Scopetech

Earlier this month we ran an article about the preparation required to stay connected abroad and it just so happened that I was taking off after the article was released. I decided to take Nick’s advice in to account and compile a list of methods that I found worked best to stay connected.

1. WiFi - Usually when you’re on the road these days, a wireless connection is never far away and in this case, Google Maps is your friend. With Google Maps you can find a hotspot in your area with the click of a button and it’s all displayed on a colourful little map. Great! If Google don’t have your area covered then you should probably do some research on the area you’ll be staying in and around. Most shopping centres usually offer a stable WiFi connection for free so don’t hesitate to whip out your laptop and search for a connection. (of course, you can always use one of these)

2. 3G Data Cards - 3G coverage still isn’t as wide as it could be in some places, yet it’s still a great solution when there’s no WiFi in the area. You can pick up a data card from a 3G service provider for a pretty reasonable price. Although be warned, sometimes data plans can be expensive so shop around a bit for one that suits you best. The cards themselves work well with laptops that have a slot specifically for them and some mac users may be feeling left out, but don’t worry, check out our next solution.

3. GPRS - Before you excuse this as a painfully slow method, it’s actually quite efficient. Now, you may be thinking ‘there’s no way I’m going to check my email on my cell phone’ but this isn’t really what I was going to recommend. It’s pretty easy to connect your phone to your computer over a USB cable or use a bluetooth connection to use the phone as a GPRS modem and you can even use this method with EDGE or 3G. Here are some links for you to check out in order to get it set up.
Ross Barkman’s Home Page
Apple Docs.
GSM Tethering with Windows XP

4. Internet Cafes - Even if you don’t mind leaving your laptop behind in exchange for one of the computers at the local internet cafe, you should still find a decent connection to get the job done (assuming you’re just going to check some emails or something.) Be wary though, you don’t want to enter too much personal information (passwords etc.) on these computers as the information is easily retrieved and accessible by anyone else using the computer after you.

5. Your Mobile Phone - Whilst it’s a costly and overtly slow method, if you really do need to check for that one email you’re eagerly anticipating, you can get some great applications for your phone that handle the job well. Of course, due to the cost and speed, this isn’t really a method I’d recommend for a late night browsing session.

If you have any more connection methods or links, feel free to leave them in the comments.

If you haven’t heard about Kevin Rose’s newest project, Pownce, you officially don’t browse the internet. Sporting a Twitter-like feel with some added functionality, the new social networking/file sharing service Pownce will cater to both the casual blogger and productivity-minded user. The website says the main focus of Pownce is “sharing stuff,” and it does that well. With both a web-based interface and a cross-platform app (thanks to Adobe’s new AIR runtime environment), users are able to post messages, links, files, and events either privately to friends or publicly for all to see. The project is currently in beta, offering 6 invites to every new member in an attempt to keep the load on the site low as they tweak the service.

With all the pleasantries aside, let’s get down to the features:

Pownce sports a very clean interface thanks to the efforts of Daniel Burka who also designed the Digg website. The colors are appealing and the transparencies add a subtle effect..it’s definitely a trendy looking site. A Powncer’s public profile is very similar to Twitter. Posts from both the user and all their friends are shown collectively on their main page along with a short profile on the top. The format is simple and gets the point across: what I’m doing and what are my friends doing. Users can only choose from three different templates for their pages currently, hopefully with more on the way. If opening your browser to use the service is just too bothersome, Pownce offers desktop software to make updating even more painless. In an interesting move, the software was developed using Adobe’s new AIR runtime environment. AIR allows developers to create one application that works on any OS all while using existing web development tools. In the future, I hope to see more sites like Pownce utilize AIR, making reaching everyone with an internet connection a much less daunting task.

The first thing you will notice when you start up the Pownce app is that the GUI is brown. First the Zune, now Pownce. Did I miss when brown became attractive? Besides the odd color choice, the application gets the job done with the posting feature on the top and a box showing recent activity between you and your friends on the bottom. As for posting, the process is simple: just pick the tab of what you want to post (Message, Link, File, Event), put in the content, and say who you want it to be posted to (Public, Friends, Specific Friend). The newly posted content will be shown on both the application and the site.

The people at Pownce have kept their message simple: allow people to “share stuff.” But what does that mean? There’s the obvious statement that Pownce is a Twitter and Jaiku killer, but aside from that Pownce also offers a whole new experience in productivity to the masses. With it’s great price point (free for 10MB files, $20/year for 100MB files), users will be able to share and develop their projects over the internet by combining the features of email, IM, and forums in one neat little application. The ability to create multiple groups allows for private project development, and the web based post storage means that you can access your project from any computer. Imagine Pownce as 37 Signals’ Basecamp with an added social networking flair.

Overall, I think Pownce has taken the things people enjoy from their competitors, and it has taken it a step forward. When it goes public, I can see Pownce converting many Jaiku and Twitter users due to the fact that it offers everything they currently have and more. It will be exciting to see what develops as the user base gets larger and Pownce goes public.

But seriously, brown?

Icanhazinvite? Leave a comment saying if you need an invitation to Pownce because we totally have some and will totally share with you. We’re good like that.