I've spent several years searching for a travel charging station that would let me get rid of all the cables that clutter my travel backpack. This may be the right one.
The Gowatt Snap Charger Optimal is designed to charge an iPhone, an Apple Watch and an Airpod wireless case all at the same time.
In its traveling mode, the charger is about the same size as my iPhone 15: about 6 inches long, 3 inches wide and less than 1 inch thick. It unfolds to reveal a Magsafe holder, a pop-out shelf for the Apple Watch and a disk for charging the Airpods case (or perhaps a second phone).
In addition to the convenient size, I like how the Magsafe panel has a strong magnet that holds my phone in vertical or horizontal mode. The horizontal is especially good for video calling, video watching or nighttime use when the phone turns into a clock.
The stand comes with a USB-C to USB-C cable, an adapter and nice-looking zipper carrying case. The system delivers 15 watts of charging power. That may not be enough for fast charging but quite sufficient for overnight use.
I think I'll add a visit to Bali to my bucked list. I’m too old to appreciate the island's surfing beaches, but there's apparently plenty of other intriguing things to do, from an exotic animal safari to ancient Hindu temples.
And while I don't have airline tickets or a place to stay, I've got a driver and that's a start.
My Internet browsing led to me to Gajah Tour, a service that offers cars and drivers to full- or half-day visits to nature areas, historical sites and other Bali adventures.
The service recently launched a mobile app that lets users schedule tours or an airport pickup. Gajah Tour says it will match a visitor's interests with drivers and experienced tour guides. The app describes 30 different Bali tours and lets users communicate directly with their driver.
When I was planning our last trip to Europe a few years ago, I spent a lot of time on my computer jumping from one website to another.
I remember getting weather reports for Paris, London and other cities, checking the exchange rates in various countries and trying to calculate the time difference in different areas.
I also remember wondering why someone hadn’t wrapped all those elements into a single application?
Now someone has. It’s called mayago WET and it combines a currency converter, weather forecast and world time clock in one stand-alone desktop app for Windows.
The desktop display can show any number of locations selected from a list of more than 1,500. The weather feature offers the predicted temperature range, in Fahrenheit or Celsius, along with the current exchange rate and local time.
Users also have the option to view a 5-day forecast, see the historical exchange rates for the past 6 months, and compare local time between any pair of cities.
The display can be customized to give it a personalized look and feel and it will support multiple users on the same computer.
The software is available as a free download at the mayago website. You can add additional features by upgrading to the Pro version.
The last time I renewed our passports, I thought I could save some money by shooting the required photos. How hard could that be? It’s just a head shot taken with a neutral background.
It turned out that the government has some pretty strict rules about what qualifies as a passport photo and I wasted time and money by giving it photos that got rejected. If I wanted do-it-yourself photos, I should have checked out Passport Photo Workshop.
The Windows program is designed for use by amateurs in a home, business or organization. It has a step-by-step wizard interface that walks you through the process and provides dozens of passport photo templates and a set of simple editing tools.
Among the program’s features is an Auto Crop option that will automatically recognize facial features. Cropping can also be done manually to produce photos that meet ISO/ICAO standards.
Users can input images from files, a webcam, SD cards or Canon’s EOS series digital cameras. It also supports a variety of output options.
One reason that I am steadily increasing my use of Facebook’s Messenger app is its versatility. I can send short messages to people without knowing their phone number.
And now Messenger can provide users with access to discounted hotel rates and a forum for talking about travel.
Mermaids Jetsetter is a chatbot app aimed at people who love to travel. The service uses artificial intelligence technology to interact with users.
After I connected to Mermainds Jetsetter, I was offered hotel deals from Waylo, a service that sends notifications of hotel price reductions, and travel shopping deals, in this case a three-piece set of Samsonite luggage.
I also checked out a travel packing quiz that reminded me to take my passport, health insurance documents and chargers for my electronic gadgets.
To add the chatbot to your personal Messenger account, click to Mermaids Jetsetter in your browser or search “Mermaids Jetsetter” inside Messenger.
The hardest thing I had to do when I visited Japan wasn’t riding the subway or ordering from a restaurant menu. It was keeping track of how much I was spending
A tasty bowl of udon served at an ordinary restaurant might be listed at 420 yen and a soft drink from a vending machine - which are plentiful in Tokyo and other cities - might be marked 100 yen.
That might sound like a lot of money, but it turns out that, at current exchange rates, that lunch would cost less than $5. I know that because I consulted Currency Converter, a free app created by Amdoren.
The app offers speedy currency conversions for more than 150 currencies. If you’re traveling with a multi-national group, as I was, you could price noodles for everyone and show costs in Euros, Pounds or Pesos.
The free version of Currency Converter shows two currencies at exchange rates that are updated every 12 hours. A premium version displays up to five currencies with rates updated when the app is launched.
Currency Converter is available for Android devices in the Google Play Store. The premium versions a one-time price tag of $1.99, or about 128 Russian rubles.
I have a nice mount that keeps my phone at eye level on my car’s dashboard. Now I need an easy way to juggle my apps when I’m getting news alerts and text messages while I’m checking weather radar and navigation and also playing an audiobook or listening to music on Pandora.
That’s the goal of Autify, an Android app that helps you manage your phone while you’re behind the steering wheel.
Autify lets you switch from one app to another using a simple combination of voice and gestures. With Autify, you select up to three apps and use one finder to flip from one to another.
That eliminates having to take multiple steps like clicking to your home screen, swiping through pages to find an app and clicking again to launch it.
Autify is available as a free download for Android mobile devices in the Google Play Store.
My wife frequently travels to New York City on business and occasionally has time for some sightseeing.
New York icons like the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge are still on her list of places she'd like to see.
I told her to check out Gootli. The iOS app offers a collection of short videos that give you a much better view of a tour that what many people get from a little brochure or from the description you might get from the hotel concierge.
With Gootli, users can also book and pay for a tour directly from the app and get an electronic ticket sent directly to their phone.
Gootli says it will also hook up users with exclusive last-minute deals and discounts.
Some years ago, I was invited to join a group of about 20 tech writers from around the world on a trip to Japan where we would visit the host company’s new factory and attend the consumer technology trade show in Tokyo.
I hadn’t previously met any of the others on the tour and while I got to know several of them during the trip, it would have been great to connect with all of them right from the start.
That trip was a perfect occasion to use CoRover, a new app that lets you make a personal connection with other people who are traveling together, either for business or pleasure.
The app lets users get to know who the other passengers are on a trip and lets them interact with each other in a group chat or a private conversation. For safety and security, users can decide whether they want to allow group messages, private messages or chat notifications.
In addition to service as an introduction platform for a group of strangers with a shared itinerary, CoRover can be useful when group members need to share books, taxis, medicines, or knowledge about the tour or some of its destinations. It can also marshall the group’s assistance to deal with lost or stolen items and it can serve as a long-term connection to let member keep in touch after the trip.
The last time I needed to renew our passports I spent hours clicking through pages on government websites in search of answers to some pretty basic questions: What forms do I need? Where do I send them? Where can I get help.
The next time I need passport help, I plan to use an iPhone app called My Passport & Visa App.
The publishers of this app have collected and organized all of the information a US citizen would need to know about applying our renewing a passport or visa. The app includes information about application forms and a set of video tutorials showing how fill them out.
Users can also find locations where they can apply in person, options for getting a passport photo, a list of services such as Rush Passport Center that will expedite the passport process for a fee and a link to track your package when you send documents.
The app is a free downloading the iTunes App Store. I works on iPhones, iPads and the iPod Touch.
I thought I had done fairly well in planning our trip to Italy’s Mediterranean coast a few years ago. But none of the websites and photo collections that I viewed had really captured the beauty of Positano, the nightlife of Sorrento or the truly harrowing experience of driving the Amalfi Coast road and sharing it with tricks and tour buses.
Had it been available back then, Playligo would have been a welcome tool for planning our trip. Unlike the dry descriptions found in many travel guides, Playligo uses video to provide a closer and more entertaining view of a travel destination.
Once a user creates a Playligo account, the service will suggest destinations that might inspire you. If you already know where you want to go, Playligo lets you build a video playlist to match your itinerary. The playlist can be shared with friends or with others in your travel group.
Comments posted by contributors can help members choose among different options for attractions or side trips and discover new destinations they might not know about. Users can also create polls to get group input on a topic like which area has better Roman ruins - Pompeii or Herculaneum?
To get a closer look at Playligo, visit the Playligo website, where registration is free, and check out the public playlist.
My globetrotting friends share photos of their latest adventures by posting them on Facebook and Instagram. But those pictures tend to get mixed up among photos of kids, pets, meals and other images that have nothing to do with travel.
A new iOS app called Hip Traveller invites users to share there photos they take while they’re on the move, giving its collections a much narrower focus.
The Hip Traveller website says the app “is for people who go off the circuit to find new hip places in famous cities or hidden gems around the world.”
Users who upload photos to the service are encouraged to add a few words about the area they visited and what made it special to them. They can also use the app to create a circle of friends for photo sharing and to find images captured in a specific part of the world.
Hip Traveller is available as a free download in the iTunes App Store.
Along with warm weather and more outdoor activities will come reports of emergencies and sometimes tragedies. A driver gets lost on a remote road and runs out of gas. Hikers are caught in a late snow or unexpected storm.
A child or elderly adult becomes separated from their group. Mobile phones, apps, and other electronic devices can help prevent situations like those and keep us safe when we are out of our comfort zones.
A phone can be a lifesaver in an emergency situation, but not if it has a dead battery. If you travel away from power sources, it’s a good idea to take along a portable charging device that can refuel a phone in a pinch.
The Mobile Battery Power Pack made by Rayovac is small enough to attach to a keychain and will hold a charge for up to six months. The device will deliver immediate power to a mobile phone as soon as it’s plugged in, giving it enough juice for more than two hours of talk time.
Larger multi-function gadgets that draw power from the sun or a hand crank can be a welcome addition to a backpack or car trunk. Two examples are the FR1 from Eton and the IS-088 from iRonsnow. Both units have a built-in flashlight and a radio that brings in AM or FM broadcasts along with the NOAA weather band stations.
The FR1 will automatically deliver emergency weather alerts that warn of possible hurricanes, tornadoes or severe storms nearby. Both can be charged from a wall outlet or with a few minutes turning a crank. The iRonsnow also has a small solar panel that will collect and store energy when it’s in bright sunlight.
Digital trackers are also getting popular with hikers, joggers, bikers and anyone else who wants people to know how to find them in an emergency. The VALRT Button can be worn in a wristband, as a pendant or carried in a pocket. When pressed, the Button connects to a mobile phone which sends a personalized text message and GPS location to pre-selected contacts. It issues an alert if the person with the Button wanders away from the person with the phone.
The SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger is a digital tracker for more adventurous souls. It communicates directly with global satellite systems to track the user’s location and, if necessary, send a message to a friend or to an emergency response center. The system can follow users who are hiking on the Appalachian Trail, sailing in the Carribbean or biking in the Australian Outback.
Covert Alert is an iPhone app that can give users a measure of peace of mind when they’re walking in a sketchy neighborhood or any time they think they might be in potential danger. With the app turned on, the phone will respond to a user’s trigger word to send an instant text message to a friend. It also turns on the phone’s recorder for up to 15 minutes after an alert is sent.
These apps and gadgets are no substitute for planning and common sense when you leave home. But technology can help insure that you and your loved ones get home safely.
When our kids were teens off doing who knows what with the family car, I would often check the odometer to see if they had strayed far beyond the boundaries we had set. That was a poor way to keep tabs on them, but it was all we had.
Today, I could use the Scout GPS tracker offered by On Demand Tracking to get an alert if the car was speeding or if it crossed the parental perimeter.
On Demand’s Scout is a device that plugs into the the On-Board Diagnostic (OBD) port that sits under the dashboard of any vehicles made since 1996. Using cellular networks, it transmits real-time data that is displayed using the company’s software.
In addition to tracking teens, the Scout can be used to track elderly drivers or commercial fleet vehicles. On demand offers subscription plans that start at $22.50 per month to get data transmitted every two minutes.
More information is available at the On Demand website and a free demo can be arranged by calling 317-662-4636.
When I flew to Las Vegas for the annual CES trade show in 2014 my airline gave my suitcase a little side trip. While I arrived in Las Vegas safe and sound, my clothes flew off to parts unknown. It took the airline four days to locate and deliver my luggage - just in time for my return trip home.
Every frequent traveller has had a similar experience and every one of them would love to know just what happened to their baggage and their possessions. A new gadget called BagSentry plans to tell them.
Developed by CargoSense Inc., BagSentry is a sensor that can record when and how often a bag is opened and if it’s dropped, damaged or left out in the rain. And it will deliver a detailed report that can be used to support a claim for lost luggage or damaged contents.
The sensor is housed in device that’s slightly larger than an ordinary thumb drive and it’s programmed using a mobile app. Users input in the airline, travel date and flight numbers and toss the sensor in with their clothes and other items.
The sentinel has a light sensor, so it knows when the bag is opened, a shock sensor and the ability to recognize the airport where it departed and landed. After a trip, the data can be transferred to a computer using a USB connection and BagSentry software will produce a detailed report.
CargoSense has completed development of the sensing device and it has a Kickstarter campaign under way with a goal of $100,000 to finance development of app. Backers who contribute $80 or more will be in line to get one of the first BagSentry units along with six trip reports.
The BagSentry system is scheduled to be available in the spring of 2016 with a list price of about $130 with a fee of about $4 for each trip report.
For more details, check out the video below and the full description on the Kickstarter page. You can also follow BagSentry’s progress @bagsentry on Twitter.
Now that we’ve turned back the clocks for the winter, my evening dog walk often comes after dark. Safety says I should carry a flashlight, but I don’t want to lug along the big and heavy MagLite that we keep in a closet.
That’s why I have my eye on the J5 Tactical V1-PRO Flashlight. It’s a small and lightweight LED light that can throw out a strong and bright light despite its size.
According to the folks at J5, the V1-Pro has an adjustable beam that can sweep light over the length of two football fields on a clear night. It has a high and low intensity setting plus a strobe setting for bike riders. And it runs on a single AA battery.
Back when my children rode in car seats and I was their chauffeur, I constantly scanned the rear view mirror looking for trouble in the back seat, especially after they were old enough to undo the restraints by themselves.
A child on the loose in a car is a child in danger. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says unrestrained children 14 and younger accounted for nearly 170,000 car injuries in 2012 with 1,100 of them fatalities.
I suspect Bob Steffen probably had parental anxieties like mine when he founded Cars-N-Kids in St. Louis and invented a device called Driver’s Little Helper. It’s a car seat sensor with built-in Bluetooth communication that sends an alert through an app when a child gets out of the car seat or when the temperature in the car gets too hot or too cold.
The Driver’s Little Helper system uses three components. One is a small plastic cushion that slips under the pad of a child’s car seat. A short cable connects the pad to a battery-powered transmitter that clips to the seat or to a seat belt strap. The third element is a mobile app that can be downloaded for free from the iTunes App Store or the Google Play Store.
When I tested Driver’s Little Helper, I found it was no more difficult than setting up Bluetooth speakers or wireless headphones. I started by installing three AAA batteries in the transmitter, (something the Driver’s Little Helper instructions neglected to mention), then plugged in the cushion cable.
In the app, you can enter your name along with a mobile number and email address plus contact information for any additional parties who should get alerts.
The next stop was a link to add a new car seat. The app quickly found the sensor and gave me the options to assign it to a specific child’s name and upload a photo. The Driver’s Little Helper supports multiple sensors, so naming them sounds like a good idea for parents who have more than one little passenger.
When there’s no pressure on the cushion, the transmitter powers down and the app shows that the sensor is offline. But when a child is in place, the app lights up and reports “Child in seat” and shows the temperature, battery level and whether the vehicle is moving or stopped.
If the child leaves the seat, the display changes to “Child out of seat” and when the car stops, an alert appears on the screen. The system will also send an alert if the car stops and the child remains in the seat. Users can specify how long to wait after the car stops before the alert goes out. It’s technology like this that could put an end to children being forgotten and left in a hot car.
The creators of Driver’s Little Helper are accepting preorders at the Driver’s Little Helper website. The device costs $79.99 and comes with the sensor pad, transmitter and story book and stickers for the little passengers.
To learn more about Driver’s Little Helper, check out the video below, visit the DLH page on Facebook and follow @drivers_helper on Twitter.
Before I leave to attend the big consumer electronics trade show in Las Vegas in January, I guarantee you my wife will remind me of the time I forgot to pack my laptop and the other time when I failed to pack fresh underwear.
The primary feature of the app is a checklist that you can fill out as you make your travel plans and then consult when it’s time to fill a suitcase and travel bag. You can add items like a phone charger, headphones and your daily medication.
You also get tips, like email yourself 5 contact phone numbers, so you can have access from any computer. That could be handy if you lose your mobile phone. It also suggests making paper copies of your passport and driver’s license and leaving a note in your hotel room that lists your next destination.
Unlike many travel items, Travel Like A Flight Attendant is free. It’s available to download in the Apple iTunes App Store.
When I headed out for a three-day hike along the Appalachian Trail with a group of Boy Scouts some years ago, I knew our mobile phones and walkie-talkies would not keep us in touch with the guys at our base camp.
But the new Roampod would have been a perfect device to keep in touch or if there had been an emergency.
The Roampod provides a communication channel when other conventional channels aren’t available.
The portable snap-on gadget uses Bluetooth and a mobile device to connect to another Roampod over a long-range radio frequency. The Roampod doesn’t need a mobile phone signal, just a Bluetooth device to serve as a keyboard for text chatting. That means it will also work with a portable device like a tablet or iPod Touch that doesn't have phone service.
The typical range of Roampod is up to 1 mile in the city and up to about 20 miles in rural areas where two Roampods are along a line of sight. That could be attractive for farmers, ranchers or climbers — anyone working in remote areas where a cell phone isn’t practical.
The Roampod is slated to be priced at $249 for two units but when the developers launch their Kickstarter campaign, backers can get two for $149. To be notified when the campaign starts, sign up at the Roampod website and follow @roampod on Twitter.
Traveling in South East Asia will have enough hassles. Booking transportation shouldn’t be one of them.
Easybook is a service that promises to put you on a train, bus, ferry or rental car in Singapore or Malaysia without any fuss or bother.
Founded in 2005, Easybook has tickets for more than 7,500 daily bus departures on about 3,000 routes. Popular destinations include Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Penang Genting Highlands and Johor Bahru. Bus operators that work with Easybook include 707 Inc, Starmart, Lapan Lapan, Sri Maju, Konsortium and Luxury Coach.
Last year Easybook expanded to offer rail tickets from and within Malaysia; car rental across Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia; local tours in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia; and ferry tickets between Singapore and Indonesia. Booking a trip is simple - enter your departure and arrival locations and dates, then select your desired trip and use the secure payment option.
Also available are tickets to attractions such as Legoland, Hello Kitty Town, and Little Big Club in Johor, Malaysia.
For more details, check out the Easybook website where you can download apps from the iTunes App Store, Google Play Store, Blackberry App World and Windows 8. You can also follow @easybook_com on Twitter.
I started reporting on gadgets and gear when Atari ruled electronic games and computers used floppy disks. My weekly column ran in the The Louisville Courier-Journal and online at USAToday.com and ABC News.com. I was a regular at tech trade shows including COMDEX, CES and the CEDIA show for home theater. Follow @GizmoEditor on Twitter and on Facebook. Contact me at ricman@iglou.comI also create short videos for vendors to use on Amazon and YouTube. Click here to see a portfolio of my recent videos.
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