Our photography expert Ewen Bell’s recent YouTube video went viral, looking at why photographers are annoyed about photography software subscriptions. Graeme Kemlo caught up with Ewen in Thailand where he was working on a private documentary about a monk he met from Anapurna who wanted to be a photographer, so Ewen has been helping him with the aid of some contacts in the industry. You can check out information about the documentary by searching for The Joy of Tashi.
Photo: Tashi by Ewen Bell.Read More 

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Correspondent Karin Avila flew from Spain to Geneva Switzerland recently to attend an artificial intelligence conference, titled “AI For Good”. When Graeme Kemlo spoke to Karin earlier about this story he did not want to take the wind out of her sails, but he explains why this show promises authenticity and transparency – hence No AI & No BS.
It is the generative AI that bothers TWR with its ability to produce fake videos, fake audios, fake photos. Karin attended the UN-Sponsored event with some skepticism. However she found it a positive experience and came away optimistic, even after chatting with humans, humanoids and plain old robots.
Image: Karin AvilaRead More 

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Reporter Helen Hayes had a personal experience of someone in her street suffering cardiac arrest. Thankfully, the person didn’t die, but those in the street decided they would chip in for a defibrillator and learn how to use it. She discovered an Australian designed, small mobile defibrillator perfect for travellers caravans, bikers, yachtsmen, anyone far from an emergency room. Helen spoke to Luke Sfarr of CellAED [pron sell aid] about the affordable life-saving device that’s the size of a block of chocolate. More: cellaed.io/au

Using your iPhone or other smart phone overseas can cost a fortune due to the way they use data, and the cost of data roaming. Every time your iPhone checks for emails it can cost you over ten dollars, and your phone will do this every minute unless you make changes to your settings!  Bills of over $3,000 are not uncommon for unsuspecting travellers accessing data overseas.

For example an average 1GB movie downloaded from iTunes, charged at a standard data roaming rate of $20 per MB will end up costing you over $20,000!

The key tips to reduce your data roaming charges are: Stick to the basics – only do the minimum required on your smartphone and make sure that you keep data roaming switched off, and only turn it on when you actually want to connect to the Internet.  Use free Wi-Fi hotspots wherever possible. Popular cafes, restaurants and hotels often have free wifi available, especially in the USA and throughout Europe, McDonalds is a great spot for a coffee and a Wi-Fi session.

Buy a prepaid roaming simcard before you leave home, you will get one number and one sim and will save up to 80% on your global roaming bill in over 190 countries. Simply swap sim cards and save. Business options where you are contactable on your number are usually available as well.

As a road warrior, travel writer/photographer and long-time tech reporter, I am a gadget magnet.

According to Encarta dictionary, a gadget is either (1) ingenious – a small device that performs or aids a simple task, or (2) trivial – a small device that appears useful but is often unnecessary or superfluous.  The French don’t beat around the bush in their words for gadgets – amusette or frivolité.

So clearly, what’s important here when your bags are packed to within a cubic centimetre of their burst plimsol, is to quickly distinguish (1) from (2).  Having learned from my mistakes, a few tips on why an iPad1 won its space in my kit.

There’s a law about computer chip capacity from a Mr Moore, but my law like Murphy’s says – your decline in laptop battery power accelerates in direct proportion to the square root of the importance divided by the urgency of the task you are trying to accomplish without mains power.  So my iPad’s battery life of almost 7 hours sure beats a laptop; it’s great for typing a story on iA Writer, handwriting with Bamboo Paper, or reading books on Kindle or Kobo apps.  And forget lugging magazines, Zinio is my offline mag reader, news is delivered by Pulse; world weather by WeatherBug, global radio by TuneIn Radio; using Skype it’s a cheap foreign phone; I can copy photos to it (*needs attachment) for a quick initial edit or file backup, while music and videos are apps on tap.

It is also a great travel organiser:  Kayak – book your trip; TripTracker – manage itineraries, air/hotel/car booking references; FlightBoard, real-time airport arrival and departure data; for airport pick-ups FlightRadar24 track incoming aircraft; while Lonely Planet still does the best destination guides.  Getting lost, which is fun to do in places like Paris, is comforting when iPad springs to the rescue as navigator using inbuilt maps with TomTom or Navigon, even Google Earth…but it could incur data costs unless you have a Wi-Fi connection…which is a whole other blog, along with my Android options!

Tell me how your iPad is apt apped to travel?

– Graeme Kemlo