traveling

Why spend a couple grand on an in-dash navigation system when you can get a portable, better-equipped GPS for a fraction of the price?

To wit, TigerDirect has the refurbished Garmin Nuvi 1490T 5-inch GPS with lifetime traffic for $99.99, plus $2.29 for shipping.

Don't let the refurbished part bother you. Garmin backs the Nuvi with a full one-year warranty, which is the same as new units. And you get a free map update when you register the device, so you don't have to worry about outdated maps. This is, in my humble opinion, good as … Read more

It takes a lot to excite three seasoned gaming writers independently at a single show, and it looks like Bioshock Infinite has pulled the trifecta. Big, bold, and highly hyped, Irrational and 2K Games' prequel to the Bioshock universe is undoubtedly one of the most exciting games at all of E3 2011. Here's why.

Scott: I'm rarely excited about E3 games. I hate genre repetition. I don't like the endless flow of shooters and racers and fighters, the summer-movie-cliche money-shot explosions, the tacky dialogue.

However, once in a long while, a game comes along that has a big imagination. So big that it seems to challenge the perceiver, and bend the mind. Consider my mind bent, because BioShock Infinite seems to get ever more bizarre, epic, and richly detailed every time I see it.

The E3 closed-door demo of the game is hard to describe. We couldn't play the game--we only watched a 20-minute controlled playthrough--but what we saw had the scope, drama, and surprise to rival most of Hollywood's output. Early 20th century floating isolationist city in an alternate steampunk universe. Psychic powers, mechanical robot birds, gangs of political deviants, roller-coaster rail systems--yes, check. There are also endless clever and creepy historical details akin to what filled the original BioShock, such as a decaying gift shop filled with presidential forefather marionettes, dangling their decaying limbs from the ceiling.… Read more

Many thanks to everyone who commented and wrote in regarding Friday's "PC or Mac?" post. The response was tremendous, and for the most part quite civil--surprising given the holy-war history of the question. (They're just computers, people!)

The hard truth is that I write about Windows (and Windows-related products) for a living, so I can't fully abandon the platform. But as soon as my budget allows, I'm going to bring a Mac into the house and see what all the fuss is about. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, it's hard to pass up … Read more

Another three-day weekend is upon us--time to disconnect, get out into the wilderness, and leave all those gadgets behind. Well, except for your smartphone, of course. These days, for me at least, an Android device is more valuable than a Swiss Army knife, even in backcountry areas where there's no hope of a finding a single bar of roaming service. But you'll need to do a little bit of preparation and hit the Android Market before you go. Here's my list of key tips and apps to turn your Android device into a digital command center for all you long-weekend warriors. … Read more

My theory about GPS navigation systems goes like this: the bigger the screen, the easier it is to read, and the less time you have to spend focusing your eyes on it instead of the road. Again, it's just a theory.

Big-screen models used to cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars (and many still do), but TigerDirect has the Magellan RoadMate RM1700 7-inch GPS for $99.99, plus $3 for shipping. That's after applying coupon code EQB31039 at checkout. (Note: I first spotted this deal yesterday, so I'm not sure how long the code will be live.)… Read more

A quick housekeeping note: If you're a subscriber to the Cheapskate newsletter (scroll down a bit to find it), you probably noticed that after the holidays, the frequency dropped off to twice weekly. Well, I'm happy to report that the Cheapskate will once again be landing in your inbox daily! Estimated arrival time: 10 a.m. PT.

That said, I still urge you to visit the blog directly whenever you get to your computer in the morning. Sometimes, through no fault of my own (ahem), a deal is already sold out or expired by the time the e-mail … Read more

TVFoodMaps for Android is essentially a GPS guided tour of all the restaurants featured on your favorite Food Network and Travel Channel shows. For self-proclaimed food enthusiasts, it is a veritable treasure trove of eating advice.

Launch TVFoodMaps, enable GPS, and watch the app immediately get to work searching for notable restaurants in your vicinity. Then choose to view results in either a map view or a list view, which notes distance from your location as well as the titles of the shows that featured each restaurant. Click on an item to see additional details, including the name of the … Read more

We had only been in Buenos Aires for a few hours last month when my wife and I realized that our Spanish-English dictionary and Latin America phrasebook were still sitting on a bookshelf back at home. "Not cool," my wife said simply.

So I made a trip to El Ateneo, one of the biggest and certainly most beautiful bookstores south of the Panama Canal and picked up the only paperback dictionary in the house--a thick, clunky volume with a neon orange cover meant for speakers of Mexican Spanish, which is quite different from the Argentine dialect.

After a few times stopping in the middle of a crowd to pull out the big, glowing book, I became worried that I might inadvertently start directing traffic; I quickly retired the dead-tree translation method and started looking for a less conspicuous, digital solution. I found three top contenders, each with their own pros and cons. Here's the rundown. … Read more

While on a trip in Washington, D.C., I came across a situation where I needed Internet for several devices, but the hotel where I was staying charged a substantial fee for Internet for each device. To help alleviate the financial situation, I enabled Internet Sharing on my MacBook Pro, effectively creating a Wi-Fi network for the rest of my devices.

Here's the basics on setting up a Wi-Fi network via Internet Sharing on your Mac. There are a few things to keep in mind with the steps here. First, I am using a late 2010 MacBook Pro with … Read more