Effort: ModerateCost: Free

All you want to do is sit back and watch a couple of movies on your 6-hour cross-country flight--but playing a DVD will drain your laptop battery before the second flick's final car chase even starts. The solution? Copy the movies to your hard drive to play them with less drain on your battery. Download , use it to rip the DVD to the hard drive of your other computer, and then transfer that file to your portable for a little cinema on the go. If you have no interest in tweaking the file settings of your DVD rips, give a try for simple, one-click rips.

Effort: ModerateCost: Free

As if the long wait at baggage claim weren't reason enough to reduce your luggage to carry-on only, the extra fees for checking large bags ($25 or so each) have most travelers strategically planning their necessities. If you struggle to achieve single-suitcase bliss, let give you a hand. This site offers lots of useful packing tips, including suggestions for what to bring, tips on what you should pack it in, and methods for folding, rolling, and arranging your stuff so everything fits.