Have Laptop Will Travel

Matias introduces Folding Keyboard

I don’t know about you guys but I don’t like using the keyboard on my laptop when I have to work for extended hours. I have pretty big hands and I touch type, and a laptop’s keyboard makes it difficult for me to type for long periods because my wrists start to ache. It also prevents me from touch typing because I’ve been used to a traditional keyboard layout. I don’t want a recurrence of my carpal tunnel injury and I certainly don’t want to relearn touch typing using a laptop keyboard. That’s why I always try to bring a full sized keyboard with me. But then these keyboards occupy a lot of space that it compromises portability.

It’s a good thing Matias announced a Folding Keyboard for people like me. This new gadget is the usual PC keyboard with one unique feature — it actually folds. This reduces its length to half of its original size making it easier store in your laptop bag. Folded, the keyboard measures just 10.8 by 5 by 1.18 inches and only weighs a little over 15 ounces. The keyboard is connected to the USB port and, just like a full sized keyboard, has a complete number pad, function keys and volume controls. The Matias Folding Keyboard is Windows and Mac compatible and costs $59.95.

Alternative power sources for your laptop

laptop junkies are also juice freaks.

No, I do not mean slushies or smoothies. I am referring to the constant need for electricity to power up their laptops wherever they go. Let’s face it, even with 8-cell batteries, at some point in the day you will have to look for an electrical outlet to charge your laptop if you are a heavy user. Unfortunately, free outlets could be hard to come by especially if you are always on the go. Because of this, most laptop users look for alternative power sources for their gizmos. One of the first popular alternatives was the Solio Charger, which was not only functional — it actually looked good, too. But even with a successful design, a product still needs to evolve to capture a larger share of the market, and this is where the Hybrid1000 comes in. This product is a more rugged version of the Solio Charger — and it really takes its outdoors look seriously. It comes with a weatherproof case and is said to withstand hard drops (but, really, does anyone really test if an expensive product is “drop-proof”?).

American Airlines to test inflight broadband internet access in 2008

Laptops can be such an addictive machine. I remember when I had my first laptop — I just had to bring it with me wherever I went. Lugging around my computer made me feel so much more productive because I can squeeze in more work. Entertaining myself when I’m bored was also answered by having my laptop with me. With the advent of WiFi, bringing a laptop became so much more fun. You can now chat with friends, surf your favorite sites or even play online. Unfortunately, there are some areas where you can only wish that you can use the internet with your laptop. Long airplane trips are one of those situations where having an internet access would have made a great difference. Fortunately, American Airlines sees the world the same way I do.

The airline company has recently announced that it will begin tests for the deployment of inflight broadband internet access by 2008. The tests will initially be conducted on American Airlines’ transcontinental routes. The service is going to be fee based and will also block video conferencing and VOIP services so that these internet tasks will not disrupt ground to air communications. Also, this particular service will only be available in US flights because of the nature of the technology being used.

6 Essential Mac Applications For Work On The Road

I’m a serial entrepreneur who has sold more businesses than most people will have jobs. I think the average American has 8 jobs in his/her life and 2 career changes. Me I’ve had countless ‘jobs’ and I’m working on career number 5. All before I’m 28. Wow. The underlying factor is you know what I love what I do. I’m ready to hit the road again. I’ve got the foundation for a nice income setup and you know what I’m ready to work on the road again. At lot must be done to get ready to hit the road. Number one is making sure clients are happy. `Number two is getting more organized than usual. I have a tendency to not be nearly as organized when I travel for some reason. So I try to overplan and be more organized that way when it all falls apart I can have something to fall back on and that’s a solid travel routine.

1. Checkoff
Checkoff is great for me because I’m totally disorganized without it. It’s a great way to make a simple list that I will actually use. It’s like an offline Tada List.

2. Skype
What’s not to love about Skype. it’s a great way to stay in touch with my closest business allies. Without them and it I’d be lost.

3. OpenOffice
I still like to have a copy of my documents offline. And I’m not going to pay for a Microsoft product when I can use a great open source project’s work.

4. WriteRoom
I’m easily distracted and this program takes all my distractions and tosses them into a deep deep black hole.

5. Coda
I don’t do a lot of coding but when I do I need something that just works for me. And this thing get’s the job done and does way more than a simple text editor.

6. iBank
Organizing finances on the road is a hugely important thing for me to do. This program has made me happy a gazillion times over.

New Tools For The Blogger On The Road

After only some days, the list can be updated.

With the introduction of the excellent offline Google Reader [modus], we can delete FeedDemon from the list and save $25.
Although FeedDemon still has some more features than Google Reader, Google Reader performs well and fast.

Another addition to the list, comes in the form of the new version of Windows Live Writer.
Windows Live Writer is an all straightforward, out of the box editor for most blog platforms. Installation is easy and writing is even easier. It feels like writing in Word, with support options for your theme, just less bloated than MS Word. If you blog alot and hate to be stuck in your blogplatform editor, Windows Live Writer is what you need.

The Editor comes with many insertion and formatting possibilities and also supports tags properly, but not 100% correctly if you want to use site internal tags.
Live Writer can ping services when publishing entries, or publish entries at a specific time. Basically you’ll find everything you need and the feel is nicer than writing in the WP editor.
Screenshots after the jump

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