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IRL: The Phorce Freedom is a bag that trades space for versatility
At CES -- the world's largest tech show -- the intrepid reporter faces many challenges. Most of them involve sleep (lack of), nutrition (lack of), human beings (abundance of) and coffee (usually lack of, but often, taste of). As such, it's very important that you don't go and add to that list of problems with some form of self-sabotage: the wrong cables, poor coffee choices, no backup power and, crucially, a P.O.S. bag. You and your bag are going to become close friends over the week, so it pays to get one that'll do the job, with a minimum of fuss.
IRL: the Kindle Touch, a repurposed Army bag and a non-user replaceable laptop battery
Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we're using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment. Hi there, folks. It's that time of the week where we share our close and very personal experiences with various gadget paraphernalia. This week, Brian makes the switch from the Nook Simple Touch to the Kindle Touch, Ben explains why he'd rather replace his own laptop battery, thank you very much, and Don makes the case for a laptop bag that looks anything but.
Engadget's back to school guide: Laptop bags
Welcome to Engadget's Back to School guide! We know that this time of year can be pretty annoying and stressful for everyone, so we're here to help out with the heartbreaking process of gadget buying for the school-aged crowd. Today, we have laptop bags in our sights -- and you can head to the Back to School hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the month. By now you should have had enough time to decide what on our laptop buying guide takes your fancy, but, as Apple will tell you, the protective case is sometimes as important as the precious hardware itself. You'll notice that this year we have a good number of bags that include padded camera sections as well -- to the point of perhaps being described as camera bags with laptop compartments -- but we feel that's justified by the massive proliferation of DSLRs into the mainstream market. Entry-level interchangeable lens shooters have grown cheap enough even for non-photography students to consider owning one, but we can think of no good reason why they should require a separate bag of their own. So, on with the recommendations.
TSA to introduce less annoying laptop bag rules this Saturday
According to a report in USA Today, starting on Saturday the TSA will be relaxing its policies on laptop removal from bags, and will be letting specific bags types ride through the X-ray machines with their cargo intact. The agency will allow travelers using bags which provide an unobstructed view of the computer inside to keep their laptops tucked away during the screening process, though they'll still require "accordion" or "backpack" style bag-users to grab a bin. The TSA isn't naming names or attaching labels to specific bags, but has provided guidelines to fliers suggesting what style would be most conducive to not getting shaken down every time you go to the airport. Of course, the TSA could have been doing this since the start of their time-wasting (and false-security-inducing) process, thus saving us innumerable headaches... but that would have made too much sense.
Skooba makes with the pictures of TSA-friendly bags (update: not really)
The TSA got a lot of frequent travelers fairly excited a couple months ago when it announced that it was soliciting bag manufacturers for "checkpoint-friendly" designs that would allow laptop owners to leave their machines safely tucked away as they passed through security, but we didn't know what any of these bags would look like until now. As you'd expect, Skooba's first design, the Checkthrough, is pretty minimalist, in keeping with the requirements that approved bags not have any straps or zippers and not feature any space for items that could interfere with the X-ray image. That also means it's pretty useless if you only want to schlep one bag around, so it looks like we're stuck with the Bucket Dance for now -- hey TSA, would pockets on the sides be such a threat to our nation's security? Just a thought.PS.- We're hoping against hope that nasty "Checkthrough" logo isn't actually printed on the bag, but given some of the TSA experiences we've had, we'd half expect it to be there as a cue for screeners let the bag pass through.Update: Skooba's CEO let us know that this still isn't the checkthrough bag, just another illustration (sigh) and that the "the actual bag will be a full-featured, top-of the-line ballistic nylon business case, packed with cool and unique bells and whistles." Alright, so let's see it then.
Microsoft offers up laptop totes for the ladies
It can be confusing and a little bit scary when big-name manufacturers decide to delve into new product categories. Case in point: whenever we're in the market for a new operating system, Microsoft is always right up there among our top three finalists; however, when we're trying to pick up a new laptop bag for our sweetheart, a "Made in Redmond" label would have little to do with our purchasing decision. Actually, the trio of new female-focused bags that the software giant is kicking out on the 15th probably aren't made in Washington or even the US for that matter -- Microsoft has teamed up with luggage manufacturer Samsill to bring its Madison, Manhattan, and Monticello totes (pictured left to right) into the world. This all-leather nylon and "leather-look" vinyl lineup handles laptops up to 15.4 inches (sorry, XPS M2010 owners), and contains all the amenities you'd expect from a modern notebook tote: padded internal sleeve, zippered compartments, and, um, shoulder straps for convenient transport. Other nice features include built-in file compression (looks like you could cram a whole ream of paper into the Manhattan), advanced search capabilities (simply stick your hand in and dig around), WGA security (you have to bring the bag in for "patching" once a month or it falls apart), and Microsoft's proprietary ReadyZip technology (for opening 'em up 30% faster). Prices range from $50 for the Monticello to $70 for the Manhattan, although no matter which one you order, all three models are shipped in the same package -- simply call up customer service for a license to use one of the other bags.Read- MonticelloRead- MadisonRead- Manhattan[Via Crave]
