These days when traveling, you carry a ton of tools around with you. You have your notebook, camera, GPS device, MP3 player, smart phone, USB drives, power cords and many other gadgets.
So, does this mean that things are completely organized and you never face problems? No way! You still experience dropped calls, bad Wi-Fi signals, files that get corrupted, gadgets that die on you because of lack of power and the best part is that all these things happen when you need them the most.
Here are a few extremely handy tools that can help you keep connected at all times and alleviate the need to carry tons of cables, chargers etc.
Chargers
We now know that our laptops are the best chargers. The only problem is that most laptops need be charged with 110-volt AC and don’t come with many USB ports for charging other gadgets.
Imagine what a charger that can take power from different sources and charge all those gadgets can do.
• VersaCharger Pro from BoxWave Corp.
This charger is great in that it can connect not to one but three power sources; an AC plug for 110 and an AC plug for 220 volts (both European and US), a car cigarette-lighter connector and it has a short cable that makes the car connector change into something like a standard airplane power outlet.
The cost with an airplane charger is $35.20 and extra miniSync cables cost around $14.95, with shipping extra.
The only disadvantage is that it works only for handheld devices, and you will need something else for laptops.
• iGo everywhere85 from Mobility Electronics
This power adapter works for notebooks as well as handhelds. Unfortunately, you will not find connectors for Apple MacBooks.
This is a small and lightweight three-way device for AC/plane/car. You get a laptop connector cable that is retractable and a set of interchangeable connector tips.
They have 70 watts continuous/85 watts peak output which costs $129.99 and 90 watts continuous/130 watts peak costs $149.99. If you wish to charge your laptop and handheld at the same time; you will have to buy a separate connector tip.
Wireless Connection
It happens to all of us. We check for an available wireless connection only to discover that the few that are available are not free. Then we tend to look for a temporary solution.
This is where a wireless connection helps.
• Wi-Fire from hField Technologies Inc.
This is a tiny device that can be carried in your laptop bag. The long-range Wi-Fi adaptor is a combination of a sensitive receiver, a range-boosting directional antenna and proprietary software to pull in the wireless LAN signals, three times better and faster than other standard Wi-Fi adapters. It can be connected using a USB port to Windows PC and works with XP and Vista, and even a Mac Os X including Leopard. It costs $79 when you buy from their website.
• iPassConnect from iPass Inc.
You can have unlimited access to more than 24,000 Wi-Fi hot spots and Ethernet-equipped hotels and other big places in the U.S.; Starbucks, McDonald’s, Sheraton, Hyatt, Radisson, Borders, airline clubs and airports. It costs $29.95/month and for people travelling abroad, for $44.95, access to more than 90,000 WiFi hotspots, Ethernet locations, local dial-up numbers in 160 countries is possible. They have several other offers that can be checked out at their website.
Cell Phone Signal
• zBoost Personal
Problem with cell phone signals? This is a portable signal booster costing $169 and is a very small device. It has an external antenna with suction cups that can be fixed to a window. All you have to do is plug it into an AC outlet, and it provides a good reception wherever you need.
Data Backup
Losing important data when traveling on a business trip, either due to a disk crash or something else, can be the worst thing that can happen.
Let’s see a few Web-based backup services that can help us with this:
• MozyHome from EMC Corp.
This service is ranked highly for the excellent features and interface. Users can create personal accounts that get them free backup space of 2GB, which is a good amount of space for when you are traveling.
These are some of the tools that can prove to be most important for people on the move. They give you the comfort of being connected, charged, boosted and protected at all times.
