I consider myself a pretty tech-savvy person, but even I was a little unsure of what Bluetooth really is. So, when Logomark’s Senior Vice President Damian Want offered to send me the company’s latest product — a Bluetooth-enabled laptop mouse (we’ll get to this in a minute) — I was a little unsure what to expect. After all, when I think Bluetooth, I think of my mom with her cell headset stuck in her ear.

It turns out, and bear with me if this is old news to you, that Bluetooth is a technology that allows devices to communicate wirelessly. Think of a trucker’s radio: If two truckers — or two tech devices — are on the same channel, they can talk all they want — no phone lines, no wires.

So, cut back to the generous crew at Logomark. A box appears on my desk shortly after I return from vacation with the smallest laptop mouse I’ve ever seen. As advertised, it’s the size of a business card, maybe five thick. I wasn’t exactly sure what to do with it at first; although, by now I understood the concept.

I didn’t even think I had a card slot on my computer, where the MOGO Mouse from Logomark is supposed to plug in and charge. Lo and behold, my husband pops out the filler card that comes with your laptop to occupy the empty slot and sticks the new mouse right in. Immediately, my computer recognized this as a new piece of equipment and tried to find drivers to install it. The MOGO is so simple, though, that no drivers are needed. As long as you have Bluetooth technology on your laptop, or you have a Bluetooth adapter (generously provided to me by Damian), you’re good to go.

One more note: Logomark is the only supplier offering this super cool product to our industry. They also have available a MOGO Mouse that functions as both a mouse and a media remote to control audio functions in various media players on your computer, such as iTunes or Windows Media Player, from up to 30 feet away.

Overall, I’d have to say this is one of the coolest new tech product additions I’ve seen this year. It’s convenient for the traveler because of its size and easy storage in the computer, and it works like a dream.

Unfortunately, thanks to camera malfunctions, I don’t have pictures for you just yet. But check back here and I should have them very soon.

A lot happened while I was away on vacation: one co-worker moved to Korea after her military husband was stationed there, another got engaged and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) has threatened to all but stop promotional products from reaching health care practitioners. Whoa!

You’ve probably heard about this last one already. The news began circulating quickly in the industry through PPAI and ASI news outlets, as well as word-of-mouth sources. Here’s the meat of what will affect us in the new code, in case you haven’t already seen it, as excerpted from a PhRMA news release:

“[The code] prohibits distribution of non-educational items (such as pens, mugs and other ‘reminder’ objects typically adorned with a company or product logo) to health care providers and their staff. The code acknowledges that such items, even though of minimal value, ‘may foster misperceptions that company interactions with health care professionals are not based on informing them about medical and scientific issues.’”

PhRMA acknowledges that pharmaceutical research companies are the best teaching resources for health care providers about their new medicines and treatments and that this exchange of information “clearly improves patient care and advances health care in general.”

We can all see how this is a major threat to our industry — they’re effectively outlawing our products! But this next part really irks me: PhRMA released the new code just one day after it reported that more than 90 percent of physicians rely on multiple sources of information when making prescribing decisions. Very interestingly, in a survey done for PhRMA, doctors cite the following factors as greatly influencing their prescription writing: their own clinical knowledge and experience, the unique circumstances of each patient, peer-reviewed journals, clinical practice guidelines, and discussions with colleagues and peers. (Note that promotional products are missing from that list.) Furthermore, while most physicians admitted they appreciate information from drug reps, only 11 percent said this information greatly impacts their prescribing decisions. Instead, they cite patients’ coverage options and drug formularies as having more of an impact.

Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) strongly opposes this new code, and President and CEO Steve Slagle, CAE, is reaching out to Billy Tauzin, president and CEO of PhRMA, to voice our industry’s opposition.

The voluntary guidelines, which will take effect in January 2009, are supposedly meant to ensure ethical standards. I don’t know about you, but I certainly hope that Dr. Clark, my personal doctor, is above prescribing me something I don’t need because of a few pens or pads of paper.

I’d love to hear from some of you who work with pharmaceuticals. Drop me a line at drosen@vpico.com, and let me know your thoughts.

Everyone has made changes this year to compensate for rising gas prices and a slow economy. Some of us are riding the bus or a bike instead of driving our cars. Others are doing more cold calling to drum up new business.

Suppliers, too, have felt the pinch of the current economy. Some have been forced to pass along the price increases they’re enduring, while others are absorbing the hit as best they can. Here is a sampling of a few suppliers and how they’re handling the situation:

Leed’s products will increase in price by about 5 percent for the remainder of the year, the company announced in early June. Leed’s cites the global economy and price inflations they’re subjected to from overseas manufacturers as the impetus for the increases, noting that they’re passing along to their customers just a portion of the increases they’re paying.

Aprons Etc. is holding all 2008 published pricing through the end of the year. The 2008 price list with standard ordering quantities in both blank and imprinted goods will remain valid until Dec. 31 without exception.

Logomark CEO Trevor Gnesin, in an e-mail to clients, said his company has been focused for the last six months on keeping “quality, service and price as consistent as possible through the end of 2008.” Pricing updates are being made online at Logomark.com. Gnesin says he’ll only make changes on the items the company cannot support through domestic inventory — about 3 percent of offerings. Logomark will honor registered program pricing through the end of 2008.

2008 is officially half over. Weird, huh? As if that fact wasn’t a hard pill to swallow on its own, I got a friendly reminder about the PPAI Expo 2009 in my inbox this morning. 2009! The strangest part is that when you begin talking about things like they seem so far away, all you do is blink and they’re here. Which means that the 2009 Expo is literally right around the corner!

So, if you’re resolutions for 2008 included planning ahead, you should know that hotel reservations are now available. The official hotel properties for the show are the Excalibur, Luxor, Mandalay Bay, Monte Carlo and TheHotel at Mandalay Bay with rates ranging from $87 to $277 per night.

To book individual or group reservations through PPAI’s official housing company, Ambassador, go to www.theppaiexpo.org and click on Hotel/Travel Information or call 800.648.0007.

The show dates, by the way, are Jan. 12-16 with exhibits open Jan. 14-16. Happy planning!

I always thought CNN was a news outlet for sophisticated and in-depth news reporting. Boy, was I wrong.

It seems that in today’s tough economy, CNN has turned to peddling promotional T-shirts to pay the electric and gas bills. Don't know what I’m talking about? Check it out at www.cnn.com. In the middle of the home page is a column of “Latest News” headlines. After each headline that links to a video story is a small icon of a video camera. But a few have a different icon — a T-shirt icon. Click on that, and it brings up a Web page showing the story headline printed on a T-shirt (choose your shirt color, gender and size) and the tagline, “I just saw it on CNN.com.”

So far, I’ve seen these brilliant headlines transformed to T-shirt-selling catch phrases:
• Roto-Rooter sucks kitten from drain
• Naked frat boys run wild in street
• Granny runs around world for cancer
• ‘Hottest bachelor’ strikes steamy poses

I can’t remember the one that first caught my attention last week, but it had to do with neighbors upset by a local swingers' club. Which makes me wonder, are CNN reporters now keeping this whole T-shirt scheme in mind when they write their headlines?

And one more thing. The shirts are, of course, American Apparel, which explains the disclaimer: “These shirts fit snugly. Size up for a looser fit.”