Marco Gizmo

Very few travel experiences beat snowboarding (especially when you have decent gear) and with winter coming up soon, you can bet your ass we’ll be looking for some powder to wind down in.

Of course, getting to the snow is the easy part for North Americans - well kinda. There are so many great ski resorts in North America from California, up to Park City in Utah, Vail in Colorado and accross to the Catskills in NY. You can even head up to Whistler if you want to go north of the border (yeah, for those of us who don’t  live in North America, we ARE jealous).

But getting there is only half the battle - next you’re gonna have to get the gear. Again, if you’re inside North America, then the best the world has to offer is there for the taking. Top of the line, Burton snowboards and gear from Santa Cruz, K2 and Flow is all there at pretty reasonable prices.

Of course, if you can get your boarding gear for free, then that’s even better. These guys are offering a pretty awesome free deal for snowboard and bindings so check it out. With some free gear, you’re gonna be able to save cash on your trip - so maybe you’ll be able to go twice
Oh, and be sure to send us some photos!

Mobile technology is great for the modern traveller, but there are a few things that start to get tired pretty soon - especially for those of us who like itty bitty computers, laptops and even PDAs for when we are travelling.

You see, some of us NEED to be connected.

But, typing on those ultra small devices is a pain in the neck and packing a decent sized keyboard for your travels if you are a user of a PDA or some other smallish device can be a real pain.

Enter the Eleksen wireless fabric keyboard - a great little invention specifically with us travellers in mind.

It runs on a couple of AAA batteries and weighs in at 68 grams. It is small enough to fit in your pocket if you need it to too and connects up to a PDA or smart phone wirelessly.

I want!

The Olympus Camedia C-5060 Wide Zoom is the company’s followup to the very successful C-5050.

At 5.1 Megapixels, the C-5060 has a 4x wide angle zoom (equivalent of 27mm). Other features include a nift swivelling LCD viewer which performs well in sunlight and the ability to throw on an extra flashlight. The camera also takes both compact flash and xD Picture cards at the same time.

If you are familiar with the older C-5050 then the C-5060 will be a pleasant surprise with very similar controls. The controls are quite comprehensive and intuitive once you get used to the camera.

The casing is magnesium alloy, so travellers should be able to bash this unit around a little without too much of a problem. A nice big grip also makes it easy to hold when you’re on the move and the 500 gram weight shouldn’t be too taxing for carrying.

The C-5060 has an advanced spot metering mode with up to 8 spot readings with exposure conpensation from +2 to -2.

There is also a white balance function which also allows you to mess around with the amount of red or blue from +7 to -7 steps. There are also 4 customisable white balance settings. There is also a frame assist mode which shows gridlines through the viewfinder to help with framing your shots.

Turning the camera on takes about three seconds which is not great when you are in a rush to get a shit off - not particularly great for travellers. However, the 0.4 second lag time for capturing images (once the thing is on) is actually very fast for a digi compact.

The battery’s capacity is at 10.8Wh making it ahead of the bunch in that respect (another big consideration for travellers) - if you turn off the LCD and use the normal viewfinder, the battery life can be extended a lot longer.

The pic resolution is 2592×1944 pixels and the ISO range is from 80 to 400.

There are a couple of macro modes on the C-5060 allowing you to get within a few inches of the subject.

All up, the long batter life, good pic quality, durability and utility of the Olympus C-5060 makes this one of the better choices for travellers who want one of the better 5 megapixel cameras around.

Buy Now

It’s amazing how our modern devices are kept in tiny packages, but this special product will simply blow your mind. It’s a full-sized QWERTY keyboard that can fit into a gadget that’s smaller than a pack of cigarettes. And no, it’s not from the latest hi-tech spy movie.

The Bluetooth Laser Virtual Keyboard by I-Tech can be used for laptops, desktops, PDA’s, or Smartphones. Its laser lights eject an image of a keyboard layout (evoking a sci-fi feel) which could read around 400 characters a minute. It even makes clicking sounds while you’re typing, to let you know that it’s registering to your PC. However, the sound feature is optional. The same thing goes for the intensity of the projection of the keys and the battery timeout. You don’t have to worry about cables either – this keyboard is rechargeable.

A flat surface is recommended for the laser keyboard to function properly. It can be very convenient for those who need to take their work with them everywhere they go. The device is lightweight, weighing 2.8 ounces, and is easy to store, with dimensions of 3.5 x 1.3 x 0.9 inches. Some may find it quite expensive for a keyboard, but this is about as portable as they get.

The Sony PSP is actually a pretty decent piece of kit for your average traveller.

There are those times on the bus, train or whatever else where you just need something to do and well, for some of us, books went out with grunge rock. That’s where a portable gaming device comes in pretty handy.

The PSP has all the bells and whistles - USB 2.0, a bigass screen with 480×272 res and WiFi support. At 10.3 ounces it ain’t really going to weigh down your pack either.

It can also carry your MP3 collection though the standard memory isn’t going to set the world on fire too soon so you may want to upgrade that.

One downside (which seems to be common to every piece of electronic kit that’s coming out lately) is that these are easy to scratch up which is a bit of a downer for us travelers. If you do get one, then try to get a carry case so it lasts a little longer than 10 minutes.

These guys are offering one up for free so it’s worth checking out.

We’ll also leave the offer up on the hot deals page until it expires.