Flashpack

I love this concept:

You sign up, answer some questions about your tastes in clothing, and then receive (once, or on a regular basis) a ‘trunk’ of clothing to try out. You pay for what you want, and send back the rest. Boom.

I would be concerned that they wouldn’t hit my taste in design AND my practical necessities (full-time travel and minimalism leads me to blow through clothing like crazy these days), but it does seem like receiving that trunk in the mail (full of clothing your size, at least, and possibly your taste as well, if they do their job well) would be a great experience. Like a Christmas you haven’t paid for yet.

(via Kindle Touch: Touchscreen e-Reader with Wi-Fi, 6” E Ink Display)

I’m in love with my Kindle, and I don’t even have the Touch version.

This newish offering, the Kindle Touch, upgrades upon the old one in many ways, including a streamlined frame, touch capabilities and improved contrast.

The one thing I think I will miss is that on my old Kindle Keyboard 3G, I can get unlimited net from most places in the world. It’s slow, and it uses the old, experimental browser included on board, but it has gotten me out of more than one bad, WiFi-less situation while traveling (being able to send an email or tweet from a layover location, for example), and the new models only allow access for purchasing new books from the Amazon catalog.

It’s a little qualm, I know, but it’s the main reason I’m resisting picking up a Touch for the moment. That may change in the next few months, however, because I LOVE reading on these devices.

(via Amazon.com: Jawbone JAMBOX (Red Dot): Cell Phones & Accessories)

I love the concept of this. From the photos, I’m thinking it might be a bit chunky to lug around all the time, but it would be a nice addition to a road trip, or a pad I’m crashing at for a few months or more.

Basically, it’s a completely wireless speaker that hooks up via Bluetooth to any device with the capability. It is also a speakerphone in a pinch, and it’s got an internal rechargeable battery, so no annoying D-battery-in-your-boombox-woes.

(via Amazon.com: Stanley Classic Stainless Steel Flask: Sports & Outdoors)

Sometimes, but not all the time, I think to myself, “If only I had a flask to sip dramatically from…that would really make this moment complete.”

I’m sure you can imagine the types of situations in which this would be handy.

Of course, aside from being a great dramatic addition to my life, I see having a flask as a great tool for the road. In a pinch, you can fill it up with water and keep it in your pocket, but if you fill it with something harder, chances are you’ll make a lot of friends along the way, especially if you have a penchant for overland long-distance travel (a full flask, of course, would not make it onto a plane, but would be more than welcome by all on a 72 hour bus ride across South America).

The Stanley Flask has a nice, classic look to it, and a simplicity that I appreciate, though the standard ‘steel and nothing else’ look also has a certain charm.

There are also fancier options for those who are looking for something a bit more distinguished. The Blomus line of flasks, for example, have elegant lines and seem to be aimed at a high-end audience (though are still quite affordable, all things considered).

(via One Year Of White Pages)

Love this concept. I like to always have a pen (usually a G2 Mini) and a small notebook handy, and these little babies are beautiful and functional, not to mention the perfect size for keeping in my back pocket.

( Pogoplug Series 4 )

I just pulled the trigger on buying a Pogoplug.

I’ve been putting it off, as I haven’t been certain as to whether it would do what I want it to do, but now that it’s bundled with free (but expendable for a cost) cloud service and a bunch of different ports, I’m willing to give it a shot.

The way I’m hoping to use this device is thus:

Have it set up at my family’s home in Missouri while I travel. As I fill up external hard drives (which I do with gusto), I plug them in to the Pogoplug when I return home and leave them there (acquiring a new external drive in the process, either by combining the files on old drives or purchasing a new one, which I do frequently anyway, due to their lack of survival skills when it comes to rough-and-tumble traveling).

If all goes according to plan, these files should then be available to me anywhere in the world, but will still be safe from the elements (and my own mishandling of them) while I travel.

I’ll gives updates when I’m able to confirm if this plan works, because it could mean great things for long-term travelers who want to have their photo and movie collection with them while they jaunt around the world, but don’t want to risk those files by having the hardware they’re stores on with them.

(via Sony Vaio Y Series)

Microsoft handed me one of these little laptops to use several months ago, and since then I’ve been playing with it off and on.

I’m going to be honest, it doesn’t hold a candle to my 13” Macbook Pro. I use the MBP for just about everything I do, and the Vaio just kind of sits there and watches.

That being said, I do have some good things to say about the Vaio Y Series:

• It’s very small, and super-comfortable to carry around. I can easily hold it in one hand and close it without getting the other one involved…that’s portability.
• It doesn’t look super-cheap and ugly the way a lot of Windows laptops do. People ask about it; it’s fairly attractive for a laptop in its price range.
• Speaking of price-range, comparing it to my Macbook Pro isn’t really fair…the MBP ran about $1300, and this little guy retails for somewhere in the neighborhood of $400-600, depending on what country you’re in and how hard you shop.
• The specs are actually quite nice. A nice, big 500 GB hard drive, 4 GB of RAM, a 1.65 dual-core processor. The display clocks in at 1366 x 768, which is not bad for an 11-incher (though it can power a 1920 x 1200 external monitor without too much trouble). It’s also got a web cam and a bunch of peripheral ports (USBs, ethernet, SD, yadda yadda).
• The graphics card is pretty dismal, but you can play older games (and some newer games on the lowest quality settings) on the Vaio Y Series, and it plays HD videos just fine.
• I will say that the machine itself is actually a hell of a buy, and the only thing that has kept me from using it more is the incredibly bad touchpad. It’s tiny and unresponsive. I also tend to brush it constantly when typing on the (otherwise excellent) chiclet-style keyboard, which moves my cursor and leads to me typing 4 or 5 lines up or down the page. Not ideal.
• I also miss multi-touch from the MBP. If the Vaio had two-finger scrolling, that’s all I’d really need. Instead it has an awkward pseudo-scroll on the right side of the tiny touchpad. Otherwise you have to navigate all the way over to the far right of the screen any time you want to pan down (unless you want to use the arrow keys, which are clunky on the modern web).
• The machine is quite rugged…I don’t even have it in a sleeve, and it’s survived many rough jaunts in many different kinds of bags.

Long story short, if I had to purchase a Windows machine for ultra-portability, travel and anything graphics non-intensive, I’d give the Sony Vaio Y Series a close look. In fact, if they manage to add another megapixel to the built-in camera and increase the size and quality of the touchpad, they’d have an excellent machine that would have me questioning whether or not I should switch over the the PC-side for a while, just to try it out.

As it is, though, what they’ve got is a solid machine with a few awkward quirks that keeps it from being as great as it could be.

Next model, perhaps? I’ll be looking out for it, Sony.

(via The Burning House)

This blog is brilliant.

If your house was burning, what would you take with you?

(via ONIA)

Love the bold blue and simple structure of these. Why is it so difficult to find non-overdone trunks?

(via Lytro)

I’m fascinated by this tech; namely, the ability to snap a photo and focus it later, once you’ve uploaded it to your computer.

Don’t know if this will be the device to really take advantage of the technology, but it’s a good start, and I would love to play around with one for a bit.