I’m constantly asked by clients, colleagues, friends, Romans, countrymen (countrypeople?), “what do you have in your laptop bag?” Or “can you tell me what’s in your mobile office bag?”

So here’ goes – a deconstruction, item-by-item, of what’s in my mobile bag.

Mobile office equipment has many personal elements so there are many “right” approaches. My cred is that I’m about to hit 1,000,000 Delta flight miles (which might not sound like a big deal for overseas regulars, but this is made up almost exclusively of MANY short-haul segments over the years). In other words, I travel ALOT. My mobile kit evolves constantly (in part because of my obsessive infatuation with mobile gear and the search for the “perfect” complement of mobility tools/gizmos/gadgets/accoutrements, etc.).

While I have an iPad 3 with the truly lovely retina display, I actually prefer my 50% less expensive Google Nexus 7 tablet. The smaller form factor feels more paperback-like which suits my Kindle-reading needs well.

But I also do a lot of emailing and note-taking with the Nexus 7 and just really dislike onscreen keyboards in general. While I don’t suffer from “FFS” (Fat Finger Syndrome), I’m still not especially accurate and detest having to later explain why the Android keyboard I use and its propensity for hilarious substitutions is the cause of me referring to my friend Greta Sachse as “Great and sexy.”

So I decided to explore purpose-built Nexus 7 keyboard cases. After scouring online reviews and product sites, I decided  to try two well-reviewed products: the KHOMO leather swivel keyboard case and the Sharkk case which looks like a mini Zagg ProFolio+. Both were inexpensive – the former at $32 and the latter at only $19. Two cases for less than half of what I paid for my iPad’s superb  Zagg ProFolio+ keyboard case, so from a raw cost perspective, this was a good sign.

But is a keyboard case for a 7″ tablet better than the onscreen keyboard or are they simply too small to be useful. Well, having bought Asus’ very first commercial EEE PC Linux netbook with a 5.6″ screen in a 7″ netbook form factor many moons ago, I wasn’t exactly a stranger to lilliputian-sized keyboards.

Here’s a quick view (because, how long of a review do such tiny keyboards deserve?):

* KHOMO Swivel PU Case for Nexus 7 – as the link above shows, this is a classic, tri-fold portfolio case (mine is black leather but brown leather is available also. The tablets slips inside a corner-holding sheath which has a swivel mount on the back to allow portrait or landscape viewing. The keyboard is actually leather encased and attaches magnetically to the rest of the case – slick. This means you can remove it and hold it or put it on your typing surface or even use it with other systems since it is a Bluetooth device. The keys are small as you’d expect, but have a surprising amount of travel, solid feel and reasonable spacing. This meant that typing was more accurate more quickly than I would’ve expected from such a “Fantastic Voyage-ish” device. The leather encasing the keyboard is pebble-grained and has a very nice “hand.” Bluetooth pairing was virtually immediate. I would say that my typing accuracy was about 80% within two minutes – very good for me personally on such a small keyboard and LOTS better than onscreen typing. The keyboard does have an all-important Tab key and also a magnetic enclosure that activates the Nexus 7′s sleep function when closed and wake-up when opened. While the folded case does make the otherwise svelte Nexus 7 nearly 2.5 times thicker than when it goes au naturel, it’s not too large and is very visually attractive. 4.5 out of 5 possible stars on this with the only detraction from a perfect 5 attributable to the thickness of the package. The keyboard charges quickly with the same Micro USB connector that most devices (except iPads/iPhones) seem to use these days (including the Nexus 7 itself). I paid $32.99 at Amazon with free Prime shipping. Adds about 8 ounces to the weight of the Nexus 7.

* Sharkk Keyboard Case for Nexus 7 – a very different approach with an aluminum half-case with a backing that feels like the back of the Nexus 7 with the same rubberized surface. The Nexus 7 clips to the keyboard case barely adding about a quarter inch to the thickness of the tablet, while providing a protective cover. Attaching the case puts the Nexus 7 to sleep and wakes it when the case is removed. Weight is about 5 ounces. The Nexus 7 stands up in landscape mode only in a slot in the aluminum device’s chassis. Portrait mode doesn’t work – it causes the tablet to slip over backwards. Pairing of the Bluetooth device was flawless with entry of a keyboard-specific PIN required. The keyboard fully charged via its Micro USB connector in an hour and seemed to run for almost three days in sporadic use. Key feel is not nearly as good as the KHOMO with the keys being much closer together, although overall feel of the actual physical keys was good. Some spacing between smaller keys would be preferable, from a design perspective. As with the KHOMO a Tab key is included (unlike most other Android keyboards which don’t have them – a huge pain and something to look for specifically). My typing accuracy has been about 25% lower than with the KHOMO keyboard – I’m having trouble with the tight spacing of the keys and mis-hitting happens alot. Overall, the fit and feel are first rate and it’s a more compact package than the KHOMO offers, lighter, and less expensive. I paid $19 from Amazon with free Prime shipping. 4 out of 5 stars with points for fit and finish, and lost points because of the tight spacing of the keys and the detrimental effect that has on accuracy.

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On the other hand, instead of choosing, since you can get both keyboards for about half a C-Note, it might be worth ordering both and trying ‘em both out! But I especially like the removable leather-enrobed keyboard from the KHOMO – I tried it with my Macbook Air and other than the lack of Mac control/cmd/fn keys, it worked flawlessly.

I don’t know about you but I’m constantly performing math calculations – money math, that is. What that’s meant is typically using either an operating system’s built-in inadequate calculator or if I’m working on a Windows system, I always use Moffsoft’s wonderful Freecalc for years (unlike built-in calculator apps/utilities, it runs a scrollable tape – invaluable).

But still, unless I size my on-screen windows just right or drag the calculator into my second or third display, it’s kind of a pain with the calculator disappearing behind my Word or PowerPoint window. Egads, quelle frustration! (sorry about the lapse into French – dredging it up for a summer visit to Montreal).

Purely by accident, I stumbled across the curiously named Canon  X Mark I Slim combo Bluetooth mouse AND calculator. This not some $2 flimsy Chinese made disposable mouse. It’s a solidly built device that ingeniously blends calculator functions and a mouse in a physically comfortable and elegant device with good hand “feel.” The calculator has an LCD display on the top center section of the mouse. A button turns the calculator off (but there’s no real reason to since it doesn’t interfere with mouse functions and its hard to accidentally press the sturdy calculator keys.

The device has a switch underneath for pairing with Windows or Mac systems. It paired with both my Toshiba Portege Z835 Windows 8 laptop and my MacBook Air running Mountain Lion – within a couple of seconds – and then worked flawlessly. It runs on two AAA batteries and battery life is so far unknown. As a Bluetooth device, that means it doesn’t require a dedicated “Nano Receiver” which can easily get lost.

For me, the point is that if I had to remember to bring a physical calculator, I’d always forget to travel with it. But I never forget my mouse. Brilliant in a very down-to-earth way.

The killer feature is the “Send” button. Once you’ve performed your calculation and the total is displayed, pressing the “Send” button will send the displayed figure to your computer at the cursor point. As a thirty-plus year gadgeteer, I’m not easily impressed, but this is SO useful for what I do, I’m sure I displayed a very silly grin if anyone had been watching me.

And the best part is that I bought it at Amazon for $15 with free Prime 2-day shipping. I’m going to order another one so I have a spare in case I lose it or break it. Oh, and as a nice additional touch, it comes with a drawstring protective bag.

Highly recommended gadget almost anyone would find useful every day!

So just after indoctrinating us that Chromebooks were to be inexpensive little laptops intended to be a window into a purely cloudy world, the skies become even cloudier and, arguably, more interesting. With Acer’s $199 C7  Chromebook on one end of the total-cloud spectrum, Google itself has released the Pixel, offered initially at $1299 up to $1499 on the far other end of the range.

Sold by Google at the Play store and apparently soon at Best Buy too, this  machine is obviously intended to be a direct competitor to the Apple MacBook Pro series. A 3.5ish lb. technical powerhouse with an Intel Core i5, the highest resolution display ever to be offered on a laptop (yes, higher than the Apple Retina displays) which also happens to be a 13″ touchscreen, either a 32Gb or 64Gb SSD (small because, remember, your stuff is supposed to be in the cloud, not local), 1 TB of Google Drive space, and interestingly, 12 free GoGoInflight sessions – jumpstarting your always online from anyplace, any time experience. It’s carved out of aluminum, as is de rigeur among premium systems.

Lots of initial looks are online and it’s for sale right now and shipping now from the Google store.

What does it mean? Certainly that Google intends to be taken seriously as a hardware provider, throwing a high-end gauntlet in the face of Apple. Could this end up, interestingly, being a pro-Microsoft move for those early fans of Microsoft Office 365 and Skydrive?

Honestly, I don’t know what to make of this. It seems a bit pricey for me, given the small SSD, but I guess that’s the whole idea. And it is a touchscreen while no MacBook model offers that capability. And perhaps the price point argument is that if it’s not similar to a MacBook Pro, it couldn’t be seen as a legitimate peer.

But if you’ve got ideas, email me here and let me know what you make of this.

So you’d think “Gadget of the Year” should be an accolade going to something traditionally “digisexy” like the new Retina MacBook Pro or the Samsung Galaxy S III or maybe some svelte aluminum Ultrabook? Yeah, well maybe if you’re just a techno.poser. But for real geeks, read on . . .

Let’s all admit something really digitally fundamental – you never seem to have enough USB ports. Well, Thinkgeek.com has the answer with the MondoHub USB hub. Great, another USB hub. Why is he even bothering, for goodness sakes . . .

BECAUSE IT HAS 28 FREAKIN’ USB PORTS!

Let me spell that out so we’re completely clear: t-w-e-n-t-y  e-i-g-h-t ports. 28. Really. Holy crap! Check out this pic - it’s a thing of beauty. You can buy it here from Thinkgeek or here from Cyberguys. Even better, 4 of the ports are faster USB 3.0 ports. Also, if all that weren’t already so overwhelming that any real geek would be either quivering, drooling or both, each port has a switch to turn it on/off and also the port numbers are backlit for night-time plugging/unplugging action.

$89. Now you might be saying, “But Ross, I only have 11 USB devices. Why would I need 17 more ports?” Answer? DUH – so you can buy and plug in up to 17 more devices (OR . . . <cue Dr. Evil laugh>, string another MondoHub for 54 usable ports!!!).

So if port crunch was your problem, problem solved.

We’ve all been living with docked laptops with external displays for year. Ho hum, ordinary course of doing business everyday, right? But have you ever fantasized about having dual (or triple) display capability when you’re on the road? You might’ve, then came back down to earth/reality when you thought about lugging a 15′ flat panel display with you and then returned to your regularly scheduled workday programming.

But, it IS now possible to portabilize multiple display capability in a way that makes sense and won’t wrench your arm out of its socket lugging a desktop display with you. I did this for the first time this week. This was actually so cool that I need to report on it. I was working with a client in Jackson, Mississippi last week. I was connected to a projector to show the client their new document management system (Worldox). But I also needed to have project reference documents up to work on and also email available. All at the same time. Pretty tough on a single laptop display, right?

So here’s how I’m doing it:

• I’m using my Thinkpad T420 laptop (Windows 7 Pro)
• I have an AOC USB-connected portable LED display attached to the Thinkpad (here’s the link for it) - obviously this is connected to a USB port on the Thinkpad (it’s under a pound – 15.6″, more advanced LED v. “older” LCD technology – I put it in a neoprene $5 slipcase intended for a laptop – street-priced under $100!). Note that it ONLY connects via USB and is controlled by Windows/Mac drivers that are included to route the video output to USB.
• I’m connected via my VGA port to a projector
• I’m able to use all three display (internal laptop LCD, external AOC LCD and the projector with the internal screen as primary and the other two as “extended” displays for a 3-screen virtual Windows desktop.

It’s spectacular. And I’m not easily impressed by techie stuff after 30+ years of this stuff. Windows 7 Pro’s multiple screen control made this a breeze. And with each screen running at different resolutions (laptop = 1600×900, projector = 1024×768, external USB display = 136×768).

Actually, with my iPad next to me, as well as my Android phone, I actually had *FIVE* screens running and working for me. I felt like a “digital traffic controller” – almost Minority Report-ish (in a cool technology-of-the-future kind of way, not a Tom Cruise-whack job kind of way).

Practical application idea: Perfect for trial presentations – laptop = main screen controlling your notes, etc. USB screen display your exhibits, projector display exhibits, etc. from a trial presentation program like Sanction or Trial Director

Depositions – laptop = main screen with your notes, questions, etc., USB screen with a live transcript feed from the court report, projector showing documents you want the deponent to see (or just turn the USB screen around  to show them exhibits)

Anyway, pretty slick capability for under $100.

So many of you are long-time ScanSnap devotees. As the point-of-entry for turning physical paper into electronic paper as your practice evolves into a Paper LESS Office, ScanSnaps dot law office and legal department desks worldwide. We’ve been recommending them to clients since the original fi-4110 model years ago. There are literally thousands of Fujitsu ScanSnaps in our clients’ offices worldwide, universally adored by their owners. But as more and more of you are dividing your digital affections between your ScanSnap and your iPad, the inevitable urge to scan to your tablet starts gnawing away at you.

Of course, you can scan “to” your iPad by letting your ScanSnap create a PDF for you, then email it to yourself or place it in a Dropbox, then grab your iPad and pull it up. Duh. Of course. But . . . doesn’t that somehow seem inelegant? Why can’t you scan DIRECTLY to your iPad?

Well, now you can. Fujitsu has an app in the AppStore called ScanSnap Connect (check it out here). Instructions on how to make all this work can be found on the Fujitsu site here, in step by step form.  But here’s the concept:

• Install the free ScanSnap Connect app first. Don’t try running it at this point – it’s not ready to use yet.
• With the latest ScanSnap Manager installed (go to Help/Update on the Right-Click menu from the ScanSnap Manager in your system tray) and QuickMenus turned on in the ScanSnap Manager, select the Scan to Mobile function.
• Now go ahead and launch the ScanSnap Connect app on your iPhone or iPad.
• The first time through (see the instructions I referenced above), you’ll need to establish a password in the ScanSnap Manager on your computer, then the app will ask ONCE for it. So let’s presume you’ve got that handled.
• You’ll see the Scan to Mobile dialog box on your Windows or Mac system. Select “Send” after you have the app running on your iPad/iPhone.
• On your iPhone/iPad, you’ll see the scanned document show up by its filename – tap it and a box will appear asking how you want to display it (iBooks, Evernote, Logmein, Dropbox) – I always pick Dropbox.
• Dropbox loads and there’s an upload button – tap it. The PDF pops up onscreen on my iPad (and I can move it to whatever Dropbox folder I want

It’s very, very slick (um . . . and lots of fun :-)). Give it a try ScanSnap / iPhone / iPad users! Then start “Scanning to Mobile” to route docs directly to iBooks, Evernote and Dropbox to immediately access anywhere, anytime for your iOS device. Beloved device, meet other beloved device. Nice work on this Fujitsu!

Toshiba announced a new series of Android tablets, called “Excite,” to start shipping in June. In addition to the expected 7″ and 10″ models, Toshiba pulled a fast one by announcing a giant 13″ model. Here’s an article with all the details and here’s another. Bucking the trend of 10″ tablet makers augmenting their repertoires with more compact 7″ models (to compete with the Kindle Fire?), this one moves decidedly in the opposite direction. At just under two pounds and .4″ thick, it’s definitely not svelte. Citing appeal to the media and gaming user communities, I think Toshiba has it wrong – I’d be willing to use one as would a number of my clients. Think about how this device, on a stand with Bluetooth keyboard, could be a realistic laptop substitute when combined with onboard and cloud storage, inching close to the idea of a PC/Mac-less existence. Interesting, isn’t it?

Okay, so I’ve deeply involved in computer technology since the mid-70′s – for the most part, I get it at a level that lets me help my clients. But when it comes to home theater, I feel like a true naif, a digital babe in the woods, standing slack-jawed and baffled at the back of a new “receiver” (strange that we call it that still, isn’t it?) and its panoply of connections. The only things that make me feel comfortable, by the way, are the only two really familiar connections: ethernet and USB.

The New York Times comes to the rescue, at least a little, with this article which is a lucid and clear exposition of all the various connector types. It’s not a comprehensive home theater Ph.D study program. Rather, it’s a good place to start. Thanks NYT.

Also, a quick tip. Most modern home theater receivers can connect to your home network. Most, however, want to do this via a hard-wired Ethernet cable. Great, except for the fact that your router/switch might be in another part of your home and not exactly in a convenient place to run a long CAT 5e cable. Many receivers do support having a WiFi adapter attached, but generally want to sell you their own high-priced branded adapter, with the less than subtle implication that it won’t work unless you use their over-priced gadget.

A better approach is using ANY WiFi gaming adapter. While normally used to connect Wiis and Xboxes to WiFi networks, these will work perfectly with home theater receivers. So instead of Pioneer’s $150 WiFi adapter for my home theater receiver, I opted for an ioGear Universal Gaming adapter for $35 from Amazon – worked immediately (literally a press of its WPS button while pressing the WPS button on my WiFi router was all it took).

Also, I think I’ve blogged about this before, but you absolutely don’t need insanely over-priced HDMI cables from your local big-box retailer. They LOVE to pad their profits with $30-$100 cables. Not when you can get perfectly adequate HDMI cables for about $4 from sources like this.

Once you’ve digested the NYT’s connection basics, then home theater basics sites abound – here’s a good example. And of course, there’s always Home Theater for Dummies, which in usual “dummies” fashion, is a solid reference guide in plain language.

Oh, and of course you can either buy a long VGA cable or a long HDMI cable to plug in your laptop to work on that mega-70″ HDTV sitting in your living room – there’s the convergence factor, along with your TV and receiver connecting to your WiFi network to stream your PC and Mac content, connect to internet radio, stream your Pandora channels and of course, single-tap connection to your iPads, iPhones and iPod Touches via Apple Airplay. And then the ability to control your DirecTV (or other) tuner and your home theater system with iPad or Android apps.

So caveat emptor in the home theater world is the order of the day.  And as always, it’s just a matter of reading, learning and plugging things in. If they don’t work the first time, plug ‘em in somewhere else until you get a picture and sound :-)

So . . . crying about your failed bracketology attempts over this past March Madness weekend? My two teams – the UW Badgers and the Marquette Golden Eagles have both made it to the Sweet 16 – very exciting! Fingers crossed. I do have to confess though that when I was at Marquette Law School in the mid-80′s, they were still the Warriors and it’s hard to think of them as anything else :-).

My latest CLE materials are up and online at MicroLaw’s CLE downloads page here. These include four session sets from my guest lecture engagement at the Charleston School of Law this past week, as well as my PDFing materials from the Tennessee Bar’s law technology day last month. As always, the materials are free, searchable PDFs – feel free to share them with anyone who you think might benefit from the knowledge they’ll gain.

The latest materials are:

• Social Media Isn’t a Fad: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Linkedin and YouTube and How to Use Them Responsibly and Ethically in Your New Practice
• The 2012 New Lawyer’s Low-Budget / No-Budget Technology Survival Guide
• Technology for Tightwads: 10+ Tips for Free and Low-Cost Law Practice Management and Tech Tools, Gadgets, Apps and Websites
• How NOT to Commit Malpractice With Your Computer (or Smartphone and iPad)
• The Secret Tech Weapon You Didn’t Know You Had: Acrobat and PDFing Tools, Tips, Techniques to Use Daily
• Increasing Cloudiness in Your Practice – Hardcore Realities of Web-Based Systems and Ethical Issues

Hope you find them useful. As always, if these materials look like they have applicability to your practice (hard not to :-)), feel free to contact me here to chat about it.

http://www.fatwallet.com/1SaleADay-coupons/titan-fake-security-dome-camera-with-flashing-light-and-proximity-sensor/

‘Nuff said. Stick ‘em up on the ceilings all over your office and dissuade the cleaning crew from walking off with all your binder clips (and that iPad you left on your desk). Today only – $3 each.

SlideShark is an iPad app that converts PowerPoints into an iPad-viewable format. There are a number of approaches for accomplishing this, including converting them to Keynote, but this is the first I’ve found that converts them flawlessly. I use to project and present from my iPad (I have an iPad 1 . . . okay, stop snickering – I skipped the 2, waiting for the 3). Info on the app is at https://www.slideshark.com/Default.aspx. The process is simple – you register an account at Slideshark’s website. Then upload your PowerPoints and it will convert them into its format. Then from the app on your iPad, tap the update button and you’ll see the list of available Slidesharked PowerPoints you can download. Once downloaded to your iPad, you can adjust the presentation mode and then away you go! I’m impressed – simple and effective.

I’m being asked this question virtually daily: “I’ve waited a long time to buy an iPad and I’m ready – what should I get? iPad 2 now or wait until the iPad 3 comes out?”

Here’s my advice these days to my MicroLaw clients: I would wait a couple of months for an iPad3 at this point – unless you want to go the Android route which is just fine too and less costly generally. The Asus Transformer Prime is probably the best choice AT THE MOMENT, with the Lenovo Thinkpad tablet probably second.

For iPad 1 and iPad 2 users, after much experimentation, I’ve found my perfect typing combination. I’ve tried several keyboard cases and was dissatisfied with all of them – ultimately all proved to be too clunky and/or having lousy keyboards.

This is a response I posted to a question on a local Bar listserve about whether a colleague should get a tablet for his practice and then if yes, what kind. Thought it might be useful for folks here:

The late Spring, early Summer CLE schedule is BUSY! I’m on the road in May and June as follows and hope to see some of you around the country.

Upcoming legal tech and law practice management CLEs include:

• 2011 Mississippi Bar Technology Seminar: “Using Technology to Help Good Lawyers Survive Bad Times,” Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at the  MS Sports Hall of Fame Conference Center, 1152 Lakeland Dr.|Jackson, MS 39216. I’ll be delivering six CLE sessions covering a broad range of legal tech topics – come and watch to see if I’ll somehow avoid losing my voice by the end of the day! My old friend Ronnie Morton is chairing the program – I always have a great time visiting MS and look forward to seeing lots of old friends in Jackson next week. Here’s a link to the program description. And Alabama lawyers – why not consider stopping in too?
• 2011 Missouri Bar Solo & Small Firm Conference – Thursday June 9-11th at the Tan-Tar-A Resort in Osage Beach, MO. It’s been three years since I’ve been to this granddaddy of all solo and small firm conferences and I can’t wait to see old friends Linda Oligschlaeger, David Ransin, Dennis Kennedy and all the regular MO Bar SASFC crowd! Full conference info is here: http://www.sasfconference.org/.
• 2011 Rhode Island Bar Annual Meeting - Thursday June 16-17th in Providence. I’ve had the great pleasure of working with Nancy Healey and Peter LaCouture on this program for the last few years – the Rhodey crowds are terrific and I hope to see clients and friends there before heading to Boston for a couple of games at Fenway against our own Milwaukee Brewers. Full conference information is here: https://www.ribar.com/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsId=100.
• 2011 Iowa Bar Annual Meeting - back to my old undergrad stomping grounds on June 23rd in Des Moines for several programs. Looking forward to the city where I spent four great years many moons ago! Full info is here: https://m360.iabar.net/event.aspx?eventID=28618.

Again, I hope to see some of you on the road in May and June! Lots of great legal technology and law practice management CLE!

I’m not sure why this didn’t occur to me earlier . . . but, whatever – better late than never. I was thinking about the newly announced Lenovo U1 Hybrid – an ingeniousChinese-market-only (for now) mashup of Android tablet and netbook. What struck me about this system – which looks like a normal Windows 7-based netbook untilt the 11″ screen actually pops out and can independently run as an Android tablet – is that it’s missing something. In fact, all tablets of the Android and iPad variety are.

Apps that replicate the functions of the applications we use on Windows (or Mac) systems. Replicas of apps.

Applicas.

Why can’t I have an iPad app that works like Microsoft Word – it can be a stripped down text editor even, but one that saves my files in .DOCX format. How about a PowerPoint applica? Why don’t these exist? So I write in Pages on my iPad with my Apple bluetooth keyboard, but then I have to deal with Pages/Word issues. Which, frankly, sucks.

So a call to the legions of clever Android and iPad app developers – it’s time to crank out some applicas!

I know what you’re thinking if you know me: “Ross is a little prone to hyperbole.” Well, that might be true but in this case, it’s a blatant, cold-hearted statement of fact.  I found the very best deal EVER. In the entire history of the universe. And that’s NOT hyperbole.

Well, actually I didn’t find it; David Pogue did in his September 1st New York Times column here. So thanks David. Or maybe it was Sir Richard because it’s a Virgin Mobile deal.  I guess when it first hit, I didn’t really pay attention to it because I was still locked into my Sprint MiFi in the midst of the obligatory two year new line deal.

But I hadn’t realized then that my two years was nearly up. So I found myself about to switch to a Verizon MiFi following my transition from Sprint to Verizon in order to get a first edition Droid last January. And then I vaguely remembered Pogue’s September column, read it and was floored.

So here it is, the very best deal EVER:

• Virgin Mobile’s MiFi – the very same Novatel MiFi-2200 I had with Sprint with a Virgin Mobile label on it – identical otherwise.
• It does NOT cost the $65/month for 5 Gb of data/month I was paying Sprint (plus tax) under a two year contract (although the device itself was originally “free”).
• Nope, it’s $40/month ($42.24 with tax) for UNLIMITED data with NO CONTRACT.
• The only catch is that I had to pay $150 for the device (fricking Best Buy has it for $199 and tried to convince me that Virgin Mobile has raised the price from the $149 Virgin was selling it for on their website – I said something to the effect of, “you d&6$#bags, no they didn’t” which translated to “pull up their website and check.” They did and sheepishly did a price match.
• At $150, the $25/month savings will be recovered  in 6 months and thereafter, it’s $300/year saved not considering the unlimited data.
• The funny thing is that it uses the Sprint 3G network – so the SAME network I was just on. $25 per month cheaper. With unlimited data v. the 5 Gb limit I had before. Nuts. Insane. But true.

It’s such a good deal, I discontinued my RoadRunner account in the home I’m trying to sell (which is here if anyone’s interested in a gorgeous 1927 Arts & Crafts gem :-)) and will just use the Virgin MiFi when we’re there – for up to 5 people connecting at a time to this diminutive WiFi pocket-hotspot.

So secure wireless broadband, unlimited usage, $42.24 per month. The very best deal EVER. Don’t you think?

Techno.pal Bob Ambrogi wrote at his Lawsites blog, “A Love Letter to a Laptop,” apparently partly inspired by my early review this week of my new Thinkpad X100e. Bob wrote about his soon-to-arrive Thinkpad T410. He observed, “[b]ravely, he plans to use it as his primary computer, substituting it for his brawnier T-series desktop. I’m not quite that brave, but Ross’s trust in that tinier Thinkpad is a testament to his faith in the Thinkpad brand overall. “I’ve long been partial to Thinkpads based on my personal experience with them as rock-solid workhorses,” he writes.”

Bob, I suspect you’ll love your Thinkpad T410 – my brother, who works for Oracle, got one recently and is raving about it. I think in terms of mainstream laptops with 14″ displays, the Thinkpad T410 and Dell’s terrific Latitude 5410 / 6410 series are the best of breed. Perhaps my Thinkpad affection derives from my obsession with pointing sticks – Dell and Lenovo are the two holdouts who still offer them.

Enjoy your new Thinkpad Bob!

Yes, you’re not imagining it, I’m posting again. It’s been way too long – we’ve been so incredibly busy at MicroLaw, that there’s barely been a moment to breath. But, with that said (he says, taking a deep breath), let’s talk netbooks again.

If you’ve followed Ross Ipsa Loquitur for awhile, you’ve seen my regular posts about netbooks and my saga spread across four different products: an original 7″ Linux-powered Asus EEE, an Asus EEE 1000H, a Lenovo S10, a Samsung NC20 and now the latest in the line, a Lenovo Thinkpad X100e Elite Series model.

So going through netbooks as if they were Schick Quattro Pro blades isn’t a matter of bragging, or for that matter, a sign of serious AD/HD issues. Rather, it’s my job to try all sorts of products so I can learn about them in the only way that really provides the insights needed to later make responsible and informed recommendations to our clients – I actually work using them.

With that said, the latest netbook acquisition is an entirely different experiment. I’ve actually retired my faithful and trusty full-size 15″ Thinkpad T series laptop and REPLACED it with Lenovo’s Thinkpad X100e. Yes, I’m going to use a netbook as my full-time system. Before you write this off as a completely crackpot idea, hear me out – this is NOT just any netbook.

I decided to do this for several reasons. First, lugging around the larger Thinkpad with all the other gadgets and mobile gizmos in my laptop bag was killing me – literally trashing my shoulder and back. Many of you know how much I travel and this got really old, really quickly.

Second, the Thinkpad X100e was the first Thinkpad series netbook available. I’ve long been partial to Thinkpads based on my personal experience with them as rock-solid workhorses. The X100e is also one of the first netbooks to have enough horsepower to accommodate my full-time computing needs, with a low-power dual core processor – the AMD Turion Neo X2 Dual-Core L625 (quite a mouthful). My system also has a 320 Gb drive, 4 Gb RAM and most important, a wide-mode 11.6″ display and accordingly, a wider than normal keyboard with “chicklet” styles keys, much like those on my Macbook Pro 13″ system. But for me, the clincher – the piece de la resistance (sorry, can’t easily insert the proper French accent marks at the moment – a major frustration for a former French minor :-)), is the presence of the little red Trackpoint – known my most as a “pointing stick.” I’ve been addicted to these little eraserhead pointing devices for more than a decade.

Tipping the scale at about 3.5 lbs, the X100e feels utterly svelte compared to my Darth Vader-ish T series Thinkpad. Replete with Windows 7 Professional 32 and running all my usual apps: multiple browsers, Acrobat Pro 9 Extended, MS Office 2007 and 2010, Corel WordPerfect X5, Tabs 3, PracticeMaster, Worldox and a plethora of utilities and other apps in various stages of being tested, the machine seems actually zippier than the T series machine (Intel T9600 dual-core CPU and 4 G RAM under Windows XP Pro).

What it doesn’t have doesn’t matter to me and wouldn’t matter to most. As with all netbooks, there is no built-in optical drive. But in an era where most software is loaded from a download, does this matter? If I “need” to watch a film, I’ll do it streamed from iTunes, not from a DVD (which is just so 2008!). I have a slimline $50 portable USB DVD-writer to bring with me if I need it (which is a very rare occurrence. So a non-issue.

It also doesn’t work with Thinkpad docking devices. But since I’m working from the road most of the time, I really don’t care. I could always connect it to my multiple monitor setup with any of the available universal USB port replicators (such as the Targus USB 2.0 Replicator with Video which includes, atypically and conveniently, a VGA port).

Initial impressions of the general “feel” of the X100e are very positive. The 11.6″ screen is vivid and bright. The tactile feel and response of the keyboard are terrific. While different than traditional full-depth laptop keys, the X100e’s chicklet style keys are just as comfortable, positive in action and precise in terms of fingering as my Macbook is (which is saying a lot – the Macbook has a great keyboard).

General system responsiveness is crips and perceptibly swift – at least as quick as my “full-size” T series Thinkpad is/was. I typically have 5-7 “big apps” running along with a number of loaded utilities – a fair amount of system stress. So far, as a very picky user sensitive to variations in system and slight responsiveness differences between systems, the X100e feels, in every respect, like a full-size notebook performance-wise. Even Hulu TV shows stream cleanly as do MLB.TV games (when MLB.TV cooperates, that is, which is not always something to be counted upon).

Time will tell, but so far this experiment – the idea of a power user using a well-equipped netbook as a full-time ultra-portable workstation – is an initial success. More down the road . . . but the early rap on the Thinkpad X100e is that is, in every respect, a real Thinkpad, not just a pretender in name only. And that’s the highest praise I could ever bestow on a portable system.