As you head out on your summer vacation —or any vacation —make sure you are prepared. Here is the actual gear that we pack up and take with us whenever we hit the road (or air).

We all bring tech on vacation. Having just returned from a spring trip, this is the gear that I brought with me —and recommend —that got me through a near week-long trip without hiccup.

Zendure SuperTank

The first we needed when heading out on our vacation was a reliable battery pack. This was going to be essential when we were in the car, in the air, or wherever we end up. We couldn’t guarantee we’d find power so a battery —and a big one at that —was crucial.

After our initial review of the Zendure SuperTank we knew this was the one we were going to bring along. It is massive —the largest allowed on planes —and had four ports including multiple USB-C. That was enough for us and our travel partners do ensure power for our phones, watches, cameras, tablets, and computers.

It is also quite small and portable compared to most other battery packs of this size. It slipped easily into the side of our bag and we were off.

After a wildly successful crowdfunding campaign, the SuperTank is now available to order for $99.

Nikon Z 7

Our iPhones are exceptional cameras. They get better each year with each new phone and each iterative iOS update. There are still times though when we want to get just the best images possible. Whether it is low light or a distant subject, we have to turn to our dedicated shooter.

For us, that camera is the Nikon Z 7. We reviewed this camera when it launched and what makes it so perfect for our vacations is the fact it is so compact. We need a camera that is far better than our iPhone but without bogging us down. Z 7 is a mirrorless full-frame camera that is small enough for us to bring with us while not being overly burdened.

It has a massive 47MP, a growing lineup of new Z lenses, in-body three-axis stabilization, 4K video, and much more. It pairs to your iPhone via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi which make it great to either transfer images after you shoot them for quick sharing or controlling from your iPhone to get the great selfie.

The Nikon Z7 is available from Nikon authorized reseller Adorama with no tax collected on orders shipped outside New York and New Jersey*.

B&H Photo and Amazon are also Nikon authorized resellers who sell the Z7.

Zendure SuperPort

With a giant battery like that you need a great charger. Luckily Zendure thought the same thing. The SuperPort is a four-part multi-charger capable of up to 100W of power output. The SuperTank allows for 100W in so they go great together and is the fastest possible way to power up your battery.

Unlike other multi-chargers from Anker, Satechi, RAVPower, or Aukey, Zendure took a different design approach. Rather than stacking all the ports on top of one another vertically then expect users to lay it on its side, Zendure started with a horizontal charger. It is flat and wide similar to an old MacBook Air external SuperDrive with all ports side by side. It is exceptionally convenient and easy to access.

When we travel, it seems we have more gear than ever that needs to constantly be charged. Our cameras, phones, smart watches, battery packs, tablets etc. Even if you go with the minimum for an Apple fan with just an iPhone and Apple Watch, if there are two of you (or more) you will need a few ports to utilize.

The four provided by SuperPort are great, two of which are super fast USB-C. That means we can leave our MacBook Pro charger at home and just rely on this for almost everything.

SuperPort 4 is also available to grab for $69. Don’t forget the 100W cable if you plan to charge your SuperTank at full speed though.

Insta360 OneX

If you are looking for more stylized photos and videos, we recommend the Insta360 One X.

This 360-degree camera shoots both photos and video and has a huge array of different effects. Create Matrix-inspired Bullet Time videos that appear as though time has frozen. Or sped up videos that slow down and rotate the camera’s perspective after the fact.

The intelligent software also is able to remove the selfie stick so it appears you are just standing there in front of the camera with nothing in your hand. This is a super fun device that we even took SCUBA diving with the added housing. Stay tuned for a more in-depth review soon.

It is available to purchase from Amazon for $399.

LaCie Copilot

Whenever you are traveling and taking pictures, you need a backup. The LaCie Copilot was co-developed in partnership with DJI. It allows you to easily clone and backup any SD card or USB enclosure to the internal drive. We always worry about losing our camera or our footage so being able to back it up with the Copilot is really reassuring.

It is ultra-rugged with the silicone enclosure so it is fitting for any adventure you take it on.

Grab a 2TB version on Amazon for $349.

Moment Lenses and Nomad case

If you don’t want to take a whole camera with you but still want to elevate your images, try pairing your phone with a lens. We travel using the Nomad Rugged Case on our iPhone XS Max and use several different Moment lenses in conjunction. They have a wide angle lens, a fisheye lens, a 2X tele lens, an anamorphic lens, and a macro lens.

Each lens can be mounted to either the wide-angle or tele lens of the iPhone which can produce some great images. For example, if you put the tele lens on your wide angle lens you get 2X zoom with a wider aperture which results in less grainy pictures.

The Superfish fisheye lens is also quite stylized and is great in tight spaces or expansive landscapes and nothing captures pictures quite like the ultra-wide anamorphic lens.

The Rugged Case from Nomad is available for $49.95 and Moment has a variety of lenses available from its site.

Tile Pro

Tile launched new trackers in the fall of 2018 including the new Tile Pro. Tile Pro is a great accessory to take on vacations to make sure you always have your gear with you. If you accidentally leave a bag behind, or your camera somewhere, Tile can help you find them.

The updated Tile Pro will work from over 300 feet away and is louder than ever. The battery is also replaceable so that you don’t have to worry about it dying on you.

Pick them up from Amazon.

HomeKit accessories

Smart home accessories aren’t always what you think of when you think vacation but they really do add a certain peace of mind. Leaving your home unattended can be worrysome if someone would break in or another emergency occurs and you aren’t aware.

There are three accessories for our home that best relieve that uncertainty.

First, the August third generation smart door lock. This HomeKit enabled lock not only gives you all the conveniences of a smart lock such as auto unlock as you approach, but you can be notified any time the lock is used.

If someone opens the front door, you will see that lock open regardless if its an intruder that picked the lock, a neighbor watering your plants, or a maintenance person coming to do a repair. Regardless, it is always nice to know when your door is locked or unlocked —and that you can unlock it if someone needs to get in. It is available on Amazon for less than $200.

We dig the HomeKit-enabled Circle 2 from Logitech. It comes in at around $170 and is a great value for the features. It is water resistant so you can place it outside your home or you can place it inside and always know what is going on.

The last home-monitoring accessory we have is a HomeKit smoke detector such as that from First Alert. The OneLink Smart Smoke Detector will alert you wherever you are if smoke or CO should be dected in your home. That that point you can jump on your security camera to see what’s happening or unlock the door for a neighbor or friend to get inside —assuming whatever is happening is minor enough you don’t need to immediately call emergency services.

Peak Design Travel Bag 45L

If there is one accessory we’d be hardpressed to go without it is the Peak Design travel bag. There are several bags they put out such as the Everyday Backpack or Everyday Messenger but for a vacation we pack up our 45L Travel Bag.

This giant backpack has several optional packing cubes that you can store your camera, clothes, shoes, tech accessories, and toiletries in which fit right into the bag. There are countless handles and hooks to clip on additional gear, straps that can be tucked away and hidden, expanding pockets for water bottles or small tripods, and much more.

it is a brilliantly designed bag that can fit everything we need and still fit under an airplane seat.

Grab it, or any of the packing cubes, on Amazon.

By Ian Boudreau 27 May 2019

Spoilers ahead: A new Ubisoft IP appears to have been leaked ahead of its E3 2019 reveal. It’s called “Roller Champions” and is based on the sport, roller derby. The game has seemingly been confirmed for the Switch, after assets for the Nintendo controller layout were reportedly discovered alongside the following image of an Xbox controller:

This information comes from a private test which was supposedly conducted earlier this month. Other assets reveal an E3 logo, suggesting a more official announcement is on the way, and there are also screens of the game along with some early loading screen footage. Here’s a look at the main menu:

According to one of the sources, the game runs on Unity, will include quick play matches, ranked matches, custom matches, tournaments and is online only. There are a bunch of sound options as well – including a streamer mode – and the gameplay options menu includes two different aiming modes.

What do you make of this? Would you like to see this released on the Switch? Leave a comment down below.

Physics-based tactics game Totally Accurate Battle Simulator and minimalist city builder Islanders were two of Steam’s best-selling new releases in April, according to data from Valve.

Keen to spotlight the “wide variety of styles, genres, and themes,” that find success on Steam, Valve compiled a list of the top 20 best-selling new releases for April, and it makes for interesting reading.

“To generate this list, we started by enumerating all the games released between April 1 and April 30. We then looked at revenue earned by each of those games in the first two weeks following that game’s release,” said Valve, explaining its methodology.

“From that list, we took the top 20 games by revenue to make our final list. Finally, we sorted the 20 games by release date.”

Although it’s disappointing that Valve hasn’t shared any revenue numbers or unit sales, it’s still fascinating to see what’s selling on the company’s massive digital storefront. You can check out the full list below.

Top Steam Releases of April 2019 (Sorted by Release Date)

• Totally Accurate Battle Simulator (Landfall)
• Super Dragon Ball Heroes World Mission (Dimps Corporation, Safari Games)
• Islanders (GrizzlyGames)
• MarZ: Tactical Base Defence (doorfourtyfour)
• Supraland (Supra Games)
• Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy (Capcom)
• Vacation Simulator (Owlchemy Labs)
• Zanki Zero: Last Beginning (Spike Chunsoft)
• Pathway (Robotality)
• Weedcraft Inc (Vile Monarch)
• Staxel (Plukit)
• One Finger Death Punch 2 (Silver Dollar Games)
• Forager (HopFrog)
• Pagan Online (Map Head Games)
• Katana ZERO (Askiisoft)
• Driftland: The Magic Revival (Star Drifters)
• Paper Dolls Original (Beijing Litchi Culture Media)
• Mortal Kombat 11 (NetherRealm Studios)
• Imperator: Rome (Paradox)
• Mordhau (Triternion)

Earlier this month, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley announced plans to introduce legislation that would prohibit the sale of loot boxes and other “pay-to-win” monetization mechanics in the United States, and now he’s drafted up a proposed bill explaining how he’d achieve that goal.

As reported by Polygon, the proposed bill (which can be viewed online here) would serve to “regulate certain pay-to-win microtransactions and sales of loot boxes in interactive digital entertainment products.”

The document explains exactly what that would  mean for game developers and publishers. For starters, it defines a “pay-to-win” transaction as an add-on that “eases a user’s progression through content otherwise available within the game without the purchase,” or one that “assists a users in accomplishing an achievement within the game that can otherwise be accomplished without.”

Loot boxes, meanwhile, are defined as add-ons that “unlock a feature of the product or adds to or enhances the entertainment value of a product in a randomized or partially randomized fashion.” Those definitions mean content such as story DLC, paid-for cosmetic items, and other such one-time purchases would be exempt from the new regulations.

The proposed bill would specifically prohibit the sale of microtransactions and loot boxes in “minor-orientated games,” which it defines as “an interactive digital entertainment product for which the target audience is individuals under the age of 18.”

It would also make it unlawful for game publishers and distributors to release minor-oriented titles that include pay-to-win microtransactions or loot boxes, or add them to an existing title.

The legislation would also prohibit the publication or distribution of games containing pay-to-win microtransactions or loot boxes where there’s “constructive knowledge” that any users are under the age of 18.

That places the burden on publishers and distributors to ensure their games — even those targeted at people over the age of 18 — aren’t falling into the hands of minors, raising questions about the inclusion of loot boxes and microtransactions in mature-rated titles like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto, which have a tendency to find their way into the hands of minors.

“While it is true that a large proportion of game players are adults, even games with predominantly adult player bases – including games marketed primarily to adults – tend to have enormous appeal to children,” wrote Hawley in an FAQ on his website.

“The onus should be on developers to deter child consumption of products that foster gambling and similarly compulsive purchasing behavior, just as is true in other industries that restrict access to certain kinds of products and forms of entertainment to adult consumers.”

Legally speaking, the “constructive knowledge” clause would likely make it easier for regulators to build cases against companies perceived to be in violation of the proposed bill, as Georgetown Law professor Angela Campbell explained to Polygon.

“Constructive knowledge requires the operator to make reasonable inferences and at least in some cases, investigate,” said Campbell.

“For example, the operator of a social media service that says in its terms of service that it is only for use by persons over age 13, and yet anyone who uses the service can see that many young children use it to post videos of themselves, would have constructive knowledge that children were on the service. It probably would have actual knowledge as well, but actual knowledge is harder to prove.”

You can find out more about the proposed bill checking it out for yourself over on Scribd. It’s also worth having a read of Hawley’s FAQ, as there are more details, definitions, and caveats included there.

Game Freak has shared a new video on its YouTube channel featuring director Junichi Masuda talking about the development of the original Pokémon games as well as the puzzle game Yoshi – also known as Mario & Yoshi in Europe and Yoshi’s Egg in Japan.

For starters, most people to this day still don’t know the classic puzzler for NES and Game Boy was developed by Game Freak, simply because there are no end credits. Masuda further explained how it was Ken Sugimori who came up with the gameplay and the development team wanted to add a “realistic sounding” Yoshi voice but was ultimately knocked back by Nintendo. Many players have probably also noticed how the items in the main menu bop up and down, which was something Masuda programmed into the game himself.

The conversation shifted to storage capacity limitations and this is when Masuda began to reflect on how the development team of the original Pokémon games had quite a lot of “fun” due to the fact pocket monster names (in Japanese) had a 5-character limit. Certain tricks were also required to get all 151 Pokémon voices in the game and if it wasn’t for the fact he was the main programmer of these games, Masuda believes he would have likely been told off.

Did you learn anything new about these classic Nintendo titles? Reminisce about these simpler times in the comments below.

If you still have fond memories of the original Perfect Dark game on the Nintendo 64, you’ll likely be interested to hear Totaku has announced a figurine based on the Carrington Institute agent, Joanna Dark.

This particular figurine is expected to join the series later on this year in September and follows on from the previous Rare entries, Banjo-Kazooie and Conker. To ease any concerns about this model, it’s based on Joanna’s original design and is packing a Falcon 2 standard-issue pistol equipped with a scope. Here’s a description from the Totaku website:

The year is 2023, and mega-corporations rule the world. As a freshly-qualified agent of the Carrington Institute, Joanna Dark must infiltrate the mysterious dataDyne Corporation and uncover its dark secrets: a dangerous superweapon, alien intelligence and a global conspiracy that threatens to destroy all mankind.

Will you be making some space on your shelf for this agent? Do you still revisit Perfect Dark on the Nintendo 64? Tell us below.