Oh! Gizmo

By Luke Anderson

Have you ever been driving along, blindly following the directions of your GPS, only to find yourself on a road that leads nowhere, or just plain lost? That’s happened on a few occasions, but I’ve always been able to get myself back on course again. However, if you or someone you know doesn’t want to hassle with either the complications of programing a GPS or are afraid that one will lead you astray, you might check out this cool Paper GPS Notepad.

It seems almost silly to use something like this with navigations systems becoming such commonplace, but I think it would still prove useful. If you’ve ever had to jot down directions in a hurry and then try to follow them later, it can be a real pain. Granted, I would have probably found this more useful a couple of years ago, it’s still a good product. I especially like the checkboxes in the corner notating whether or not you got lost. You can pick up a pad of 60 for just $6.50.

[ Perpetual Kid ] VIA [ Technabob ]

By Andrew Liszewski

If you’ve ever been worried about losing your luggage while traveling, the Trace Me luggage tracking system might appeal to you. However, if you’ve ever actually lost your luggage, or had an airline lose it for you, this will probably seem like a pretty good idea. The tags don’t use GPS or any kind of electronic tracking system, but instead feature a unique barcode and serial number that gets registered no the Immobilise database with your contact info. So in the event your luggage does go missing, a handling agent can either scan the barcode or enter the serial number which should provide them with your contact info. Once you’ve been identified, a text message is sent to your mobile phone letting you know that your bag has been located and what you should do next.

The tags appear to be pretty durable, and since your contact information is stored in an online database, you don’t need to have private information like your name, phone number and home address written somewhere on the bag itself. The tags run about $24 each, which is a one-time fee. So once they’re bought and registered on the website, they’re good for as long as the tags (or the company) last. While they might not stop your luggage from actually going missing, they’ll hopefully increase your odds of getting them back if they do. (At the moment the Immobilise website appears to be for UK residents only, but they do claim the service will soon be available to US residents as well.)

[ Trace Me Luggage Tracker ] VIA [ Shiny Shiny ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I try to travel as light as possible, particularly when it comes to gadgets. And while I’ve never needed a translator, this one seems to include enough functionality to make it worth tossing in the carry-on bag. Not only can it translate in both directions from any of the 20 supported languages (including English, Arabic, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovakian, Spanish and Turkish) but it’s also able to speak the translation on your behalf if you’re afraid of butchering the pronunciation. It can also speak over 46,000 commonly used phrases from around the world which hopefully includes the basics like “Please point me towards the (insert country) consulate, I did not know it was loaded!”

Other functions include an FM radio, various travel games, a voice/memo recorder, a 200 city world time clock with alarms, a calendar, a 12-digit calculator and a currency converter. There’s also a headphone jack for privately listening to the spoken translations and it runs on 2 AAA batteries which should be pretty easy to replace no matter where you are. X-Treme Geek.com has it for $249.

[ Lingo Voyager 5 Talking Translator ] VIA [ IT Rush ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I rarely travel for leisure reasons these days, so it seems anytime I’m in a hotel room I’m exhausted from being at a trade show all day. And if it wasn’t for the hotel’s wake-up call service, there’s a very good chance I wouldn’t be rolling out of bed until mid-afternoon the next day. But I can’t say I’m interested in bringing that hotel experience home, which is what this Hotel Phone Alarm Clock promises to do.

It’s designed to sit on your night stand like a normal alarm clock, but it will actually give you a wake-up call in the morning complete with the option to press 5 for a ’snooze call’ 30 minutes later. It’s not a terrible idea (though the built-in LCD clock is kind of small) but I have to admit the thing I like most about wake-up calls in a hotel is that they’re easy to setup, since you’re basically telling someone else to do it for you. The alarm on this phone however requires you to set it manually like with a normal alarm clock, which is not something I’m good at when my mind is preoccupied with sleep. Not to mention the phone also seems to lack the option for calling room service.

You can find it at Thumbs Up UK for about $40, but it looks like they’re out of stock until May.

[ Hotel Phone Alarm Clock ] VIA [ Gear Live ]

By Andrew Liszewski

The only thing worse than forgetting a power adapter when traveling is not having the right one when you’re in a foreign country. But instead of carrying a bag of assorted adapters which brings us back to the problem of losing them, or trying to make your own with a wire clothes hangar (it would’ve worked eventually) this travel adapter from Kensington combines a collection of different plugs into a single, compact unit.

Like a switchblade, you can slide out the plug you need and use it to power everything from a cellphone to a laptop in more than 150 different countries. It’s suitable for most electronics you might travel with (2.5A; 110V - max 275W; 220V - max 550W) but is not recommended for high-watt devices like hair dryers and irons. Thankfully most hotel rooms already include both those items.

You can buy it directly from Kensington for just $19.99.

[ Kensington Travel Plug Adapter ] VIA [ GadgetGrid ]

By Luke Anderson

How many of you carry an umbrella when it’s raining? Unless I know that I’ll be walking for long distances in the pouring rain, I won’t bother. I figure that I’ll spend more time standing in the rain closing the umbrella and trying to put it in the car than I’ll actually spend outside. If you have a thing about getting wet, you might want to check out the very interesting Nubrella.

The idea here s that you can have an umbrella that doesn’t require any hands, because lets face it, you don’t always have one. The other benefit is that your head is blocked from the elements on all sides. On the downside you look like you’re being eaten by a transparent Pac-Man. If you don’t mind the strange looks you’ll get, you can pick one up for $60.

[ Nubrella ] VIA [ UberGizmo ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I really like this USB/firewire cable from Sima, since I have a nasty habit of traveling with far more cables than I usually need. (You just never know.) On one end you’ll find connections for standard USB A (with an adapter for mini A) and firewire, while on the other end there’s standard USB B, mini B 5 pin, mini B 4 pin, mini 8 pin flat and firewire. It should allow you to connect any USB or firewire based device to your laptop or PC whether it’s an external hard drive, digital camera, video camera or even a cellphone.

But while I like the idea of only having to carry a single 1.5 meter cable, I’m not sure if that convenience is really worth $69.95.

[ Sima USB Multi Cable With Firewire ] VIA [ Chip Chick ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I’m pretty sure whoever thought up these Novelty Passport Covers has never been through an airport, nor have they ever dealt with customs officers. Now I’m not going to say that the good people working at customs don’t have a sense of humor, because I’m sure such comments would result in my name being red-flagged in some database. But I will say they take their jobs very, very seriously. And if you were to hand them your passport with a ‘PIMP’ or ‘PLAYER’ cover on it, I’m pretty sure they’d make sure you wouldn’t be making your flight that day.

But if you’re feeling lucky, a set of 2 Novelty Passport Covers with a ‘leather look’ finish is available from eDirectory.co.uk for just over $8.

[ Novelty Passport Cover ] VIA [ Nerd Approved ]

By Andrew Liszewski

The Brisk Brew looks like the perfect accessory for the caffeine addicted who go to bed every nigh afraid they won’t get their fix in the morning. It’s a compact auto-drip coffee maker that can be packed down even smaller, allowing you to take it anywhere. It has a permanent mesh filter so you don’t have to carry extra paper ones, and will brew an 8 ounce cup of coffee in just minutes. It even includes the coffee cup, a collapsible measuring spoon and compartments for sugar and powdered creamer.

But since I can’t remember the last time I was in a hotel room that didn’t have a coffee maker, or at least some sort of coffee shop in the vicinity, I’m not sure why anyone would waste luggage space bringing this along. It’s not like you can take it camping either, since the species of Douglas Fir tree that included an AC socket went extinct years ago.

Organize.com carries it for $44.99.

[ Brisk Brew ] VIA [ Cribcandy ]

By Andrew Liszewski

While I like the idea of incorporating solar panels on a bag or backpack, because of their relatively small size they’re obviously not going to produce a lot of power. So when it comes to a solar charging solution that’s also portable, I would probably opt for these SolarRolls from Brunton instead.

The largest version, the SolarRoll 14, is 12 inches wide and 57 inches long when fully opened. When compared to the small panel used on a bag, this has a lot more surface area for capturing the sun’s rays. And as the name implies, the SolarRolls can be rolled up and stored in a tube when not in use thanks to their tough ‘Tefzel fluoropolymer’ construction. It also makes them waterproof if you enjoy the great outdoors, but don’t want to leave your toys at home.

The 57 inch SolarRoll 14 is available for $479 on the Brunton website and is recommended if you intend to recharge something large like a laptop. The SolarRoll 9 is a bit shorter at 40 inches in length, costs $349 and is intended for use with cellphones and digital cameras. Finally, the SolarRoll 4.5 is just 22 inches long, costs $199 and is geared towards phones and PDAs.

[ Brunton SolarRolls ] VIA [ Inhabitat ]