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Tags: Five-Must-See-Apple-Stores / Apple Stores / Technology / Travel Tech / Shopping / iPhone / → All Tags

Five Must-See Apple Stores In The World

It's late in the day and you've been anxiously twittering or emailing with friends about plans for evening when, horror of horrors, your enter key splits right in half. You call up the Genius Bar at your local Apple store to make an appointment, and while the Mac Genius is busy laughing at your misfortune, you stand back and look at the gleaming retail environment around you. It could be an awesome minimalist art studio without the gadgets, but with them it's a technology fantasyland.

Apple stores, magical places which can make your paycheck disappear with the tap of a touchscreen, place just as much stock in the design of their shop interiors as in the look of their laptops. Even their many mall stores attract because of the focus on simple, clean and classic design— an anomaly in your typical mall.

Speaking of anomalies, several of Apple's 250+ international stores stand out as true innovators, whether due to their architectural details or interior features, and we'll show you which and why in our Five Must-See Apple Stores Map.

Five Must-See Apple Stores In The World

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Tags: Travel Gear / Travel Tech / Polaroid / Travel Photography / → All Tags

Make Mini Memories On Polaroid's Bluetooth PoGo Printer

We know, we know; no one needs more mobile tech crap to have to lug around with them on a trip, but we have to admit to being dazzled by gadgets that will in any way add to our travel photography while still being pocket-sized. Enter the Polaroid PoGo Mobile Printer, which debuted last year but still seems to be hanging on as far as blatantly unnecessary accessories go.

That's right, we said "blatantly unnecessary." Sorry Polaroid, but let's face the fact that you are good at one thing only: artsy, white-framed instant snapshots, and you don't even produce that film anymore! With the PoGo, which is happily about the size of an iPhone, a bluetooth device such as a smartphone with nice camera capabilities can wirelessly send its shots to be printed as 3x2-inch stickers from this dohicky.

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Tags: Travel Gear / Travel Tech / → All Tags

A Fueltank For Recharging Your Gadgets: The Callpod Battery

Recharging peripherals on the road is easily the bane of our traveling life. An mp3 player or cell phone without batteries can turn an already hectic travel day into an excruciating death march filled with screaming children on airplanes and missed connections on the ground, but carrying different chargers for each peripheral is just outright inconvenient.

One solution is to carry around a rechargeable li-on battery, and preferably one that's not too heavy. We've reviewed several such options in the past.

The latest travel battery vying for your attention and your plugs is the Callpod Fueltank. The battery can charge two different USB devices at the same time and has an indicator light in the center showing overall capacity. Even so, the entire thing still weighs less than 8 ounces.

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Tags: Travel Gear / Laptops / Travel Keyboards / Travel Tech / → All Tags

Lightweight Travel Keyboard Has Us Rethinking Our Travel Gear

We can't help but chortle whenever we're on a bus, train or plane and see a fellow passenger pull out a full-size keyboard to supplement their laptop. Secretly though, we're always a little jealous. Difficult as they are to make space for, portable keyboards sure are easier to use than tiny netbook keys.

So we're drooling a little over the new Goldtouch Go! Travel Keyboard, which looks like it just might perfectly bridge that divide. The 14-inch keyboard has keys the size of a large laptop, but is compact enough to fit over a netbook's keyboard. How, you ask? It's separated into two halves that can be snapped apart and mounted just above your netbook, and the back is made of rubber that they claim will rest slip-free on top of your netbook keyboard, giving you a good deal more typing space.

Plus, the whole thing only weighs one pound. We're not chortling at that!

Related Stories:
· Goldtouch Go! Travel Keyboard [Official Site]
· Travel tech coverage [Jaunted]
· Laptop travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Goldtouch]

Tags: Travel Gear / Travel Tech / Cell Phones / → All Tags

Cell Phones To Get Universal Chargers, Travel To Become Moderately Less Annoying

We aren't sure where exactly "managing multiple bulky chargers" goes on the Things That Make Vacations Suck list. But it has be fairly high, right? That goes double and triple if you're traveling with a partner or a family, where every person needs to carry and plug in a different phone charger.

Eventually there will be ubiquitous wireless charging mats in every hotel room, and the world will be at peace. In the meantime this should make things a little easier:

With every new mobile phone purchased, another old, incompatible phone charger gets tossed out. On Tuesday, the GSM Association, which represents the mobile communications industry, promised to make that wasteful practice a thing of the past. The group said 17 mobile phone operators and device makers had agreed to standardize chargers by 2012 for most mobile phones. That means no matter what brand of phone you buy, the chargers should be interchangeable, making it possible to charge a phone from any available charger even if you leave yours at home. And you could use the same charger even when you get a new phone.

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Tags: Cell Phones / Airport News / Travel News / Continental / Delta / American Airlines / Travel Tech / → All Tags

Checking In With QR Codes Puts the 'Tech' in 'Texas'

We never thought we'd see the day when all you physically needed to board a flight is your ID and your cell phone, especially since making calls on flights is still very much a no-no. But according to the Austin American-Statesman, US airlines like Delta, Continental and American are experimenting with checking in passengers via QR code, or those curious black-and-white nouveau barcodes.

Popular overseas but lagging in the States, the QR, or "Quick Reponse" code, is a digital mark which, once captured by a cell phone's camera, will redirect to a specific website. Reinterpreted for airline check-in, passengers will display the QR code on their cell phones, which will be scanned at security. No more paper, hallelujah!

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Tags: Singapore Airlines / iPods / Inflight Entertainment / Travel Tech / → All Tags

Singapore Airlines Offers Passengers iPod Docks But Cuts Some Flights

You win some, you lose some. And that's how the week looks for Singapore Airlines. The win is in cool technology, and the loss is all about major cuts in flights, so looks like we have to take the good with the bad.

In tech news, Singapore Airlines are saying it's a world first for passengers on their A330s to be able to plug in their iPod and iPhone directly into the inflight entertainment system. iPod capabilities will roll out on Australia to Singapore flights first and gradually, well, take over the world. Nice.

The down side is that there are a lot less fewer flights to book with Singapore these days. They've announced the deletion of over 200 flights to Australia, China, Europe and India because the numbers of passengers have been falling so much. Seems to us they should have thrown the iPod connectivity in earlier and they might have least kept geek passenger numbers high.

Related Stories:
· Singapore Airlines Cuts More Than 200 Flights [AFP]
· Singapore Airlines Gets iPod & iPhone Support [APC]
· Singapore Airlines Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Alex Steffler]

Tags: Travel Gear / Travel Gadgets / Travel Tech / → All Tags

What You Need To Eyeball The Mona Lisa

Traveling solo usually means more freedom and personal experiences, that is until you enter a tourist-heavy spot and find yourself wedged between tour groups, blocked from your face time with Madame X or Botticelli's The Birth of Venus. Put an end to those frustrating museum situations with the ZoomArt, a suspicious-looking mini telescope designed by Odoardo Fioravanti Design Studio. It's just the thing to complete the desired look of art connoisseur who loathes human contact.

The $48 doohickey won the 2008 Discovery Prize at the Maison & Objet exhibition, so perhaps it's worth lugging around along with all the other typical tourist trappings. A little larger than a demitasse, the ZoomArt Monocular adjusts up to 6x magnification, allowing you to inspect the brushstrokes of Starry Night over the heads of gawking tour groups. Or, you can be like this guy and just tote it around Florence for admiring architecture.

While it'll probably turn security heads--particularly inside museums prohibiting photography--we do think it's a nice idea for those obsessed with viewing the masterworks. In a few years, we wouldn't be surprised to see them available for rent along with museum audio guides.

Related Stories:
· ZoomArt Monocular [A+R Store]
· Travel Gear coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: ZoomArt]

Tags: Travel Tech / Bathrooms / iPhone / Websites / → All Tags

Worldwide Bathroom Maps on Your iPhone

Nothing is worse than being in unfamiliar territory and desperately searching for a restroom. Now thanks to good old technology, we can all work together to make being bathroom-less a thing of the past.

Sit Or Squat is a new web and phone application that maps out the location of public bathrooms. Just enter an address and it will pop up a Google map mashup with little blue dots indicating usable restrooms.

Restaurants, hotels, train stations and more are all listed on the community-created site. Users can write descriptions and add comments--and there are even pictures.

So far, London and seven US cities are listed, with more in the works.

Related Stories:
· Sit Or Squat [Official Site]
· Bathrooms coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: Winter Travel / Travel Tech / Travel Gear / iPhones / → All Tags

Warm up for Winter Travel: Touch Screen Gloves

Heads up, iPhone lovers. Winter is coming soon in the Northern Hemisphere, and you need to remember two things: You'll want to stay warm, and you'll want to figure out a way to keep using your touch screen gadget as much as humanly possible.

Dots Gloves will help to enable your tech habit when the cold weather hits. These hand protectors come in two warm fabrics and have tiny metal dots on the fingertips that keep you in contact with your touchscreen.

Don't worry, the dots are ice-smooth and won't scratch the screen. A simple add on yes, but a very cool design innovation.

Related Stories:
· Touch Screen Friendly Gloves [Core 77]
· Dots Gloves [Official Site]
· Winter Travel coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: Travel Gear / Travel Tech / Design / Gadgets / → All Tags

Digital Nomad Travel: Packing the World's Smallest Hard Drive

For digital nomads in a perpetual state of travel, getting the most out of your gear is essential. Less is more is the motto when trying to cram all your necessities into one or two not so big bags.

So the Freecom Mobile Drive xxs should be a blessing for travelers who need to lug around large amounts of data, but don't have much extra space in their carry-on. Designed by Sylvain Willenz, the xxs is billed as the world's smallest external hard drive. At 2.5" wide, it's about the size of a deck of cards, but somehow manages to fit up to 320 gigabytes of data.

All components have been stripped down to the basics and miniaturized to keep the gadget footprint to a minimum. The xxs looks like a great piece of gear--and your bulging laptop bag will thank you.

Related Stories:
· Sylvain Willenz [Official Site]
· Freecom xxs [MoCo Loco]
· Design coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: Travel Wi-Fi / American Airlines / Travel News / Travel Tech / Porn / → All Tags

In-flight Porn? Not if American Airlines Flight Attendants Get Their Way

One of the issues that arises from the introduction of in-flight wi-fi is that of internet pornography. Sure, it's great to be able to check your email and surf the web on your laptop instead of having to watch Wild Hogs or Cheaper By the Dozen 2 for the fourth time, but should people be able to access pornographic material in view of other passengers? The Association of Professional Flight Attendants doesn't think so. Bloomberg reports that a group of flight attendants from American Airlines has asked the company to filter its in-flight internet access to block inappropriate content.

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