A good pair of in-ear phones: It’s impossible to overstate how valuable these are. Not only do they sound better than your stock earbuds, they dull the chorus of engine sounds, snores, baby cries and not-as-subtle-as-your-seatmate-thinks bean farts nearly as well as those Bose noise-cancelling phones some airlines hand out in first class. Look for the sound-isolating ones.

An iPod Touch: Yeah, I know, another iPod recommendation. Seriously though, perfect travel gadget: Video and music (and podcasts, sweet podcasts!) are travel must-haves, and games are a massive bonus. But what about apps to keep you busy or productive? White noise machines to put you to sleep? Internet access on the off chance your plane has free Wi-Fi? They’re From $268 at the Apple Store.

Timbuk2 Commute 2.0: It’s a solid gear bag, with more than enough space for a laptop, DSLR, various accessories and a phone or two, and it’s TSA compliant, meaning you can leave your laptop halfway inside your bag through airport security for a slightly less terrible experience. A medium-sized one retails for about $US100.

Some juice: Almost every gadget charges by USB nowadays, a habit that the Duracell Instant Charger will happily oblige. It’s most useful as an emergency phone charger, though it’ll work for almost anything. Officeworks sells them for $35.98.

If your travelling giftee is a Man of the World, consider the Kensington International USB Adaptor ($59.95). Here’s the theory: said traveller can plug almost whatever he wants into almost any wall socket, and charge his Duracell portable battery at the same time. MAXIMUM ELECTRICITY!

A stupid neck doughnut pillow: Because they’re awesome and anybody who says they
aren’t hasn’t slept on an airline cushion for eight hours. Plus, they’re cheap and easily found in any shopping centre.

Tethering: It’s a bit nerdy, and you might have some reservations about fiddling with someone else’s phone so much, especially given how sensitive carriers can be to this kind of thing, but if your traveller is aware of the risks, tethering is a wonderful gift. And not just wired or Bluetooth tethering – I’m talking Wi-Fi tethering, MiFi style (and without the extra contract, which would be a terrible gift). For the iPhone, this means a jailbreak. For Android, rooting. For Palm, enabling homebrew. For Windows Mobile, well, it may just be an app download. It can save money and headaches in hotels or airports with paid Wi-Fi, and it’ll be endearingly nerdy. Free!

Those laptop privacy shields: People will think you’re looking at porn if you’re using one of these, no matter how nice your suit is. Avoid, unless your traveller actually wants to look at porn.

Methanol cell chargers: They’re too expensive to recommend now, and it’s difficult to explain to customs how exactly they aren’t a dangerous explosive device. Why don’t you carry a normal battery like a non-scary human? Hmm?

All Giz Wants is our annual round-up of favourite gift ideas, including amazing attainable objects and a few far-out fantasies. We’ll be popping guides catered to different interests several times per day for the next week, so keep checking back.

Clearly, when one computer goes down in Salt Lake City and it drags down America’s entire air traffic system, something needs to be done. At any rate, if you’re in the US and you have a flight to catch today, make sure to check its status before heading to the airport. [AP]

Now, the FAA says the airlines need approval from the FAA’s hazardous materials division, and has asked them not to store spare lithium ion batteries for the readers on planes. A few airlines went through some special training to get the OK, but at least Delta and JetBlue don’t carry spares or charge the readers on board at all.

The current rate for gadgets exploding on planes is about one every four months, says a former NTSB dude. Which isn’t so bad, considering there are millions of flights happening in that time period. Still, I have the feeling this xkcd comic is going to stay funny for the reasons it’s funny now for like another year, max. [NYT]

If the shape didn’t tip you off, let me explain: Like those golf bag-shaped monstrosities you see on airport luggage turnstiles from time-to-time, the AeroTech is shaped like a collapsed bike. Because it’s meant to transport bikes in aeroplanes.

There’s room for two detached tyres/wheels and the frame, the pedals and space for other cycling goodies. Just be sure you’re carting around one of those lightweight aluminium or carbon fibre bikes in this thing — steel frame Huffy’s need not apply. [Likecool via Design Blog]

Two weeks ago I was in Japan. Now I know what you’re thinking. You’re saying to yourself, “Hold on Damo, you’re in Japan now. And you were in Japan two weeks ago? What’s the go?”. Well, true story. I was back in Sydney last week and am now back in Japan, but aside from severe jet lag and a wallet full of yen, it did give me a bit of an eye opener when it came to airline options.

My point is this. When I flew to Japan the first time, I flew Singapore Airlines economy on its A380 via Singapore. In the A380 you get massive 10.2-inch screens, power plugs in EVERY seat, USB ports in every seat and a huge selection of media. That’s not to mention that it feels a hell of a lot more spacious than your average economy cabin as it’s so big and you can freely walk from the top level to the bottom level.

It gets even better if you happen to live in Adelaide. While you may not get to fly the A380, Singapore Airlines sends its A330 there. Sure, it’s not quad-engined or double-decker, but in economy you can connect your iPod or iPhone to the screen and watch your content on the bigger screen. Economy!

For this trip to Japan I flew JAL (Japan Airlines). My flight actually took off from Brisbane and it was an older 767-300. Now, don’t get me wrong, a bad business class flight is still a good flight, but the seats were old, the screens were small, the media selection wasn’t that great and it was hard to connect to a power point. For this the price was almost 10 times what I paid for economy.

It seems to me that if you fly business, you really have to keep an eye out for the airline and the actual aircraft they deploy on that route. New economy really has outdone itself on a few airlines. I would much rather fly in the Singapore Airlines A380 (it’s heaven for tech buffs) in econo than an old aircraft in business just because I have more legroom. My view may differ on a flight more than 10 hours though. Would you choose new econo style or old business style? Do you perhaps look up airlines websites to see which aircrafts they deploy on the route first before booking? I know I do.

In JAL’s defence, its newly refurbished aircraft are quite the bomb. Oh, I just put bomb and aircraft in the same line… lucky I didn’t write this near the airport security gate. Hahahaha… You’re not laughing are you?

Damian Francis is the editor-at-large for Australian T3 and contributing technology editor for GQ Australia. He is in Japan as a guest of Toyota Australia.

The service, normally $US13 per flight, will now be open to all. It’s good news for Virgin travelers, and it will make booking flights to CES a bit easier, decision wise. Whether or not the equipment on Virgin’s planes can handle everybody hopping online at once, however, remains to be seen. [Google Blog via TechCrunch]

That’s because this steamer trunk has a secret — it doubles as a portable office worthy of the Titanic. That said, don’t let it sink because it costs almost four grand. [Mayfair via Boing Boing]

Watch our friend Mary Kirby getting all excited about the LTV3 in-flight TV system. I can’t blame her. It will expand the number of live TV channels in aeroplanes to two hundred. Coach potatoes, rejoice.

The catch: You will have to pay $US6 if you fly coach in Continental Airlines, which is currently installing the LTV3 system in their Boeing fleet. First class passengers, however, will get it for “free”. If you fly JetBlue, however, you will be able to get those 200 channels as soon as the content licensing gets done. [Runway Girl]

These airlines have overcome safety concerns that have kept phones off in the air before:

On-board equipment regulates the signals by routing them via satellite to the correct point on the ground. Passengers with standard international roaming service can make or receive calls or text messages just as they would on the ground. They are billed as usual by their mobile phone providers.

That’s all well and good, but just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. Allowing people to talk on their phones in the air will turn a quiet flight into 6 hours of being trapped next to some guy on a conference call. Luckily, Congress is working towards banning in-flight mobile phone use just for that reason. Please, please, please make that happen. In-flight Wi-Fi is amazing, but in-flight mobile phone use is the work of the devil. [NY Times]