I’ve switched from Etymotic ER6′s to Shure ER3c’s. One of the earplugs on the Ety’s broke after getting yanked from my ear, and was never the same. The Shure’s have the same noise-suppressing capabilities, slightly better sound, and are more durable and less prone to tangling. They are also NOT WHITE, which in certain cities is a very good thing indeed as they don’t scream “Steal this iPod!”

Speaking of iPods, for the last six months I’ve also been using a Sony Ericsson Walkman phone, the W810i. It’s a pretty nice little piece, and means that I don’t have to carry a phone, iPod, voice recorder, PDA and small digital camera around (or remember to keep them all charged or carry chargers for them). With a 2GB card (extra), 2mega pixel camera, and syncing to my Mac, it’s all covered. It’s a world phone, and the UI is pretty good. I wrote up a lengthy review: http://tinyurl.com/yv7z6l It is not a replacement for something like the Canon camera you mention in today’s post however.

With the space freed up by all those gadgets, you can now also fit in an inflatable Eagle Creek lumbar support for those long plane/train/bus rides

http://www.learningcenter.sony.us/assets/pa/prs/index.html?sssdmh=dm11.90805&hqs=learn

http://www.eluxury.com/browse/product_detail.jhtml?SectionID=6000&styleid=10724619
saw this one today carried by some guy when i was out for lunch.

the next bag thing i guess.

Etymotic ER6i headphones – in-ear phones that are super light weight and which don’t require batteries. Superb sound quality and ambient sound isolation. These fit me better personally than the Shure equivalents, but many people like those. I wrote about these on my blog: http://tinyurl.com/q2gor

iGo Universal Power Adaptor: Only one charger to carry around for laptop, iPod, cellphone, camera, etc. Not cheap, but worth it to avoid dongle overload. http://www.igo.com/

My preference: A months worth of “New Yorker” magazines. You never have time to read them cover to cover at home anyway, they travel light, you can always find something within an issue to meet your fancy/mood/level of fatigue, and (best of all) you can leave them in the seatback when you’re done.

- a mini maglite
- a fisher space-pen
- a baseball cap – beneficial in summer and winter + great on the plane to pull down over your eyes (much better than any of those eye covers they give you in case you are a little claustrophobic like me)
- extra bottle of water

Anyway, what i thought of as an abstract idea, you have illuminated in a single post. Frank Herbert explored the idea of detailed noticing and scanning quite a bit in his “Dune” series. As an application it is much more subtle, but as you mentioned in “Noticing 101″, the ability to view a situation from a 360 degree perspective with a peculiar attention to detail, has become invaluable in any profession. Medicine and Law may rely on it, but business, art, and construction can obviously benefit as well. Instead of increasing our extrinsic knowledge of our job, we should tap into our intrinsic qualities of awareness and curiousity.

Great blog! I’m looking forward to future posts

Newegg sells a 1 GB Flash drive for $20 that is small enough to keep inside your wallet. It’s about the size and weight of a paperclip.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820155006
Load up on stickware apps at Portable Freeware: http://portablefreeware.com/

This blog post on Ishbadiddle outlines the stuff I carry around with me. http://triptronix.net/ishbadiddle/archives/2005/07/08/16.57.58/ Not all of it useful for int’l travel. I highly recommend both the PakLite and the Photon Freedom Microlight.

The 43 Folders wiki has several lists of “thing to carry.” http://wiki.43folders.com/index.php/Things_to_carry

My favourite anthropologist, ethnographer and business consultant Grant McCracken shares some advice on the perfect consultants bag.
Those who know me are aware that I have devoted a lot of time researching for the perfect bag. I will write abou…