Summer Holiday Gadgets
Some suggestions from Village on how to make your summer holidays run smoothly with some nifty gadgets
A pair of enormous headphones may cause people to laugh at you, but if you opt for the latest in noise-cancellation technology you will be oblivious to their mirth. Bose have had much success with their Quietcomfort range. The headphones have microphones on the outside that listen to the noise around you, then pump out these sound waves using reverse polarity (seriously), thus cancelling out most sounds. They are most effective on low frequency sounds, such as the dull roar of a plane engine, or the dull conversation of the person on the phone next to you. Many companies make similar products, but Bose have garnered the best reputation. The Quietcomfort 3 is the latest in the series. It weighs only 159 grams, has soft padded earpieces and good music quality. With reputation comes price, and at €395 they may cost more than your holiday. It is up to you to decide what you will pay to listen to your music in peace.
Long days on the beach will require a music player to go along with your noise-cancellation headphones. Whatever type of machine you have (ok, you probably have an iPod), it will eventually run out of juice. Saving the day, and the planet, is US company Reware. Made with the environment in mind, the company has produced a series of bags with solar panels. The Juice Bags absorb the energy of the sun and create power that can be used to charge your appliances, such as an MP3 player, phone, camera or battery recharger. Typical charging time is two to four hours. The flexible solar panel does not generate any heat or noise, nor have any moving parts. It connects to your gadget through a normal car adaptor and does not require a separate battery pack, unlike other similar products. The rugged bags themselves are made from recycled materials like plastic bottles and carpet, yet come in a range of styles and colours, such as the Solar Powered Beach Tote (pictured)
www.rewarestore.com
If certain environments make you fear for your expensive gadgets, you need a specially toughened appliance. The Sony VPC-CA6 Xacti Weatherproof Digital Media Camera may be close to what you want, although the product blurb does put the word “protected” in brackets. This indicates that the machine is really only a little more weatherproof than those cheap digital watches beloved by boys of the 80s. As bitter experience has taught, you will not be able to go swimming with this camera. But its fancy name indicates you can do many other things with it. The Xacti can be a regular digital camera, with 6 megapixel still images, or a camcorder, with 640x480 digital resolution. At 100x30mm in size it is very compact, and while its design makes it reminiscent of a disposable camera, the look belies the technological features. Noteworthy are the five shooting modes that allow you to alter the images you take depending on how they will be used, with functions specifically for web, TV or handheld devices like an iPod video. It also lets you take stills from video recordings.
Available on www.ebay.co.uk