Traveling with electronics

Most of us like to travel. But when travel time comes so does the electronics packing. I have made a set of top five tips for traveling with electronics.

1. If you have a good laptop, get a good laptop case. You don't want a crappy case where you have the posibility of the case breaking and then breaking your laptop. Thank would be a trip killer. When buying your case make sure that your laptop will fit in the chase too :).
2. Make sure that you bring all power chords for any electronic device that you bring. Even if you fully charged the device before you left, bring the cord anyway. You never know when a device could die.
3. If your traveling with a family, get a good backpack for all your electronic devices. This keeps it simple and easy to know where everything is. Have your travel partner give any cords or electronic devices to you the day before the trip so that you can pack them the night before. It's easier to keep all the electronics in one place because its harder to loose them.
4. Label any and all cords with what they are and who they belong to. Just get a roll of masking tape, or a label maker, and just write a simple identification like jerry/cellphone and attach to the proper cord. It makes finding the proper cord easier. (For my full tips on cable management, refer to this post.)
5. Make a list of everything that you are bringing with you so that when it comes time to leave you can just look over the list and make sure that you have everything. It will re-packing much easier.

Bonus: These two tips go for anyone traveling.

• Just obey the law. They are there to protect you. If the speed limit it 35 then going 40 is ok, but going 45 is just plain stupid, and very dangerous.
• If your going to be driving, and like to talk on your cellphone, get a headset. Most states now have laws saying that you can't hold your phone and drive at the same time. And it makes the road safer for the people traveling.

Here is the Chris Pirillo video of this list.

Cable Managment

USB, Power, FireWire....There are many types of cables out in the world that do many different things. Bring things to life, carry data, output sound. But the more cable you get the harder it is to keep track of them. They start showing up in different locations around your room or home office. Here are my top five tips for cable management

• Keep one draw or box for all of your cables. This may be hard but when you go looking for that special usb cable for your iPod it cuts down the look time drastically.
  
• LABEL, LABEL, LABEL...after a while you might get two or three black power cords that have different ends but say the same thing or nothing on the adapter. Use a silver sharpie (4 for $5.19 at staples) or buy a pack of file folder labels and write on them in PEN. Nothing's worse than having the lettering fade of a label in a draw full of identical cables
• When storing fold them up and put a rubber band around them...It makes it easy to store in a draw and if you have them on a desk it keeps the desk clean.
• Put heavily used USB cables into the plugs in the back of the computer...this makes it easier to connect those "quick use" cables in the front.
• If you don't have USB connections on the front of the computer or have more usb cords than your computer has connections...buy a USB hub (Chris Pirillo reviewed one here). It makes access to ports better and you can put it right under your screen. When buying a hub always thing about future expansion.
• BONUS!!! Try and keep cords going to the same area rubber banded or twisty tied together. This makes it easier to control the mess of cords behind the computer and makes it look more sightly if your computer isn't in a case.

I hope these help you clear up the clutter on your desk and by your computer.

Chris Pirillo's video of my top 5 list.


--Jerry Smith