Tracphone V3 Satellite Communications System, $ 17,000

In case you find yourself in the middle of the Bering Sea with a pressing need to send email, this is the gadget for you. At 45 centimetres and just over 11 kilograms, it’s 90 per cent smaller in volume than the hulking big satellite dome of as little as four years ago that weighed in at a hefty 113 kilograms. It has download speed up to two megabytes per second, with data costing 99 cents per megabyte and voice calls at 49 cents a minute.