Do you need a PowerMonkey?

I get occasional emails from an outfit I'm fond of -- Extreme Outfitters, your one stop shop for all things tactical. This is the online version of the Army Navy store in my town when I was growing up. It's the place for combat boots, knives, you name it.

This particular email advertised various power supplies, including the PowerMonkey-eXplorer, a portable solar charger for mobile phones, iPods, PDAs and more. I just don't know how I ever did without it. I mean the name alone ...


Here are some details:

From the heart of Africa to the Hardanger Glacier, the powermonkey-eXplorer portable charger has proved to be an invaluable piece of kit, providing essential power in the most remote locations. Incorporating the new solarmonkey solar charger, the powermonkey-eXplorer lets you charge wherever, whenever. 

The heart of Africa! I bet it even works in your cube, if you sit by a window. 

It gives you 96 hours of standby on your mobile, 40 hours on your iPod, 5 hours on your games console, 48 hours on your PDA and 6 hours on MP3/MP4 players. 

More:

Ultra compact, tough, powerful and Made for iPod approved, the powermonkey-eXplorer is water resistant and made from rubberised casing so can take whatever life throws at it, yet it remains the lightest, most versatile portable charger available today.

Seriously, if you go hiking or camping, or you're just on the road and needing some juice, it sounds ideal.

Is this the post-PC era?

Here's a look at the media gadgets Americans own.

The technology research firm Gartner expects sales of 19.5 million units in 2010 for tablet devices like the iPad and Kindle and sees this going to a staggering 150 million units by 2013.

Will iPads replace laptops on the road?

Walter Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal's personal technology columnist, took an iPad instead of a laptop on a 10-day trip to Paris, and here's what he discovered.

The experiment was a pleasant success. With a few exceptions, I got everything done that I would have done with a laptop. Yet I toted a lot less weight, enjoyed much better battery life, and had a computer that started up instantly whenever I reached for it. I also was able to combine the functions of a comfortable e-reader with those of a laptop.

I devoted part of each day to wading through hundreds of emails, reading and reviewing documents, keeping up with work-related news on websites and social networks, and doing other non-vacation chores. The iPad had no trouble coping with these tasks. It was a no-hassle experience.  

But it won't work for everyone.

I wasn't producing long documents, using specialized company software, creating and delivering presentations, or doing some of the other things typical on business trips that might have required a laptop, or been more easily done on one.

Still, it's amazing what he was able to do.

During the trip, I read or skimmed thousands of emails, and reviewed and made editing suggestions on a colleague's column. I perused documents in PDF and Microsoft Office formats, using both the iPad's built-in document viewers and a handful of productivity apps, including Apple's iWorks suite, Quickoffice, GoodReader, and DocumentsToGo. At one point, I needed to consult a document on a computer back home. It was no problem. I merely used the iPad version of SugarSync, a backup and synchronizing service, to find and fetch the file.

Not bad.

Is this you in the near future?

This is not your father's note-taking

As a reporter I've spent my career in search of the perfect combination of pen and notebook. I'm still looking. I use a digital voice recorder today, but now I'm starting to look at these fancy new digital pens.

Wired has a review of Livescribe's Echo.

Packed with an ARM 9 processor, an infrared camera, a built-in speaker and mic, the Echo lets you write, record and then seamlessly transfer all your notes (with the help of the company's free desktop software) to your Mac or PC.

Well, of course that's impossible. Of course I'm old enough to remember hearing about some called a "CRT" (cathode ray tube), a TV-like screen on which reporters could type and letters would appear. Impossible, I said.

You're looking at something around $200 for the Echo, depending on how much memory you want -- and depending on the memory of how much you have left in the bank. However:

The real allure of the Echo remains the way the software and hardware work together to make your life easier. Yes, there's something immensely satisfying in seeing your deranged scrawlings rasterize onscreen. And for college students and journalists in particular, the Pencast option is quite simply a Godsend. Simply hit the record icon on the included paper and start taking notes as you usually would. Once you've finished the lecture/meeting/interview, you can not only replay the entire recording, but also instantly move from one section to another by simply tapping on a specific note. The pen will automatically play back the audio from that precise moment. This has the obvious benefit of helping you navigate long, meandering lectures, but it also frees you up to write random or tangential thoughts without the fear of missing important information. 

I feel like a new toy coming on.