There are things in life that just work as promised. Refrigerators. Clock radios. Flattery. Children's Motrin. FEMA. Velcro. Blue jeans. Big Macs. "Seinfeld." Jack Daniel's.

These things make me happy. They consistently do their job. They do not inconvenience me. Except for FEMA (that's the Federal Emergency Management Agency). I'm just kidding about that one.

As a small-business owner, I'm happy to say there's also technology that consistently works. None of it is as good as, say, a Big Mac, but there's a bunch of stuff out there that helps me do things quicker and better. I previously weighed in on products that small businesses may find less effective than advertised and took a lot of heat from some very passionate readers.

Now I'd like to point out a few small business Save up to $500 off top-selling HP printers. technologies (in no particular order) that I can proudly say are worthwhile, reliable and will -- drum roll, please -- work.