In the wake of Katrina, New Orleans has deployed a free WiFi network throughout the central downtown and French Quarter parts of the city. This network is used to help police and municipal communications with much of the local infrastructure still damaged, but private citizens and visitors can use it as well. So if your hotel does not offer WiFi as part of its amenities, there is a good chance that you can still check your email while collecting those beads and watching the parades. Happy Fat Tuesday!

Continuing our theme of successful remote workers - there is an excellent article here:

http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/km/techiedolphin/archives/007214.asp

Remember that once you have established yourself as a productive remote worker, you can do it from anywhere!

It is difficult to become a Traveling Telecommuter until you master being a remote worker. Remember work is something you do, not where you do it. Here are some tips for success as a remote worker:

1. Stay visible to your co-workers and management. Frequent status reports and other informal contact reminds them that you are there and working, even when they cannot see you.

2. Find a seperate place to work, where you can establish the correct mindset and avoid distractions.

3. Tell your family and friends that you are at work, and just because you are home, does not mean that you can be disturbed with anything that they would not call for if you were at the office. Of course, a different set of rules may apply if the reason you are working from home is to keep an eye on the kids…

4. Develop a daily routine so you can mentally identify being at work and off the job. Often remote workers end up working too many hours because they have no routine for ending the work day.

5. One of the nice things about working from home is being able to run a quick errand, or take care of issues that can only be handled during business hours. Make sure that your office can reach you, forward your phone to your cell or carry a pager.

Once you have established yourself as a competent and productive remote worker, it should not make any difference to your employer where you are working from, be it from home, or a top hotel in Paris.

The Bristol Hotel in Paris is comfortable and features high speed Internet access, excellent location and good room service, an nice place to spend some time. Find more about this hotel here.

Let’s hope this never happens to you - first bills that you don’t recognize start showing up on your statements, then you get turned down for a car loan, or start getting threatening calls from bill collecters. Maybe you have been the victim of identity theft.

A recent General Accounting Office report estimates that as many as 750,000 Americans are victims of identity theft every year. And that number may be low, as many people choose not to report the crime or, for that matter, even know they’ve been victimized.

There are many recommendations for keeping your personal data private, such as shredding financial documents before discarding them, and keeping your social security number private. Unfortunately, as regular travelers we have significant exposure to theft of credit card information. Through the use of a skimmer (a small device that reads the data from the magnetic strip on your card), anyone that handles your card could potentially capture this information.

Other parts of the world have taken measures to minimize this activity, implementing smart cards (a credit card that contains a chip) which resist the efforts of skimmers to steal your details. You may also notice that most waiters in Europe now bring a credit card remote device to your table and process your card right there, rather than taking your card off to some remote part of the restaurant to process it.

Even with these measures, Traveling Telecommuters are still at risk for identity theft. We travel to remote parts of our own countries and the rest of the world, often patronizing unknown merchants. We strongly suggest the use of credit monitoring services to keep an eye on the level of activity on your credit files at the major bureaus. If you detect fraund, here are some handy numbers to contact these agencies and minimize the damage:

Equifax
To report fraud: 1-800-525-6285
and write: P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241

Experian
To report fraud: 1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742)
and write: P.O. Box 9532, Allen, TX 75013

TransUnion
To report fraud: 1-800-680-7289
and write: Fraud Victim Assistance Division, P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92634
You should also ask them to lock your credit records and ask creditors to contact you prior to opening any new accounts.

 Linksys Compact Wireless-G Internet Video Camera

This nifty device offers some features that are of interest to the Traveling Telecommuter. Linksys has created a website that allows the video to be shared from a password protected connection. This opens possiblities to perform live demonstrations in the field for clients, presentations, or just add a personal touch to a remote meeting. Add a second camera and a video conference is born.

As if this was not enough, the camera can be left behind when you go on the road so you can keep an eye on the house and make sure all is just as you left it. There is even a feature to detect motion which will email you when the scene in the camera changes, perhaps letting you know when the dog walker comes by, or for the obvious security protection.