GaiaGeek

If you have an E-Ink version of the Kindle, such as the Kindle Touch or Kindle Keyboard (formerly known as the Kindle 3), and you occasionally use the built-in “experimental” browser to check your Gmail, you may want to see if you can still load the Gmail website. It seems that Google that has recently made some changes to the mobile version of it’s Gmail page which the Kindle’s browser doesn’t like.

In your Kindle’s web browser, go to the URL m.gmail.com. If it fails to load and you end up with an error message like the one shown below, look for a link beneath the error message that reads “Older version” and click that.

Below: Screenshot of the Gmail error

Gmail should load up fine with this older version, but if you’re still having problems, try reseting your Kindle from the main settings menu or by holding the power slider switch for 15 seconds.

Skype is giving the gift of free Wi-Fi at various U.S. airports from December 21st until December 27th. The list of airports isn’t very long, but it looks like it covers some of the major U.S. hubs (Chicago O’Hare, Denver, San Francisco) so if you’re between flights during your holiday travels, you can at least hop online for free with your laptop if you need to.

To access the free Wi-Fi, you’ll need the latest version of Skype on your laptop or the Skype Wi-Fi app for your iOS device (iPhone, iPad). No mention of Android devices, unfortunately.

One item which should definitely be on your pack list, especially if you’re headed to a country like India where power outages can occur almost daily, is a flashlight. Even if the power is working fine, you may need a flashlight to light your path after the sun goes down.

If you haven’t bought a flashlight in years, you should know that LED lights have truly revolutionized the flashlight industry, allowing manufacturers to build flashlights that pump out mind-blowing levels of light in incredibly small packages which can withstand much more abuse than flashlights of old.

With small size, high performance and a budget in mind, here are four great options to light up your life on the road.

Bright Bargains: Generic 22,000 MCD Keychain LED Flashlights

These keyring LED flashlights are very small, yet bright enough to illuminate a dark path on your walk home. The operation is simple: you squeeze the light to turn it on momentarily, or if you need it on for longer, just flick the switch to keep it on. At under $10 for a 10-pack you can carry extras to use as backups or to give to people you meet along the way, as these make great little gifts. Each light will likely last you a year with regular use on the included batteries, and probably longer. For the price of new batteries you may as well just buy new lights (though if you’d rather replace the batteries, these run on two CR2016 coin cells).

Note that 22,000 MCD (milli-candela) refers to one means of measuring light output, so if you see similar cheap keychain LED lights which don’t mention this, they may not be as bright.

Photon Freedom Micro Keychain LED Flashlight

If it seems to you that this light (pictured above) looks incredibly similar to the cheap keychain lights, that’s because the Photon lights are the keychain LED lights which many other manufacturers have tried to imitate. Such imitations are also known as “fauxtons” by flashlight enthusiasts for this very reason (a play on “photon” – “faux” meaning “fake” in French, for those who don’t know). While the fauxtons may resemble the Photons in appearance, there’s a huge difference in features and quality.

First and foremost, the Photon Freedom has a microcircuit built into it which allows a range of lighting options which include:

• Variable brightness ranging from very low to full brightness – useful if the full power is too bright, or if you just want to preserve the battery
• A slow flashing ”beacon” mode where the light flashes once every 5 seconds
• A medium flashing mode where the light flashes twice per second
• A fast strobe-light mode
• An S.O.S. flashing mode (S.O.S being the internationally-recognized emergency distress signal)

The lights are water resistant and feature gold-plated contacts for corrosion resistance. Each light comes with a quick-release key ring (very handy when you need to remove the light from your keys), a necklace attachment to allow you to wear the light around your neck, and a hands-free clip which can be used to clip the light to the brim of your cap or onto your bicycle (and it’s even magnetic if you need to attach the light to something metallic). All lights are made in the U.S.A. and come with a lifetime warranty from the manufacturer.

There’s also a variety of beam color options including every color of the rainbow. White is definitely the brightest light and the best choice for lighting a path, but I can personally recommend the red light as a small but effective rear bike light (used in the medium flashing mode) and the yellow light for a warm reading light.

In terms of brightness, the Photon Freedom and the cheaper generic 22,000 MCD keychain lights are about the same. The Photon Freedom may be brighter with new batteries, but this edge soon fades and in the long run I’d say the brightness levels of the two lights are about the same.

The white light will give you 10 to 12 hours of run-time at full brightness with the included batteries, which means it will likely last you at least a year even with regular use. The red, orange and yellow version of the light will last much longer, around 120 hours, because they use different batteries. When it comes time to replace the batteries, Photon Freedoms use two CR2016 batteries, with the exception the red, orange and yellow lights, which use one CR2032 battery. Because the cheaper “fauxton” keychain lights above use the same CR2016 batteries, you can salvage a pair from one of those lights if you need to, although note that the batteries that come with the fauxton lights won’t last as long as the name-brand Energizer batteries that come with the Photon Freedom.

The white Photon Freedom runs around $12 shipped from Amazon.

The Generic Cheapies vs. the Photon Freedom – which to get?

Given that you can get 10 of the generic keychain lights for less than cost of a single Photon Freedom, you may be wondering whether it’s worth it to get the Photon Freedom. If you must choose between one or the other, I suggest getting a 10-pack of the generic 22,000MCD lights. They’re an excellent value for the money and you’ll be covered for flashlights for yourself with extras to spare as gifts. If after owning one of the cheaper keychain lights for awhile you find yourself dreaming of the ability adjust brightness levels, use it as a strobe light or take it through the rain without worry, then consider upgrading to a Photon Freedom. If the extra money isn’t a big deal to you and you love gadgets, I recommend buying both right from the start. You won’t be disappointed.

Something Brighter: iTP A3 EOS 3-Mode AAA Flashlight

The incredibly small lights above are very capable for lighting up areas within 20 feet (6 meters), but if you want a flashlight that can really throw light up and off your path, check out the iTP A3 EOS. It’s rated at a whopping 80 lumens of output despite being about the size of your pinky finger and running on a single AAA battery. Since you may have no idea how bright 80 lumens is, let me put it another way: when you turn this thing on at full power in a dark room, your reaction will probably be something along the lines of “Holy s***! How does something this small put out that much light?” If you’ve ever used a MagLite Solitaire, the well-known flashlight brand’s single AAA flashlight, this light will make you fully realize how LED flashlights are leaps and bounds ahead of the old filament bulb flashlights (and it might make you wonder how MagLite can still be selling those lights given how pathetically inferior they now are in comparison).

The iTP A3 EOS comes in both a single-mode version and a 3-mode version. With the single-mode version, twisting the lens cap turns the flashlight on or off – plain and simple. With the 3-mode version, you can switch between brightness levels of low, medium or high by turning the flashlight briefly off and back on again. Unless this sounds complicated to you, I definitely recommend the 3-mode version, as it’s nice to be able to switch to the low mode for using the light close up (i.e. looking at a cut on your finger in the dark where the high mode would be blindingly bright), the medium mode for walking at night but preserving battery, and the high mode for when you need that extra light to make sure you’re not being tracked by man-eating tigers (or whatever scary animals lurk at night around your travel destination).

It’s made from aircraft grade aluminum, and given this and it’s small size, it’s so light you won’t even notice it in your pocket or clipped to your belt. The light will last for about 1 hour on high power, 4 hours on medium power, and a whopping 50 hours on low. It can run on a regular AAA alkaline battery or a NiMH rechargeable.

The best part? It’s only about $23 shipped. Talk about bang for your buck. (Of course if money is no object, you can always get the titanium version.)

The Brightest AAA Flashlight: Fenix LD01 3-Mode Flashlight

Someone always wants to know what the brightest light out there is. Well, this is the brightest flashlight (at the time of writing) that runs on a single AAA battery. It’s rated at 85 lumens of light on maximum – suggesting only a slight advantage over the iTP EOS A3 on paper, but real world testing suggests that the difference is more significant (yet another case of manufacturer ratings not matching up with real world results). Fenix is a well-known and reputable brand in the world of LED flashlights. This light is made of aircraft-grade aluminum and has the added benefit of being waterproof to IPX8 standards, which means it can survive being immersed in water beyond 1 meter in depth.

The LD01 will run for 1 hour on high, 3.5 hours on medium power, and 11 hours on low (it’s low setting is set at a level significantly brighter than the iTP EOS A3′s is, hence the shorter runtime). It’s backed by a 2-year manufacturer warranty. It’s available for about $40 shipped - not as cheap as the iTP EOS A3, but if you want the brightest AAA flashlight out there, this is it.

Don’t Forget the Batteries

For either of the AAA flashlights mentioned above, regular alkaline batteries won’t last as long, so I recommend using a good NiMH rechargeable AAA battery, such as one of the Sanyo Eneloop AAA batteries. And don’t forget a good travel charger if you plan on charging your batteries on the road (the USB charger listed there weighs next to nothing).

Have fun – and try not to stare directly into your new flashlight (I know you will).

If you typically stay in hotel rooms with an electronic safe in the room when you travel, you may want to double check just how safe your safe is. The following YouTube video reveals how a hotel room safe was unlocked by simply entering a default password of all zeros instead of the guest’s chosen password.

Now that this knowledge is out in the open, it makes hotel room safes with this vulnerability even less secure. The next time you stay in a hotel room and plan on using the safe, you should definitely check whether it’s possible to open it using all zeros before you stash your things in there thinking they’re secure.

If you do find your safe can be easily opened with this method and the hotel says there’s nothing they can do about it, you may not have a secure means of storing your laptop or other valuables. If you want to take the security of your belongings into your own hands rather than rely on your hotel to provide competent security, check out the best way to lock your laptop. While that article is focused on securing a laptop, the Pacsafe TravelSafe series of products (mentioned toward the end of the article) can provide the means to lock up almost any valuable that you might be traveling with. With the largest TravelSafe boasting a capacity of 20 liters, that’s actually more space than the average electronic safe you’ll find on the road – and you can rest assured it won’t be able to be opened with a series of zeros.

Below: The Pacsafe DaySafe 100 Backpack

If you’ll be flying on Delta Airlines this month and want to gets some emails done during your flight, give the following a whirl:

• Log in to your Delta.com account, view My Trips and check your upcoming trip to see if it will have Wi-Fi available
• Once you’re airborne, connect to the GoGo Wi-Fi and select a Flight Pass (should come up as $12.95 or less)
• At checkout, enter the promotion code DIETCOKEGOGO and click Apply. The price should now be $0.

And if when you’re at 30,000 feet you feel like letting others know that “It works!” just leave a reply below!

With it practically a given now that on your next flight you’ll have to pay to check a bag, you may take a shot at flying with only a carry-on bag and not checking any luggage at all. More and more people are doing so, and there entire websites, such as www.onebag.com, devoted to the art of traveling with only a single carry-on bag. Many people choose to try this with rolling luggage, but as discussed in another article, Luggage or Backpack?, there are some clear advantages to traveling with a backpack – and the advantages are even greater when going the carry-on route.

First, the additional hardware used in rolling luggage takes up valuable packing space and also makes the bag heavier. This means you’ll have a harder time keeping it under the carry-on size and weight limits which vary amongst airlines (see The International Maximum Carry-On Size and Weight Limits). Second, because rolling luggage tends to have a hard structure to it, if your bag is larger than what the airline accepts, you won’t be able to squeeze it down to a size that fits the luggage templates and you’ll be forced to pay for a checked bag. A backpack, on the other hand, is soft and can easily conform to the size of the luggage template – even if it means pulling out a sweater. Carry-on backpacks are also about half the weight of rolling luggage, meaning you’ll be less likely to have to worry about weight limits, which can be as low as 5kg or 11lbs on some airlines.

If you decide to go the way of the carry-on backpack, here are some choices to consider:

Rick Steves Convertible Carry On

If you’ve never heard of him, Rick Steves is the host of a TV travel show where he usually features various destinations in Europe. At 21″ x 14″ x 9″ this bag meets standard US carry-on size restrictions, and if you pack it properly you should be able to squeeze that 9″ depth down to 8″ to fly on foreign airlines with stricter size limits. It’s only 3 lbs and claims 2,500 cubic inches of packing space, expanding to 2,650. You can use it with the included shoulder strap or with the backpack straps, which tuck away when not in use. Most important of all, it has a waist belt with pads for your hips, making it a top bag to consider if you’ll actually be carrying your bag any fair distance on your back, as waist-belts shift the weight off your shoulders and on to your hips.

eBags Weekender eTech Convertible Travel Backpack

Also at 22″ x 14″ x 9″ this bag is similar to the Rick Steves bag above. However, it’s heavier at 3 lbs 10 oz and lacks hip pads on the waist belt. eBags describes this bag is having a capacity of 3066 cubic inches, but I think it’s safe to cry foul at that, as if you calculate the volume of a 22″ x 14″ x 9″ object, it’s 2772 cubic inches – so unless eBags found a way to defy the laws of physics, I think it’s safe to say the capacity is closer the 2,500 cubic inches of the Rick Steves bag. It does not include a shoulder strap. It does have the advantage of being cheaper, generally under $60 after discount at eBags.com. If you just need the cheapest, decent carry-on backpack you can get, this is probably the one for you.

eBags Mother Lode LTS Weekender Convertible Travel Backpack

The Mother Lode LTS Convertible from eBags is a step up from the Weekender eTech in terms of features and price. It’s approximately the same weight at 3 lbs 11 oz (not including shoulder and waist strap) and the same dimensions of 22″ x 14″ x 9″ – however, it boasts a slightly larger carrying capacity of 3299 cubic inches, and the carrying capacity can actually be increased to 3651 cubic inches by fully expanding the bag (which I’m guessing puts it over the carry-on limit, but still a useful option for before and after your flight). One of the most noteworthy extra features on this bag is the padded laptop compartment, a feature lacking on most other carry-on backpacks. Other stand-out features include a removable hip belt (not padded, unfortunately), a fold-down “shelf” to give you the option to divide the inside of the bag into an upper and lower section, and additional pockets for organization. All in all, a very well thought out bag for carry-on travel that is definitely worth checking out – especially given that it’s priced at less than $100.

Lowe Alpine TT Carry-On 40

Lowe Alpine is a reputable manufacturer of backpacks and other outdoor gear, and this is one of their bags which crosses into the adventure travel market. At 22″ x 12.5″ x 8″ this bag is a better size for meeting the stricter carry-on limits of the budget European airlines including EasyJet and RyanAir. It’s slightly lighter than the Rick Steves bag at 2 lbs 13 oz, yet claims a capacity of 2,600 cubic inches. It does include a detachable shoulder strap, but lacks the hip pads on the waist belt. The big advantage of this bag in my opinion, is that it just looks better. The fact that it’s made by a reputable bag manufacturer just makes it all the more tempting.

Osprey Porter 46 Travel Pack

Osprey is another manufacturer with a great reputation for making bags that last. With 2,800 cubic inches of space, the Osprey Porter 46 has the highest capacity of all the bags listed here – and at 3 lbs 3 oz, it’s not significantly heavier than even the lightest options. This is due to the fact that it is designed as one large zip-open compartment with no internal dividers to add to the weight, though there is a top pocket and some internal mesh organization. The hip belt and backpack straps can be stowed during transport, although note that a shoulder strap is not included, so when stowed you’ll have to carry this bag by the carry handles. The zippers can be locked for extra security. You can pull the two compression straps to keep the bag size down, although I would expect that even with the compression straps, if you pack this bag to the limit, it’s quite likely you could run into trouble on the the airlines with smaller carry-on bag size restrictions which are found outside the U.S.

Briggs & Riley Baseline 20 Convertible Travel Tote

This may be the preferred choice if you’re a business traveler looking for something that will look suitable walking through the lobby of a nice hotel. It’s 20″ x 12.75″ x 9″ with a stated capacity of 2571 cubic inches and a weight of 3 lbs 13 oz. It has both a shoulder strap for the business look and stowaway backpack straps for when things get adventurous (but no waist belt). It features something Briggs & Riley calls a SpeedThru pocket, which is designed to hold your keys, wallet and PDA when going through security checkpoints. The big disadvantage of this bag is that it’s generally twice the price of any of the other bags here, but if it’s for work, perhaps you can write it off as a business expense.

In addition to these bags which are designed for carry-on travel, you may be able to use a small hiking backpack with the right dimensions or a laptop backpack. Of course, the latter would make a lot of sense if you need to bring your laptop along, but keep in mind that a standard 14″ laptop will take a pretty significant chunk out of your bag capacity, leaving you less room for clothes. Also, if you do go with a laptop backpack, make sure the laptop sleeve is closest to your back when wearing it. You always want the heaviest items closest to your back to ease the load on your shoulders.

If you’ve found a backpack that works great as a carry-on, share your find with others by leaving a comment below.  If you’re up for it, pull out your ruler and give us the dimensions!

For many people, text messages, a.k.a. SMS (Short Messages Service), have become the predominant way to communicate using their mobile phone. While sending a text message within your home country may be cheap or included in a monthly package, sending a text message to a foreign country is usually not cheap, nor included in any such SMS packages.

While I could have made this an article about how to send free international text messages, I chose not to for the following reasons:

• Signing up for free text messaging services can result in spam being sent to your phone
• Signing up for free text messaging services can mean unknowingly signing up for paid premium services charged to your phone
• Free texts generally don’t show your phone number in the text message (the person won’t be able to reply with a text)
• Free texts often have an advertisement at the end of the text message
• Free services are typically be less reliable (the provider doesn’t lose any money for providing a poor service)
• Free services are usually marketing ploys to get you to sign up for paid services which are poorly priced

A well-known exception is Google Voice, which I discuss in the article on How to Make Phone Calls Online for Free. However, Google Voice is, at present, only available to users in the United States, and text messages can only be sent to numbers in the U.S. and Canada, so it’s not an international solution.

There are many country-specific websites which allow people to send free text messages within that country, and if you do some research on the country in question, you may find a good solution, but often these free services suffer from the problems as listed above – and I know this from exploring such services in Europe. If you decide to sign up with a free text messaging website in a foreign country with a prepaid SIM card from that country, I would suggest reading the fine print and making sure you understand it (especially it if it’s not your native language), as you may be signing yourself up for a paid service which will be charged against your prepaid credit without it being obvious.

Recommendations

If you want to send international text messages as well as make international phone calls with one service, I suggest taking a look at this list of internet phone providers and selecting a provider with the best rates to the country you plan to call most. All of those services include the ability to send text messages from the phone software (at least for Windows), and you can configure your account so that the text messages appear to come from your mobile phone number. While the rates for calls can vary quite greatly between the different providers on that list, the rates for text messages are generally about the same. Either way, the idea here is that you only want the convenience of one service for both international calls and text messages, despite not getting the best rates possible for sending text messages.

If you want the lowest possible rates for sending texts to any country, my recommendation is the service provided by FishText.com. You can view a list of their rates by country, listed in both Euro and British Pounds. I’ve been using this service for the past couple years and in general have found that they have the best prices and are for the most part reliable – not perfect, but better than the alternatives, and you can view the status of your sent messages to see if they were delivered successfully or not. Once configured with your mobile number, sent messages will appear to come from that number.

Note that to get the best rates, you may be better off buying your credit in British pounds. Unfortunately, to do this, you have to sign up with a British mobile number, but after signing up you can change your number to a non-British number and continue to pay in British Pounds. If you won’t be passing through the UK anytime soon and don’t have any friends there whom can send you a SIM card, you could purchase a Mobal International SIM Card which gets you a UK-based mobile number for life. Mobal’s rates are expensive if you actually make or receive calls or send texts (which is why it has mixed reviews), but incoming text messages are always free, regardless of where you are in the world, and the SIM card never expires - a very rare feature for a mobile phone service which doesn’t require you to pay a monthly or annual fee. If you travel abroad often I recommend getting one for emergency use only (i.e.  in case your regular phone service isn’t working) and keeping it in a very safe place.

Once you’re signed up and ready to go, you can send text messages to friends and family anywhere in the world at a minimum cost. FishText allows you to send messages directly from their website if you’re at a computer or from your mobile device with a data connection. Here are some options for sending international text messages while on the go.

• For iPhone / iPad / iTouch: install the FishText iOS app
• For Symbian mobiles (i.e. Nokia) or older mobiles that run Java, install the Java applet
• For Android: install WebSMS from the Android market and the FishText Connector for WebSMS
• Access the Fishtext Beta web app at www.fishtext.mobi from any web-enabled device

A screenshot of the FishText mobile web app

Note that any of the above will of course use data, but it’s generally a very small amount of data, usually under 1KB if you’re using one of the dedicated apps, but obviously you’ll have to pay for that data use if you’re not connected to the net via Wi-Fi.

If you know of another international SMS service with similar or better rates, feel free to leave a comment below and share the knowledge.