A colleague had his laptop stolen from work this weekend; he stepped away during an event and came back to find it missing.  He had a backup drive so things should have been fine, but that got taken as well.  A year’s worth of music composition, photos and documents are gone.  But what could he have done differently?  It’s hard to say.  There is no simple answer.

I do know a few things that I’ve started doing:

• I don’t travel with my backup drive.  I leave that at home.  Right now it’s visible but I’m going to make it less so.
• I’m getting a second backup drive.  That’s going someplace else.
• I am organizing my files that I can’t live without and plan to store them online in my Drop Box (learn more)
• I’m looking into laptop anti-theft software.  I’ll let you know how that goes.

I can’t emphasize this enough: If you rely on your computer for your “life” – photos, music, work; Make sure you have a backup plan. You can do everything right and things can still go wrong.

The Apple Airport Express isn’t much larger than a stack of note cards but it’s a fully functioning portable wireless access point; a FAST one.  And it works with PC or Mac. If you travel a lot, or just wanna make sure you have wireless wherever you may roam (…) you outta get one.

Configure it at home, throw it in the laptop bag, connect it at your destination.  You’re all set.

I’m shutting down since I’ll be gone for a long time.  It’s a simple way to help the environment.  Have a great weekend!

P.S. Want a little extra power savings? Try using a power strip that stops appliances and electronics from “sipping” electricity while they’re turned off.  Get one here!