What is it?
Simply, it’s a nano-coating of particles on every surface of your phone. The coating makes your device impervious to rain, splashes, and “brief shallow submersion”, which sounds like a toilet to me. The coating is on your screen, the case, and on all the components inside the phone. It’s a coating on literally every surface inside and out.
Check out Chromecast!
I haven’t bought one of these devices yet but they sound pretty great.
Here’s a review from CNET:
Here is a review from Geek Beat:
http://geekbeat.tv/google-chromecast-first-look-features-and-quirks-revealed/
What does it do?
If you have anything but a Windows Phone or a Blackberry then you’ll likely be able to use Chromecast.
Chromecast is a small device ($35) that plugs into the HDMI port on any TV. As long as you have a computer, tablet, or smartphone on the same WiFi network as the Chromecast device then you are set. When it’s connected you’ll be able to wirelessly send video and audio to the device and watch what ever you want on the TV.
How many people reading this have watched a movie on their laptop on a hotel room? Well, now you can watch it on the TV. I hear there are some issues with what you can display on the TV and which apps will actually work, but, I know Netflix works. Also, this device is in beta so it will only get better. Expect to be able to stream anything within the next few months, maybe early Spring.
Problems
The biggest problem I can see for traveling archaeologists is with the hotel WiFi. More and more hotels have a sign in page for wifi and some devices can’t see that page. Sometimes there is a weird pop-up window that causes problems too. I’m not sure how Chromecast will handle these issues.
Even if you can only watch Netflix on this device, it’s still better than using your computer. For $35 you can’t go wrong!
Has anyone ordered this? Has anyone tried it? What do you think? Let me know in the comments.
Thanks for reading and I’ll see you in the field!
I’ve gone to work in CRM in just about every type of vehicle you could imagine–as long as it had 4WD, of course. Sometimes those vehicles were broken down, second (or third) hand, junkers and sometimes they were brand new rentals. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to what type of vehicle a company chooses to use aside from the fact that it be cheap.
I didn’t encounter this too much on the East Coast but in the midwest and over much of the intermountain West between the Sierras in California and the Rocky Mountains cell phone coverage is spotty at best. It doesn’t seem to matter which carrier you go with here in the Great Basin because they all have coverage areas where they work great and huge areas where there is little to no signal.
Not having a signal isn’t the end of the world, of course. People did without cell phones for, well, all of human existence until about forty years ago. By about ten to fifteen years ago nearly everyone started carrying a cell phone. Now, it’s difficult to find someone without a cell phone. Hell, even my grandmother has one. She doesn’t even have call waiting on her land line!
The ability to use a cell phone in the field, especially in some of the remote areas of the west, can mean the difference between a good day and a very bad day. I worked with a friend a few years ago that decided to take a shortcut to get to the town we were working in. The town was about five hours from the office. The shortcut was a very long (over fifty miles) gravel road. His tire blew out on that gravel road and, since the company had several field vehicles of different makes and models, he found out that his spare had a different bolt pattern than his hubs and it wouldn’t fit. No problem. He called the office on his cell phone and someone drove him out a spare. So, instead of sitting there for days with no one knowing where he was (he didn’t tell anyone he was taking that short cut) he sat for a few hours and was back on the road.
So, in those areas where cell coverage is poor it might be necessary to have a cell phone signal booster. Check out the video below:
Wilson has a complete line of wireless signal boosters. I’m only going to talk about the mobile solutions in this post but check out the website for office and home solutions as well.
Wireless Solutions
MobilePro ($150 to $280). This little device receives a signal from a cell tower and boosts the signal from and to the tower. The advantage of this device over others is that it doesn’t hook directly to your device. It just sits in the vehicle and allows multiple devices to connect to it. You could run several cell phones and even a data connection from several devices such as tablets and computers.
Dual-Band Mobile Wireless ($260 to $430). This device is similar to the MobilePro but is mounted securely inside your vehicle and is not intended to be taken out. The MobilePro could be installed in a rental but this is not designed for that. The Dual-Band system is extremely powerful and has the ability to connect multiple devices.
Designed for one phone per cradle, the Sleek line of cradle boosters are designed to boost both voice and data signals and will also charge your device. They work best with hands free systems that allow the phone to sit in the cradle while you use it. This is a great option if only one person needs to use the cell phone and that cell phone has hotspot capability. You could leave the phone in the cradle, turn on the hotspot, and connect all the company computers and tablets for fast uploads of the day’s data. The cradle boosters range in price from $75 to $200.
So, be safe and stay connected with a cell phone signal booster. Wilson isn’t the only company that makes these boosters but they have been around for a long time and are highly trusted. I’ll certainly be picking one up in the near future. Anyone that works in remote areas and/or needs to upload secure company data from the field should have one.
Thanks for reading and I’ll see you in the field!
The Magic Cook fire-less cooking system.
I’m filing this little suite of devices in the “just plain cool” category. I’ll get right to it. The basic system includes a plastic cup or dish, an inner stainless steal container, an airtight plastic locking lid, and a water-activated heat pack. Simply place food, liquid, or even a frozen meal in the stainless steal container; put a heat pack in the plastic container; cover the heat pack with water; place the steal container in the plastic container and attach the lid.
It should take about ten minutes to cook soup, tea, and coffee. Instant noodles take 15 minutes. In 20 minutes you can have pasta and vegetables. Rice also takes about 20 minutes. Frozen food takes about 25 minutes.
The website for the product is not clear as to how much of an impact using very cold water versus warm water has on the heating cycle. Is the maximum temperature affected by the ambient or starting temperature of the water, or, does the water just take longer to get to boiling when really cold water is used? Either way, it’s pretty cool technology.
Uses
There is no doubt that something like this would be good in an emergency survival situation. Just the ability to boil water for purification purposes would come in handy. You could even build a small shelter in the winter and heat it up with steam from the boiling water. Sure, it wouldn’t last long, but, it might last long enough for you to get rescued.
There my be occasional uses for this product in the field on extended work-camping trips as well. The only limitation would be the heat packs you have to use to heat up the water. Just 10 packets costs $24.99 on the company website. It that means 10 dinners for one session then it might be worth it. $2.50 a day to cook your food means the difference between cold sandwiches and hot, tasty, pasta. I think I’m starting to come around.
Thanks for reading and I’ll see you in the field.
I recently saw a video from Geek Beat TV that included some great options for crews on long deployments in the field. Do you drive for hours to get to your field locations? Do you spend 8-10 days in the field at a time? Do you spend that time camping? If you work in the West then chances are the answer is yes.
The first device, a road safety light, is applicable to all situations. If you have a field vehicle then you should have something like this. The latter devices are for people and companies that have embraced a digital lifestyle.
The Video from Geek Beet called, “My Mobile Life Episode #116” is below. Check it out, then read on.
If the video doesn’t load you can find it here.
Eton Road Torq $20 to $30
A couple years ago my wife, also an archaeologist at the time, and I were returning to the office in a company vehicle when the left rear tire blew out on the interstate, in the dark, in the middle of a torrential down pour. Good times. There was just enough space to pull off the interstate and be safe while changing the tire. It would have been real handy to have the Eton Road Torq in our safety kit.
Ever have to get into something in the company safety kit only to find out that the batteries are dead, or, something is expired. Well, that’s why it’d be nice to have one of these devices. The Road Torq can be hand-charged with the side hand crank so you know it will always work. Just two minutes of cranking will give it ten minutes of flashlight and flashing beacon power. You can also charge it up prior to leaving with the DC input for extra long charges.
Well, that’s why it’d be nice to have one of these devices. The Road Torq can be hand-charged with the side hand crank so you know it will always work. Just two minutes of cranking will give it ten minutes of flashlight and flashing beacon power. You can also charge it up prior to leaving with the DC input for extra long charges.
The Road Torq stands up with three reflective legs and has a three-LED flashing beacon and a bright, LED, flashlight. At less than a pound (13.7 oz.) this device is a must for any company, or personal, road safety kit.
My Charge - $79 to $99
I discussed two other field battery packs before here and here. There is a suite of battery packs from this company that should fit most smartphone and tablet needs. The advantage to these power packs, as opposed to the Zagg Sparq and the Solio Bolt, is that they contain their own charging cords. Not all of them do, but some.
The Peak 6000, Summit 3000, and Portable Power Bank 6000 all contain charging and power cords which eliminates the need to carry extra cords. I’ve often found myself with one of my two battery packs but without a sync cord required to charge my device. That makes my power packs just extra weight. Get a myCharge Power Pack and you won’t have that problem.
HyperJuice 2 - $299.95
Now we’re in the big leagues. The HyperJuice series are a group of batteries that allow you to charge a laptop and two other devices, such as an iPhone and an iPad, many times over. The HyperJuice 2 will run a MacBook for up to 18 hours, an iPad for 34 hours, and the iPhone can be charged up to 19 times.
I’ve been on long camping trips for work and it was essential to use a laptop in the evening to download equipment. For hours on end the field supervisor had a gas generator running.and it was very annoying. If we only had to run it once every other day that would have been better. With these batteries you wouldn’t have to run the generator every day and that alone is worth it.
Options
The devices I’ve presented here have many uses. They are also only a few options among many on the market. When spending the amount of money that some of these things cost I highly suggest you figure out what your needs are and find something that suits them. It is easy to under or overestimate what your needs are. My inclination is to always overestimate what my needs are and get something that’s a little beyond what I currently need. That way I’m prepared for the inevitable upgrade cycle and my equipment will stay relevant for a little while longer.
What fun and useful tech do you use in the field? Leave a comment and let my readers and I know so we can all benefit from our collective knowledge and experience.
Thanks for reading and I’ll see you in the field.
Presenting the Fujitsu GPS Cane!
Boss coming out to visit your site? Is it a bit of a walk from the vehicle over rough terrain? Get him/her the new Fujitsu GPS Cane!
All kidding aside this prototype could have some real potential way down the road. When I say way down the road, I mean way down the road. I don’t want angry comments from old timers saying how this will never work. I think outside the box and I’m thinking this “cane” has some potential. Bear with me.
Imagine that the GPS sensor in the cane knows how long the cane is and where the tip of the cane is in relation to the sensor. Now imagine that there was a small pressure tip or something at the end of the cane. You might be able to go around a site and simply tap artifacts or site boundary points with the cane and have the information transmit to a tablet or base station.
Of course, I’m just hypothesizing and trying to jam this prototype into archaeological reality. You can't even buy this cane and it may never be available. It's fun to speculate, though. I’m an early adopter and proud of it. I like trying new things and making them work in new ways. Maybe we can start a fund where people give me money to try fun new tech! Right.
What uses can you see for this crazy tech? Do you think you'd use it to pick your way out to a site when you're a grizzled old salt? You go ahead-I'll be flying in on my jet pack.
Thanks for reading and I’ll see you in the field!
