Best Travel Gadgets of 2013

Best Travel Gadgets of 2013
What are some of the gadgets that helped you travel better in 2013? let us know

First iterations of the Smart Watches

    

Google Glass

Flexible laptops/tablets

The year of the waterproof phones and indestructible smartphone and gadgets

Also waterproof cases that go with these phones and gadgets

Wireless headphones and Bluetooth Speaker
  


Most Valuable Travel Gadgets

Sound-off: What are some of the gadgets that helped you travel better in 2013? Let us know below

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Travel Video of the Week - 8 must-have travel gadgets

8 must-have travel gadgets

Many summers ago, I went swimming in the pool and, unfortunately, so did my phone. It was an older version flip phone. It did not make it. Nowadays, I have my iPhone. And like most folks and their smartphones that contain a bunch of stuff saved on there, I would like to keep it safe and dry. Lifeproof LifeJacket case, as shown in the video above, is supposed to do just that.

WaterBuoy is a new cool gadget that would be great to take with you when traveling to destinations with bodies of water. If you drop something into the water, the trigger is activated, the gas is released into the balloon, giving Waterbuoy its buoyancy. It stays inflated for up to 24 hours so that you can find it as it is floating around. The balloon is bright orange and it also lights up so you can see it from a distance. Just make sure if you do go swimming with some stuff with you, especially those with electronic components, make sure you have a waterproof case.

 

Another travel gadget great for the beach is the The Beach Towel Clip. It keeps your beach towel in place and from flying away or rolling away while lounging around. No more searching for stones on the beach. No more using flip flops and water bottles to keep your towel flat.      



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Top 5 ways to keep you and your gadgets safe while traveling

I am not going to discuss the storm as there are many posts and tweets about it already. What I will do is tell you about some of great and interesting gadgets that will keep you safe as well as your gadgets while in route.

  One such great gadget is a GPS. It is a great tool while on a road trip as it shows you step by step directions of where to go and knows where you are located in the wilderness of our country. We have been using ours extensively on short and long trips. Recently, we have been musing how we have traveled before without it. On our first trips with my wife, we were using a paper map and it was not easy. During the longest road trip we have taken at that time, my wife let me know that she was not sure how to read the map. We were on the highway at that time by the way, speeding along to somewhere. 

 The GPS could also be used while walking to find your way around town or forrest, as well as while biking and boating. Though while in a boat it would be a great idea to put it in a water proof pouch.

How to Use Your Car GPS in Pedestrian Mode

Keep your gadgets dry and secure:
As we all know water is a top enemy for anything electronic. I know first hand, since I thought that my phone could go swimming in the pool with me. But it was not so. There are many different cases and skins available to protect your electronic gadgets from getting ruined by water. The LifeProof case for iPhone 4 is one such case. It has a super thin and light profile that barely increases the size of your phone, has two parts with a back plate that clips onto the front with a ridge all the way around and secures via a clamp on the bottom edge. It prevents dust, water, and other stuff from getting inside.

Waterproof cases: Amazon collection and REI matrix of waterproof cases

Hold on to your gadgets securely
Handstand iPad case - The Handstand case fits snugly around your iPad -- so far, nothing overly different from other cases on the market. Where the Handstand excels is a neat rotating hand grip on the back of the case. Simply slip your hand through the elastic strap, and you can hold your iPad with just one hand and rotate it in any angle you want. The rotating rear also doubles as a stand, allowing you to place your iPad on a flat surface and angle it up a couple of degrees for watching movies. The whole construction feels very solid, and even when you shake your arms around, your iPad won't budge. - Gadling.com

Keep an eye on your homestead while traveling:
Logitech Alert HD home monitoring system provides peace of mind for you while away with apps for IPhone, IPad, and Android that lets you easily access cameras located at home with secure remote access.

Keep things secure and with you while touring:
Venturesafe 200 bag - a small daypack with a lot of security measures. First of, the shoulder strap is slash-proof and snatch-proof. A thief can’t quickly cut through it with a knife because there is wire mesh inside. The same wire mesh goes through the whole bag as well, so the old trick of slashing the bottom of a pack and taking what’s inside won’t work either. The extra-strong zippers tuck into little pockets so they are hard to reach. This bag has essential compartments for several gadgets, keys, and headphones. Find out more on Pacsafe.com

Keep your laptops secure:
When traveling on business and otherwise with a laptop, you would want it to be where you left it when you come back. Be it in the hotel room or lounge or library. Sooner or later you will get up and leave you laptop alone. You might need to get up to get a napkin, or when nature calls and you need to leave your computer behind to go to the bathroom. Laptop locks attach to your laptop computer equipped with a lock slot. Simply loop the lock around a desk or chair, then insert the lock into your notebook's lock slot and set the combination or lock it with a key. It is a best practice to lock it to something that is bolted down.

12 essential Android security apps McAfee WaveSecure (free) mSecure – Password Manager AppScan Beta (free) Antivirus Free Titanium Backup PRO Key eyeD Biometric Password Manager - iris scanning Kryptos - encryption to scramble smartphone calls MobileMe Find My iPhone - pinpoints your lost phone's location online and do a remote data wipe

Security Apps That Can Help Recover a Stolen Laptop GadgetTrak - a cross-platform tracking app Hidden - a Mac-specific tracking app Prey - a cross-platform tracking app LoJack for Laptops Laptop Cop

Did You Know?:
Secure Your Stuff: Top Hack-able Passwords (Infographic)

Waterproof your travel

A large percentage of traveling is going on vacation. And most vacations take you down south where it is warm, sunny, green, and wet, as 70% of earth is covered with water. Since packing for you trip nowadays includes stuffing the pockets with various electronic gizmos, it is a good idea to also take along travel gadgets that will keep your phones, games, e-readers, music player, and so on safe and dry.

There are various types of gadgets that come already waterproof. You can get a digital camera that works almost as well underwater as it does above. Special casing keeps the water out and lets you snap away multitude of cool and fun things in the water. And while taking those shots, you can now also enjoy some music with waterproof music players such as the Freestyle 2gb mp3 player.

For other gadgets there are cases of different shapes and sizes that would protect them in the water or from any splashes around the water.

OverBoard Waterproof Gadget Cases are 100% waterproof and float if dropped in water. They are perfect for safeguarding your gadgets (phone, camera, MP3 player) and also keep out dust, sand and dirt.
There is one for the camera that lets you take pictures down to 19ft (6m) underwater and is perfect for digital cameras without a telescopic zoom lens. And an MP3 case that is heavy duty waterproof padded with an arm strap, which would definitly come in handy under water with the currents.

The coolest and definitly useful waterproof gadget I found is the Underwater Camera and Video Diving Mask (pic at top of post). It has an integrated water resistant High Definition 720P digital video camera plus 5.0MP still camera. No more dragging cameras around and have it hanging on your wrist and twirling away. And trying to peep through the view finder while underwater is not that much fun also. This diving mask/camera makes it a whole lot easier to get decent shot, video, and even record sound in the water. It might look a bit bulkier than regular goggles, but since with those on you already look goofy, why not have a cool tech camera on it as well