Being on the road half the year isn’t fun, but the technology available can take some of the sting out of delayed flights, canceled and missed connections, airport food, outrageously expensive room service, cab drivers who talk on their cell phones throughout the entire drive, the list goes on. Here’s a laundry list of the technology that this road warrior finds indispensable:
Dopplr is a social network for business travelers. When you add your travel itinerary, you’ll learn when anyone in your network will be in the same town when you’ll be there. Drinks or dinner with a colleague beats room service and “Law & Order” reruns any time.
Orbitz Traveler Update — I book most of my flights through Orbitz I like the recorded updates I get on those delays and cancellations (not to mention flights that are leaving on time, along with the departure gate and arrival time). But Orbitz nailed it — conceptually, at least — with the Traveler Update. A kind of Google Maps-Twitter mashup, Updates features a U.S. map highlighting the locations of major airports. Click on one to get current arrival and departure status; traffic incidents on the way to the airport; local weather; average security wait times by airport, day, and time; and other airport information. But what could really distinguish the service is the feature that lets any traveler provide updates (over their mobile phones) on the real-time situations at airports. A river of such updates comes in from all airports or you can see the “updates and tips” from just your airport. Under-use is the problem. The most recent update as I write this is two weeks old; the freshest for my primary airport — San Francisco International — was posted four months ago. The real value here would be for someone to post a message noting that, for instance, “the security line is two hours long.” I keep hoping Orbitz will do a better job of promoting the service while I continue to use its other elements.
Apple AirPort Express — I’m a PC guy (I tried a Mac for over a year and went running back to Windows), but I love the AirPort Express. Looking a lot like an Apple AC power adapter, you plug it into AC power, then jack the hotel room’s Ethernet cable into it. Just like that, you have WiFi in your room. Sometimes you just want to work from the couch and not be tethered to the desk.
Priority Pass — This isn’t a technology, but having access to an airport lounge during a long delay is vital. Priority Pass has arrangements with lounges all over the world. I’m rarely at an airport where I can’t use my Priority Pass card to get away from the terminal and relax in a comfortable chair. There is a technology connection, though: The directory of lounges is available in a variety of formats for mobile phones.
EVDO — Access to Sprint’s EVDO network is built into my laptop, but before I had one built-in, I carried the PC card so I could get online pretty much anywhere, bypassing the $12.95 or so the hotels and airports want for a day of access.
Sprint Mogul — You can have your iPhone. I do so much typing on my phone, I need a real keyboard, which is of the slide-out variety on the Sprint Mogul. Sprint’s EVDO network is pretty fast, I can carry spare charged batteries (when your iPhone runs out of juice, you’re hosed), the display can be vertical or horizontal (depending on how you’re using it), it has a video camera (which lets me stream live video to the web via LiveCast), I get turn-by-turn directions with the GPS, and there are far more applications for the PocketPC than there are for the iPhone. And I don’t have to deal with AT&T, which I’ve already dropped once like a bad habit. Who needs that aggravation again?
Recording tools — I’m a podcaster, so I need to capture interviews on the road. The Marantz PMD-620 is about the size of a deck of playing cards, handles any size SD card, records to WAV or MP3, features on-board editing and offers the clearest, brightest display you’ve ever seen on a recording device. You can record through the built-in microphones (which rock) or use the 1/8-inch input to plug in a microphone. It even has speakers so you can listen to what you’ve recorded (along with a headphone jack). Oh, and did I mention it runs on two AA batteries? For video, I carry the RCA Small Wonder. I used to shoot with the Flip, which has certainly gotten all the attention (and certainly is a wonderful camera), but the Small Wonder is a few bucks less, a bit smaller, and has a few features I like better than the Flip. First, it uses a Micro SD card, so I can increase the storage capacity well beyond the Flip’s built-in 30- or 60-minute hard drive. Second, you can choose from two video quality settings (”Web” records to a somewhat lower quality). Finally, it has a pivoting screen (you can make sure you’re in the frame when you’re shooting yourself). And for photos, I carry the Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z1200. (If I have room, I also bring my Nikon D60, but the Casio suffices when I’m trying to travel as light as possible.)
In your ears — I have a traditional 60GB iPod. I come and go so frequently, I just don’t have time to synch new music onto a smaller hard drive every time I get back from a trip. I like having as much music as possible on my iPod. I also load up tons of video. I’ve been using Applian’s Replay Media Catcher to record TV shows from Hulu.com, among other resources, then transfer the recordings to the iPod. I also have an 8GB Nano, one of the originals. Only podcasts go on the Nano. With 160GB of music and video on the iPod, it doesn’t make sense to keep the iPod’s music library on a 250GB laptop. Those files stay on my desktop. By keeping the podcast library on the laptop, I can log into iTunes from anywhere, synch up, and listen to the latest episodes on the next leg of the journey.
E-Book — Somehow, I wound up with both a Sony Reader and an Amazon Kindle. Both have their advantages, and both are significantly better than carrying real books — especially if I’m reading (as I am right now) something in excess of 750 pages. The one drawback: Like any other device with an off-and-off button, you have to turn it off during take-off and landing.
Power strip — I’m always amazed how many people are struck by the fact that I carry a simple six-outlet power strip with me. I’ve even had flight attendants exclaim what a great idea it is. Far too many hotels have inadequate outlets in their rooms to charge everything that needs charging (iPods, mobile phone, bluetooth headset, camera battery), but a simple five-dollar power strip solves that problem.
The real beauty of this collection of gadgets is that it all fits — along with cables and other odds and ends — in a Swiss Army laptop bag and a carry-on suitcase, avoiding the need to check a bag (and, these days, pay an extra $15 for the privilege).
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by Bryan Person, LiveWorld / August 14, 2008
Great post, Shel, and very helpful reading for a guy who’s about to start doing more business travel as part of my new gig with LiveWorld.
Here’s my list at the moment:
* MacBookPro
* iPhone 3G (yeah, the battery life really *does* suck) for phone calls and snapping and uploading photos quickly
* Zoom H2 for audible recording, with a spare set of batteries
* Sprint Mobile Broadband wireless card. Model: Sierra Wireless Compass 597U. I’ve had it for a month, and it really does work nicely.
* Still to buy: Flip camera for capturing video
* Gadget I’m coveting: Amazon Kindle (hoping the price will come down)
by Jeff / August 14, 2008
I only travel a few times a year, but this list has me re-thinking my inventory- especially the endorsement of the Sony Reader and Kindle. I usually finish a book on a trip, so I’m either lugging two with me, buying one in an airport somewhere or flying home without anything to read (which is unacceptable). If they could only do something about the price…
by John Jantsch / August 14, 2008
If you’re carrying an iPod anyway you might consider the stereo mic attachment - I use it record in the field podcasts and the quality is very good. It saves the files as WAVs
by Ed Buckley / August 14, 2008
I’m an ex corporate road warrior turned entrepreneur/digital nomad. Some things I can’t do without:
* Shure sound isolating headphones
* Levenger pocket briefcase - capturing notes when I’m on the move and it looks good too
* Omni focus on the Mac and the iphone (yes, I went all mac when I started doing my own thing)
* Dave Allen’s GTD Folders - robust and clear enough for a klutz like me
* A lightweight bag in a pocket that I keep in my normal bag - great as a laundry bag or to just save your arms from carrying stuff that won’t fit into your bag
* Arc’teryx backpack - the only one I’ve come across with side entry, so much easier to access stuff
I’m still struggling with the Kindle/Sony Reader thing - I just like the tactile sense of books and I don’t believe either give a good (free and easy) way for you to upload papers.
by Fox / August 15, 2008
Another option to carrying many power adapters + power strip is to have USB power adapters chargers … and carry only the notebook power - then use the notebook to charge everything else … now it seem a great feature USB-POWERSHARE in the new latitude E sill make this even better … can someone explain it ?
I usually carry :
notebook, 2 mobile phone (both nokia to spare an adapter), 1 blackberry, 1 PSP, a sony AVHCD camera, a nikon D70.
I love all USB ports on my latitude D630 … but if powershare is what I understand it is … I’m ready to move to a E6400
by Luca / August 16, 2008
Linksys WTR54GS is nice replacement for Apple AirPort Express.
Fox: Thanks for the comment. You’ve definitely hit on what makes the USB PowerShare feature so cool. You should be able to recharge most devices if they have USB connectors on the chargers.
What I’m not sure of is the overall power limitations on using the Powered USB feature. I’ll look into it and let you know what I find out.
by Shel Holtz / August 18, 2008
FYI, not everything I plug in is charging. I carry JBL travel speakers, which I use both in hotel rooms and when the banquet folks forget that I need audio output from my laptop for my presentations. It takes four double-A batteries, but I don’t trust it to last as long as I may need, so I use the AC adapter. Then there’s my Nikon D60, the battery for which doesn’t charge by plugging the USB into the camera — that just synchs with the SD card, so I need to carry the camera’s battery charger. Just by way of example..
As for the Sony Reader and the Kindle, no, they don’t approximate the tactile sensation you get from paper (which I love). But it’s a tradeoff I had to make. It took me a year to read Ron Chernow’s biography of Alexander Hamilton because it was just too big to take on the road (900-plus pages in hardcover). I’d rather give up the tactile sensation of paper on the road and be able to get through my books! I still read real books at home — the e-readers are just for travel. (Which means, of course, that I’m reading two or more books at the same time.)