Base camp for gadgets

Some survival gadgets are on display at CES, and a handful of them are surveyed in this report from outdoor website Gear Junkie.
I love a gadet as much as the next guy, but I notice my own list of must-carry gear includes things that need no battery or charging cable, so don’t qualify for CES. Here’s the top ten – what would you add?

Fire starter

Steel + flint + friction = a fire-starting spark. Best to use a match or lighter – but in a tight squeeze here is the Emergency Fire Starter.(fire starters in the UK)

If you are dealing with a howling blizzard, then try a magnesium-firestarting-tool -this box of magnesium shavings is called Lightning Nuggets Firestarters — a Super Economy Box of 100 Fire-Starting Nuggets
Maybe bring along a few pieces of lint as well, possibly smudged with a little petroleum jelly. In damp conditions, that can help set flames a-flyin’.

Matches: are a must. Lighters can sometimes be fickle, and there are many on the market, but I prefer UCO Stormproof Matches, twin pack (50 matches) for good value. (storm matches in the UK)
&;

Map holder One of the most essential of the Essentials. I prefer the battery-free paper variety of map. But how to protect it against tears, water and wind? The Seattle Sports Dry Doc Waterproof Large Map Case is easy to fold and cheaper than most. (map holder in the UK)

The next thing you need is a Whistle: Say you’ve fallen and you can’t get up. This 1-oz. piece of plastic will outlast your larynx by many hours. Thelouder the better which is why I favor the Jet Scream Whistle – Orange(emergency whistle in the UK)

Compass Some speculate its roots reach back all the way to 200 B.C. A nonelectric version is one that never fails you. Useful if it works at night too like this

SE Glow-in-the-Dark Brass Compass(compass in UK)

Knife The contemporary term is “multitool,” knife included. Beyond straight knife blades, Ia pair of scissors is equally indispensable. Prices and specs vary, but here is a good middle of the range example: Gerber 31-000749 Bear Grylls Survival Series Ultimate Multi-Tool, With Nylon Sheath. (in the UK)

Cup A Measuring instrument, water transporter, impromptu wine goblet, rainwater collector. Also a tiny-item organizer/repository. Raise a toast to the humble, utilitarian 
Cup. This one is the GSI Outdoors Glacier Stainless 14 fl Oz version. (in the uk).

Spork To some, the mutated spook/form combo might qualify as an technologically advanced utensil. I still think of it as a very basic, almost primitive tool, just one cleverly modified, and in this case made of a rare metal:
Snow Peak Titanium Spork

Trowel

These days the trusty trowel comes in <
nylon:<Sea To Summit Reinforced Nylon Pocket Trowel (Orange, 3 Ounce) or dirt-busting stainless steel:
Sea to Summit iPood Trowel

Rucksack: Before daypacks and backpacks got tricked out with frame innovations and space age materials, there was the basic rucksack: a bag with 2 shoulder straps. I’ve been won over by Rothcos retro European style bag – light and crunchable, and so handy for day trips from a backcountry base camp.

2304 EUROPEAN STYLE RUCKSACK – OLIVE DRAB

Duct tape: Its backcountry do-it-all variant isTenacious Tape.

Intertape 5038-3 PK Fix-It DUCTape 1.87-Inches x 60-Yards, 7-Mil, 3-Pack

That’s a dozen low-tech items and I haven’t even gotten to Moleskin yet. Which of these low-tech items do you find most useful on your backcountry jaunts, and what other items would you add to this list?

As the housing crisis continues to inflict havoc on families across the USA and Europe, the option of living in a vehicle is sometimes the only one available.

For a good, reliable intro, check out Roll Your Own: The Complete Guide to Living in a Truck, Bus, Van, or Camper.

Matt Howe’s web guide to Van living is refreshingly practical.

His key advice: stay organized. “Nothing is more frustrating than trying to find something you desperately need and not being able to because your van is a mess.”

A YouTube film features a guy who lives in a Walmart parking lot going over the details of his van conversion, from carpets to extra lights.

But its not all good news.  One woman on YouTube described the “humiliation and degradation” of being reduced to van living.

I’ve lost stuff for days that was two feet away from me the whole time. Organization is probably the most important part of smooth living in your van.”

Another good idea is to keep something near your bed that you can beat somebody’s brains in with if they try to break in: It helps you sleep a little easier—you’re a little jumpy at outside noises the first month or so. It’s good to keep some little portable camp lights around too; they always come in handy.”

Check out vandwellers.org

Its in the bag....

Even when your cell is switched off, it is still a mobile tracking device in your pocket. Now a new invention promises to give you back control over who can call you, or track you.

The MIAmobi SilentPocket is a simple bag, with a special lining,  into which you drop your cell phone, router, pager or any other wireless device.

It blocks all comms signals — in or out. through its “99% Nano-Silver lining.”You could argue that it is cheaper to take out your batteries, but at $65, some will prefer the convenience of the blackout bag. Especially as it operates on other gadgets as well including the chip in your passport or credit cards through RFID Blocking~ which protects your Credit Cards, Passport, & SmartKeys. Other benefits include: Restricts Texting and Cell Phone use when Driving and allows you to pay full attention to Family and Friends.

Off the Grid and On the Cloud

Give yourself net access everywhere for Christmas – these little gizmos fit in your handbag and provide four or five wireless internet access points out in the middle of the boonies

While most like having a data plan on their iPhone and iPad so they don’t have to have one tethered to the other to get a 3G connection, the bills add up quickly.

In North America Novatel or Sierra Wireless’s little hot spots (buy it here for UK and Europe) can provide a connection that covers all with a single monthly payment instead of two or three. It could be useful for business trips, a ski cabin or summer cottage where you want wireless connectivity but don’t use it enough to justify wired-in Internet service, and also for year round off-grid access.

Data costs $53 a month for 10 gigabytes with Rogers’ LTE rocket mobile hotspot. If you’re downloading movies, that could be used up fairly quickly. But if you’re live-streaming music, movies or TV, keeping up with social media, or posting photos and checking email and not using it full-time, 10 GB could be enough for your needs.

Deals are changing all the time, but its often better to buy the box at a discount and then shop around for the best deal rather than being locked into a contract with AT&T, Sprint or Verizon. This is especially true if you want to experiment with what signal is best in the off-grid location of your choice.

Best Buy on Amazon for unlocked, under $100 at the time of writing – Novatel Wireless MiFi 2372 Unlocked 3G Mobile Wi-Fi Hotspot GSM For North America (Buy it here for UK and Europe)

For a locked-in Sprint service try the Sprint Sierra Wireless Overdrive 3G 4G Mobile Hotspot

(www.sierrawireless.com).

You can even use your cellphone while filling up

Nissan’s electric car, The Leaf is being repositioned as a mobile charger for off-grid homes in Japan.  Even grid-tied homes will be able to reduce their energy dependence via Nissan’s new Home Charging Unit will go on sale in Japan by mid-2012 the company forecast today at a car show in Tokyo.

There is a fair amount of greenwash in Nissan’s claim, but it is significant nevertheless because it is offering a way to import energy in your car, rather than have a standalone energy supply to each house with the additional infrastructure that requires.  If anyone has driven in a Leaf please post your experiences in a comment.

Nissan says the average daily energy consumption in a Japanese home is around 10-12kw, so the Leaf’s 24kwh battery would offer up to two days of energy storage.  Its “smart home” will also contain solar panels and fuel cells, but it was unclear whether or when this will be offered for sale.

Normally, the car charges at night to ensure it takes advantage of lower energy costs and puts less strain on the grid at peak daylight times. But that could be reversed so charging was done during the day at work or on the way home.  Using a quick charger the battery can be completely replenished in 30 minutes.

A user can also specify how much charge a home takes from the car to ensure there is enough range in it to complete their next journey.

This box that connects the car to the home energy is likely to cost around 500,000 Japanese yen (which equates to about £4100) when launched, although Nissan hopes a wider uptake will drive down costs.

There is currently no standard connection or wiring for the box in Japan or elsewhere in the world. Nissan is in negotiations with governments and utility companies about making an industry standard. Firms including Hitachi, Panasonic and Mitsubishi are interested in marketing the box, Nissan told Autocar.

The new technology called Smart Home Charging will be available in Japan initially.But  Nissan already sells Leafs to Europe and the USA .

The Nissan Leaf is powered by laminated compact lithium-ion batteries which generate over 90kW of power. Its electric motor delivers 80kW/280Nm. With a fully charged battery it can drive 100 miles and deliver speeds of up to 140km/h. The Leaf can be charged at home through a 200V outlet for eight hours or 30 minutes using a quick charger. It costs $32,780 but governments like the U.S. and Canada are offering incentives to bring the price down.

Keep talking, texting tweeting in the boonies

The much-maligned Blackberry has emerged as the best phone for off-grid users.

Although Blackberry customers were left without a service for days earlier this year, the phone is way ahead of current competitors when it comes to battery life, the key factor for those generating their own power.

The longer battery life comes about because the phone draws less power than Android or iPhone models. Although that does not solve the problem of getting a signal in remote locations.Motorola’s Droid, along with the Dell Streak, came out on top of a battery-life contest for Android-running handsets, devised by Laptop Magazine. But it only had about 7 hours power compared to over a day for Blackberry.

and Chinese maker Huawei claims its soon to be released Honor Smartphone has up to 3 days of use on a single charge, making it the longest battery life among smartphones that fall under the 4″ display category. Of course, the claim has yet to be proven, and the way a phone is used is key to determining the battery life, so we hope to get hold of a unit to find out for myself.

The Motorola Droid X has enough juice to run for 7 hours and 42 minutes. Dell’s Streak—which some analysts say is either a large smartphone or small tablet PC—ran for 7 hours, 35 minutes, while Motorola‘s Droid came in third, at 7 hours, 7 minutes. Bringing up the rear was the HTC Incredible, which exhausted itself after 4 hours and 33 minutes.

RIM’s BlackBerry and Apple’s iPhone feature proprietary hardware and software (meaning it’s all controlled by RIM and Apple); Google‘s Android operating system (OS) runs on many different phones (made by LG, HTC, Samsung, Motorola, etc.) So Android offers a lot more options, but it also brings into play a myriad of vendors essentially selling the same product, creating distinctions without differences.

RIM’s BlackBerry has been a corporate standard for many years, mainly due to its security features (such as the ability to remotely wipe its memory if lost, something you can’t do as easily with an iPhone) and its user-friendly thumb keyboard. But RIM has let its BlackBerry OS fall behind and is still trying to play catch-up.

Another downside is the relative lack of cool Blackberry apps. On the plus side, most BlackBerries still feature that thumb keyboard that appeals to users who enjoy writing lengthy e-mails on the road. Also, BlackBerry boasts the longest battery life of all the smart phones and that’s the most important thing.

Apple’s iPhone is a cultural phenomenon; it kick-started the smart phone revolution. Its appeal is universal – - except in the corporate world where it hasn’t had much penetration save for high-tech companies or with fashion-conscious users. Apple’s iOS for the iPhone is a closed, proprietary system which, for some, is a bonus, because, theoretically, it can’t be hacked by bad guys.  And now with the iPhone available on two carriers (AT&T and Verizon), and with Sprint coming on board with the iPhone 5, users have more choices among carriers. The Apple App Store boasts tens upon thousands of apps (not all of them variations on Angry Birds) for most every business use imaginable.

Google‘s Android platform is the nerdy counterpart to Apple’s iOS. Spanning several hardware platforms ( HTC, LG, Motorola, Samsung, etc.), Android is an open source free-for-all that also features a healthy App Market with thousands of apps and an expanding user base. Androids are business-friendly but lack the reliability and security of the BlackBerry and the status and simplicity of the iPhone.

But Google‘s recent announcement of its intention to acquire Motorola Mobility leads one to think that Android will likely expand its security options, develop on a more homogenous platform, and we’ve already seen improvements in Android security in the past few months.

So, for old school, hard keyboard, security-conscious users, the BlackBerry is best (Buy the BlackBerry Bold 9780 Unlocked Cell Phone with Full QWERTY Keyboard here). But understand that by choosing it, you may be marginalizing yourself. Besides offering more apps, both the iPhone and the Android are more fun to use. And if you think that the smart phone eventually will replace the PC as the key platform for business computing (as HP apparently did when it announced it was getting out of the computer business), you’ll need a phone that you like, not one you’ll merely use.

The Laptop Magazine test consisted of the devices running an Android application, that the magazine writes “opens the phone’s Web browser to one of 60 popular Websites, remains there for 60 seconds, closes the browser, then reopens the browser to the next Website on the list. It does so until the phone’s battery dies, while recording the time elapsed.”

To create a level playing field, several adjustments were made to each handset. First, two free applications, My Settings and Advanced Task Killer, were downloaded to each device. Then, in My Settings, the Laptop gang turned off auto brightness and set the brightness of each screen to 40 percent. They also turned off WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS location, cell location and auto sync, deactivated the screen timeout and turned off Flash support and plug-ins in the Web browser. Lastly, they placed each phone in a place where it was receiving at least four bars of service.

Each phone was then tested twice, and its score was the result of the tests’ average.

“We know this doesn’t take into account things such as texting, making phone calls and using multimedia apps, but we feel it gives a fair indication of how long one phone will last compared to another under similar settings,” Laptop reported.

That said, it’s still difficult to say all phones were equal. Screen size has long been equated with battery life, making the Dell Streak an unexpected second-place finisher, as it features a 5-inch display—the largest in the industry, and the reason why many it consider it more of a tablet. Dell included.

Which phones offer the best battery life, then?

“It really comes down to what you view most often on your phone,” Laptop concluded.

The battery life average was 5 hours, 5 minutes. Coming in just under that, for fourth place, was the Samsung Epic 4G, at 5 hours, 34 minutes, followed by the HTC Evo 4G at 5 hours, 27 minutes. The Samsung Vibrant finished in sixth, at 4 hours, 44 minutes, and in seventh place — putting in 10 more seconds than the HTC Incredible — was the Samsung Captivate, with a battery life of 4 hours and 43 minutes.

To see how ten of the hottest Android phones stack up, check out the buyer’s guide table at www.windowsitpro.com,

Below are some of the highlights for shoppers to consider.

Standard Features

Standard features that you can expect on any Android phone include:

* Camera and video

* Email (native Gmail support, and Outlook syncing through Exchange ActiveSync)

* GPS

* Wi-Fi

* Bluetooth

* Contacts management

* Touch screen/touch screen keyboard

* Android market access

Points of Differentiation

Despite all of these phones using the same OS, there are some significant points of differentiation to consider.

Exchange and Outlook support

All Android phones have ActiveSync, which allows for push synchronization between your Outlook account and your phone. However, many of these devices don’t have native contact and calendar syncing, so if you’re going to choose one of the devices that doesn’t and you use Outlook, you’ll need to download an app to sync them. The leading app for 2-way syncing is CompanionLink, which costs $39.99. Google also offers a free solution called Google Calendar Sync; however, you have to tie your Outlook account to a Gmail account in order for it to work, which will be an issue for some corporate accounts.

Different Android versions

Each of the phones in this list either comes with version 1.5 (or 1.6) or 2.0 (or 2.1). Android 2.0 is a significant upgrade from the past version, but the only two Android smartphones that offer 2.0 are the Motorola Droid and the Google Nexus One. One of the most significant new features in 2.0 is contact syncing. See all the new features of Android 2.0 at developer.android.com/sdk/android-2.0-highlights.html.

Different carriers

Some individuals strongly prefer one carrier to another, and some organizations have corporate deals with a given carrier. As such, it’s important to realize that many Android phones (and smartphones in general) only bundle with a specific carrier. If your carrier of choice is T-Mobile, then many devices are available. If you prefer one of the other three carriers, your options are more limited. The Google Nexus One offers the greatest selection, and is available on T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon.

Physical vs. virtual keyboard

If finger dexterity is your Achilles’ thumb, you may prefer a physical keyboard, which would lead you to one of the sliders such as the Motorola Droid or CLIQ.

Best by Category

What device you use is a personal decision and will vary by individual, so I’m hesitant to make specific recommendations. Once you do decide which Android device you want (if any), I strongly recommend taking some time to see what users are saying across the web — while much of it might be inane, you should get some very good nuggets concerning the pros and cons from people that use the phone on a daily basis.

With that in mind, here is a quick list of the phone winners in each category (some categories, such as camera,  didn’t factor because there are so many draws):

* Best processor: Google Nexus One

* Best memory/storage: Motorola Droid

* Best display size/resolution: Motorola Droid

* Best price: HTC Droid Eris, Motorola Backflip, and Samsung Moment

* Best battery life: HTC Hero

* Best variety in carrier coverage: Google Nexus One

* Lightest weight: T-Mobile MyTouch 3G

I'll even include a free signed copy of the first edition

Nick Rosen, author of HOW TO LIVE OFF GRID, is selling the Camper van featured on the front cover of the book.

Its a Renault Master Long Wheel Base – diesel with power steering. The price, £2500

In Chapter 2 of the book he tells how he chose the vehicle:I was ignoring anything Volkswagen. For some reason the VW Camper still carries an enormous cachet. The best-designed VWs have been collectors items for years, and by the time Jamie Oliver travelled to Italy in one (beautifully done up with a Cath Kidstone interior) for a TV series, prices were topping £10,000 for a twenty-year-old vehicle. The people I know who have them tell me they break down often (as indeed happened during Jamie’s trip to Italy), they guzzle petrol, they are noisy and uncomfortable, and you cannot stand up in them. All in all they are a puzzling purchase, except for the fact that they look nice and retro.

The first likely candidate for me was an elderly Talbot. At £3,500, the price was right for a purpose-built camper with a double bed in a little protrusion that overhung the driver’s cab. Simon, the seller, lived in deepest north London and was moving back to Newcastle. Being shown around the van by its owner proved unexpectedly to be an unnerving experience, rather like being shown around someone’s home only more . . . intimate. The normal things you say to people when negotiating for a second-hand car sounded in the practice room of my mind like personal insults as I struggled for the right words. At last, I could see the point of estate agents. How do you tell someone that you find their (motor)home a mite depressing, that the oven is miserable, or that you can smell the musty odour of the curtains? When Simon showed me the heating system I was sure I could smell something else gas. It may be OK to buy second-hand electrical goods, but a leaky gas cooker? I don’t think so.
Simon wasn’t going to let me go without a struggle. I weakly agreed to a test drive  my first in a camper van. Simon slid into the driver’s seat to show me how it all worked; I would take over on the return journey. We shot out of the drive and onto a windy back road as he proudly demonstrated the vehicle’s turn of speed. It was noisy and not ideal for long hours travelling across country. When it was time for me to assume the controls, I discovered another vital requirement power steering. This 1987 baby didn’t have it. Turning, parking, even rounding a corner needed concentrated effort, and since I was visiting obscure places on my trip, I realised that power steering would be as important as standing room. I thanked Simon and sank gratefully back onto my Honda 90.
I knew what my wife wanted, a large designer van, well proportioned, snug, solid, reliable and above all safe. With a child along on the trip, safety had to be the primary consideration. But a van that fulfilled those criteria would not come cheap 10,000 at least, judging by the ads I had seen. Viewing Simon’s Talbot was a useful trial run, though. It made me realise that the off-gridders I visited would judge me by the van I drove. Appearance is all, as Oscar Wilde said; what else is there to judge by? I reckoned the only people I would put at their ease with the Talbot would be other Talbot owners.
There was a whole class of campers built out of converted vans, and I figured one of these would be the best bet. Overall, they were at the low end of the price range, which was a big plus. I returned to my hunt for the mythical London street market where dazed Antipodeans sold their mobile homes for the price of a final multi-stop trip round the world. It didn’t exist. Months later a camper enthusiast explained that it had come to an end a few years before when the markets were overrun with sharks who shipped unsellable vehicles from around the country to palm off on the Aussies. A piece of carpet over a rusty hole in the floor; brakes that had no more than a few miles of life in them; that sort of thing. The police had decided to close the operation down. In earlier times the van sellers would have moved to another street, but simultaneously the Internet was becoming the market of choice for the Aussies, and just about everyone else. Why restrict yourself to a Sunday morning in the rain when you can do the whole thing from the comfort of your own keyboard before even arriving in the UK?
Back on eBay, an ad for a Ford Transit caught my eye. It was unequivocal about the quality of the engine, and since that was the subject in which I was least qualified, it gave me some peace of mind. Here’s what you getran the ad:
N Reg Ford Transit 100 SWB Hi-Top Camper 2.5 Diesel 2 Berth (+ 1 small child at a push); MOT; Power Steering; CD Player (Speakers front and rear); TV (240V); DVD Player (240V Brand new, still under guarantee); Gas Cooker (4 Burner Hob & Grill); Paloma Gas Water Heater; Shower; Portable gas heater; Sink; Fresh water tank (40l Aquaroll) with pump; Portapotty Toilet; 3 Way Fridge (240V, 12V, Gas, a bit temperamental, could probably do with a new one to be honest); Front swivel seats; Leisure Battery; 2 x 12V to 240V Inverters; 25 Metre Mains Hook-up Cable; 12V and 240V lighting; Mul-T Lock; New brake pads and timing belt.

A small child, it said. I had one of those.

The van had not yet reached its £2,000 reserve in the auction, and with a few hours to go I sent an email offering £2,500. The sellers were from Nottingham and they did not react at first, hoping for a better bid online, but naively I overlooked this. Another bell tolled when, after they had accepted my bid and I had sent my deposit of 250, there was a long silence. As I had bought outside the auction I had lost the right to comment publicly on the seller’s performance, and thus any hold I might have had over them.
Before I could collect, I had to take out insurance. This proved to be a minefield of its own. Most mainstream insurance companies do not cover motorhomes unless they are professionally converted by a limited number of recognised businesses. After considerable research I found a broker that would take on the job, and they found an insurer that did not demur at my grimy east London postcode. For about 450 I was insured for a year, as long as I did not cover more than 5,000 miles.
The van vendors eventually got in touch and we arranged to meet at a convenient station, Wellingborough, chosen because it was about halfway on a direct line between Nottingham and London. Two hours after our meeting time I was still waiting at Wellingborough station. At that point I should have just taken the final train back to London and forgotten my 250, but I had already bought the insurance, and anyway, after two weeks of looking, this was my van of choice.
Martin from Nottingham arrived in the van just after the final train to London had departed. If I decided not to buy it, I reflected as he pulled up, he would be unlikely to offer me a lift home. He was trailed by his wife in an expensive-looking Subaru estate. They made a strange pair: Martin a gaunt, roll-up-smoking hippy, his wife the cheerful, chubby apologist. Martin was ready to spend all night going over the details of the van, but the bed was all I looked at carefully, and at about five feet eight inches long it was fine for Martin but too small for either me or Fiona to stretch out fully. It could be lengthened by spinning round the two front seats to add extra foot room, but that wasn’t much comfort. But it was now nearly 11 p.m., and after a cursory examination of the main points I was ready to make the purchase. Martin had already knocked 150 off because he had forgotten to bring along the Portapotty. He had also installed a new exhaust, as the receipt he pulled out of his top pocket proved, because the old one had fallen off that morning. The inside of the van was dirty and badly made, but that didn’t worry me as he knocked off a further 100.
I drove back to London relieved rather than delighted with my purchase. There were only two seats in front and therefore nowhere to put Caitlin. Never mind. My Internet research had turned up a removable Ford Galaxy chair with a built-in baby seat which would allow Caitlin to sit comfortably and safely in the back. At night the seat could be stowed outside, and the bed could be made. We would be a bit cramped when there were three of us, but when I was travelling alone and space was not an issue the low fuel consumption would come into its own. A yellow light with a picture of an oil lamp was blinking, but I did not pay any attention to that.
The following morning I took the Ford to a local mechanic who confirmed that the engine was in good condition, and had miraculously survived a long journey with almost no oil. He poured in twenty litres, and as far as I was concerned it was now time to head out on the road and live the off-grid life.
Then I showed the van to Fiona. She could not have been more disappointed. It was, as she immediately pointed out, too small. Small was beautiful, manoeuvrable, economical, I argued. The sort of people I was planning to visit might not be too impressed if we turned up in a glossy love-wagon. And some of the narrow dirt tracks I was anticipating would be impassable to larger vehicles. The killer criticisms I could not overcome were that the van had no space for the baby seat, and it had been converted by someone who was both visually illiterate and incompetent at DIY. The shower area, with its doorway made of surplus architrave from a building job on a gated community somewhere in the north-west, was perhaps the most pointless feature since there was nowhere for the water to run off. I dared not test the fridge and the cooker as I would have been too depressed had they failed to work. The ugly wall tiles, the pointless shower area and the dirty old fridge would have to go; Fiona also insisted on the replacement of the ceramic floor tiles (in a camper van?), which were cracked and therefore dangerous for Caitlin. Never mind the time it would take to do the work, I thought, the cost could well be on the way to another thousand pounds. And whatever improvements we made would never be enough. When arriving to stay with friends, or at a small, select literary festival we were planning to attend over the summer, I could sense Fiona’s rising fear that she would be judged by my bad taste.
Months later I was vindicated when a lifelong van dweller called Adrian, who had spent twenty years studying the question, including measuring vans in the street, concluded that the Ford Transit and its short wheelbase is the best vehicle for long-distance off-gridding. But after just a few days of domestic negotiation it became clear I had made a serious error and had better put the van back on the market immediately. I returned the Ford Galaxy seat to the breaker’s yard where I had bought it a few days earlier for a ton, and accepted 75 back. Then I wearily turned on the computer, posted pictures of the Transit on Gumtree making sure that I stressed the deficiencies to deter all but the most seriously interested and went back to eBay’s camper-van section, a website I had thought I would not need to look at again for at least a year.
This time we got lucky. Within a few minutes we had found a van we both liked a Renault Master converted hospital bus that had just been refitted by James, a carpenter whose hobby was . . . refitting camper vans. It looked great, and it had three seats in front, so Caitlin would be up there with us in the cab. The bidding had ended at 3,500, but that was not enough to secure the van because James had set the reserve at 4,000. I had to have it. I just could not stand another weekend in London, nor the thought of another week looking at tiny photos of camper vans taken from careful angles. A quick phone call to James and an offer of his full asking price was enough to seal the deal. Because I was still within the fourteen-day cooling-off period, the insurance I’d bought for the Ford Transit was transferred to the new vehicle at no extra cost, so it remained only to make the trip to Clacton-on-Sea and hand over the cash. Again I was buying outside the auction system with little or no recourse if things went wrong.
A few days later, with the scent of sea air and fish and chips in my nostrils, I was shown around my new motorhome. This time there was no doubt in my mind. It was the Ikea of campers, with tasteful cork-tile flooring, cream curtains sewn by James’s mum, and hessian-style cushion coverings. It was noisy, but I had now seen enough vans to know that in the trade-off between price and desirability, I had done well for the money. Most importantly, Fiona would love it. The sink and cooker were stainless steel and brand new, and the fridge was free of others smears and stains. It was twice as long as the Transit so long that I scraped its gleaming white panel against the side of a Ford Escort as I turned a corner the very next day. It also consumed double the fuel of the Transit, but at least it was diesel, so I could try to run it on vegetable oil. Numerous websites assured me this was possible. It had an oil-powered heater that would keep us warm as toast and two big ventilation panels in the roof. The stereo had four speakers wired in under the roof insulation. The small water tank meant we would be carrying little excess weight and the water would not go stale and brackish in the summer heat. Sure enough, Fiona approved, and she soon got to work, adding silver foil camping blankets as backing to the curtains, to insulate us against the cold night air, and see-through black blinds against the daytime sun. She also began a search on eBay for a camper-van awning. There was no shower or loo, so we would depend on pubs, garages and the countryside for our toiletary needs, and rivers, the sea, municipal showers or the people we visited for a proper wash every few days.
The engine was good and the van was running perfectly, but I still took it round to my local garage for a service. Mistake. Inner-city garages don’t really get diesel camper vans, as they freely admitted after I had paid the bill. And although they charged me a fortune, it was several days before I was back on the road. From then on I always took it to little roadside garages well away from towns, and had faults dealt with when I could fit them in.

Everybody has to veg out sometimes

A lot of people go off the grid to get away from TV and other symptoms of the consumer society.  But we all have a weakness for some aspect of TV entertainment, whether its the  movies, documentaries or bonnet dramas.

However, living with solar power, or in an RV,its essential to choose the right kit to save energy and reduce the amount of space and clutter from the multiple wires and  gadgets needed for your viewing pleasure. So we set about finding the ideal off-grid TV.

In the UK only, you clearly need Freeview, plus you will want a DVD player and the ability to record programs.

That’s why we recommend this 12volt TV/DVD player available on Amazon. Every customer review has given it 5 stars.

It has ultra low power consumption –  average 2.3 amp 28 Watt. It runs on 12 volt, 24 volt and 240 volt.   As well as the Freeview and built-in DVD Player (Multi Region) it has a USB PVR Record facility so you can slot in a 16 Gb flash drive and record up to 6 movies.

There are backpacks for the weekend, then there are backpacks for life.  If you are one of the many living off the grid above the snowline, or if you prefer carving lines beyond the boundaries of safety, you’re all too aware of the risks involved with avalanches. Float Backpacks ($685-$785) from Backcountry Access are designed to minimize excavation time — which is the biggest factor in avalanche fatalities — through an affordable and reusable avalanche airbag system. Here’s how it works:In an avalanche situation (yeah, sounds pretty far from where we’re sitting too), simply pull the trigger to engage a simple-chamber, 150-liter airbag to keep you afloat while protecting your head, neck and upper body from trauma.

The bag also boasts a hydration system that interacts with your body temperature to keep up-to 3 liters of water unfrozen in its reservoir. There are plenty of other pockets and stash points to keep your beacon and ski gear organized, and the entire bag is constructed of durable ripstop fabric and stormproof zippers. The only thing they haven’t considered is just how far off the grid you’re planning, or not planning, to go.

Buy Now: $685-785

The way to avoid them is go off the grid

As long ago as 1999, Scott McNealy, the CEO of Sun Microsystems, told reporters: “You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it.” Others, including the top executives of Google, LinkedIn and Facebook, have since said much the same thing.

They are right.

Privacy in 2011 is a matter of nostalgia. In the past two months, Facebook introduced “frictionless sharing,” Verizon told customers it could share their location and search strings with advertisers, and two members of Congress have called for the FTC to investigate “supercookies,” which track your activity across multiple websites and are difficult to detect and remove. These developments signal an accelerating rush to compile, index and disseminate personal data in the digital age.

There are several reasons for this, but the most important is corporate profit. Many people freely surrender personal details on social media sites or in exchange for a discount. Government agencies monitor and catalog a dizzying array of personal information, from biometrics to travel history.And a huge reason is what security expert Bruce Schneider calls “the rise of Big Data.” This is the emergence of huge data brokers such as Axciom, Reed Elsevier and Eloqua, and more familiar suspects such as Google and Facebook. Such companies make a business of packaging and reselling information about you to marketers.

Even if you live alone in an isolated situation, you leave a trail of information every day. Consider a typical routine in contemporary America:

Morning

You make your first cellphone call of the day: Your service provider knows who you called and for how long. At the same time, your phone regularly pings cell towers so that somebody can tell almost exactly where you are. Although this can be handy in search-and-rescue situations, companies such as Retina X Studios sell software that lets anybody snoop on your location and message traffic.

Further, carriers such as Verizon are increasingly brazen. This month, Verizon notified customers it intends to monitor customers’ location, websites they visit via their phones and apps they use. And it may share that information. Though it’s possible to opt out, the default setting for Verizon and other carriers is to share.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., by the way, is sponsoring a bill that would set boundaries on the GPS information agencies and companies can collect from wireless phones.

You turn on TV to catch the news. Thanks to a growing reliance on Internet Protocols for distributing signals, your cable or satellite provider knows exactly what you watched and for how long. Read your provider’s privacy policy to see all the ways this information may find its way into the hands of others.

You go to the doctor’s office, where your weight, prescription data and diagnosis are entered into an electronic database. Though safeguards aim to protect this intimate information, data breaches occur. In 2006, Providence Health & Services in Oregon said personal medical data on 365,000 patients were lost when a car prowler stole disks and tapes from an employee’s van.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services lists 345 cases of medical records breaches over the past two years that affected at least 500 people each. Some exposed records of hundreds of thousands of patients. Reasons range from theft of laptops to digital intrusions.

As you drive to work, your OnStar device tracks your location. Until late last month, the company quietly continued to track even after you canceled its service, a policy the company dropped in the face of a political uproar.

You also may pass a smart billboard by NEC, IBM, Research in Motion or one that uses Immersive Labs software. These billboards can target you with specific ads. Depending on the technology, the billboards may track age, gender, length of time you look at the board, or the speed of your vehicle.

Along the way, your car’s license plate may have been scanned and collected by the police or a private surveillance service, revealing where your car has been. Law enforcement agencies use the systems across the country, from Maine to California.

On the other side of the world, somebody looks at a picture of your house on Google Street View. Perhaps he even sees you in a bathrobe, retrieving The Oregonian. Though some countries, such as Germany, have limited Google‘s efforts to photograph its people and buildings, most have not. But in Portland and other American cities, you can see cars parked in driveways, people leaving shops and trash piled in yards, without leaving your desk.

Midday

You check Facebook and you’ve been tagged in someone’s photo, adding to Facebook‘s treasure trove of facial recognition information. Facebook is the largest collection of digital photos in the world –90 billion. It’s pitched as a fun way to share your activities with friends: It’s also a fun way to share your appearance with a voracious commercial company and anyone else who accesses the data. Given Facebook‘s continuing refinements that tend to compromise personal privacy, this is not reassuring. Recently, an Australian technologist noted that Facebook can track online activity even after you’ve logged out of Facebook.

Back at work, you use a computer connected to an internal network and the Internet. Your browsing history is logged by members of your employer’s IT department. (Seventy percent of companies acknowledge monitoring browsing.) Your phone records are logged and kept.

You use an online search engine to check a fact. If you used Google, your query is added to the world’s largest collection of crowdsourced data. Distracted by a pop-up window, you agree to take an online survey. Unwittingly, you have just handed over an extensive list of personal detail for companies to pitch products to you.

For a single example of how your personal information is indexed, sorted and reused, take a look at one major data broker, infoUSA.com. A few keystrokes will deliver a list of consumers by geography –all the way down to a single mail carrier’s route –by household income, marital status, number of credit cards, second mortgages, hobbies, veteran’s status, ethnicity or religion. (“Choose from 10 major religions.”) Of course, by buying such a list, you have offered another layer of information that will help marketers sell to you.

Finally, in the course of your computing session, you jump to a website such as Hulu or MSN, where you unwittingly download a “supercookie” that can’t easily be removed from your computer. It collects information about your activity across multiple sites, while resisting efforts to delete it.

You take a Starbucks break. If you open your laptop, another customer may be running Firesheep on his laptop, enabling him to watch your activities and, potentially, steal your identity.

On your way back to work, you pass two surveillance cameras: a public one installed on a light pole, and another that focuses on the entrance to a bank. The one on the bank has facial recognition technology.

It’s almost impossible to go anywhere in public without being recorded. A much-cited study by the New York Civil Liberties Union found more than 4,400 surveillance cameras in a few concentrated areas in lower Manhattan and Harlem. “Cameras lined nearly every block in . . . the Financial District, Tribeca, SoHo, Greenwich Village, the Lower East Side, Chinatown and Central Harlem,” the study said. That was in 2005. the same is true in London, Frankfurt, Beijing, and most other major cities as well as many minor ones.

You use a security badge to exit your workplace. Some employers acknowledge using badges to track their workers, saying it improves efficiency.

Evening

You go to the store, where you are videotaped and your purchases logged and added to the accumulating picture of your preferences. This information may find its way to third parties by legal means, such as when the data are aggregated and resold, or by illegal means, such as theft. One of the most notorious thefts was the “wardriving” case that compromised more than 40 million debit and credit cards from retailers such as Marshall’s, Barnes & Noble, OfficeMax and others.

Law enforcement may take an interest in your purchases, too. A much-cited Salt Lake Tribune story reported that the Drug Enforcement Administration sought discount-card data from Smith’s Foods in an effort to find customers buying large quantities of plastic baggies, on the presumption that they might use them to hold meth.

On the way home, you stop at the library, where you check out a book. Your borrowing history gets sent into a central database. If you use a library computer, your activity is recorded. Though librarians have a good record of protecting user data, note one of the disclaimers in Multnomah County’s library privacy policy: The library can electronically monitor public computers and external access to its network and reserves the right to do so when a violation of law or library policy is suspected.

But much of the alleged threat to our liberty is an urban myth.  You order a pizza from Domino’s and your call is routed through a central office to your local outlet, where the clerk already knows you prefer anchovies to olives. According to private investigator Steve Rambam, the U.S. Marshal’s Service, the New York Police Department, debt collectors and others have used such pizza-ordering information to find people. Domino’s denies sharing “entire lists” of customer information.  But noted garbagologist AJ Weberman, in a comment on this story (below), refutes that claim and is certain Rambam made it up. (Story changed Octo 31st).

You download a song from Apple’s iTunes. The company has responded to complaints that it stores geolocation data and timestamps on mobile devices (iPads, computers and iPhones) by slowing the frequency of its collections.

You stream a movie from Netflix. Be advised the company is lobbying against restrictions on disclosing your rental history because it wants to make a deal with Facebook to share. That restriction was ordered by Congress after the 1987 fight over the nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, when the Washington City Paper published a list of the judge’s video rental history.

Further, even when a company like Netflix thinks it has kept its consumer data anonymous, a clever analyst can combine it with data from, say, the Internet Movie Database to de-anonymize portions of it. That’s exactly what happened in 2006, when Netflix sought to improve its recommendation system.

You buy a DVD online. The vendor, such as eBay, the eBay seller or Macy’s knows about your purchase, as do your credit card issuer and your bank. Depending on the payment systems used, your transaction may also become known to third-party payment companies such as PayPal, fraud-detection providers such as iOvation, processors such as FirstData, fulfillment services such as Monsoon and any warranty providers, such as SquareTrade. That’s a lot of opportunities for others to capitalize on your impulsive purchase of “The Simpsons Season 24.”

And, of course, any curious person may simply use your username to follow your buying, selling and commenting on sites such as Amazon and eBay.

Your Facebook page includes pictures of you quaffing a glass of beer. You also post that you’re looking forward to a night of “Crazy Bitch Bingo,” as a local restaurant calls it. Your employer takes note. The next day, you are fired. That’s exactly what happened to a Georgia schoolteacher named Ashley Payne.

And once a photo is online, it’s permanent. Even Rep. Anthony Weiner, who acted quickly, couldn’t stop the spread of the indecent photo he sent via Twitter.

Overnight

Even as you sleep, your household is part of a smart grid of energy supply and demand. At a minimum, this information is conveyed between your smart meter and the utility, and may be shared with third-party energy management companies. California passed a law that limits utilities sharing consumption data with third parties.

Also, as you sleep, your computer restarts because Microsoft has detected that you haven’t installed the latest critical security update.

Sleep well.

Thanks to the Oregonian

Prof Jerry Woodall

Researchers at Purdue University have developed an aluminum alloy that could be used in a new type of mobile technology to convert polluted water into drinkable, while extracting hydrogen to generate electricity.

The potable water could be produced for about $1 per gallon, and electricity could be generated for about 35 cents per kilowatt hour of energy, which is low compared to the cost of solar at 10 times that amount.

It might be used to provide power and drinking water to remote villages or for military operations, said Jerry Woodall,  Professor of electrical and computer engineering.

The alloy contains aluminum, gallium, indium and tin. Immersing the alloy in freshwater or saltwater causes a spontaneous reaction, splitting the water into hydrogen and oxygen molecules. The hydrogen could then be fed to a fuel cell to generate electricity, producing water in the form of steam as a byproduct, he said.

“The steam would kill any bacteria contained in the water, and then it would condense to purified water,” Woodall said. “So, you are converting undrinkable water to drinking water.”

Because the technology works with saltwater, it might have marine applications, such as powering boats and robotic underwater vehicles. The technology also might be used to desalinate water, said Woodall, who is working with doctoral student Go Choi.

A patent on the design is pending.

Woodall envisions a new portable technology for regions that aren’t connected to a power grid, such as villages in Africa and other remote areas.

“There is a big need for this sort of technology in places lacking connectivity to a power grid and where potable water is in short supply,” he said. “Because aluminum is a low-cost, non-hazardous metal that is the third-most abundant metal on Earth, this technology promises to enable a global-scale potable water and power technology, especially for off-grid and remote locations.”

“There is no other technology to compare it against, economically, but it’s obvious that 34 cents per kilowatt hour is cheap compared to building a power plant and installing power lines, especially in remote areas,” Woodall said.

The unit, including the alloy, the reactor and fuel cell might weigh less than 100 pounds.

HTC running Android is the way to go

In the US the one to go for is the Desire. (Here in the UK). The phones are powerful, well designed, ergonomic, and have also kept up with the latest twists and turns of the development of the overpriced and under-powered iPhone– thanks to the deal with Google Android.

So here are the top ten reasons for choosing an HTC:-

10: Standard micro USB cable for charging.
9: Standard USB storage uploading MP3′s
8: Removable/Exchangeable Battery
7: No need for iTunes on your Computer
6: True background apps
5: Usable Voice Control & Free Integration with Google Translate
4: Micro SD card, exchangeable and usable with many different Devices
3: Full refund of Google Marketplace Application purchase within 24 hours.
2: Free Wireless syncing of calendar and contact data to your Google
account is free, compared to Apples MobileMe.
1: OS has free developer tools, in comparison to the Apple iPhone
developer program.

Otterbox Defender Series Case for HTC Desire

Stevenson - trains and automobiles; no planes

Here is an excerpt from Seth Stevenson’s new book about travelling the world sans airplane. Of course, ground transport is just as polluting, and just as subject to snow delays as air transport, but somehow its less total – schedules are more flexible – there is always another bus, or another cargo ship coming along:

“Walking down the sidewalk, I instinctively check my pocket. There are no keys there, and it’s a bit unsettling. I find I keep reflexively patting at the void. I feel a moment of panic each time. Until I remember there’s nothing I need keys for anymore. No apartment, no mailbox, no car. I feel untethered. I’m carrying the whole of my existence in a backpack.

It’s a bright August day. We’re walking to the metro stop. Last week, my life lacked purpose, but today every step seems like a purposeful stride. Those people in front of us? They’re going to the office. Us? We’re going on an adventure.We take the subway to Union Station, where we catch an Amtrak train up to Philadelphia. The very first leg of our trip is now behind us. At a Philly camera store we buy a pair of binoculars, figuring they might be of use out on the open sea.

In our hotel room that night, we watch TV as we drift off to sleep. There are promo ads for the new fall lineup on sitcoms and dramas. They wash over us. We’ll be far, far away—in space and in mind—by the time they reach the airwaves. Tomorrow, we will board a cargo freighter and set off across the Atlantic.

Fortunately, Rebecca is a stone-cold genius when it comes to travel logistics. She knows all the angles and is lightning quick on her feet. When your flight gets canceled and everyone’s stuck at a snowy airport with no rental cars, she’s that fellow passenger you overhear murmuring calmly into her cell phone, arranging to hire a stagecoach and a team of Clydesdales. Her talents as a navigatrix made me so confident that we could face down any situation, I decided we could leave our plans vague for the time being. We knew we wanted to take a ship across the Atlantic and then trains across Russia.

Our timing seemed to work, as it would get us in and out of Siberia before summer ended. (By all accounts, Siberia in winter is not a good place to be.) After that, everything—routes, destinations, schedules, accommodations—was left undecided. We’d build our journey piece by piece, on the fly.

Packing and Simplifying

Next step: packing. Rebecca and I had strong feelings on this matter. We share a severe disdain for travelers whose massive backpacks extend down below their knees and up over the crowns of their heads, dangling behind them bits of flotsam clipped on with carabiners. Walk through any backpacker district in Southeast Asia and you’re sure to pass some sunburned schlub with a souvenir dideridoo bumping along in his wake. We didn’t want to be that guy. As a result, we risked going too far in the other direction, challenging each other to pack as little as possible. Rebecca at one point threatened to travel the earth carrying nothing but a lunchbox.

In the end, we settled on small backpacks—not significantly larger than the kind a book-laden college student might lug to the library. Into mine I tucked a minimal allotment of clothes, including just three pairs of underwear, which, if I hope to remain on friendly terms with Rebecca, will require frequent washing. For her part, Rebecca somehow managed to pack more digital gadgets than items of attire. (This is in her genes. Some celebrate gold and diamond wedding anniversaries; Rebecca’s parents celebrate the consumer electronics anniversary. Every year.) She included a small MP3 player loaded with songs, a shortwave radio for tuning in news broadcasts, an unlocked cell phone, and a handheld GPS to track our precise latitude and longitude at any given moment.

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Rousson and friend

A low tech, man-powered  yellow submarine may not be high on the list of requirements for la vie off-grid, but French adventurer Stephane Rousson and designer Minh-Lôc Truong have gone ahead and made one anyway. In Rousson’s garage.

The Scubster  is the world’s first pedal powered submarine and it has recently successfully finished its first test in the Mediterranean off Nice.

beautiful yellow submarine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKQFmLqW1nQThe yellow carbon fibre mini sub is about fourteen feet long, eight feet wide and five feet high. Steered by two pedal-powered directional propellers, it can reach a depth of twenty feet. Depending on the fitness of the pilot, Rousson claims  it can hit a maximum speed of 16 kph  –although only in very short bursts. A more sustainable top speed would closer to 8kph and even that would be tough, he admits.

That may not sound terribly impressive. But the Scubster is designed primarily for speed. Rousson and Truong are hoping to enter their submersible in next year’s International Submarine Race at the Naval Surface Warfare Centre  in Bethesda Maryland, between June 27 and 12 July.

If it can replicate this performance, it has every chance of winning. The race is now in its twentieth year. Although speeds are gradually creeping up, last year’s winner managed just 6.298 knots over the 100-meter course.

Scubster is a strangely beautiful object –sufficiently beautiful to have appeared as a photo of the week in Time magazine a couple of months ago. But it is all the more remarkable for being essentially a DIY project.

“We have financed this by raising money from friends, borrowing equipment from local companies  and doing all the construction work ourselves ourselves in my garage,” said Rousson. “I know how to do carbon fibre moulding and we have had help from local students.”

The design of the machine is loosely based on the nose of the Sword Fish –the fastest creature in the sea. And it has all been put together in months. “I heard about the competition last year. In August I asked Minh-Lôc Truong to design a pedal powered version which took three months. I have spent the last nine months or so building it in my garage,” said Rousson.

Mind you he has form in the area of pedal powered transport. In 2008 he attempted to cross the English Channel on a pedal-powered airship. But after four years of preparation he was forced to cancel the crossing at the last moment due to high winds.

“Once you have built an airship, the submarine operates on nearly the same principles,” he explains. The main learning was to use twin propellers on the side of the craft so they steer it. “It makes it very manoeuverable, up, down, forward and even backwards are easy this way.”

The year before that Rousson was involved in the Theolia Windream One Project, which aspired, perhaps unrealistically, to cross the Atlantic with a small 2 person airship. He says the purpose of his sub is for study. “Its a low impact exploration tool for scuba divers and scientific research.”

But yes, he supposes it could be sold as a recreational vehicle. “We haven’t worked it out yet, but I think it would cost between E40,000 and E60,000. (USD 50,000-75,000). “Mind you,” he says, “its still a bit dangerous. Really its an adventure and great fun.” ENDS

If you can manage to camp away from the water sources, and from the established campsites, then the many wonderful advantages of stealth camping will be yours. Stealth camping (also known as “wild camping”) is a cleaner, warmer and quieter way to camp, and it offers a much better connection with nature. In all likelihood no one has camped at your impromptu stealth-site before, and the ground will be pristine. Its thick, natural cushioning of the forest materials will still be in place, making for comfortable bedding without the use of a heavy inflatable mattress.

There will be no desiccated stock manure to rise as dust and infiltrate your lungs, nor any scatter of unsightly litter and stench of human waste. The stealth-site will not be trampled and dished; any rainwater will soak into the ground or run off it, rather than collect and flood your shelter. Bears scrounging for human food will be busy at the water-side campsites, and will almost invariably ignore the far-removed and unproductive woods. Far from the water sources you will encounter fewer flying insects, particularly upon the more breezy slopes and ridges. Above the katabatic zones the night air will be markedly warmer. And you can rest assured that your chances of being bothered by other people will be slim.