5 last-minute high-tech gifts for road warriors

With its long airport lines, endless string of hotel rooms, and fat-saturated meals, work travel is hardly glamorous. So why not give the road warrior in your life something to ease the many miles they’ll rack up in 2014. Here are a few ideas to help you out if you need some inspiration.

1. Timbuk2 Hudson Laptop Briefcase

This bag is functional and durable, made of water-resistant waxed canvas with leather trim. It has a rugged, distressed look that gives it some character. One side opens fully, like a briefcase, and has padded pockets for a laptop and/or tablet.

It has handles to be carried like a briefcase, but also comes with a shoulder strap. TheHudson Laptop Briefcase is $270 from Timbuk2.

2. Urban Xplorer HalfPack RT

The HalfPack RT also has a rugged outback appeal and offers a little more versatility because it can function as a backpack as well as a briefcase or messenger bag. A zippered pouch provides easy accessibility to a laptop and/or tablet during TSA security screening. The bag also has  pockets and pouches sized to hold everything from pens and USB thumb drives to your laptop power cord and sunglasses.

You can get the HalfPack RT 2014 line in various colors for $200 from Urban Xplorer.

3. WD MyCloud

Your road warrior is probably carrying an external USB hard drive or two with them already, so why would they want a WD MyCloud drive? Well, because the WD MyCloud creates a personal cloud enabling them to store 2TB, 3TB, or even 4TB of data without the security concerns or ongoing expense of a cloud storage service.

This NAS connects to the Internet enabling you to access photos, music, and other data on the drive from virtually anywhere. There are apps for Windows, Mac OS X, iOS, and Android, and the WD MyCloud mobile app can also transfer files to and from cloud services such as Dropbox.

The WD MyCloud is available starting at $180 for the 2TB model…

See the full list of holiday gift ideas at PCWorld: 5 last-minute high-tech gifts for road warriors.