“This is my laptop. There are many like it but this one is mine. My laptop is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my laptop is useless. Without my laptop I am useless. Let’s go to Moscow. Find the backdoor to the Kremlin and come on in, singing ‘Howdy Owdy Doody How Doody Aye Ey”

extract from the unpublished Secret Oath of the Digital Native

One of the major concerns of the telecommuter or urban nomad, is to keep the electronic devices he or she uses in his/her day-to-day life, safe.

I’m not talking here about how to prevent those devices from being hacked or stolen, but how to make sure that they survive their 24/7 journey between places such as airports, offices, transportations, or cafés.

Per se, the term “nomad” implies the action to regularly move from one place to another. And we too often forget that a decent suitcase/rucksack is no luxury compared to the value of a laptop (should it be the monetary value of the device itself or the sentimental/business value of its content).

I’ve myself experienced two trashed laptops – one hard drive failure and one broken screen – because I was not using a proper computer bag. And when you see how suitcases are taken care of at the airport, you really think twice before leaving your computer in a registered luggage. And since airlines are now charging for that service, a frequent flier’s only option translates into: “carry on”.

There are of course hundreds of possibilities when it comes to choosing the proper computer case: to make it simple, you have three main options: you can opt for a simple messenger style (flap covering, shoulder strap) or Tote Style (short handles, no shoulder strap) laptop case if you’re on the move for a day, a backpack style laptop case if your journey takes you away from home for a day or two or if you ride a bicycle, bike, scooter, segway, skateboard or rollerblades, and the trolley style laptop case if you’re planning to leave for a week of work.

Any option is good as long as it actually fits your need and is not cheap and ugly. “Cheap”? Indeed: what you will buy will always cost you less than having your laptop fixed – believe me. So always keep in mind that $20 between two cases make a difference. “Ugly”? Well, I’m not sure if you’re like me and 80% of the people who wander in airports, but your case somehow reflects who you are. It is actually because it is “only a case”, that it drags much attention when it does not only look like a case. I consider mine almost as my portable office since I have everything inside which allows me to survive in urban jungles

So investing $350 in a trolley is no madness. If you’re not sure where to start looking for your very own laptop bag, I’d recommend you have a look at both this article “Beyond boring black bags … the funky, chic and cool laptop bag!” and this dedicated blog: Funchico.com.

Wired Magazine also conducted in its February issue a benchmark of 5 new computer trolleys.

Personally I wonder whether you really need this level of safeness and pay that price when you can find some really nice and reliable stuff in Bally, Clark & Mayfield or Mandarina Duck for less money.

And if you’re some kind of “do it yourself” person, I can only strongly recommend you to have a look at this website and follow one of the 15 available tutorials on “how to make your own laptop bag”!

You’ll just have to figure out yourself how you’ll explain your buddies why you didn’t show-up to your weekly pocker-game…

Who has never been discouraged to purchase a 30mns Internet credit for €15 from the only local provider available at an airport lounge or at a hotel?

As for my part, I’ve experienced both situations during one of the 140 Paris-Vienna flights I took for the past two years (17,5 tonnes of CO₂ … I know… I’m so ashamed). But I’ve never been so desperate to subscribe to an additional mobile contract for 12 or 24 month and get one of those “cool” broadband Internet access USB dongles you connect to your PC or Mac and which puts the world at your finger tips while on the move…

The main reason? Those mobile broadband packages cost (between €29 and €39/month). And since I already had a very convenient mobile contract with my mobile phone provider which features, among others, unlimited download allowance*, it was not worth having to pay for exactly the same thing (500MB) under a different shaped device (a USB dongle).

To that point, I just needed to figure out a way to properly “spend” those 500MB I was given every month. Most symbian devices, such as Nokia, Sony-Ericsson and Motorola, come with a software full of nice features to install on your laptop. One of those features (supposedly) allows you to connect your laptop to your mobile through a cable or a Bluetooth connection. But in most cases the result does not meet with the expectation of surfing the web at a high speed (in the best case you managed to properly configure your phone…). Surfing the web, in that case, is slow and painful.

JoikuSpot Light is a free symbian software that turns any mobile phone with a wifi connection, to a 3G WLAN HotSpot. You can thus connect your laptop or any other WLAN device to the web from anywhere using your mobile phone and enjoy 3G speed surfing!

In terms of download and upload speed, you can manage to pick at a very decent average of 850 kbps in downloads (I eventually managed to reach 1259 kbps!) and 85 kbps in uploads (peeked at 98 kbps during my speed tests on speedtest.net), which is not bad at all considering the fact that a regular home broadband Internet takes you at 2572 kbps (download) and 391 kbps (upload). So with JoikuSpot you’ll be able to listen to streaming music on Spotify, Deezer or Jiwa and enjoy from the best of youtube and dailymotion while on the move!

I’ve attached below some screen captures of the speed tests done with my laptop connected to my mobile ISP (BOUYGUES TELECOM) through the JoikuSpot mobile application and of the same test done with my laptop connected to my home Internet connection (Neuf Cegetel).

Once you’ll have this free software installed on your mobile, you won’t think twice when you’ll have to spend the week-end visiting your parents-in-law who live in a remote Internet-free location in the country… you’ll still be able, to some extend, to hide in the bathroom and make your pain public on twitter or facebook…

*which is actually not: phone service providers say “unlimited” for a 500MB download allowance… literally “unlimited”, as an adjective, means that something is not restricted or limited or seems to have no boundaries; infinite. Maybe this will be unlimited for M. Jones who only uses the Push email feature of his phone or his happy to surf the web for hours and burn his eyes on his tiny phone screen… but not for me. One more thing: Many “broadband-hungry” applications, such as “Internet Radio” will only be able to run on a wifi hotspot (mobile providers just want to make sure that you won’t be able to use more than 30MB, at most, of your 500MB).

In his study “Predicts 2009: Enterprise Infrastructures Look to Provide ‘Anywhere’ Access” Gartner analysts predict that by 2010, 90% of global wireless operators will cease to offer unlimited mobile data plans. This is mainly linked to the fact that networks are already hitting high capacity with increased customer demand, which affects the network availability and speed that users get on 3G. Data services on PCs and phones are already slowing down, and carriers cannot regularly provide the speeds that they advertise. Also, through 2010, 20% of 3G operators will be capacity-constrained, which will limit wireless network capability.