If he wants to take advantage of free Wi-Fi hotspots, he uses a Hawking Technology HWL1 802.11b/g WiFi Locator to find them and connect via Windows.

For software, he relies upon Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 speech-recognition software for voice commands, the Click-N-Type virtual keyboard if he needs it and Verizon VZAccess Manager for broadband access.

Rounding out the gadget lineup is a Belkin TuneCast Mobile FM Transmitter that pipes his audio through the Jeep's sound system.

"The ability to bring your entire MP3 and video library everywhere you go is great. It's been a long time since I've been bored in my car. And bumper-to-bumper traffic is a good time to catch up on a TV show. I have a friend who will sit there and watch all the featured videos on YouTube whenever he's in my car on a long drive. One time he took a video of us driving with a Webcam and posted it to YouTube from the highway -- just because he could."

Although the packaged applications he first looked at were too expensive, tricky to mount or just not flexible enough for his needs, he sees that the industry is catching up with consumer demand rapidly.