5 last-minute high-tech gifts for road warriors

[funlife]

Tony Bradley @tonybradleybsg

• Dec 17, 2013 6:00 AM

With its long airport lines, endless string of hotel rooms, and fat-saturated meals, work travel is hardly glamorous. So why not give the road warrior in your life something to ease the many miles they'll rack up in 2014. Here are a few ideas to help you out if you need some inspiration.

1. Timbuk2 Hudson Laptop Briefcase

This bag is functional and durable, made of water-resistant waxed canvas with leather trim. It has a rugged, distressed look that gives it some character. One side opens fully, like a briefcase, and has padded pockets for a laptop and/or tablet.

This laptop bag combines the best of a messenger bag and a briefcase.

It has handles to be carried like a briefcase, but also comes with a shoulder strap. The Hudson Laptop Briefcase is $270 from Timbuk2.

2. Urban Xplorer HalfPack RT

The HalfPack RT also has a rugged outback appeal and offers a little more versatility because it can function as a backpack as well as a briefcase or messenger bag. A zippered pouch provides easy accessibility to a laptop and/or tablet during TSA security screening. The bag also has  pockets and pouches sized to hold everything from pens and USB thumb drives to your laptop power cord and sunglasses.

The HalfPack RT from Urban Xplorer is versatile and has plenty of pockets and pouches. 

You can get the HalfPack RT 2014 line in various colors for $200 from Urban Xplorer.

3. WD MyCloud

Your road warrior is probably carrying an external USB hard drive or two with them already, so why would they want a WD MyCloud drive? Well, because the WD MyCloud creates a personal cloud enabling them to store 2TB, 3TB, or even 4TB of data without the security concerns or ongoing expense of a cloud storage service.

This NAS connects to the Internet enabling you to access photos, music, and other data on the drive from virtually anywhere. There are apps for Windows, Mac OS X, iOS, and Android, and the WD MyCloud mobile app can also transfer files to and from cloud services such as Dropbox.

The WD MyCloud is available starting at $180 for the 2TB model.

Access your own personal cloud from virtually anywhere with this external drive. 

4. Logitech p710e Mobile Speakerphone

One thing you can't escape when you leave town are the meetings. No matter where you may be, there are still conference calls and video conferencing sessions to join, which generally means using a smartphone or tablet while sitting in a hotel room somewhere.

The P710e lets you take enterprise-class conferencing on the road.

The Logitech p710e Mobile Speakerphone is an ideal gift idea for the road warrior who has to participate frequently in such meetings. It is compact and rechargeable, and it has a slot designed to comfortably and securely hold virtually any smartphone or tablet.

The unit can be paired with more than one mobile device, and it connects almost instantly when a paired Bluetooth device is within range. The sound quality -- both inbound and outbound—is very good. It also fills in quite nicely for playing music from your smartphone, or watching a Netflix movie on your tablet while you’re on the road.

The p710e Mobile Speakerphone sells for $170 from Logitech.

5. Powerocks Super Magicstick

No matter how much mobile device vendors continue to squeeze more battery life into gadgets, your devices always seem to run out of power when you need them most. The Super Magicstick is small enough to fit in a pocket or purse, and it weighs a mere 80 grams. It has a USB port that can be used to attach a charging cable for virtually any mobile device to refuel on the go, and it comes in an array of colors.

Powerocks Super Magicsticks keep your mobile devices charged wherever you go.

The Super Magicstick mobile charger retails for $50.

[Woofiee]

Instead of the Logitech at #4, I really love my Jambox - it's USB-rechargeable, wireless (bluetooth), works very nicely as a speakerphone and has the best sound of any of these small speaker sets. 

 

[Little Evil]

Instead of the Logitech at #4, I really love my Jambox - it's USB-rechargeable, wireless (bluetooth), works very nicely as a speakerphone and has the best sound of any of these small speaker sets. 

 

 

Jambox is a nice travel gift idea. I think I like the Bose one better though. I went to a store the other day and was absolutely floored by the Soundlink Mini. It definitely lacks all the bells and whistles (no remote, no 1/8 in, no speakerphone), but the sound was so good that I thought they were trying to scam me with a hidden 12" speaker somewhere.

[funlife]

You ought to listen to the sound of Soundlazer ($300). It's worth every pennie

[Little Evil]

You ought to listen to the sound of Soundlazer ($300). It's worth every pennie

 

How is the base though? That's the one area most of these portable speakers fall a bit flat. The Bose was phenomenal for its size. Just a big magnet is why. I read about these Soundlazers somewhere. Neat concept, but parametric sound isn't ideal for situations where you want to fill a room with music, say if you can certain company who might enjoy shaking it a bit to good music.

[Woofiee]

BTW, the Jambox has 2 modes, and in "Live Audio" mode, it drops the volume but creates a bit of resonance so you get really good base.

 

I actually use the speakerphone mode a lot more than I thought I would - it's excellent quality.

[funlife]

How is the base though? That's the one area most of these portable speakers fall a bit flat. The Bose was phenomenal for its size. Just a big magnet is why. I read about these Soundlazers somewhere. Neat concept, but parametric sound isn't ideal for situations where you want to fill a room with music, say if you can certain company who might enjoy shaking it a bit to good music.

Base is not earth shattering but good enough. Soundlazer directs the sound to the person(s) right in front of it, to me it's very convenient as I don't hear well and have to crank the volume higher to hear.

[Little Evil]

Base is not earth shattering but good enough. Soundlazer directs the sound to the person(s) right in front of it, to me it's very convenient as I don't hear well and have to crank the volume higher to hear.

 

First off, thanks for the reply. Those look like they would be great for an office setting, but no so much for a party or even a group of people hanging out who want to listed to music. Second off, did I really just spell bass as "base"? I'd like to blame that on auto-correct, but that was all me. 

[Slift]

Can anyone recommend a good carry-on bag/weekender/trolley/whatever ?

 

 

A bit expensive, but I thought about to buy this one:

http://goincase.com/shop/incase-eo-travel-duffel

[Woofiee]

Can anyone recommend a good carry-on bag/weekender/trolley/whatever ?

 

A bit expensive, but I thought about to buy this one:

http://goincase.com/shop/incase-eo-travel-duffel

 

I have a work colleague who has one of these - I believe he said he bought it at Paragon in Bangkok: 

 

http://goincase.com/shop/incase-eo-travel-hardshell-roller