Guide Picks - Find some great laptop accessory gift ideas under $25. Make sure any mobile workers you know have the right mobile gadgets to make their work-life easier and more enjoyable.

Guide Tips - For many of us mobile professionals this is the time to start considering new mobile gear. There are many factors to consider before we spend our money and these can include whether we buy new, used or even lease our mobile gear.

Before you take the plunge and spend your money, take time to review these factors, so that you can be sure you have gotten the best mobile gear for your needs.

News - I was sent a link to a rather interesting article that was published in the north shore news titled - Benefits of a mobile workforce are many. The article written by Steve Dotto provides the usual list of benefits and an overview of how perspectives have changed regarding the reasons for telecommuting.

What I found most interesting is the idea Steve has that those working remotely need to be paid using a new and different method. He states "If you can do your assigned work in three hours instead of eight, do it in three. Just do it!" So the people that work on-site and have the same tasks as the remote worker will get paid for an 8-hour day but the remote worker will only be paid for 3? I've worked in situations in the past where there were tasks such as Steve envisioned that could be done in far fewer hours than they actually took and once I was working remotely on a regular basis was able to do so. The actual consequence though was not that I was paid only for the actual time but as more work could be done - then more work was assigned. So rather than the company paying me for fewer hours, they paid for the same hours as a person on-site and got more work completed.

I don't think going the route of new compensation plans based on objectives accomplished would work well in reality - people would either pad their time on jobs or just do things more slowly. They might also decide they don't really want to work remotely either and then remote work programs (telecomuting) would be a moot point as there would be no remote workers.

Share your thoughts and let us know whether you think there should be new or different compensation plans for remote workers? Should remote workers be paid on the basis of "objectives accomplished"?

Guide Tips - You make sure that your laptop is protected while traveling, but are you taking the same security measures with your PDA? As more PDAs become wireless capable and more data is stored and shared on PDAs, the potential for loss increases greatly.

Take stock of your PDA security defences and review this list of programs which provide anti virus, firewall and encryption protection for your PDA.

Guide Tips - Working remotely creates some unique situations that many companies have no prior experience dealing with. Remote workers and their employers must have a clear understanding of the rights and obligations they each have in remote work arrangements.

Just as there are employee manuals which lay out what is expected of employees, Remote Work Policies and Agreements will provide the specifics for each companies remote work arrangements.

What You Need to Know to Create a Remote Work Policy and Agreement.

Guide Tips - I've received emails telling me that while the information presented here is very useful, I've neglected the mobile professionals who use (and love) Mac laptops. To get started with resources for using your Mac on the road, here are keyboard shortcuts for Mac laptops, so you don't have to rely on a mouse when space is tight.

Guide Picks - In order to get the most out of using your PDA, it's important to realize there are some accessories available which can make your work life easier. Finding the right accessories to suit your work style can be the difference between working successfully on the road or not.

Review my picks for great PDA accessories and see what you can use.

Guide Picks - Traveling through airports can be very time consuming and when you have to take into consideration unpacking your laptop bag in order to have your laptop X-rayed it can add more time to your busy schedule. Using a laptop sleeve rather than a laptop bag when traveling by air can make life a little easier. A big advantage to using a laptop sleeve is that it holds just your laptop and you don't have to worry about losing small accessories or important documents while trying to remove your laptop. Many laptop sleeves can be placed right on the tray for the X-ray and you may not have to remove your laptop at all.

Read More about a selection of large laptop sleeves that will fit your 17" notebooks.

Guide Tips - Are you sure of the right way to protect your laptop from cold weather? Make sure you aren't taking risks with your laptop in the cold while on the road.

How To - Most hotels now offer free wireless Internet access provided by an outside company. Using this wireless access can make business traveling much easier and less stressful for mobile professionals.

If you’ve never used wireless Internet access while staying in a hotel, follow my Tutorial to set up your laptop for wireless access. Even though the service provider may vary from the company that my hotel used, the basic process will remain the same. The wireless service providers on average have made connecting to their network as painless as possible and they don’t normally require that you make changes to your network connection settings.

If you happen to stay in a hotel that offers free wired Internet connections, just plug in your CAT 5 and away you go. You will be connected and don't need any other information to begin. An important note to keep in mind is that the hotels do not provide any on-the-spot service or answers to questions regarding the wireless network connections. They only provide authorization access details and the name of the provider. Their job is not tech support. If you do run into difficulties, you should be able to obtain the phone number for Customer Service of the service provider from the hotel.