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The Best Gadget Accessories For Your Trip

GeekSugar — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:30:30 -0800

Planning to travel this weekend? You're not alone - long-distance trips increase 54 percent over the Thanksgiving travel season. Traveling is stressful, but just because you're away from home doesn't mean you have to be without your high-tech conveniences. Here's a roundup of my favorite gadget accessories for traveling.

Source:Getty

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5 iPhone Apps to Help You Through the Holidays

GeekSugar — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:47:57 -0800

Can you believe that next week is already Thanksgiving? I can't, and there's no slowing down from here. In the midst of seasonal travel, family gatherings, and shopping on Black Friday, you may need some help getting organized. Check out five fun and functional apps that will help you wade through the holiday madness.

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Website of the Day: Duffel

GeekSugar — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:31:32 -0800

There are a ton of travel planning sites, but I just found my new favorite. Duffel (find the site at duffelup) calls itself "a trip-planning tool for people who are not planning any trips," but it's pretty handy for actual trip planning, too.

Sign into the site to create trips - real or imagined - to any place in the world. Then add the Duffel bookmarking tool to your browser's bookmarks. When you visit sites of interest for your trip - hotels, tours, restaurant listings, or even just a random sentence or two about something cool to do in the area - click the bookmark to save it to your Duffel. You can set saved trip information to public or private, or opt to share them with just a few people, like family or travel partners.

There are more great features on the site, too, from the easy to use drag and drop interface to the incorporation of Google maps to a printable itinerary view condensing all of your saved information into a printable list. Duffel also offers suggestions to popular destinations like New York City or Las Vegas.

I've been having a blast creating and adding to a few "dream" trips I'd like to take . . . now the only problem is figuring out where to go first.

Do you have an interesting website you want to share? Join the Website of the Day group where you can post your favorite website! And you never know, it could be featured on GeekSugar! Here's a detailed guide to posting questions or posts to groups if you are new to the PopSugar Community.

Do You Use Social Media to Contact Companies?

GeekSugar — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:44:18 -0800

I just finished reading an article about a US couple who, because of visa problems, nearly missed their Russian honeymoon. They thought they'd done their research; online travel agency Expedia assured the couple that they didn't need visas to travel to St. Petersburg. It turned out, though, they did. After sharing their experience and anger in real time via Twitter and their blog, Expedia reached out to the couple, reimbursing the cost of their trip, the additional expenses they incurred, and offering a huge credit toward their next trip.

More companies are using social media to respond immediately to problems and interact closely with customers. In fact, some of Sugar staffers used the service to get in touch with JetBlue during a severely delayed flight.

While I agree it's a great way to interact with a company, I can't decide if this will increase their responses or just create a new forum for more people to complain. What do you think?

Oh, Good. Another In-Flight Fire Hazard to Worry About

GeekSugar — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:45:02 -0700

In-flight fires caused by gadgets are back in the news after a recent piece in the New York Times warned of yet another risk: fires caused by the rechargable lithium batteries in handheld credit-card machines used by flight attendants to ring up purchases. The Federal Aviation Administration considers the batteries hazardous, and requires special training for flight attendants on airlines who carry spare batteries (some airlines, like Delta and JetBlue, don't carry spare batteries at all).

No fires from the readers have been reported, but according to the same article, in the last two years, a portable DVD has caught fire on a plane, a flashlight placed in a storage compartment exploded, turning into a projectile, and eight people were injured when a battery fell against a metal seat frame and exploded.

The best way to keep devices from overheating, or worse, catching fire? Keep them out of overhead compartments, and turn them off completely before storing them for flight. Do you take special precautions when flying with gadgets?

Grid-It Gray From Flight 001

GeekSugar — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:25:31 -0700

Like any jet-setting geek girl, I refuse to travel without all of my gadgets. But with a phone, iPod, camera, cords, and chargers, keeping gadgets organized and cords tangle-free is a challenge.

I'm in love with the Grid-It organization system ($25) from Flight001. Overlapping rubberized elastic bands offer easy storage for even the strangest-shaped objects, and the entire grid is perfectly sized to fit right into my laptop bag. There's even a zippered pocket in the back for storing other small items. Knowing my beloved gadgets are safe and secure means one less travel stress.

The Ritz-Carlton in Naples, FL Goes High-Tech

GeekSugar — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:05:09 -0700

I know how much you love a good gadget-pimped hotel, which is why I thought I'd share the news about The Ritz-Carlton in Naples, FL getting a total-teched out section of the hotel called the Vue lounge - Vue standing for (virtual user experience). Not your typical hotel gaming room that often features a console and a TV, nope, the Vue lounge boasts Mac stations, iPod docks, a 63-inch LCD TV with a Blu-ray player, a Bang and Olufsen surround sound system, Guitar Hero, Rock Band, a Nintendo Wii, PlayStation, XBox 360 and more. They even host Wii fitness classes and bowling tournaments, which are all complimentary to resort guests. I guess if you've got kids, or are an avid gamer, or even if you want to take some of these games for a test drive, this hotel may be worth looking at.

Website of the Day: IgoUgo

GeekSugar — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:24:01 -0700

I know Yelp is super helpful because real people submit their reviews on restaurants and attractions to give me an insider look at my destination. I often check it before deciding on where to take out-of-town friends or a new restaurant. Same goes for IgoUgo, a travelers Yelp if you will. Select where you want to go, and you'll find hundreds of user reviews of hotels, eateries, parks, and tourist traps so you stay in the know before you go.

Plus, there's a huge database of photos so you get a good look at your destination from the inside out.

Have an interesting website you want to share? To learn how to post your favorite websites to our Website of the Day group, read more.

First of all, join the Website of the Day group.
Click "New Post" under the website of the day tab at the top of the page.
Give your story a "Title."
Fill in the "Body" with a link to your favorite website and the reasons why you love it.
Type "Technology and Gadgets" in the Categories box
Add keyword(s) in the tag field with relevant tags (for example mine for this story was "Website of the Day").
Choose whether you want the post to be private or public.
Click "Create Post" to submit content.

So join the Website of the Day group and share information about all your favorite sites! Yours just might end up on the GeekSugar homepage!

Website of the Day: TownMe

GeekSugar — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 07:33:00 -0700

Just moved to a new city or town? Or perhaps you're taking a business trip to a place you've never visited and you're trying to locate some decent restaurants and shopping areas. A recently launched site called TownMe will help you get acquainted with your new surroundings by showing you the best restaurants, bars, and businesses thanks to the "What's Near Me" search tool. I met with the founders yesterday (who food for thought, are two former Google employees) and learned all about this site and its useful features.

Umm hello?! It even has a section under tools where you can check out birthday deals in your city (free food and more!). Aside from discovering where the sugar daddies are located in your city, checking out what other people are tweeting about in your community, or where the best yoga studio is in your neighborhood, TownMe allows you to create your own info page or edit someone else's so you can list out all of your local faves to share with the community as well.

Have an interesting website you want to share? To learn how to post your favorite websites to our Website of the Day group, read more.

First of all, join the Website of the Day group.
Click "New Post" under the website of the day tab at the top of the page.
Give your story a "Title."
Fill in the "Body" with a link to your favorite website and the reasons why you love it.
Type "Technology and Gadgets" in the Categories box
Add keyword(s) in the tag field with relevant tags (for example mine for this story was "Website of the Day").
Choose whether you want the post to be private or public.
Click "Create Post" to submit content.

So join the Website of the Day group and share information about all your favorite sites! Yours just might end up on the GeekSugar homepage!

Website of the Day: Ruba

GeekSugar — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:30:36 -0700

There's nothing worse than being pumped for a vacation, then arriving to find your digs/guided tour/planned activities aren't as awesome as advertised. Unfortunately for some, this could totally shatter your dreams of an ideal vacay. So next time, do some extra research on a site like Ruba.

Similar to Trazzler (which I love) Ruba offers a much more personal and behind-the-scenes look at places around the globe so you can make an informed decision on where to travel next. It's a positive website, where people write about the hotels, restaurants, and landmarks they love and the things that made their trip worthwhile, so you know you're getting good advice.

Going a step farther than Trazzler though, Ruba offers city guides, tours and things to do in a particular city for the amount of time you're spending there. Have two days in Sydney? Ruba has you covered.

Have an interesting website you want to share? To learn how to post your favorite websites to our Website of the Day group, read more.

First of all, join the Website of the Day group.
Click "New Post" under the website of the day tab at the top of the page.
Give your story a "Title."
Fill in the "Body" with a link to your favorite website and the reasons why you love it.
Type "Technology and Gadgets" in the Categories box
Add keyword(s) in the tag field with relevant tags (for example mine for this story was "Website of the Day").
Choose whether you want the post to be private or public.
Click "Create Post" to submit content.

So join the Website of the Day group and share information about all your favorite sites! Yours just might end up on the GeekSugar homepage!