Notebooks & Accessories
Tip: Can't Find an Airport Power Outlet? Try Baggage Claim
Wi-Fi hot spots are proliferating at airports. And yet, Wi-Fi connectivity can quickly drain notebook batteries. The result: Many mobile professionals, hoping to check e-mail before boarding a plane, scramble to find available power outlets near their departure gate.
Too often, though, there aren't any wall outlets--or other notebook users have already plugged into them. In a sidebar to one of his recent business travel columns, USA Today's David Grossman offers advice on plugging in at the airport. Among his tips:
- Look for telephone kiosks with data ports; sometimes they have power outlets, too.
- Baggage claim areas often have more electrical outlets than other parts of the airport.
- If all else fails, ask sanitation workers where AC outlets are located, as they usually have to plug in vacuum cleaners.
News: Removable Hard Drives
Iomega's new Removable Rigid Disk system is, in essence, a removable hard drive inside a cartridge with up to 35GB capacity. Based on standard hard drive components, RRD products will feature an air filtration system and an automatic head cleaning mechanism to help avoid data corruption. RRD systems will also include an enhanced version of Iomega's Backup software that can perform data compression and encryption. RRD products are expected to ship early next year; an external version will connect via USB 2.0. Prices should range from $350 to $500.
News: External FireWire Storage
The Lucid M2X Portable FireWire DVD-Multi Drive is an external, bus-powered drive that can burn CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, and DVD-RAM media. The drive, from peripheral maker MCE Technologies, carries a $389 suggested retail price, weighs less than a pound, and works with PCs and Macs that include a FireWire port. And it ships with a double-sided DVD-RAM that, unlike other writable optical media, can act as a "virtual hard disk," the company says.
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