Poor Mike Foster.
A public speaker, consultant and consummate business traveler, Foster harbors a secret he would reluctantly share with a client, let alone a columnist: he’s homeless.
“I literally travel all the time,” he admits. “My mailbox is in Dallas, my telephone is in Cleveland, and my fax is in Seattle. I haven’t had to make a bed or wash dishes in over three years. I have no home.”
How’s that? Foster is, to put it simply, the most extreme kind of road warrior. He runs a series of seminars about computer security that ensure a nonstop travel pace. Indianapolis one day, San Antonio the next. Even if he had a home, he’d rarely live in it.
And extreme travel requires extreme technology, to hear Foster talk about it.
“I love anything that saves wasted or unproductive time and converts it into productive time,” he says. “That means there will be more time later for relaxing and seeing family and friends.”
As part of our ongoing series of columns about business travelers and the gadgets they use, I asked Foster to review some of the technology that he takes on the road with him. His answers offer insights on how the hardware and software we use can help those of us with a nomadic lifestyle feel more connected:
Palm Pilot Vx with a Minstrel wireless modem. The setup allows Foster to conveniently check e-mail during breaks at his speaking engagements. “I usually speak from 8 a.m. to 5, and there isn’t time to dash back to the hotel room to logon to check e-mail,” he says. He likes how the Palm can quickly check current messages, and he’s also loaded the PDA up with reference software that comes in handy while he’s away from a landline. “I love to use the spreadsheet viewer since I’m a big user of spreadsheets and they can be synchronized to the palm,” he adds. He’s hoping that the Palm will go “color” in its next incarnation and that it will offer longer battery life.
Franklin Covey Planner software. These applications – which have been reviewed in this column – are indispensable when it comes to prioritizing appointments and creating manageable schedules. “It helps me always put first things first,” says Foster. One added benefit: Covey updates its software regularly and makes sure that its users know about improvements. It is among the most vigilant about keeping users in the loop that I’ve seen.
Multiple time zone clock. “Sure helps out when you are in Australia, hopping from one time zone to the other,” he says. I’ve been using one of Junghans’ atomic watches and desk clocks, which are linked directly to the U.S. Atomic Clock in Fort Collins, Colo., and I also wouldn’t go on the road without one.
Toshiba Portege laptops. (That’s right, that was laptops – plural.) “I speak lots of times on technology and need to show off networking, routing, proxy servers, so I carry a little network around with me,” says Foster. “It never hurts to have a backup presentation machine too for when Murphy’s Law strikes.” He carries a Toshiba Portege 3100CT and a Toshiba Portege 7200CT, running on Windows 98SE and a Windows NT Server 4, respectively. While he likes the hardware, he’s not happy with Toshiba’s tech support. My three-year next-day onsite service has taken weeks each time I’ve needed an emergency repair,” he notes. “Calling Toshiba for help or to complain just gets me into a never-ending loop of phone tag or ‘press four if you are…’ messages.”
Software. Here’s a list of the programs that Foster uses frequently:
- Intuit’s Quicken, for finances.
- Concord Fax to send and receive faxes.
- DeLorme Street Atlas USA for getting around in a new city.
- Qualcomm’s Eudora Pro for filtering and sorting e-mails.
- Goldmine to maintain a database of contacts.
- BlackIce to “block the bad guys from getting in.”
- The full version of Adobe Acrobat for sending brochures.
- Macromedia Dreamweaver suite for creating Web pages.
- Macromedia Director for presentations. “They make PowerPoint look like a kid’s toy.”
- Microsoft Office “for everything else.”
MobileStar wireless modem. This high-speed data communications network lets users access corporate local area networks from public locations like airports, hotels, and convention centers (more on that in a future column). “It’s great,” raves Foster. “Just last night in Washington, I drove to a hotel in town that had the MobileStar network on purpose – just so I could get a lot of work done at T1 speeds instead of the 24,000 bps I usually connect with through the hotel phones.” However, he wishes there were more coverage area for the network.
Nokia 8860 with a headset. “Great little phone,” he says. Foster is an AT&T subscriber and he’s generally pleased with the service, although he can’t rely on its voice mail. Instead, he subscribes to Wildfire, a next-generation voice mail system that helps him track messages and make calls.
Foster’s advice for fellow road warriors: Buy small and light. He can easily fit his gadgets into a carry-on bag that slides under the seat in front of him. That’s something he probably couldn’t have done even two years ago.
What do you think? Tell me about the gadgets you like to travel with? How do they compare with Foster’s?
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