October 23rd, 2008
I’m the queen of falling asleep when I travel. I can sleep pretty much anywhere - in a car, a train, a plane, a bus, the subway. If it’s moving, I’m quite possibly slumbering unless I’m actively engaged in a conversation or a book. I may or may not be mildly narcoleptic!
Have you ever fallen asleep and missed your destination though? If you’re traveling by train or bus, and you’re particularly exhausted, you might end up snoozing right through your stop and wake up 50 miles away from where you meant to be. Oops.
Clearly this is a common problem because you can now get iNap, an iPhone and iPod Touch application (get it here) that will help you avoid this problem. Using Google Maps and GPS, you simply enter the address of your destination. After that, iNap will keep watch for you, just like a friendly travel companion. When it determines you’re getting close to your arrival point, it will set off an alarm to wake you up so that you don’t miss your stop.
I swear, that is brilliant! Where was all this technology when I was traveling on a two-hour bus commute to college starting at 6:30 am every morning?!
(photo - flickr)
Share This
By Sherry -- 3 comments
October 22nd, 2008
Traveling is fun and a great way to gain experience and understanding of other cultures and countries. However, traveling alone can be a little risky, depending on your destination. The Ila Personal Alarm is a device that will let out a sound much like a woman screaming to help you out if you get into trouble. Shaped much like a cell phone, it has a pin that you pull out the same way you would with a grenade (not that I have any experience with grenades!). When you do and then press the button, the screaming starts. The idea is that, at 130 decibels, it will either bring about help or at least scare off the would-be attacker.
What’s interesting to me - and more than a little sad - is that a woman from Guardian.co.uk tested it out on the streets. Check out the video! Not only did no one try to help her or see what was wrong, people generally ignored it the way we all do when someone’s car alarm goes off. A few people looked around to see where the noise might be coming from, but no one ran over. That says a lot about society these days.
Still, a screaming device that loud might just discourage a mugger (or worse) and make them run off in search of someone a little quieter to bother. Not available yet, the Ila will be available at Marks & Spencer for £19.50.
What’s your favorite safety device when you travel solo?
Source: Chip Chick // Photo: flickr
Share This
By Sherry -- 1 comment
October 21st, 2008
Anyone can sit down and wade through their music collection to put together some sort of playlist to have something good to listen to while you’re on a road trip. But really, where’s the surprise in that? You know your own music, why not something different?
Amplified Journeys is an interesting site which will create a personal playlist based on some basic information. Simply go to their site and enter in your departure point and your arrival point on your road trip. Select the genre you prefer for your travels, and you’ll receive a special, tailor-made playlist.
It’s an entertaining way to spend your drive and gives you the chance to hear some new-to-you music.wr
Source: Chip Chick // Photo: Flickr
Share This
By Sherry -- 0 comments
October 19th, 2008
If you feel like camping but you don’t like dealing with setting up tents - or if you’re in a situation where you’re driving and just really need to pull over and sleep - you can look into the Skeeter Beaters! Using strong magnets, these screens attach to your car’s windows. Once they’re firmly in place, you can open your window and get a nice bit of ventilation just like you would with a tent, and the screens stay where they’re supposed to.
I can’t imagine actually camping out in my car on a regular basis. I’m much happier with a nice tent and a warm sleeping bag in the woods. But I could definitely see how useful this could be for impromptu “I’m going to fall asleep at the wheel and there’s not a single motel in sight” stops.
Source: Trusty Pony // Photo: The Skeeter Beater
Share This
By Sherry -- 1 comment
October 18th, 2008
Here’s yet another application for the iPhone that can benefit travelers of the road trip variety. Trapster helps you locate and avoid cops who are hiding out in a speed trap. As you’re driving along and notice a cop hanging about with a radar gun looking for people to ticket for speeding, grab your iPhone (or better yet, get your passenger to do it!) and tap on the map to note your current location.
After that, people using Trapster can then get alerts if they’re going to be in that area to let them know about a speed trap lurking in the shadows of an overpass.
Because I’m safety-conscious, I should note that excessive speeding is dangerous and reckless, and you should obey traffic laws. However, it’s not uncommon for people to drive just a little above the speed limit so I can see where this could be a useful application.
Get the app here.
Source: GeekSugar // Photo: Flickr
Share This
By Sherry -- 0 comments
October 16th, 2008
At first glance, the Mio Knight Rider GPS device seems like it’s not particularly different from any other GPS system. It gives you your usual CPS maps of Canada and the United States, with speech capabilities and step by step directions.
However, what sets it apart from your average GPS device is that the voice for the system is done by William Daniels who voiced K.I.T.T. on the hit show Knight Rider between 1982 and 1986.
Will it work any better than any other device? No, there’s nothing else mind-blowing about it. But it sure makes it cool, at least for a geek like me. Growing up, I lamented the fact that my family’s station wagon was nowhere near as awesome as K.I.T.T. was and now, with the Mio Knight Rider GPS, my current car could be almost as great!
Pick one up at Radio Shack for $269.99.
(Thanks to Rita for the tip // photo: RadioShack.com)
Share This
By Sherry -- 1 comment
October 15th, 2008
When you’re traveling, you might focus primarily on where you’re going, how you’re getting there, how you’re getting around, what you’ll be seeing and doing, and all the things you need to make that happen.
What about what you’re leaving behind at home though? After all, if you’re vacationing in Greece, you’re not likely to be interested in the phone calls you’re missing at home. Voice mail will take care of that for you, but what it you’d like to personalize it a little further than the basic, “Hi, you’ve reached Sherry” message?
YouMail lets you compartmentalize your voice mail, depending on who is calling you. First you use Yahoo, Google, Outlook, or whatever else you use to import your contacts with their phone numbers into a contact library. At that point you can assign pre-recorded messages to each individual. You can have Darth Vader inform your Star Wars fan friends that you’re not available because you’ve joined the dark side. Get the Beatles to sing about your inability to take calls to your mom. Use a straight-laced “I’m away for two weeks” message for your boss just in case the office calls.
You can also use a microphone to create your own custom messages if you can’t find what you’re looking for - but there are thousands of clips, so you should be able to find something to suit every mood and every caller.
I’ve played around with sound clips in the past, but being able to assign them to specific is really cool. I know that more than once my father got confused and hung up, not understanding what was going on when I used a movie clip for my voice mail. By using YouMail, you can avoid that problem while still having a little bit of fun - and you can vacation happily without worrying about missing any important messages while you’re gone!
(source: Thrillist.com // photo: sxc.hu)
Share This
By Sherry -- 0 comments
October 14th, 2008
I have to preface this by saying I think these students are brilliant. This is one of the coolest concepts I have ever seen and I can just imagine how well it would sell if it gets out of the prototype phase.
Students from the Berlin University of the Arts created a roadtrip game that goes way beyond backseat bingo. The game, called Carcade! takes the world around you and translates it into a computer game that you play right in the car.
(Passengers only, naturally. Drivers will have to wait until someone else takes over the wheel if they want to play too!)
The game uses a webcam that attaches to the passenger side mirror, facing forward, while being plugged in to a laptop inside the car. Using camera tracking software on the laptop, the webcam takes the scenery of the road and passes it into the game.
From there, the player inside the car plays a game involving a spaceship that must dodge obstacles that are created from the environment outside the car. The faster the driver goes, the more challenging the game becomes, so clearly street driving would be the novice level, while highway driving would be for the experts.
Check out this video to see the whole thing:
Obviously, we’re not talking stunning graphics like you’ll see in top-notch games, but this isn’t about graphics - this is about a unique game that takes real life and turns it into an arcade. If that doesn’t make your long road trip a little less boring, I don’t know what will!
Would you try Carcade! out if it becomes available? I know I would!
(source: Engadget via psfk.com
Share This
By Sherry -- 0 comments
October 13th, 2008
Have you ever traveled on the fly? It’s a great way to take a road trip - just get in your car, pick a direction, and see where you end up and what you can see on the way. Now hotels.com offers an iPhone application that will allow you to book a hotel room while you’re on the road. Thanks to a GPS system, you can track down the hotels that are in your current area. Once you’ve chosen the hotel that best suits your needs, you can then book yourself a room right from your phone.
As a nice bonus, they’ve revamped their site to be Safari-friendly so people using Safari on their iPhone can browse the webs site fully.
There are other great reasons to have this application on your iPhone. If you get slowed down and can’t make it to your destination in time, you can book a last minute room to rest for the night. If you missed your flight for any reason, you can find something reasonable close to the airport. Or if you’re traveling in a new area and run into bad weather, you can find a decent hotel as close as possible.
You can also contact a hotels.com phone representative at any time if you need some personalized help.
I love all the great travel-friendly applications that are coming out for the iPhone! What’s your favorite?
(photo: flickr.com)
Share This
By Sherry -- 1 comment
October 12th, 2008
For those of you who are unaware, I’m Canadian, and this is our Thanksgiving weekend. Technically, it’s on Monday, but most people celebrate on the Sunday with a big family dinner, so on behalf of Geeky Traveller, I wish all my fellow Canadians a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Luckily for me, my holiday didn’t involve any stressful travel since my parents came to me on Saturday and our Sunday dinner is at my in-laws’ just around the corner. However, for those of you who may have had to do a road trip or even a hop on a plane, I hope your travel was smooth, painless, and geeky as ever!
Share This
By Sherry -- 0 comments
Recent Comments