Nu 6 by ML, Mobile Lifestyle

New Attitudes/Paradigms: Enabling a Mobile Lifestyle

by: R100022
We are undergoing a drastic change from being tied to the office or in front of the computer to a completely mobile and dynamic lifestyle. Technology is the big enabler for this rapid change in attitudes and paradigms and both hardware and software are developing and moving us into this new direction.  Below are some of my ideas on how we can take advantage of today's technology to become truly mobile.

Data on the go:

Becoming truly mobile starts with having access to the internet where ever we may be. For this, we need a mobile data plan. Ideally, we should have all our gadgets (i.e. cellphone, laptop, tablet, etc.) connected to the internet. However, subscribing to a data plan for each of these gadgets would be too much of a money drain. The best solution would be to have a pocket wifi device which can provide us with an always-on wifi hot-spot where ever we are. A pocket wifi device is small and unbtrusive, and we can easily keep this in our handbag or gadget bag while we are on the go. Both Smart Communications and Sun Cellular offer their own pocket wifi device and postpaid plans. These enables subscribers to connect up to 5 gadgets to the internet (which is sufficient for me to say the least) and they have different plans to choose from. Personally, I would go for an unlimited data plan for a worry-free mobile lifestyle.

Gadgets:

While before a mobile lifestyle meant having a pager and a huge mobile phone strapped to your belt, we now have at our disposal a slew of awesome gadgetry that can practically replace our secretaries to say the very least. Here are a few of my top picks:

• iPhone - aside from calls and text messages, the iPhone (or Android or Windows phone) can do so much more like email, GPS, social networking, music, videos, games, and many many more.
• iPad - if you don't do anything that requires sheer computing power, I could say that the iPad (or Android tablets like the Samsung Galaxy Tab) can replace your laptop. You can read and reply to emails, browse the internet, watch videos, manage your schedule, play games, view and edit presentations, documents, and spreadsheets, etc. 
• Amazon Kindle - book lovers can enjoy all their bestsellers in one compact ebook reader. The e-ink technology minimizes eye fatigue since it mimics printed text and the international 3G version can connect to local 3G mobile networks for free which you can use for downloading ebooks and reading popular blogs.

Cloud computing:

Cloud computing has been such a hot buzzword in recent years but I must say that this recent trend makes perfect sense. Storing our data and even our applications on the cloud (i.e. the internet) removes our reliance on local hard drives and enables our data and applications to be easily accessible from all of our devices. While cloud computing is still at the early stages of development, there are already a considerable amount of services we can use to get our data on the cloud. Here are a few of the most notable:

• Dropbox (dropbox.com) - this service synchronizes files across all user devices. It practically eliminates the need to keep usb drives since data can easily be accessed from any device that is connected to the internet, and is automatically backed up and synchronized. I currently use this service to store all files that I would need to access on the go. I have this application installed on my office pc, my personal laptops, and my iPhone. I have also encouraged all my MBA groupmates to create shared Dropbox folders where all the members of the group can edit and save files. This makes collaborating on papers and presentations so much more easier than sending files back and forth through email.
• iCloud (apple.com/icloud/)- this is Apple's new value added offering that takes advantage of cloud computing. This application allows you to seamlessly sync all your data (music, photos, videos, documents, etc.) across all your Apple devices. This is great and all but is limited to just Apple devices so if you're a "PC" or an "Android" you would be out of luck. This service is supposed to be launched today (October 12) and I'm waiting with bated breath to try it. :-)
• Amazon Cloud Drive (amazon.com/clouddrive/)  - I haven't tried this yet but many are saying this is similar to Dropbox. It's good to have options so I would also recommend those who would want to go mobile to consider this service as well. 

Traffic Monitoring:

And lastly, being mobile may also mean being at the mercy of the terrible Metro Manila traffic. To help us decide which route is the least of all evil, MMDA has launched a website (http://mmdatraffic.interaksyon.com/system-view.php), an iPhone application, as well as an Android application designed to show the latest traffic updates in many of the major roads in the metro. I have this application on my iPhone and I can say that it has been a lifesaver on more than one occasion, especially since my job often requires me to travel back and forth Metro Manila.

There are so much more gadgets and applications to enable a mobile lifestyle that it wouldn't be practical to discuss them all here. Let's just say that I only exposed the tip of the iceberg. However, part of the fun of converting our lifestyle into a mobile one is discovering what new technologies can help us manage it better. I encourage everyone to keep discovering and learning. Enjoy

3 for the MMDA traffic apps.  The idea behind NU6 is t make something your own.  To create not just give me menu or list of improvements