Vegas Baby!

I'm pleased to announce that I'm now an officially certified LVI instructor. I have the greatest respect for LVI and was thrilled that they have included me in their curriculum. My first course is March 19-20, 2010. You don't need to be an LVI member to register, so if you want to get a day and a half of my knowledge, feel free to register here.

Grandiose

In the past, I talked about a great service called Grand Central. It has morphed into Google Voice and I just got an email that they are shutting down on December 31. So, if you have data on there, time to get it off!

The Future is Now

I've spoken about this before, as I feel that web-based software is the future for all industries, including dentistry. One of the most promising is Curve Dental. here's the press release:

Curve Dental Announces Release of New, Web-based Dental Software
Curve Hero: A Fresh, Web-based Alternative to Dental Software

OREM, UT—Curve Dental, Inc. announced the release of Curve Hero, a new web-
based alternative to dental software designed for simple operation, lifestyle flexibility and better business value. In development for more than five years, Curve Hero’s advanced technology is designed only for the web for the contemporary dental practice, providing key features, such as scheduling, billing, clinical and perio charting, reporting, imaging, clinical notes, patient education, and more.

“Curve Hero is a fresh alternative to dental software,” said Matt Dorey, founder of Curve Dental, Inc. “Our primary objective was to take a different approach to dental software, beginning with the web. As a result, Curve Hero is dreamy simple. Doctors and their staff will find that we’ve taken a cleaner, smoother approach to helping them accomplish their tasks and responsibilities in less time and with more efficiency. Curve Hero is an extension of their style of working. Our customers prefer Curve Hero for the same reasons they bank on-line, book a vacation on-line or shop on-line: It’s more convenient and it’s faster—and less expensive.”

As web-based dental software Curve Hero offers advantages over traditional client/server applications with respect to implementation costs, convenience and data security. Because the software only requires a browser and an Internet connection, expensive investments in hardware, servers and IT services are not required. The convenience of the web allows the practice to access patient data from any location at any time, which is more flexible to varying lifestyle preferences. With patient data stored off-site at redundant and secure data centers, the practice is not threatened by theft, natural disaster or local hardware failure, greatly simplifying business continuity and disaster planning. Further, the practice
also benefits by fully complying with all HIPAA or PIPEDA requirements pertaining to
data security.

“Data security is substantially improved with web-based software than it is for legacy client-server software,” Dorey said. “Our encryption process meets or exceeds all government standards and our data centers are secured physically. On-line banking, on-line trading, on-line shopping, and on-line travel reservations have shown that doing business on the Internet is safe and much more convenient. A practice can now manage their practice on-line, too, with Curve Hero and not have to worry about data backup or IT assistance.”

Curve Hero’s web-based simplicity and flexibility makes it the perfect choice for dentists looking for an alternative to traditional, legacy client-server software. The seamless work style extension and business value in Curve Hero will help dentists better brand and manage their practices.

About Curve Dental, Inc.
Founded in 2005 Curve Dental provides web-based practice management software and
related services to dental practices within the United States and Canada. The company is privately-held, based in the USA in Orem, Utah with offices in Calgary, Canada and Dunedin, New Zealand. Dentists can call 888-910-4376 or visit www.curvedental.com for more information.

Drop in the Bucket

In the past, I've talked about DropBox, the wonderful service that allows you to syn files across multiple computers. I put my lectures and proposals into DropBox, and within seconds, can access them from my office, home, or laptop. What I didn't realize is all the ways you can use Dropbox for so much more. Here are 15 Hacks Every DropBox User Should Know.

Face the Music

Many of you are (hopefully) FaceBook users, as it's a great way to connect with your patients. Unfortunately, people with less altruistic intentions are also on there. I read this recent study that showed that 43% of people accepted Friend Requests from people they didn't even know! This is not good...you need to be more careful.

Pearly Whites

I'm a big fan of being able to access your patient data on your mobile device such as a BlackBerry or iPhone. Most remote access programs for mobile phones suck. Kodak has resolved that issue with their new Pearl module, which allows PracticeWorks and Softdent users to access patient info directly on their phones. Very cool...no idea on pricing yet.

Free as a Bird

One of the older practice management software programs out there, WinDent, has just announced that they are offering a free version of their software, WinDent Platinum, through the end of January. The software has some nice features. They offer many "optional" services, many which you'll need, so while there's never a free lunch, it's not a bad deal.

Close...But No Cigar

There have been some great technology advances in 2009. But, sometimes the best laid plans....well, you know the rest. Here are the Top 10 Tech Fails of 2009.

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.

Keys to My Heart

A very cool device that I saw at GNYDM: Keyscan. It's basically a scanner that built into the keyboard that is activated as soon as you insert the document. It also can create searchable PDF documents. Slick and at $140, not too expensive.

Splitting Hairs

Defragmentation (like backing up) is one of those chores you don't think about doing all that often. And you really should. Auslogics mentioned they've got a new version of their Disk Defrag tool available for download

One small feature worth a mention is that Disk Defrag supports Windows 7's superbar progress indicator. You can choose to defragment your entire drive or target specific files or folders. It's also got a number of other smart features, like free space consolidation and intelligent system file placement. Disk Defrag can also be set to run automatically when your system is idle.

The installable version can also clean up your temp files prior to defragging, minimize to the system tray, run scheduled jobs, and integrate into your right-click context menu.

When Old is New Again

I am really enjoying the new Windows 7 and have been since early August. The one thing that took me a long time to get used to was the new Start Menu, and I've talked to many people who still prefer the old XP Start Menu. For those of you, there's ClassicWinStartMenu...the name pretty much says it all. Free to download and use.

Great Ideas Come Here

In the past, I've spoken about a fantastic group I'm part of called Dentcubator. It's basically an incubator for dentists with great ideas, who need help protecting and developing those ideas. Here's a photo of the group and a bit more of an explanation of what we do. Feel free to contact me directly if you'd like more info.

Bargain Shopper

Believe it or not, even if you like to build your own computers (which I loved to do until we had a child), you can still build a screaming fast machine for under $1000. Here's a great article on exactly how to do that.

Mending Fences

Many of us have desktop screens that look like a hurricane hit, with icons scattered all over the place. One of the best programs I've seen that deal with this is Fences, which can organize your desktop into groups as well as many other cool features. Free to download and use.

In with the New...

So, you just bought a new Windows 7 PC and you see that they have tons of free software on there...great, huh? Except that, in many cases, most of that software is crap. The good news is that there are still plenty of free programs out there that are great. Here's a great article on not only how to remove those crappy programs, but some great free alternatives to use.

Best of the Best

I love this time of the year as this is when all the "best of" lists start appearing. Here's a great article in Time that outlines the 50 Best Inventions of 2009.

The Flip Side

From one of my favorite sites, MakeUseOf:

Everyone who spends a fair amount of time on the computer has a few favorite applications, the ones you like for one reason or another. Maybe they help you get your work done faster or you like their looks and feel or perhaps because these are free.

And sometimes there are software you find irksome and think things could have been better. In any case, I always like to try out a few alternative software choices before I settle with any particular application mainly for two reasons: One, you would never know how good or bad the one you are using is until you try some alternatives and two: a bit of choice and competition can only be for the good of us users! Your motivation might be different: perhaps you want to find a free software that does the same task as the paid software you are using or maybe your favorite Windows application is not available on Mac or Linux.

Whatever maybe the reason, here are some sites that you can use to find alternative software and suggested applications.

Facing Reality

I know (or hope) that most of you are using FaceBook to connect with your patients and colleagues...and if you're not, you really should come to one of my lectures! In any event, Facebook today announced some major changes that will affect everyone, so make sure you know about these changes.

Product of the Show?

I just got back from the GNYDM and while I haven't yet chosen my annual product of the show, I was really impressed with the SOPRO Life. It's basically an intraoral camera and caries detection built into one. Thwe web site says not available in the US but I doubt they would show it at GNYDM if that were the case :-)

Opening Up the Floodgates

If you don't what a torrent is, you're way behind the times. Basically, torrents are a way of sharing large files among many users. Bit and pieces of the files are uploaded at the same time, making the process quicker and more efficient. It's quickly becoming the standard way to share files. Still confuses? Here are 20 Essential Tips and Skills Every BitTorrent User Should Know...great for novices and power users alike.

Working Together

One of the biggest hassles with a new operating system like Windows 7 is that many favorite applications don't work well or at all. Here's a list of 20 Essential Free Applications for Windows 7 that work great with the new operating system.