Traveling with Technology

These days many people travel with their laptops, iPad, iPhone, cameras, and other electronics. Sometimes this is great to have. Other times it complicates. There are all sorts of insights, discussions, puzzles, and tips here or coming to this section. To read any full post, click it’s header.

Make your iPhone more secure

 in Traveling with Technology

Are you traveling with an iPhone? If so, make it as secure as possible. Those things, like all small electronics, can disappear in a moment — and I do mean moment, not minute. First, click this link to Apple’s tech note on how to secure your iPhone, called iOS: Understanding data protection. KnowledgeBase article HT4175. This way, at least if your iPhone disappears your data won’t be in other people’s hands. Also, make sure you turn on Find My iPhone – and KEEP IT ON! It does require Location Services so you might be tempted to turn it off. Don’t. Read the link I just gave you, then follow that article to Apple’s article called iCloud: Set up Find My iPhone. The direct link for US phones is this.

Love my Blue Mic Snowflake – on my iPad

 in Traveling with Technology

Recently, again needing to record a Computer Talk Radio segment, but not live with Ben as I typically do, I again searched for a recording app I could love. Apple’s Voice Memos app is unusable without a Mac or PC. Happily, I found Recorder Plus — and I love it. Now I can record, email a segment up to 7mb or use wi-fi to transfer larger segments to a Mac or PC and email it from there. So could I have a great mic again? Yes! I attached the Apple USB adapter in my iPad and connected my beloved Blue Mic Snowflake, a cardioid condenser mic. I fully expected the same old failure message that every USB device has disappointingly generated on the iPad — but this time I was thrilled to see that I could actually use the Snowflake on the iPad! (Recorder Plus simply saw and automatically used the […]

12 Reasons I wish I had invisibleSHIELD on my iPhone

 in Packing / Traveling with Technology

Yup… there are at least 12 Reasons here why I wish I had a Zagg invisibleSHIELD on my iPhone Count ’em. There are at least 12 cracks in this mission-critical glass of my sole travel iPhone. Every one of them would have been avoided if only I’d had Zagg’s military grade invisibleSHIELD covering that screen when it fell — and when my hiking boot fell right behind and on top of it… as the face hit the bare cement floor. If I’d only taken the time to get a Zagg invisibleSHIELD for this phone before I’d left on my trip. I knew better. I have known the invisibleSHIELD since it first came out. I’ve seen how it protects a device from a bag of nails and from so many other tests. I KNEW my trip would be hard on my electronics — especially the iPhone.

Scosche’s excellent travel battery

 in Packing / Traveling with Technology

As I left the USA for my extended trip, I looked at many batteries to choose the most versatile battery that would give me benefit for its weight. Although I questioned the wisdom of carrying the Scosche goBAT II, an untested last-minute acquisition, it was so promising that I took it along. This was one of my best decisions. The Scosche goBAT II – an external 5000mAh ion battery with two USB ports – comes along with me nearly everywhere I go. It has proven to be on of my most indispensable tools.

Scosche goBatt II featured

Read Sony ebook on iPhone

 in Traveling with Technology

Do you want to download or re-download a Sony book onto your iPhone or iPad. I wanted to. Only there isn’t a Sony eBook reader app for iPad or iPhone. On the Mac, the reader was Adobe Reader. On the iPad though, I found that my Sony eBook opened up in OverDrive – “OverDrive Media Console.” OverDrive is a free app I got to “take” books out of my public library systems. On the iPad, I went to my Sony books page, looked at my account, and clicked the listing for my purchased book. I have to check back to elaborate on the steps here, but I was able to see and read my book by launching OverDrive. I have not figured out why yet, but when I look on the Sony site from my iPhone, the book is not listed and I cannot download it. It appears that the […]

Easy travel with USB

 in Packing / Traveling with Technology

If you’re traveling with electronic devices, it is easy to become loaded down with all of the device-associated plugs and if traveling internationally, adapters. My solution for this with-electronics year of travel, was in short, USB. If a device didn’t charge via USB, it didn’t come with me. (The exception had to be my computer and camera, but now you can more easily find cameras that charge via USB.) And to further facilitate my charging, I simply always carried, and will continue to carry, RadTech’s ACpower Ultra-Compact Dual-USB Charger. The wise people at RadTech built this to be intelligent, efficient, and lean. It is a traveler’s dream. I’ll share more details later. Gotta go enjoy El Salvador now. OK, it’s later…. In fact, it’s a year later and my two RadTech hi-power ACpower chargers are still with me, doing their jobs. First, I LOVE RADTECH. This is a private company. The […]

LifeProof iPhone Waterproof Case at Radtech

 in Packing / Traveling with Technology

One of my biggest regrets about traveling with an older iPhone is that I can’t have this case on my phone. Imagine being able to walk in the rain (it is rainy season in Central America), talk in the rain, jump into the waterfalls, bring my phone into the shower if I am staying in a shared room…. all without a single thought about putting my iPhone into a waterproof bag. I was just looking at the website of one of my favorite companies, Radtech, to select some more of their iPhone/iPad cables and their ACpower Ultra-Compact Dual-USB Charger… and… I noticed Radtech now sells the LifeProof Waterproof Case for iPhone! I love this case! It is no bulkier than the regular bumpers and is waterproof, dirtproof, snowproof and shockproof. When I first saw this case, I actually asked them to talk to Radtech about selling it, and I also […]

Photo editing software for the Mac

 in Traveling with Technology

Traveling without my Mac, unable to activate the copy of Adobe Creative Suite that was on my (now-lost anyway) clone, I was left without photo editing software. When I arrive at a location that has a Mac, but doesn’t have Photoshop, I am in need of photo editing software in order to do some of my work. (And because I want nice-looking photos at the top of this page.) The solution? The greatest find! Pixelmator — by  Pixelmator Team Ltd. For anyone, this is a fabulous find. It does much of what Photoshop does, but costs only $29.99 as I write this. When I am able to get my hands on the right OS X install disk and rebuilt my bootable clone, I hope, and expect, that I will be able to purchase this excellent software once and be allowed to use it from my clone on any Mac that I boot […]

Write a letter

 in Deb's Travels / Traveling with Technology

When I traveled in the days before the internet, I mailed letters to my friends. One of those friends, and my father, both saved my letters and gave them to me upon my return. Even though you are keeping a journal, writing a blog, calling home via VOIP and Skype, etc, I strongly recommend that you — that every traveler — sit down and pen a letter home to a family member or friend. Hand-written letters are priceless memories.

Sending mail from Honduras

 in Central America / Honduras / Traveling with Technology

A native resident of Honduras, a businessman, and I were discussing postal systems the other day. He told me the mail from Honduras does, indeed, arrive well to the United States. He said, however, that he finds it necessary to to use registered mail for accountability. This is about 50 cents extra. Of course for us travelers, it is only 50 cents. For a Honduran, that’s a fairly steep extra fee. I am unsure of whether there are various levels of accountability choices as we have in the US. But I do know the loss of sending a beloved item home and having them never arrive. Anyway, now you know you can sent stuff from Honduras.

Power outage in San Salvador

 in Central America / Deb in El Salvador / Deb's Travels / El Salvador / Traveling with Technology

Last night’s rain and lightening storm brought more than the usual light storm beauty. Around 10pm it brought an extra loud pop and with it, darkness for some seconds, followed by another pop and some hours of darkness. I unplugged the house Mac, made sure any PCs here were unplugged. The owner opted to leave the wifi routers plugged in. (I also unplugged my TV and AC.) Around midnight the other women here and I went to bed. I wondered if the power would come on in the morning and If the routers would be back to normal. At 3:30am I had my answer when my roommate turned on the light. I am impressed with the electrical infrastructure here that withstands the rainy season so well.

The productivity loss is difficult

 in Deb's Travels / Traveling with Technology

I just found myself writing this to a software developer who is releasing a game I am looking forward to having. “One up-side of having my Air stolen has been seeing how far I can use or push the iPad. Life is frustrating without a Mac. Even though I am loving being out in the world doing all sorts of amazing things, the productivity loss is difficult.” I am able to do a lot on the iPad but I sure wish it would provide the fabulous MacOS Finder! That, alone, would give me back much of my good old Mac Efficiency. Given the choice between a small Windows or Ubuntu netbook and an iPad I am not sure if which I would choose.

Vonage Mobile app

 in Traveling with Technology

I don’t know why it took me so long to try this. Oh, right… I needed to receive a text message to verify my installation and the mobile phone company where I am now wasn’t letting me get silly things like calls or texts. Anyway, I have started using The Vonage mobile app and I loved calling my family (after I made some business calls).

My iPhone screen is replaced

 in Deb's Travels / Traveling with Technology

On my first morning in Caye Caulker, Belize, trying not to wake a roommate, I pulled out my bag, which sent my hiking shoe to the ground a few feet below — with iPhone inside it. It was the one day the phone was out of its Gelz Silicone case, which gave it bounce and kept the screen from touching the ground when dropped — and the result was a sad looking screen one-quarter full of fractures. Over the next days I found a plastic protector and I kept the top peel-off plastic on too, adding tape to allow continued use and keep the fragments in place. But I pretty much stopped using this iPhone as it is my sole Internet connection. A few nights ago I showed it to the fantastic Danny Aisenberg, of Datek, a systems programming company. I had known Danny for exactly two minutes but he […]

Rainy season phone protection

 in Traveling with Technology

While I was in NYC attending PhotoPlus, I took interest in and picked up these SmartSleeves — various-sized sleeves to protect iPhones and other cell phones from the rain. Rain protection is not an issue in Los Angeles but it was in New York and particularly in NYC where everyone walks a lot. AND protecting a smart phone from the rain is also an issue in Central America when you are here in the rainy season! I like these bags because they allow you to use your touch screen perfectly well, I can easily slip my phone in and out — and they don’t take up room in my hand bag or travel bag.

My alarm fly

 in Central America / Deb in Guatemala / Guatemala / Traveling with Technology

I have a personalized Guatemalan alarm that ensures I get out of bed by 7. It’s my alarm fly. At 6:45 it starts buzzing around my head, then lands on various parts of my body. It simply won’t stop. By 7 I have had enough of the twitching to get it off so I get out of bed. (Maybe it isn’t a single alarm fly, but an alarm fly team. I haven’t asked.) I am not retiring my iPhone though as I don’t expect that flies re so well trained every place I will be visiting.

6 a.m. thoughts

 in Central America / Deb in Guatemala / Deb's Travels / Guatemala / Packing / Theft / Travel Tips / Traveling with Technology

It is the middle of the night, the pre-dawn hour of 2 a.m. and Wednesday, June 6, 2012 is is its first hours. Crickets chirp outside under the full moon. The sky is clear. I love this time of day. In NYC it was always my favorite time; back in my 23rd or 24th years I would often be walking home at this hour and I loved the sky, the emptier (not empty) streets, the relative quiet of the city, and it’s maybe “new” energy at the 2-3 a.m. hours. In Los Angeles the air was often cooler at this hour and I would finally wind down from my day, feel I had had enough of my Mac, and would finally get outside for a cool, calm walk. Tonight, in the town of San Marcos on the shore of Lago De Atitlán in the Highlands of Guatemala, I am not […]

Honduras Claro data card does NOT work in Guatemala

 in Central America / Guatemala / Travel w/Tech in Honduras / Traveling with Technology

Claro in Honduras will tell you beyond all doubt that their card will function fine in Guatemala and in El Salvador. They explained to me that all if my unused data may be used in these neighboring countries, but that I will not be able to add to the Honduran card and will need to purchase a new card in each country to gain more time. This is incorrect. The moment I crossed out of Honduras into Guatemala my iPhone alerted me that the phone number had changed. Perhaps I could have done something if I understood the Spanish. However, there was no text message about this, so no way to know the message, issue, or fix. What I do know though is that the network name appears perfectly well, that I am told I need data roaming and that turning roaming on did nothing to give me data. Local-living […]

Hotel in La Ceiba in Honduras for the Bay Islands

 in Boats / Central America / Deb in Honduras / Deb's Travels / Honduras / Sight-Seeing in Honduras / Stay in Honduras / Travel w/Tech in Honduras

Are you are traveling to one of the Bay Islands (Roatan or  Utila) by ferry and need to spend a night in La Ceiba?  Backpackers tend to stay a night at the Banana Republic Hostel. It is right by a good part of town and a great dentist! — and is safe, but it definitely third-world backpacking. Forget the kitchen. The pots lacked handles. There weren’t 4 forks or spoons or knives. Knives were broken, the kitchen was filthy. Don’t count on water for your complete shower or an odor-free bathroom. And the bus out of La Ceiba info that the staff gave each of us was very wrong and problematic. A private room for 2 or 3 runs 450 Limpira, US$25 at this time, which you can split 3 ways. The dorm there runs 150 Limpira as well. (The dorms have backpack-sized huge, amazing lockers though, with electricity for charging!) From […]

Batteries in Honduras & Guatemala

 in Central America / Deb in El Salvador / Deb in Guatemala / Deb in Honduras / Deb's Travels / El Salvador / Guatemala / Honduras / Travel w/Tech in El Salvador / Travel w/Tech in Guatemala / Travel w/Tech in Honduras / Traveling with Technology

I was worried about being able to buy batteries in Central America, especially AAA batteries so here’s a report  as of June 2012 in case you wonder the same.   Batteries in Honduras In an upscale department store in Honduras, I easily found Maxell AAA that are dated January 2016 in a 2-pack for just 29, which is US$1.50. In a same-mall electronics store batteries were 39L or $2. I forgot to check the price of AA batteries. Batteries in Guatemala In Guatemala the AA were a bit over US$3 wherever I saw them. Batteries in El Salvador San Salvador, the capitol city, has plenty of upscale stores and I am sure you can trust the batteries you buy there. But when I needed batteries I was in a small, out of the way beach town. There, the batteries were a brand I hadn’t ever seen and the AA batteries didn’t […]

Computer Talk Radio with Hannah in La Ceiba

 in Central America / Deb Fixed It / Deb in Honduras / Deb's Travels / Honduras / Traveling with Technology

Tonight I was with a new travel friend, Hannah, in the supermarket at the upscale mall in Honduras’ third largest city, La Ceiba, when Benjamin Rockwell called me on Voxer to tell me the evening’s recording schedule. Hannah and I decided to stay at the mall and enjoy it a while longer, so I did my segment from an electronics store in the mall. Hannah has been on the road for a while, covering two hemispheres, so she did the 10 minute segment as my guest, sharing her travel technology experiences with our listeners. Hannah’s stories: 1) Her PC died in Tulume, Mexico. A local computer tech found the issue to be a damaged RAM. This is a common issue, he said, due to humidity. It took three days for her new RAM to arrive so three days later, For 400 pesos (US$33), she had new RAM and was happily […]

Data cards for Internet in Honduas

 in Central America / Deb in Honduras / Deb's Travels / Honduras / Travel w/Tech in Honduras / Traveling with Technology

If you have an unlocked iPhone or other smart phone, you can purchase and use data cards to get Internet as you travel. You can also use these sim cards in USB modems that connect to your computer. In Honduras I used data cards in an unlocked iPhone 3GS. Claro is the less expensive of the two Honduras cellular carriers. I was given the sim card free at the Claro store, a proper Claro shop, not local, small shop reseller. You can buy 1 day, 7 day, 15 day, or 30 day cards. I paid 290 Limpera for a 15 day period providing me with 5 Gb of data. For 490 you can have 1month and 7gb. An additional week will be 140 for another 7 days, 3gb. My first card was TIGO. I paid 45 Limpera for the sim card. I paid 150 Limpera for a 7 day card […]