Jaunted

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Stroll and Scroll

We're old and cranky, and therefore disinclined to have anything to do with podcasts, travelcasts, podcast tours and the like. What's the point of going to a foreign country, like Italy or Alabama, if you can't hear the locals speaking the language? Even so, we can grudgingly admit that some of `casts might, just might, contain some useful information.

Rough Guides has eliminated the part of travel podcasts we don't like--the looking like a jackass while you walk around wearing headphones part--and instead is supplying travelers with pod scrolls. They are Rough Guides in iPod form; they show one page at a time on the screen, in color. (If your ipod is that fancy, of course. And if you've got a nano, you might want to invest in some reading glasses) At the moment, they've posted about ten eating and drinking guides for free on their site.

We like this idea because it combines the portability of info on your iPod with the one part of guidebooks everyone hates: reading them in public. No one wants to get pegged as a rube, Lonely Planet open, wandering aimlessly about town. Problem solved--assuming you don't have a weak battery.

[Image via h/Flickr]