Hotel Chairs With Internet Access

As of this writing, the Toronto Wyndham lacks a guest business center. A hotel manager said plans are to open one "soon." In the meantime, you can e-mail documents to the front desk for printing. They'll print up to five pages free; after that, it's 15 cents per page.

The in-room safe, located in the closet, was large enough to accommodate my 15-inch widescreen laptop. But the closet lacked an overhead light, so at night it was difficult to enter my security combination on the safe's keypad.

My room had a 32-inch Philips LCD. At the time of my visit, no in-room movies were offered, though a front desk employee said they would be added in the near future.

As for Wyndham's Be Well bed, mine was like the chair--firm but comfortable. You get plenty of pillows, too, which I love.

There was no minibar or fridge in my room. But I had dinner in the hotel's restaurant, which was surprising good. The lobby espresso bar/lounge helped me get going in the morning.

The Toronto hotel features an indoor pool that's long enough for lap swimming (though the water was cold), plus treadmills and other health-club equipment.

Near the intersection of highways 401 and 404, the hotel is about a 30 to 40 minute subway ride from downtown Toronto and sights such as the CN Tower. The subway station nearest the hotel is a 10 to 15 minute walk or 5-minute, $5.50 (Canadian) cab ride away.

Rates at the Toronto property are quite reasonable. A recent check found rates as low as $89 (Canadian) for a room with a king bed. In Austin, recent rates at the Wyndham Garden Hotel Rates began at $143. The Wyndham Garden Atlanta's rates started at $116.

As of now, there are only 92 Wyndham-branded properties--not a whole lot, compared to chains such as Hilton or Marriott. Still, if there's a Wyndham near where you'll be going for business, I'd recommend giving it a try. Regardless of whether you ensconce yourself in the Smart Chair or dismiss it as a gimmick, Wyndham offers a solid mix of tech amenities and business-friendly rates.

Can you travel with a USB drive instead of a laptop? Yes, if you store the necessary applications and docs on the drive. You also need access to a PC at your destination (such as at a hotel business center). If you go this route, make sure your USB drive has a read rate of 1.9 megabytes per second or faster. Read other tips for traveling with a USB drive in "Carry a PC in Your Pocket."

It's easy to gripe about cell phone prices, with Apple's iPhone at $400 and $500. But this will make you feel better: A cell phone purchased in 1988 would cost $4382 in today's dollars. As for laptops, a Toshiba portable 20 years ago would cost $7182 today, when adjusted for inflation. Check out ourtech retrospectivefor more mindblowers.

Laptop batteries can potentially catch fire or explode. What would happen if this occurred during a flight? What's the solution? Find out in "Will the FAA Ban Laptop Batteries?"

Contributing Editor James A. Martin offers tools, tips, and product recommendations to help you make the most of computing on the go. Martin is also author of theTraveler 2.0blog.Sign upto have the Mobile Computing Newsletter e-mailed to you each week.

Is there a particularly cool mobile computing product or service I've missed? Got a spare story idea in your back pocket?Tell me about it. However, I regret that I'm unable to respond to tech-support questions, due to the volume of e-mail I receive.