Work Together, Apart!

This is by far the fastest tool I've tested for editing reports and updating spreadsheets over standard phone lines. Delete a sentence in a marketing plan, and the edit appears on other people's computer screens almost instantaneously. There are even special icons for quickly inserting Microsoft Office documents onto the program's whiteboard. There is one problem, though: to help with the online editing, you must use the same application as everyone else.

Bottom line: if you don't mind setting up meetings on a server, VocalTec's package can turbocharge online teamwork.

Coordinates: VocalTec Communications, http://www.vocaltec.com

Team Need: Build trust and camaraderie among virtual teammates.

Power Tool: CU-SeeMe 3.0 ($99)

When face-to-face meetings are desirable but not easily doable, videoconferencing is the next best thing, enabling you to gauge people's reactions to proposals or assess the demeanor of team members who are on a deadline. White Pine Software's

CU-SeeMe, the pioneer in Internet-based videoconferencing and a near de facto standard, has recently added functions similar to those found in Netscape's Conference, making it an improved tool for cooperative online work.

Want to see how people are reacting to your new marketing plan? CU-SeeMe can put up to 12 video windows on a computer screen at one time. Be forewarned, though: the more people you put up on the screen, the slower and more degraded the pictures become.

CU-SeeMe now has a much-improved file transfer option, plus whiteboarding features and text-based chatting. It lacks the capacity to share entire documents, but with its added videoconferencing features, such as the ability to organize screen shots within the whiteboard window, CU-SeeMe will help your virtual team see eye to eye.

To get the full picture, you'll need the Color QuickCam 2 from Connectix Corp. The golf-ball-shaped camera ($299) plugs into the parallel and keyboard ports on a Windows computer and delivers motion video in a quarter-screen (160 by 120 pixels) or half-screen (320 by 240 pixel) size. The picture quality? It pretty much depends on the power and speed of your Internet connection.

Coordinates: White Pine Software, http://www.wpine.com ; Connectix Corp., http://www.connectix.com

Team Need: Have a face-to-face meeting with your teammates when you're a hemisphere away from them.

Power Tool: Tecra 750CDT ($6799)

Even though you're on the road, you can still have face-to-face meetings with staffers back at the office. All you need is a notebook computer with built-in videoconferencing. Although some specialized notebooks come with videoconferencing capability, most sacrifice computing performance for the gee-whiz videophone technology. One that doesn't is the Toshiba Tecra 750CDT.

The Tecra is a high-end machine for the high-tech traveler who needs everything. The 13.3-inch screen rivals some desktop monitors, and the computer includes a 20X CD-ROM drive (swappable with floppy drive), a built-in 33.6 Kbps modem, and a lithium-ion battery that stays juiced for nearly three hours.

The videcon-ferencing package is gravy. It includes a tiny video camera and Intel's business conferencing software with Intel ProShare for videoconferencing over the Net or over standard phone lines. The picture quality is far clearer than most Net-based videophones. Equipped with Microsoft NetMeeting 2.0, the Tecra enables you to swap ideas on a digital whiteboard and make snapshots of your jottings.

There's just one downside: the laptop weighs nearly eight pounds. But if you can afford it, you can also afford a personal trainer to help build those shoulder muscles.

Coordinates: Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., http://www.computers.toshiba.com

John R. Quain (jquain@mcimail.com), a contributing editor at Fast Company, appears regularly on the CBS News Program "Up to the Minute."