Category Archives: Technology

Top 8 Luxury Travel Gadgets for a Sailing Holiday Part I (From Guest Blogger Fraser Strand)

Whether you’re touring around the BVI on a Catamaran, or to the Bahamas on a luxury super-yacht, make sure you’re prepared with these  8 must-have gadgets. Whether functionality is your main criteria or you just fancy the latest quirky gizmo, we give you the lowdown on next year’s top ten exciting gadgets:

1. Pebble portable charger

If you are embarking on an intrepid voyage or you think you might be away from a power socket for several days then the Pebble Portable Charger is the ideal travel accessory.  Retailing at only £39.99, this heavily anticipated gadget has enough power to charge your phone 4 times over.  This serious and essential bit of kit can charge anything from an iPhone, iPod to any other USB-friendly gizmo.  What’s also great is that it is compact, highly functional and will even tell you how much charge you are on.

2. Breitling Transocean Chronograph

Wherever you are in the world, don’t lose track of time.  Breitling’s stunning Transocean Chronograph Unitime 18-carat Rose Gold Chronograph watch is an indispensable travel gadget.  This luxury Swiss watch made by watchmaking supremo Breitling reinstates their reputation as a leading luxury Swiss watch brand.  This timepiece is a harmonious marriage of spectacular engineering, exquisite design with the finest materials.

The most exciting feature of this watch is its ability to show the time in all 24 time zones at the same time, an innovative and highly practical characteristic.  Made from Rose Gold this watch oozes luxury and sophistication.  It is also made with 56 jewels, has a minimum power reserve of 70 hours and glare-proof scratch resistant sapphire crystal as well as being water resistant to 100 metres-perfect if you are going sailing or scuba diving.  The Unitime has a stunning brown crocodile leather strap with a rose gold pin & buckle.

3. Apple iPad

An iPad.  I know it might be a cliched option but there is a reason why Apple remain at the forefront in terms of technology as their extensive portfolio of gadgets and gizmos are not only exciting and practical but also affordable.  The key features of the iPad are the truly wondrous, crystal clear display, the processor, the cameras and the wireless connection.  All these features work together to create a magnificent experience for the user and with 10 hours battery life, this will give you ample quality time with your Apple gadget.  Discover a world capable of so much more than you ever imagined.  With so many exciting features built-in, watch a movie, read your favourite newspaper, magazine or even a best-seller, send messages or check your emails – the options are endless and with over 275,000 apps to choose from, there is something for everyone.

If the iPad is too big for your liking then the iPad mini has all the same features of its counterpart but is more compact, fitting into the palm of your hand.

 4. Izzi Orbit

Transform your iPhone with an Izzi Orbit.  This state of the art camera accessory is the latest and greatest way to jazz up your iPhone.  It features 3 lenses: the Fish Eye, Wide Angle and Telephoto options to enable you to create an extensive and diverse portfolio of images.  These skillfully crafted lenses will revamp your iPhone in no time allowing you to take high quality, wide, super zoomed photos, quirky angles and dramatic perspectives.  The newest addition to iPhone photography and a must-have travel accessory, invest in an Izzi Orbit to ensure you capture the greatest moments of your holiday.

Author Bio

Fraser Strand is an avid technology writer with a passion for traveling and sailing around the world. On his own blog (UK Gadget Review) he writes about luxury watches, premium sailing gear, and innovative technology.

 

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Environmentally Friendly Luxury Yacht Charter on “Island E Motion”

With global warming and the production of greenhouse gases both attracting huge media attention, Swiss company MCM and Future Island of Australia have joined together to create “Island E Motion” – a truly unique, environmentally friendly luxury motor yacht which is said to encompass “sustainable luxury at its best”.

Designed by Swiss duo Milena Cvijanovich and Dennis Muller, Island E Motion is based on the idea of creating a sustainable luxury lifestyle by “harnessing the power of the wind, the sun and the waves.”  It has an ecological footprint that is up to 60% lower than that of more traditional yachts.

Built as part of the ‘Floating Island’ series, the yacht is made from recycled materials and is powered through the use of alternative energies. This includes a combination of thermal and electronic solar panels and the use of both wind and wave energy. The yacht also uses an advanced propeller technology with liquefied natural gas, a recycled water circuit filter for collecting rainwater and a specially-designed desalination system. Bubbles generated by forcing air underneath the vessel reduce friction, meaning that it requires lower amonts of energy to propel her forward.

Cvijanovich and Muller have managed to create an environmentally friendly yacht without compromising on luxury and design. Guests can enjoy a truly luxurious experience within in a natural environment that includes permaculture vegetation such as grass and palm trees, and sandy beaches.

Island E Motion features a large dining room for twenty-four guests, several lounge areas, spas, a gymnasium, massage room, home cinema, library, and indoor/outdoor bars. The larger model, which offers private helipads and a swimming pool, is perfect for hosting big events such as fashion shows and art exhibitions.

A percentage of the profits made by Island E Motion will be donated to the Global Life on Water (GLOW) foundation – a side project that is looking into the construction of floating hospitals.

Other recent environmentally friendly yacht designs include the E-Max Ultra Green Pure Care Carrier by Sauter Carbon Offsets Design and Project Atlas, a joint collaboration between H2 Yachts and Laurent Gilles Superyacht Designs.

For more information on chartering a luxury yacht, please have a look at our website or send an email to [email protected].

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Boatbookings reaches 1 million visits in 2012

We are proud to announce that charterers and yachting enthusiasts have visited Boatbookings.com over 1 million times this year, a new record for us.  People come to Boatbookings to charter yachts of course, and also for our itineraries, charter advice, destination guides, technology suggestions, and our famous route planner that allows you to plan the distance, fuel consumption and course of virtually any itinerary.

While 1 million visits is an important milestone for us, we know it is just the beginning – we have plenty of new content, yachts, features and site functionality coming in the next few months. Stay tuned to this blog for all the news.

And, of course, thanks for visiting!!

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Steve Jobs Custom Luxury Yacht Charter Feadship Unveiled

Just over a year after his death, the luxury motor yacht that Apple founder Steve Jobs commissioned and helped to design has finally been completed and launched in the Netherlands.Described by some as looking like a “floating Apple Store”, the custom built 80m (260ft) Feadship is named VENUS, after the Roman goddess of love.

Job’s biographer, Walter Isaacson, suggests that Jobs became almost obsessed with the yacht in the months leading up to his death. Jobs is quoted as saying “I know that it’s possible I will die and leave Laurene [his wife] with a half-built boat. But I have to keep going on it. If I don’t, it’s an admission that I’m about to die.”

Designed in collaboration with French product designer Philippe Starck, VENUS is now a posthumous testament to the sleek and crisp white designs that became synonymous with Apple during Job’s time as head of the company. While Starck denies that there is any relation between the design of this yacht and Apple (he insists that the electronics company and a boat of this size are completely different), he does admit that VENUS “is a Steve Jobs work”.

Jobs had asked the chief engineer of the Apple Stores to design a special glass that would allow 10-foot-high windows while also providing the necessary structural support. Apple also provided 7 24-inch iMac’s to be set up on the bridge of the yacht, among other Apple equipment.

The Jobs’ family reportedly attended the launch of the yacht and gave a customised iPod Shuffle to everybody who helped with the build, as a thank you for their ‘hard work and craftsmanship.’

With their ability to custom build yachts to exacting owners specifications, Feadship has been a major force creating the super yacht market as we know it today. The company has built over 200 yachts since it was founded in 1949, releasing an average of just 4 or 5 new yachts a year.

In addition to the Apple founder, Feadship has built a 200-foot yacht for Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in 1996 as well as custom yachts for Chelsea owner Roman Abramovic, founder of the Ford Motor Company Henry Ford, and Malcolm Forbes of Forbes magazine.

If you are interested in chartering a Feadship yacht (or any other type of yacht) then please see here or email [email protected].

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Luxury Charter Yacht Gadgets, including an Amphibious Quadbike!

Keeping with our recent theme of James Bond style gossip, our latest blog covers all of the best luxury yachting gadgets to have. Not only is this to coincide with the upcoming release of Skyfall but with Christmas coming soon, we thought this would be a great chance to start having a think about those all important presents.

Amphibious Quadbike

Just imagine – your yacht docks somewhere, and you hop on a jetski to land. When you get to land, you don’t get off the jetski, but it turns into a quadbike, with which you can go exploring. We’re completely in awe by this new gadget, made by Gibbs Sports Amphibians, and is called Quadski.

Top iPhone Yachting Apps:

Yachting Weather

Yacthing Weather is a great app for Captains, sailors, or anyone interested in the weather on the waters. It’s a great application that we’ve been using for some months now, and each update just gets better and better. It gives you all the information you would need to plan your charter, from temperature, wind direction and speed, wave height, wave length, wave period, storm risk, precipitation risk, humidity, pressure. It’s a great weather app in general, not only useful for those on the water.

Available for free, we highly recommend trying the app out!

Compass Eye – Marine Navigation and Bearings

Compass Eye is another great iPhone app, available at £2.99, that works with real-time camera and map views, bearing markers and an 8x zoom. Compass Eye is a fun way to make sure of your bearing. As most compass apps rely on a horizontal bearing and work only on that angle, but Compass Eye works on any angle or with any orientation, with the use of the camera.

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