cell phone, a digital camera battery charge, a PDA, and a portable MP3 player
I find no more than one or two available electrical outlets. (It’s even worse if
you travel to a country that uses a different electrical voltage and plug design
than those we have at home in the United States and Canada. And worse still
on most cruise ships.)Most laptops and many other modern electronic devices are able to switch
down from 240 volts to 120 or 115 volts, but you need to bring the proper
plug adapter. Or you can purchase a voltage converter that will step down
the power to its more familiar level. But that’s not what I’m talking about. In
most circumstances I’m more concerned with finding enough standard elec-
trical outlets to do my work in the hotel room and recharge my devices
overnight.And so I bring along a small power strip that expands a single standard elec-
trical outlet into four. It also includes a power surge protector, which is a
great thing to have anywhere, but especially on cruise ships or in foreign
countries where the power may not be as regular as you’ll find at home.From time to time the security guards at an airport X-ray machine get a bit
exorcised when they see the outline of a power strip; I’ve got to admit it does
look a bit threatening. For that reason, and because this is a device that I usu-
ally don’t need until I am unpacking at the end of the day, my power strip
usually travels in my suitcase and not my computer bag.Bluetooth Adapter .......................................................................................
It’s so small, why not? A Bluetooth adapter adds one more avenue of com-
munication to a laptop that already features WiFi, Ethernet, infrared, and a
modem. Bluetooth devices are not yet even close to the near-ubiquity of
WiFi, but I’m beginning to see more and more cell phones and PDAs offering
this means of short- to mid-range radio communication. Plugging the tiny
Keyspan USB Bluetooth Adapter into my laptop allows me to quickly synchro-
nize my cell phone’s address book with the one on my PDA, which is also
stored on my laptop.A Package of CD-Rs ......................................................................................
My modern laptop includes a combination CD/CD-R/DVD device. As you’ve
already explored in this book, this means there are four things this particular
unit can do:Chapter 22: Ten of My Favorite Things 331