Hot disks

Entrepreneur, Dec, 2003 by Liane Cassavoy

* Go Mobile: Important phone numbers are never out of reach with iPhonebook flora Xpherix (www.xpherix.com). The application, which you download to your mobile phone, allows that phone to access the contact information stored on your PC by way of Xpherix's server. You sync your contact info (iPhonebook supports Act!, Desktop, Outlook, Palm and others) to the server, which then sends the information to your mobile phone. IPhonebook is provided by several wireless carriers, including Verizon Wireless, and costs $3.99 per month on your phone bill.

* Mean Business: Don't waste hours writing your business plan yourself--let Business Plan Pro 2004 do it for you. This $99.95 (all prices street) application from Palo Alto Software (www.palo-alto.com) formats your plan for you and includes the necessary financial charts and tables. It also includes more than 400 sample plans that you can edit and provides tips and examples to help even beginners produce professional-looking results.

* Paint With Your PC; Artwork truly goes digital with Corel Painter 8.0 (www.corel.com). This digital painting and sketching application offers incredibly realistic simulations of creating artwork using watercolors, charcoal, oil paints and more. The latest version features 400 new brushes and improved compatibility with Adobe Photoshop. Pricing starts at $299.

* Cut the Clutter: Eliminate your paper trail with New Soft PrestoPage Manager 6 (www.newsoftinc.com). This application uses your existing scanner to turn paper documents--from business cards to bank statements--into digital ones. The $80 application includes tools for editing your documents and images, as well as the ability to generate PDF files.

LIANE CASSAVOY, a former technology reporter at PCWorld.com, freelances from her home in Brookline, Massachusetts.