Travel Gadgets :: Moms Gadgets

Turn Left, Then Take the Highway

Highway My husband and I just got got back from a trip to North Carolina. We flew there but then after landing got a rental car and drove the 20 or so miles to the convention center to the conference I was attending. This was new unchartered territory for us, so we had taken my husband’s TomTom GPS system along. Boy, was I glad we did. The ever familiar, robot like voice of the TomTom assuredly telling us which left or right to take was a welcomed sound in the tiny little rental car.

I have been repeatedly impressed with this gadget as we have used it on a couple of family vacations, and other trips around. We purchased it after I had a horrible experience getting lost in New Orleans, and after returning there with good ole Tom, I was glad to have made the purchase. Tom will definitely not allow you to get lost. Its touchscreen and easy use features are a must for anyone who travels.

In fact, the only issue we’ve had with Tom is keeping him charged up so that we can enjoy his presence throughout the trip.

Programmable Plug-N-Heat Thermal Auto Mug

There’s nothing yuckier than drinking lukewarm coffee or tea. I like mine piping hot but sometimes that’s hard to achieve when you’re on the road. So, in comes the fully programmable thermal auto mug. This sleek and stainless steel 16 oz mug with integrated heating element and insulated interior construction is powered by your car’s lighter adaptor. It is safe and convenient to use with an automatic shut-off function. It comes with a sure-grip handle, safety sip lid and a non-skid bottom. You can preset temperatures and it has an easy-to read digital LCD display for you to monitor the temperature and it also alerts you when your desired temperature is reached.

Finally! Palm Screen Capture App That Works

Categories: Reviews, Travel Gadgets

As you’ve seen on this blog I sometimes like to take lots of screen shots. I just love them. To me nothing can better help people understand than screen shots or videos. I have lots of stuff I’d like to show my friends or put on the blog that’s from my Palm yet, none of the screen capture apps really worked for me.

I decided to get ZGrab – a free screen capture app for Palm. It’s a little odd to use because the screen capture button is the off button. So you literally turn the unit off to take a snap shot. But hey as long as it works and I’ve tried Snap and all the rest. Only this one worked for me.

It does save in the odd .pcx format so you have to convert it before you can share or post to your blogs. Not super handy if you’re posting on the go, but what I grab the file from my Palm, open it with IrfanView – another excellent free image viewer and simply save as Jpg. Easy peasy.

The colors do look a lot brighter and not quite what I see on the PDA itself. But at this point I don’t really care much about that. All that matters is I can take a screen shot.

Chirp Is Better Than Texting

Categories: Office Gadgets, Reviews, Travel Gadgets

My husband and small cell phone keys are not compatible. They get him all worked up and frankly, it does me too. When we first experienced chirps (Walkie Talkie) oh about 3 years ago, we were very interested. My brother-in-law who’s a painter uses that extensively in his business to keep in touch with his builders and his family.

But alas, then we just didn’t have Walkie Talkie available where we lived. After patiently waiting for a long time, Sprint/Nextel still says the service in unavailable to us. But I got antsy. Our TracFones were way, way too old and did my research. We settled on Boost Mobile.

Boost Mobile is really targeted at younger, single people. But to us it made perfect sense. It is a pre-paid cell phone – we just aren’t prepared to go full monthly service. We don’t use cells that much since it’s not allowed at his work and I work from home and am home all day. So why spend $60 – $80 a month when we don’t have to?

After working everything out, the per minute calls were still lower compared to TracFone. You can even get wireless web for only $0.35 a day but the best part we like most is chirp! Walkie-Talkie is $1 a day only on the days we use it. So we figure, if we max it out that’s $60 a month for both of us – if we use it that much and we know we won’t.

It’s been a few months now. We really like the fact that my husband can talk to his brother, nieces and nephew for only $1 all day long. Walkie-talkie is so much more fun than text for us. And if we want to text? No problem, we only pay for outgoing texts. Incoming texts are free. That is sweet.

Overall we really like Boost Mobile. The only thing is, we had to call customer service to get our credit cards on file so it will auto-refill our minutes. Other than that it has been a good decision. Oh and no, we’ve hardly hit the max since we got it. I think we only spent $20 in about 3 months or so.

Technorati Tags: boost mobile, cell phones, sprint, nextel, walkietalkie

Storage On Sale

Categories: Computer Gadgets, Travel Gadgets

I love organizing and storage so when I saw this cableyoyo on sale – I knew I had to share! I bought a laptop about a month ago and ever since I’ve enjoyed a lack of cords surrounding my work station. I have yet to switch my music and podcasts to it though and every time I go back to the desktop to update my iTunes (and thus my iPod), I am annoyed with the cords. I never did buy a pack when learning about the cableyoyo’s before, but I am not letting this sale pass me up.

PS. Yep we have written about this product before – Lynette posted about it at Cable Organizer Solution Found.

UV Light Peace Of Mind For Travellers

Categories: Everything Else, Travel Gadgets

Hey I learned something new today. By passing UV light over any surface, you can spot stuff like urine stains and other uhm… bodily fluids. This is apparently a great tool for those who are travel regularly. You know how it is when you check in at a hotel, you tend to wonder if the sheets and covers are really clean? I think about it all the time especially now I travel with my kids.

What do you think? Have you used one in a hotel room before? Did you find anything? Hmm…. must be the holidays because I’m thinking about family who sleep over, maybe it’s a good idea to just get it anyway to find out if your own sheets ‘pass the standard’ what if they have one and use it in your home? Ugh.

Kids And Phones

Categories: Travel Gadgets

How do you feel about kids and phones? On the surface I think it’s a great idea. My oldest is at an age now I’m thinking seriously of a phone for her and I’ve had my eye on the FireFly for a while. But I have a nagging feeling that I’m spoiling my child with too many creature comforts that this might somehow ‘rob’ them of their childhood. I know it’s a funny thought. Yet on the other hand, they live in a very very
different world from when we were kids.

What about you? Necessity for today or we’re spoiling our kids?

Archive for: Travel Gadgets – Page 2

Turn Left, Then Take the Highway

Programmable Plug-N-Heat Thermal Auto Mug

Finally! Palm Screen Capture App That Works

Chirp Is Better Than Texting

Storage On Sale

UV Light Peace Of Mind For Travellers

Kids And Phones

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