Barrett

October 9, 2022

How to Keep Track of your Tech while Traveling

If you sometimes worry about losing your gear on the road, you’re not alone. Here are five ways to help lower those odds.

My family and I have happily returned to vacation travel across this past year. We started in February with a little skiing at Bousquet Mountain in Massachusetts, then visited New Orleans over spring break, relaxed in Maine in June and of course, we just got back from our great trip to the Southwest and Grand Canyon.

And while it’s not too complicated to throw some clothes in a bag and board a plane, it is important to remember that bringing your tech along requires more attention if you want it all to come back with you.

If you misplace a shirt, that’s probably not deal breaker. A missing piece of gear can really ruin your day.

What are the Odds Some of Your Tech Won’t Make It Back?
Let’s face it. Losing your gear on the road is surprisingly easy to do. There are plenty of ways to inadvertently part with your expensive gadgets and their accessories.

Chargers and Power Cables
How many times have you left behind your smartphone charger or laptop power cable plugged into the desk in your hotel room
Lens Cap
And if your DSLR’s lens cap is not tethered to your camera’s lens, it’s constantly pulling a Houdini, right?

You Won’t Lose It If You Don’t Have It
Much like over packing clothing for a trip, we also have a tendency to travel with too many gadgets. (I surely do.) So, one solution is simply to leave the tech behind that you can do without.

Don’t take that laptop if a tablet will do.
Don’t take the tablet if your smartphone can handle the job.

Sure, many hotel rooms are now equipped with mini safes. And laptops are small enough these days to jam into these tiny vaults. But then you’ve got to remember to clear out the safe before you leave.
(And no matter what, isn’t it always a rush?)

Maybe you won’t forget the laptop, but what’s hidden behind it might get missed with a hurried exit.

Five Ways to Hold onto Your Tech on the Road

But if you absolutely must bring it, here are five tips to help you increase the odds you’ll come home with all your precious tech gear and accessories.

1. Use the Right Carry-On Bag
Keep your tech with you at all times. Assume an 800-pound gorilla will be jumping on your stowed luggage.

So bring a carry-on bag with distinct compartments and keep each piece of tech in its designated position. Then take a moment to memorize where everything belongs.

That way, you’ll be able to quickly scan if all your digital tools are in their right place.

2. Have Power in a Pinch
It’s always nice to bring a little backup power in your bag while you’re going about your day. That way, you don’t have to worry about where you’ll be juicing up your smartphone next.

More importantly, that also means you don’t need to spontaneously set up a portable charging station at the nearest outlet. And you don’t need to pull out unnecessary gear while looking for your charging plugs. Exposing all of your items in public is never a good idea.

These days you can store a power stick that’s not much larger than a pack of gum.

It’s worth it.

3. Keep Your Pockets Light at Security
When going through airport security, it’s always such a fire drill to get everything back on your body before rushing to the gate.

I always feel a sense of dread as all of my pocketed gear disappears down the conveyor belt in bins to be scanned. Yes, I’ve always gotten it all back, but you never know about the next time.

Reposition as much digital paraphernalia as you can into your carry-on bag.

4. Watch Your Laptop Like a Hawk After the X-ray Machine
I’m not talking so much about someone stealing your laptop from its bin while you’re putting your shoes back on. I’m referring to simply protecting it from being harmed.

During a work trip years ago, I watched in horror as a bin holding a laptop rolled out of the X-ray machine conveyer belt. It got squeezed by a bin jam ahead of it, and then it veered off the rollers, dumping the laptop onto the cold, unforgiving cement surface below.

No, the poor laptop didn’t bust into multiple pieces,
but I’m not so sure how solid its guts were after that kind of spill.

Try to position your laptop bin so it comes out of the X-ray machine soon after you’ve walked past your own X-ray body scan experience. That way you’ll be close by to rescue your laptop if a bin jam becomes imminent.

5. ID Your Gear
Sometimes, no matter what you do, fate still intervenes.
So when you end up losing a gadget like your tablet or eBook-reader on a plane,
in your hotel room, or after a lunch at a restaurant… what do you do then?

Well, you’d better leave a trail for someone to find you.
(Like simply taping a business card inside your new iPad case)

If your gear is in lockdown mode, there’s no way for anyone to know it’s yours.
Sure they can do some sleuthing based on your reserved plane seat or hotel room record, but would you want to leave your gadget’s future in the hands of an Inspector Clouseau?

Pay Attention!
It all comes down to spending the time to pack your gear properly, keeping it with you as much as possible and having a plan when the unexpected happens.

Alternately, just don’t take it. Sometimes, less is more.

Good luck!

October 2, 2022

How to Improve your Zoom Background at Home

Making sure you’re properly lit in your Zoom shot isn’t always enough. What about the supporting cast in your webcam’s view?

It’s clear we’re at a point where participating in Zoom meetings is a permanent part of home life and a necessary tool to communicate with our world. So, it’s important to create a ‘remote video communications’ home set-up that really works for you and your viewers.

I hope most of us are beyond the chaotic experience of working from home and participating in meetings all day. During those early pandemic months, simply finding a quiet spot to open up your laptop for a Zoom, Skype or Teams meeting was a challenge.

How your shot looked understandably may not have been your priority.

Keeping it Real
But as we’ve settled into our new routines, many of us have improved our Zoom look.

I’m sure you know the basics by now:

Make sure you’ve got enough light on your face.
Don’t sit with a window behind you.
Position your webcam perpendicular to your eyes, not looking up your nose.
Declutter your background.

I know many folks are fond of using virtual backgrounds. While that’s okay, I like to keep my shot as authentic as possible.

I’ve tried digital and blurred backgrounds, but I always felt like I was in a science fiction movie.

Can you See my Robots?
So, even though my home office is hardly an ideal space to create the perfect video shot for my Zoom meetings, I’ve continued to tinker with my background throughout these many months.

Recently, I moved the furniture around in my home office, and to a certain extent I’ve created something of a blank canvas to work with.

I repositioned a short bookshelf into my Zoom background, and I used the top shelf to display a few robot statues I’ve collected over the years. (R2D2, C3PO, Robby the Robot and Robot from the original “Lost in Space”)

They’re also nice ice breakers as people sometimes ask about them when they spot my metal robots in my Zoom shot.

The only problem is my robots looked like shadows in my background. That’s because my back wall didn’t have a lot of light hitting it.

Time to Add More Light
Like any professional studio TV set, you’ve got to properly light your entire space, and that includes the background. Otherwise your environment will look drab, no matter what it contains.

And webcams are usually happier if your lighting is more even throughout the entire shot. That means you’ll look better and not over exposed.

So, I needed to figure out how to throw more light on that back wall and my little robot display.

Vertical LED Table Lamp
There are any number of ways to do that. A floor lamp next to the bookshelf would be an easy solution. That said, I didn’t want to clutter my background (or my home office). Instead, I looked for a lighting solution with a smaller footprint: some sort of lamp that could sit on the end of the book shelf just outside of my Zoom frame.

I found a small vertical LED table lamp made by Edishine on Amazon.
It was the perfect solution. It added the background fill light I needed without overwhelming my shelf. The lamp’s cold, minimalistic look also blended nicely with my little metal companions.

Think of it more like an under-cabinet lighting solution, but designed as a self-standing vertical glow.

Now, my robots are easy to spot in my Zoom background. Plus the extra light also helps my back wall pop.

Zoom-Optimized Rooms
If you want to really show up for your close up during Zoom meetings from home, you’ve got to do more than light your face and wear a nice shirt. Your environment is an extension of you, and it’s important to give it the same attention as you set up your webcam shot.

That means your whole room (or at least the part people see) needs enough light.

I know we don’t live in TV studios (well, most of us don’t). But I think it’s fair to say that when you think about how to decorate your living spaces moving forward, it’s not crazy to plan for the creation of Zoom-optimized rooms.

It’s not science fiction. Yes, reality has caught up.

September 25, 2022

Looking for our Kicks on Route 66

When you’re driving on Historic Route 66 near Kingman, Arizona, don’t blink. Here’s the Guardian of Route 66 statue we found by the Antares Point Visitors Center.

Of course, our Southwest vacation was all about three amazing national parks, including Grand Canyon. But our journey was inevitably part of the experience.

We rented a cushy Jeep Grand Cherokee, and headed out on our road trip from Las Vegas to Utah and eventually into Arizona and Grand Canyon.

We originally plotted our course south, because we wanted to hit a portion of Historic Route 66, but we ultimately waited for our return route to do that. The lure of Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah was too enticing. So, we went north instead.

The Roadkill Cafe
Fast forward to the end of our trip. We drove out from Grand Canyon on 64 South and then took I-40 west towards Seligman, Arizona, where we finally picked up Route 66.

In Seligman, we stopped for lunch at the Roadkill Cafe. The pricy diner mostly lived up to its weird name. But more importantly, it satisfied our early expectations for what our Route 66 drive might hold.

But I would soon be disappointed… mostly.

Nothing to See for Miles
We drove for only 87 miles on Route 66 between Seligman and Kingman, Arizona before we needed to pick up 93 North towards Las Vegas and our flight home. Granted, these miles are a relatively small sample size, but unfortunately, this part of the iconic road linking Chicago to Los Angeles did not reflect the quirky, Americana highway with its colorful reputation from its heyday.

The majority of the miles was simply wide open road with Arizona desert views. The few, tiny towns we passed were mostly populated by shuttered stores, restaurants and gas stations from a bygone era (or perhaps the pandemic finally did them in).

Giganticus Headicus
There was one exception northeast of Kingman. It’s the Antares Point Visitors Center, home of the green “Giganticus Headicus” sculpture by artist Gregg Arnold.
This outpost is a mutant gift shop and mini sculpture park in the middle of nowhere, populated with outdoor art and a graveyard of classic cars that aren’t quite qualified for the dump (but close).

The place is something like what you might find in a giant humanoid kid’s playroom somewhere in the multiverse.

We pulled in, mostly because we spotted the giant green head.
It was a welcome distraction from the desolate landscape we had been crossing (and we needed a bathroom break).

An Oddity Worth Checking Out
We probably stayed for half an hour. We did a bit of shopping for UFO-themed trinkets, but mostly meandered around the grounds enjoying the outdoor art and mummified vintage vehicles.
It was all entirely strange and wonderful. Exactly what I was hoping for.

Won’t You Get Hip to this Timely Tip?
This is not your average visitors center. Far from it. But was this all that Route 66 has to offer? Well, it was for those 87 miles.

Antares Point is a taste of Americana. And it was enough for us as we got back in our car and soon came to the on-ramp back to the future.

Yes, I can say we got our kicks on Route 66.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: