If you stopped by looking for news and reviews from the trip, hit Chief Home Officer for the latest updates. Or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

You see, Google doesn’t like it much when duplicate content is posted on numerous sites. So to help one site without hurting the other, we’re posting just to Chief Home Officer.

Stop by. Check it out. Look at the cool pix we’ve shot with our new Nikon D3100 digital SLR. See how we’re getting along with the Acer Iconia Tablet on the Verizon Novatel 4G LTE Mifi Mobile Hotspot. Be sure to send us your thoughts or impressions — or restaurant suggestions. We’ve vowed to dine in local establishments whenever possible.

In the message, the person left her query. She also commented that my outbound greeting referenced Cinco de Mayo. A greeting a month old, eh? Goes to show how little attention many of us pay to our vmail greetings.

This got me to thinking, though… Assuming people actually listen to greetings, what should we say or request of those trying to reach us? What about for teleworkers, road warriors and even workationing entrepreneurs?

I once espoused changing greetings weekly – so seemingly timely and attentive that would make us appear. I got over that once it got sufficiently old and burdensome that I forgot to update the greeting (see Cinco de Mayo reference above).

Yet the question rises anew as I prepare for a three-week excursion on Home Office Highway.

Do I say I’ll be on the road? Do I give contact details for myself, or contact info for others in my stead? Since I’ll be working a bit, do I forward calls to my mobile?

What about other forms of contact…? Do I actually use my Gmail Vacation Responder? Do I suggest texts, pins, BBMs, Facebook, tweets, IM, LinkedIn messages, and the like?

Some things I’ve decided…

No forwarding of calls (few are that important). Also, no change in my vmail greeting, except to reiterate that they can reach me by email. Which means…

No Vacation Responder. Since my BlackBerry will be by my side, I can respond immediately to any outreach – except maybe when I’m hiking the depths of the Grand Canyon (do they have cell antennas down there?). With a Verizon 4G Mifi Mobile Hotspot, I’ll also be logging on frequently. This isn’t a workation, per se, but I’m an email addict who’ll have ample free time to burn as the family slumbers in the early AM.

As far as social media-as-contact-mode-of-choice, I’ll say it here: I hate social media-as-contact-mode-of-choice. I don’t live on social media. I generally try to observe a self-imposed 9am-to-5pm embargo of Facebook, Twitter and the like. Besides, if my preferred contact medium is email, social media doesn’t fall neatly or congruously into an easily searchable or traceable email thread of existence. If you seek efficiency in communications, the all forms of communications should meet the mandate.

The net takeaway from this mental exercise has been to discover that nothing will change: With smart phones in our pockets and mobile Internet nearly ubiquitous, Standard Operating Procedures will remain in effect – unless the Grand Canyon is a wireless dead zone.

Then all bets are off.

This summer, the Home Office Highway ‘11 road show will showcase the tech, tools and tips that empower people to work and play from the interstate highway – or the information superhighway. The three-week excursion and social media event will highlight how “location independence” can be found wherever life’s journey ventures.

This year, we’ll travel from Fort Lauderdale to San Francisco. Part sightseeing trip, part college tour, all fun-n-games. The van will have laptops, digital cameras and other technology common to the modern family home.

As families grow up, so do their technology needs, even when they’re on vacation. We’ll file blogs, Facebook updates, tweets and videos from the road. We’ll even manage family finances effortlessly from anywhere. “With wifi, the cloud and a computer, you can work and play from anywhere. Grandma back home is looking forward to following our adventures.

Among the devices planned for the road:

- Three Macbooks, an HP laptop, and an MSI Netbook. All five can be online at the same time using a…

- Verizon Wireless Samsung 4G LTE mobile hotspot. Small and portable as a stack of business cards, the device will keep the family connected almost wherever the road takes them.

Product placement / demonstration opportunities are still available.

Wait. Take a moment to ponder the tools we use and what they bring to our daily lives. You might respectfully disagree.

Every day, I use services and tools that keep me connected with the world outside in ways that still seem magical. My BlackBerry brings the Internet and its motherlode of possibilities to a device smaller than a deck of cards (iPhone users will only smirk at the possibilities borne from their device).

Want to contact a peer, client or someone else from my database? Will that be by phone (office, mobile, home, “other”?), or email, or SMS, or MMS?

Add a new name to Google Contacts — and it’s “magically” duplicated in my BlackBerry. Send an email from my phone and it instantly appears in GMail.

As I prepare to head out on Home Office Highway once again this year, I think about the tools that’ll keep me connected from the road.

I’ll fetch my GMail from anyplace my Verizon Mifi Internet access card will let me log on. I’ll be able to access any document that otherwise resides on my harddrive from my Carbonite online back-up account.

Each of our family members will have his or her laptop in the minivan as we tour the countryside. Heck, none of us even own an iPad or tablet — still magical in its own right.

When looking for things to do in such places as Memphis, Santa Fe, Southern California and Napa, I floated a query on Facebook to hundreds of “friends” (most of whom I’d lost touch with in the two decades-plus since college and high school). I received dozens of ideas in return.

As Godin wrote, sci-fi author and visionary Arthur C. Clarke once said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

“No doubt that there will be magic again one day…,” Godin continued. I counter that we live in a world whose magic still shines today. Looked at as with the eyes of a kid in a candy shop, a child still wowed by the magical, mystical possibilities that these devices (however aging they may be in years) still deliver.

You don’t have to look too far to find the magic still out there today.

What technology or tool remains magical to you in your life and business?

Today, she offers some guidance on handling business and travel expenses. To June, the questions seem the same: Travel expenses, transportation expenses, vehicle expenses – aren’t they all more or less the same thing?

Well, maybe to you they are, June says. But not to the IRS. There are subtle and there are grand differences. Understanding standard business travel and the expenses related to a typical business trip is the place to start.

Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house goes Pat Personal Trainer. Gram just bought a color laser printer and it’s the cheapest way for Pat to print his new brochures. He leaves Friday afternoon. The bus gets him there in time for dinner. He works at the computer all the next day until the wee hours. (He’s sure these new brochures will get him lots of customers.) Very early the next morning he kisses Grandma good-bye and heads back home on the bus.

Pat was away from his home, for business, overnight. It was BUSINESS TRAVEL. Therefore he may deduct travel expenses.

The IRS says this about BUSINESS TRAVEL . . .

If you temporarily travel away from your tax home for business you may deduct ordinary and necessary TRAVEL expenses. You may not write off “lavish or extravagant” expenses.

According to the IRS an “ordinary expense is one that is common to your profession; a necessary one is one that is helpful and appropriate.” (See Feature No. 3)

The IRS has written thousands of words on business TRAVEL.
Here are the most important:

Your trip is business TRAVEL if your business duties require you to be away from the general area of your tax home longer than an ordinary day’s work, so that you need to get some sleep or rest.

Think of your tax home as your main or regular place of business. It doesn’t matter where you maintain your family home.

And, if you stay overnight that covers needing to get some rest. But, be careful: don’t go around telling people that you ordinarily work 20 hours a day or you’ll miss out on deducting your business trips!

BUSINESS TRAVEL, simply stated …
If you are away from your place of business, overnight, for a purpose that benefits your business then you have been on a business trip and your costs are deductible TRAVEL expenses.

Read her entire post on June Walker Online.

Fans of 24 will recall the messenger bag / shoulder tote that Jack Bauer used to carry. It held various Secret Agent tools – nuclear bomb deactivation tools, that ubiquitous “handheld” to which CTI could send building schematics.

Never saw him pull out lunch or a pair of car keys, though.

Jack Bauer & the Jack Sack

Still, I wanted a bag dripping in such utility. Functional, not too girlish. Effective enough to carry all my stuff, but still macho enough so as not to bring my manhood into question (no, it’s neither a manpurse NOR a European shoulder bag). Apparently, you can find one here.

Any home office worker, teleworker or other mobile tech / road warrior likely could appreciate this lament.

Is there a bag that fits all the stuff the modern tech-laden exec or home-working mom / dad must shuttle?

In other words, what makes a great laptop travel bag? It’s a question I’ve asked for years.

It has to be functional enough to carry all your stuff – laptop and power cords, pads and folders, and the growing number of tech-sessories that consume space belying their otherwise small size. But it can’t be one of those “catch alls” that has vast empty spaces that designers might say “fit all your stuff” but really just create a nasty rat’s nest where nothing is organized.

I came across a new product – the Mamba Catch. This new laptop bag is designed to suit a male or female and is packed with features that will support any busy urbanite or business traveler.

It’s equipped with three outer quick-access zipper pockets, two external pockets for mobile phones, MP3 players or wallet. The large back pocket is perfect for paper documents and doubles as a pass-through for a luggage trolley handle. The laptop bag’s interior has six medium-size accessory pockets, two elastic mesh pockets perfect for laptop accessories, a large mesh zipper pocket, three pen slots and a flat document pocket. All internal pockets are designed around the densely padded laptop compartment, which has a soft plush lining.

Mamba catch comes with a removable accessory zipper pouch for cables, pens, a portable hard drive, or small personal items. While this sturdy yet lightweight laptop bag can be carried using the removable shoulder strap and shoulder pad or like a briefcase with its sturdy top handle, a super tough rubberized bottom material lends the bag a rugged element.

But make no mistake: I’ve yet to find a bag that would suit Jack Bauer.

This flash drive — or “thumb drive” as some people call it, referring to its digit-like size — is small on size but huge on capacity. Measuring from 8 gigabytes to 32 gigs, this traditional flash drive offers one-touch back-up. It’s ideal for traditional back-up, or just stashing stuff to take on the road.

Good thing, since most IT pros joke about there being two types of computer users in the world: Those who have lost data, and those who will.

Manufacturers include Seagate, Western Digital and Toshiba, among others. The Seagate FreeAgent Go portable storage device ($159) uses a hard drive docking station. The SanDisk Ultra Backup USB flash drive comes in eight gigabytes to 64 gigabytes. Both back up selected files with push of a back-up button. Prices range from $49.99 to $277.99.

Beware the promise of portability, for it has  its shortcomings. Should a portable drive fall into the wrong hands, data can be compromised. When buying a drive, look for those with built-in encryption to keep intruders out. Smaller devices ferried about also are susceptible to damage if dropped.

To read a full review, check out TechwareLabs’ latest look at the Sandisk UltraBackup USB Flash Drive. “We all have at least one type of portable memory storage unit laying around the house filled with music, work, pictures, videos or what have you. But now those guys from Sandisk have created the first flash drive with a “Backup” button. With no wires and no fuss, see if they made a breakthrough in storing important electronic data safely and with ease.” Read the whole review here.

I never made a call.

With 10,000 available apps, Verizon’s 3G network, and Google’s Android 2.0 operating system, there’s a lot to do with a phone without ever making a call. In fact, that’s why I may never buy one.

Listen as I review the Droid with Jim Blasingame. Read on below the widget to hear why I’m a tried-and-true BlackBerry person - at least for the moment…
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Verizon will tell you the Droid is faster, runs simultaneous apps (like Pandora — which I downloaded and was streaming some new tunes in less than two minutes), has a larger screen, lots of onboard memory (about 500 megs), plus room for a 16 gig card. It’s the basis for Verizon’s whole iDon’t comparison campaign.

The resolution is sharp. It shoots great video and stills — even in low-light settings.

It’s almost like two first cousins are battling it out for a suitor (and that suitor just happens to be tens of millions of consumers).

And sure, it has 10,000 available apps. But the real Killer App is the fully-functional, QWERTY keyboard that slides out from beneath the device. That has wowed even the most die-hard iPhone junkies to whom I’ve tossed that tidbit.

“OK,” iPhone enthusiasts will type (with some difficulty). “That’s all well and good, but it’s a beast to hold, right?” Hardly. Just a few millimeters thicker than the iPhone, it’s light on the hand and pocket (speaking of pocket, it’s about $200 after mail-in rebate - or it will be, once it debuts in early November).

Still, it’s twice the size of my BlackBerry Pearl, whose form factor I dig so much, I can’t see myself separating from it right now. Besides, give me 10,000 apps, and reviews like this one might never get written.

Maybe in time I’ll switch. Maybe one day, I’ll say adios to my BlackBerry, and hola to a Droid.

But for now, iPearl.

Home office, telework and road warrior technology tips from leading home-business and work-at-home expert Jeff Zbar will be featured in more than two million copies of TIME, Fortune and Money magazines and Time Inc. websites beginning this week.

In a unique promotional campaign for Marriott International Inc.’s Residence Inn brand, Zbar provides two dozen tips on remote work strategies, “cloud” computing and online security. The tips are presented on “bookmarks” bound into the magazines and linked to from the websites. View the bookmark here.

“Road warriors, digital nomads and others who work from the road don’t want to struggle or just get by. They want to thrive – no matter where work and life take them,” said Zbar, creator of Chief Home Officer and Home Office Highway, a site focused on extended, working vacations. “Residence Inn’s campaign reveals in simple detail how easy it can be to achieve location independence and to connect and compute from a workspace other than the home or corporate office.”

The Residence Inn campaign, “Master The Long Trip” appears in the October 26 issues of TIME and Fortune, and the November issue of Money. The online tips debuted on CNNMoney on October 19, and will run through November 30. The tips also appear on Sports Illustrated.com.

Zbar is the leading home office authority and subject matter expert on home-business, telework and entrepreneurship. He launched his home-based business in 1989, and debuted his first site in the mid-1990s. In 2000, it evolved into ChiefHomeOfficer.com. As one of the longest continually published websites targeting the home office and telework, ChiefHomeOfficer.com provides content on business strategies, marketing and publicity, design and furnishing, technology, virtual offices, and even humor and haiku. It also includes tips for people who handle family affairs from a corner desk at home, and provides commentary on trends affecting today’s home-based worker.

For more information, contact Jeff directly, or contact Alan T. Brown with PrimeTime Media & Marketing Group in Hollywood, Fla., at 954-662-2526 orabrown@ptprm.com. To view or print the bookmark, visit http://www.chiefhomeofficer.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/marriott-bookmark.pdf

Videos will be searched, categorized, crawled, archived, accessed and — eventually will replace the typed blog or other commentary for people more interested in having content as eye-and-ear candy than as an exercise in reading.

For that reason, I have a Pure Digital Flip Video HD. It takes sharp, snappy images in crisp HD clarity. I also have a library of home office videos (showcased at the top of this website). Each was taken with a Flip Video.

Small. Simple. Sharp. Easy to share. These attributes describe the evolution of today’s video camera — and what consumers are demanding in them.

These aren’t just for marketing. Contractors can shoot images from job sites. Teleworkers can video their home offices — as proof for their employers that they have a bona fide workspace. Of course, kids can use them for projects and parents can goof off with them (not while working, of course…)

Once upon a time, when you wanted to shoot video of a client testimonial, a product demonstration, or just a videologue, you had to transfer analog tape to digital, or you needed a digital camera. No quick or inexpensive proposition there.

Today’s options are many – and cost effective (and limited only by the size of the onboard memory or memory card):

-    My Sony Sureshot digital camera shoots perfectly suitable digital images and video. I’ve used it for testimonials, product reviews and all sorts of family events.

-    The Flip. I took the new Flip HD on Home Office Highway and a parasailing excursion. It was a sturdy little beast that held up to everything we tossed its way.

In a CNet product review and interview with Pure Digital CEO Jonathan Kaplan recently, they noted that as of early 2009, the Flip line was a top seller of similar devices in the sub-$200 category. Others include the Sony, Aiptek A-HD camera, Toshiba’s Camileo (with 1080p HD recording), DXG Technology, RCA, and Sakar. Flip remains the acknowledged pioneer of the $200 flash memory-based digital camcorder category.

Another product is the Creative Labs Vado HD Pocket Video Camcorder ($116). Similar in size to the iPhone, this HD camcorder travels easily, takes great high-resolution images, and gives any business video capabilities easily – and quickly. Hit the on switch, and you can be recording in 1.5 seconds. Onboard flash memory and record time are similar to the Flip. So is the transfer action: Pop out the USB dongle, plug it into Mac or PC, and drag the H.264 video files across (preloaded software runs from the camcorder itself).

Among the tweaks for the new Ultra II and HD versions: High-def recording with the UltraHD, video shot in 30 frames per second (fps) and encoded at 720p (for resolution the same as HD sports broadcasts). It includes 8 gigs of internal flash memory for up to two hours of record time. Also, the LCD screen size is increased to two inches. A soft, rubberized coating improves the grip. The pop-out USB arm can juice up the removable rechargeable batteries.

Are you ready for the digital age of marketing? With products like the Flip Video or Vado, anyone can be.

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