Going Portable

Over the past few months, I've been working on making my computer and multimedia equipment as portable as possible. As electronics have been getting smaller and cheaper, I invested in a minimal "take-everywhere" laptop and a small Wacom tablet for updaing the comic or making sketches on the go. That Motorola Q I bought recently was supposed to help ensure connectivity, but Verizon's draconian "go over 5GB of transfer in a month and your account will be terminated without notice" policy has derailed my plans for connecting the laptop to the phone.

Anyway, the whole idea of going portable is mainly to be able to get work done from anywhere, although there was a power outage last night followed by an Internet connection outage during an ice storm. It was good to have everything powered by battery and it would have been possible to update the site - although uploading files would have been tricky given the configuration - using portable, battery-powered equipment.

That made me think about the concept of "living off the grid". Of course, the "grid" in this case would mean anything wired. Truly living off of the grid means that you provide your own power from sunlight or whatever, provide your own waste management, water, etc. I'm not talking about that. It made me think about whether or not we would all, at some point, rely on completely wireless communication, such as Wi-Max or an equivalent providing our phone, television, internet, and the whole bowl of gravy. No more worrying about the cables getting chewed up by squirrels.

I'd like that.

The comic update might be delayed until Monday evening if I don't finish it up tonight.