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Best Technology For Long-Distance Travel?
An anonymous reader writes "Over the past year I have traveled across the globe for work but I can't seem to find the right balance of technology to take with me. After reading a CNET article about tech for traveling, I'm still slightly undecided about what hardware suits me best. On the work side of things I need a laptop, nothing fancy but it can't be too heavy or slow. I also need a smart phone that can receive emails across the world and if possible a satellite navigation device, as I need to get to less-traveled locations on a regular basis. From a personal perspective I need my music but I don't care about video, so I'm looking for something with high-quality audio and great battery life. A compact camera wouldn't go amiss but dSLRs are too heavy for my needs and carrying strength, so something I can tuck in a pocket would be perfect. Any suggestions greatly appreciated."
The best technology for Long-Distance Travel is high speed aircraft.
A towel and a copy of your HHGTTG,
And maybe a hammer to whack Marvin with. If he's going to be so depressed all the time, might as well give him a reason to be.
I'd recommend an eee pc from Asus. I've got mine running a slim version of windows XP, a 16gb sdhc card pops the free disk space to about 19gb, 2gb of ram, and with a bit of patching, you can even run oblivion on it (albeit at extremely low settings). I swiped this one off craigslist for 100 bucks a few days ago, so they're pretty cheap if you know where to look.
- Aetheral Research -
I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
If you strive for the perfect setup, you'll be miserable. Just try to find a combination that's good enough.
Someday, we'll all be wearing digital clothes and contacts like in Rainbows End and it will meet all your needs. Until then, you're going to have to choose between carrying a few different gadgets and giving up capabilities.
P.S.
Does the "the government can revoke your certificate and kick you off the net" idea freak anyone else out? It sounds like Vernor Vinge understands trusted computing.
HTC TYTNII
Quad band GSM, 3.5G data, bluetooth, wifi, 3.0 MP camera w/autofocus (no flash)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Kaiser
As for music, I have a 2 gig micro sd card (You need more than 2 gig b/c typ nav prog and maps run 1-1.5 gig) and have it loaded up with phil hendrie (I love ted's of beverly hills steak house) and some music. Helped me get through many 70 hour weeks in the office. Use BTaudio to toggle audio redirection to the bluetooth headset if you don't have something that does a2dp.
Built in GPS great. You don't plan on getting lost, you just do. Having a GPS always in your pocket has saved me many times.
I must warn you though, many users are royally 3.14ssed about the video performance due to "missing drivers". see http://htcclassaction.org/ and http://slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=469774&from=badge for more info.
Grump
Is it true that more people vote for the winner of American Idol, than vote for the president? -Ali G.
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Seriously, compact digital cameras have gotten a lot better lately. I got my wife a Canon PowerShot SD600 a little while ago, which is purse-sized, and takes very acceptable photos. The main differences between this and a DSLR are: first, the DSLR has a much faster shutter speed so can take much better action photos; second, the SD600 has a small non-replaceable lens with a limited zoom, so it is not much good for wildlife or sports where you can't get up close. But for landscapes, it is hard to distinguish its photos from those made with a high-end camera.
If you buy a nintendo DS (or older PSP), you could just upload your music onto that device. The battery life isn't as good as an iPod, but it'll last most lengthy flights pretty well (assuming you don't want it on while you sleep).
You just need the right hardware/software along with your DS, of course. Which isn't that hard to come by.
Check The mod goDS at http://www.themodgods.com/ for more information and (best of all) links to more information sources beyond themselves. The basic "kits" will run about $100. Personally I just use my DS for playing a few games I own so I never bothered buying all the extras, but after seeing all my friend's things, I kinda regret buying an MP3 player...
Ginga no Rekshiya Mata Each page.
First thing I would do is get away from the notion that you "need" your laptop. Taking that off your list will make you a LOT happier. There are Business Centers and Internet Cafe's all over the world. A gotomypc account and a USB drive should handle all of your situations. Seriously think about that one. Once you stop lugging that thing all around the world you will be so much happier.
Sure you might want to work on the airplane while you fly over the ocean. Print it out, bring a pen.
This submission is a ridiculous shill. Put in my anonymous hmm? Could our theoretical traveller with vague needs be..oh I don't know..an editor of CNET?
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Warp Drive.
Quidquid Latine dictum sit, altum videtur (anything said in Latin sounds important)
Thus you want a camera with digital image stabilization, as good wideangle as possible and at least 5 megapixels. Last time I did the round up (a few months ago) there were surprisingly few cameras that met these conditions - mostly because most of what is on the shelves in "Best Buy" (not best for at least several years) does not have any wideangle whatsoever.
My purchase was Panasonic Lumix LX-2 which, at the time, was not available in any store in Boston so I had to order it from Vahns. I was not disappointed and even found the movie mode to be useful - it has a higher resolution than my camcorder (which is NTSC like) and, best of all, the movie files are mpeg4 encoded and play readily on my Kubuntu systems.
I don't think cnet is going to tell you anyting other than who is paying the highest price for advertising this month.
From what he said I think I know what he needs. A Nokia e90. My wife has the e61 and it does 90% of the computing tasks I need. Wi-Fi, 3G, phone, office documents, acrobat, web browsing with Opera, Blackberry support, exchange, & Skype. The e90 is big enough to do any office task on and small enough to take with you. It has 2 cameras (one 3m with flash) and is a great MP3 player. If you don't believe me read Maddox's review of the iPhone vs. e70 titled "The iPhone is a piece of shit, and so is your face." . Granted the e90 is a little different than the e70 but who is going to notice that the e90's balls are made out of tungsten instead of steel with kicking them? Plus it runs on Sybian, a great OS with lots of support and not a bitch of M$ or a BSD rip off with flashing colored baubles.
You know it is a great product because the US cell phone companies will only sell a crippled piece of shit version (e62) in the US.
First, you don't need your music. You simply want it.
Second, anything you return to the USA with may be taken at the border and searched, including computers and storage devices. Be aware of the information you're traveling with, and where it's backed up otherwise.
Thirdly, don't take anything you can't afford to lose. The USA are not the only border guards you'll face, along with all the other predators out looking to take advantage of the richly equipped foreign traveler.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
I think you meant Symbian not Sybian.
It is really quite simple - when you tilt camera by a certain angle the image would shift by 1 pixel. For two cameras covering the same scene the one with more pixels will have the smaller angle. Thus for the extra pixels to actually make a difference you need the camera to move less than that angle during the exposure.
To test this put a thin black hair on a letter or A4 size piece of paper and take an image. Ideally it should be 1 pixel wide, but 3 antialiased pixels is probably to be expected with todays cameras. If you see more than 5 pixels the camera was shaking too much relative to the object and the same quality could be achieved with a sensor of 1/2 resolution (and thus 1/4 of megapixels).
As for your shots, yes I can easily believe that with large wideangle (corresponding to 0.5 zoom) you can make use of 10 MP without stabilization. However, none of pocket sized cameras have lenses that can do that - and I find the ability to have the camera always with me quite useful.
The Macbook Air is completely unsuitable for long distance travel because of the poor battery life and non-swappable battery.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled"
...after a few years of testing out many items. For easy traveling, your items should be flat and thin. 1. Thinkpad X series (had to wait 3 years for the price to drop around USD1200 after rebate/coupon), a bag where you can fit the laptop on its side (easy to carry around) and a PCMCIA modem card (many Asian countries you will get net access through cellphone service providers) 2. Canon TX1 3. Any quad band cellphone with an FM receiver and a bit of memory for storing any music 4. A small LED torch 5. Earplugs 6. flat/thin LED book light, a flat Swiss army card etc. All the above will fit in a thin laptop bag (Wilson has nice leather laptop bags - and they look like normal bags) and will not weigh more than 3.5 to 4 pounds.
Tat Tvam Asi
To be fair and tip my hat to this century, on my last trip to China, aside from the above, I also brought an aging iBook, one of the first white ones I think, a G3, a laptop that I didn't care in the least if I lost.
First, I wiped it clean. Next I set up two accounts, on that I would use, the other set to be the default, no password login, in case customs wanted to see what I was up to. Browsing was done through an SSH tunnel to my home proxy server (mainly because my own blog was on China's great firewall) and any files I wanted to keep were SCP'd back home.
Web mail is better than a POP app, as long as you avoid Nigerian net cafés and use your own laptop. Skype seems fine everywhere.
Take a pocket digital too. The one you have from a few years ago. Use that for all of the crap photos you will inevitably take and save your film for the good stuff. Upload all of the digital junk to Flickr or whatever from your hotel every day, so you won't worry about losing it.
For the real pictures, use film and take your time to enjoy it. Slow down and write down your impressions of the place and give it some real thought.
Enjoy your trip.
-- My Weblog.
Some of what you want can't be done - there's no such thing as a smartphone that works across the world. I spent 5 months in north and west africa last year, and it's often the case that there are no roaming agreements for european or US networks, so your phone won't work at all. And even if you get a local sim card, you'll still be stuck with no data in many places.
The rest - well, it depends on whether you are going to a hospitable or hostile environment. If you're going to a hostile place, make sure you take something to keep yourself amused. A portable game device and LOTS of reading or tv shows and books are essential.
My advice? Take the minimum you need for your flight and ship the rest. Yes, that includes your laptop.
Last time I went on an international business trip, I took one carry-on with my clothes packed in vacuum-sealed bags. As far as electronic items, I took my 60Gb iPod and my HTC TyTN... oh, and a set of noise-canceling headphones. Not to mention an eye-mask and ear plugs (so I could sleep). That's it... nothing else.
I had packaged up my laptop and other business-related paraphernalia in a secured box and shipped using an insured carrier the day before I departed. Yes, that meant I was "sans laptop" for a day... but really... with my TyTN able to get my email and web browsing I didn't miss it. The laptop and stuff arrived the day after I did and was quite secure... I didn't have to run the rigmarole of dealing with the TSA or their foreign counterparts with my laptop, and I had the security of knowing all my luggage was in the overhead during the entire flight and wasn't getting lost somewhere in the depths of Newark's baggage handling facility (those who've gone through Newark know this pain).
Sure, the shipping wasn't cheap but I was able to write it off as a business expense since all I was shipping were business items. I treat either carry-on or checked bags as an insecure location to store critical information. Yes, there's a risk that a loss may occur with a carrier like Fedex or UPS as well, but if it's insured then you can claim it back. Oh, and make sure the data on the drive is encrypted if you're really feeling paranoid.
So what if I'd wanted to work the day I arrived? Yes, that would be a catch. However, the first day after you arrive internationally, you're almost never going to be functional. You're going to want to sleep. However, just on the off-chance I had a bug up my butt to actually do some work that day, I put critical information (critical to the project at hand plus a few other minor items) onto the hard drive of the iPod, and a copy on a 2Gb USB stick... both encrypted of course. That way, I'm pretty much covered.
Did the same on the way home and couldn't have been happier. There's little reason to take a laptop onto a trans-oceanic flight these days... most of the airlines do in-flight movies. Even if not you can put movies on your iPod or iPhone or (insert media player of choice here). I have considered in the past getting one of the nice portable media centers to carry on international flights, but to-date I have never needed them. Plus, I make a point of getting red-eyes (overnight flights) so that I'm almost forced into a position where I get a few hours of sleep. That makes the travel much more bearable.
Think about your priorities and make a decision from there what you need to bring... but bear in mind a laptop is LOW priority if you're sensible about your other technologies. Laptops are also a risk, and when I travel the only places I like to carry my laptop are between the hotel and the office... and then ship it to my next port of call. I find travel a LOT less stressful since I started this because it means you have a minimum of stuff to keep a track of, and so long as you make sensible use of encryption your data is as secure as reasonable.