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Road Warriors, RVers, Home Offices: Welcome to the Cloud

Product Review, technology, The Road Warrior
March 30th, 2009 1 Comment »
Cloud computing & netbooks open the horizon to remote and telework.
Cloud computing & netbooks open the horizon to remote and telework.

You’re a road warrior who travels the region, nation or globe.

You’re a business owner or teleworker who works from a home office. Your life is managed by a BlackBerry in the palm of your hand, or a clunky laptop that steals an inordinate amount of space in your carry-on or life.

Today, the tech of your life is shrinking. And your universe is expanding.

Enter remote computing. Parallel to the growth of “cloud computing” or the concept of information and software being accessed or delivered through the Internet available anytime, anywhere from any device, is the prevalence of netbooks.

Over the next few blogposts, we’ll look at the growing set of tools that make remote computing a reality for home officers, teleworkers, business owners – and even heads of households who rely on out-of-home access to keep their affairs in order. Read More »

Cloud Computing: A Closer Look for the Mobile & Home Office

technology, Telework & Virtual Officing, The Road Warrior
March 27th, 2009 No Comments »

Much has been written about Cloud Computing (or working with hosted apps from anywhere in the world).

I blogged on the Cloud Worker concept here at Home Office Highway.com and throughout Chief Home Officer.com. For home-business owners or teleworkers, it frees labor from place, makes “virtual office” a reality, and done wisely, can boost productivity.

For the road warrior, clouds thoroughly remove barriers to data and knowledge work.

Ramon Ray from Small Business Technology has written and spoken on Cloud apps, too. Ray recently was invited to moderated the NY IT SMB User Meet Up Group, led by Mor Sela of ProCompare.com.

Here’s Ramon’s blog post on the topic of Cloud Computing… Read More »

Put RV Wheels on Your ‘Getaway Space’ Home Office

Product Review, The Road Warrior
March 3rd, 2009 No Comments »

Long-time home office architect Neal Zimmerman has created a killer new concept for the home office genre: The Getaway Space.

bloom-writers-studioAnd with a little extrapolation, think about how a shed, cottage — or recreational vehicle — could suit your home office needs.

Not so much a home office or site for a home-based business as a retreat for anyone, the spaces seem part entrepreneur-minded, and part Henry David Thoreau-esque escapism. It’s even ideal for the teleworker who needs a space away from home to get work done.

Neal explores backyard pavilions and personal getaway spaces. He shows why, how and where people are building them, and showcases custom designs, and myriad examples of prefabricated modular units that can be shipped anywhere in the world and quickly assembled. Read More »

‘Cloudworker’ Tapped as Moniker for Home Office & Road Warrior

Telework & Virtual Officing, The Road Warrior
November 18th, 2008 2 Comments »

Cloudworker. Duh!

When Plantronics launched a survey to better understand remote and home office workers — and then held a competition to rename the poorly understood term “teleworker” — I considered what phrase I could coin that would stick.

Telecommuter and teleworker obviously had wallowed in oblivion since the 1970s and 1990s, respectively.

SOHO-dweller? Nope. Home Officer? Uh-uh. “That guy who works in his underwear instead of driving into the office.” That’s a bit cumbersome and conjures a rather bothersome visual.

Then some dude named Venkat Rao came up with “Cloudworker.” It defines “those of us who work from several locations in one day; communicate on multiple devices and with multiple applications; integrate work and personal lives; and provide 24×7, ‘always on’ service to customers.”

Eureka! Google “cloud computing” or search this site and see how often it comes up. Heck, I “cloudworked” from bed last night while watching Monday Night Football. Read More »

Road Warrior’s Home Office Laptop Portability: Flying Through Airport Security

Product Review, Product Reviews, technology, The Road Warrior
November 10th, 2008 No Comments »

Are you Steve?

Laptops and air travel seemingly go together like booze and car keys. Both get you stopped by authorities, but only one gets the nod once opened (that is, once the laptop is exposed for TSA’s trained eyes, you’re [usually] free to proceed]).

Laptop carry case companies have struggled to create TSA-approved cases that will speed the security process without forcing the laptop-carrying public from pulling out the hardware.

Belkin and Skooba seemingly have succeeded. The humorous graphic above was created to support the Skooba Checkthrough checkpoint friendly laptop bag ($139). The bag looks and functions like a high-end business case, but is designed and rigorously tested to be “checkpoint-friendly,” so you can run it through airport x-ray screening without removing your computer. Read More »

Creating an Efficient & Organized Digital Home Office on the Road

technology, The Road Warrior
November 1st, 2008 1 Comment »

I was on a cruise this past week. With a ton of writing to be done, and little motivation to do it, replicating the home office on the high seas would be a challenge.

But even if I was motivated, I was stymied. My HP Tablet laptop had no CD drive, so I hadn’t installed Microsoft Office before leaving (sure, I could have logged on and downloaded it, but at nearly half a gig for the whole app, who has the time or needs the hassle?).

And do you know what it’s like to write completely in Notepad or Wordpad? Talk about laborious… Read More »

A (New) Mobile Home Office on the High Seas

technology, The Road Warrior
October 21st, 2008 No Comments »

Sitting on Deck Six aboard Royal Caribbean’s Enchantment of the Seas, Nicole is immersed in Twilight, the first in Stephenie Meyer’s vampire / fantasy series.

We’ve been at sea for four days, headed home tomorrow. I had all the tools to work from the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, except one key ingredient: The Spirit.

I’ve long been chided for working from vacation. Heck, Home Office Highway was all about working while on vacation, or taking, as I coined it, a “workation.”

But this time, I needed no motivation. I got so caught up in relaxation and fun that I decided to avoid work altogether. Read More »

PowerStation Traveller Delivers Highway & Home Office Detente

Product Review, The Road Warrior
September 6th, 2008 No Comments »

Bill Cosby once said, “Parents don’t want justice. Parents want quiet.

Nowhere is this more true than in the family sedan driving down the highway on a road trip. With the home or home office far behind, adults find themselves locked in the tin box with kids clamoring for their mobile devices. Meanwhile, parents find their own wireless phone, iPod or MP3 player, or GPS device competing for power with the kids DVD player or powerable game consoles.

So many plugs, so few ports. Most cars have only one cigarette lighter / power port (vans and SUVs might have several more). And splitters and adapters are so cumbersome.

So if you need to charge the phone, and the kids want to watch a flick, to achieve détente, you appease. 

ReSource has come out with a great way to silence the hordes by providing cheap power to all: The  PowerStation Traveller. Read More »


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