Have you ever seen one of those book safes that’s hollow inside so you can hide important stuff? I want a travel laptop small enough to hide inside a magazine:

That’s part of my latest post for the WePC campaign, which is as much about laptop security as portability. This is because people are fond of stealing my shit.

Please go read, and tell me what you think. Am I being paranoid? I’m hoping I’m not the only one who feels anxious using expensive equipment in public — especially in a foreign country where your laptop may be equal to, say, the average annual salary.

One of the recent O Magazines has a particularly useful article on trust by Martha Beck called Who’s Never Going to Let You Down. The whole thing is worth reading, but if you only have time to scan, don’t miss her six questions that tell you whether a person deserves your trust. Have a little more time? The Trust Test is a quiz for testing your own trustworthiness as well.

By request, a laptop bag roundup on Mighty Goods. Some old favorites, and a few new ones too.

*Post Update: Yikes! I misunderstood the problem. Apparently (and I cringe as I attempt to grasp this) the issue is that you can no longer see conversations between people you do follow and those you don’t, but only if they begin their tweet with an @. So if you were Twittering about Tina Fey, and I don’t follow her, I wouldn’t see:

My tutorial on running search terms is still below. Forgive my misguided first attempt to help, and supply your own ideas in comments. Also, you can tell me if I’m wrong again, and we’ll do this over. The less vitriol the better. Thank you.

As you may know, Twitter recently made a change to how @ replies are received. People are kind of freaking out. If you use Twitter and you still want to see @ replies from folks you don’t follow, do this:

1. Find the search box in the sidebar and type in @ plus your username. I typed in @Maggie:

2. Click on the little magnifying glass to the right of the search box.

3. Verify that your main bar now shows search results on the @replies for that user name:

4. On the top right of the main bar, you’ll see a little green button next to the words “Save this search.” Click there. Here’s a detail view:

5. Look in the right sidebar again. Under the search box, you should see a subtitle “Saved Searches” and a clickable link to searches on the user name you’ve selected. Click on the user name you’ve saved whenever you want to see @replies from everyone, even folks you don’t follow.

For now, I hope that helps. I know it doesn’t address every issue, but it’s an easy workaround for now.

Photo by Peter DaSilva for the New York Times

This is a photo of Bryan and some other guys drinking bourbon in the New York Times. So now he gets to check that off, while I add “shoot tequila for a profile piece in the New Yorker” to my list. Bryan is a constant source of inspiration.