travel

In its quest to fight Facebook for every last social networking digit and dollar, Bebo is thinking big. Very big.

The social networking site has got together with the Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics of the Russian Academy of Science to organize for 500 messages to be beamed to a planet orbiting the star Gliese 581c.

The project's title is A Message From Earth.

Apparently the planet in question is the nearest one to earth that might have water. Which means it might have life. And, well, Bebo would be a great name for a planet, wouldn't … Read more

Online travel communications retailer Telestial has just launched Travel Journal, an online service that automatically creates an online trip journal based on the location of the user's phone. Using a special SIM card that triangulates the user's location using cell phone towers, Travel Journal automatically updates in more than 100 countries.

Trip data is displayed on a Google map and a journal is created with images of locations visited by the traveler, local weather, and a record of recent communications. Users can manually update their journal by sending text messages or photos to the Travel Journal site.

As … Read more

I wish I'd had the Easy-2-Pick electronic luggage tag in hand Sunday night. I was just off a long-delayed flight that appeared to transport the entire population of Southern California to San Francisco. And wouldn't you know it? Ninety percent of the seemingly millions of passengers jostling for their suitcases seemed to have the same black bag.

The Easy-2-Pick, expected out this fall for $15 to $20, is a handheld device that lights up, beeps, and vibrates once your suitcase makes it onto the carousel and within 40 to 50 feet of where you're standing. The heads-up … Read more

The WhiteKnightTwo high-altitude aircraft carrier that will be used to launch a spaceship of Virgin Galactic passengers was unveiled Monday in Mojave, Calif.

The new spaceship carrier and launcher has been named Virgin Mothership Eve, after Richard Branson's own mother, Eve Branson.

The aircraft will be used to carry the SpaceShipTwo passenger plane to Earth's upper atmosphere. It's capable of climbing up to 50,000 feet.

In January the public was shown a small model and CGI images of what the WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo might look like, but this is the first time the actual carrier itself … Read more

As more airlines start charging for checked luggage and extra bags, penny-pinching fliers who shove all their clothes into one suitcase may face overweight bag charges or thrown-out backs.

Balanzza's Digital Luggage Scale is made to prevent travelers from over-packing luggage at times when a bathroom scale is unavailable.

First, the traveler wraps the scale's strap around the handle of a suitcase or bag. When they pick the bag straight up, listen for the device to beep, and set the bag down, the gadget readout will display the weight in pounds or kilograms.

The company is also producing … Read more

There are people who think human beings are smart. (Mostly, they are second-rate CEOs and they are thinking of themselves.)

And there are those of us, and I include astronaut Dr. Edgar Mitchell amongst our august number, who can attest than humans are, in psychological and technological terms, worms.

Dr. Mitchell, who was possessed of the gumption to set foot on Apollo 14 after the disaster of the previous mission, had the even greater gumption to reveal the truth about alien life to Kerrang Radio this week.

If you have not heard of Kerrang Radio, it is, in essence, a … Read more

Teaching yourself a few niceties in a foreign language requires more than an hour in front of a phrasebook. Piecing together sentences out of unfamiliar accents and sounds is neither easy nor accurate, and could earn you looks of bemusement or horror if your neophyte's pronunciation produces a garbled or unintended communication.

That's what makes Lonely Planet's collection of audio phrasebooks for English-speakers (about $10) so eminently usable. With phrases organized into categories for transportation, money, dining, and so on, travelers can easily browse for pertinent communications. Like print phrasebooks, the foreign spelling and transliteration are present. … Read more

Hey, we're ready to cheer anything that can move travelers through an airport security queue faster--and a new line of "checkpoint friendly" laptop cases by Anaheim, Calif.-based Mobile Edge falls under that rubric. Owners of the ScanFast bags don't have to dig their computers out of their cases. Airport screeners can X-ray the machine while it's still inside.

The bags come in briefcase, backpack, and messenger-bag styles; all are compliant with Transportation Security Administration guidelines. The collection is set to launch in late summer, with a tentative price range of $79.99 to $99.… Read more

It's the rare notebook that doesn't have Wi-Fi, but not all models offer Bluetooth. Though not a critical feature, the short-range wireless technology is handy to have for things like cordless mice and cell-phone tethering (i.e., using your phone as a modem). Meritline has a teeny-tiny USB-powered Bluetooth adapter on sale for just $7.99 shipped.

What I love about this thing is that it's so teeny-tiny: Just a rounded little nub. You can leave it plugged into a USB port and barely know it's there. This is a Bluetooth 1.2-compliant adapter with a … Read more