If you’re a mobile web worker, there are lots of gadgets and peripherals out there that keep your data more secure, make you more efficient, and won’t weigh you down. In this post, I’ll round up seven examples that I like a lot.

Ironkey Thumb Drives. USB thumb drives have risen hugely in popularity in recent years, especially among portable computer users who frequently want a quick way to share files across different machines. Ironkey’s USB thumb drives beat all the rest in my book. These were developed in response to a request from the U.S. military. My $150 4GB model has always-on strong encryption so nobody can get at the data on the drive except me. There’s also a secure copy of Firefox on the drive that allows me to instantly use an Ironkey supplied virtual private network if I’m at, say, a hotspot.
Skype Speakerphone. The Skype Speakerphone is available for only $9.99 and is very handy to have if you’re on a lot of VoIP calls. It connects to a notebook by USB, and you can even use it as a speaker for playing music files.

External Notebook Battery. I discussed my favorite external notebook battery in a post from a few days ago. These are absolutely essential if you frequently use a notebook on roaming basis, and you can get a good one for under $200.
Portable Hard Drive. For instances when you need to cart a lot of data back-and-forth between different systems, a portable hard drive can be great to have, and they’re very inexpensive. I like the Iomega Ego USB drive. You get 160GB for under $140.

High-Tech Backpack. G-Tech’s backpacks for techies are not only a good way to tote a notebook computer and a few extra devices around, but you can plug a digital music player into them, control your music or podcasts with buttons on the backpack straps, and even play audio files through built-in speakers. They’re $100 to $130.

USB Beverage Chiller. It may seem like a joke at first, but a USB Beverage Chiller is very handy to have around, especially if you do things like work frequently at hotspots. One of these will keep a Coke cold for hours, and you can get them for under $25.

MagicJack. This handy little device connects to a computer through a USB port and has a standard phone jack on the other side, so you can use any phone with it. It lets you place you free local and long-distance VoIP calls in the U.S. and Canada, and gives you a free phone number for receiving calls from around the world. You do have to pay $39.95 for the device and $19.95 per year after the first year.

Do you have any good tips on gear for mobile web workers?
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