Everything changes when trading on the desktop of a laptop and your office to a hotel room.



Sometimes this is for the best: You're liberated from your cubicle and free to go where your work takes you.



But sometimes things change for the worse. Productivity suffers when you are in an unknown location. The way the laptop keyboard cramps hands is sometimes enough to avoid doing a job well done.



Here are four tech "essential" for the mobile office, plus some tools that can increase your productivity while you're away.



• Appropriate software

It is not just downloading the necessary applications on your laptop or PDA, it's also knowing whether the programs are tailored to a mobile office. Is your email program built the road or an adaptation of a larger application intended for a corporate network? Do the programs work together on your laptop or freeze when the processor is busy?



These considerations can become big problems when you travel. That's something Tab Stone, a doctor in Los Angeles, knows very well. Installed a new email program on your laptop before leaving on a recent trip, but was not suitable for mobile use. Had to uninstall it shortly before takeoff, but that disabled his email program backup. That meant I could not download messages to your PC. "I could not fix what was damaged, either with a fresh download or a copy downloaded from the Internet," Stone recalls.



The latest:programs-Contact management software allows you to integrate data with your PDA, so you can download and synchronize contacts, calendar appointments and notes to your Palm Pilot or Pocket PC. There is also a web based version for travelers who either lose their laptops or prefer to work from a desk at your destination.




What's next? Look for more integration between applications for wireless users. Contact managers are already assuming the role of e-mail program, address book and database. The next step is to make it more accessible to people using cell phones or PDA.


• The appropriate hardware

I'm not talking about owning the newest laptop. I'm talking about hardware that is created for life on the road. Let's face itMany of the gadgets on which mobile professionals depend are not made with travelers in mind. For example, when the laptop battery Joachim Martin went on a recent flight, a flight attendant that provides assistance to be recharged in a "secret" out in the back of the plane. "The batteries charged," remembers the software developer. "But when I got home, they were dead." The power source had to be replaced. Blame the airline, the battery manufacturer or even the unfortunate business traveler for not knowing better, but this sort of thing happens often. phone jacks do not always fit, neither do outlets. And many of the gadgets that are based on the traveler are hostile, impractical or both.



The latest: Some hardware manufacturers are meeting the demand for passengers to use hardware accessories such as the Stowaway XT Keyboard. I've also been impressed with the mini Microsoft Optical Mouse, which frees you from the constraints of pointing finger-cramping of your laptop.



What's next? As the convergence between mobile phones, PCs and PDAs continues, do not surprise me to see devices that offer the ergonomic comfort of a desktop with the portability of a PDA. There will come a moment too soon for many road warriors.



• The Right Connections

Connections are everything to the mobile office.



Remember Stone, a doctor without email? Finally, access your messages through an Internet connection unwieldy. Spencer Field, who recently returned from a trip to Melbourne, it can also report problems, e-mail. He learned upon arrival that the dial numbers of your Internet service provider (ISP) did not work. "I thought it was probably the end of my online access," he says. "As a last effort, I let my fingers do the walking and checked out the Melbourne Yellow Pages for a local ISP." He found one and signed up for an email account in a month that gave him access to local numbers in your itinerary.



It is not only Internet connections that matter, but also connect to other devices such as cell phones, PDAs and laptops. Technologies such as Bluetooth let you communicate with other devices in an office or hotel room without cables.



The latest: According to a recent study by AT & T, the top barrier to working from a remote location is access to a data connection speed high. fast wireless networks are springing up everywhere - in hotels, airport lounges and cafes. And while Bluetooth was a slow start, the concept behind it - which is to lose the wires - is fundamentally sound.



What's next? Will not be long before Wi-Fi is so ubiquitous as cellular coverage and most Bluetooth-enabled devices. That's good news for those of us who work in a mobile office.



• Law Web Applications

Web-based applications are so important for the mobile office that I decided to give its own category, even though technically belong to the "Software". The web is one of the most efficient ways for a mobile worker to access a back-office system, intranet or database.



My ISP offers a rudimentary application that lets me check my email from the web. I do not remember how many times I had to use it because my email program does not work correctly. But I do remember the last time. I was stuck in a meeting out of town and my email account had been attacked by spam - thousands of unsolicited messages - that would have taken hours to download. Instead, I logged onto the web and eliminate all within seconds. If not for the web application, which would probably still be downloading the spam.



The latest: One of the most innovative Web applications is GoToMyPC, which lets you access the desktop of your home or office via the web. Another useful application for mobile users are Web conferencing services, such as Microsoft Office LiveMeeting.



What's next? Expect these applications are cheaper, more reliable and even more sophisticated.