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Is This How to Carry Your Gadgets?
mightypie writes "What's the best way of carrying a Visor Prism, mobile phone, cybertool, digital camera, wallet & keys? I just don't like the vest solution Somebody here must have the solution" That is the most disturbing ad I've seen. Someday my phone/camera/pda/mp3 player will be one tiny happy box. As it stands my solution is baggy pants w/ big pockets.
Follow the lead of the mobile telecoms industry: take a crud phone and add an awful PIM.
May not do the job, but it sure helps keep the trousers up.
Yup. And if you want to be an ultra carpenter, or auto mechanic, or plumber, don't carry any tools. Use whatever is knocking around in your client's garage.
This is ridiculous. Go into any situation prepared for all likely eventualities. The tools you carry make you more flexible, and therefore more valuable. I feel naked without my Leatherman...I don't use it every day, but when I need it, I NEED IT. Same thing with my Palm Pilot. I use it as a swap file for my brain. Man's major evolutionary accomplishment is that s/he has figured out how to use tools to make his environment more suitable. Turning your back on this fundamental advantage for an aesthetic consideration is absolutely laughable.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
So they finally agreed to put in the Mountain Dew Camelbak? Excellent news! Now I can finally get a look at this "outside" that everyone keeps talking about.
---- El diablo esta en mis pantalones! Mire, mire!
I just couldn't help misreading their ad slogan :^)
My solution is a nice-looking yet deceptively large purse. ...'course, I suppose this is one of those times when it helps to be female.
"The Crystal Wind is the Storm, and the Storm is Data, and the Data is Life"
I mean, it's obvious.
Even if you only need room for a sonic screwdriver, a bag of jelly babies, and a key to the TARDIS.
--Blair
By the way, I can't imagine that wearing one of these would be better than the vest solution you mention... but at least it exists.
Please buy one, so we can all laugh at you.
I sewed a huge segment of velcro onto the left sleeve of my jacket and a couple of informal shirts. I originally tried the self-adhesive velcro, but that stuff tends not to handle the washing machine very well. Anyway, the velcro is all along my forearm, and I used the self-adhesive stuff on the back of my Mako, Palm3C, and Jornada, as well as a few remote controls and my walkman. It looks a little odd, but I can do one-handed tasks very easily on my arm, and I always have whatever's on my velcro shirt scrolling weather, reminders, whatever. I'm planning to get a blackberry so I can have constant stock updates on my arm. I could just get a watch with text-messaging, but I hate the tiny screens.
I'm the stranger...posting to
If you want the ultimate computer geekware, let me clue you in. NOTHING. No phone, no PDA, no other crap. A real geek doesn't need toys. Wherever he goes, people hand him THEIR toys, all he needs is his mind. And besides, a real pro wants to be SHIELDED from all the annoying calls, pages, etc.
I have often tested this principle when I do consulting gigs. I call it the "Naked Consultant Game." Whenever possible, I go in to the site carrying nothing but a pencil. Occasionally a client will be puzzled, asking where's my phone, laptop, etc. I ask them if they want me to fix their stuff, or if they'd rather look at a bunch of cheap plastic toys. I tell them I'd gladly carry a bunch of crap to gawk at, but it will cost them extra, and take me longer to get onsite carrying all that crap.
Greetings!
During my last trip to Europe I resolved that I wouldn't take my Compaq notebook (it's a light machine but it requires carrying an extra bag). As an experiment, I tried taking with me only the following:
This was a 2-week trip. During this time, I scheduled things so that I didn't have to look at e-mail every single day. Added a vacation e-mail auto-reply just in case. Any notes that I might've needed for the duration of the trip were downloaded to the Palm as Memo documents (no extraneous formatting).
I carried all these things in the external zippered pockets of my traveling leather jacket:
I had excellent results. During the trip I had the option of connecting with the Palm and sending quick replies, or heading to an Internet café, install a copy of SSH, check my e-mail and optionally review documents on my server(s), etc. Not carrying a lot of stuff, and having a device with only limited capabilities allowed me to be more productive about what I was doing during the trip. I only had my carry-on bag with 2 weeks worth of clothes, so I was in-and-out of every airport I visited (SFO, DeGaulle, Frankfort, Sheremetyevo, Cheboksari, and Toronto [I can't remember its name]) in less than 20 minutes, including customs.
I've been traveling for business for 12 years doing consulting and installing the software we produce worldwide. This trip taught me that it's not the quantity of what you carry but the quality and the planning what count. It was the first trip without my laptop/notebook since 1992.
The hardest part was synchronizing all the materials I produced while I was gone with the rest of the work at the company. It took a lot of cutting and pasting and a couple of revisions.
This experiment was an extension to my habit of not carrying a mobile phone. I own one but I don't even know the number, and I only carry it when I think I may have to call someone that I couldn't reach at any other time. I used to carry my phone at all times and spend lots of time using it. I realized then that my time is very precious and so is my customers's. No phone calls at all times means no interruptions while I'm taking care of business, dining out with my friends, at the movies or theatre, etc. I've never lost a deal because I couldn't take a call right that minute. If I'm expecting something critical, then I stay at my office where the phone and all other resources (including people in my staff) are available to take care of business.
Cheers!
Ehttp://eugeneciurana.com | http://ciurana.eu
Here, try this. Go on, I date you.
www.lucernesys.comHorizon: Calendar-based personal finance
Well, if the Batman utility belt isn't an acceptable option, you'll just have to rely on a faithful sidekick who can also provide comic relief and draw minority viewers.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
Damn right. I'm no tailor, however, I am big into costuming (Rocky Horror, the SCA, Cosplay, etc). My "trenchcoat of holding" is legendary - an Adolpho trench modified to carry even very heavy objects with loops, buttons, huge internal pockets, etc. At Anime Festival Orlando, in addition to the usual con equipment - first aid kit, toolkit, Palm, journal, two sandwiches, several Three Musketeers bars etc, I carried a large bottle of Skyy Vodka, a decent sized bottle of Tullimore Dew, Cuervo Gold, and a canister containing the five Thinkgeek shot glasses. Nobody guessed I had anything in the trench as I walked around the con. I walked around with no weight or "sag" problem, thanks to a nice over the shoulder, around the neck webbing system that displaces weight.
I want to add a laptop, but the "flat and wide" dimensions creates a problem with making it hideable under the fabric - and the Picturebook, etc, seem to lack enough usefulness to justify buying one. When HMDs become decent (I have a Glasstron right now), I will probably use it, but attached to a laptop in my trench - I want a usable keyboard, dammit.
--
Evan
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
Okay... This seems to have struck enough of a chord to make it worth it to make a web page about it. I don't have my digital camera right now, but in the next few weeks, I'll take pictures and put together a site.
I'll submit it to /. when done - hopefully it will at least show up as a quickie.
As a quick and simple description, big, oversized buttons and gadget loops are your friends; every internal pocket should have horizontal elastic straps above it so oversized (long) items can be snapped into place (displacing weight), and the best bit was figuring out that nylon webbing (about an inch and a half, two inches wide) reinforcing across the interior keeps it looking like there are heavy items "sagging" pockets. Attach the nylon straps to a loop going around the back of the neck and to the armpits (of the trench, not *your* armpits, dummy). Both those locations can take weight without (and I'm no tailor, so don't flame me for misusing this phrase) disturbing the cut of the trench.
Also, leave the waist down alone, and when you walk at a decent clip, the top stays closed (as it has weight), and the bottom flares open.
Thinking about it, it's sorta like a backpack, only you're on the inside. Oh - and I tried using spring clips like the kind that some laptop bags have sewn in to keep you keys on... and they always dropped stuff.
The biggest downside is you can't just toss your trench into the corner, and you wind up learning to pick it up by searching for the collar and lifting from there, rather than grabbing any part and picking it up.
--
Evan
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
I thought that they were issuing all those things in a Casio watch. Oh wait.. this is not James Bond...
As it stands my solution is baggy pants w/ big pockets.
Well, Rob, I can see precisely one flaw in your solution:
Best Buy Security Guard: Excuse me, sir. I'd like a word with you.
Rob Malda: Me?
Best Buy Security Guard: Yes, you. Please empty out your pockets onto this table.
Rob Malda: Okay. [empties them out]
Best Buy Security Guard: Uh-huh. A Visor Prism, an iPaq, two cell phones, a pager, a 256MB CompactFlash card, and a package of AA batteries.
Rob Malda: But they're mine!
Best Buy Security Guard: You were hoping they'd be yours.
Rob Malda: No, they're really mine! I bought them! Well, in actual fact, I didn't buy them--
Best Buy Security Guard: Now we're getting somewhere.
Rob Malda No, no! My employer, Andover.Net -- uhh, make that VA Linux -- bought them for me!
Best Buy Security Guard: Can't even keep your story straight, eh, sonny?
Rob Malda: Don't you know who I am? I'm Commander Taco! Haven't you ever heard of Dave Barry?!
Best Buy Security Guard: Uh-huh. Sit here until the real police arrive...