There are many things that’ll get you stuck at the airport. It could be a late inbound flight, bad weather, or just plain incompetence from the airlines.

Thankfully for every reason you get delayed, there is at least one way to overcome death by boredom. I’ll go over my top 10 ways to use technology when stuck at the airport.

Watch live TV using a remote streaming product

While everyone else is sitting in the departure lounge watching CNN airport edition, you are in the business class lounge watching live TV from your TiVo back home. Catching up with the latest soap opera, or watching last nights game is a much better way of spending your time than counting how long it takes to walk from gate A1 to A49. Remote streaming devices are available from Hava, Slingmedia and Sony.

Price: from around $120, no subscription fees. Speedy online connectivity required.

Watch (pre-recorded) TV or movies

Not every airport has entered the 21st century, so I always make sure I carry some video content on my notebook and iPhone. Pre-recorded content can come from several sources. If you have a TiVo (or other DVR), you may be able to copy recordings from it onto your media player, you could pay for movies or rentals from the iTunes movie store, or if you are feeling adventurous, you could "rip" movies off your own DVD collection.

Price: from around $150 (for 8Gb of storage), no subscription fees except for purchased video content). Online connectivity not required.

Play some games

A Nintendo DS lite or Sony PSP can be invaluable (if you like games) when you regularly get stuck at the airport. Both cost under $175 and games can be found for around $30 each. The Sony PSP has the added advantage of being more multimedia enabled than the Nintendo, and can even play movies or music loaded onto a Memorystick.

Price: $129 and up + more for games.

Chat with friends

You don’t need to be with your friends to chat with them. Simply get your hands on an Instant Messaging client and start bothering them with your endless rants about the price of the coffee at the airport. IM clients can be found for almost any device that connects to the Internet. Even most mobile phones can be outfitted with a chat client, but if you plan to have long and boring conversations, be sure to use something with a keyboard. If you are really bored, you could consider hooking up a webcam (or using the integrated camera in your notebook) for a video call to your wife/husband and kids.

Price: from free (for many desktop based chat clients). Basic online connection required, slow connections are just fine for text-only chats.

Blog about it

Even if nobody ever reads it, blogging can be a fun way to put your thoughts in writing. If you have a knack for writing, people will almost always be interested in your observations, and tips on how you spend your time at the airport. Add some photos or if you feel really adventurous, record some stuff and add it as a podcast. You don’t even need any experience or web skills as there are quite a few sites that offer free easy to use blogging tools.

Of course, since we are apparently living in a "Web 2.0" world, there are also some more recent products that let you share your most inner thoughts with the world. You could update your Myspace or Facebook page, or add stuff to Twitter. Most of these new services also have mobile access.

Price: free. Basic online connection required for "live" blogging, no connection required for

Listen to the radio

In the old days people used AM and FM radio receivers to pick up the local stations. Nowadays technology has replaced that (for some people) and it’s possible to listen to the radio using your smartphone. If you are a sports fan then consider purchasing a portable satellite radio. Both XM and Sirius offer portable ways of picking up their signal, some even come with MP3 playback and recording features. If you travel with a Smartphone or Laptop, you can also listen to live Sirius and XM streaming radio without the need for an actual receiver.

Price: $100 and up for portable satellite radio + subscription fees

Read a book

Turn on your Amazon Kindle, purchase a new book and within minutes it will be delivered to your device. The Amazon Kindle may not be the prettiest E-book reader on the market, but for travelers it offers the best way to access new content. You don’t need a PC, you don’t even need to be in WiFi coverage. The Kindle "Whispernet" service can access Amazon for you anywhere Sprint has coverage in the US. It’ll even do some basic web browsing, and act as an MP3 player. You can buy a Kindle, and learn more about it here.

Price: $399 + book purchases ($1.99 and up)

Make some phone calls using a VOIP service

Unfortunately not every airport you get stuck at will be in the US, and not everyone is willing to pay upwards of $1 per minute to call back home and spend an hour on the phone talking about when you’ll finally get around to mowing the lawn.

VOIP services can be found everywhere nowadays. My personal favorites are Magicjack and Skype. If you already have a VOIP service at home, you could look into adding a "softphone" plan to it. Vonage even offer a free program that lets you make calls using your PC.

Price: free and up

Get some work done

If all else fails, and you can’t find any other way to stay entertained, get your laptop online and try getting some work done.

Real roadwarriors will of course have access to a wireless broadband adapter, but even those that don’t travel daily can often find a WiFi hotspot or even try using their mobile phone to get online. Just beware that most public hotspot services are not secured, so make sure you use a VPN server or purchase an account with Hotspot VPN.

Price: If you do this one right, it will pay YOU to use it.