It’s awful to be stuck without the tools (or skills) you need to stay productive with your MacBook or MacBook Pro. Here’s everything you need to keep you and your Mac in gear.
Whether you’re packing for a business trip thousands of miles away, or you just want to get out of the house for a few hours, sometimes you need to take your Mac on the road. While it’s debatable whether “getting there is half the fun,” keeping your MacBook (and your workflow) running smoothly, both in transit and when you arrive, is an absolute must. And we hate to break it to you, but with a more-mobile Mac comes increased responsibility—like making sure your precious ’Book doesn’t get stolen, broken, or disconnected from the world. We’ve got the latest tricks for keeping your precious cargo safe, secure, and connected—and some advice for coping with accidents you can’t avoid.
Hotspot Hunter
If a hotspot is out there, the WiFi Finder Plus can sniff it out.
Away from your home or office, a wireless hotspot is your best bet for getting online. Because free wireless hotspots seem to be a dime a dozen at airports, cafes, and hotels, finding one in a major city is usually fairly easy. But if you’re outside of an urban center, you may have to sleuth around to find a connection you can use.
T-Mobile HotSpot (www.tmobile.com/hotspot) offers a nationwide network of wireless hotspots in partnership with Starbucks, FedEx Kinko’s, Borders, and other chains. But with connection fees ranging from $6 for one hour to $40 per month, it’s way more expensive than free.
A better bet for the frugal surfer is to hunt for free Wi-Fi elsewhere. Online directories like JiWire (www.jiwire.com) and Wi-Fi Free Spot (www.wififreespot.com) offer nationwide listings of free wireless providers, so if you find yourself headed for Cascade, Idaho, you’ll know there’s free Wi-Fi at the Water’s Edge RV Resort.
Of course, if you’re already in the town where you need access, an online directory won’t do much good. In that case a Wi-Fi detector, such as Kensington’s WiFi Finder Plus ($29.99, www.kensington.com), will help you suss out a signal as you cruise the main drag.
Be smart when you use open hotspots, though. By virtue of that lovely, free openness, hotspots expose all of the traffic that runs across them, so anyone can snoop through the files you send and receive. If you’re emailing sensitive files, be sure to encrypt them first. StuffIt ($49.99, www.stuffit.com)not only compresses your files to make them more email friendly, but can also protect them from prying eyes by requiring a password to uncompress them. And if you’re logging in to your online banking service, be sure the site uses HTTPS security by looking for the little padlock in the status bar and checking that the address begins with “https” rather than just “http.”
Fast Connection Via Mobile Phone
Sprint’s AirCard 597E by Sierra Wireless ($329.99, www.sprint.com) slides into the ExpressCard/34 slot of your MacBook Pro for always-available broadband surfing over Sprint’s cellular network.
For on-the-go access in most metro areas, cellular broadband—aka 3G or mobile broadband—is the next best thing to a DSL connection. AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon all offer nationwide broadband service over their respective cell phone networks, making it easy to add high-speed mobile Internet service to your existing cellular account by buying a mobile broadband card and subscribing to a data plan.
The MacBook Pro’s ExpressCard/34 slot is ideal for using any of the leading 3G data cards, because you can leave the card installed and it won’t stick out of the slot too far. But if your notebook bag is a tight fit, you should remove the card when you’re in transit to make sure it doesn’t get damaged. MacBooks don’t have ExpressCard/34 slots, but users can still use 3G data cards with a USB adapter. (Your cellular provider will give you the right cable for your card.) And if you have a PowerBook, you can still find plenty of PC Card options to fit the ’Book’s PC Card slot. Most mobile broadband cards, regardless of how they connect to your Mac, cost between $80 and $130 with a two-year service agreement.
With your cellular broadband card installed, you can set your Internet connection to start automatically every time you boot your Mac, and you’ll surf the Web at speeds up to 1.4Mbps. And even if you’re outside of a 3G service area, you’re not out of luck. The card will still connect to your carrier’s lower-speed network so your essential email and Web traffic can get through.
Internet Over Bluetooth
Bluetooth dial-up networking uses your cell phone as a wireless modem to access the Net.
If you have a Bluetooth phone, you don’t necessarily need to buy a separate cellular broadband card to access the Internet. Phones that support dial-up networking (which most newer Bluetooth phones do) can serve as high-speed modems for your Mac.
The best phones for dial-up networking are those using 3G mobile broadband services, such as Verizon’s VCAST or Sprint’s Mobile Broadband, because they allow you to surf at DSL-like speeds. These phones will require you to run special software provided by your carrier in order to use the network, so check with your cellular provider to see if your phone supports broadband dial-up networking. Non-3G phones can still use dial-up networking the old-fashioned way: Obtain a dial-in number from your Internet service provider, then open the Bluetooth dial-up networking controls under System Preferences > Network > Bluetooth. With your Bluetooth phone paired with your Mac, enter the dial-in number and your account name and password, and then click Connect.
Note that many carriers require you to subscribe to their broadband service in order to use your Mac on the network, so you may still have to pay extra for the ability to use the connection.
DIY Networks
AirPort lets you create your own wireless network, with your Mac acting as a wireless hub.
No matter how much of a hotspot ninja you think you are, sometimes there just isn’t a hotspot around. And a wireless broadband card won’t help if you’re in an area with no cellular reception. But that doesn’t mean you can’t buddy up to share files—it just means you have to be more creative.
When there’s no way to get to an Internet connection, computer-to-computer networking—or creating an impromptu connection between two or more computers within a limited range—can make it easy to transfer files to someone nearby. This comes in handy when you can’t connect to the Internet but want to give a large Illustrator file to a colleague without burning it to a CD, for example. To create a computer-to-computer network (also called an ad hoc network), click the AirPort icon in the menubar and select Create Network. By default, the network will bear the name of your Mac, but you can change the name to anything you like. You can also check the box next to Enable Encryption (Using WEP) and designate a password to make your network private. Once other machines join your network, you can use file sharing to transfer files between them.
File Sharing
Mac OS X can turn any MacBook into a miniature server with File Sharing.
To enable file sharing from your Mac running Leopard, go to System Preferences > Sharing and check the box next to File Sharing. Then select Options and check “Share files and folders using AFP.” To make your files accessible to Windows users, also check “Share files and folders using SMB” and be sure to select an account from your Mac to enable sharing from. You can share the data on an external hard drive by clicking the plus sign under the Shared Folders box in the main Sharing pane. Then browse to the drive you’d like to share and click Add.
If your Mac is running Tiger, the directions are almost the same: Go to System Preferences > Sharing, and select the Services tab. Then check the Personal File Sharing box to share with Mac users, and/or check the Windows Sharing box (and specify an account when prompted) to let Windows users share your files.
Lock It Down
The $40 Kensington ComboSaver Notebook Lock Ultra is one of the easiest ways to protect your $2,500 MacBook Pro.
Unless you somehow still live in the 1950s, you wouldn’t think of leaving a bicycle unattended on a street corner or asking a stranger to watch it “just for a minute” while you run into a store. Yet every day you see otherwise intelligent people leave their laptops sitting unattended on café tables while they refill their lattes. In urban centers, laptop theft has reached pandemic proportions as savvy system snatchers have caught on to the easy money of a quick grab-and-run.
To keep your MacBook from running away, you can’t be too cool for school—or for locks. Simple cable locks, such as the Kensington ComboSaver Combination Notebook Lock Ultra ($39.99, www.kensington.com), attach to your MacBook’s Kensington cable-lock slot in seconds, so you can secure your ’Book to a table leg, a chair, or any other nearby object. If a thief is trying to make off with your computer and a table’s attached to it, someone will probably notice. (Note: If you’re securing your MacBook to a table leg, be sure to run the cable through a closed opening, like a support between the table top and the leg. Otherwise the thief can simply slip the cable out from under the leg and go.)
Getting It Back: LoJack
LoJack for Laptops places hidden software on your Mac’s hard drive so you can track it down if it’s stolen.
There’s a not-so-fine line between sensibly safe and paranoid, and you can’t keep your MacBook locked down all the time—when it’s in the trunk of your car that’s just been stolen, for example. But even when your laptop isn’t strapped to an immovable object, you can still protect it from theft. Computrace LoJack for Laptops ($49.99 per year, www.lojackforlaptops.com) is a simple but sneaky little program that hides in a low-level area of your Mac’s hard drive just in case someone steals your computer. Each day, when you’re connected to the Internet, the software secretly contacts Computrace’s server and checks in.
If your Mac goes missing, all you have to do is file a police report with your local precinct, then fill out a simple form on the LoJack for Laptops website. The next time the thief goes online—even if he or she has deleted and reinstalled OS X—the hidden software will reveal the location through the IP address, and Computrace will contact the police to nab the thief and recover your machine. While a mere 7 percent of all stolen laptops are ever recovered, Computrace claims a 75 percent recovery rate for its customers. That’s nothing to sneeze at.
Rejuvenate Your Battery
Do yourself a favor by using your power adapter to condition your hard-working battery.
A properly calibrated battery is the foundation of maximum power efficiency on the go. To keep your battery functioning at its best, follow these steps once a month.
First, plug in your MacBook’s power adapter and charge it until the light on the adapter turns green. Once it does, continue to work with the adapter plugged in for a
few hours. This will let your battery rest while fully charged before you begin to discharge it.
After a few hours, unplug the power adapter and continue using the MacBook
until you’ve drained the battery. After a couple more hours, you’ll get a low-battery warning, which is your cue to save any work in progress. Keep working until the system goes into sleep mode.
Once the system goes to sleep, leave it unplugged overnight (or for at least five hours) to fully discharge the battery. Then plug it back in and fully recharge the battery until the light on the adapter turns green again, which will leave it calibrated for optimum performance.
Live Long and Prosper
To get the most battery life from your ’Book, adjust your power settings aggressively in the Energy Saver preferences pane.
If you’re lucky enough to spend only a couple of hours per day working without a power outlet, you may not give much thought to your notebook’s power consumption. But frequent travelers sometimes need to make serious concessions to energy efficiency by adjusting their Energy Saver preferences and turning off unnecessary wireless components.
Unless you’re actively connected to a wireless network or a Bluetooth device, your ’Book’s built-in transmitters make it hemorrhage power. Turn AirPort and Bluetooth off by clicking their icons in the menubar and selecting the appropriate option. That’ll go a long way toward making your battery last all day.
Connected devices, such as USB drives and even CDs in your optical drive, draw power from the system. Eject optical discs and disconnect drives to eliminate the unwanted drain.
To really stretch out your Mac’s battery life, set your sleep options to zealously efficient levels. Under System Preferences > Energy Saver, select the settings for Battery and set the display to sleep when the computer is inactive for five minutes, and have the whole computer sleep after 10 minutes of inactivity. Under Options, be sure to check “Automatically reduce the brightness of the display before display sleep.” That way, you won’t be wasting juice while you’re waiting in line for the bathroom on a transcontinental flight.
Even with the most aggressive Energy Saver settings, you’ll be hard-pressed to get more than five hours out of your MacBook’s battery. If you really need to get a full day’s work done without a power outlet, carry a fully charged spare battery in your bag. FastMac’s TruePower Extended-Life Battery ($99.95, www.fastmac.com) lasts slightly longer than a stock battery, and costs less than a spare battery sold by Apple ($129, www.apple.com).
Keys to Success
Regardless of whatever other backup measures you may take, you should never head off on an important trip without putting your most essential files on a USB thumb drive. That way, even if your MacBook Pro is stolen 20 minutes before your big presentation, you’ll still have your mission-critical PowerPoint or Keynote files ready to plug into a borrowed computer. And just in case you can’t get your hands on another presentation-ready machine, you should also save copies of your presentation as
PDF files that you can readily print at any nearby Kinko’s, or present in a pinch with Preview or even Adobe Reader. To make the PDFs, go to the Print dialog, click the PDF button, and choose Print As PDF from the drop-down menu.
.Mac Backups
One of the easiest ways to keep your data at hand is to back it up online with a .Mac account. (The downside, of course, is that you must be online to back up.) For $99.95 per year, you get 10GB of storage on your iDisk, which you can use to back up your home folder, contacts, iCal, and any other files you like. Once you have a .Mac account, download the latest version of Backup from www.mac.com and set it to back up the data you care about most. That way, whether you’ve left your MacBook on the train or simply at home, you can always get to your latest backup from any Web browser. Your iDisk also has a Public folder to let you share files with friends and colleagues.
Back to My Mac
Get back to your home or work desktop machine from anywhere with Leopard’s awesome Back to My Mac feature.
Leopard, aka Mac OS 10.5, makes it easier to access your Mac back at the compound from another Mac on the road. You’ll need two Macs with Leopard installed and a .Mac account. On each machine, go to System Preferences > .Mac and select Back To My Mac. Click Start, then Open Sharing Preferences, and enable File Sharing. Now whenever you want to access either machine from the other, you can open a Finder window and look for Back To My Mac under the Shared section in the Sidebar. Cool, huh?
Time Machine
Gotta go back in time to before you trashed that important file? Use Time Machine.
As you travel through space, you may occasionally need to travel through time as well, and especially if you’ve lost or somehow unintentionally overwritten an important file. Leopard’s Time Machine feature makes hourly backups of your system so you can look back in time and recover older, less ruined versions of your files. Provided you have a large enough external drive attached, Time Machine will retain hourly backups from the last 24 hours, daily backups from the past month, and weekly backups until it runs out of space to store them. So there’s virtually no limit to how far back you can reach.
For use on the road, we suggest a high-capacity, rugged external drive like the 250GB LaCie Rugged All-Terrain Hard Disk ($199.99, www.lacie.com), which has USB and FireWire. Its ample capacity and sturdy, shock-resistant construction will ensure that you always have plenty of Time Machine backups on hand. Or you can just connect your laptop to the drive each evening (or morning) when you’re at home and let it back up overnight. (Only if your external drive is connected via FireWire will you be able to start up your Mac from it. To restore from these backups using a USB drive, you must have your Leopard Mac OS X Install Disc with you.)
