As home officers, road warriors and teleworkers pursue paperlessness, there are instances when “strictly digital” just isn’t an option.

Sometimes when I’m editing a large document, the screen is good. But when I need to mark it up, Track Changes just doesn’t cut it. I’d prefer to review on paper rather than on a computer screen.

During Home Office Highway, I had to print, fill out and sign a W-9 for a client. I didn’t want to leave my RV park just to print at a Design Print Ship Depot. So I powered up our portable printer. Ditto for when I had to ship a couple of packages.

For the trip, we were traveling with an HP OfficeJet 470. It completed the office in a compelling way.

GottaBeMobile had a pretty thorough review of the unit. Another was posted at TabletPCBuzz. My own thoughts would focus on portability (it was small, neat and easily retrieved and stashed again), speed (22 pages per minute in black, and 17 ppm in color), and functionality. It was plainly a power tool. It’s simple to set up, easy to power up, and equally easy to power down and stash away.

When space, speed, power and portability are important — in a device that costs around $250, the 470 is a pretty cool power tool.

Ever wonder how your wireless phone works?

Of course not. Just like a car or an Apple Computer, we don’t wonder about these things. We just turn them on, and they work. Miracles abound, but we don’t really think about them.

I had a chance recently to think about — and actually see — how my wireless phone works. It was pretty impressive.

I visited the Verizon Wireless switching facility, “Mobile Telephone Switching Office” or “switch” in Orlando. It’s a fortress where all Verizon calls to and from Central Florida feed through. This otherwise non-descript building, with its brick trim and secured entrance, represents the brain and spine that mean when I hit “Send,” my call gets sent. Or when I log on with my broadband access card, Gmail comes to my laptop. It knows all.

The name “Hal” came to mind.

My first impression, though? Cool. Read More »

When I first saw the RV we’d be driving for Home Office Highway, I wondered how I’d make the most of what was by all accounts a miniature space.

Some concepts and practices fell right into place — like using the Mobile Office Workmate or keeping clutter to a minimum. And some were learned, and depended upon the tools we had on hand.

Check out this video to see two examples of how I used off-the-shelf devices to maximize available space.

Home Office Highway and the virtual office is all about technology. Sure, cooking burgers on a grill doesn’t take much in the way of high-tech gizmos — unless you bought your spatula at Hammacher-Schlemmer.

But this blog has been written on a laptop connected to the Internet by a USB device that delivers broadband Rev-A through-put from almost any location — an RV park, at the base of Stone Mountain in Georgia, or as we drive along I-95 toward Massachusetts. Whether you’re an entrepreneur or you telework / telecommute, tech is your toolbox.

If you’re a tech marketer, the secret of successfully putting high-tech gadgetry in the hands of consumers (especially if you don’t have an IT staff behind you) is making it accessible to folks in a non-threatening, high-touch venue. The chance to play with the latest handset, or demo some new device, or ask “Like Duh!” questions without getting some “You Silly Consumer” look in response is the answer.

Call it the “Evolution.”

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Did you know a notebook computer is stolen every 53 seconds in the U.S. That’s a ton of bummin’ laptop owners out there. If you’re a home officer on the road, don’t become a statistic. They lead pretty boring lives. Instead, think of ways to thwart the bad guys.

With laptops, cable locks are the ideal solution. The Kensington ComboSaver Combination Portable Notebook Lock is a pretty cool and compact device. With a six-foot self-coiling cable, it expands and retracts with relative ease.

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T-Minus four days until Home Office Highway hits the open road, and I still find myself in search of the must-have supplies. I have my latex gloves and Velcro straps. I have Purell (there’s actual germs in the woods!). And I have my harmonica and funky travel hat.

But in frenzied fashion befitting a home office denizen first-timing it in an RV, below is the rest of the stuff I believe I’ll need. Have other ideas? Let me know…

– Cable locks to secure laptops, and a travel pad lock to close my Mobile Workmate. A baseball bat would be nice, too.
– My must-have user IDs and passwords so I can blog, log on, bank and otherwise work and live on the road. 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 »

Plates and utensils? Check. Bedding and toiletries? Check. Clothes, food and other necessities? Check, check, check. Once the mainstays of an RV trip have been bought, gathered and stored, then you turn to the office supplies.

When I leave on a business trip, I try to remember all the accessories and accoutrements I’ll need — lest I go without something or have to buy a replacement on the road. But what will I need for a three-week RV trip that seeks to truly replicate the office?

Let’s review the stuff… Read More »