With today’s sophisticated applications, you can do the work you need to do at someone else’s computer, and access and save all of your own information needed to do that work, without leaving behind any trace that you were there.

Following is a list of portable applications that are great for the USB drive. These 15 applications are sure to make it much easier for any engineer to leave home without lugging a laptop case.

1. Open Office: The portable free alternative to Windows. It offers a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation tool, database and drawing package. It’s also fully compatible with Microsoft Office documents.
2. Foxit: Foxit PDF Reader Perfect application for reading PDF files.
3. Convert: A quick and easy metric conversion tool. Convert distance, temperature, volume, time, speed, mass, etc.
4. Country Codes: A small and simple database for your USB that contains country codes and other information for 250 countries.
5. Tree Pad Lite: This is a great little personal database and personal search engine. Store all your notes, documents, emails, etc, into a file. You’ll feel a lot like you’re using Windows Explorer, so it’s easy to learn to navigate.
6. Drive Manager: This is a small tool that lets you retrieve drive information for all your drives quickly and easily. You can view all drives at a glance, rather than having to search each individual one separately.
7. YamiPod: Great iPod manager for your USB drive. Because you need to take along a little music, even if you are traveling on business.
8. RoboForm2Go: This is a great password manager tool and form filler. It keeps all your passwords secure and in one place and it remembers your information for filling out forms online. This is a great little application if you have a lot of different passwords on different websites.
9. G Disk: Turn your Gmail account into a portable hard drive. This allows you to always have your important files all across the Internet with you on your USB drive. This is an ingenious little application.
10. Speedcrunch Portable: A portable algebraic calculator for your USB drive. Make calculations quickly and easily. You’ll use his application all the time for balancing your checkbook and for engineering calculations.
11. Dictionary: This is a great portable dictionary and portable translator. It’s great for when you travel to a foreign country or just when you need to write a report or paper.
12. Locknote: This is a great tool for storing sensitive information with a 256 bit password encryption. It helps you keep important personal or client information secure even if your USB drive gets lost or stolen.
13. Smart Sniff: This application lets you inspect network traffic that passes through your network adapter. It’s a great way to help you stay secure when you’re working away from home.
14. System Information for Windows: This system analysis tool will tell you everything you need to know about a computer. This is a great way to get to know any computer you’re about to use. It can also help you diagnose potential problems.
15. Index Your Files: This application provides a simple way to index and search through all of your files or folders on local or networked drives. It’s an amazing timesaver.

With these 15 applications loaded onto your USB drive, you’re ready to hit the road without having a lot of baggage to lug with you. Your information is secure, yet easy to access. You’ll have all the advantages of traveling with your own computer without the hassles of taking it with you. With the right USB applications, any computer you’re around can be just like your very own.

Operations Research Blogs

1. A Random Forest: Research interests include bioinformatics, health informatics, operations research, analytics, machine learning, statistics, artificial intelligence and numerical analysis.
2. greenOR: This site has information about the intersection of operations research (OR) with sustainability areas such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, green products and supply chains.
3. Güzin Bayraksan’s OR Blog: An assistant professor in the Systems and Industrial Engineering Department at the University of Arizona provides thoughts on OR applications, news and education.
4. IEOR Tools: Use this blog to maximize productivity with industrial engineer and operations research tools.
5. INFORMS Blog: The official blog for the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences.
6. Michael Trick’s Operations Research Blog: Michael currently is Associate Dean, Research and Professor of Operations Research at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon.
7. O.R. by the Beach: Tallys Yunes (Ph.D. in Operations Research from Carnegie Mellon University) is an assistant professor of Management Science at the School of Business Administration at the University of Miami.
8. OR in an OB World: Paul Rubin offers a mix of operations research items and software tricks.
9. Punk Rock Operations Research: This blog is maintained by Laura McLay from the Department of Statistical Sciences and Operations Research at Virginia Commonwealth University.
10. The Operations Room: Kellogg School of management offers a forum for discussing current topics in operations management.
11. ThinkOR — Think Operations Research: An exchange corner for the OR professionals, an OR information source for the general public.

Operations and Project Management Blogs

12. drunkenpm: This blog is mirrored on GanttHead, with a focus on software development.
13. Fear No Project — A Project Management Blog: Sharing thoughts and experience on issues affecting project managers and the world of project management.
14. Herding Cats: Ideas, comments and resources about project management from field experiences and niwotridge.com.
15. Industrial PR: Stay on top of public relations offered by IE businesses. IndustrialPR is a division of the Industrial Leaders Group.
16. Journyx Project Management Blog: A PM blog by Journyx, the creator of web-based time tracking industry.
17. Matching Supply with Demand: This blog is written by Gerard Cachon and Christian Terwiesch to report on and to discuss all that is new and current about Operations Management.
18. Mosaicproject’s Blog: This blog provides one idea on how an online communications tool can be used to train, control and provide effective outcomes.
19. Musings on Project Management: An opinion on project management from a practicing program manager, author,and coach.
20. The Critical Path by Derek Huether: Derek has been working on a book called “Zombie Project Management” which should be available before spring 2011.
21. Who said supply chains are boring? Christopher Sciacca is determined to make supply chains exciting for readers.

Financial Engineering Blogs

22. Calculated Risk: Mr. McBride holds an MBA from the University of California, Irvine, and has a background in management, finance and economics.
23. Economist’s View: Mark Thoma is professor of economics at the University of Oregon’s Department of Economics.
24. Eight to Late: Kailash Awati manages information systems development at a pharmaceutical multinational in Australia.
25. Freakonomics: Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner are the authors of Freakonomics and SuperFreakonomics. This blog, begun in 2005, is meant to keep the conversation going.
26. Gal Zahavi’s blog: Dr. Gal Zahavi heads the Financial Engineering Laboratory at the Israel Institute of Technology.
27. Grasping Reality with Both Hands: This is economist J. Bradford DeLong’s semi-daily journal from the Department of Economics, UC Berkeley.
28. Greg Mankiw’s Blog: Random observations for economics students from an economics professor at Harvard.
29. Marginal Revolution: Dr. Tyler Cowen and Dr. Alex Tabarrok from George Mason University offer their takes on financial engineering for a “much better world.”
30. Numerix Blog: Numerix is an independent analytics provider for derivatives and structured products.
31. Rortybomb: Mike Konczal, a former financial engineer, is a fellow with the Roosevelt Institute, who also blogs at New Deal 2.0, and is working on financial reform.
32. Yves Hilpisch’s Blog: Dr. Yves Hilpisch is founder and managing director of Visixion GmbH, the developer of DEXISION, as well as of FINCAP GmbH.

Machine Learning, Statistics, Analytics

33. Data Mining Research: This blog covers both research and applications in data mining, including recent applications, important events, current trends, book reviews, etc.
34. Flowing Data: Nathan Yau highlights how designers, programmers, and statisticians are putting data to good use.
35. Machine Learning (Theory): This is an experiment in the application of a blog to academic research in machine learning and learning theory by John Langford, Doctor of Learning at Yahoo! Research.
36. Machine Learning, etc: Yaroslav Bulatov offers tons of information, links and resources.
37. Measuring Measures: Bradford Cross is co-founder and head of research for FlightCaster.
38. Nuit Blanche: This blog is focused on the technical solutions of different important open problems and the tools needed to solve them.
39. Social Media, Data Mining & Machine Learning: This blog is all about the title, including systems management.
40. The Art of the Plan: Marc has been “some kind of analyst” for years. We think he’s a skeptical analyst.
41. This Number Crunching Life: Randomness upon randomness from a PhD student and member of the Machine Learning Research Group, University of Toronto.

Product Lifecycle Management Blogs

42. Clarity on PLM: Clarity on software for innovation, product development, engineering, and manufacturing from Tech-Clarity.
43. Develop 3D: Get your fill of technology for the product lifecycle at this blog, filled with design and crowd-sourcing.
44. Get Savvy about PLM: Laila Hirr has over 15 years experience in the PLM industry, working with dozens of large and mid-sized manufacturing companies on developing their PLM requirements.
45. Jos Voskuil’s Weblog: Jos now works as a business consultant with a focus on mid-market companies, where he assists PLM implementers and customers in their stepped approach towards PLM.
46. Not Just Russian CAD/PLM: David Levin is LEDAS.com founder and CEO and editor of isicad.ru.
47. PLM Market Place: Use this blog to connect with other PLM engineers, companies and specialists.
48. PLM Think Tank: Oleg Shilovitsky offers his daily perspectives on PLM. He also has a new blog at Beyond PLM, where he discuses information and comments about engineering and manufacturing.
49. Raykurland’s Blog: Raymond Kurland is president of TechniCom Group LLC and its principal consultant and editor. He offers views on the mechancial CAD/PLM industry with this blog.
50. The Vuuch Voice: This is an enterprise social system for PLM and CAD users.

From UC Berkeley

1. Introduction to Digital Integrated Circuits: This electrical engineering course covers the basics on digital integrated circuitry, a must for electrical engineers.
2. Introduction to Microelectronic Circuit: Another electrical engineering course, this class covers microelectronic circuits.
3. Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering: Introduction to MEMS Design: Learn the basics of MEMS design for electrical or mechanical engineering. MEMS stands for microelectromechanical systems, the technology of very small mechanical devices driven by electricity. They are also referred to as micromachines or Microsystems technology.

From MIT

4. Introduction to Bioengineering: This course offered by the chemical engineering department at MIT focuses on bioengineering.

5. Introduction to Numerical Analysis for Engineering: Though offered by the chemical engineering department, this course is suitable for any field of engineering.
6. Introduction to Computers and Engineering Problem Solving: Designed for civil and environmental engineers, this course focuses on fundamental software development and computational methods for engineering.
7. Circuits and Electronics: This is a basic course for electrical engineers. Circuits and electronics make up a large portion of what electrical engineering covers. This is a basic introduction to that concept.
8. Introduction to Electrical Engineering and Computer Science: Explore the fields of electrical engineering and computer science in this course. This is a great course for exploring whether either of these two closely related fields are ones you’re interested in pursuing further.
9. Engineering Ethics: Explore ethical situations in the engineering field.
10. How and Why Machines Work: This course is designed for those interested in mechanical engineering, one of the most versatile engineering fields.
11. Exploring Sea, Space and Earth: Fundamentals of Engineering Design: Covers exploration design products for mechanical engineering.
12. Management in Engineering: This course is offered by the nuclear engineering department but is suited to engineers of any field. The course covers project planning, financial principles and other topics related to engineering management.
13. Introduction to Modeling and Simulation: This course covers computer modeling and simulation in science and engineering.
14. Introduction to Ionizing Radiation: A basic course from the nuclear engineering department. Nuclear engineers are currently some of the most sought after in the job market.
15. Introduction to Applied Nuclear Physics: Learn the basic concepts of nuclear physics.

From UC Irvine

16. How Predictable is the Climate System: Another field of engineering that is growing rapidly is environmental engineering. This course, designed for environmental engineers, studies the climate system.

From Utah State

17. Biochemical Engineering: This course covers biochemical processes, thermodynamics and kinetics.
18. Uncertainty in Engineering Analysis: Aimed at civil and environmental engineers, this course focuses on probability and statistics as used in engineering.
19. The Science of Sound: This course is aimed at electrical engineers covers eight different aspects of sound.
20. Numerical Methods in Civil Engineering: This course for civil engineers covers approximation and interpolation for engineering.

As you can see, there are many engineering courses in many different disciplines of engineering available online. This is only a sampling of the courses you can find. Once you’ve narrowed down the field of engineering you want to pursue, you can explore even more specific topics related to that field through these same universities.

1. Dubai International Airport Terminal 3, UAE: With floor area of approximately, 1500,000 meter square is the single largest building in the world with perspective of floor areas. The $4.5 billion terminal became operational from October 14, 2008 has around 82 moving walkways, 97 escalators, 8 sky-trains, 157 lifts, 180 check-in counters, 2,600 car-parking spaces, 52 immigration counters, 14 baggage carousels and 12 e-gates. (Electronic Passport Control System used at all entry point into the United Arab Emirates) not to mention first and business class lounges, restaurants and a 10,700 sq m (115,000 sq ft) of shopping facilities.
2. Aalsmeer Flower Auction, Netherlands: With Floor Area of around  990,000 meter square it is the largest flower auction in the world and situated is housed in Aaalsmeer Flower Auction, the second largest building in the world. At the flower auction, flowers from around the world are traded inside this humongous Dutch facility. Aalsmeer sometime is referred as the flower capital of the world.
3. Beijing Capital International Airport Terminal 3, China: With Floor Area of around 986,000 meter square TheBeijing Capital International Airport is the 8th busiest airport in the world. It is ranked as the busiest airport when   terminal 3 added to it. Presently, it is the second largest airport terminal after Dubai International Airport’s Terminal 3.
4. The Venetian, China: With Floor Area of around 980,000 square meters, it is a 40 story, $2.4 billion luxury hotel and casino resort in Macau, China with an ownership by the Las Vegas Sands Corporation. It is the biggest only single structure hotel building in Asia and the fourth largest building in the world by floor area. It has around 3000 suites, 3400 slot machines, 800 gambling tables and 15,000-seat arena for entertainment or sports events.
5. Berjaya Times Square, Malaysia: With Floor Area of around 700,000 meter square, Berjaya Times Square is a mega-scale multi-purpose complex having shopping center, two five star hotels, Asia’s largest indoor theme park, residences, offices among others. It is the biggest and the 9th tallest building in Malaysia, the 5th largest building in the world by floor area and the 13th biggest shopping mall.
6. The Palazzo, USA:  With Floor Area of around 645,581 meter square it is an AAA-5 diamond luxury hotel and casino resort that is an extension of The Venetian Casino Resort and the Sands Expo complex in the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. This $1.8 billion resort inaugurated on January 17, 2008 featuring 3,068 all-suite rooms and 375 concierge-level suites.
7. The Pentagon, USA: With Floor area of around 610, 000 meter square, The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense is the world’s largest office building by floor area. The building houses nearly 23,000 military and civilian employees and about 3,000 non defense support personnel. The entire building includes five acre (20,000 square meters) central plaza that formally known to be the ground zero.

1. James Watt: His improvement on steam engine begun a new industrial revolution and during the periods of 1760s he devoted most of his time in improving efficiency of steam engine. And his improvements become so much popular that people started describing him as inventor of steam engine. His mechanical advances earned him reputation and patents as his engines were used for coal mining, textile manufacturing, transportation and lots of other industrial uses.
2. Hero of Alexandria: He is known for discovering a form of steam or jet engine where jets of steam spin a ball as earlier as in 50 AD as named during that time Aeolipile. But he was ignored of what his device can achieve and think of that merely as a toy. He also wrote many works on topics as related to pneumatics to mathematics to physics.
3. Wilbur and Orville Wright: Wilbur and Orville better known as Wright Brothers made it to be a practical reality to fly in the Sky. After experimenting several times with kites and gliders they alerted the shape of the wing in mid flight by decreasing and increasing the speeds. Wright brother also introduced propeller design and aerodynamics into the flight.
4. Henry Ford: He developed better method to develop a car as to be possessed by every common man. In car manufacturing, he brings about four principles of interchangeable parts, continuous flow, division of labor and reducing wasted efforts. In 1913, he came up with first ever moving assembly line used for large scale car manufacturing.
5. Thomas Edison: He has recognition of been one of the most admiring inventors of human civilization. He has as far as 1069 patents to his name including light bulb, stock ticker, motion picture camera and projector, and hundreds and many  more. It is merely dream to think about modern life without his inventions.
6. Leonardo da Vinci: He is considered as one of the most prominent visionary and scientist of civilization. He predicted the evolution of every big scientific invention of present time from the tank to submarine centuries ago. Many of his designs like bridges, hang-gliders, transmissions, parachutes, and more according to modern engineers were quite realistic and practical.
7. Alan Turing: He is known for his contribution to computing that has made use of computers very easy and practical. He developed binary architecture that presently is used every computer and is real theory about behind every computers. For his contribution to computing he is known as father of computer.
8. Nicolaus Otto: He was a German inventor who developed the four-stroke or Otto cycle engine that gave birth to the concept of motor care. His Otto cycle engine works in four steps drawing in fuel and air, compressing the mixture, igniting it and expelling the exhaust.
9. Nikola Tesla: For his inventions he is known as the greatest of all electrical engineers. His inventions include fluorescent lighting, the Tesla coil, the induction motor, and 3-phase electricity. He developed the AC-current generation system comprised of a motor and a transformer.
10. Archimedes: Archimedes came up with the simple yet wise idea of estimating an object’s volume by measuring the amount of water displaced by the object. He also invented the catapult, levers and pulleys, and the Archimedean screw, equipment that is used for pulling up water for irrigation and mining.

The program is usually tailored as a professional practice program incorporating practical tools and strategies in the increasingly competitive engineering marketplace. Students are also equipped with a unique blend of both technical and managerial knowledge so that they can easily advance as leaders engineering projects. Most of these programs however require students to have substantial hands on experience as they are not meant to introduce them to new engineering tactics but to augment their experience with learned management skills.

An online Master of Engineering is better career decision than taking an MBA because of proved reasons. A survey conducted in the some of the universities offering the course indicated the employability of the graduates far outweighed that of MBA’s. A Promotion or significant salary increase was inevitable at graduation. This therefore underscores the important of seeking admission in an accredited institution in order to increase the chances of employability as well as salary increment.

The online Master of Engineering is entirely competed online just as the name suggests, only with exception of exams in some universities where they have to be done synchronously. The program is exclusively based on coursework, without any departmental affiliation, thesis or project. Students are required to have relevant undergraduate education in engineering for them to be admitted into the program.

The benefits of the Online Master of Engineering is that even students residing in the remote areas in the nation are able to access education from some of the best universities in cities like Chicago and New York. Engineers in both small and medium-sized industries also get an opportunity to upgrade and join the league of bug players. Employer’s needs continue to increase and the program is one way of responding to such needs by providing engineers with cutting edge information as well as being given the opportunity to diversify into various specializations.

Majority of these online programs from various online colleges and universities are delivered using a wide array of online as well as distance learning technologies thus allowing students to easily study from home or work. Flexibility is thus put at the core of learning to ensure that a student does not miss out on their daily responsibilities. It is important though to note that admission information varies though and therefore one needs to dig deeper into the details of each program.