At Macworld, it wasn't just about the iPhone

Computerworld - SAN FRANCISCO -- At the Macworld Expo earlier this month, I spent a lot of time walking the show floor looking for products that would be of interest to the enterprise user -- me. And while the big news from the show was Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs' announcement of the coming-soon iPhone, there were a lot of products and vendors that caught my eye. Among them were these personal favs:

Lenntek's HookUp -- iPod and cell phone now and for everyone

So you want an iPhone but don't want to wait? Then Lenntek Corp.'s HookUp is for you for you. I saw the HookUp the day before the iPhone announcement but still wanted it the day after. In a nutshell, the device hooks onto your iPod and sends the music to a receiver/remote, and your phone sends calls to the same receiver/remote (which also has a microphone built in) via Bluetooth.

You can use your favorite headphones with the remote, and the quality of the music is indistinguishable from listening to the iPod headphone jack -- thanks to the 24-bit analog-to-digital, and back to analog, conversion in the system. When a call comes to your phone, the ring is transmitted to your remote, and if the call is taken, your iPod is automatically paused. When you release the call, your iPod will start playing again.

If you've ever walked down the street listening to music while holding your cell phone up to see if a call has come in or find yourself unable to enjoy a workout for fear of missing a call, you'll love the HookUp.

Fast Track Enterprise Grade PM software for Mac and PC

As a certified project management professional (PMP) and Macintosh user, I've been searching for project management software that has all the features I need, imports and exports Microsoft Project .mpp files, has a version for both Windows and Mac OS X and is a universal binary for Mac Intel computers. Amazingly, I found that combination in Fast Track 9.

Fast Track has all the professional-level tools I need and, unlike Microsoft Project, is very intuitive to use. You can input data via the keyboard or drag timelines graphically. It has a simple-to-read calendar, resource and task views. Project managers are regularly asked to report on their project status, and most of the people who need to read those reports are not comfortable reading a Gantt chart. Fast Track 9 makes it very easy to export reports on your project in graphical or HTML format for effective reporting to management. This is a must-have tool for any PMP who is frustrated by the legacy limitations of Microsoft Project.