Best New Gadgets for Small Businesses

From label makers to cell-phone extenders, companies are selling gear that bolsters the bottom line.
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NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- As much as big-iron tech vendors like Sony (SNE) - Get Report, Samsung, Dell (DELL) - Get Report or HP (HPQ) - Get Report like to say their honkin' old gear makes or breaks a small business, Planet Small Biz really is still the land of the gadget.

Employees are few in our shops. Everybody does everything. So little digital thing-a-ma-bobs that do not cost a fortune and do just one or two things well can actually boost the bottom line.

We get lots of these units in the shop. Here are my picks for useful small-business gadgets for spring 2010:

1.

Dymo

LabelWriter 450 Twin Turbo label and postage printer ($200).

I know, I know -- $200 for what amounts to a sticker printer is a

long

way to go to get some productivity. But we use the Dymo every day for labels, postage stamps, envelopes and folder designs.

Dymo did a nice job upgrading its design software recently, and while the graphics tools can be clumsy, this unit offers a lot of organizational bang for the buck.

If you're looking for that one magic office gadget, try the Dymo.

2.

HP

900 High Capacity Inkjet Print Cartridges (starting at $14).

Here's a shocker: ink jet printing supplies that won't bleed you to death. HP'S new 900 line of ink cartridges showed up as part of some imaging products we were testing. The company promised a legitimate color or black-and-white copy for less than 5 cents per page. And sure enough, the cartridges passed our tests. For basic mid-level office printing, these cartridges are a better bet than the knock-offs you get at

Staples

(SPLS)

or

Best Buy

(BBY) - Get Report

.

3.

zBoost

YX 510 cell phone extender ($400).

Norcross, Ga.-based

Wi-Ex

had a neat idea. Develop a device that would extend the range of a cell phone so it could actually work in your office. Enter the zBoost: a cell phone repeater that can be self-installed. Finding that sweet spot where the gear best increases the cell-phone signal can take some serious trial and error. But, still, with some patience and adjusting you should be able to get a reasonable performance boost to your office cell phones. And better cell-phone coverage could mean fewer pricey landlines. If you have a massive telecom bill, the Wi-Ex is worth a drive-by.

4.

Spyder3Express

portable monitor calibrator ($70).

The Spyder came into my shop as part of a video display review. The system accurately measures the picture quality of TVs and monitors. But it became clear pretty quickly that the unit has applications for lots small businesses. For less than $100, you get a super-easy, super-cheap way to maintain consistent color on all your monitors, which makes everything from PowerPoint slides to graphics work flow faster and more accurate. For anybody even in the most basic knowledge-management or production shop, that is pretty darn handy.

5.

Vue

Personal Video Network (starting at $299).

Security can really be a double-edged sword for the smaller shop. Having direct video supervision over your staff is nice, but actually putting in a reasonable system at a decent cost is not. I like what San Diego-based

Avaak

has done with its Vue, basically a plug-and-play video network that works on any Web-connected device. Just stick in a Vue video module wherever you have a broadband connection and up pops your home or office, pretty much anywhere. That's a lot of peace of mind for not a lot of dough.

Jonathan Blum is an independent technology writer and analyst living in Westchester, N.Y. He has written for The Associated Press and Popular Science and appeared on FoxNews and The WB.