Biz Bits
The latest essential buys for business travelers
BUSINESS IN BLUE
Why is it called Bluetooth? The name is taken from the 10th century Danish King Harald Blatand, or Harold Bluetooth in English. King Blatand was instrumental in uniting warring factions in parts of what is now Norway, Sweden and Denmark— just as Bluetooth technology is designed to allow collaboration between differing industries such as the computing, mobile phone and automotive markets.
Keyed In
Cyberguys Freedom Mini Bluetooth Keyboard
www.cyberguys.com • $70
This lightweight keyboard makes it easier to enter data while on the move, whether it’s during a daily commute or business trip. It can fit in your pocket and, because of the Bluetooth connection, it doesn’t require a mess of tangled wires.
Save Paper
Nokia Digital Pen SU-27W
www.nokia.com • $300
This digital pen can jot down
notes and doodle ideas, eliminating
unorganized scraps of paper.
All content gathered with this device
can be sent to compatible mobile phones
using Bluetooth technology, or downloaded
to a PC. Plus, the handwriting recognition
will convert all writing into digital text.
Look, No Hands! Cardo Systems Inc. s-800
www.cardowireless.com • $75
Designed for extensive wear and use, the headset off ers up to eight hours of talk time and one week of standby time, and can be operated at a distance of up to 30 feet from the mobile phone. Other highlights of this ultrasmall unit include a headset location buzzer, missed call indicator, conference call, voice dial and “hot dialing,” which allows users to store and speed dial numbers.
5 OF THE MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED
Business 2.0 magazine predicted the 25 online companies most likely to succeed in 2007. Here are some contenders that made the list:
1. www.simulscribe.com
This site can transcribe voicemails and send them to mobile devices as scannable text.
2. www.joost.com
The founders of Kazaa and Skype are looking to create an online TV experience with channels that users can flip through and share with friends.
3. www.reardencommerce.com
This site aims to provide assistance to busy businesspeople with a web-based virtual personal assistant.
4 www.soonr.com
automotive markets. If you’re in need of total access, this will allow users to search office or home computers for almost any file.
5. www.loopt.com
This site will allow customers to track the location of their cell phoneusing friends.
ASK.
It’s a great way to find out what you don’t know
Animals learn by experiences only, especially bad ones. Big animals eat little animals. Lesson for little animals: Avoid big animals. But we humans don’t have to wait for bad experiences in order to learn. We don’t have to lose an account, a customer or our job to learn. We have a shortcut. When we don’t understand, we can ask.
But we rarely ask: What time is the meeting?
How do you
get from the airport to the client’s office? Is it plugged in? Will the boss be there? Can I wear jeans? What was stock’s closing price? Do we have a contingency plan?
Journalists live by who, what, where, when and how.
Ask.com is devoted to answering questions. Virtually every business offers FAQs— Frequently Asked Questions. Why? Because they’re really FNAQs—Frequently Not Asked Questions (we’re too embarrassed to ask)—that once answered, can save us a lot of trouble.
Asking not only provides answers and information, but it also gives rise to new ideas.
What if Fred Smith had never wondered why it took the US Post Office so long to get packages from one place to another?
He might never have created Federal Express
What if no one had ever asked the furniture questions:
How come it costs so much, takes so long to get, and can’t be taken home and assembled? Ikea might never have come into existence and introduced the Bjursta dining table or the Leksvik dresser, which we can’t pronounce but can take home, assemble with the small tool provided, and even afford to replace when our tastes change.
What if Lewis and Clark, like many lost men, had refused to ask for directions?
They might never have explored the American West, and we’d never have had the Alamo, Las Vegas, Hollywood and the Silicon Valley.
The word “question” comes from the Latin quarrier meaning “to seek”
not the Latin commoror bardus, “to remain in the darkness.” Don’t sit there in the dark. Ask where the light switch is.
The former president and CEO of an advertising agency whose clients included the likes of CBS Sports, Verizon Wireless and Klondike Ice Cream, James Dale reveals his simple secrets on how to succeed in business in his new book, The Obvious: All You Need to Know in Business. Period. (Hyperion, $17.95). Whether you’re a CEO or a sales rep, his insights and fundamental ideas yield effective results. Here’s one example of Dale’s simple rules to follow, from the chapter “Listen More Than You Talk”: