Remember postcards? What a perfect mix of cheap souvenir, thoughtful hello and hand-delivered trip inspiration. HazelMail’s bringing ‘em back, 2000s style, with a website that lets you upload your own digital photo and type in a personal message. The site then turns your info into a physical postcard and it mails for you. The service costs $1.50 per card, including postage to anywhere in the world, but HazelMail recently introduced “HazelBucks,” bundles of 12 postcard credits for 12 bucks. (That’s a 33% savings per card.) To celebrate, HazelMail’s giving 12-pack bundles away to five TrustyPony readers. Comment on this post to win—see specifics below.

Win one of five HazelMail HazelBucks 12-packs by leaving a comment below before 6 PM CST this Monday, May 18th. Anonymous comments and those without a valid email address will be disqualified. The winners will be chosen at random, then contacted via email. If I don’t hear from a winner within five days, a new one will be chosen. Please enter/comment only once. Good luck!

Palm-sized mini-cameras that snap into a cartridge of 110 film, which you probably remember if you were around in the ’70s. (Comes with one roll. Refill two-packs cost $8.) Decorated with cute little creatures including a tadpole, a squirrel or a hedgehog. Of course it’s from Japan.

The only way to charge this soda can-sized lantern/flashlight/spotlight is with the solar panel. One hour’s worth of direct sunlight means two hours of operation on low, or one hour on high, and the lantern can reportedly hold a charge for eight months. The LED lights and internal rechargeable NiMH battery mean no bulb- or battery-buying, ever, making this ostensibly a lifetime lantern for fifty bucks. Developed by doctors after mission trips to Africa, where they saw first-hand how about three-quarters of folks live without electricity. Portions of each sale go toward replacing the standard in African villages—expensive, unhealthy and greenhouse gas-emitting kerosene lanterns—with K-Lights.

So many situations the world over you can navigate smoothly with the double whammy of cash and compass.

(via The Awesomer)

See that little oval thing attached to the backpack strap? That’s a four-ounce speaker, which connects wirelessly to your iPod within a range of 30 feet. The speaker comes with mounts that help attach it to places like your backpack, stroller or bike (in some cities, it’s illegal to use headphones on bikes). You can control the track, volume and playlist directly from the speaker, too.

A working video camera, with built-in microphone, disguised as a working ballpoint pen. Fulfill the International Spy Fantasy: Just add trenchcoat.

Also: Congrats to the lucky Laurel, winner of the Point It. More giveaways coming your way soon!

Who else was crushed when they quit making instant film for those big old clunky Polaroid cameras? Well, this 5 megapixel digital with zoom, timer and red-eye removal prints 2-inch by 3-inch photo stickers with its integrated inkless printer. Clearly an upgrade. Likely absent: That kachunk-whir sound and anticipation-building processing time your grandkids will never experience.

One of the items in Breaking the Language Barrier, my latest “travel helpers” roundup for the Minneapolis Star Tribune Sunday travel section: This fantastically priced translator, which doubles as an alarm clock. Push one of eight buttons corresponding to popular travel categories to access over 4,500 pre-programmed phrases you can read on-screen or play out loud. (There’s a headphone jack for discreet learning.) It’s quite simple to switch between the seven languages; English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese and Japanese; and you can easily store your favorite travel phrases in a special button-location, for easy access. Two caveats: You must rely on the pre-programmed phrases—no ability to type in words willy-nilly. Also, Japanese shows up as characters, not translated into the Latin Alphabet. All in all, nice bang for your buck.

The well organized urbanite’s answer to the Swiss Army knife: a mini screwdriver, file, scissors, toothpick, knife, tweezers, pin, pen and ruler, all swiftly pluckable from their thick credit card-like home. As with the aforementioned knife, don’t try to carry this on, kids.

Key addition to any adult train ride activity pack.