Christmas Gifts For The Business Traveler
What business travel gift will be in your stocking this Christmas?
Gadgets - don’t you just love ‘em? One of the great things about the holiday season is all the new gadgets that we’re hoping to get. If if you’re a frequent business traveler, anything that makes your life easier while on the road will be welcome so drop a hint to your nearest and dearest about these great stocking stuffers.
The self styled world’s largest wireless network offers you easy access to a WiFi hotspot wherever you are for a reasonable monthly charge. Even better, you only have to remember one login, rather than coping with the intricacies of each hotel’s individual login system. It’s roaming without the high roaming charges and you can find a hotspot almost anywhere, as there are 100,000 to choose from. North American access is currently on special offer at $9.95 for three months, compared with a usual price of $21.95, while mobile access via your smartphone is $7.95 a month. For global access, it’s just $59 s month.
One of the issues when you go on the road is charging your PDA, cell phone, digital camera, MP3 player and other mobile devices. What this usually means is taking the chargers with you, which is bulky and inconvenient. The Chargepod from Callpod is a six in one mobile device charger, which is compatible with internatinoal power adapters. That’s just one device to carry instead of six. Best of all, you can customize it, selecting from a range of mobile devices you want to use with it. Just choose the brand and model and you’ve got your own customized ChargePod. The bundle pack is $79.95.
There’s nothing worse than being on the road and having a problem with your car. If you’re late for a meeting, you may not want to wait for your service company to get to you, especially if it’s easy to fix the problem so you can continue with your trip. The CarMD Handheld Engine Code Reader includes OBDii scanners which work on car models after 1996. The reader scans the car and tell you what that warning light really means, and will send in-depth diagnostics, fixes and estimated repair costs. The CarMD is available for $99.95.
With IKnow, your Ipod is not just for fun, but an essential business travel accessory. Upload the IKnow files to your Ipod or Iphone and you have an instant pocket translator, with 1,500 phrases in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese or Spanish. There’s no need to fumble through your guidebook to find the perfect phrase. Instead, use the familiar navigation menu to find the words you need and hear how they should sound. This looks really useful and is worth a try at $13.95.
This is a pen like no other. Just over six inches long, this pen includes a microphone, infrared camera and speaker so you can record and play back audio and store up to 200 hours (2GB) of audio data. The Pulse SmartPen works with the Livescribe Desktop software so that you can search through audio and written notes (yes, it writes too). You’ll never lose a note again with this little wonder. Prices vary, with the best price we’ve seen at $149.95 from Amazon.
Tags: business travel, christmas, gadgets, travel gadgets, xmas
May 7th, 2009 at 4:40 am
[...] time for another round up of essential gadgets for business travel, plus one non-essential that’s there simply because I like [...]