Keep Your Travels Organized with TripIt
For the past year, I’ve been using TripIt to keep up with trip details such as flights, confirmation numbers for rental cars and hotels and meeting schedules.
Here’s how it works. I forward confirmation e-mails to Tripit and it neatly arranges the information for viewing online. You can let friends view your itineraries and also see if any traveling friends will be close by during your trip.
I can edit my itinerary to include meetings and other details. Then, I can export the information and bring it into my Outlook calendar. In my experience, Tripit does an excellent job of grabbing the information from confirmation e-mails, and that saves a lot of time compared to entering the information manually.
Tripit also offers free apps for the iPhone, Android phones and the BlackBerry platform for viewing the information on mobile devices. I also print out a hard copy and keep it with my boarding passes and other travel documents.
TripIt will even print out maps for getting from the airport to the hotel and to meetings, though I depend on my GPS for directions.
One improvement I’d suggest is using actual weather forecasts for where I’m traveling instead of historical averages. Historical data tells me nothing about actual conditions on the ground. And with all the weather providers available, it seems that would be an easy addition.
The basic version is free. TripIt also offers a pro version, for $69 a year, that will monitor your itinerary and send information about flight delays, cancellations and gate changes, and will also suggest alternate flights. There’s a 30-day free trial available for TripIt Pro.
I’m using the free version of TripIt and depend on flight alerts from the airlines for notifications of any changes.
For my travels, TripIt performs better than another travel app, Tripcase. I can’t get Tripcase to look up itineraries using a reservation number with flights booked directly on American Airlines’ website. Tripcase is adding the ability to get the information from confirmation e-mails, but that part is still in beta.
After using it for dozens of journeys, I can recommend TripIt for keeping up with the many details that go into trip planning. A few improvements, such as real weather information, would make it even better.
Posted by JohnG in Business Gear, General Gear on March 9th, 2010
Top Tech’s Slim Data Drive Fits in Your Wallet
For years, I’ve carried a flash drive attached to my keychain on every trip. But Top Tech Products’ Slim Data USB Card convinced me there’s a better way to carry data.
My poor flash drive. The first one I had, I lost the protective cap and had to scour the web to find a new one.
Then, I bought a higher-capacity drive as a replacement. But after six months or so, the plastic piece that attaches to the keychain broke. So I went back to the older drive and soon some protective rubbery trim outside the plastic case was starting to crumble off in my pocket.
Toptech came to my rescue, sending me one of their flash drives that’s almost the exact size as a credit card—just slightly thicker in the center—and easily slips in my wallet. It’s the slimmest flash drive available. And the 4 GB capacity is plenty large for most uses on the road.
Using the Slim Data USB card was easy. The top flips open to expose the small memory card. Then, I just plugged it in to one of my Windows computers and it was recognized almost instantly. The card supports Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems.
A flash drive is one of my must-carry items while traveling. I don’t use it on every trip. But it’s there when I need it for backing up or copying pictures, storing word processing or music files and a dozen other uses.
The Slim Data 4GB USB Card sells for $24.99 from Top Tech and is also available through Amazon. Mine is orange, which is bright and easy to see. Other color choices include blue, red, smoke and clear.
My old flash drive
The drive includes a limited lifetime warranty. It won the 2009 Novelty Accessory Award from CTIA-The Wireless Association.
Now I’ll have to pick one credit card to leave behind or just carry a slightly thicker wallet. But I think the Slim Data card will ultimately hold up better than the drives I’ve tried that attach to a keyring.
Tucked away in my wallet, I believe it will also be less likely to get lost than a drive that hangs from a keychain. My ID, credit cards and other valuables go in my wallet—so it makes sense to keep important files there, too.
Posted by JohnG in Business Gear, General Gear, Travel Light on March 8th, 2010
Trapster Warns of Speed Traps, Red Light Cameras
CB radios were once the fad for tipping other drivers about speed traps. But the CB is so ’70s.
Enter the modern-day replacement, Trapster—a free app for smartphones that can give drivers advance warnings of speed traps and red light and speed cameras.
Trapster’s database includes more than 1.5 million reported traps around the world. When your iPhone or other GPS-equipped smartphone gets within half a mile of one, you’ll hear a voice warning and the spot will be marked on a moving map. The warning distance can be set from one-fourth to one mile.
When you see a trap, you can add it to the Trapster database with the push of a button. Other users can confirm the location, which helps make the map more accurate. A data plan is required for your smartphone to send the information to the company’s server.
But not all the reports come from drivers who spot the traps. In Texas, the Travis County Sheriff’s Department (Austin area) is entering enforcement locations to encourage safe driving. According to Trapster, deputies also upload other information such as road closures, traffic jams, accidents and dangerous intersections.
I’m impressed by the broad range of phones and operating systems supported by Trapster. It runs on the iPhone as well as Android, Blackberry, Nokia, Windows Phone and Palm devices, plus some Garmin and Tom Tom GPS units. If you don’t have one of those, you can get text message alerts, or use Trapster’s website to print out directions that include the locations of speed traps and enforcement cameras.
Trapster isn’t perfect. Where I live, it shows a red light camera where there’s no light at all. The information will only be as good as the number of people who actively use it and keep the maps updated. The app has more than four million users.
Also, some law-enforcement officers have expressed concern that such apps can be distracting to drivers.
My other problem with Trapster is the company’s terms and conditions, which users must agree to when they register on the site. Now, I usually don’t even read these. But I’d heard there was something particularly onerous in Trapster’s agreement—and it’s this.
If you knowingly don’t provide correct, current and complete information while registering or using the site, you agree to pay Trapster $25,000.
I asked Trapster’s Stefanie Frederick why this was part of the agreement, and she replies, “As you know, most companies have privacy notices or terms of use pages… that being said, the policy is just saying that there are penalties if a user maliciously uses Trapster on purpose. But we hope that never happens.”
For some reason, that condition still bothers me. And while the company can “hope that never happens,” users have agreed to pay $25,000 if they report false information on the site. That could make a free app pretty expensive.
If you can live with the language in the terms and conditions, Trapster is a roadworthy app to take along on your travels.
Posted by JohnG in Business Gear, General Gear, Kids and Family on March 2nd, 2010
Lensbaby Turns Photos into Works of Art
One of the most-carried pieces of travel gear is a digital camera. And if you’ve moved up from a point-and-shoot to a DSLR—or are thinking about it—Lensbaby can help take your photography to the next level of creativity.
Lensbaby makes a series of lenses, and optic inserts for those lenses, that can turn ordinary photos into extraordinary works of art. I’ve been spending some time with the Composer lens and the Soft Focus Optic on my Nikon D90 and enjoying the results.
First stop was an old-fashioned carnival where I got so busy with the Lensbaby, I forgot about the cotton candy.
The Composer is a selective-focus lens. One of the best ways to call attention to a subject is to have it in sharp focus, with the background or even the foreground blurred. This is a great-looking effect. And it’s where the Composer shines.
Lensbaby Composer's view of the Fun Slide
The focus area can be in the center of the picture. Or, with the Composer’s ball-and-socket design, the sweet spot can be moved to the right or left and up or down.
Then, just focus and shoot. A built-in locking ring, if needed, will hold the spot.
It’s possible to get a similar type of selective focus with a regular lens by using a wide aperture, giving the picture a shallow depth of field. But the Composer makes it easy and can create a more dramatic effect with a movable sweet spot in only a portion of the frame.
The Composer also includes changeable aperture discs ranging from f2 to f22. I used manual exposure settings for my D90. Some other cameras allow light metering in aperture-priority mode.
The Composer is available with mounts for most popular digital SLR cameras.
Lensbaby offers two other selective-focus lenses—the Muse, with an accordion-like design, and the Control Freak for tabletop and macro photography. The Composer, Muse and Control Freak can each be used with interchangeable optics for different looks.
Carnival ride with Soft Focus Optic
One of these interchangeable optics is the Soft Focus, which I’ve also been testing. It gives pictures a softer, velvety look. This effect is seen evenly throughout the image, without the sweet spot of the standard optic in the Composer.
It’s great for portraits and landscape shots and can do some really interesting things with lights as you can see from the photo of the Wipeout ride.
Lensbaby has an online gallery of photos. There’s also a Flickr group for enthusiasts to share their favorite pics and tips.
The Composer sells for $270 at Lensbaby’s online store. Street prices are very close to that. It’s available from Amazon and other retailers nationwide. (The Amazon link is for the Nikon model—be sure and choose the correct mount for your camera.)
Carnival ride with Composer
The Soft Focus Optic sells for $89.95 from Lensbaby direct and is also available from Amazon. Note that a Composer, Muse or Control Freak lens is needed to use one of the changeable optics such as Soft Focus.
Of course, setting up a Lensbaby takes a bit longer than using an automatic lens. But the small amount of extra time invested pays off with stunning photos.
Point and shoot cameras are great when you want a small, easy-to-use camera to carry around during your travels. But for serious photography—minus the shutter lag, fixed lenses and other annoyances of the point-and-shoots—a DSLR is definitely the way to go.
Then, adding a Lensbaby can help you look at the world in a new way.
Posted by JohnG in Adventure Gear, Business Gear, General Gear on February 22nd, 2010
Review: AltusLumen Lightgear Gre Light
A battery-operated light is an essential tool for every traveler. And AltusLumen’s Lightgear Gre 18-in-1 LED Flashlight, which also includes a handy survival tool, could easily be crowned the Swiss Army Knife of lights.
LEDs are making a huge difference in lighting. They’re compact and bright, plus the bulbs remain cool and save energy. The Lightgear Gre shows what can be done with a creative design useful for all types of travelers, from business road warriors to camping families to mountaineers. It’s also handy to have around the house when storms knock out electricity, which happened to me just a few days ago.
First, the Lightgear Gre doesn’t look like a conventional flashlight. Folded in a hard plastic and recycled aluminum case, it’s made to slip into a pocket or backpack for easy carrying. A patented swivel cover works as a stand for the light and allows it to be used, hands-free, six different ways—shining up, down or sideways, or even hanging from a tree as an area light.
The four LEDs are surprisingly bright. In fact, the user guide warns against looking directly at the light.
The light is powered by four AAA batteries. The manufacturer says one set of batteries will last six hours. My testing showed slightly more than six hours of continuous operation was no problem. A warning light near the on-off switch flashes when the batteries are getting low.
The light throws a broad beam, very different from a flashlight. There are dozens of possible uses and I could even see some applications for making videos.
The Lightgear Gre is weatherproof for use even in the rain. A carrying case is included.
But there’s more. Also tucked into the light case are an aluminum whistle and a 10-in-1 stainless steel survival tool. The survival tool includes a can opener, knife, screwdriver, ruler, cap opener, wrenches, saw and a direction indicator.
My colleague, Tim, reviewed a slight different version of this light and questioned its eco-friendly claims in our recent end-of-the-year roundup. If I could change one thing—and this is a minor point—it would be the battery cover. I’d prefer a snap-on cover instead of one requiring a screwdriver to open. But if you don’t have a screwdriver handy when the batteries need replacing, you can always use the survival tool.
The Lightgear Gre sells for $29.90 on AltusLumen’s website. It’s available in three colors—green, yellow and semi-transparent—and is covered by a one-year limited warranty.
If the company’s environmental claims are important in your purchasing decision, weigh them carefully. But from a performance standpoint, this light could be useful to many travelers.
Other lights reviewed on Practical Travel Gear:
Posted by JohnG in Adventure Gear, Business Gear, Travel Light on February 16th, 2010
