Three simple ways to use technology to set yourself free

New technology means it’s possible to work wherever you want. You’ve already decided you want to work for yourself and away from the traditional office, but now – with a few simple tips and tricks – you can enjoy unprecedented flexibility, and work almost anywhere, from your local coffee shop to the public park. Freelance Advisor and Home Working author and expert Emma Jones explains how.

Working on the move with your computer

If you already have a fairly up-to-date laptop computer, you have all you really need to work away from home. Most can pick up wireless Internet access from receivers already built-in. But if you have a slightly older laptop, buy a small adaptor which you plug into a spare USB port. Affordable options are available from a company called Belkin who provide pretty clear instructions to help you get started.

If WiFi hotspots are few and far between, you can now get on the Internet practically anywhere, with a USB dongle. It looks like a flash thumbdrive and allows your laptop to connect to broadband speed-Internet from a mobile phone provider.

Wi-Fi hotspots are usually free of charge in places like public libraries and independent coffee shops, where owners encourage you to use their hotspots to boost sales. If you’re looking for out of home working locations in your area, check out myHotspots.

With your mobile or smart phone

A Blackberry is a smart phone and one of the most popular devices for working away from the home office. It allows you to surf the web, check your e-mail and edit office documents.

Most mobile phones allow you to check email on the move, but it’s best to check with your service provider before giving it a go. Unless included in your contract, checking email or surfing the web on your mobile phone can be quite expensive.

If you use web mail, from Google for example, or Yahoo!, it’s easy to check your email as there are mobile ready versions of their websites, which you can view on your mobile phone’s web browser.

Yahoo! Mobile -Google Mobile

Mobile broadband is great if you’re often on the move or use your laptop in a variety of locations, but it can be pricey. Look around for unlimited packages and those that provide the hardware for free.

A forwarding number

Skype, offers a call forwarding feature, which allows you to direct incoming calls to your Skype account or Skype phone number to your mobile phone. Depending on your package you can forward calls at no extra cost and it’s easy to set up.

Taking these steps will free you up to work from anywhere and, with the sun starting to shine, why not head into the garden to take on the inbox!

三種利用科技來(lái)使自己更為自由的簡(jiǎn)單方法

新科技意味著你可以在任何自己中意的地點(diǎn)工作。作為一名自由職業(yè)者，你已經(jīng)做出了為自己工作并遠(yuǎn)離傳統(tǒng)辦公室的決定，但現(xiàn)在，只要運(yùn)用幾個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單的秘 訣和技巧，你就能享受到更大的靈活性：在任何自己中意的地點(diǎn)工作，比如在你家附近的咖啡館或公園。自由顧問(wèn)及撰稿人Emma Jones將本文中說(shuō)明如何做到這一點(diǎn)。

帶上你的筆記本電腦開(kāi)始移動(dòng)辦公

如果你已經(jīng)擁有了一臺(tái)還算跟得上時(shí)代的筆記本電腦，那么你就已經(jīng)具備離開(kāi)家工作所需要的所有物品了。大多數(shù)筆記本電腦都能通過(guò)內(nèi)置無(wú)線網(wǎng)卡實(shí)現(xiàn)無(wú)線上網(wǎng)。如果你用的是比較老款的筆記本，那么就需要買一個(gè)USB口插入式的無(wú)線網(wǎng)卡。Belkin的無(wú)線網(wǎng)卡能幫你的筆記本實(shí)現(xiàn)無(wú)線上網(wǎng)。

如果周邊WiFi熱點(diǎn)并不多見(jiàn)，利用一個(gè)USB集線器，你就能在幾乎任何地方連上互聯(lián)網(wǎng)。它看起來(lái)像一個(gè)閃存U盤但它可以使你的筆記本通過(guò)手機(jī)信號(hào)服務(wù)商以高速寬帶的方式連上互聯(lián)網(wǎng)。

WiFi熱點(diǎn)在圖書(shū)館和獨(dú)立咖啡店等地方一般都是免費(fèi)的，在這些場(chǎng)所店主們會(huì)鼓勵(lì)你使用他們的熱點(diǎn)來(lái)吸引更多顧客。如果你想找擁有WiFi熱點(diǎn)的辦公場(chǎng)所，可以上myHotspots這個(gè)網(wǎng)站查詢。

利用好你的移動(dòng)電話或智能手機(jī)

比如黑莓手機(jī)就是一款智能手機(jī)，它也是為那些想離開(kāi)家庭辦公室辦公的人士們準(zhǔn)備的最流行的電子設(shè)備之一。你可以通過(guò)黑莓手機(jī)上網(wǎng)、查收電子郵件及編輯文本文件。

大多數(shù)手機(jī)都能查收電子郵件，但在使用手機(jī)收發(fā)電子郵件之前最好先咨詢下你的服務(wù)提供商。除非這些服務(wù)已經(jīng)包含在你以前的話費(fèi)合同里面了，不然通過(guò)手機(jī)收發(fā)郵件或上網(wǎng)將是相當(dāng)昂貴的。

如果你已經(jīng)在使用網(wǎng)頁(yè)式電子郵箱，比如google提供的Gmail或來(lái)自Yahoo!的電子郵箱，那么通過(guò)手機(jī)查收郵件就非常容易，因?yàn)檫@些電子郵箱都已經(jīng)具備手機(jī)版登錄界面，你可以通過(guò)手機(jī)上的游覽器登錄自己的郵箱。

Yahoo!的手機(jī)版本 - Google的手機(jī)版本

如果你經(jīng)常外出辦公或需要在不同場(chǎng)所使用筆記本電腦的話，那么移動(dòng)寬帶就是一個(gè)好東西，但它的費(fèi)用也相當(dāng)高。你可以尋找下那些能提供不限流量套餐以及免費(fèi)硬件的無(wú)線上網(wǎng)服務(wù)提供商。

一個(gè)能實(shí)現(xiàn)呼叫轉(zhuǎn)移的電話號(hào)碼

Skype就具備呼叫轉(zhuǎn)移的功能，它能將那些撥入你的Skype賬戶或撥打你Skype電話號(hào)的電話轉(zhuǎn)接到你的手機(jī)上來(lái)。這種轉(zhuǎn)接服務(wù)是免費(fèi)的，也很容易設(shè)置，具體要看你訂購(gòu)的Skype套餐。

采取了這些步驟，你就可以在自己中意的任何地點(diǎn)辦公了，隨著太陽(yáng)開(kāi)始申請(qǐng)，為什么不去公園里查看下你的收件箱呢？