I’m a longtime user and fan of SCOTTEVEST tech-enabled clothing as a stylish and convenient way to carry gadgets.
The company recently released a new Blackout Pocket, a standalone pocket made to keep your most sensitive information private using a technology similar to that which law enforcement and the military utilize to preserve electronic evidence.
Ideal for gadget loving travelers, the pocket is designed to protect your cell phone, credit cards, passport, and mobile devices from the nefarious efforts of identity thieves, RFID (radio-frequency identification) skimmers or NSA surveillance.
Available in three levels of protection, and offered at a discounted introductory price, the Blackout Pocket is lined with proprietary RFID Armor material to protect your digital valuables.
“Hey, how’d you do that?”
I get asked this question a lot from friends, family and travelers who want to know more about the camera apps and processing tricks I use to capture, edit and share iPhone photographs.
I’m enamored with every aspect of mobile photography - the creative apps, the shoot-and-share convenience, the pocket size ease - and it’s changing the way I shoot, edit and deliver images, both personally and professionally, on a daily basis.
Barking dogs, tolling church bells, blaring music, parading bands, exploding fireworks, police whistles, sirens, and crowing roosters are among the many noises that make up the soundtrack of life in Latin America, our home-away-from-home for nearly two years now.
Like many visitors, we have a love/hate relationship with the auditory vibrancy of the Latin American lifestyle. Most of the time, the crazy cacophony charms and amuses us. At 3AM, not so much.
Not to worry: There’s an app for that.
I admit it. I’m feeling clever these days as my husband and I view UK-only BBC Olympics coverage on our laptops in Peru. I also beam with geeky pride each time my yoga instructor here in Cusco asks to use my iPod to stream Pandora’s Krishna Das station during class. And yes, I’ve been known to indulge in a free episode of Modern Family, or a movie, on Hulu during the past year while we’ve been living in Latin America.
Truth told, however, I’m not really all that clever. Any Gadget Girl worth her iPad is already using my secret solution - a Virtual Private Network (VPN) - to get around annoying Internet boundaries when traveling abroad.
Here’s the truth. Anyone can take a beautiful photograph. The advanced technology in today’s cameras, even the most basic point-and-shoot, makes it easier than ever. And with a few artsy apps and a creative eye, even an iPhone can deliver gallery worthy images. Seriously.
But what if you want to do more than make a pretty picture? What if you want to slow down the experience of preserving a moment, a place? Or distill the creative process of photography down to its essence?
Enter the Leica M9.
As a journalist specializing in travel, I pack and unpack for dozens of trips a year. As a result, I’ve learned a thing or two about packing smarter, packing less, and traveling with travel technology.
Clothes are easy: Two pants. Two shoes. Four shirts. Something dressy. Fleece for cold. Layers for hot. Outerwear for wet. Quick-dry everything. A wrap for the airplane.
Toiletries, too, are a no-brainer: Travel-sized liquids refilled or still packed from the last trip. Nothing over 3-ounces. Nothing sharp. Done.
But when it comes to gadgets, things get more complicated. Cords. Cables. Batteries. Back-ups. Hard drives. iPod. Smartphone. Laptop. Memory cards. More memory cards. It’s too easy, and so frustrating, to head off without the essential bits that make the gizmos go.
Thanks to an ever-evolving selection of innovative iPhone photo applications, creative mobile photography is only an app away. That’s good news for iPhone packing travelers.
Once-upon-a-time I thought mobile photography was only good enough for documenting and sharing my life on the run. Until I discovered iPhone photo apps.
Now I’m addicted to the creative spontaneity and visual experimentation that mobile photo apps offer. I love how seamlessly iPhoneography fits into my traveler’s toolkit, providing a convenient, mobile method of creating and sharing experiences and images as I move about the world.
Nearly every traveling photographer I know lusts after the ‘perfect’ camera bag. I am, perhaps, the biggest romantic of them all. No matter how many alternatives fill my closets and clutter my office shelves, the dream of finding that ‘perfect’ multi-purpose bag remains alluring.
Problem is, I ask a lot of a camera bag, especially for air travel. It needs to provide travel-tough protection, be carry-on sized and not only transport a full arsenal of camera bodies, lenses and digital accessories, but a laptop too.
Enter the Lowepro Stealth Reporter D650 AW.
The Genius swarm was unexpected. Who knew that carrying my MacBook Pro into the Apple Store in a BookBook laptop case would inspire such a flurry of questions: “Is that really a lapbook case?” “Where did you get it?” “Who makes it?” “Do they make one for the iPad?” “Can I look inside?” “Wow, cool!” I felt like a rock star.
I didn’t buy the cleverly disguised laptop case that looks like an antique book to be the chicest geek at the Genius Bar. Rather, I’d bought it to reduce the risk of having my MacBook Pro stolen.
But based on the number of blue-shirted Genius admirers, it looks like innovative Mac accessory designer, Twelve South, has tapped into the collective desire for originality that’s core among true Mac fans.
Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".
