Wired Magazine takes a look at the Nomadic Geek's lifestyle -- when the desk is exchanged for the driver seat of an RV or the dinette of an Airstream.

The good folks at Wired took a novel look at mobile home officing.

Where Home Office Highway hit the road in a C-Class RV, Wired’s take on “Nomadic Geeks” was to “Take Your Job and Shove It — Into an Airstream.”

Cell phones and swiping bandwidth. Biofuel and satellite reception. Very cool — and kinda high-tech.

One guy even said to do this full time you’d have to lower your fee in exchange for spotty availability (hey, we gotta explore the woods and hike the trails a little bit, no?).

“Yesterday’s freeloading hippie is today’s wireless world traveler,” they wrote. They “talked to some nomadic geeks to find out how to trade in your mortgage for flexible hours and an ever-changing, million-dollar view.”

Home Office Highway does the same — sans the million-dollar view and permanent vocation-meets-vacation lifestyle. Temp as our trip may be, the lessons learned and technology used make being a nomad a life-changing experience everytime you hit the road, Jack.

PC Magazine recently had a piece on the growing epidemic of laptop theft.

Apparently, 12,000 laptops each week sprout legs NOT belonging to their owners — and venture off with strangers of ill-intent (Ponemon Institute and Dell Computer). This mostly happens in “high distraction places” like airport security checkpoints, departure gates and drinking establishments where business execs and road warriors are educating clients and prospects on the finer points of this phenomenon called, The Final Four.

In an RV, where you may be roaming with the bears or enjoying Grand Ol’ Opry while your mobile office on wheels lies unwatched (at least, by you, that is), how can you protect your stuff?

Once stolen, only three in 10 travelers ever recover their laptops (fewer land the prospect’s account). As for the confidential info or customer data lost from the absent PC or tongue loosened by spirits during said Final Four outing, it’ll show up — in your competitor’s next Exclusive Priduct, and your Corporate Termination Exit Review…

		PC Magazine SLIDESHOW (10)
		Slideshow | All Shots

Laptop security is a crap-shoot. Best we can do is hope to thwart thieves. When I’m shacked up in a hotel — but venture out to a local haunt or watering hole, I leave my laptop in plain sight — locked tightly around a permanent fixture with a cable lock.

Beyond cable locks, other solutions include proximity alarms, software and duct tape to strap the laptop to your hands. Actually, PC offered a slideshow on 10 Laptop Security Products to keep your laptop and its data yours. Products include the PC Guardian Ezolution Multi Combo RS, Mobile Edge SecuriCable Key Lock, Targus Laptop Privacy Screens, Datamation Snap It Laptop Security Cable, Hush Communications StealthSurfer, M2SYS M2-S1 Fingerprint Reader, Yoggie Pico Personal, and LaptopLock. Read More »

In the hunt for flexibility, mobility, cost savings and untethered workers, corporations are searching for the tools to drive their organizations to the leading edge.

Such services — VoIP, wireless broadband Internet access and full-featured phones, to name a few — comprise integrated solutions that enable employees to work anytime and anyplace.

That can be for a home office worker, a remote teleworker, even road warriors working from a corporate sedan — or an RV.

And companies are responding at a time when telework and remote officing continues to grow in popularity. Telework, or the use of telecommunications to enable employees to work from almost anywhere, is becoming a popular counter to rising real estate costs, worker mobility and fuel prices. HR association WorldatWork reports that the total number of U.S. teleworkers — from employees to contractors and even business owners — has risen 17 percent, from 28.7 million in 2006 to 33.7 million in 2008.

“Mainstreaming telework will enable employers to control costs and provide the foundation for employment stability and future growth,” said Chuck Wilsker, president of The Telework Coalition. The volume of  employer inquiries his organization receives has tripled in the past two years. Read More »

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 »

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 »

As an occasional road warrior and home office worker who often has to travel — but not SO often that I’m damn good at it, I’ve lamented in the past about where to put my stuff.

Cables, power bricks, batteries, chargers and the like often just get dumped in the bottom of my laptop case — much to my own chagrin when I actually need to go hunting for that ONE adapter, cable or device that I need NOW.

I’ve been like The Seeker from The Who, searching for the The Answer low and high. I’m apparently not alone: Teleworkers and road warriors have the same issues. And my wife returned from a nurse practitioner’s convention recently with a media case that included retractable Ethernet, USB and ear-bud cables, along with a flash drive and a mini-USB hub. Very cool, though I have no idea what Pulmicort Respules (budesonide inhalation suspension) is…

I think I’ve finally found it in the Skooba Design’s Deluxe Cable Stable. Read More »

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 »

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 »