Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with portable

Small gifts that recipients are likely to hang on to?

Xere — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 16:48:18 -0800

Help me, MeFi elves! What are some tiny, practical, long-lasting, and fun gifts for twentysomethings? Specifically, gifts that are not likely to get thrown out or given away, due to moving far away - so, no books or voltage-specific electronics. I've already done the Swiss Army Knife, and a USB drive is a little too practical. What now?

Portable app for full-text file search?

Dave 9 — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:50:43 -0800

Can you recommend full-text "desktop search" software, something like Copernic, but portable? I have a few thousand documents that I carry around on a flash drive, with more being added every week. Mostly html, Word, WordPerfect 5.1, Excel, and pdf; no pictures, sound, or video. I'd like to be able to search the contents and preview the search results on PCs that aren't mine, without logging in to internet-based storage. The dtSearch Publish product apparently does this for $2,450 or, with optional features, $2,935.10. I'd prefer to pay perhaps $2860.10 less. DocSearcher (previously [3 years ago]) and JDesktopSearch are free but don't seem to offer integrated full-text previews. DocFetcher looks promising. However, its search-result previewing doesn't work correctly on a proximity search, and it seems to be choking on WordPerfect. An outfit named Gaviri offers something that looks plausible, but I'm not eager to try it: the trial download wants to install without telling me what's going to be installed where, and the site's support pages are sketchy. Any other recommendations? For Windows.

Portable VOIP number?

devnull — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:15:23 -0800

Portable UK voip number? I'm looking for a UK telephone number to use with a voip provider. The killer is that I'd like to take the number with me if I later want to change providers. How can I set this up so that it's possible. I'd like to minimise cost.

I'd also like recommendations for a voip provider that will allow me to forward calls to another voip number at little or no cost, or to a "real" number. I'll be mostly using this number for answerphone messages but would like to avoid e-mails full of wav files. Perhaps a web based preview would be best.

I'd like to avoid Skype if possible.

Any recommendations?

Looking for the perfect laptop for traveling

Afroblanco — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:31:20 -0800

Looking for the perfect laptop for traveling. Priorities are durability, lightness, and battery life, in that order. Performance is not too important, but it must run Windows 7 like a champ. Willing to consider netbooks. Can spend up to $2000, but obviously I would like to spend no more than I absolutely have to.

An old school portable printer

saxamo — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 19:45:59 -0800

Looking for a (cheap) portable, parallel printer that prints in A4 size. I have a portable device, which I need a printer for. The printer must have a parallel (DB-25) port. I need the printer to be as small as possible, so I can take it with me to different places. But be able to do basic A4 printouts (just text). I found a small printer but the cartridges were like $60 each!.

So basically. I want a cheap tiny printer, which does basic A4 prints out. Which uses cheap ink cartridges.

I don’t know much about printers. So any help would be grateful!

Cheap portable mp3 speakers?

marble — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:22:32 -0800

Looking for decent portable speakers for my mp3 player, ideally for $30 or less. This is for my cube at work - low volume, but I'd like at least some bass (current $5 piece of crap speakers do not have put out any bass that I can detect, even when adjusting the primitive equalizer on my mp3 player). I looked at some at Amazon but only saw one review that even mentioned bass at all. I don't listen to a lot of thumpa thumpa music, but I'd like to be able to hear the lower range at a reasonable volume.

I would prefer ones that aren't powered, but if the speakers come with an a/c adapter I could make that work. Mp3 player is a Sandisk Sansa m250, if that matters.

Any suggestions?

Suggestions for a lightweight, portable, decent sounding bass rig?

quarterframer — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:03:34 -0800

Help me defy the laws of physics and make a decent bass sound with a tiny box. I'm looking for the almost impossible: either a combo or a head and cab for bass that meets at as many of these criteria as possible:

* 35lbs or under.

* Compact enough to either be carried comfortably (walking a mile or so) or ideally, strapped to a bike rack.

* Under USD1000.00

* Loud enough just for stage volume/rehearsals with a small kit, a guitar and a couple horns. 120-150 watts should be OK but more would be better. Old school bass sounds, no tweeter or bells and whistles required.

At 25lbs or so, the GK 150MS-150 combo I tried seems like my best bet (and I like the way it sounds) but what else is out there? I've had my current (and way too large for what I need) rig for decades and am 100% ignorant of what physics defying gear is available these days.

Car alarm for my flat?

thewalrus — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 10:48:04 -0800

Security alarm: I'm looking for a portable, battery operated house/office alarm system which can watch the only entrance of a flat. It's a concrete building and the front door is the only way in, unless somebody scales a balcony which would definitely be noticed. This should function much like a car alarm, with a remote key fob to arm and disarm, motion sensor and a opening sensor on the door, and make a very loud noise if it's disturbed. I'll try to describe the ideal form of what I'm looking for, and see if metafilter can recommend anything similar.

It should be about the size of a large paperback book, or hardcover book, and designed to sit near the front door of a premises that has a single entrance (example, concrete condo tower). It should have a sensor to detect if the door has been opened, and/ a shock sensor, with a motion sensor that uses similar technology to the motion sensors that go in the corners of rooms. It should not be reliant on 110V/240V wall electricity, but run on its own battery, or have a backup battery for when wall power is not available. Should be armed and disarmed by a remote key fob similarly to a good car alarm. If it is disturbed when armed, it should make a ridiculously loud noise and attract attention to itself.

(BONUS): If it has the ability to put a GSM SIM in it and program it to send a SMS or dial a number and play a message when it is triggered that would be excellent. This is for use in a third world country where police response is nearly nonexistant, the wired phone network is unreliable, and third party alarm monitoring services (such as ADT) don't really exist. If something makes a really loud noise that's good enough to attract the neighbors' attention since car alarms are still very rare here. If an apartment makes a horrible screeching noise it will bring people running.

I'm thinking of something kind of like this but with connections to attach a door-opening or glass breakage sensor, and possibly an external speaker horn for a louder screech.

http://www.amazon.com/Streetwise-MA795-Strobe-Motion-Remote/dp/B000WDPPD2

Need some input on a road warrior setup - Specifically would the Iriscan(express or executive) work for scanning ID's? or is there something better for portable scanning and printing/pdfing

Mesach — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:01:15 -0800

Need some input on a road warrior setup - Specifically would the Iriscan(express or executive) work for scanning ID's? or is there something better for portable scanning and printing/pdfing I need to get a Project Manager for my company setup with a portable solution for scanning and printing, he travels "A LOT" and needs something that he can tote around. I need to get a setup that he can print and scan with, mainly he will be scanning documents, but pretty frequently he will need to scan ID's and Permanent Non Resident cards.

I have looked at the canon line of portable printers, and I'm pretty much settling on the Iriscan scanners, but I need to know if they can scan id's and such, they can scan business cards, but i don't need the recognition, it really will only be for scanning and printing or scanning and PDFing to email to corporate.

Is there possibly a better solution?

What should I put in my lunchbox?

anotherpanacea — Sat, 16 May 2009 15:43:50 -0800

Help me brainstorm easy packed lunches. For more than a decade, I've eaten turkey & cheese or peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, with a yogurt and crackers. Sometimes with fruit, sometimes carrots and hummus. Sometimes couscous and garbanzos. It's fine, but it's boring.

I'm stuck in a rut, and I need to get out. Unfortunately, I'm feeling fairly uncreative around lunch foods. Please give me your best recipes and packable-food blogs. I'm looking to be less carb-intensive but mostly I'm just looking for tastiness, variety, portability, and ease of preparation.

Looking for a way to keep 2 spoonfuls of medicine in my pocket.

Anonymous — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:29:11 -0800

I'm looking for a clever way to bring 2 tablespoons of liquid medicine around with me in my pocket on weekends, without lugging around an entire bottle. I take a medicine twice a day - once around 10:45am, another around 4pm. It is one tablespoon of a medicine per dose, and it does not come in any alternative form. Taking this isn't a problem at work, as I have a bottle that sits in my desk. However, I find myself missing it on weekends when it is inconvenient to take a whole bottle around, plus a spoon. Any thoughts on how to conveniently take around 2 tablespoons of a liquid a day (hopefully something that can fit easily in a pocket and not leak).

Asked anon because I don't want to worry friends and others who don't know I am taking meds, but read MeFi and know my user name.

Need a quiet, portable printer

mikeand1 — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:39:57 -0800

Need portable, very quiet, printer. I have a big trial coming up involving lots of documents, and I need a portable printer that I can use in the courtroom. That means it needs to be portable, and very quiet.

It needs to connect to my laptop via USB or firewire. It doesn't need to run on batteries, I will have AC power. Price is not a big issue.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

Thanks,
Mike

Help me choose health insurance?

attercoppe — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 12:55:14 -0800

Can you help my wife and I choose health insurance? I'm shopping for health insurance for my wife and I. I'm looking here for recommendations on good companies and good plans; tips on what to be sure to get and what to avoid; and even "Hey you sound like me, here's what I have and love."

We are 31 and 29, in good shape, and non-smokers. We live in Colorado. She currently does massage but in about three months she'll quit that, we'll move, and start trying to get pregnant. I have a desk job now but when we move I'll be looking to learn a trade - likely I'll be apprenticing as a plumber. We both snowboard now, she more than I.

So considering our current vocations and free-time activites, as well as our planned future situation...

I think we need covered: ER/broken bone, pre-natal and post-natal and possibly delivery. We lean towards home birth, alternative medicine, etc so coverage for that would be great.

I think we don't need: prescriptions, major surgery, mental health.

We might like: dental, vision, chiropractic, massage.

Bonuses would include portability (for when we move (within CO)), and a good range of choice in providers, as well as (in priority order) low premiums, low deductibles, and low co-pays. As befits insurance, this is pretty much just-in-case coverage. We don't really expect to use it much or at all. (Feel free to regale me with evidence that supports other thinking, just please no YOU GOTTA HAVE PSYCH AND MAJOR MED CUZ YOU NEVER KNOW!!1!.)

Thanks so much!

Portable Media Centre

edbyford — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 02:46:22 -0800

I've just bought an external hard drive for carrying around my music, movies, and pictures. Is there a portable media centre program I could also put on it? At home I use XBMC, and I love it!

However, when I'm playing movies etc. on someone else's computer, I don't want to have to install XBMC on their computer to get the same functionality.

Is there a program designed to be lightweight, portable (and preferably open source) which I could store on my external drive and just run it when playing back movies on someone's computer?

Thinking about hacking a PSP

l2yangop — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:27:49 -0800

i'm thinking about getting a PSP. i want to hack it and be able to play downloaded games and movies. what do i need to know before proceeding? (i.e. difficulty, what not to get, etc) dont bother with legal mumbo jumbo. i already know the risks

Portable Comic Readers

Ziggy Zaga — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:41:12 -0800

Portable comic readers. I'm looking for a USB-connectable device on which I can throw .cbr and .cbz (or .rar and .zip respectively) files onto it, and be able to view them on the device the same way CDisplay does on the PC. What affordable devices are capable of doing this? Think Kindle, but for comics. Google reveals that the iPhone will do it but I'm not going to buy one for this.

I know the Nintendo DS can do this with third-party chips and mods but the end result is pathetic and not worth the effort. The screen resolution is terrible.

I've got my eye on the PSP but lost all respect for Sony after all the firmware bricking debacles. I'll consider it as a last resort if there are absolutely no other low-cost options...I don't plan on doing much with it that might actually require firmware updates. It's more a matter of principle than anything.

Aside from that I've given up on techno-lust long ago and don't keep up with current trends in gadgetry. Is there anything else out there that might fit the bill? The cheaper, the better-- once we hit $300 I might as well get a cheap laptop.

Thanks

I need some advice about buying a portable lightweight laptop.

gregb1007 — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 15:16:24 -0800

I need some advice about buying a portable lightweight laptop. I am looking to purchase a really light laptop that I could carry in a backpack or a briefcase and still walk around comfortably.

Basically, if I walk two miles in one direction and a few more in another, all within the span of an hour, the weight of carrying that laptop should not incur any pain on my back, shoulders, or what have you.

I also want this to be an inexpensive laptop great for Internet applications, word processing, listening to music, and watching videos. (It should have built-in wifi. A good keyboard easy to type on would be nice as well.) Since I really don't need it do to anything else, especially handle graphics or play games, it should really be a bargain. Under $500 dollars. (Note: My old 500 mhz desktop let me browse the Internet, watch videos, and listen to music just fine, even if it was a bit slow. But a bit slow is acceptable for me.)

Oh, and last but not least, I want this laptop to run Windows. Reason: I have some great applications on my desktop at home that are Windows-only that I am not willing to part with. I know there are many Linux fans out there, but believe me when I tell you that there are some companies, especially small ones, that develop their programs exclusively for Windows and it is incredibly difficult to find alternatives that perform the same functions. (Sidenote: Macs can run Windows, but that's beside the point, since Apple notebooks are outside of my price range anyway.)

Portable pdf reading - what's the way to go?

sien — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 01:38:20 -0800

What would you recommend for a compact device that reads pdfs? I've recently started train commuting and have 30 minutes on a regular basis to read. There are quite a few large pdfs that I read. I've been using a PSP but it doesn't work well. I'm currently looking at an ipod touch, eee PC, Aspire One, Nokia n800 and would consider anything else that people recommend. ( more inside ) I've been using a PSP with bookr but have found that it crashes on sizable pdfs and often won't display the pdf at a readable resolution without needing to constantly scroll across the page.

The ipod touch is almost a good solution. It just that it appears that you have to email pdfs to yourself to view them and that you can't view them in landscape mode. Perhaps these problems can be overcome by jail breaking the device but I'm not sure.

My Nokia 6110's adobe reader will view everything and work right, but with constant scrolling due to the device's small size it doesn't work well either.

Does anyone have experience with the Nokia internet tablets? There are some cheaply available on ebay Australia so they are also potentially a viable option.

In the end, if you want to read large pdfs do you really have to have a PC? A cheap eee PC or Aspire one might be what's required.

Are any of the epaper devices capable of handling large, graphics containing pdfs? I'm in Australia so the Kindle is probably not viable.

At any rate, it'd be great to have the experiences and opinions from the Blue as to what to do.

(and just as an aside, I regularly read normal books on the train and enjoy that too, it's just that some stuff is more readily available as pdfs)

Portable digital audio recorder in Seattle?

bumpkin — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:08:49 -0800

I am looking for a reasonably cheap portable digital audio recorder, on short notice, in the Seattle area. I have a student who is taking a leave to go to Kenya to volunteer with an education / development NGO. While he is there, I have suggested that he -- a musician -- collect sound so that he might put together a multimedia or audio piece. I want to provide him with a portable digital audio recorder. Cost is an object: something like the Edirol R-09HR looks great, but is pretty much the upper limit of my budget. The other catch is that he is in Seattle, and leaves on Monday, so ordering over the internet is probably out.

First question: where can I find a store in Seattle that will carry these kinds of portable audio recorders?

Second: Any suggestions? Here is a compilation of reviews of field recorders, and here is a relevant older AskMe question.

Having the balls to carry around a trackball...

curagea — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 10:07:14 -0800

Good-sized portable trackballs: do they exist? My supervisor gave me a Logiech Marble Mouse some months ago, knowing that I have wrist problems when working at my computer. I love this thing to pieces, since it's a lot easier to work with than mice when I don't have a lot of desk space, and my wrist has been complaining less these days about carpal pain. Also, it fits my hand perfectly (I have big hands).

Trouble is, fits perfectly = not very portable. I've been shopping around online and some retail stores for portable trackballs to carry with my laptop, but there isn't much love. I've found this, but the trackball seems a bit too miniscule (in contrast with the big red ball on the Marble Mouse, which makes scrolling less of an effort). Then there's the Fellowes trackball, which is made for being held in the hand - and I want something to put on the desk. But then, it's the closest thing to what I'm looking for in the "perfect" portable trackball.

So, trackball users (if any), are there any other portable options? Or should I just lug my Marble Mouse around? Note that I actually don't mind doing that, it's just that the less bulk in my bag, the better.

Why shouldn't I buy the Asus EPC?

onepapertiger — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 15:52:23 -0800

Why shouldn't I buy the Asus EEEPC? I think i want to buy one and I've read rave reviews about it online. But I am kind of wondering what the downsides are. I most recently owned an iBook that now refuses to turn on. Anyone know why buying the Asus EEEPC would be a mistake?

Suggestions wanted for portable speakers

MarvinJ — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 08:00:14 -0800

Help me to disco disco on holiday! Suggest some portable speakers, sub$100, for non-ipod player. I've been looking for a while on the internet for some speakers to take on holiday so that I am not stuck listening to europop on the hotel radio.

I like the look of the JBL onTour, the saitek a-200 and the Logitech mm28. But of course without hearing them I have no idea which is best, and am open to suggestions if all 3 suck too.

be my ears, mefi!

PORTABLE VIDEO + MP3 PLAYER

selton — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 17:56:36 -0800

I want a mp4/3 IPOD like gadget and I'd like to use it for... 60% to play videos (converted from my DVD collection), 35% to play music (MP3 etc) and 5% to listen to FM radio - the radio is negotiable, not vital. I've never owned or used an MP3/4 player and I'm clueless. Options I've considered below: please add any others that I've missed.

SONY NWZA818B (8gb) for £70.

IPOD Classic (80gb) for approx £159.

IPOD Touch (8gb) for approx £179.

IPOD Nano (8gb) for approx £120.

CREATIVE ZEN (8gb) for approx £90.

Is watching a movie on a 2inch screen actually watchable ?

I'm currently in London (UK) but I'll soon be flying to Thailand via Abu Dhabi... so I have duty free options also.

Cheaper Portable Oxygen Concentrator?

alcopop — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:49:23 -0800

Where can I find a used/rebuilt Airsep Freestyle portable oxygen concentrator on the cheap? This machine ( the Airsep Freestyle portable oxygen concentrator ) is so new that there are few used/rebuilt units available, my grandfather's Medicare won't pay for it, and the new ones are around $4000, so we're looking for a cheaper one (at any price point). We need the exact style, as the doctor said that no other concentrators would work for my grandfather's needs. I figured that putting the question up to the hive mind might allow some different perspectives and a possible solution to this problem, so any help would be great. Any knowledge of where to find this machine even a little cheaper, used/new/rebuilt would really be a help.

How many hard drives does it take, before WinXP can see them?

jadepearl — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 08:42:29 -0800

External hard showing "weird". Better known as, sharing an external/portable hard drive between osx and winxp. I have tried out no less than 3 of these Lacie external hard drives.

They are formatted FAT32 and register perfect on my macs at home. However on 2 WinXP machines they register as a regular drive, are listed as "full" and nothing can be loaded or read from them. This all started because they initially could not be found on the winxp though device manager "saw" them just fine and disk managment found it "healthy". I got it enabled and allocated a drive. Now it does not show in disk management. This is what I have done so far:

1) Reformatted one on a mac for pc -- still not "mounted" though seen by device manager. Forced allocation using disk management. Unable to format on the PC to NTFS after it mounted. Unable to read or write because "full" or not recognized;

2) Plugged in a "virgin" FAT32 drive after forced allocation and it can be seen but now only registering as a drive with no further info and again, "full" cannot read nor write nor found by disk management;

3) MacDrive 7 unable to find or read the drives initially until I forced allocation and again, no read nor write nor formatting. App keeps asking where the mac drive is;

WinXP service pack 2 on my machine; hard drives connected via USB 2.0; Novell Zenworks and network drives are a part of my environment.

The drives are new and Lacie is generally a reputable firm. FAT32 should be able to be read by a WinXP machine. This is a consistent problem after trying 3 drives. Any advice would be nice.