Executive gadgets.

• Author: Lundahl, Kristine
• Position: Executive Living - Use of Personal Digital Assistants

JUST AS EVERY BUSINESS IS DIFFERENT, so too is every executive's technological needs. Trying to keep up with the latest technology is akin to staying in fashion while living in Milan. Once upon a time, Commodores were cutting edge, fax machines took up one's entire desk space, and phone messages were left on a machine.

Today, professionals in Hong Kong can reach associates in New York via instant messaging (IM) computers are small enough to hold in your hand (Personal Digital Assistants), and the Internet doesn't require a phone line. Inventions like handsprings, PC cards, digital cameras, freeware, software, microdrives and Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) are shaping the technology world, and Utah businesspeople are benefiting.

Mike Thurman, the online marketing director at Salt Lake Community College (SLCC), is most impressed with Personal Digital Assistants or in tech-speak, PDAs. The handheld devices do everything a PC can. "PDAs are just wonderful. You see them everywhere now. People use them for work, personal life, hobbies, everything. My child, who is 10 years old, grabs my PDA and just goes cruising," Thurman says.

Thurman says he uses his PDA for Power Point presentations at SLCC. He can put together a presentation on his office PC, download it into his PDA, and using a digital camera, take his show on the road.

For more involved presentations, Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) digital projectors are in high demand. LCD projectors deliver better color saturation, sharper images, are slim and weigh less than four pounds. They can project computer data, DVDs, videos and laser discs.

Todd Hageman, event manager at Marriott Park City -- this year's Sundance Film Festival Headquarters - says LCD projectors are becoming commonplace. "Most people are bringing their own LCD projectors. We used to have them available for conferences, and we still do, but more and more businesses have their own. They're more affordable now," Hageman says.

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