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Protect your personal data and computer contents from being indefinitely confiscated upon entry to the US by removing your laptop hard drive and mailing it ahead. Newly released policy documents from the Department of Homeland Security make clear that,

Federal agents may take a traveler’s laptop computer or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing.

Many travelers have been shipping their luggage to avoid airline fees, but the fees for international travel are still prohibitively expensive. The cheapest option is to remove your laptop hard drive and mail it back a day or two before you return to the US.

The cost is approximately $75 for UPS and FedEx, but you’re sure to keep your data safe in case your laptop gets confiscated at the airport. Mailing your hard drive carries its own risks so always do the following.

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Increase the security of your wireless connections and bypass international blocks of websites by downloading Hotspot Shield. The program connects you to the Hotspot Shield virtual private network (VPN) located in the US potentially getting you around regional blocks of popular websites.

Netflix for example doesn’t allow users to access their “play now” feature which lets you watch movies in your queue on your PC. A connection through the Hotspot Shield VPN will trick this and many other websites into thinking you’re located in the US.

This hack didn’t work for me each time and the connections were less than stable, but tolerable for the most part. Hotspot Shield also purports to give you “unbreakable” secure wireless access but doesn’t tell you how. If you’re connecting through a fairly reputable wireless connection (like an airport or T-Mobile hot spot) most of your important data like passwords will already be encrypted by the websites you visit.

Avoid any computer-to-computer networks and keep your online accounts safe at Internet cafes with these 12 applications you can run from a USB drive. The advertisement heavy Hotspot Shield is a free download, for both PC and Mac.

Thanks Felipe!

EDITED [5/31]: Hotspot Shield works for both PC and Mac and is Lifehacker’s featured download today.

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Discover all of the frequent flyer bonuses, giveaways, and special promotions on your next route with MileMaven.

The site lets you search by your frequent flyer program or the specific cities you are flying to and from. Airlines often run special deals packaging extra miles for staying at a specific hotel or flying a certain route, but leave finding out about it up to you.

Frequent flyer miles are notoriously difficult to redeem and you should always verify you’ve been credited when you return. Don’t let the poor site design turn you off, MileMaven is currently featuring double and triple mile deals to Shanghai and up 15,000 extra if you’re flying out of Detroit.

[via InFlightHQ]

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The electric outlets in India can look baffling but are rather simple once you know which hole is what. You can even take along a simple European adapter (this trick works for Americans as well) and save the expense and space of a European/US to Indian outlet adapter.

The three things you’ll need are a plastic pen, plug adapter, and a voltage converter (for Americans).

One of the first things you’ll notice is the two vertical holes (locks) on top and the 4 horizontal buttons (electric outlets) just below. The switch to the left is a safety and serves to cut the power on and off to the outlet.

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Stay in touch with your friends and family with the free Gizmo SMS service. Select the country and enter in the phone number along with your message (maximum 80 characters). Gizmo SMS doesn’t require that you specify the cell phone carrier associated with the phone number you provide. Country codes are automatically added after you select the recipient’s country.

Gizmo SMS delivers messages promptly, unlike so of the other services I tested - although the message contains some Gizmo-advertising, the message isn’t too cluttered (if you send more than a word or two). Gizmo SMS can be useful in online cafes, where you want to keep your Skype and other online accounts safe.

Gizmo SMS is free to use but may not be free for the person who gets the message; depending on their calling plan.

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Another great travel essential, Pentensils transform most pen tops into knives, forks, and spoons. Although the Ultimate Spork seems better suited for the job - except it can’t write.

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Travelers who have the Mail function on their iPod Touch should disable the function to protect their privacy if the device is stolen.

• From the Settings menu, click Mail then select each email account one by one. At the top of each email account menu you’ll see Account. Slide it from On to Off to disable the account. It won’t erase any of your settings, or messages, just hide it in the Mail client.

This won’t deter a smart thief, but it might keep your nosy sister from reading your electronic love letters from her best friend. A passcode lock also helps in case the device is stolen - hopefully a crook will just give up and wipe the device rather than get access to your emails and any important information contained in them.

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Flights that are canceled or significantly delayed entitle you to a refund (at least a partial one) from the airline. The only caveat is that delays or cancellations due to the weather don’t count. It turns out that there is no formal review of weather incidents and the US Department of Transportation believes the airlines without checking weather conditions. The Consumerist writes that it is possible to dispute these claims, although it will cost money and time.

You know how they say, “Everyone complains about the weather but no one does anything about it?” Well, now you can. If you really feel that an airline’s weather excuse is a lie to get out of paying you your due, consider hiring a forensic meteorologist and including his findings in your correspondence with the company.

The problem is that you’ve got to have a reasonable case - that means checking the weather conditions as you’re stuck at the airport and then doing research to hire the right person. There are better ways to try to get refunds, even for weather delays.

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Airlines and other companies often have unencrypted, but hidden, wireless networks for maintenance workers. The free download NetStumbler detects all wireless networks in range, even if they’ve had their SSID hidden, so you can browse the Internet without paying fees.

NetStumbler (Windows only) displays the signal strength, name of the network (SSID), and encryption status. Most airlines and bus companies use some variation of their company name for their maintenance network. Before you go through the effort, check to see if there are free networks around, and don’t connect to computer-to-computer networks.

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