Tools & Tips

Recommended tools from nomads to make our lives easier

Microsoft Windows Live
A suite of online tools that enable e-mail, instant messenger, online data storage, photo galleries and blogging, all in one spot.
Skype
Software you can use to make telephone calls over the Internet — very inexpensively!
Google Docs
A web-based word processor, spreadsheet and presentation application suite that enables you to create and edit documents online collaborating with your colleagues.
Jott
A nifty little service that converts your voice into e-mails, text messages, reminders, lists and appointments.
Twitter
A social networking and micro-blogging tool that enables you to send updates (known as ‘tweets’) made up of 140 characters or less. Once you try it, you’ll find it addictive.
Adobe Air
A hybrid app platform designed to give users access to Internet applications without the need for a browser.
Zoho
Want an alternative to Google Docs? Take a look at a lesser known suite of online applications from Zoho. The applications are free for individuals and some have a subscription fee for organizations. Zoho’s vision is to provide its customers (individuals, students, educators, non-profits, small and medium sized businesses) with the most comprehensive set of applications available anywhere.
Open WiFi Spots
A comprehensive directory of free wireless (WiFi) hotspots across the U.S., continuously updated by your peers and searchable by city, state and zip code.
PortableApps
This suite of portable apps are a great set of productivity applications that can all run directly from a USB drive. These allow a ‘Digital Nomad’ to take all the essential tools with them and work from any computer that has a USB port.
MakeUseOf
This site has lists of all sorts of things but one that is invaluable to the digital nomad is its listing of “Top Free Hosts to Store Your Files Online”.

Our favorite nomad tips

  • Can You Power Your Notebook on This Flight? If you’re like most digital nomads, you want to make the most of every minute, even when you’re flying from one city to the next. Go to SeatGuru and you’ll be able to see if the flight or plane you’ll be on has a power outlet or access to a video screen. The site was launched in 2001 by frequent flyer Matthew Daimler with a single color-coded interactive airplane seating chart. Having experienced firsthand the vast differences between airline seats, he was determined to collect this useful information and share it with other travelers.
  • For anyone who has ever forgotten to bring along their camera tripod while traveling, this little tip may come in handy. It comes to us courtesy of Dell’s Digital Life: Your Blog. Here it is: Just about every camera (even point-and-shoot cameras) has a little hole on the bottom so you can screw the camera onto a tripod. Did you know, though, that the screw coming out of the top of a tripod is the same size as the screw that comes out of the top of many living room lampshades? That means, if you’re ever caught indoors without a tripod, you can just unscrew the top of a nearby lamp and screw your camera on instead. Instant tripod.

Comments (11)

  • by Martin - Australia / August 14, 2008

    Windows Live SkyDrive is another great online tool as well as Live Mesh if you want to synchronise on multiple devices and in the cloud and with others.

  • by Alex Berger / August 19, 2008

    Great tips. Another on par with the tripod comment is the use of a rubber band for smooth pans. Just attach the rubber band to the tripod handle and slowly pull it across. It will absorb most of the shocks and jerks that would normally occur. No handle on your tripod? Depending on if it allows the camera to turn without moving the base, just hold the base with one hand, loop the rubber band through the wrist strap and take advantage of the smooth pan that way. Also a wonderful tool for taking shots you intent to stitch together later.

  • Digital Nomad
    by Digital Nomad / August 19, 2008

    @ Martin, @Alex — great suggestions, thanks for sharing with your fellow nomads.

    Bruce Eric Anderson

  • by Melani / August 25, 2008

    We’ve been using http://www.NomaDesk.com as a team file sharing tool for the last 4 months. It’s been a great addition for our team collaboration.

    Add this tool to your list!

  • by Joduba / October 8, 2008

    Hi,

    Two of my favorite Nomad tools are:

    DropBox (http://www.getdropbox.com) that is a cloud hard drive (WebDAV), with client for window and Mac. But what I like the most is the ability to share folders with friends, and it’s automatic syncronization (you don’t need to think “I have to upload/download”), you simply move the file to a new folder called dropbox.

    Another Saver is ScreenSharing, some times I have to access to my relatives or customers computers, but I’m at the other end of the world. Here I use two tools, the Skype-like one is called Yuuguu (http://www.yuuguu.com) and the more professional (but not VPN+VNC) is called TeamViewer (http://www.teamviewer.com/)

  • by Pelle / November 10, 2008

    Another tool that i find very good is http://www.bambuser.com. Easy to get visual information out in real time.

  • Rod
    by Rod / January 9, 2009

    My most useful tool as a Digital Nomad for 2008 was this little gadget:

    http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/g_Ndx4EeLFxVy8zz_5XHpg?authkey=u3CCPMIhmYc&feat=directlink

    It’s a USB 3GSM modem that I use when I visit the UK (which is quite frequently). I found the cost of Internet in hotels quite appalling and IMHO there is really no excuse for it. That is where this little gadget from T-Mobile comes in. The modem is on a Pay-as-you-go plan which means I can buy a few days of Internet usage (around $10 a day) when I land, at pretty much any newsagent or food store in the UK. Then I use it an leave. There are no monthly fees or contracts.

    The real beauty is it doesn’t just work in my hotel it works pretty much anywhere I go: restaurants, pubs, train stations and even (more fun) customer sites. When colleagues are struggling to get important emails out or download the latest slides for an impromptu presentation at a customers site this really comes into its own.

  • by Dana / June 10, 2009

    Here’s another tool called Billeo. Does a wonderful job with managing passwords. It also saves receipts, auto-fills forms and tracks expenses. Great for all the finance stuff.

  • by Dana / June 10, 2009

    Oops! I forgot to mention the link: http://www.billeo.com/page/homepage.jsp?sitename=Billeo

  • by Lars / June 18, 2009

    How about http://www.werk-gelegenheid.nl for finding a spot to (co)work.

  • by Andy Fallshaw / July 6, 2009

    As big consumers of Podcasts on our travels, we got some of our geeks to write some code for us to speed them up - so we could get through more, and without the boring bits going for so long. We’ve made this simple app available for free at http://www.podshifter.com so others can benefit too :)

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