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 »

This past summer, as my family camped outside Concord, Mass., as part of my home office adventure called Home Office Highway.com,  I sauntered into a great wood. I was seeking the spirit of Henry David Thoreau. I was looking for peace and solitude among the evergreens and the crickets.

And I became lost.

I’d ventured off the beaten path onto a road less traveled. And for good reason. As dusk grew dark, it gets freakin’ scary in deep woods unknown. And that’s exactly where I found myself — without a Bushnell BackTrack personal GPS nativation system, locator and compass ($73). 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 »

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 »

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 »

Our home office road trip up the Eastern Seaboard was made possible by a few things — an RV, my laptop, my wireless phone, and my broadband access service.

But was the last element even necessary?

Many teleworkers and road warriors already know this: If you’ve got a smartphone, you have Web access. With a USB cable and a piece of software, you can tether your laptop and surf with freedom.

Read Peter Wayner’s NYTimes review. Then, read your service agreement. With a simple download, and possibly a monthly fee, you might no longer need Wi-fi, a wireless broadband card, or much more than you already have in hand to access the Internet. And frankly, it’ll be safer than surfing in a public Wi-fi location, where snoops and other malcontents are perpetually seeking new laptops to ferret their way into.

Check it out. Then log on…