However, as I started relying more on the iPad for my mobile life, I realized that I could go without the full backpack[1. At least on business days. On weekends I trek around the city on foot, and I prefer to have some weight on my back just to get a better workout, as well as to carry a windbreaker, sweater and other supplies.]. So I checked at REI and found two items I couldn’t live without[2. I have no connection or contact with the manufacturers, bought the products at full retail, and can highly recommend them after months of use.].

The first is this Outdoor Products 10-inch  Power Laptop Sleeve. {The blue bag in the photo.} They may call it a sleeve, but it’s a full carrying bag, padded on all sides, and large enough for a 10” clamshell computer (the type with a flip-up display—Acer, Asus etc.), so it handles an iPad with room to spare even when the iPad is already in a protective case. The bag has a shoulder strap that clips on two ways, so you can carry the bag in a “vertical” or a “horizontal” orientation. You can sling it on your back, around the front, or almost under your shoulder. Over your coat or under your coat. Over the shoulder, or across the chest (strangle-hold around your neck) because the strap loosens and shortens. You insert the iPad through a zipper pocket that allows easy access in either orientation, then you zip it closed. There’s an outer zippered pocket with a little slip-in pocket for SD memory cards, clip-ins for carrying pens (I keep a small LED flashlight in there as part of earthquake readiness), and an interior zippered pocket for headsets and the like. The case is soft enough that it expands as you feed it more gear, yet padded enough to protect against bumps and grinds. I don’t believe the case is waterproof, because water doesn’t bead up on it, so I have taken additional precautions.

Oh, and perhaps the biggest surprise of all, I use a bluetooth wireless keyboard and it fits nicely inside the sleeve along with the iPad. Just barely, but it definitely fits.

The next one isn’t from REI, but I’ve got to mention it. I enclose the iPad directly in an incase Book Jacket that is heftier than Apple’s sleeve and really gives great protection. Yes, I drop my iPad just like I drop my iPhone (and their iPhone case has saved my phone numerous times when it went flying across the room on the floor due to my waving my arms with great abandon). The case makes the iPad seem twice as thick as the naked iPad would be, but makes it so much safer to carry. And even inside the incase, the iPad fits snugly into the Power Laptop Sleeve!

And finally, since it’s rainy season in San Francisco, REI sells “4 litre” Sea to SummitUltra-Sil Dry Sacks (waterproof bags) [3. I use these bags when I’m camping in the wilderness, to keep dry supplies dry. They really are so waterproof they’ll float in a river.] and I bought a cute little yellow one (with a white interior, just like the raincoat my Mom got me to wear to kindergarten) and this bag fits very snugly around the incase and completely waterproofs the iPad for when it gets a tad rainy. I even use the larger 10 litre size sack to put entirely around the Power Laptop Sleeve when there’s a downpour, thus enclosing everything in a waterproof skin. I carry the sacks rolled up inside the larger Laptop Sleeve when I’m not using them. Yes, everything fits nicely.

And I don’t have to carry a backpack to business meetings any more! W00t!

The post My iPad’s cute little raincoat keeps it travel-ready appeared first on Sky's Blog.

Without much comment, but with so much enjoyment (as one who uses the Paris metro beaucoup  when I’m there — three times in the last 12 months)… the story of a subterranean world very few will ever see.

I would call them benign explorers and documenters of public territory (my words, of course) and certainly not terrorists, though I’m sure there would be hell-to-pay if they were caught by “the wrong people” and someone wanted to hold them up as examples of how poor security is. But they are urban heroes to me. 

I’m certainly not going to tell you the details, but I’ve done my own exploring of locked up places that I shouldn’t have visited (once freeclimbing up the side of a brick building at midnight with no gears, ropes or other aids, checking for unlocked windows, and picking locks), and I know the rush of being there with no intent to do  harm but just exploring spaces that are usually closed off!

Perhaps you’re aware of the outcry among photographers (including myself) about rent-a-cop guards in the U.S. who try to stop you from taking perfectly legal and legitimate photographs in public places (most often near courthouses and federal buildings) — I have been stopped twice by these two-bit uninformed guards trying to keep me from taking photos because they believed there are federal laws prohibiting photography of federal or critical structures (even bridges). That’s not the same as jumping off the platform and running next to the subway tracks, but I couldn’t resist the comparison because it shows the paranoia that exists here in the U.S.

Also see my Art in Public Places articles, and the mixed-reality games I’ve made over the years since 2002.

[Photo “Ubiquitous | Paris 2007” from SleepyCity.net]

The post The Paris Metro you’ll never see appeared first on Sky's Blog.

Thanks to Xeni at BoingBoing for pointing it out. And click the diagram to see how the terms relate.

Also see Traveling Geeks. Not Traveling Dweebs, Traveling Nerds or Traveling Dorks.

And here’s an interesting bestiary of geekdom, listing many different types of geeks. I know a few who fall into some, but not all, of the categories.

The post Differentiating “geeks” from… whatever appeared first on Sky's Blog.

Since there are hardly any phone booths anymore, she had turned her Mac into a phone booth!

The post Phonebooth 2.0 appeared first on Sky's Blog.

David Spark is a new media producer and consultant whose output includes Spark Minute, and he blogs at SparkMinute.com.

[The photo at left was taken at LeWeb in Paris, 2009, by Rodrigo Sepúlveda-Schulz (CC)by-nc-sa.]

You can check David’s Cool and Not-so-Cool post, but in the video, to save time, I edited to focus on the cool!

The post Backstage Pass- David Spark appeared first on Sky's Blog.

Ewan blogs at EwanSpence.com. He’s a blogger, author and writer based in Edinborough, Scotland.

[The photo at left was taken at LeWeb in Paris, 2009, by Rodrigo Sepúlveda-Schulz (CC)by-nc-sa.]

The post Backstage Pass- Ewan Spence appeared first on Sky's Blog.

Eliane is cofounder of Ubergizmo. She was a co-organizer of the Traveling Geeks tour to Paris and LeWeb, 2009.

[The photo at left is by Rodrigo Sepúlveda-Schulz (CC)by-nc-sa.]

The post Backstage Pass- Eliane Fiolet appeared first on Sky's Blog.

Frederic blogs at ReadWriteWeb.

[The photo at left was provided by Frederic Lardinois.]

The post Backstage Pass- Frederic Lardinois appeared first on Sky's Blog.

Beth comes from the application-development world, founded TechMamas.com and tweets as @techmama.

[The photo at left is by Olivier Ezratty.]

The post Backstage Pass- Beth Blecherman appeared first on Sky's Blog.

Robin writes at TechCrunch and is the managing editor of virtualization.com. He lives in Brussels.

[The photo at left is by Rodrigo Sepulveda-Schulz (CC)by-nc-sa.]

The post Backstage Pass- Robin Wauters appeared first on Sky's Blog.

Olivier blogs at Opinions Libres. His photos appear in the Flickr group for the Traveling Geeks. He along with Eliane Fiolet (who was a co-organizer of the Paris trip) was one of our local navigators).

[The photo at left is by Rodrigo Sepulveda-Schulz (CC)by-nc-sa, one of the Traveling Geeks Paris geeks. Yes, that’s the lens on Olivier’s camera.]

The post Backstage Pass- Olivier Ezratty appeared first on Sky's Blog.

Matthew writes at MatthewBuckland.com. His favorite color is red.

[The photo at left was provided by Matt Buckland.]

The post Backstage Pass- Matthew Buckland appeared first on Sky's Blog.

Renee writes at DownTheAvenue.

[Photo at left is by Beth Blecherman.]

The post Backstage Pass- Renee Blodgett appeared first on Sky's Blog.

Tom writes at Silicon Valley Watcher.

[Photo at left is by JD Lasica, from the London 2009 trip.]

The post Backstage Pass- Tom Foremski appeared first on Sky's Blog.

Amanda writes at TechZulu and is happy to strike up a yoga pose almost anywhere (not in this video, but in the Traveling Geeks Flickr photos).

[Photo at left is by Rodrigo Sepulveda-Schulz (CC)by-nc-sa, one of the geeks on the Paris trip.]

The post Backstage Pass- Amanda Coolong appeared first on Sky's Blog.