Review: The Ultimate Tech Guide for Travelers – Anil Polat

If you’re traveling anywhere in the world, tech likely travels with you. Where can you get internet access, and how can you ensure your data stays safe? What about encryption, using Tor, wiping your data remotely if your device is stolen, and a hundred other things?

Before starting the popular travel blog foXnoMad, Anil Polat was paid to hack into a company’s systems and make their security better. Today, he’s well-known as an expert on travel and tech, and helping people travel smarter. “The Ultimate Tech Guide for Travelers” gets you started whether you’re coming to Korea for a year or backpacking around Europe.

The Ultimate Tech Guide for Travelers” starts off helping you pick out a laptop. Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you probably know some of the computer terminology already; if you don’t, Anil explains it without embarrassing you in the process. From there, the book goes into backing up your data – something this blogger needs to do more often. While some solutions require money, the e-book points out dozens of free solutions as well. That’s repeated throughout the book, as Anil points out plenty of free alternative programs to those costing money. You’ve probably heard of some of them, but there are plenty I hadn’t heard of before reading.

While the e-book’s focus on security, proxies, and encryption makes sense if you’re traveling to countries where the internet is censored or restricted, my wonderful readers in Korea might wonder if they need the advice. Sure, some people might need it to keep themselves anonymous – you, however, might want to use a proxy to score some online video or watch Hulu (things only available with an American IP address). Also, hackers and data collectors are everywhere there’s a computer, so keeping track of your security is prudent anywhere you go.

The last chapter – Ultimate Hacking Secrets for Savvy Travelers – talks about everything from using the Pirate Bay to tethering (connecting your phone to your computer for internet access). He links to many other resources, including good guides for jailbreaking an iPhone or rooting an Android device, and ends with a reminder that “working well with technology is to make it work for you.”

As one of those classic ‘buy the book and get something else free’ ideas, you get 6 months of Anil’s personal tech support. He won’t help you reinstall an operating system, but getting helping with anything talked about in the book is fair game.

Get your copy of “The Ultimate Tech Guide for Travelers” – it ain’t free, but it’s money well spent.

Disclaimer: Chris in South Korea received a complimentary review copy of ‘The Ultimate Tech Guide for Travelers’, and there are affiliate links in this post.

Ratings (out of 5 taeguks): How do I rate destinations?

Creative Commons License © Chris Backe – 2011

This post was originally published on my blog,Chris in South Korea. If you are reading this on another website and there is no linkback or credit given, you are reading an UNAUTHORIZED FEED.

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