I have been asked how I keep up with my BLOG and my Web Page while on the road. I normally take handwritten notes and occasionally find an Internet Cafe to type this in. In the USA, this is very tricky as there are not a lot of Internet Cafe's around and most are very expensive, but most of the rest of the world they are everywhere and fairly cheap. Still, it is easier to do this than to bring a computer, charger, case, and all the othe crap that goes along with a computer.
An internet cafe is a place with computers attached to the internet. Sometimes it is just a room with a few or a lot of computers. Sometimes it is very much a cafe with food and drinks and places to congregate and talk with people.
Sometimes these cafe's have old crappy hardware, sometimes it is state of the art. Care must be taken since it is possible that someone has put a program or device on the computer to spy on your activity and steal your passwords.
There are some drawbacks to Internet Cafe's.
But there are some benefits, besides not having to bring a lot of stuff.
Bloggers are on-line services that allow you to enter text by date and then people can just view what you wrote. Basically, they are Web Logs, similar to a diary. I do not like the format of any of them. I have tried a lot of them. They display newest first, so if someone has not been reading them on a regular basis it is confusing. You have little real control on how it displays, for example, most of them do not use a true black text. The text is almost black. When printed, many of these are hard to read. It also does not make it easy for the viewer to dictate the text. I gave up on these. I still have one and may use it for *I am alive* kind of messages, although I also have a *Group* which allows me to send updates to an unlimited number of people at one time.
I like web pages. I can easily dictate exactly how it will display. It is easy to backup and control. One problem though, is that the free ones don't always give me what I want. I want to keep a directory structure on the web site the same as I keep on my hard drive, pictures and all. Some of the free websites do not allow you to create your own structure. For example, googlepages requires all files to be in one directory, if they are files you created from scratch. This includes photos. That would get very confusing with a lot of pictures. Another I use will limit how many megabytes viewers can see in a month/day. That means if there are a lot of pics, only a few users can look at them before the systems shuts everyone down for a while. Some place ads on your webpage, changing the look of it.
What I have settled on, is to keep my pages with words in googlepages.com and my pics in my smugmug account, then to set up links for some of the best pics. This is a lot more time consuming than keeping the pics in the same directory as the page since smugmug does not use the standard file name in the link.
I keep trying, but I have yet to find the perfect *free* way of keeping my info on-line.
As anyone that knows me will tell you, I don't like technology. Realistically, I don't like relying on technology and I beleive that technology should make our lives LESS, not more complicated. Bringing a laptop computer should not require me to carry power supplies and other assorted crap. I also beleive that ALL items brought should be waterproof. I ride motorcycles.... sometimes things get wet. It blows my mind that I have to put my phone someplace dry if it starts to rain.
So, the technology I currently carry when on the road consists of a couple of LED flashlights. If in the USA I also carry a Pay As You Go cell phone from Tracfone.com and a charging cord that allows it to be charged by a car/bike battery. If I don't bring a phone, I bring an alarm clock.
I have considered bringing a laptop. I have even brought one on a few occasions when traveling by car. What I have found is that if you are going to have a lot of downtime at hotels with wireless computer access and you have a lot of room, they are pretty handy. You can look up the website of the museum at the town you plan on being in a couple of days from now. This could let you know that they are not open on Monday's which could allow you to change your plans. Of course, you have all the other crap on the misinformation net to keep you entertained.
But I just have not found the burden of carrying one to be worth it for most of my travel. I have looked for something else continuously. There are things out there that will help, but none of them quite do it for me. It doesn't help that I am CHEAP. If a gadget was something that I would use all the time, I might spend some big bucks on it. Maybe.
COMPUTER - For me to bring a true laptop computer they would have to be redesigned. The size should be Ultra small. It should be thin and no bigger than absolutely necessary for the keyboard. I don't realy need a CD drive for on the road. Another requirement is no power supply. There should be one connector on the back of the computer that takes noisy automotive voltages so it can be hooked up directly to the car/bike with nothing more than a wire. No extra crap. Indoors you could use any 12V supply, like the one that comes with many AA battery chargers. It would be even better if the batteries were AA and the unit could be used as a charger for AA and AAA NiMh batteries for other uses.
ASUS EEE PC COMPUTER - This is a slick little device that is a true computer. It has a small keyboard and screen and only a small chip based hard drive but it can do most everything you need to do on the road. If there is WIFI available you will have web access and it runs normal computer programs. If you really need more storage than the computer has and what can be put on a USB flash drive, you can get an external hard drive. Now we are back to having too much crap. There are now a number of other manufacturers making inexpensive, small computers, many with good sized hard drives and OK screen sizes.
SONY VAIO TZ COMPUTER - Sony makes a very small, full function computer, but it is VERY expensive, although you can sometimes get cheaper refurbished units. And, as with most computers, you have to bring a power supply, and be very careful with it.
BATTERIES - anything that runs on batteries should run on AA or AAA, even a laptop computer.
POCKETMAIL - I tried a Pocketmail device. This is a trick little thing with a small keyboard, a small text screen and a modem. www.pocketmail.com It does e-mail, and a little spreedsheet, memo, scheduling and such. It runs on AA batteries. To use it, you type in your e-mail and when you are near a phone you dial a 1-800 number then hold the device against the phone to send and receive mail. Text only. This worked OK, but phone calls were not always cheap and did not always work in some countries. If it had a memory card that could have been removed and used in a computer it might have worked well.
PALM PILOT - A palm pilot or other handheld with a folding keyboard would work, but none of the new ones run on AA/AAA batteries. There are some that can connect to the internet, but these are expensive. At the moment, this would be the best bet, but I am too cheap and don't want to carry one of these AND a charger AND a keyboard AND worry about losing such an expensive device.
SMART PHONES - These can make a LOT of sense. They are not cheap, especially if you want to use them worldwide, BUT, they can be set up to not only make phone calls, but also connect to the internet. You can even use them as a modem to connect your laptop to the internet without needing WIFI or any wires. If you really NEED internet access at all times, these may be the best choice.
HANDWRITING - I had even considered writing my notes by hand then just downoading a photograph of my notes to the web. Unfortunately, my handwriting is terrible and the pics would take up a ton of memory on my website and be hard to read.
FUTURE - So what am I likely to try in the future? Probably nothing. I have pretty much given up on any technology being available anytime soon that will do what I really want. If I ever get to living on the road, I may get something like the ASUS EEE PC, otherwise, I will travel naked.