No Word for You!

Chalk one up for the little guys. After all of its appeals have run out, Microsoft has been ordered to stop selling Word as of January 11, 2010. This is no joke and may end up having a huge effect on the industry. Microsoft needs to recode the software, which they are hopefully doing since they've known about this for years. Stay tuned for more.

Smart as a Fox

I've been a huge fan of Firefox for years and I wondered why it wasn't more popular than Internet Explorer. Well, my wondering days are over as of today, as Firefox is now the most popular browser out there. You can read about it here. if you're not on Firefox, take a look as you'll be happy with what you see.

It's "Office-ial"

Just heard that Office 2010, the latest version of Office, will be shipping in June 2010. I've been playing with an early beta and really like some of the enhancements. Stay tuned for more news!

It's All in the Name

DNS servers are directories that your computer uses to look up the IP address of a site when you type in or click on a link for a domain name. The time it takes your DNS server to return the IP address your computer should access appreciably affects your perception of the browsing speed of your internet connection. Speeding up DNS lookups is one of the simplest, and most effective ways to speed up browsing.

NameBench will analyze the sites that you visit using your browser's cache, and test resolving their addresses using your currently configured DNS servers, as well as some common freely available ones online, and will recommend an ideal configuration once it has completed analyzing your unique situation.

Cost Savings?

As many of you know, the Federal Government is mandating electronic health records by the year 2014, and they are offering Stimulus money to help us get there. This recent study, however, seems to indicate that the cost to go paperless outweighs the cost savings! While it references hospitals, much of this would be true for dental practices as well. A good read.

Peeking In

I use iTunes all the time to find music and videos, but I'm really not a fan of the iTunes software. For people like me, here's a new feature from Apple called iTunes Preview that let's you browse music on the web without actually needing to open iTunes...very slick.

Cuts Like a Knife

Here's a great tool for dental offices that want to put sections of a DVD, such as a video clip of the dentist, on to their web site. Trying to extract clips from a DVD is usually a roundabout process that involves a lot of waiting. Free utility DVD Knife makes it easy to extract clips from any part of your DVD.

DVD Knife does away with the normally lengthy process with a quick, four-click solution. When you start it up, you just open the disc, navigate to and mark your start and endpoints, and click save. DVD Knife will extract the clip (without compressing or decompressing) into a small VOB file that you can then convert into whatever file type you need.

Best of the Best

Having practiced for over 10 years, I know how critical it is to have the right Office manager in place. So does CareCredit and the AADOM:

AADOM NAMES KAY VALENTINE 2009 OFFICE MANAGER OF THE YEAR

Red Bank, NJ, DECEMBER 2009 — The American Association of Dental Office Managers (AADOM) has named Kay Valentine from Gary Llewellyn, DDS of Indianapolis, Indiana, as the recipient of the 5th annual AADOM Office Manager of the Year Award.

Behind every successful practice is an office manager who displays innovative thinking, business acumen and leadership qualities within their practice and community. Each year, the AADOM recognizes these exceptional individuals and highlights their accomplishments at their annual conference. “The competition for this prestigious award grows more intense every year,” says Heather Colicchio, AADOM President.  “Kay has earned my deepest respect, as well as that of all of the members of AADOM.  She’s a shining example of what every office manager should aspire to be.”

“There is something special in our office called the ‘Kay Factor,’” wrote Dr. Gary Llewellyn as he nominated Valentine. “About three years ago, my practice was in deep trouble. I was managing my practice to fail. Kay brought to my practice 22 years of experience and a vision: to meet, exceed, delight and amaze every patient, every time. Kay motivated my team and streamlined my processes, allowing me to exceed my production goals.”

That should be enough, but Kay has done more. “Once the practice was back on its feet, she focused on ‘paying it forward,’ leading our entire team on two mission trips to Mexico, treating patients at a local assisted living center and starting the Office Manager’s Study Club of Indiana,” says Dr. Llewellyn. “Kay’s commitment to excellence is contagious and ultimately creates extraordinary experiences for our patients.”

As the winner of the 2009 award, Ms. Valentine will receive a valuable award package provided by CareCredit, the AADOM’s Founding Partner. This includes free registration to the 2010 AADOM Conference, a feature story and photo on the front cover of The Observer, and $1,000.

About the AADOM: the AADOM is the country’s largest professional organization for office managers, practice administrators and other practice management staff. The AADOM is committed to creating and maintaining a network of dental professionals to share resources and information, helping all members achieve the highest level of professional and personal development. For more information visit www.dentalmanagers.com.

About CareCredit: for more than 20 years, CareCredit has been making it easy for patients to get the dentistry they need and want. Today, CareCredit is at work in more than 125,000 practices in the nation and has been used by over 7 million patients. CareCredit is exclusively selected for their members by most state and national dental associations, including AADOM, ADA Business ResourcesSM*, AGD, AAOMS, and AAP, and is also recommended by leading practice management consultants. For more information on CareCredit, call 1-800-300-3046 ext. 4519 or visit www.carecredit.com.

Room with a View

There are many great remote access programs out there. We normally suggest a combination of VNC and LogmeIn. A newcomer which has some really cool features is TeamViewer. Main seeding points are the video and voice chat, which few if any other remote access programs have.

Scottish Whisky

As many of you know, I recently lectured in Scotland. An exciting product that I heard about over there is called CarieScan, and according to this, they may be coming to the US market very soon.