Stay awake like a boss with Drive Shot, the new 120% caffeinated canned coffee from Japan’s BOSS. Designed for commercial commuters and others who drive for a living, Drive Shot comes in specially ribbed red 200ml cans featuring an old-school caffeine meter… whatever that is.
The next time you’re at the airport, racing to your gate could feel like a casual drive through the Italian countryside if you trade in your luggage for this wonderful Skootercase. Except that it’s heartbreakingly only designed and sized for toddlers. More »
Traveling is great — nay, amazing. And travel that requires a passport can be even more fulfilling for those willing to open their minds to new cultures (and, perhaps, deal with entirely too much security screening). But here’s the thing — travel is a lot better, generally speaking, with an internet connection within arm’s reach. Things are never more likely to go awry than when you leave your comfort zone (or, you know, home nation), and we here at Engadget have been investigating the best methods for maintaining a connection whilst abroad for the better part of our lives. To date, you’ve got a smattering of options: rent a MiFi from XCom Global, pick up a rental SIM from iPhoneTrip, pray that you can find a shop that rents data SIMs upon your arrival or pony up for whatever absurd roaming fees that your home operator deems fit.
All of the above options have their pros and cons, but the good news here is that your choices are expanding. As the market for ubiquitous connections continues to grow, another player has recently entered the market. Tep Wireless began as a hotspot rental service that mainly looked after those traversing the United Kingdom, but recently, it expanded its coverage umbrella to include some 38 countries across Europe and 50 nations total. This here editor recently had the opportunity to cross through four of those on a single journey, with a Tep hotspot in hand the entire way. Care to see how things turned out? Let’s reconvene after the break.
Gallery: Tep Wireless review gallery
Continue reading Tep Wireless review: another great option for international mobile hotspot rentals
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Tep Wireless review: another great option for international mobile hotspot rentals originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Oct 2012 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Cruise lines will keep spending billions of dollars on ocean-going monstrosities that promise to be the most relaxing way to spend your vacation. But they can’t hold a candle to this tiny seaworthy hot tub that’s warmed with a simple wood burning stove and propelled with a quiet electric motor. More »
The international mobile hotspot rental market just got a lot more interesting. While Xcom Global‘s offerings are still broader, Tep Wireless is expanding in a major way. Previously reserved for European nations, the upstart is now serving a full 50 nations, adding Brazil, the United States, South Africa, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Australia, Bahrain, Israel, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and UAE to its repertoire. For those in need of a refresher, the company enables customers facing an international trip to order their hotspot and get it delivered prior to departure, with a prepaid envelope included to ship it back once they’ve returned.
The company’s made clear that its hotspots will track data usage in real time right on the inbuilt display, and they’re programmed to hop onto different networks as borders are crossed. (If you’re curious, we confirmed that it all works as advertised in a recent jaunt across European borders.) The full pricing chart fo is hosted up after the break, with those needing unlimited buckets able to pay a $6.95-per day surcharge. (It should be noted that the preexisting EU-wide pricing options remain for those sticking to that region.) It’ll probably look a touch pricey to light users and common tourists, but business travelers unwilling to take chances on connectivity when heading overseas will find the rates far more palatable than roaming fees from their home carrier.
Continue reading Tep Wireless expands mobile hotspot rental plan to 50 countries, revamps pricing
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile
Tep Wireless expands mobile hotspot rental plan to 50 countries, revamps pricing originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Oct 2012 06:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Starbucks’ success in China owes much to the global coffee company’s strategy of harmonizing their stores and menu with local culture and customs. Take the new Starbucks Coffeehouse in Fuzhou, for example, which channels the ambiance of a classic thousand-year-old Song Dynasty garden.
It feels like it was only yesterday that we were praising Google for giving us access to a plethora of handy, everyday tools — oh wait, it was yesterday. At any rate, today the folks from Mountain View are back with more travel-friendly software for you to enjoy, announcing that its useful Flight Search service is now fully-optimized for use with, as Google points out, tablets such as its own Nexus 7 and, naturally, Cupertino’s iPad. Jet-setters can see the changes now by simply hitting the Flights link below, and with the dearest holidays just around the corner, now is probably a good time to make use of that “lowest fare” tool.
Filed under: Tablets, Transportation, Software, Google
Google optimizes Flight Search for tablets, makes booking trips easier originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 17:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Google launched a new app today called Field Trip. The company says that it’s essentially “your guide to the cool, hidden, and unique things in the world around you.” It works as a virtual tour guide of sorts, automatically providing you with information of a particular point of interest that you come across.
The information the app provides can range from historical facts about a location to reviews of a nearby restaurant. And like Google Now, it relies on your location to give you the most relevant and useful information. You could think of Field Trip as a sort of extension of Google Now, only it feeds you information automatically instead of having to ask for it first.
John Hanke, a vice president of product at Google, says “the idea behind the app was to build something that would help people connect with the real, physical world around them…It’s always running in the background, so it knows where you are and is always looking to see if something interesting is in your immediate physical environment.” He also mentioned that one thing Google wanted to focus on was moving the device out of the way and giving you the information as soon as possible without any annoying barriers.
Obviously, the app probably won’t be much help if you use it locally, but if you’re traveling to a different city (especially a big one) that you’re not too familiar with, Google’s Field Trip aims to help you out. Field Trip is a free download and it’s available now in the Google Play store.
[via The New York Times]
Google Field Trip app acts as a virtual tour guide is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
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When we learned that Verizon wouldn’t lock the GSM-related components of the iPhone 5, we were waiting for a “gotcha” moment. Surely the carrier would clamp down and steer us back towards its more expensive roaming plans, right? Not according to Verizon spokeswoman Brenda Raney: she says there’s no plans to lock Apple’s handset at a later point. In other words, you should be free to use a Verizon-locked iPhone 5 on any compatible GSM and HSPA+ networks for as long as you’d like, including with AT&T and Canadian carriers. Of course, this still brings the caveats of having to both buy a Verizon model, either at full price or with a contract attached, and track down a nano-SIM for the carrier of choice. It could nonetheless settle the question of what carrier to pick if you regularly need a passport when you travel — especially knowing that neither AT&T nor Sprint will be quite so open-minded.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Verizon has no plans to re-lock iPhone 5’s GSM and 3G sides originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 14:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sure, we tested the iPhone 5‘s camera in the well-lit streets of New York City, but if you’re wondering how Apple’s latest functions when used primarily as a shooter, TREK has a pretty remarkable look. Photog Austin Mann and a few of his closest pals took a pair of iPhone 5s to Iceland following launch weekend in a bid to test the unit’s durability, capability and image quality next to the 4S. After two days of geyser spray and admitted “drops in mud,” the uncovered 5 seemed to be a-okay, and when it comes to output from the sensor, that’s worthy of praise as well.
The low-light capabilities of the 5 are perhaps the most impressive upgrade compared to the 4S, with much less noise seen in shots from the former. He also gushed over the panorama mode, which admittedly churned out some pretty seamless results of the Icelandic countryside. As for shutter speed? That too has been “significantly” improved over the 4S. He interestingly noted that Snapseed was acting a bit wonky with iOS 6, but one has to wonder how much smoothing will be done by the Nik team now that Google’s calling the shots. Hit the source link below for the full rundown, comparisons included, and a video that shows how the iPhone 5 reacts after sunset.
Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, Mobile
iPhone 5 camera gets tested in Iceland, panorama and low-light comparison with iPhone 4S included originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 13:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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