---

Travel » Destinations

Two Men on a Street in Malmö

Filmed on the afternoon of June 29, 2009 from the outdoor patio at Barista on Södra Förstadsgatan in Malmö, Sweden. 60 seconds of original video slowed to 1/4 speed. Music is 'Orgel' by Akira Kosemura.

My position just on the edge of the street, with pedestrians streaming by, lent me an unusual vantage point; it wasn't until I slowed the video and watched it many times that I started to see the two men in the background, present throughout.

Malmö City Guide
Ban Gaw Halmtorvet - Great Thai. food in Malmö.
Malmö city guide
Malmö travel guide

---

---

Gear » Gadgets

MP3 Miffy

MP3 Miffy fits right to the cute accessories office culture I see in my visits in Asia. It has all the right elements, identifiable character, primary colors, and last and least utility. Miffy comes with a docking cradle with a built in speaker. A perfect fit for USB Tulips.

MP3 Miffy @ mobiBlu

---

---

Gear » Gadgets

USB Tulips

Turn your desk into a plastic flower garden. Cute and fun. Use it with the AC Adapter MIDORI for the full garden effect.

USB tulip hub. Via swiss-miss.

---

---

Bags » Laptop Bags

Harveys Laptop Bag treecycle

This tough and beautiful bag for your laptop is from Harvey's Treecycle collection of seatbeltbags made from reclaimed seatbelts, organic hemp and water-based inks. It features a padded laptop divider with velcro closure, brushed nickel hardware, and a smooth zip-top closure. Harveys Original Seatbeltbags have been producing their signature seat-belt-style bag since March of 1997 and the concept still seems fresh. A testament to their quality and design. I'm a big fan of their Messenger as well.

Laptop Bag treecycle. Thanks Michael.

---

---

---

Art & Design » Concept

Compass Phone

This project addresses the issue of whether the mobile phone is a surveillance tool or a digital leash and explores designing an alternative means of communication which delivers a more poetic and aesthetic experience.

The Compass Phone does not support any verbal communication side, but has only a GPS function. It measures the distance between two people in real-time and then converts it to the time it takes for them to meet each other by either transport or time unit. A compass is hidden under the digit display. The centre of the compass always indicates the user's position and its needle indicates the other person's direction.

Continue reading »

---

Gear » Mobile Phones

HTC Hero

The HTC Hero was released while I was traveling so I could only squint over the press photos on my Nokia. Now that I have had time to read the reviews and lust over the industrial design, I am excited to give the device a try when it's released in Asia later this summer. The Hero is the local handset makers third Android phone and arguably it's first worthy of consideration. With the exception of that growing lip the form factor is beautiful but it's the custom Android UI called Sense that has my attention. It's gorgeous. The Sense UI's focus is on widgets putting a great deal of your info on the home screen. It's designed to make tasks such as organizing emails and messaging more effective. Social-networking services such as Facebook and Twitter have also been integrated to make viewing updates from the phone's contacts page easier. Their approach is not dissimilar to what we see in the Palm Pre.

Continue reading »

---

Travel links: Tech, Cheap destinations, and tips

Tech in Travel
A topic from the National Public Radio's (NPR) All Things Considered program. The first using cell phones to check into your airline flight plus using a cell phone-displayed bar code in lieu of a boarding pass. The second part of the segment (about 4:00 minutes in) shifts to other helpful travel sites and tools on the Web.

The World's Cheapest Destinations
If you ignore the expensive spots where the tourist herds are going and visit The World's Cheapest Destinations instead, you'll save enough to travel longer, more often, or better, for less money. Here, in one location, you can find the world's cheapest vacation spots and the best travel bargains.

28 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started Traveling.
When you first head off to places in the world that are a lot different from where you live, a number of things change. You have to learn to adapt. I still make a lot of mistakes everywhere I go, but I try to learn from each of them. Here’s a short list of things I wish I knew before I started my routine of extensive overseas travel, especially in countries in Africa, South Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America that are not part of the tourist circuit.

Cheap First Aid Kit For Travellers.
Whilst on the road I’m constantly amazed at how few backpackers carry a first aid kit. Maybe it’s simply overlooked, maybe it’s not deemed necessary and sacrificed during the quest to attain a lighter backpack, or maybe it’s dismissed on a cost basis alone. I don’t know the exact reason, but what I do know is that a first aid kit can be worth its weight in gold - at worst it can provide piece of mind and at best could even avert a trip ruining calamity.

---

Travel

Thailand Airport Scam

If it wasn't bad enough that Thailand is under seemingly constant political strife, the tourism industry there has taken another hit with an alleged scam involving corrupt police at Bangkok Airport. This alleged scam involves police falsely detaining tourists on theft charges whereby the only way they can regain their passport and their release is by paying a large 'fine'. This fine/bribe has been in excess of 13,000US.

A British couple who were falsely accused of shoplifting in Bangkok airport and were forced to pay £8,000 in bribes to secure their release are to take legal action for compensation.

They were the victims of an extortion racket that has ensnared other foreign travellers at the airport, which handles most of the 800,000 British visitors to Thailand every year.

Stephen Ingram, 49, and Xi Lin, 45, both technology professionals from Cambridge, were detained by security guards as they went to board Qantas flight QF1 to London on the night of Saturday, April 25.

They were accused of taking a Givenchy wallet worth £121 from a King Power duty-free shop and were handed over to the police. An official release order from the local Thai prosecutor’s office subsequently conceded there was no evidence against them.

Travelers beware, with the recent riots and near constant jostling for political power, no matter how worldly and well travelled you think you are, you can never be assured of 'safety' as there is no authority in Thailand that can assure that safety, even in their international airport. Thailand may be my favourite place to visit but it's getting hard and harder to recommend it as a holiday or working location.

And stay away from King Power Duty Free.

From British couple fights Bangkok airport extortionists. Also, £10,000 for eye shadow at King Power?- The Bangkok airport scam.

---

Travel » Destinations

Sakura Season 2007

Hanami activities in Kyoto and Tokyo, April 2007. Scenes from the Path of Philosophy, Kyoto Waterworks, and Maruyama Park in Kyoto; and Shinjuku Park in Tokyo.

---

Goodbye, Sticky Notes; Hello, Reqall

In a nutshell, Reqall is an effortless personal reminder system. You speed-dial its toll-free number and dictate whatever it is you want to remember. “Meeting with Jacobs Monday at 5 o’clock.” “Buy frozen grape juice.” “Remind Shannon to pick up the kids early tomorrow.” “Anniversary present every Sept. 15.” “Idea for Act 2: Henderson turns out to be an android.”

That’s it. You go through your life, dictating these little tidbits that would ordinarily be relegated to scraps of paper or the back of your mind — and therefore, probably, lost.

Reqall transcribes your utterances into text and collates them at Reqall.com. You can also have them sent to you by e-mail or as text messages to your cellphone.

Continue reading Reminders From Out of the Blue

---

Culture » Software

Find Internet Cafe for iPhone

A potentially useful app for iPhone and iPod touch which finds Internet Cafés based on your current location.

Features:
- Detects your current location automatically and displays search results based on proximity.
- Shows interactive map with driving directions.
- Tap to call the business phone number.
- Tap to visit the website.
- Bookmark your favorites places for quick and easy retrieval.

I could have used an app. like this when I am in Hong Kong as I spent far too much time looking for free wifi access.

Find Internet Cafe for iPhone. Via textually.

---

Bags » Backpacks

DwellStudio Baby Backpack

I really love this series from DwellStudio - very playful. The backpack costs a bit more than it should but if it makes my daughter or son happy than it is worth the extra expense (who am I fooling, this is more to my taste than theirs). You might check out their other products with the same pattern.

DwellStudio Baby Backpack - Transportation

---

Bags » Ipod Cases

Sushi iPod Case

Very cute.

Sushi I pod covers are all handmade with the softest, plushest fleece to help prevent screen scratching. The removable sushi "Ebi" acts as a protective pillow for your pricey magical music machine adding extra protection when your gadget gets lodged at the bottom of your bag. This cover has a zippered opening for head phones, credit card, identification and possibly if you can cram it in there a ridiculously small cell phone.

Sushi Ipod Classic Case / Cozy

---

Photos

Sign of the times?

Or is it a sign of the future? Perhaps she is texting her mum for something to drink.

Photo via Leonard John Matthews

---

Apparel » Tshirts

It's nice to be nice

It certainly is don't you think? A 'nice' t-shirt by Brooklyn based designer/illustrator Damien Correll.

Buy here.

---

Culture » Software

Glyphboard 2.0

Glyphboard is a web app for iPhone which lets you type glyphs not available on any of the standard iPhone keyboards. These glyphs include , ☂, ☺, ✔, and even ♫. Pretty handy for IM, SMS, Twitter, and etc.

---