Apps Are Where It's At

The iPad and netbooks notwithstanding, the high-tech action right now is in "apps" for your mobile smartphone. Apps aren't magic, by the way. They are simply mini-software programs that do a specific Internet-related task. But with three competing systems—BlackBerry/RIM, Android/Google, and Apple/Mac—ferociously battling for market share and media-conferred status of "hot" and "trendy," the apps market is flooding the zone with creative approaches to task management.

What apps should you have? How should I know? This is, after all, personal technology. If you want a fart-noise app or a trip-planning app, who am I to tell you no? If you insist your apps be free or you're willing to pay for them, who am I to say? The trick is sifting through the hundreds of thousands of competing applications. If you want a Twitter app or an app that generates Millard Fillmore quotes on demand, you're on your own. But I can direct you to the collected travel-related apps for iPhone, BlackBerry, and Google's Android operating system.

The Essential Accessory

When you boil it down, high-tech tools are all about managing, manipulating, and displaying information. The devices themselves are simply conduits to the business and personal data you need and want. We've been through all sorts of data-storage devices in the past 30 years: floppy and hard drives of various designs and capacity; optical drives like CDs and DVDs; memory cards; and the "thumb drive." I think thumb drives are now the essential accessory because they are the best current intersection of price, physical size, data-storage capacity, and durability. Low-volume thumb drives cost next to nothing; in fact, thumb drives emblazoned with corporate logos are now a popular leave-behind. More capacious ones that also allow you to store and access application programs are cheap too.

You can stash five drives in an empty mints tin. What's more portable than that? I personally use a vintage Tabloid Tea container, which I find historically hilarious because the original Tabloid-brand products were the first generation of travel-sized consumables for 19th century English travelers.

Roam If You Want To

If you travel internationally, a global plug adapter is often the difference between power and panic. A local-number SIM card will slash your mobile phone costs; Telestial sells prepaid SIM cards for dozens of proprietary national networks. And Skype remains one of the travel world's greatest disruptive innovations. What's better than talking free to anyone around the world? And if they aren't close to their computer, you can connect to their landline or mobile phone for just a few pennies a minute.

Remember the Unmemorable

Like all armies, business travelers may travel on their stomachs, but they are nowhere without the unmemorable bits of gear that keep their high-tech tools running. So make sure you have an RJ-45 cable for wired Internet connections; the retractable, flat-pack Targus cord is 6.5-feet long and even has converter clips that allow it to double as telephone cable. A backup USB cable has a multitude of uses. I use the free version of LogMeIn to keep my laptop remotely connected via Internet to my desktop systems. I've also ditched my mobile phone's AC power pack and recharge it using a cable that connects it to my laptop's USB port. Check with your phone provider for the appropriate connection.

The Fine Print …

Complaints about the phone-reception and dropped-call problems of the iPhone 4 are getting louder and more definitive. Consumer Reports magazine this week said that it could not recommend the iPhone 4 until Apple offers a free fix for the reception issues.