The iPhone is a hot commodity even after all this time. Apple is making a ton of money on it, smugglers too. When they can get away with smuggling the goods anyway. An Israeli women was caught at Ben-Gurion International Airport, while attempting to smuggle 44 iPhone 4 smartphones under her clothes. Apparently they were everywhere, including her stockings.

The woman, who is in her 60s, was returning from London when one of the airport’s full-body scanners detected the load of smartphones that she was hiding under a traditional Georgian outfit. Officials had also noticed that she appeared to be walking with difficulty, which is what made them notice her in the first place.

The American Transportation Security Administration has informed travelers via it’s blog, that when traveling to, from, and within the USA, portable computers smaller than “the standard sized laptop” don’t have to be removed from their bags.

So what is the standard sized laptop? Well, they don’t really say. However, Kindles, iPads, Sony Readers, Nooks, and “Net Books” are named as being exempt from the requirement to unbag your computer for the X-ray scanners. Of course, there’s the disclaimer that staff might want to take a second look at odd-looking devices, but for the most part you can leave that e-reader in your bag.

Remember the escale luggage scale? Well, here’s another scale that will help you avoid unnecessary fees at the airport. The device makes it easy to make sure that you don’t go over the weight limit and get charged.

The Weigh to go unit features Velcro straps and a lockable steel carabineer that prevents others from stealing it too. Weigh to go retails for $33, and will give you a reading of your luggage’s weight in both kgs or pounds after you lift it for a total of 5 seconds.

With so many travel rules on airplanes and other hassles, it’s amazing that people still fly at all. But the Heys USA eScale Luggage Scale will at least help take the guesswork out of how much your luggage weighs. The eScale Luggage Scale is a small digital luggage scale that will help you avoid an airline’s overweight fees.

It’s ergonomically designed to fit perfectly in your hand and be comfortable to use, with an easy-to-read display. It even comes with a 1 year warranty.

Apple offers up something a little different in the wireless router market with the new Airport Extreme. Its dual-band Wi-Fi radios allow the device to work in 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands at the same time. It can also support up to 50 users simultaneously, and does so while setting up separate limited-access networks for guests to restrict access when you need to.

The $179 pricetag on the new Airport Extreme is typical of Apple and isn’t justified. Hasn’t Apple heard that times are tough?

Remember the gadget vending machines we told you about in Macy’s? It seemed pretty obvious at the time that the trend would continue. Check out this Best Buy vending machine spotted in the Dallas/Forth Worth airport, keeping flyers in gadgets and sucking up money like a black hole in a square box.

Travelers are always forgetting their gadgets or breaking them, even losing them. Which is why these machines are a smart idea. The machines are in several terminals, insuring that an iPod leaves on every flight. Expensive spur of the moment purchase? Sure. Gadget addiction ain’t cheap.

Denver International Airport is the biggest airport in the world to offer free Wi-Fi. Problem is, now a Denver newspaper reports that the connection is being censored. The airport is blocking certain blogs like BoingBoing.net, perezhilton.com and other “potentially racy sites.” The airport’s position is that they would rather deal with complaints about censorship, than complaints about people viewing objectionable content on their laptops. What now? Why not censor radio broadcasts while you’re at it?

The Seattle Times quite correctly points out that Denver International Airport stores sell hard-core porn magazines, but they block the Sports Illustrated swimsuit site online. Word is they have also blocked the Vanity Fair magazine web site.