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I used to care about this subject a lot, and I spent a lot of time looking into one-time pads and other clever tricks. But then I my company sprung for a Blackberry-- problem solved. I now access my important information via SSH. EDGE ain't the fastest thing, but it's fast enough. In fact, it's faster than the old PBX modems we used to use when I was in college (19.2), so I find that PINE is quite useable on the device. Only downside: no arrow keys (or, at least, I can't figure out how to make the terminal emulator do them). So no curses-based games. Oh, and the Opera mini web browser is pretty sweet. I'm not a big fan of Opera on the desktop, but they've put together a very nice mobile version.

Another option is a PocketMail device, which just wins my geek heart over for bringing acoustically-coupled modems back into style. They were extremely popular about 5 years ago when I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail. All you need is a payphone, which is often easier to find than an internet cafe when traveling abroad. I would have picked one up myself, but then the aforementioned Blackberry came into my life.

The device that most thruhikers use is pocketmail. Thruhiking is where you go backpacking for months at a time. There are plenty of resources on thruhiking such as www.practicalbackpacking.com which has a great podcast and www.backpacking.net. Backpacking.net even has stuff for those who want to DIY, with instructions on how to make all your own gear. Pocketmail allows you to write your email and then send it later when you are at a phone. You use pocketmail's server and connection so that everything you need is included. It is a great thruhiker solution.

I would recommend a Pocketmail device. You can compose email and upload it to a toll-free service from practically any phone with the built-in acoustical modem. (Just hold the device up to the handset.) Also, bring a good phone card; payphones can be a bitch, and collect calls are risky.

try pocketmail, which would let you email your files to yourself:
http://www.pocketmail.com/

there have been others in the past, although some not as portable. ascii output saved to floppy disks was a common interchange format, which you may find useless.

i'd second the sidekick as the best of it's ilk, although i don't own one (and won't buy one.) i may need one for work, in which case I'll bite the bullet perhaps.

an old Psion device (readily availalbe on eBay) might fit your bill, depending on your interface of choice. the keyboards on these were quite palatable.

finding something with USB might be difficult; you may be able to use IRDA to get data off of these, although finding a reasonably modern machine with IRDA appears to be tough - adapters are available that might bring you bliss.

I've used a pocketmail device, for this purpose. Pocketmail sends and receives email over an accoustic coupled modem, but I also use it to log notes. The keyboard is small, but goes pretty well with my thumbs. When done, I send the notes to myself via email.

If I ever get around to a cross-NA bicycle tour I would consider subscribing to this service.

PS: I have no affiliation with PocketMail nor have I tried it.

I haven't been able to determine whether or not this unit allows use of an external folding keyboard. The two reasons I haven't bought the 280 is lack of an expansion slot and inability to use the external keyboard. At least one of those problems goes away with the 600.

With the keyboard, this unit comes very close to my ideal handheld computer. Taking notes in meetings, coding html, reading email and web browsing are what I use the computer for about 90 percent of the time. With this unit I can get rid of my Pocketmail device that I've used to check email remotely for about 4 years. I can also ditch my cell phone.

I just hope their release date doesn't suffer from oqoitis...

Heh. I wonder what they'll be able to do with the GameBoy Advance that's due out soon. Already, just with the basic GameBoy and GameBoy Color, they've released a camera, a printer, etc.

Interact, the company that makes the ever-popular Gameshark cheating system created a device that lets you send and receive email through your GameBoy much like a Pocketmail device. Looks like all of those jokes about PalmOS devices looking like GameBoys can be applied the other way around as well.

I've done a bit of touring (and I commute by bike) and this bike runs completely counter to my cycling philosophy, I try to apply Ray Jardine's backpacking style (he's a very interesting individual I'd encourage everyone to check out the site). Take as little as you can and make sure what you do take has multiple uses.

This bike falls squarely in the "Hey look what we can do" category. The rechargeable nature makes it impractical for touring, it's heavy and you need to keep it charged. The statistics tracking might be cool if you're training but if you were training you sure wouldn't want to be doing it on this bike. In my experience all the electronics would be useless, if not dangerous on a commuter bike, the only time you'd even be able to mess with the Palm is when your out on the highway, in town your focus needs to be on traffic. The other problem is all this stuff just increases the theft value, forcing you to bring it into the building with you or worry about it all the time.

This whole package needs to be on another bike, personally I just don't like electrics, and an upright bike just makes it hard to use the gear while you're riding. A recumbent is the way to go, BikeE has a low cost semi-recumbent that would make a good starting point for someone not inclined to build their own. If you look at Steve Roberts' stuff (read his book too damn it! ; )) all his bikes he built were recumbents.

I usually take my Palm IIIc and PocketMail BackFlip, with it I can keep in touch for a whole lot less money than calling people.

I've done a bit of touring (and I commute by bike) and this bike runs completely counter to my cycling philosophy, I try to apply Ray Jardine's backpacking style (he's a very interesting individual I'd encourage everyone to check out the site). Take as little as you can and make sure what you do take has multiple uses.

This bike falls squarely in the "Hey look what we can do" category. The rechargeable nature makes it impractical for touring, it's heavy and you need to keep it charged. The statistics tracking might be cool if you're training but if you were training you sure wouldn't want to be doing it on this bike. In my experience all the electronics would be useless, if not dangerous on a commuter bike, the only time you'd even be able to mess with the Palm is when your out on the highway, in town your focus needs to be on traffic. The other problem is all this stuff just increases the theft value, forcing you to bring it into the building with you or worry about it all the time.

This whole package needs to be on another bike, personally I just don't like electrics, and an upright bike just makes it hard to use the gear while you're riding. A recumbent is the way to go, BikeE has a low cost semi-recumbent that would make a good starting point for someone not inclined to build their own. If you look at Steve Roberts' stuff (read his book too damn it! ; )) all his bikes he built were recumbents.

I usually take my Palm IIIc and PocketMail BackFlip, with it I can keep in touch for a whole lot less money than calling people.

oops, that's www.pocketmail.com

if you can place a toll free call from the ship, pocketmail might be just the thing. I've used their devices in canada before, and they worked fine. I'm not sure what the policies are with toll free calls from a cruise ship, but it might work.