It is the end of a week that has flown by, due mainly to having a house full of visitors. My daughter and her family came in to visit and a great time was had by all. The visit meant running all over town and seeing a lot of things I normally don’t see. It also gave me a chance to work strictly while mobile, with a common sight being me with a laptop working in a chair whenever time permitted. I didn’t spend a lot of time in Mobile Tech Manor, but then MTM is as much a mobile concept as a real place. Come on in and I’ll share my week with you. We’ll take a look at all the mobile gear that got used all over the place.
Running All Over Town
The week has passed in a blur, with countless trips to various attractions all over Houston. We visited the Houston Zoo, Chuck E Cheese and made many trips to visit relatives all over the area. My mobile gear accompanied me everywhere. I would prepare a gear bag in the morning that would be ready at a moment’s notice to hit the road. It was a lot like old times for me, when I worked outside most of the time.
I used a lot of different gear this week; what I took with me depended on my expectations for that particular day. I took the Viliv S5 UMPC on days when I didn’t think I’d get much of an opportunity to work. I’d carry a small gear bag on those days and throw the S5, portable keyboard and mouse inside the bag. This was a great fit for those days, as I could use the S5 in my hand for brief chances to check my email, surf the web and correspond with co-workers. When longer periods cropped up, I’d pop out the keyboard and mouse and use the UMPC as a little notebook computer. I created a lot of content using this system and it was a testament to the method that such a tiny kit could be fully functional.
On days when I felt I’d likely have more time to work somewhere, I’d take the same kit but replace the S5 with the Viliv X70. The larger 7-inch screen made it easier to work for longer periods, and the X70 case with the built-in stand worked just like a netbook with the keyboard and mouse. It was useful to get by with such a small bag, as I had to carry it around many more hours than I got to actually use it and work. Small and light saved the day (and my back).
There were days when I had deadlines that couldn’t be missed, and I knew I’d need to work longer and write much more than I did other days. The good folks at HP sent me a Mini 5101 to evaluate and it came in handy on those days. I’d throw the Mini 5101 alone in my gear bag and hit the road with the family. I was able to pull the netbook out of the bag and get some serious work done without missing a beat. I absolutely love the keyboard on the 5101, I could type like a speeding locomotive without any compromises.
I am happy to report that the one thing I didn’t like originally about the Mini 5101 keyboard has a simple fix. I had lamented that the Function keys could only be accessed in conjunction with the Fn key. This was a minor fault but I found it annoying given the way I work. Several readers suggested that perhaps there was a BIOS setting to change this and indeed there was. It was a simple setting change after which the F1 – F12 keys work as I prefer. You readers rock my world!
The one constant item in every gear bag I used this week was the faithful Verizon MiFi. I used the MiFi every day and it made connectivity something I never gave a thought. That’s the mark of a great tool.
With all the running around we did this week, the Sprint Navigation service on the Palm Pre was also used every day. It is the full Telenav navigation system and it is a great deal for Sprint to include it for free in the Simply Everything plan. I used it even for trips when I was familiar with the route, as the traffic notification saved us from traffic tie-ups on more than one occasion.
I used the Pre in the car for navigation with a windshield mount I bought a long time ago. It is the Arkon CM920 mount that is a universal mount for phones and PDAs. It attaches to the windshield via a suction mount and the phone sits securely in the universal holder. The gooseneck extension is flexible and permits putting the phone just where it is needed to use the navigation screen, while permitting clear vision for driving. The simple push-button release makes it a breeze to remove the phone when needed. This is one of the best purchases I’ve made for mobile gear.
Writing Software
I didn’t have much time for fiction writing but I did pick up two programs to use when I get back to it. StoryMill is a program I having been trying (demo) for a while and I decided to buy it. It can handle just about any writing project, and offers as much control over the project as desired. I intend to really dive into it when I get back to work with the fiction.
I picked up another program by the same developers of StoryMill — Mariner Software. I have been considering a using a daily journal to capture my thoughts. I have long felt that it is important to do so but have never put the proper effort into do so. I had a couple of people recommend MacJournal as a good program to facilitate that effort. Several writers showed me how it can even be useful in writing projects. Based on those recommendations I plopped down my money and installed it this week. I haven’t spent much time with it yet, but on the surface it looks like it will do what I need.
The only downside to both of these programs is they are Mac only. I use a lot of Windows notebooks and netbooks, so I won’t have access to the information on those devices. I have to determine a way around that.
New Camera
I have been needing a good HD camera to shoot more video of cool gear, so I pulled the trigger on a new one. The Canon VIXIA HF200 arrived this week and it is smaller than I thought it would be. It packs a ton of features in that small package and I need to spend a lot of time to get familiar with it — time I didn’t have this week. I did use it to shoot the 5101 video this week, but it’s not encoded in true HD so I have to change my methodology going forward. Expect good videos down the road. :)
e-Book of the Week
I didn’t have much time to read e-books this week either, and it’s been killing me. I have covered reading the Sten Series by Allan Cole and Chris Bunch, a wonderful sci-fi series that kept me entertained for days and days. The problem I eventually ran into was that only the first seven books of the 8-book series was available in e-book format. I read up to the final book in the series and then couldn’t get the last book. That was a couple of months ago — talk about frustrated!
It was with great delight that I heard from author Allan Cole that book 8, Empire’s End, was finally available for the Kindle. I grabbed it so fast that my head spun and I am in the middle of this great book. It is wrapping up the entire series and shedding light on how things came to be. I am both anxious to finish it but reluctant to do so at the same time. That’s the mark of a great series.
Wrap-up
That’s the way my week has gone down at Mobile Tech Manor. Lots of mobile gear used in many different places. I hope you enjoyed sharing the week with me. See you next week.
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