February 2005

Ever wanted to write on a night flight, but didn’t want to turn on the overhead spot lighting and bother the people sitting next to you? For about $20.00 the Night Writer Pen has a built-in blue LED light that illuminates the page for easy writing without disturbing others. Perfect for those evenings when you want to stay up and write postcards, or add to your travel journal. Takes three watch batteries (included), and comes with three additional batteries and two black ink refills. (5-1/2 x 3/4"; 1 oz)

You can order one from Magellan’s here.

SeatGuru.com provides airplane seating and in-flight services information. It tracks seats with extra legroom, seats with restricted ability to recline, and seats that are particularly quiet or noisy. You can compare seat pitch and width for first class, business class and coach on many planes. The site can also identify which airplanes have laptop power at your seat and what type of adapter you’ll need.

Weighing in at just 6.5 pounds, and measuring only 12 by 4 by 10 inches, this versatile Digital Projector by Mitsubishi could easily be tossed into the carry on bag as well as over to the neighbors for the big game.  Using  DLP™ Technology from Texas Instruments, it provides a great dynamic contrast ratio and Mitsubishi’s patented CineRichColor™ and CineView™ video processing give it a extremely clear and colorful picture.  It also offers built-in sound for extra portability. For further details about the HC100U go here.

Sony confirmed today that it will stop making the Clie’ for distribution outside of Japan.

Worldwide PDA sales have gone down for the 3rd year in a row.  "The PDA market is being encroached by cellphones and other mobile devices that can offer similar functions, making it difficult for PDAs to maintain their position in the market," a Sony spokesperson said.  Palmsource, Inc., whose software powers the devices, has not commented as of yet.

The new Vaio U71 is Sony’s newest entry into their U-series line of ‘handtop’ PC’s. The U71 is a second generation mini-tablet PC, coming complete with Windows XP Pro mounted on a 30GB hardrive.  It offers an Intel Pentium-M 1.1 GHz Dothan processor, 512 MB of memory, 802.11g, 10/100 Ethernet, a 40 watt-hour (optional) extended battery (offering over 4 hours of uage), USB 2.0 and Firewire as well as Memory Stick Pro and CompactFlash Type 2 slots.

Input onto it’s touch sensitive 5 inch 800 X 600 transflective touchscreen LCD is via the supplied stylus or 5-way directional Trackpad. However, Sony also offers an optional external USB keyboard as well.

All this in a 6.6 x 4.3 x 1.0 inch, 1.2 pound package!

Sony also sells a similar machine called the U50, which is identical except for certain operating specs and the operating software offered.

Unfortunately, short of importing through the gray market, these gems are not available in the North America or Europe—yet. Sites, such as iCube offer the U71 for $2399, including a one year parts/labor/tech support warranty. Whether this machine will ever see worldwide distribution is still in question, but at least we can be encouraged by Sony’s continuing development of such handtops. View the Sony (Japan) U71 URL here.

Sick of the person in front of you not being considerate when they decide to push that recline button?  Try this simple, easy to use gadget called the Knee Defender™.

Just subtly slide these small plastic devices onto your tray table frame and you are on your way to effectively adjusting the amount of decline allowed of the seatback in front of you.  They fit most commercial airline seats, and even come with a courtesy card, giving you the opportunity to fully explain to the offender in front of you what you are doing and asking for their understanding while using them.

The new Compact Photo Printer SELPHY CP600
(replacing the CP330), features high resolution, 300 X 300 dpi output,
increased printing speed, newly improved image processing using Canon’s
DIGIC II technology, and also supports four print sizes and
is compatibale with IrDA-equipped camera phones that use the IrOBEX
"vNote" protocol for image transfer.

Here is an insightful article from this new Lexar Media website providing some great tips on traveling for both the analog and digital photographer.