travel

A simple plea to AT&T: Texts ARE data!

With that said, my travels ended and I got my first AT&T invoice from my far-flung travels. I managed to stick to a lean 15 MB of data used (both downloaded and uploaded) on the iPhone. I called stateside a handful of times using the international roaming plan, which reduced the charge per minute to $1.29 from $1.69. I found myself becoming the master of keeping calls from rounding up to the next chargeable minute (my average call time to the States was 2:59). In … Read more

This classic Airstream trailer outfitted with off-the-grid features got people thinking back to the future at the 18th Bioneers conference this weekend. The sustainability convention in San Rafael, Cal., brings together "bio-pioneers" including scientists, artists, clean tech investors and nonprofit activists.

The 22-foot Safari model, circa 1958, incorporates a composting toilet, wind turbine and solar panels. It has bamboo floors, trimmings and cabinet skins as well as an Alaskan yellow cedar couch bed. Countertops are recycled stainless steel and the bathroom floors are marboleum, derived from flax oil.

Owner Tim Blair, who runs a green design consulting firm, … Read more

Sitting on the plane in San Francisco I knew a few things would happen when I got to Syndey: I would have an international long-distance plan, I would have an international data plan (with a strict diet of 20 MB for a month) with data roaming and auto-email check switched off and I knew that I'd have to call my mom when I got there. Apart from that, I had no idea what the logistics would be.

In fact, I had ventured into an AT&T store on a whim to add these features. As it turns out, … Read more

Recently, I highlighted the Belkin Dual USB Power Adapter as a great option for anyone with two USB-powered devices. But what if you have three, four, or more--say, an iPod, a Blackberry, and a Bluetooth headset? With its ability to charge six devices, the CallPod ChargePod caught my eye--but the need to buy a host of proprietary adapters turned me off. If all my devices already have charging cables with standard USB plugs, wouldn't it make a lot more sense for a charger to use corresponding standard USB ports instead? Of course it would. So, I was looking for a charger with as many standard USB ports on it as possible.

And then I realized it was already sitting on my desk. And it's probably sitting on yours, too. … Read more

Just in case I wasn't crystal clear in my earlier post about Southwest Airlines' new online boarding pass lottery, I despise the carrier's "cattle car" seat assignment scheme. There's at least one clever entrepreneur (and future Webware T-Shirt wearer) out there who feels the same way I do and is building Pass-a-matic. This service, still in closed beta, should do exactly what I want. First, it will act as my agent on Southwest's online check-in service, logging in at the precisely right time to "snipe" the coveted low-numbered "A" boarding … Read more

Frequent fliers on budget Southwest Airlines are used to standing in lines. It's the only way you can guarantee yourself a good seat. Even with the coveted "A" boarding pass (which you get by checking in online before lazier people get around to it), you still have to stand in line at the airport to get a good A-class seat. No more.

Southwest is moving the anxiety and line-jumping from the airport to your home. Now, instead of just hoping for an "A" pass when you check in online, you get a number on your … Read more

Here's a potentially very useful service for traveling geeks: TripIt. If you forward your electronic travel confirmations (from the airline, the car company, the hotel, etc) to it, it will intelligently collate them all into one place, parse the information, and add related information as well, such as maps, weather, events (from Eventful) and photos of where you're going (from Flickr). The goal being to replace all your pages of printed confirmations with a single online page that has all the relevant info, nicely organized for you.

The TripIt "Itinerator" has a social function: If you … Read more

Despite the dream of an "ultimate handheld," it's really hard to get down to fewer than two portable devices. A Treo may do it all, but you still want an iPod; an iPhone is great, but you still need a BlackBerry for work; you like to listen to your iPod while playing your PSP or DS; and so on. Even those who do manage to get down to one super smart phone often have a Bluetooth headset to go along with it. And traveling with two devices means taking two power adapters along. Or at least it did--until the Belkin Dual USB Power Adapter came along. … Read more

Last year, HP introduced its HP iPaq rx5900 Travel Companion, a sleek gadget that combined the powers of a PDA and a portable navigation system into one solution. It was the first GPS device for the company, and based on user opinions, it was a pretty successful product. Now, HP has decided to embark on its first GPS-only venture with the new HP iPaq 310 Travel Companion. I got a sneak preview a couple of weeks ago, and I must say, I'm pretty impressed. Unlike the rx5900, which used TomTom software, HP created its own interface for the iPaq … Read more