My European road trip with the Fujitsu Lifebook E751 #lifebook4life

A few months ago I was pre-selected to become an Insider for the Fujitsu Lifebook4life project. If you did a number of tasks and blog about it you could keep the Lifebook.

When something like this is offered it is hard to say no πŸ™‚ and I applied. Then the good news came that I was selected to be part of the insiders team of 40 insiders from all over Europe. And a few days later I received the Lifebook E751.

From then on I started using the E751 a lot. On my desk there is a PC, a workstation, where I work on clients’ sites. Then I have the MacBook Pro that I use to blog, prepare my presentations and edit video’s, and now I also have the E751 on my desk that I use on the road, to write.

Tasks

There are 10 tasks that you can perform and earn points. You need to complete at the least 6 tasks if you want to keep the Lifebook.
An overview of the 10 tasks.
Lifebook4life challange Insider 10 tasks

Each country has a different task. The countries I selected to complete the tasks:

  1. Russian Federation, Business trip by plane: Show us what’s in your suitcase – next to your LIFEBOOK.
  2. Finland, Show us your most important business websites and programmes.
  3. France, Revolutionary, Explain your favorite LIFEBOOK-feature and how it changed your daily business.
  4. Germany, Create your personal to-do-list on your FUJITSU tablet PC.
  5. Middle East, You are spoilt for choice: Decide between three features of the Modular Bay.
  6. Netherlands, Locate a β€žstolenβ€œ LIFEBOOK and catch the thieves!
  7. Italy, An obligatory act on every journey: Postcards. Create your own special postcard.

Of course it all started with an unboxing video, Lifebook E751 uitpakken voor #lifebook4life project (Dutch)
BTW this article is No 3 in Google.nl when you search for Lifebook4life just after 2 Fujitsu domains. In Google.com I have 2 positions in the top 10, 1 for this article and 1 in Flickr with photo’s about the surprise package (see below).

First stop Russian Federation

Russion Federation - Accept no Boundaries

I am on my way to Russia. My first trip to the Moscow Domodedowo airport. Before I go, a quick look at what is in my carry on bag.

what's in the bag next to the Lifebook E751 #lifebook4life

The bag and the content can not weigh more than 8 kg. Luckely the Lifebook E751 weighs about 2.5 kg, so enough room for my other essential equipment for a road trip.

So this is in my bag and why: 

  • Of course the Fujitsu Lifebook E751 – blogging and writing, work for clients, presentations
  • The charger for the Lifebook
  • The Kodak Zi6 so I can shoot some video on the road or do an interview
  • The tripod for the camera
  • The pointer to advance slides during my presentations
  • The Philips LFH0882 memo recorder – to take notes – or ‘write’ blog posts when I can’t type
  • My Samsung Nexus S – mobile phone, calendar, livelogger, camera, Wifi hotspot
  • Charger for the Nexus S
  • Charger for the AAA and AA batteries
  • business cards
  • small notepad
  • paper calendar
  • small umbrella
  • drop (a Dutch candy)

Just in case something is going wrong with the suitecase I do carry some basic stuff like:

  • dry t-shirt
  • toothbrush and toothpaste
  • 1 pair of clean underware

Btw this Skooba bag is really convenient for these kind of travel. 

Most of this is typical for my work, speaker and author. 
The umbrella is maybe not typical for the Netherlands but it is necessary when you use public transportation and you want to make it kind of dry to the location. The other very typical thing from Holland is a candy that is called drop. It has a typical taste and I like it lot. When I make longer trips it is always in my bag or suitecase.

Always on in Finland

Finland - accept no boundaries

For this trip to Finland and to show how I am always on, I am using this great tool Desktime. This tool shows me how efficient I am behind my computer. The advantage of this tool is that it is available for Windows, MAC, iPhone and Android, so no excuses. I have installed it on all my computers and my MacBook Pro. IT was one of the first tools I installed on my Lifebook.

What I use is recorded online so I can always look back and see how efficient I was during the day. You can select very easily which software, tools and sites are productive and which are time wasters.

Desktime - Lifebook software

To create and modify screenshots I use Snagit by Techsmith. It is a great tool and I need it for my presentations and my articles.

Snagit by Techsmith  - Lifebook software

While I was preparing for a workshop that I am giving later this week I found a great article about Content Marketing. I have used this article to produce an article on ErnoHannink.nl – Content Marketing is becoming more important (Dutch)

ErnoHannink.nl - WordPress blog and website

 

Today I also worked on some clients’ sites. I help clients to use the internet to attract clients. It consists of several building blocks. One of these blocks is a site and blog in WordPress. For this I create, modify and translate WordPress themes for clients’ sites. For this I use Notepad ++, a convenient HTML, PHP and CSS editor. Again an open source tool, this time only for Windows.

Notepad++  - Lifebook software

When I edit files I also need to upload these to the servers on the web. For this use the FTP-tool, WinSCP Another great Open Source solution for windows.

winSCP FTP for Windows  - Lifebook software

As I mentioned before, a great part of this day was consumed by working on the slides for the workshop. For the slides I use Keynote on my MacBook Pro.

Keynote for presentations  - Lifebook software

So this is what I do during the day. Of course I spent some time on Twitter (via Tweetdeck), on Facebook and LinkedIn. Networking and sharing. However I have not marked these sites as productive in Desktime. These sites could make me productive all day long if I want too πŸ˜‰

These are my favorite tools I always use. I can do all my work with these tools and a browser. The browser I use the most at the moment is Google Chrome. For my mail I use Gmail and as a backup I use Thunderbird. 

With the Lifebook E751, my Samsung Nexus S and these tools I am Always On. I can work where and when I want.

The lifebook revolution in France

France - Accept No Boundaries

For my work I am on the road and work sometimes in funny places. When I travel to give a presentation or a workshop about finding the best people I try to use public transportation as often as I can.

Using public transportation is pretty OK in the Netherlands we have a fairly good network of trains, trams and busses. Most of my traveling is to Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht. This means about 90 to 120 minutes in the train for me.

The first part of the trip I try to catch on in Twitter and Facebook. Often I use my Samsung Nexus S for this. Since I have the Lifebook E751 I work a little bit different. The Nexus S has the option to use it as a Wifi Hotspot. This means I connect with the Lifebook’s wifi adapter to the Nexus S and the mobile phone connects with mobile internet.

With a light browser I see what is happening on Twitter and Facebook and join in some conversations, answer some questions. Then I use notepad or Windows Live Writer to write an article or something for my next book.

The one thing that really suprised me of the Lifebook is the battery life. Actually it was one of the reasons I purchased the MacBook Pro, batterylife and that it starts really fast when you open it. Two things I was really missing on my last notebook. Now the Lifebook E751 does also do both for me.

Personalised mouse

Last week I got a special package from Fujitsu, it was a small box with a polo shirt and a small laser mouse. Looking at it more closely I saw a name engraved, my name. Wow, that is also a ‘revolution’ for me, a personalised mouse.

Suprise package Fujitsu mouse and poloshirt

The ‘Erno’ mouse

Personalized Fujitsu laser mini mouse - Erno

what TODO in Germany

GErmany  - Accept No Boundaries

As you may have noticed from my other posts here, I love to find great open source apps that help me to make my work easier. One of these solutions to manage my tasks is Wunderlist A tool I have installed on all my PCs and Macbook including the Lifebook E751. It is even installed on my Nexus S, always my tasks with me. πŸ™‚

You can create projects and add tasks to a project. You can star projects to give it even more visiblity for a priority task. Checking tasks will move them to the completed list. A great tool, although I am a bit behind on my tasks. This is my todo list for today:

Wunderlist Task list TODO

 

This is a rather dull to do list to watch, because all these tasks are on my computer at my desk. So I have some photos of another day where I had 2 appointments in Amsterdam.

Tasks completed

This is me on the first part of the train ride from Doetinchem to Arnhem. It is a bit tight on space but I can check and update Twitter and Facebook πŸ™‚

Train ride part 1 Doetinchem Arnhem Syntus Lifebook work

This is me in the second part of the train ride. More room, time to get some work done. Here I was working on an article to be published on my blog at a later time.

Train ride part 2 - working on my Lifebook E751

My first appointment in Amsterdam at Microsoft head office in Schiphol. Discussing sponsorship possibilities for an event. Where I got a short demo of the new Windows, wow fast in booting.

Meeting at Microsoft NEtherlands - making notes on my lifebook

Here is the lifebook E751 at the Amsterdam Arena, home to Ajax, the soccer team from Amsterdam. For the Social Media Club Amsterdam I am one of the organisers and this was our monthly event for September. It was about Aegon, Ajax’s sponsor, and social media. It was a great meeting, the attendees were happy with the content of the evening.

Last preparations on my Fujitsu Notebook E751 for SMC Amsterdam

Then it was time to return home. Time to get some sleep for the next day. No photo’s of that action πŸ˜‰

Visit the Middle East using the Modular Bay of my Lifebook E751

Middle East  - Accept No Boundaries

During this trip I am traveling around between Quatar, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. A trip I have been looking forward to for a long time. The planning is right and I mix business with pleasure. The business part is that I am giving a few presentations and workshops in the Middle East. 

For the days between the presentations I will be doing some sight seeing. Also I will make some photo’s of the area to customize my slides. Enjoying the surroundings and culture I will sit at a cafe and do some catching op on my writing for my next book.

So no time to watch movies. My presentations are partly on my desktop but the older versions are in the cloud, no need to add extra harddisk space. Why would I? The E751 Intel Core i5 I am using has a 278 Gb harddrive.

As I already explained during my stay in France that I was surprised by the revolutionary battery life and the fast wake up time of the Lifebook E751. The important features that I used as a strong argument to purchase the MacBook Pro.

On the road you can never have enough battery life. So for me an extra battery is always welcome. The nice thing is of course that the E751 is completely prepared for this. You can just remove the DVD player and replace it with the extra battery (that I want to purchase).

Another option could be a solid state drive. Faster response, lighter. Mmm

 

Improvements

There are 2 other things I would like to improve, or maybe I just got spoiled with the MacBook experience. For one the loudspeakers are having difficulties when I listen to music or watch a video on Youtube and the volume is loud. The sound quality of the E751 could be better, especially at higher volumes.

Another thing that I really miss is scrolling with the keypad. Now I can use it to control the mouse, it is doing an OK job for that. But the scrolling with 2 fingers is something I really miss. Just for that I use the mouse wheel of the personalised laser mouse.

Oh, and one more thing. When the battery is low on power there is a message that you still have about 45 minutes. You better connect the power cord quickly because within the next 10 minutes the juice is gone and the E751 shuts down.

Extra Anti Theft protection for the Netherlands

Netherlands  - Accept No Boundaries

Of course I am not happy that my home country, the Netherlands, requires extra anti theft protection. Then again a laptop is an easy product for thieves, small and high value. I was shocked that over 10.000 laptops are stolen every week, just in US airports. Unbelievable. Imagine that your valuable personal or company data is on the laptop and gets stolen from you.

We should train the thieves that it is useless to steal Fujitsu’s Lifebooks with the Advanced Theft Protection. As an owner I can setup all kinds protections to secure my Lifebook. For exmaple: I can use the finger print sensor to unlock my computer and the Lifebook has a Computrace-enabled BIOS.

Once stolen I can report it with one phone call and I can trace the computer and find it via GPS and Wifi. I can even delete sensitive data. Just to be sure I store no sensitive data on my laptop, it all stays in the cloud. 

If the ATP was not included in the Lifebook, I would use Prey, an open source tracking software for mobile devices. The Intel Anti-Theft Technology is really thorough, and it also requires some detailed instructions for the user to understand how all these solutions work.

One thing this ATP can not protect me from is our son. In the past few weeks I have tested the Lifebook a lot and worked on it as often as I could. My son is the ‘thief’ in my own home. Whenever he sees the laptop unused in my office or somewhere else in the house he ‘borrows’ it. He is really happy with it. I think he is already preparing himself for the time when he can get his own Lifebook.

Just to keep the Lifebook save from our son during this ‘Accept No Boundaries’ trip in Europe I had to buy this solution:

Anti Theft for my Lifebook E751

I did also locked the Lifebook to my desk just to be sure.

Anti Theft - chained my E751 to my desk

When I work on the road I carry a laptop sleeve that looks like a newspaper.

Paper Sleeve

I would just prefer that thieves don’t notice my laptop because I am not sure this thieve is trained well enough to understand how well protected this laptop is. 

Lifebook postcard from Italy #lifebook4life

Italy  - Accept No Boundaries

It’s time for some relaxing. I am taking a short break in Italy and sending you all a postcard.

Thank you Insiders for your great posts and tips and tricks. Loved the video’s and photos of the Insiders. 
Thank you moderation team for the support and small corrections you did on my posts.

It was a fun project to do and more importantly, I am impressed with the Fujitsu Lifebook E751 performance and qualitys. #lovinit

Postcard with Lifebook E751 from Italy

Just a small postcard I created myself showing you how I love this personalised gift.

Postcard with Personalised Mouse from Fujitsu

This was my trip through 7 countries in Europe. Hope you enjoyed it too.

Fujitsu Lifebook information

Some interesting infographics with information about Fujitsu’s Lifebook innovations
Fujitsu Lifebook innovations

Fujitsu Tablet innovations

Fujitsu tablet innovation history

By Erno Hannink

Sparring and accountability partner for entrepreneurs who create sustainable positive impact. Explores decision-making. Shares his insights on this in, articles, books (Dutch), podcast, newsletters, and tools. Has a life mission to reduce social and ecological inequality. Father of two children, husband of M., runs, referee for the national soccer league, and uses stoicism for calm. Lives in the Netherlands. Speaks Dutch, English, and German.