By Andrew Liszewski

It’s not the first contraption designed to make finding your luggage on an airport carousel easier, but the easy2pick does seem to be a bit smarter than most. It’s a combination of a luggage tag with a built-in wireless transmitter and a keychain that will sound an alarm, flash and vibrate when your suitcase is within a 66 foot range. So while it might mean that it’s not actually on the carousel just yet, you’ll know it’s coming, and at the least, you’ll know it’s in the same airport as you.

Unique ID codes ensure that your keychain won’t detect someone else’s luggage tag, and the 100-hour battery life in the transmitter is prolonged even further thanks to sensors that deactivate it when it’s in the cargo hold of a plane by measuring the light, altitude and even sounds. And the system is a very reasonable $24.95 from X-treme Geek.

[ Wireless Luggage Finder ] VIA [ GeekAlerts ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Instead of using steam or high-pressure water which isn’t always readily available if you’re out touring the countryside on a bike, the Airspresso just uses air pressure provided by your bike pump. All you need to add is coffee grounds, hot water and a little bit of manual labor and in no time at all you’ll have yourself a 120 ml shot of espresso. The Airspresso weighs just 250 grams so it’s easy to carry, and is made from durable sounding “anodised aerospace aluminum, engineering plastic and brass” because you can’t charge $180 when you just refer to it as metal and plastic.

[ Airspresso ] VIA [ The Gadgeteer ]

By Andrew Liszewski

It’s kind of hard to complain when you’re wealthy enough to own a high-powered supercar, but while they excel when it comes to performance and handling, they’re typically not known for their abundance of trunk space. At one point it was a trade-off the rich and well-to-do just had to learn to live with, but Koenigsegg feels it doesn’t have to be that way.

Their new 1115HP Agera R supercar has a 0-62mph time of just 2.9 seconds (…sorry, just had to wipe a tear away there) and while it includes a luggage compartment with a 31.7 gallon capacity, that’s just not enough storage for an extended road trip. So the Agera R features an optional roof box that looks as aerodynamic as the car itself, capable of holding a couple sets of skis or a really flat suitcase. The box actually replaces the vehicle’s standard roof, which can be stored in the luggage compartment, and while it probably won’t be hitting the same 0-60 times with it attached, at least it means you can still pack more than a couple of toothbrushes.

[ Koenigsegg Agera R ] VIA [ Gizmag ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Free wifi is the greatest thing to happen to airports since those electric carts that whisk you to the gate when you’re late for your connection. But what’s holding most people back from getting any work done while waiting for a flight is the lack of power outlets. Some airports are better than others, but for the most part you don’t want to drain your gear when you’ll need it powered up to keep your sanity on your actual flight.

But someone out there has come up with a pretty reasonable solution, and once again it will hopefully be brought to the market one day via the assistance of Quirky. The Trek Support backpack of course has loads of room for holding a 15-inch laptop and all your gadget accessories, but the heart of its genius is a removable gadget dock that can not only hold a plethora of gadgets, but also charge up to 3 of them at the same time. The ‘secret’ is a rechargeable battery good for about 7 hours of sharing the power love, and from the looks of it it also doubles as a power bar, allowing you to top off multiple toys from just a single free outlet.

It’s also TSA and checkpoint-friendly but to be honest that means nothing to me since it all depends on who you’re dealing with. If an agent wants your laptop removed, you’re gonna have to remove it. But still, the bag seems immensely useful for traveling gadgetphiles, and it’s available for presale now for just $130. Of course you and about 1,024 more people will have to make a commitment before it becomes a reality, but less useful stuff has sailed through the Quirky approval system.

[ Quirky Trek Support Backpack ] VIA [ Random Good Stuff ]

By Andrew Liszewski

There’s no point in locking checked luggage when flying. If customs or security wants to take a look in your bag, they’re just going to circumvent anything you do. But carry-ons? Well that’s a different story. A little added security never hurts, and with this ‘Crown Edition’ carry-on luggage from Heys, you’ll never have to worry about keeping track of those tiny keys either.

A built-in rechargeable biometric fingerprint reader ensures that only you, or 7 other people of your choosing, have access to your precious toiletries and change of underwear. And the shell is made from “nearly indestructible, 100% German polycarbonate” which is important to note because Germany is well-known for their polycarbonate. (Actually I have no idea if that’s true.) There’s a bunch of other high-end features outlined on the Heys’ website which don’t sound as fun as biometrics or German plastic, but how else are you going to convince people to spend $2,200 on a carry-on?

[ Heys Crown Edition Carry-On Luggage With Biometric Locks ] VIA [ bookofjoe ]

By Andrew Liszewski

It’s hard to justify buying a standalone electronic translator if you already carry a smartphone with a decent app store behind it, but Franklin wants you to still consider their latest pocket translator which uses actual recorded voices for its library of phrases and translations, instead of cold, synthesized electronic ones. It’s capable of translating phrases to and from 16 different languages including Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, and Vietnamese. And considering it’s got over 800 travel related phrases (like accommodations, emergencies, food, directions) per language, getting the same functionality from a single app would be a hefty download.

At $99.99 though, it will be hard to convince anyone but lonely world travelers that it’s worth carrying instead of settling for a cheaper, though synthesized, alternative on their phone.

[ Franklin 16-Language Global Phrasebook ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Traveling via plane is great, as it lets you get to faraway locations in a fraction of the time it would take in a car. Unfortunately airlines are trying to find new ways to increase the cost of flying. One of their favorite ways to stick you it by charging you extra for multiple pieces of luggage, and overweight bags. The latter is especially tricky because people don’t often remember to weigh their bag when packing. Heck, I don’t even have a scale in my house, so I just hope that I’ve not packed my suitcase with too much stuff.

If you do much flying, you may want to check out the Balanzza Mini, a travel scale. This tiny scale will take up very little space in your bag (and only adds 1/3lb to your overall weight), and could save you a bundle. You need only attach it to the handle of your suitcase, and lift. The device has a 100lb capacity, which should be more than enough to deal with your luggage. The $25 price tag assures that it will pay for itself in no time.

[ Balanzza ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Designed to let you enjoy music during a hike or camping so you can still hear what’s going on around you and make sure your fellow adventurers haven’t been abducted by a grizzly, the Music Strap attaches to the shoulder straps of any backpack and pumps out your tunes through a set of 1W speakers powered by a pair of AAA batteries. It includes 20 inches of audio cable for connecting your music player of choice, 27.5 inches of speaker cable and even a pair of velcro straps to keep everything looking neat and tidy. $29.99 available directly from Lucky Bums.

[ Lucky Bums Music Strap Backpack Speakers ] VIA [ 7Gadgets ]

By Brian Liszewski

It won’t do much to prevent your luggage from going missing, but if your belongings do get lost while traveling, just think of the many ways this USB flash drive luggage tag could improve your chances of seeing your suitcase again. Obviously you can write your name and contact info on the outside label, but with 2GB of storage at your disposal you can include a pre-recorded video passionately pleading for the return of your lost luggage, detailed maps and directions to wherever you’re staying or maybe even a couple of albums that the finder can keep as a reward if they decide to help you. But just like it’s not recommend to lock your suitcase, the TSA might disapprove of encrypting any of the files on the drive. $29.95 from the Neatoshop, available in the assortment of colors pictured above.

[ Luggage Tag Flash Drive ] VIA [ ChipChick ]