The Road Warrior Tool Kit
by Gary Woods

If you travel a lot with your computer there's some stuff we need to talk about. For starters now that I've gone wireless at home it only seems logical that I should go wireless on the road. I found a wireless router by ASUS, the WL-330 WAP ($70 street) that weigh less than half a pound. This setup allows me to plug the hotel's broadband connection into the router so I can step out on the balcony and still cruise the net.

I've even heard that there are even some unscrupulous individuals who have set up routers in their room allowing their co-workers a room or two away to pick up that signal. But that would be illegal!

On the road I do love my tunes but the sound on most laptops isn't great. With the Echo Indigo however ($130 direct, www.echoaudio.com) you get a PC Card audio adapter with excellent sound, a big volume knob, and two headphone jacks, so two people can share one DVD playing laptop.

To cut down on the amount of stuff you carry on the road you might look into phones and PDAs that can be recharged from your laptop's USB ports. Your PDA vendor probably supplies a USB sync cable, but Belkin and others offer $20 sync-and-charge cables. Also look for an AC/Car/Airplane transformer that has interchangeable tips for notebooks, PDAs cell phones, and some cameras. That's it gotta' catch a plane!

If you have any suggestions or questions for me please drop me a note at garyandlaury@santabarbaraproperties.com or see my column on the Internet at http://www.santabarbaraproperties.com or call me at (805) 729-0910