiple 4K monitor atachments with var- ious landscape and portrait orienta- tions. Te new unit supports con- nections from tablets and phones such as the iPad/iPhone as well as from computers at the same time. Te vendor has innovated in USB Ty pe-C, Tunderbolt and 4K con- nections w ith hardware and sof t- ware upgrades this year. It is clear that 4K technology for monitors and phones will become common. It is also clear that 4K T V prod- ucts are simply a bridge to the new generation 8K SU D T V oferings. T he 8K s or t i n g t a ble s how n b y Panasonic will be a superb collab- orat ive tool. T he 4K Sma r t K app marker board for collaboration can double as a large screen touchscreen monitor while providing multi-site collaboration. I'm hard pressed to 1 4 F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 6 • w w w . C P A P r a c t Randy Johnston is executive vice president and partner of K2 Enterprises and Network Management Group, Inc. He is a nationally recognized educator, consultant and writer with over 30 years' experience. He can be contacted at randy.johnston@cpapracticeadvisor.com . T he Consumer Electronics Show (CES) introduces a variety of new products and technolog ies for consumers and businesses. While C E S r e c e i v e s h e a v y n a t i o n a l reporting and is the source of thousands of articles, looking for tools that can improve the practice of accounting is the focus of my eforts at the event. Various technologies from CES.