One of the greatest fatigue factors on a long flight is the omnipresent background noise of the engines.  You might think your mind can ignore it, but your body does not.

Noise reducing headphones make you feel much less tired and drained at the end of a long journey, and also allow you to enjoy very much better quality audio.

A series of articles that explain the technology and review the best (and the best value!) products currently for sale.

Can you imagine life without your cellphone?  Go overseas and you'll soon find out!

This four part series - featured in the Wall St Journal and many other papers around the country - tells you how to buy a cellphone that will work in 174 different countries - including the US - and also tells you how to avoid paying as much as $6/minute for calls.

Iinstead, following our advice, maybe you can receive calls totally
for free!

A series of articles explaining what GPS is, how it works, what it can do for you, and how to choose the best GPS unit, plus reviews of selected GPS units.

Over 2000 Travel Insider readers voted from a short list of travel and technology products that had been featured during 2005, choosing two winners.

See which items were chosen as the 2005 winners.  Links on the page also take you to the 2004 and 2003 award winners.

Satellite phone service is at times inconvenient and 'old fashioned' seeming in terms of the size and weight of the phones it uses.  As such, for the ordinary user, most of the time, there's little reason to change from using a regular cell phone.

But for those people and those times when you absolutely must be able to make and receive phone calls, no matter where in the world you are, satellite phone service is your only choice.

This article tells you all about satellite phone service and helps you choose the best service for your needs.

Sometimes a hotel will charge you not just for using internet, but more for each different device you wish to use on the internet.

This four part series tells you all you need to know about how to avoid getting unfairly charged, and gives you simple easy solutions for how to share a single internet access point.

This series reviews three different models of the SteriPEN UW Water Purifier plus the companion solar battery recharger.

You need one of these devices anytime you're traveling somewhere that doesn't give you the certainty of pure drinking water.

A simple and small lightweight gadget that promises to give you an extra 60 minutes or talk time or 60 hours of standby time if your cell phone battery goes dead on you.

Incredibly, testing shows that it works even better than promised.  At only $5 or so each, this is a must have gadget for all cell phone users.

A portable, simple and inexpensive gadget that helps you take better pictures.

Recommended.

A two part review of this excellent software and how it can help you manage your data across multiple computers.  Recommended.

These amazing services magically create personalized streams of music to closely mirror your likes and dislikes.

They are often free, and can be heard not just on your computer but possiby on your phone and on other devices too.

A simple but useful solution to the problem of never having enough space when flying coach class to use your laptop.

If you're one of the 92% of business travelers and 51% of leisure travelers who take their laptop with them, you'll probably find this invaluable.

This handy little gadget can be kept anywhere and even conveniently mounted to the back of your cell phone.  Its long lived batteries provide a powerful light through twin LEDs, ideal for emergencies when you need light and don't otherwise have one.

At only $4.95 each, shouldn't you get two?  Or three!

Two reviews on the two series of wonderful Bluetooth headset holders offered by Nectar Accessories.

Whichever style you prefer, you'll for sure find this a wonderful way to carry your Bluetooth headset (other than in your ear all the time).

This is a lovely little unit that easily installs in your car and gives you a lot of useful information about your vehicle's performance and fuel economy.

It also can be used to determine why the Check Engine light has switched on, and to switch it off again if appropriate.

Not only miners and watchmakers wear lights on their heads.  Here's a very convenient, small sized, light weight, and long lasting light with a thousand and one uses.

In particular, it makes reading a book in the dark without disturbing other people (eg on an overnight flight) practical.

Old fashioned AM and FM radio services have been obsoleted by this amazing new technology.

Offering more choices, fewer commercials, better coverage, and lots of clever extra features, all in an easy to enjoy form, there's nothing to dislike and lots to love about satellite radio.  Read why there should be a satellite radio in your future.

FRS, GMRS and MURS - no, not strange medical degrees or airline/city codes.  Instead, these are some of the names of the new inexpensive personal radio services available to you.

This four part series explains the different services available to you and helps you choose the one that is best suited for your needs.

A three part review of Amazon's interesting Kindle eBook reader, with an extra page on the Kindle 2.

A two part series about e-Books in general and the Sony PRS-500 e-Book reader.

An affordable compact and lightweight device that allows three people to share one music/sound source, and/or increases the volume level from personal music players.

Easy and simple to use, and effective in operation.

Imagine a unit no larger than a typical portable CD or cassette player, but which holds almost 300 hours of high quality music.

Impossible? No!  Amazing? Yes!  MP3 players are no longer impractical and complicated devices for 'nerds' and now are a vastly superior replacement for portable CD and cassette players, suitable for all travelers.

The Grundig/Eton FR250 emergency radio can be powered four different ways, including, if all else fails, by a hand crank generator that gives you 30+ minutes of listening per minute of cranking.

It also includes a flashlight, siren, and cell phone charger.  Good radio reception and great value, this is a must have in your at home emergency kit.

Representing the modern update to an old technology (talking books recorded onto cassette or CD), the Audible downloadable audio book service gives you an interesting new way to fill in free time when you can't read but want something to do (eg driving, exercising, or traveling).

A good concept, but more expensive than seems necessary, and copy protection interferes with what should otherwise be a convenient simple process.

A simple but brilliantly effective device that makes a coach class seat very much more comfortable and easier to sleep in.  Designed by an airline pilot.

Add this to your rear license plate on your vehicle and get extra protection against being rear-ended.

Easy to install and inexpensive.

This clever gadget uses a Peltier Junction and power from your computer's USB port to provide a cooling plate on which you can keep your beverage of choice chilled while working on your computer.

But does it work as well as claimed?  Read the review to find out.

Slip this cotton/spandex cover over your seat before flying next time you board a plane, and protect yourself against dirt, grime, grease and germs.

Here are two options that give you more convenience and flexibility when choosing what type of luggage to take with you.

Both have unusual (= good) features, and both are very affordably priced.

Protect Your Laptop Against Data Theft : An FBI study suggests the average loss, due to misuse of corporate data, when a laptop is stolen, exceeds $89,000.

Here's a $100 item that reduces your risk. Consider it cheap insurance.

A simple easy way of storing files off a computer, and transferring files between computers.

Reliable and inexpensive, and with no software to load and no programs to learn.  Recommended.

A credit sized tiny notepad and pen that you can keep in your wallet.  Very clever, and very useful.  Recommended.

This is a waterproof and dirt/dust proof pouch that you can place a cell phone or PDA.  The electronic device (or anything else you put in the pouch) is then protected from environmental harm.

It is simple, elegant, functional and inexpensive.  Recommended.

A combination lock the TSA has now approved for locking suitcases.

They can use a master key to open it themselves.  But if they do this, an indicator changes color from green to red, so you know they've opened your bag.

Inexpensive, and useful.  Recommended.

A clever device that enables you to use one set of headphones to both listen to music and with your cell phone, too.

Convenient, effective, simple and inexpensive.

A small gadget that stores 800 of the UK's famous The Times newspaper crossword puzzles, plus some extra features to help you solve the puzzles.

This small unit will translate words and phrases from any of ten languages to any of the other languages.

But can it replace an old fashioned low-tech phrase book?  Read the review!

The latest generation of in-room high speed internet services are now offered by increasing numbers of hotels.

Do they work? Are they worth their up to $11/day fee? Read this week's column for the results of my testing one such service.

This article evaluates seven different ways you have for connecting to the internet while you're traveling away from your main connection.  Some are fast, some are slow.  Some are good, and some are, well, not!

Read more in this special report.

Already in over 2000 Starbucks stores, plus AA airport lounges, and in increasing numbers of other places, too, short-range high speed 'Wi-Fi' wireless networking makes it easy for your laptop to connect to the internet.

Read more in this special report.

Sadly, and notwithstanding the previous topic, Wi-Fi is not absolutely everywhere.

This ingenious device quickly and conveniently tells you where Wi-Fi is and even gives you the information you need to know so as to understand if you're likely to be able to use the connection or not.

Harald Bluetooth was a Viking king who joined two Scandinavian kingdoms peacefully.  Bluetooth wireless networking is designed to quickly and conveniently allow different devices to communicate together.

Our special report describes what Bluetooth is and what it does, and compares it to other forms of wireless connectivity.

Bluetooth headsets can be very expensive, but can be reasonably priced.  They can also be very useful and helpful, but they can also be clumsy and dysfunctional.

Our guide tells you how to make an informed evaluation and decision about the Bluetooth headset that will be best for you.

This device is a PCMCIA card that acts as a cell phone/modem for your computer.

But these days this expensive device merely duplicates the functionality contained in most modern cell phones.  Do you still need to buy an Aircard too?

These high capacity rechargeable batteries often outlast regular alkaline batteries, and save you huge amounts of money over their extended reusable life.

Using rechargeable batteries is sensible, convenient and inexpensive. Here's how.

People are using laptops more and more in public places, ranging from airplane seats to Starbucks stores.  And surveys suggest that other people are increasingly snooping at the screens they can see around them.

Here's a gadget from 3M that claims to make it impossible for other people to see what is on your screen.  Does it work?  Read the review.

For many of us, the most inconvenient part of traveling is managing our baggage, especially with new airline security rules and crackdowns on luggage allowances.

Here are details of a wonderful service that makes your traveling carefree - and luggage free, too.

These are simple, inexpensive, and wonderfully functional.

They are a great way to minimize the danger of having your bags lost or stolen, and make it easier for you to find your bag as it comes off the carousel.

The new X-ray machines that inspect checked luggage can destroy most normal film.  And that's not all, the new experimental anti-anthrax Post Office irradiation won't just zap your film, but may also kill computer chips and even regular CDs and DVDs.

Plus, the nation's air safety is held hostage in a crude and crass bit of politicking.

Jet lag is very real and can have a major (negative) impact on your business judgment and vacation enjoyment, as well as making the 'back home blues' even worse upon your return.

Find out how to plan for and minimize jet lag on your long distance travels in this two part series.

You've probably noticed an increasing number of people at airports who carry their ticket, boarding pass and Photo ID in a special holder around their neck.

Find out what these things are, where you get them, what they cost, and if you should have one too.

What would you do if, in a foreign city, you suddenly had your wallet and all the vital documents inside it stolen?

Imagine yourself - suddenly with no cash, no ID, no credit cards and no passport.

In part one, I list 30 different types of documents you need to protect.  In part two, l offer 11 different strategies for how to minimize the impacts of any unavoidable loss, and in part three I provide further strategies to protect yourself and minimize your risk.

Nowadays with the TSA forbidding the carry on of bottles onto planes, the need to protect bottles (of wine, spirits, etc) that must be checked has become increasingly important.

Here's a good way to do just that.