The bags tested included:

• Vaja Messenger
• Timbuk2 Blogger
• Pacific Outdoor Juneau
• Tom Bihn Cafe bag
• Waterfield Muzetto

The Muzetto was the clear winner as it had the right combination of style and functionality coupled with superior construction.  Here’s why:

Style – The Muzetto was one of two leather bags tested, the other being a Vaja Messenger case.  The Vaja Messenger was disliked from the beginning as it arrived in a color that can only be described as crap brown.  I was embarrassed to carry the Vaja around given the color and found the leather to be too soft.  I’m a huge fan of Vaja cases and their my case of choice for my iPods, but their messenger bags leave a lot to be desired.

The Muzetto on the other had was very stylish and the exterior leather had the feel or quality of a good bomber jacket.  The kind of leather that will wear for years and for which scuffing will only add to the character of the bag.  It was also a vertical style messenger (as opposed to the Vaja horizontal) that gave it a much more compact feel and was less of  a burden to carry.  I found myself using the Muzetto with a variety of dress-codes and it fit in every time, though I think its best impact is as a casual bag.

Functionality - The Muzetto bag was also very functional.  While it lacked the cubic storage of several other bags (namely the Timbuk2 and Vaja) that was primarily a positive thing.  I was looking for bag that would hold the essentials (a laptop, charger, MiFi, iPhone and a few other accessories).  The Muzetto bag carried that load perfectly, which was the whole point.  If I wanted a lot of space, I should simply take my laptop bag, but if I was going to be on the run or spend the day on my feet at a conference I wanted just my mobility essentials.

I’ll admit there were times I wished the Muzetto was just a bit deeper.  For example, once I got the laptop and essentials in, I found getting my headphones (large Dre Beats) into the bag was a challenge.  Another two inches of depth would probably have made the dimensions on this bag just about perfect.

The contents of the bag were very easy to access and the neoprene-type material that the phone/iPod pockets are made out of were one of my favorite features.  Since I carry my iPhone without a case, I often worried dropping it in the pockets of the other bags.  In most of them, no padding was present and in some instances it seemed like the roughness of the pocket seams alone would be enough to scratch and scuff my favorite electronics.  The Muzetto pockets on the other hand are soft and have just the right amount of padding.  It is almost as if the pockets themselves are the perfect case for your cell phone or iPod.  I never worried about my phone getting damaged or scuffed and found that when carrying the Muzetto I tended to store my iPhone in the bag instead of my pocket.  Yeah, for less things in my pockets, so a clear win.

It was also easy to adjust the straps and get the Muzetto in a comfortable carry position.  While I might prefer detachable straps, the built in straps worked well.

From a functionality perspective there are three improvements I would make if I were designing this bag:

1)  Make it two inches deeper

2)  Put a small carry handle on the top of the bag (to make it easier to place and grab in the trunk)

3)  Use magnets to keep the flap from, well, flapping around in the wind.

Overall, this was the most functional bag of all and it became my “go to” bag for a variety of things.

Build Quality – Waterfield designs makes quality bags and the Muzetto is no exception.  My Waterfield messenger has traveled the world and has been exposed to some pretty rough situations and in over 6 years I have never had a quality issue.   No popped seams, no broken zippers, etc.  In fact, it is the only bag that has been problem free after so much use.  Even my indestructible Haliburton cases have broken down after years of travel.

I dragged the Muzetto with me to conferences, threw it in the car for family trips, and used it for day to day carry.  It is no worse for the wear and is holding up as expected.  I would fully expect to get a decade of use out of this bag and perhaps more.  Sure, the leather will get dinged and dented, but that only adds to the character.  Show me a leather bag that isn’t dinged up and I’ll show you a bag that hasn’t been put through the paces.

In the end, the Muzetto beat out a pretty strong pool of candidates and the ultimate testimonial is the fact that I’m still using it and expect to keep using it as my day trip/light load bag of choice.

You can purchase your own Muzetto bag here.

The MiFi is a beautiful device, both in terms of appearance and performance.  After a quick initial set-up it just worked flawlessly creating a bubble of wifi everywhere I went.  Want to watch SlingBox on your iPhone?  No problem with the MiFi.  Want to make SIP calls via your iPod touch or Nokia N810?  Both worked instantly.

For all the frustration we endured with the Cradlepoint, the MiFi has brough nothing but smiles.  It just works and works well.  Press the power button, wait 10 seconds or less, and you can connect to Verizon’s superior EVDO network.  The MiFi supports up to five devices which is a comfortable number for most road warriors.  I was able to connect my MacBook Pro, iPhone and Nokia n810 with no problems. Obviously, they are sharing the limited bandwidth but did so with no hiccups or issues.

I haven’t encountered any of the strange proxy or firewall issues I experienced with the CP, and have not missed the hours of troubeshooting and tech support which resulted in none of my issues being resolved.

If you have a need for EVDO access, the MiFi is highly recommended.

(SORRY TO ONE OF THE COMMENTORS BELOW.  ACCIDENTALLY DELETED YOUR MESSAGE)

I’ve lamented many times over the lack of truly portable speakers for travel.  By definition, truly portable means they need to fit into my laptop bag easily without taking up too much space and can be powered by my computer or an adapter I already carry.  I’ve tried several different variations, but none established a permanent residence in my gear bag until I was introduced to the Small Dog manufactured Chill Pill.

The Chill Pill is an egg-shaped object about the size of a small fist.  Within this egg-shaped device is everything you need to play portable sound via a standard headphone jack.  The Chill Pill separated into two parts, which when combined are held together magnetically to achieve that aerodynamic compact egg-shape.  Once separated, you pull out a retractible USB caple which wires the two speakers together.  Another retractible cable contains a mini-headphone jack which can be connected to your audio source.  Power the Chill Pill on and you have a nice compact speaker system.  Turn the tops of the individual speakers counter-clockwise and they expand to provide better sound quality and bass.  When down, retract the cables, collapse the speakers, and connect them back together magnetically.  To charge, simply connect the USB cable to your computer or an external USB power source.  Since the Chill Pill uses mini-USB, you will need an adapter (included) to charge via most computers.

The chill pill is a nicely engineered solution for those that want truly portable speakers as part of their road warrior kit.

The Chill Pill is available at Small Dog stores and also via Amazon.

First, this is a decent phone with a nice feature set.  It is able to make calls, browse the web, get email, and has some basic GPS functions.  However, the phone comes off as lacking a certain sense of polish.  In fact, the best analogy I can think of is that it is what I would expect a next generation Palm OS to look like if they hadn’t fallen off the face of the earth.  In a week of use, here is what I have found:

1)  Phone works well.  No real complaints on making and receiving calls.

2) Browser works well, but has some very annoying quirks.  For example, every time I touch the screen to scroll, it brings up a zoom button which obscures part of what I am reading.  Very annoying.

3)  Media playback is abhorent.  I know that many say it is tolerable, but I’ve found it really lacking.  The fact that no video application was provided shows that Google does not consider this to be a media device.

4) Market place is well done, but I’d like a way to browse the market from my desktop, not just the phone.  As the number of apps increases, browsing via the phone will be increasingly difficult.

5) Keyboard works great.  No complaints.  Same with the trackball.

6) Data speeds are fine over Edge and 3G (which turned on in my market yesterday)

7)  Having two email apps is annoying.  In addition, there seems to be an auto-complete bug in the non-Gmail mail application which makes the feature non-functioning.  Additionally, even though my email provider is G-mail on my secondary account, the mail application does not include any features like starring a message that are present in the primary email application.

Overall, the marketplace will really define whether I carry this phone in addition to my iPhone.  If the market delivers applications for Sling, Qik, Skype, and other critical apps missing on my iPhone it will be worth having the G1 around.  If no innovative applications arrive, I’d have a hard time committing to carrying this phone, even as a backup.

 

In this episode, Eric and Matt talk about Ironkey, Google Sites and Docs, Firefox 3 Beta 4, Tivo video podcatching and the MacBook Air.

S3 is a file storage service with an associated API that let’s developers store files on Amazon’s highly redundant server farms.  Unfortunately, while individuals can set up Amazon web services accounts, they are unable to access the S3 service without understanding how to access the API.

Enter JungleDisk which is a commercial software solution that allows users to access S3 storage via a simple user interface.  JungleDisk is available for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux and once launched can be easily configured with your S3 account information.  The user can also configure an optional encryption mode which will individually protect every file stored on the S3 server.  Once configured and launched, JungleDisk creates a mount point on your desktop that can be accessed just like any other drive in your system (assuming you have Internet connectivity).   Worried that your MacBook Air not having enough hard drive space with that SSD option?  JungleDisk can give you near infinite storage available anywhere you can establish a connection.

Additionally, JungleDisk is available in USB format as well.  Load the small apps on your USB drive and you can launch them from any computer and access your S3 storage while keeping all your personal authentication information on the USB key only.  S3 storage is reasonably priced and getting cheaper all the time, so with the availability of JungleDisk there is no reason you shouldn’t be using it for storage on the go, or just as a reliable back-up solution.

Engadget is the king of gadget and electronic enthusiast websites. Their coverage is top-notch and they’ve defined professionalism in the industry.

The Cradlepoint PHS300 is a single purpose device designed to bridge an EVDO connection over wifi so the connection can be shared with multiple computers. Unlike competing products, the PHS300 connects via EVDO through a pre-purchased USB-based modem and also contains a battery to provide nearly 3 hours of EVDO/wireless connectivity without needing an external power source.

To use the device, you charge it and plug in the USB modem and then connect to it via wifi and fire up your browser. The device comes with a fairly intuitive web interface that lets the user adjust network settings and establish security rules. Most users will be able to get away with just changing the default password and begin using the device immediately.

One shortcoming of the software is that the baseline security implementation is overly intrusive and there is no mechanism for an advanced user to just turn it off. For example, when trying to connect to our corporate mail server, my session was intercepted by the PHS300 and it displayed a message that the connection was being subjected to DNS cache poisoning. Email exchanges with Cradlepoint’s tech support representatives were useless in troubleshooting the problem and they even went so far as to say the problem was my browser and that if I used Firefox instead of IE I would be fine or I just needed to flush the cache settings on IE. Ironically, I was using Firefox on a MacBook Pro, so their assessment was highly inaccurate. I ended up troubleshooting the problem on my own and realized that the software was alleging DNS cache poisoning whenever an IP address was being derived via a CNAME record instead of a direct DNS entry. This is a dumb policy and Cradlepoint acknowledged that there was no way to turn this setting off. Luckily, I could simply remove the CNAME entry the problem went away, but the average user is not going to be in a position to change DNS settings for the servers they are trying to connect to. Cradlepoint needs to address this issue in a future firmware release and give advanced users a capability to establish and unfiltered network connection. (Update: This fix did not work on my MacBook Pro, so I had to manually add my mail server to my hosts file.)

With regards to performance, the news was much better. I tested the device using Verizon EVDO in the Northern Virginia area and was very pleased. In a static location in Arlington, VA I was able to connect with several devices (MacBook Pro, Asus Eee PC, and an iPhone) with no problems. While I didn’t run any formal speedtests the speed was comparable to speeds obtained by simply plugging the USB modem into my laptop. I used the connection all day, typically connected to a power source, but did unplug it to test the battery life, with the battery dying after just under three hours of heavy use. Not bad considering it is broadcasting over EVDO and wifi.

For my mobile test, I placed the device in the back of my car and connected the Eee PC to it and started streaming Internet radio at 128 kbps. I proceed to drive from Ashburn, VA to Arlington, VA and only experienced my first stream buffering after 1/2 hour of perfect connectivity. When stuck in traffic, I was able to surf the web with the Eee PC and also download a song via iTunes on the iPhone.

While it does have a few software flaws, this device provides a much needed capability for a road warrior like myself. Most importantly, it very easily extends my EVDO connectivity to devices that can’t access it natively. The Eee PC for example can connect via wifi in a couple of clicks, but getting and EVDO modem to work with is a laborious effort that requires significant user expertise. So for devices like the Eee PC and my N800, this device is a “must have”. It also increased my network spead for the iPhone as well which is an added bonus.

Physically, the device is compact and light, features simple LED lights for feedback and an on/off switch. Keep one of these devices in your car and you will be a roaming hotspot wherever you go. It will certainly earn a permanent spot in my gadget bag and if you need your EVDO connection extended to other devices, this is one of the most elegant and reliable solutions we’ve seen to date.

Update: After traveling more with this device, we can’t recommend it for purchase. The DNS Cache poisoning issue is poisonous to the user’s experience. I am getting DNS cache poisoning errors for sites like Bloglines, Gmail!, and it is not just browser based as mail clients seem impacted as well. Until this issue is fixed, this device is not worth the money, time, or frustration.

Update 2: There is an option to set a DMZ host, so we will try that as a possible fix for the primary computer. Right now, testing is limited due to lack of good coverage in Tribeca.

Update 3:  I placed the MacBookPro in the DMZ for the Cradlepoint router.  Here is how they describe the DMZ in the web management interface:

“The DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) option provides you with an option to set a single computer on your network outside of the router. If you have a computer that cannot run Internet applications successfully from behind the router, then you can place the computer into the DMZ for unrestricted Internet access.

Note: Putting a computer in the DMZ may expose that computer to a variety of security risks. Use of this option is only recommended as a last resort.”

Given I can’t reach Gmail, I considered this a last resort.  What happened?

“DNS Poisoning Has Occurred

Restart your web browser.

It may be necessary to close your web browser and restart it. Sometimes web browsers cache invalid URLs when first logging onto the Personal HotSpot. Restarting your web browser will clear it’s cache and you should be able to surf the Internet without problems.”

 This sort of contradicts the statement that the computer in the DMZ has unrestricted Internet access as that is obviously not the case!  I really love this product and it has so much potential, but the firmware needs a major update!

When I saw on Joi Ito’s web site how much gear he had in his bag and heard his raving review for Waterfield bags, I had to give them a try.  The customer service I received set a new standard of excellence for web transactions with personal follow-ups to my order and incredibly quick shipping.

Since buying this bag, I’ve retired about 15 other bags I used to use.   The Waterfield has become the “go to” bag for all of my travel which has included Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.  The separate laptop compartment makes airport security lines a breeze and I use a combination of internal pockets and small gear bags inside the Waterfield Cargo (large) which allows me to neatly store all the gear and accessories I need.  Despite years of abuse this bag has yet to pop a single stich and all zippers are fully functional, which is more than I can say for most of the other bags I’ve used.

A typical load for extended travel with this bag includes the following:

• MacBook Pro (and power adapter)
• iPod video with MyVu glasses
• iPod Nano
• Bose noise reduction headsets
• iPhone
• Nokia N95
• Amazon Kindle
• PSP with a few games
• Duracell battery (for charging the above during long flights
• Asus EE PC
• Pacemaker DJ device
• Canon Digital Camera
• First aid kit (6″X6″2″)
• Foldable spork
• Business card holder
• Moleskin notebook (with fisher space pen)
• Spare batteries (AAA, AA and CR123)
• Flashlight
• Random cables and connectors
• A few magazines (usually bought at the airport)

It is a tight fit, but I get it all in there and everything is easily accessible.  The shoulder strap is comfortable, though I do experience some pain based on the excessive weight of the stuff I carry.

If you have to buy one gear bag, Waterfield would be my top recommendation. (SFBAGS.COM)