Executive Travel SkyGuide

TECHNOLOGY

Stay well-connected
Just when you thought you'd heard, seen and bought it all.
by Mike Langberg – Executive Travel – 10/01/04

Technology makes travel easier, but finding the right technology to take on the road can be very confusing. The most important trend right now, illustrated in several of the selections below, is wireless access to the Internet. Whether it's WiFi hotspots in coffee shops or regionwide service provided by cell phone networks, going online in many parts of the country no longer requires plugging in a phone line or network cable. Out of the office no longer means out of touch.

Sony VAIO X505 notebook computer $2,999 Thin is in for notebook computers, and no model—for now—is thinner and lighter than Sony's eyecatching X505. Smaller than a standard sheet of paper, the 1.85-pound Windows XP notebook tapers from .83 inches at the back to just .38 inches at the front. Of course, there's a price to pay for leading the fashion parade: The X505 is hugely expensive, offers only a 10.4-inch display, has a cramped keyboard, doesn't come with a modem and requires an external adapter for connecting to an Ethernet network. (www.sonystyle.com)

Kensington WiFi Finder 2.0 wireless network locator $39 One way to sniff out public hotspots is the WiFi Finder, about the size of a keyless car remote. This handy little gadget has five display lights, showing signal strength equivalent to the five bars you see on a computer screen. It also knows enough to ignore other signals on the 2.4 gigahertz frequency band, such as those from cordless phones and microwave ovens, and it detects Bluetooth devices. And there's even a tiny built-in flashlight. (www.kensington.com)

PalmOne Treo 600 smartphone $449 There's still no perfect "smartphone" that flawlessly combines a mobile phone with a personal digital assistant, but the Treo 600 is the best so far. At 6.2 ounces, it isn't much heavier than a regular cell phone, yet it has a big color screen and runs the latest version of the Palm operating system for keeping track of addresses and appointments, accessing the Web and email, and even playing MP3 digital music. Available in the U.S. from five carriers: AT&T Wireless, Cingular Wireless, SprintPCS, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless. (www.palmone.com/us)

Verizon BroadbandAccess high-speed wireless Internet service $79.99 per month Going online through cellular networks has always meant slow connections—until now. BroadbandAccess runs at a zippy 500 kilobits per second, five to 10 times faster than other wireless Internet services, and is now available throughout the metropolitan areas of San Diego and Washington, D.C., with more cities coming very soon. You'll need to buy a PC Card adapter from Verizon Wireless for $149 with a two-year contract. Also, upload speeds are only 40 to 60 kbps, so it's much easier to receive big files than to send them. (www.vzw.com)

Mirra Personal Server storage device $399 Hardly anyone remembers to make regular backup copies of crucial data. Mirra is a smart hard drive that connects to a home or small office network and automatically backs up the files and folders you designate. When attached to an "always on" network, you can access Mirra files remotely through a password-protected Web page, so you'll never be stuck away from home without a crucial file. For $399, you get 80 gigabytes of storage; for $499, 120 gigabytes; and for $749, 250 gigabytes. (www.mirra.com)

JiWire Portable Hotspot Locator software Free Public WiFi hotspots make it easy to get a fast, wireless connection on the road. JiWire offers the best Web hotspot directory, but how do you use the directory when you're in an unfamiliar city looking for a place to get online? By downloading and installing JiWire's Portable Hotspot Locator before your next trip. The program updates itself whenever you're online, so you'll always have current information on where to find WiFi. (www.jiwire.com)

Televigation TeleNav mobile phone navigation service $7.99 per month You'll never be lost again with TeleNav, a service for Nextel mobile phones that taps Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites to display your exact location and give turn-by-turn driving instructions to your destination. For the boss who wants to know everything, Televigation offers TeleNavTrack, which displays on a Web page the location of employees using GPSequipped Nextel phones. Other wireless carriers will eventually offer similar "location-based services," but probably not until next year at the earliest. (www.televigation.com)

Lexar JumpDrive Traveler keychain USB storage device $59-179 The easiest computer to take on the road is not a computer at all; a new generation of USB "thumb drives" puts all your current data in your pocket. JumpDrive Traveler, available in 128, 256 or 512 megabytes, automatically synchronizes with your primary computer to keep updated versions of files you designate, as well as email in Outlook or Outlook Express. Working on other computers, the JumpDrive Traveler holds your browsing history and cookies, so personal data isn't left behind. (www.lexarmedia.com)

Targus DVD +/- RW Slim External Drive $489 Producing video on the road or backing up massive amounts of data no longer requires junking your current notebook for a high-end model with a built-in DVD burner. This one-pound external drive from Targus, compatible with any Windows notebook that has USB 2.0 ports, records in the DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R and DVD+RW formats. It's powered through the USB cable, so you won't have to lug around yet another AC adapter. (www.targus.com)

Mike Langberg is the personal technology editor of The San Jose Mercury News.