Travel like James Bond: 007 Approved Gadgets

You’re probably pretty similar to traveler-extraordinaire James Bond:

• You travel to exotic locales for work…if Dallas counts as exotic.
• You’d wear a tux on the plane…if you owned one that wasn’t a powder blue hand-me-down from Dad.
• You’d woo sophisticated, complex women…if you ever met any at the corner sports bar.

So yeah – basically the same.

Now you just need the gadgetry.

The Knife

The following list of things are undeniably awesome and James Bond-ish:
1. Self-destruct mechanisms
2. Fingerprint scanners
3. Lasers
4. Bluetooth capabilities
5. Nail files

What if we told you there was one gadget that incorporated all of these things? And that it was a Swiss Army Knife?

“That would explain the nail file,” you’d probably say.

Regardless, the Victorinox Presentation Master* is about as close to a JB experience as mere mortals are going to get. This Swiss Army Knife comes with flash drive, Bluetooth remote, presentation software and fingerprint scanner in one incredibly compact package (note that there are TSA-friendly versions that come sans-knife). I have to go annoy cats with the laser pointer right now, but Gadling’s excellent review goes into detail about the self-destruct. Click the link. You know that’s all you’re really interested in.

*I have emailed the company suggesting they add an impressive number to the name. “Presentation Master 3000″ is far more fitting.

The Phone

Allow me to paint you a word-picture: It’s 3am. The leggy blonde architect who accompanied you home from the gala wants to see blueprints of the hotel…but your iphone’s screen is too small to make out the details.

Enter the LG eXpo projector phone. The 14 inch projected screen is impressive, and so is the fingerprint recognition and turbo-scrolling that come parceled into this mobile device. Blast a hi-res visual onto any blank wall at the click of a button, making those blueprints as easy to read as the “Do Not Disturb” sign you just hung on the door.

The phone itself has an excellent user interface and touch screen design (which is less sexy than a projector, but still nice to have).

Or maybe you just wanted to watch the latest baby panda video on youtube.

The Camera

Yes, you have to take pictures while traveling and no, the camera on your cellphone will not suffice.The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V, however, will.

Why?

For starters, it has an impressive name, full of numbers and letters, which means it’s worthy of an international man of mystery. For finishers, it is ridiculously, scarily advanced. Following is a list of things it can do that you cannot. Try not to be jealous:
1. Geotagging capabilities. James would use this to keep tabs on drug cartels, terrorist organizations and private islands owned by really attractive women.
2. TranferJet wireless sharing. The PCWorld review does an excellent job of explaining what this is:

“TransferJet is a proximity-based, wireless technology that transfers images, video, and other files between compatible devices when you simply hold the gadgets about an inch apart.”

In layman’s terms: this camera can do magic.

3. Intelligent sweep panorama mode, HDR mode and a 10x optical zoom lens. All very useful for keeping tabs on those private islands.

If you know of another James Bond-worthy travel gadget, don’t leave a comment. Just hold it up in front of your computer and transfer its data to me. I’m busy watching those islands.

[James Bond photo: x ray delta one]