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If you spend a lot of time outdoors (and let’s face it, most travelers do) then this one might be of interest to you.

The guys over at UberGizmo found this very cool (actually it looks kinda dorky, but it IS practical) laptop hood.

This will really cut down on the glare for those of your who use your laptop in the great outdoors.

In fact, it will actually LET you use your laptop in the great outdoors and actually see the screen - this is the reason I always scurry away to a cafe when I feel the need to write.

That could be pretty good for travel writers or people who need to write reports outdoors like engineers etc.

Read more over at UberGizmo.

Technorati Tags: laptop, travel, laptop hood

We’ve all done it - you pack your funky new gadets for your travels - you know, the nice shiny, new and expensive one - and then when you get there and take it out of your pack, you drop the damn thing.

If you’re lucky you only chipped or scratched it.

If you’re unlucky, there’s a big crack in it.

If you’re REALLY unlucky the thing doesn’t work anymore.

Well it’s because I have gone through this scenario so many times that I pretty much have protective covers for every piece of technology that I take around with me.

This one’s for that glorious piece of technology - the iPod (which I use for storing photos mainly).

There are a few new covers available from Elecom that you might like to check out. They are for the Nano and the Video and have a pretty cool way of storing the headphones.

Anyway, get a cover - it’ll save you heartache.

Everyone has their own style when it comes to packing for travel, especially when it comes down to which gadgets to take and which to leave at home.

I personally prefer a minimalist approach with everything - I pack light - REALLY light. I absolutely hate trudging around the countryside with a 7 ton backpack with all the bells and whistles. It makes me stand out when I don’t want to stand out and it is just too damn heavy for me when I am trying to cover a lot of ground.

The only thing that this “pack light” rule doesn’t extend to is my Nikon D-70 camera and a few lenses.

Other than that, if I can get a lighter and tougher model of any gadget, I will.

I take a light laptop (weight is always a big consideration when I buy a new one) and an MP3 player to store my photos and music. If I am really going off the beaten path I will take a hand held GPS.

The catcher is though, that I love travelling a long way from civilization. I enjoy countries where there aren’t a lot of modern amenities.

If I enjoyed places like New York and London, my packing habits would be a lot different.

For starters I probably wouldn’t have to pack so light because I wouldn’t be carry everything I owned everywhere - I’d leave a lot of it at the nice, secure hotel. I’d be able to take my laptop around in a day pack so its weight wouldn’t be such an issue.

The point of this little diatribe is to suggest that you consider HOW you travel when you are buying travel gadgets.

If you rough it, then light, ugly and tough is always going to beat big and flashy as far as tech goes.

If you are a 5 star traveler then weight and strength may not be as big a consideration.

Think and plan ahead.

Horses for courses!

This is a very cool Hidden Camera for those of you who are very secret squirrel about taking photos on the go.

It’s a little digital camera inside a zippo lighter case that is capable of storing up to 300 digital images.

The “LiteSync” technology in this little Gizmo also lets you take photos indoors without the need for a flash.

You can set it to take a series of photos at set intervals (of up to 90 minutes) for up to 19 days or use it to capture video and sound (it also has a voice recording function).

Now for those of us who travel to countries where taking photos of certain places or people is frowned upon, this could be a very handy little device indeed - especially if you don’t need extremely high quality images (for webpages for example). This will allow you to get those shots that wouldn’t otherwise be possible if you had a large, obtrusive camera.

Check it out over at ThinkGeek.com

The new Samsung GX-1S is a digital SLR (Samsung’s first DSLR) that might appeal to a few of the more intrepid travelers amongst us.

Two very attractive features for any traveler will be the weight and the sensitivity. At only 505 grams, this DSLR really cuts down on weight packing problems which is a good thing for those of us who like to lug our cameras far and wide. The maximum ISO setting of 3200 means higher sensitivity and is also a nice feature because it means you can further reduce the need for carrying a flash with you in some situations (indoor for example).

As far as other features, this camera is a 6 megapixel with a 2.5-inch screen with a Pentax AF lens mount. It has an 11 point autofocus and can shoot at up to 2,8 frames per second when on continuous mode.

You can read a nit more about it over at the dslrblog.