Take Travel Med with you this summer

Travel Med is an application that describes common and uncommon medical issues that can arise before, during, or after traveling. This application was created with the non-medical professional in mind. Travel Med will guide travelers through pre-travel preparation, in-travel emergencies, and post-travel health and medical problems when immediate access to medical care may not be available. Details are provided for travel risks to all countries and continents. Immediate management of common and uncommon illness and injury that might occur while traveling or vacationing is described. Indications, dosing and side effects of commonly used medications are described. Contacts and weblinks for medical resources and travel assistance are provided. Links to government requirements for vaccines, passports, and visas, and World Health Organization and Center for Disease Control sites that describe current health issues within each region and country are provided.

What you’ll learn from Travel Med:

* Where to find the documents, visas, licenses and vaccinations required to travel internationally
* Common diseases in every continent and every country
* How to know which foods and beverages are safe while traveling
* How to sterilize water
* When it is safe for children and pregnant women to travel
* How to PREVENT dangerous illnesses: high altitude sickness, bites & stings from bugs, mosquitoes, snakes, ticks, and animals, hypothermia (cold weather injury), traveler’s diarrhea, diving & decompression illness, malaria, meningitis, heat related illness (e.g. heat stroke), influenzae, SARS, tuberculosis, and a multitude of different types of infections
* Commonly used medication information: Indications, Dosing, Use during Pregnancy and for Children, and Side Effects

More information here.

Smartphone airline boarding pass

I admit that I’ve been a slow adopter to paperless smartphone boarding passes for air travel. I wasn’t sure how well those red scanners would pick up the barcode on my smartphone. This weekend, I was traveling (not for work), so I decided to try the mobile boarding pass option. When I got to the security checkpoint, I had to scan the barcode on my smartphone. That was easy. Then, before I got on the plane, I had to scan the barcode again. No problem. (I'm currently using an HTC ThunderBolt running Google Android)

Moving forward, I plan to use my smartphone as a paperless boarding pass every time I have to fly. I can easily check in using my mobile device, so why should I waste paper or look for a printer when I really don’t need one?

Apple iPod touch - a great distraction for kids

The Apple iPod touch is a great distraction for kids while you're traveling. Whether you're in the car of a restaurant, this little device (that's fairly robust due to the fact that it has no moving parts) can save your life if your little one is screaming in the car or restaurant. The built-in accelerometer is a great feature that kids love. Plus, the touch-screen interface is easy to use.

Twitter on My Smartphone: Twikini

I've been traveling and it's been great to use Twikini on my Windows Mobile smartphone to keep up with Twitter. If you use Twitter, then I urge you to take a look at this : My Personal Growth on Twitter: 6,000 New Followers in 30 days! (No, this is not a viral marketing campaign. This is a personal account of how my blog traffic has increased my Twitter count)

Old iPod Chargers and new iPods

So I have several older iPods and a few new ones (yes, I admit that I'm a gadget freak, but most of these were not purchased). I've had the opportunity to win some iPods through drawings, Sermo, and a few others sources. I love iPods because they are great travel companions. However, I've recently noticed that my older iPod chargers don't charge my new iPod nano (4th generation) and iPod touch (2nd generation). If you have no idea what models I'm referring to, then take a look at this Apple Support page on different iPod generation models.

So I'm very disappointed that my Firewire charger, my Kensington Universal Charger (tip J3), and several other old iPod chargers do not work on my newer iPods. What's going on Apple?