Stay plugged in while traveling
TEXT OF INTERVIEW
Kai Ryssdal: There are, fundamentally, two schools of thought about summer travel and staying wired. There are the people who just want to unplug everything — the cell phone, the iPod, the computer — and be free. And those who take the opportunity to bring along the latest and greatest travel gear with ’em.
That, of course, made us think of Kevin Pereira from G4 television. Not only does he travel all the time, he jets about with all the gadgets he can get his hands on. So we asked him to come by and share some of his favorites. Kevin, I’ve gotta tell you, it’s been a while.
Kevin Pereira: It has been awhile. How are ya?
Ryssdal: I’m well. And just in time for summer vacation, you are here to give us the travel tips and the gadgets and all that good stuff that you play with all summer. What’s in the travel bag?
Pereira: I have a smattering of toys to bring with you on any road trip. First of all, being the first 3-D handheld camera. This is the Fujifilm Fine=Pix real 3-D, the W1.
Ryssdal: So 3-D camera?
Pereira: Yeah, so as you can see, if you slide it down and power it up, and you’ll see that there’s actually two lenses on it. So it’s snapping it an image for the left, snapping it an image for the right eye. And it puts them both together, and you can actually view the image on the back without needing any glasses.
Pereira, taking a photo:
Three, two… beautiful. Here it is.
Ryssdal: You know what, that’s making my brain hurt, ’cause it’s all fuzzy. Oh wait, no look. It’s a little bit like those kids stick-ons where you turn it one way and it’s one picture, and you turn it the other way and it’s another picture.
Pereira: It’s not supposed to need to be like that. The idea is that you’re supposed to look in the middle, and Fujifilms technology beams an image to the left eye and beams it to the right eye. And then you put the parallax effect which is what give you that 3-D effect together yourself. Some people either go “wow” or “ow.” I think you’re an “ow” guy.
Ryssdal: Yeah, I’m an “ow.” This is not quite ready for prime-time, but it’s is a cute idea. Now can you print this too?
Pereira: Fujifilm through their website, they’ll allow you to print out the sort of lenticular version of that photo so you can shift between the left and the right.
Ryssdal: How much is this bad boy going to set me back?
Pereira: Right now, they’re about $550.
Ryssdal: Alright, well, something in the audio realm is next I gather.
Pereira: Yeah, I’m showing off these ear buds by JH Audio. They’d probably slap me if I call them ear buds, ’cause that sounds like something you get at an impulse buy at the checkout stand. These are custom molded in-ear monitors. So I’ll hand you a pair here.
Ryssdal: I will slip off my big professional radio studio headphone things and slide these in.
Pereira: So these obviously will not be molded to your ear canal.
Ryssdal: I can’t even tell which one is right and which one is left.
Pereira: I can give you some audio through this if you wanna hear.
Ryssdal: Yeah, let’s give it a way.
Pereira: What’s on Kai’s playlist these days? If you were to smack “shuffle” on your iTunes, what would pop up?
Ryssdal: You know, a lot of Barenaked Ladies right now, actually.
Pereira: Barenaked Ladies? Alright well, I’m going to give you the first album that popped up.
Ryssdal: Alright, turn it up a little, Kevin, I can’t hear it man.
Pereira: Someone’s got a nightclub in their head right now.
Ryssdal: This is a lot of volume on these things! It’s really loud!
Pereira: That’s the point!
Ryssdal: They’re really comfortable, they’re nice. I’m going to venture a guess that they’re more than I can afford.
Pereira: Before I get to the price, I have to sell you on the technology, of course.
Ryssdal: Alright, go ahead.
Pereira: Normal earbuds have a single driver, which is the speaker that produces the sounds, and so whenever the bass drum hits, that speaker punches and it has to relax before it can force the next sound out. These earbuds here have 16 drivers inside of them. They go anywhere from $300 all the way to $1,100.
Ryssdal: That’s a lot for, like, listening to a podcast.
Pereira: It’s a ton. But if you’re serious about your music or if you’re a musician, these double as inner monitors for when you’re performing. And they’re a must for anybody who’s in to music.
Ryssdal: Alright, there you go. The last item. We’re a little handicapped here, because we don’t have wifi in this studio.
Pereira: So yeah, we’re a little left out. This is the Sony Dash. This is a personal Internet viewer, they’re billing it as.
Ryssdal: What does that mean?
Pereira: It’s basically a fancy… I brought you a thing called a Chumby, a long time ago. This is based off the Chumby platform. So it’s basically a widget-ready Internet device. Which means it has a touch screen, it can run thousands of applications that do everything from check the weather, display cooking recipes, show you the traffic, allow you to view all your friends photos from Flickr or see Twitter updates.
Ryssdal: So put it on the counter in the kitchen and…
Pereira: Kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, living room. That’s sort of the approach to a device like this.
Ryssdal: Once again, what’s it going to cost me?
Pereira: Two hundred bones!
Ryssdal: Really?
Pereira: Then you plug in your $1,000 ear buds into it and it sounds like a symphony. That’s all it takes.
Ryssdal: Kevin Pereira, G4 Television “Attack of the Show.” Kevin, as always good, to see you.
Pereira: Good to see you.
Ryssdal: I learn something every time you come to the studio man.
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