GADGETS: For The Road Warrior

By M H Ahssan

One need not be a statistician to appreciate the fact that the average time spent by a city-dweller travelling by road has gone up exponentially in the past few years. Growth of suburbs and a resultant shift in commercial and residential complexes to the outskirts of cities, explosion in traffic and poor quality of roads mean one ends up spending at least four-five hours on road every day. To stay in touch with work, office, friends and still emerge fresh as a lily out of your car at the end of a gruelling journey is a necessity not an option. True, you have the latest GPS navigation system, the most plush leather upholstery and an uber cool music system in your car, but all that is so yesterday. Today, a number of other smart and intelligent options are available to help you not just navigate but emerge a winner in the battle on the road.

Those with chauffeur-driven cars do not have a problem. But if you are driving yourself then juggling between keeping an eye on the road and on the mails that keep streaming in on your Blackberry or smartphone can be a Herculean task. It can even compromise your and your car’s safety. Cut that risk out. Go for an iLane. Developed by Canadian auto electronic company Intelligent Mechatronic Systems, this in-car device lets you manage your phone with simple voice commands. Once synchronised, you do not have to pick up your handset to read mails or SMSes. Through a speaker system the iLane reads out mails, news, stockmarket reports, SMSes and also takes dictations for replying to mails. Based on the company’s proprietary technologies, which combine mechanical engineering, electronic controls, detection sensors and computational intelligence, devices such as these are aimed at making vehicles safer and smarter. In fact, you will actually have to exercise some caution before speaking to this device. A simple voice command “delete” is all it will take to delete a mail from your phone. Think before you speak.

At the end of an arduous two-hour drive is a meeting that will make or break your career. You have everything at stake, including your back, which threatens to go stiff after long periods of sitting in one position. Instead of regretting having left the prayer book at home, get hold of a portable car seat massager to keep your back in shape. Your Panasonic and Layzboy massage chairs occupy too much of space even at home, but massagers meant for cars are lightweight and can be conveniently strapped on to the seat. Some also come equipped with heat option and can massage the neck, back, hips and thighs. Most of them work on vibrations and help ease tension in muscles. A hand-held remote lets you select areas where you need a massage and choose the speed of vibration. Some cushion seats come filled with special gel for that extra comfort in the lumbar region, infrared heat and memory foam apart from vibrating massage. Based on Dr Scholl’s proprietary technology, these chairs massage via six motors in three different zones and use long light waves for infrared heat to penetrate muscles. All the massagers can be plugged into the car’s lighter socket. Using advanced thermo-electric technology, some massage cushions also come with cooling options and can cool up to 40 degrees Fahrenheits below the ambient temperature to keep your back and legs cool in hot weather.

All work and no play makes jack a dull boy. in between managing phone mails if you also want to tune in to your ipod or the FM radio then there are ways to manage all three together via bluetooth. A number of small handy devices from companies such as Belkin, Parrot and Venturi Mini, all costing between Rs 3,000 and Rs 7,000, are now available in the market. These can be plugged into a car’s cigarette lighter socket and they use the FM transmitter to play on unused channels. They integrate your ipod, and in some cases also your mobile phone, with the car’s stereo system so that whether it is a phone call or the music from your personal player, the audio output is via the car’s speaker system, that is, you hear the caller through the stereo system or your own ipod music through any of the unused FM channels. The entire vehicle is converted into a bluetooth zone. The music automatically stops when a call comes and all you have to do to switch to the call is press a little button. Ford is the first company that will soon come out with integrated bluetooth syncs in all its cars.

Driving back home after a hard day’s work can be tiring. If you are a television freak and miss being home on time for your favourite show, then go for car television. Television in car has now become a reality with Dish TV’s direct-to-car satellite service. There are movies on demand and a whole lot of other options to choose from. But if watching movies while being stuck in a traffic jam at night is what you really want, then the best option is to get hold of a portable Blu-Ray player from Panasonic. The advantage of this player over a regular DVD player is that it is far superior in quality, with high definition capability. The Blu-Ray format also has a much greater compression capability and can store more than five times the data stored on a DVD. If a DVD stores three movies, a Blu-Ray disc will have 15. This means a much wider choice of movies on a single disc. The iconic US television series Star Trek is now available with stunning results on Blu-Ray. So are the latest movies such as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Last but not the least is to take care of your dietary requirements while setting forth on what might be a long journey by road. While cold water can always be carried in a flask and sandwiches packed in a box, other beverages such as soft drinks, beer or wine require refrigeration for an optimally cool temperature. Many luxury cars these days come fitted with compact chilling, but if your car does not have one then all you have to do is to check out the various options available in the market — ranging between Rs 3,500 for a 14 litre box and Rs 8,000 for 22 litres. A 14 litre refrigerator can pack in 19 cans of 500 ml capacity or two 1.5 litre bottles — enough supply for one person for a day. The best part is that these chillers work on 12 volt DC car battery, don’t use either gas or compressors and are absolutely noise-free. Single-bottle wine and beer chillers are also available for those who cannot do without a cool mug in hot afternoons. The chillers can also be used to store essential medicines while travelling.

Who doesn’t know a laptop is not actually meant to be kept on the lap? It can inflict some serious damage to body functions if used thus. Having a proper stand to work on it in the car is not a gimmick but a necessity. Simple foldable stands that can be strapped on to the back of the front seats, and which open out much like the tables in an airplane, are one of the simplest options. Sturdier, adjustable, single-rod iron stands that can be fixed anywhere in the car are another. Strap-on lamps that help provide optimum light on the laptop are also a must. But the best in this category are Car Go Desks, which are made by a company of the same name in the US. With retractable handles and wheels, these desks open up to reveal a number of hidden compartments which can be used not just to keep the laptop, but also other peripherals, files and papers. There is a slide-out writing surface plus a 400-watt power inverter inside the desk, which can keep your laptop and other things charged throughout the journey.