AnywhereMan

I’ve had my Palm Pre Plus on Verizon for a little over two months now.  It’s been working out really well and I’ve been pleased with the purchase even in the shadow of newer/better/faster phones like iPhone 4 and the barrage of Android-powered devices making their way onto the market.

The main reason I’m so content? The mobile wi-fi hotspot feature.

I use it ALL THE TIME…even more than I thought I would. It seems like the wi-fi has been dropping constantly wherever I choose to set up shop for day. Employees at Caribou Coffee are trained to make delicious coffee, not diagnose wi-fi issues. No worries. Every time the network shows signs of slowing, I fire up the hotspot on my phone, set my MacBook to connect to it, and keep right on working.

I’ve heard that the next release of the Android platform will include support for a mobile wi-fi hotspot. Next to using my phone to actually converse, this is the feature I use the most. It  has really enabled me to live up to the name “AnywhereMan” as I don’t need to be anywhere near a public wi-fi hotspot to get online and get my work done.

I’m not sure if I’ll stick with the Palm family when it comes time to upgrade in a year or two, but one the main features I’ll be looking for in the next device will be the hotspot. Palm’s doing it, Android will be doing it…any guesses on if iPhone will be doing it?

I love creativity and talent. The great thing about both of these characteristics is that while good equipment and the right “stuff” can really enhance them, both can shine through no matter the medium.

Photographer Chase Jarvis has a book and an iPhone app named “The Best Camera,” as in “The best camera is the one that’s with you.” He spends a lot of time actually shooting photos with his iPhone even though he has a full lineup of high-end cameras as well. And the pictures still look great because Chase really knows what he’s doing.

I like to do the same thing with photography (and I am not a photographer). We’ve got a few DSLR cameras but more often than not, I like to walk around with my trusty 7MP Canon Powershot and take pictures of things that interest me. And some of the pictures actually turn out nicely because I’m focused on the actual shot and not so much on the technical aspect.

It’s the same with music: More often than not, I prefer the early albums of my favorite artists over the big-budget, professionally-produced later albums. For example, while I enjoy all of David Gray‘s music, my favorite album is still White Ladder. It’s a super low-budget album but contains some of his best songs.  The content over-rides the fact that he didn’t have access to the “biggest” and the “best.” Artists do more with less.

Often times low-budget, independent films have better storylines than $100 million epic adventures. And some of my favorite videos on Vimeo are those shot with the HD camera that I’ve got: A Canon HV30, consumer video camera that dwarfs in price and features compared to what the pros use, but people are squeezing amazing creativity out of it.

There’s something fulfilling about knowing you are getting every possible ounce of usefulness out of your existing equipment. This is especially relevant to do-it-yourself entrepreneurs and freelancers because we don’t have the budget of a large corporation.

Squeeze everything you can out of your Photoshop CS2 software instead of feeling paralyzed because you don’t have CS5.

Push the boundaries of what you can do with iMovie since you can’t yet afford FinalCut Pro.

Make the most of what you’ve got and focus instead on what you are doing. Take note of the current limitations but don’t dwell on them. Someday you’ll be able to afford bigger and better, but right now you’ve got what you’ve got and what’s important is that you continue to evolve your craft.

You hear me talk about tools, apps, practices, etc that are helpful to working from anywhere, but today I share a piece of equipment that is absolutely essential to my life as the AnywhereMan.

What are the essentials for you to be able to work from wherever you want?

If you are a Work Anywhere person like me, or know someone who is, this list is for you. Here are the six things on my Anywhere Christmas list:

1) iTunes Gift Cards

2) Pocket HD Video Camera

3) The Bourne Trilogy

4) Coffee Gift Cards

5) Bluetooth Accessories

6) BlueLounge Space Station

Really, I don’t actually need any of this stuff. They just compliment my lifestyle. If you’re really looking for great things to spend money on this holiday season, please consider donating to a charity such as Samaritan’s Purse in honor of the special people in your life. We are purchasing some gifts for children in memory of our friend Nathan.

What’s on your Anywhere Christmas list this year?

In an effort to improve my AnywhereMan video workflow, I picked up a new Logitech QuickCam Pro webcam for around $80 which allows me to produce 720p video right at my desktop. So far I love it, and today I talk about this camera as well has the rest of my video setup.  Still tweaking the audio level with the webcam (sorry about the clipping in a few spots!), but I’m really loving the video quality for the price and how it handles the lighting arrangement in my office.

NOTE: So I recorded this video, uploaded it to Vimeo, and had some issues with the frame rate. The audio worked great, but the video took forever to load and after it did I was super choppy. I guess the Logitech software records at 15 fps by default, and Vimeo prefers 30 fps. Trying to figure out whether I need to find 3rd party software to record 30 fps from the webcam, or if I should just start using YouTube over Vimeo from now on.  I will keep you posted. I love Vimeo, but I also love a quicker process!

CONFIRMED AFTER FURTHER RESEARCH: The QuickCam Pro for Notebooks cannot do 720P at 30 fps, just 15 fps. Why don’t they tell you this stuff ON THE BOX? The picture quality still looks great though.  I will stick with this until Microsoft sends me their new LifeCam HD to review on this site.

Shop Online

• Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks from TigerDirect
• Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks from TechDepot
• Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks from Amazon
• Canon Vixia HV30 HDV High Definition Camcorder from TechDepot
• Sony Vegas Pro – ( v. 9 ) – complete package from TechDepot

The battery on my notebook PC has been almost completely dead for a few months, thus I’ve had to keep myself close to an outlet lately.  A few times I’ve even gone in the garage, grabbed a super long extension cord, and gone through the rest of the hassle of moving my “office” out to the hammock. (Fresh air is important, especially here in MN where we’re stuck indoors half the year!)

Every room in my house does, in fact, have multiple outlets, but this tedious act of putting my notebook on “sleep”, unplugging the power cord, fetching it from behind my desk, and taking the whole system with me has been a pain in the rear-hind (a word invented by my 4 year-old). Lately I’ve found myself tending to stay in my home office.

Today I got a new battery, twice the capacity of my old one. Life is good. I’m on my couch in my living room right now catching up on blogs, following up on emails, and enjoying the freedom that the lack of being plugged-in can bring. Really I’m only feet away from my office, but it doesn’t matter. I have the freedom. I have the “power.” (isn’t that a He-Man line?)

Anyways, just wanted to point out that sometimes just a little thing like a battery and the freedom to move around the house can make a big difference in attitude and mindset. I’m getting work done right now, but really I feel like I’m doing it on my terms and out of my own free will as I’m not stuck in the same place I spend most of my day.  You’ll find that I’m big on the atmosphere of the place I get work done…mood, sights, sounds, etc. A simple thing like a new battery has re-opened my options.  

Other things can have this very same effect. Re-arranging a room, getting a new light in your office, moving your office to another room of the house, putting your desk against another wall, new speakers for your music, a new monitor, etc.  Little things make a big difference when you have the option to be Anywhere but are sometimes stuck in one general area for a while.

Do something different today.