The more ways we have to communicate, the more complex the act of communication often becomes. You can simplify the process with Communicate, a software package that combines your phone, fax, e-mail and contact manager into one tool.

Communicate's interface looks like a telephone answering machine, with added buttons for sending and receiving faxes, e-mail and voice mail, as well as managing your phone book. You dial by clicking the numbers on the screen, or by accessing up to 40 speed-dial entries. A window at the top of the interface gives you Caller ID information. Click on the part of the screen that looks like a tape recorder to record or listen to voice messages.

Communicate automatically routes your Internet mail to your universal inbox and provides a one-click connection to the Internet. The program also includes OCR capabilities and serves as a graphics editor. You can convert faxes to editable text and import TIFF, .BMP, .GIF and .PCX files for faxing.

$179
01 Communique
800-668-2185, 905-795-2888

If you create multimedia slides and presentations, you deal with an alphabet soup of file types-.WAV and .MIDI for sound, .FLC/.FLI for animation and video, and .BMP, .PCX, .GIF, TIFF and others for graphics.

JASC Media Center lets you keep them all on the same page. The program archives multimedia files in albums of thumbnails. You can sort files by dragging and dropping, and access them by double-clicking. You can display an entire album of thumbnails in a slide-show sequence, setting up appropriate sound with files. The software supports CD-ROM and removable disks. When you click on a thumbnail for a file not located on your hard drive, the program tells you where to find it. Media Center can also convert image files to another format.

$39
JASC
800-622-2793, 612-930-9800

If you have material you want to turn into a presentation, AuthorSoft 4.0 will help you organize it. Better yet, if you don't have anything to work with, the program will help get you started. AuthorSoft features some 200 multimedia clips, including pictures, sound effects, music, animation and videos. Select the clips you want or add your own, then point-and-click them into sequence for a presentation.

$20
Spirit of St. Louis Software
800-709-6090, 314-530-0757

Create your own ActiveX code visually with VisualX, which removes the complex API and compiler hassles and gives you component inheritance. You visually define your ActiveX Control's user interface with the graphical forms designer, using a full set of supplied controls or an interface inherited from another ActiveX. You can also build Property Pages and About boxes graphically. Control behavior through InterGroup's VBA-compatible Basic scripts, which also support OLE automation. The generated ActiveX component is compliant with applications supporting ActiveX containers.

$395
InterGroup Technologies
206-643-8089, fax 206-643-6977

Voice Tools lets you take advantage of IBM's VoiceType Dictation for Windows' voice recognition capabilities. The 16- and 32-bit custom control toolset for Visual Basic, C and C++ lets you tap into voice playback and recording, dictation, voice list box (for speedy form fill-in using voice) and application navigation features.

$579
ProNotes
800-70-NOTES, 215-533-8569

GQL Release 4 provides true 32-bit report-writing capabilities with long-filename and MAPI support. A new administration module lets you design, build and maintain data access applications in a single tool, and supports OLE automation for combining powerful query and reporting features with other desktop apps. GQL also features cross tabs and charting, and offers enhanced calculations and powerful exception detection.

$695
Andyne Computing
613-548-4355, fax 613-548-3608