January 09, 2013

A Globetrotter's Favourite Gadgets

On the search for the best of travel and food out there, I travel a great deal and spend a lot of my time away from home... It is important for me to always have some of the finest tools to make my life easier and more comfortable. Find below my complete survival kit:

The Parrot Zik: The finest 100% sound cancellation professional music headphones:

I always thought the Bose QuietComfort are the best headphones ever until I discovered Zik. The difference is unbelievable! The advanced technology provided by the Zik will really change your life. For those unfamiliar, these headphones are jam-packed with enough technologies to make even the geekiest audio lovers smitten. Priced at about $410, they feature Near Field Communication (NFC), Bluetooth connectivity, on-board capacitive touch-control, active noise cancellation, head detection, a jawbone sensor for speech and Parrot's audio-enhancing DSP app for iOS and Android -- not to mention a striking design by the renowned Philippe Starck. This interesting piece of art is finally available in Lebanon.

  • Touch control: Swiping up or down on the right ear cup changes the volume, swiping forward skips a track. Motion Detector: Taking Zik off your ears automatically pauses the music so you'll never miss a beat.
  • Simple Pairing: Just touch your phone to left ear cup to pair effortlessly with NFC devices. Active Noise Cancellation: With a total of four microphones, Parrot ZIK’s ANC technology reduces noise up to 25 dB.
  • Bluetooth Hands free telephony: With a bone conduction sensor and a double microphone, Parrot Zik’s noise suppression system gives your calls amazing clarity. Parrot Concert Hall Effect: Zik recreates beautiful lifelike sound. Alter the accoustics and sound-space through the Parrot App.
  • Don't Stop the Music: Even with a flat battery. Zik plays on with the jack cable included as this is not possible with the Bose. An empty battery in-flight will make you want to brake them apart.
  • Just imagine: You won't be hearing ever again the annoying hostess voice informing you about their duty free merchandise.

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The Apple MacBook Air, 11inch: The MacBook Air is just what you need for travel, checking your mail, working more than six continuous hours without charging and writing my articles...

A thousand dollars is not a lot to pay for such a tiny laptop when its just a couple of hundred dollars more expensive that an iPad. This Air's shocking portability and comfortable keyboard won travelers over. Mobility is paramount when traveling. When I travel, I try to travel light. I have a camera bag where I have to fit in everything: My passport, a couple of magazines, iPhone charger, a couple of pens, Zik headphones and the Canon SLR camera. That’s it! Trying to fit my Macbook Pro into a medium-sized bag proved impossible.

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Braun Series 7 Electrical shaver: Quick and easy shaving day on the go

I never experienced in my life what normal mousse and water shaving is all about. Using the Braun shavers for the last fifteen years made my life much easier. In couple of minutes you're done and most importantly clean. The Series 7 is an advanced premium shaver from Braun. The innovative sonic technology with 10,000 micro vibrations helps capture more hair.

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Samsung Galaxy Camera: My new favorite camera replacing the heavy Canon equipment...

Get ready, because photography will never be the same again. The Samsung GALAXY Camera gives you the magic of professional digital photography with the powerful intelligence of the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean™ OS. It’s the smartest camera ever, with stunning photographic output and a range of exceptionally rich professional shooting modes, editing features and various apps. Going pro has never been this easy or this fun. Up close or far away. Bright lights or dim lights. Tricky scenes are no match for the GALAXY Camera, which instantly turns memories into award-winning photography. Just tap Smart Mode, and unleash your artistic side. Save the digital zoom for editing afterwards. GALAXY Camera’s 21x Super Long Zoom is 100 percent optical, helping you get as close as possible to your subject and while maintaining the same crystal clear image sharpness you experience with subjects nearer to the camera.

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iPhone 5: How would you survive without the complete Phone/camera/navigator/browser/notepad/book reader/clock/weather station/Social connector/Newsstand/iPod/Flash light and much much more. The iPhone 5 is a touchscreen-based smartphone developed by Apple. It is the sixth generation of the iPhone and succeeds the iPhone 4S. The phone is a slimmer, lighter model that introduces a higher-resolution, 4-inch screen to the series with 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio support. The phone also includes a custom-designed ARMv7 processor called the Apple A6, an update to Apple's mobile operating system known as iOS 6, and support for LTE.

Traveling with an iPhone is inevitable: This ingenious piece of technology has everything you might need while abroad. It all starts at check-in since printing the boarding pass is not a necessity anymore, reading in the lounge, music entertainment in the plane followed by picture documentation while on the move, searching for the best restaurants out there, taking notes of the experience, checking the weather and so on. Every move has an iPhone in it... Check out some nice food pictures I've taken with the iPhone.

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Baggage Scale: Shop and enjoy yourself... Just remember not to exceed 21kg in every bag!

 

Have you been faced with the nightmare of having to unpack your suitcase in the baggage check-in area? Have you had to pay an airlines exorbitant excess baggage charges because you could not check the weight of your cases before arriving to the airport? Many hotels do not provide their guests with scales in the rooms, so make sure to have this digital item with you at all times.

My preferred six items, I never travel without. What are yours?




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