Night surfing with the Verizon MiFi and the MSI U123 netbook.

Years ago, surfing in public meant first paying $15 an hour for a user ID and password hand-written on a scrap of paper so you could log on to some cyber cafe’s network.

Now, it’s as easy as hitting the MiFi, powering up the netbook — and in less than a minute, you’re up.

This year’s home office highway is shaping up as an exercise in simplified surfing. Last year, setting up a network meant powering up and wiring in a router the size of a cigar box. This year’s “access point” is a business card-sized device that enables five Internet devices — netbooks, laptops, MP3 players, an iTouch — to log on simultaneously. Read More »

What’s in your pack? A tablet PC, walkie-talkie radio, flash drive, broadband wireless card, five-plug, surge protected power strip. That’s what in mine…

When we recently took a family cruise, I made sure to pack my backpack with all the essentials needed to create a home office from the road.

Along side my HP tablet PC were my broadband wireless aircard (essentially useless hundreds of miles out to sea), my Ativa Memory Stick card reader, a USB flash drive, and a Monster five-plug, surge protected power strip. You never know when you’ll have to plug the laptop, camera charger and some other device into one single outlet.

I also carry a stretch of ethernet cable, and a clutch of adapters.

Here’s what some other people had in their backpacks and laptop bags. Wireless Road Warrior found size essential. Webworker Daily had a review of the stash in one laptop case (read the comments for some more good ideas). Here’s some more threads on the topic.

What defines your perfect mobile office?

I was reading Trend Spotter this week and came across Nissan ‘s (not so) new mobile office concept vehicle. Except that it cannot sleep a soul, it’s a pretty cool active workplace.

Unveiled at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show, the NV200 sports a well-hidden, full mobile office in the rear. Though its target apparently is “ocean photographers,” I could see this as a little giddyup run-about for Home Office Highway’ers and active teleworkers.

Read More »

Home Office Highway was about using portable tools like a broadband access wireless Internet card and a laptop to tap into the “cloud” that computing is becoming.

But what if the cloud followed you around like (not to pick a lousy metaphor here) the cloud that surrounded Pig Pen in Peanuts. Toyota and Apple have partnered to ponder a solution that will bring ultimate portability.

Trend watcher and domainer Owen Frager at Frager Factor put it this way: “The vehicle is designed for a buyer group whose unique combination of lifestyle activities and vehicle needs requires a compact pickup offering good fuel economy, advanced functionality, maneuverability and unique styling in a durable package suitable for an active lifestyle … But here’s the juicy part. According to sources close to the review, the car will also launch the in-dashboard ME.COM cloud-access panel from Apple … the ME control panel would become the hub of all activity and provide secure access to any passenger’s server-based applications, data, mail, calendar and credentials and download to a hand-held device…” Read More »

Where does my stuff go? That one statement has expressed the bane and misery of this occasional road warrior’s travels from the first time I loaded a laptop bag and headed out of the home office and hit the road.

Sure, laptop bags have a place for the namesake product. But what about the rest of the stuff that invariably comes along? Even the power cable and transformer have to find a make-shift home, tucked in some side pocket or stuffed in a Zip-Lock baggie to avoid entanglement.

Then there’s the portable mouse, the USB adapters, and all the other accessories. Where do these orphans go — neatly  — so that they’re accessible and don’t end us as a tangled mess on the bottom of the bag? Read More »

Are you a mobile home officer? Think you need to work from a home office 9-to-5 to qualify? Think again…

If you run a business from home, then you can be a mobile home officer. If you telework — working a few days each week or month from a home office for a boss someplace else, you can be a mobile home officer.

If you just want to take a stress-free vacation — one that gives you the ability to do a little work comfortably from the road — then you can be a mobile home officer.

Home Office Highway isn’t just for home officers. It’s for anyone who uses technology to improve their workstyle. It’s about laptop computers and wireless broadband connections. It’s about checking email from a campsite in the Smoky Mountains, or working at dawn while watching the sun rise over the Jersey Shore.

It’s about taking the family on the road in a vacation all can enjoy — while mom and dad work a bit and feel less guilty about their getaway.

A marketer recently commented that their audience isn’t “home office,” so Home Office Highway wasn’t for them. This tour isn’t just about entrepreneurs who work from home. It’s about anyone who wants to work and live from the road — doing a little work, journaling about their adventures, even paying their bills online and staying connected with family — from an office on the road.

I just happen to work from home. And this summer, my home — and home office — will be on the road…