SkyMall Monday: Toothpaste Tablets

by Mike Barish on

The restrictions that the TSA places on liquids in our carry-on luggage are frustrating for everyone. How are we supposed to pack all of our lotions, creams, ointments, salves, balms, rinses and sprays in a single one-quart baggie (without getting sneaky)? Looking good isn’t easy and requires tremendous amounts of upkeep. This is particularly true when it comes to oral hygiene. Packing handfuls of travel-sized tubes of toothpaste is inconvenient and wasteful. Extracting every last drop of paste from the tubes is a fruitless endeavor (we use a vise here at SkyMall Monday HQ). You’d think that, in 2012, we’d have come up with a better way to clean our teeth. Well, the future is now, thanks to the geniuses at SkyMall (and their friends at Archtek). Stop squeezing your toothpaste when you can just pop it…with a Toothpaste Tablet!For years, we’ve longed for the day when our lives would truly be simplified by science. We were teased with glimpses of a magical future in which our meals are ingested in pill form or through chewing gum. Finally, the time has come for toothpaste technology to lead us to a higher state of being. No more tubes filled with silly looking gels. Like all of our problems before, the solution resides in a pillbox.

Think that you can’t have toothpaste without the paste? Believe that we’re becoming a pill-popping society? Well, while you use your pickle-flavored floss, we’ll be reading the product description:

These great tasting, chewable Toothpaste Tablets aren’t liquid or paste, so they can be carried on planes in your 3-1-1-kit. Lightweight, compact and convenient, just chew one tablet, brush, and rinse for the same benefits as traditional toothpaste.

You know what else can be carried in your 3-1-1- kit? Liquids and pastes. But those aren’t very futuristic, so what’s the fun in that? It’s about time someone dried out toothpaste into a tablet and allowed us to rehydrate it in our mouths so that we can perform a task that was never that much of a challenge previously. It’s like Dippin’ Dots for oral hygiene. And look how well things worked out for the “ice cream of the future.”

So the next time you’re taking your hoverboard on a long trip, leave the tubes at home. Just pack your Toothpaste Tablets and your future’s teeth will be so bright, you’ll have to wear shades.

Check out all of the previous SkyMall Monday posts HERE.

Must-Haves for your iPhone Camp Out

by Justin Glow on

Are you planning to camp out next week for an iPhone? If so, you need to be prepared. Gone are the days of sleeping on sidewalks in the rain, or suffering in the heat. You need your iPhone, and you’re not afraid to wait for it in whatever Mother Nature decides to give. Here are a bunch of accessories to make your parking-lot camp out more comfortable, safe, and high-tech.

You’ll need somewhere to sleep, and access to power for charging all your gadgets is a must, so bring along a tent with power. The N!ergy tent from Eureka “integrates three factory-installed 12-volt outlets inside,” and runs off of a portable, rechargeable battery. If you don’t need power, but still want light, check out Wood’s Solar-Powered EZ-Tent. This eco-friendly abode “features a removable, 7-inch solar panel on the top of the tent’s hub; 4-6 hours of direct light yields 2-4 hours of tent light.”

Even with a tent, the concrete won’t be soft. You most definitely need a camping mattress. The Therm-A-Rest is “a lightweight blowup mattress which is perfect for backpacking. It is less than an inch thick but somehow manages to absorb the painful ground so that you don’t have to.” And if that’s too wimpy for you, try the Aero Sport All-Terrain Raised Bed with Dual Power Pump, “the Cadillac of such mattresses.”

Never again will you have to rely on your line neighbor to save your spot on bathroom breaks. Bring along the best portable toilet money can by, the BioToi. “Hygienic and environmentally friendly, each BioToi system comes with a roll of Bio-Bag waste bags, which are 100% biodegradable and 100% compostable. To use the system, simply thread the bags around the rim of the toilet seat, and do your business. When you’re finished, tie off the bag and pack it out. Each bag is certified to decompose to a humus state within 40 days when placed in a controlled compost environment.”

I know you probably won’t be showering, but please try to brush your teeth a few times. Prepasted toothbrushes are the way to go, and the ReadyBrush is your best bet. “All you need to do is wet the bristles and the [built in] toothpaste is activated.” Genius!

You need to eat, so why not cook it yourself? The WoodGas camp stove — a revolution in outdoor cooking — “uses 90% less fuel than ordinary stoves; and burns almost any plant-based fuel.” Or you could bring along the Wavebox, a “rugged, portable lunchbox that’s also a microwave.” You can either plug this into a standard outlet, clip it onto a car battery, or plug it into a cigarette lighter. Still too much for you? Bring along a self-heating dinner. “These package meals come with a nifty button that automatically heats up the meal in ten minutes when pressed. And they don’t need to be refrigerated.” Don’t forget the frozen drinks! Whip up a quick margarita with the Daiquiri Whacker, a portable, gas-powered blender. Be careful though — local laws may keep you from having an open container of alcohol in public. (Get the booze-holding sandal instead!)

Safety is important. You don’t want your precious credit card to go missing after spending days in line, so keep it in a TravelSafe pouch. “Featuring a slashproof skin and a high-tensile stainless steel cable with a padlock that cinches tight, the TravelSafe can be locked to pretty much anything.” Once you finally get your paws on the iPhone, attach an Xscream to the box. “This carabiner-like device is really nothing more than a portable yell-box. It clips easily on a purse or backpacker and when danger approaches one simply presses the button and out comes a 120-decibel scream. This will either frighten the thief off, or irritate him so badly he will beat you until you start screaming equally as loud.” If you’re bringing along a laptop (and I know you are), try stashing your credit cards and cash in the Stashcard, a safe that slides into an open PCMCIA/PC Card slot.

Am I missing anything?

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Dental Mitts and Travel Wipes

by Iva Skoch on

The recent NY Times article about packing toiletries in your bags was interesting. In addition to laying out the ever-changing rules and hazards about carrying liquids onto planes, it noted some new products in the area of traveling personal hygiene. I mean, come on, we’ve all been hoarding hotel shampoos because of their convenient–and “legal”–travelsize. There are alternatives now.

La Fresh out of California has a line of travel wipes called Travel Lite on the Go. They’ve got everything from nail polish removing wipes to dental finder mitts.

Travelon, a bag maker, has branched out into Alka-Seltzer-like dried, tablet toothpastes, mouthwashes, and shaving “creams.” Just add water.

And, if you want travel sizes for just about anything, try minimus.biz. (Soy sauce, anyone?)

No more having to worry about baggies and surly security agents.

But, a little more dangerous is their pitch for refillable bottles called Pitotubes that you’re supposed to pack in checked bags, without fear of leaking. But these things look so slick, they resemble something carried by the villain in a James Bond movie.