Recycling computer stuff at Goodwill

I just took four monitors, a laptop that I formatted twice, 2 desktops without the hard drives and a big printer to Goodwill. Dell is very cool to partner with Goodwill to enable recycling of computer equipment

Smart phone while backpacking or hiking

I have the original Droid but I use Peter Alfonso's operating system instead of the stock one.  Seems to have extended the life of this but I am wanting to get an iPhone now after watching the Apple announcement about iOS5.  I already have a MacBook Pro and iPad 2 so I figured I was destined to have an Apple device as a phone.

I have a Spot Connect, which is a personal locator beacon that sends your location to a website that you can share with family and friends.  You can also export all your waypoints to Spot Adventures where you can include a description of your trip, pictures and videos.  Pretty cool and the device stays connected to my Droid through bluetooth.  I can send messages to my family and Facebook.  Most of my trips have been one and two day backpacking trips so my phone seems to last to the end of the trip.  I keep it in "Airplane Mode" most of the time and take a few pictures.  Sometimes when I'm on a high ridge, I'll put the phone into normal mode so I can text my family.

There is an app on my phone called "Backcountry Navigator Pro" and another called "GPS Status" where I can get my GPS coordinates and even see where I am on downloaded maps.  I'm afraid to use them when I'm on these trips because I think the GPS will drain my phone all the way.  I've been toying around with the idea of a solar charger.  I hate having awesome phone features for backpacking but being afraid of running out of battery life because I'm using all the cool features away from an AC outlet.

Just got some Bose speakers for my computer

Great price at Sam's and the sound (of course) is very good.

Steripen Adventurer Opti (Water purifier)

I guess this is becoming a electronic gadgetry blog. This product worked great when augmented with antibacterial wipes.

You fill up a 1 liter Nalgene or water container in the river or stream. Push the button once to purify a liter (quart). When the green light starts flashing, you stick the glass tip into the water up the handle, the UV light turns on (take the lid off first). You swirl the water every once in a while and 90 seconds later, all the bad stuff is dead by the ultraviolet light. I could never figure out how you killed the bacteria and viruses on the rim so I use antibacterial wipes on the rim, threads and inside of the cap of my Nalgene. I used it for 2 days while hiking Segment 3 of the Colorado Trail (http://www.spotadventures.com/trip/view/?trip_id=256318). At 4oz, it is a lot easier to use and a lot lighter than my pump type filters.

I had a little trouble at first, green light turning red. I think it was because I wasn't putting it into the water all the way up to the handle.

You can use the same device to kill the bad stuff in your water in 3rd world countries.