A Video Travel Gadget to Go with and One to Leave at Home
When you read about which travel gadgets to buy, you usually get your standard list of the little things that make your trip that much more fun - the little hand-wound spring-powered radio, an all-in-one pocket tool, a tough little indestructible digital camera, a first aid kit. Let's look at the travel gadget at a different angle. How about something that will help you calm that voice at the back of your mind that worries about how things are going back at home when you are away swimming in the crystal waters off the coast of South Africa?
There is a gaggle of new Internet-enabled devices on the market that act as your eye-in-the-sky. Let's look at these, and a few other great new ideas for entertainment on the road too. First up, is the personal video system from Vue. The system comes with two power-efficient wireless video cameras in a box. You can place them wherever you want - in your child's room to make sure your sister does remember to feed him on time, facing out the window to make sure there is no funny business going on at your front door, and so on. The video that these cameras capture is sent straight to the web, where you can go watch what goes on in your home, from half a world away. You can even watch the video on your phone anywhere. It doesn't record any sound though; and it doesn't have a motion detector; it isn't a security system. What it does is, it lets you watch your home the whole time you're away. It goes for $300; and that's a great deal in a travel gadget.
Sling box can be a great way to share your expensive satellite TV connection with anyone. It can also be a great way to watch your own cable or satellite TV at home, from anywhere in the world. Let's say that there is a great hometown game that's coming up in your city, and you have to be in Tokyo at the time or something. All you need to do is, to set up your Sling Box to beam that game over the Internet so that you can watch it from anywhere you are. Your laptop or your cell phone can turn into a television receiver for the picture your Sling Box puts out. Who says that every travel gadget has to travel with you?
But enough of that stuff; here are some great devices that lighten up your life on the road. Let's say that you are waiting at the airport, and you'd like to watch a movie on your laptop. The only problem is that the people sitting on either side of you, not to mention the 10-year-old behind, all have an unhealthy interest in what's going on on your screen. What's a traveler to do? Consider the ViewGuard privacy screen travel gadget. It won't set you back $50, and it changes the viewing angles of your screen so that only you can see what's going on. No one standing on either side of you, and no one behind you has any idea what you have on. But if you want to get really private with your movie, consider the I-Glasses for about $300. It's an odd looking set of goggles with little screens in the eyepieces. It kind of works like Viewmaster, except that it gives you rich, crisp video quality on what appears to be an 80 inch plasma TV. Put that together with the way it connects to an iPod, and the stereo sound yoou get, and you have a real special experience.
Of course, every travel gadget like this needs a little juice. Make sure you buy the $50 iGo Charge battery charger. It works anywhere, on any kind of voltage or socket, and has an internal battery system to store power for when you are away from civilization. It comes with different kinds of adapters for every gadget on the planet; it could just save your skin one day.