Nomadic Live, 2.0. This essay describes my most current attempt into living mobile. Travelling from home to office to different locations around the world. Aided by the latest electronics and networks.
I have been living this way some what for the last five years. Work requires travelling for long period of times around the globe. As technology changes the nomadic live becomes easier and easier, or I thought. I just recently upgraded some of my equipments and network connectivity. So this is a first hand still being developed plan of the nomadic life, 2.0. or nLife2.0.
Terms:
offline vs online
offline storage meaning the data is stored, primarily, on a device that is not always available. A harddrive of a laptop that is not always connected to the internet is offline. The harddrive on a server connected permanently to a T1 is online.
Data Centric Analysis
It is easiest to look at the nomadic living possibility by analysing where and how to access key data items in ones life:
Emails
I live on email. I have been using imap for a long time. However I still store my email messages offline because I did not trust my old ISP. I am now experimenting with storing all my emails online, as IMAP folders. However I find that email clients in the windows world deal with IMAP folders with different level of successes. One thing that irritate me right now is the lack of standard as to where sent emails are stored. Eudora wants to store it offline in its own sent box. Pine stores in sent-mail? Opera M2 stores in ???
Contacts
Contact information evolves beyond the address book now. There really are three and a half different types of contacts. Phone contacts are people that you call, from a GSM phone from anywhere around the world. That is usually stored in your GSM cellphone. The current cellphone software allows you to store multiple number per person (home, work, cell etc).
Email contacts are email address that you need to use inside your email client. There are usually stored within your email client. But if you are mobile this information has to be either replicated, or stored in a central directory. A personal directory service? Or?
Address information if you want to send a letter (?) or visit someone.
Essential Software
DVD player, or mpeg player, and DivX player.
Music player.
Hardware
The hardware that makes Nomadic Living possible includes:
- light weight laptop computer -- Thinkpad X31, 3.6 pounds
- Global and universal Power supply -- iGo Juice, which can be plugged into Car, Planes, and the Wall, and will power cellphone plus laptop
- wifi equip device -- the thinkpad
- GSM Phone that works around the world (except Japan and Korea).
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*** This is work in progress, in true nLife fashion. I am using my blogging service as a writing tool. ***
If you go to Singapore, you must try the famous black pepper crabs. Not that I am suggesting you flying 15 hours, half way around the world, just to try it. But if you are town, go for it. They taste great. Hot, spicy and fresh. If you cannot stand spicy food that definitely do not try this. If you cannot eat hot food, why are you in Singapore?!
