In obvious imitation (and the corresponding flattery) of Gizmodo's "Gadget Bag" series, I thought I'd ask a few of my more tech-savvy friends what gear they carry around on a regular basis. First up to the plate is Bob Nonnenkamp, IT professional and really swell guy:
My gear "bags" are a laptop-carrying backpack and a belt holster.I have grown to dislike most work travel. But not liking something, unfortunately, doesn't make it disappear. (Wouldn't that be nice?) So anything that makes me more productive on the road is goodness. Yeah, I might waste a bit of time at home getting all my toys to work, but that's fun.
I have a couple laptops for work, but I mainly use my ThinkPad T41. It's light and sports 2GB of memory, though my ideal laptop would have at least 3GB. The media-bay battery gives me a total of 8 hours of road warrior time for those coast to coast jaunts. Occasionally I add my external Plexor DVD writer to the laptop bag when I'm teaching a class.
For laptop connectivity, I used to connect my Sanyo4900 Sprint phone (unlimited data plan) cell phone to the laptop to stay on top of Instant Messaging and access mail. Being able to stay connected at 150 kilobits even though you're in a customer's secure computer room is a great way to get the job done fast, though I always get people bumming my notebook for network access. Now that I have a Treo650, I'm still waiting for Palm/Sprint to support the Bluetooth network access for my laptop. (Principles keep me from the buying PdaNet software to do this.)
This leads us to the belt holster, which holds the Treo650. I have a hybrid stereo microhone to listen to music while walking the dogs in the morning. The hybrid mic is also fun to make co-workers wonder whether I'm on the phone or listening to music. (That's a joke. They know I'm always on the phone.) For Treo650 audio in the minivan, I settled on a Belkin Tunecast. (The Tunecast II would auto-off when connected to my Treo650.) Hey, if you have to drive a minivan, you might as well figure out ways to enjoy it...like bringing a bunch of A/C appliances and large power inverter.
While I could listen to music collection my SD card, I'm not blessed with the phenomenal CD collection that Craig has. So, I typically use Pocket Tunes software to listen to Shoutcast internet radio streams, like WOXY (Bam! the future of rock 'n roll.) Now that's a good use of an unlimited data plan!
While I'm not big on using the Treo to web surf, I do occassionally use it for traffic video. (In DC, traffic is more important than politics.) I also use the Treo for for email, instant messaging, video, and remote computer access. VeriChat software keeps me in touch with my spouse and friends over IM. Pocket DVD Studio and MMPlayer for catching up on Sopranos episodes or old movies while waiting at the doctor's office. Lastly, the WebSphere palm vpn client (WECM) lets me tap onto my office LAN for telnet, VNC, and work IM.
Thanks, Bob!
