The home office goes mobile (and awesome) with this new design on Kickstarter.
When done correctly, working from home can have many fantastic benefits, including increased productivity and improved work-life balance--not to mention the joy of having a "slippers casual" office dress code. While some offices still have "no work from home" policies, many CEOs take the idea a step further with active "work from anywhere" initiatives. For the one in five Americans currently working from home, this makes perfect sense--when you work remotely, you really can do it (almost) anywhere, especially if you do not have a family yet.
For those who want to take a swing at consulting from a remote beach or from the streets of Paris, Lifepack may be the solution for keeping your electronics charged and valuables safe. This new backpack was created by 29-year-old Vancouver native Adrian Solgaard, who conceived of Lifepack when his girlfriend's bag was stolen from between their chairs at an outdoor café. His concept, currently rocking it on Kickstarter, is a mobile office that's perfect for commuting to work or traveling around the globe. This is the high-tech backpack you never knew you needed.
Some of Lifepack's features are nice but standard stuff, like lockable zippers, side pockets, and hidden compartments. Most of these are as good or better than anything else out there. For example, the hidden compartment on the back is the perfect size for a passport. Lifepack also has a built-in bicycle-style lock, so you can quickly and easily attach the bag to a chair back or pole while you work. Since Solgaard knows his market, the end of the lock usefully doubles as a bottle opener!
However, what really pushes this backpack into the "covet it" zone is its solar bank, which can charge two USB-compatible devices multiple times before running out of juice. You can reload your iPhone 6 up to 12 times before it runs out--and the add-on portable Bluetooth speaker set is also powered by the solar cell as you walk around.
Lifepack has raised almost $500,000 on Kickstarter with a few days to go, thanks to over 3,000 backers. You can lock one in for $149, which feels like a pretty good deal when you consider that an old-school JanSport that does nothing but hold a ton of books still retails for $49.
The promotional video for Lifepack says that 37 percent of U.S. workers work from home at least twice a month, an increase of over 400 percent since the Dark Ages of 1995. Perhaps with Lifepack, more of us will take our show on the road, or at least be more comfortable camping out at Starbucks all day.
