Sleek-looking smartphones are multiplying like Tribbles these days. Yet, even through all the noise created by the likes of the iPhone 3GS and upcoming Palm Pre, the HTC Hero caught our attention. And not only because this phone journeyed from drawing board concept to availability on Amazon.co.uk in a remarkable short period of time. In terms of form and function, the HTC Hero is one of the best phones out there. It’s features include: Excellent use of Google’s Android operati... Read Full Story

For better and for worse, the number of situations in which one is unable to access an internet connection from a laptop is dwindling. More and more high end vacation resorts, like the Ritz-Carlton in Puerto Rico, boast that their beaches are covered by wi-fi signals. Several airlines, most notably Virgin Atlantic, offer in-flight internet. And now it is possible to get internet in your car. With an Autonet Mobile Automotive Wi-Fi Router your vehicle can become an internet hotspot. T... Read Full Story

Anyone who grew up on The Cat In The Hat and Green Eggs and Ham remembers the illustrations of one Mr. Theodor Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss. Trees with elongated trucks or with improbable collections of limbs, stark and scraggily landscapes with oddly balanced rocks and unlikely geometric shapes, buildings with unusual protrusions, awkward angles and with no two windows exactly the same—these were some of the hallmarks of world Dr. Seuss illustrated in his 60 children’s books. Here’s a l... Read Full Story

When life gives you lemons make lemonade. And if you are a monk and life gives you trash . . . build a temple out of it. At least that was the philosophy of one monk who took a look at all the glass bottles littering his eastern Thailand hometown of Khn Han and thought of using them to construct a temple. Visitors to the result of his brainstorm won’t be surprised to learn that the temple’s moniker, “Wat Lan Kuat,” is Thai for “The Temple of One Million Bottles... Read Full Story

Compared to a car, a motorcycle is cheaper and more energy efficient. That’s what happens when you cut the number of wheels in half, from four to two. But what if you cut the number of wheels in half again, from two to one? A decade ago the idea of a motorized unicycle might have been the subject for a gag article on The Onion. Even if it were possible to keep balanced while riding a motorunicycle it wouldn’t be possible to go much faster than walking speed (or to turn, or to stop... Read Full Story

At night you fall asleep listening to the roar of lions and tigers through the canvas walls of your tent. In the morning you wake up to an elephant bringing you your breakfast, carried in a picnic basket he’s holding by his trunk. It may seem like you are in Africa or in some brought-to-life children’s story. You are not. You are at the Vision Quest Ranch, an unusual B&B in Salinas, California, about an hour south of San Francisco. Like many of the world’s unusu... Read Full Story

Life can be rough if you’re a digital camera. Especially if you are an ultra-compact that gets totted along to the beach and on ski trips, slung into purses, thrown into bags, stuffed into pockets and/or treated less-than-gently by young children. We recently previewed the Canon PowerShot D10. Since then Olympus launched it’s Stylus Tough-8000. Both digital point-and-shoots are waterproof, compact and capable of taking a beating. But which of these two excellent models are best f... Read Full Story

You have a great HD television set. And you have all sorts of great hi-def videos and photos on your computer. But how to link the two up? Most people either set up a complex home networking system, cope with constant plugging and unplugging of cables and drivers, or burn their videos onto a disc and play them on a DVD player. But there’s a more elegant, and surprisingly inexpensive solution: Western Digital’s HD Media Player. Here’s how it works: You plug in the WD... Read Full Story

At the Stockholm airport there’s a hotel in a refurbished Boeing 747. An airplane hotel at an airport—we can see some logic in that. But what’s a Boeing 727 surrounded by thick jungle, overlooking the Pacific in Costa Rica, doing doubling as a hotel? The airplane in question, a 1965 model, spent decades flying as part of the South African Airways, and later Columbia’s Avianca Airlines, fleet. When it was time for the plane to be retired a group of investors bought it ... Read Full Story

Imagine a network of interactive multimedia beds—located in hotels and airport lounges around the world—that would automatically know your favorite music, your travel schedule and your television preferences. Creating that network is the ambitious goal of Yoo-Pod Ltd. and their Somnus-Neu project, named after the ancient Roman god of sleep but billed as “the future of beds.” And with all of these beds’ high tech features it is easy to see why. Read the rest of this post at... Read Full Story