March 2006

In many ways, Kinko’s is a business traveler’s best friend. It’s always there - whether you need a fax machine or 100 binders for your presentation. Many of us take it for granted that Kinko’s will come through for us in a crunch. But what happens when things at Kinko’s don’t go exactly as planned?

For our upcoming Essentials of Business Blogging event in Los Angeles, my boss tasked me with getting the attendee binders and signs for the event printed at Kinko’s and delivered to the Westin LAX where the event will take place this Thursday.

I called the store and spoke to a woman who said she’d be the contact on our project. I gave her all the specifics for what we’d need and she faxed us a bid. We signed the bid and faxed it back to her. I asked her for her e-mail address so I could send the files.

“Our location doesn’t accept e-mails anymore,” she said politely. “You’ll need to use our docstore system.”

She pointed me in the direction of a website - docstore.kinkos.com and told me to upload the file there.

I hung up the phone and got to work uploading the files. Four hours later - after a conference call between myself, my boss and a Kinko’s staffer (our contact had left for the day), repeated trial and error, and many many moments of frustration and panic - we finally got the files to upload to their website.

Throughout the whole process, the system kept asking us for details we’d already discussed with our contact. What page size and paper type would we like? Where would we like the documents delivered? When did we need them by?

We had to re-enter the information each time we attempted to upload the file. This grew incredibly tedious. “Effectively,” said my boss at one point, “we’re doing data entry for Kinko’s. And we’re the client.”

Numerous times during the four hours between when we started the process and achieved resolution, I tried to figure a workaround to the problem. Could we FTP the files to our own site and have the Kinko’s people download them? Could we e-mail them to someone? Could we upload the files to our iDisk?

Each workaround was met with the same response: “Our computers can’t perform that function. They’re locked out to prevent staffers from downloading things onto the computers.”

“I know it’s a terrible system,” a staffer who asked to remain anonymous told me. “We get complaints about it all the time, but there’s nothing I can do.”

When asked what advice he had for business travelers who relied on Kinko’s he said, “there really isn’t any other way. It’s just a terrible system. If we were going to change it, the decision would have to come from Corporate. Just be prepared for a lot of frustration, I guess.”

He paused, then lowered his voice conspiratorially, “to tell you the truth, it’s just as bad on this end. Sometimes I don’t know how I deal with all the bureaucracy.”

Our recommendation is to avoid it altogether, particularly if the location in question doesn’t accept e-mail submissions.

When you’re planning your project in a distant city, try contacting the National Association of Quick Printers (a.k.a. PrintImage International) at (800)-234-0040 or the National Association for Printing Leadership at (800) 642-6275 and ask them to recommend a couple of small printers in the area that might be able to accomplish you project.

Chances are good that you’ll talk to the owner of the company, or maybe a member of her family. The person you talk to may even have permission to download your file from an e-mail or from your own website.

How novel!

We should note that, after a great deal of uneccessary grief and frustration, the products from Kinko’s turned out splendidly. The people at the Kinko’s we worked with were excellent, their computer program on the other hand…

I wasn’t expecting much from the [LA Westin](http://www.starwoodhotels.com/westin/search/hotel_detail.html?propertyID=1005). Figuring it’d be another corporate hotel, in another city, with mind-numbing sameness. Quite the contrary! The rooms are spacious, had an actual office chair (not a banquet chair), and a courteous staff. My first room was above the kitchen vents and anytime the kitchen fried food, I’d get a waft of it. I know that sounds picky, but I’m serious, my room smelled like french fries, kalamari, and onion rings. I called and was in a new room in about 15 minutes.

I can always tell a well-ran hotel by the staff. You can’t fake good morale and this hotel must be doing well. Everyone is in a good mood.

Two complaints . . .

* I’m growing increasingly resentful of minibars. Besides a regretful prom night years ago, I’ve never used any product out of one and I’d sure like to have that space to keep water, protein drinks, and food cold. I read that other hotels are replacing them with real refrigerators and that’s a very good idea.

* I guess I thought every hotel gives business travelers a paper and I’m now trained to open the door and find a paper waiting there for me. Not today.

Finally some good news from Alaska. Today [they announced](http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=alk) the transition to a fleet of all-Boeing 737 aircraft by the end of 2008. Besides the fact that they fly with their nose pointing up in the air, those MD-80s are old, cramped, and not efficient.

I always look forward to the bonus music I’ll find in [iTunes](http://alogin.linksynergy.com/php-bin/affiliate/links/showmerchant.shtml?oid=78941&subid=&roid=&link_type=3&showcode=Y&is_special=&pid=10000066&nid=1) at a hotel. Today, Craig offered a diverse collection including [Funkmaster Flex](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=4c2Gw5onEF8&offerid=78941&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fphobos.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZStore.woa%252Fwa%252FviewArtist%253Fid%253D130882%2526s%253D143441%2526partnerId%253D30″), [Prince](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=4c2Gw5onEF8&offerid=78941&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fphobos.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZStore.woa%252Fwa%252FviewArtist%253Fid%253D155814%2526s%253D143441%2526partnerId%253D30), and [Etta James](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=4c2Gw5onEF8&offerid=78941&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fphobos.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZStore.woa%252Fwa%252FviewArtist%253Fid%253D10811%2526s%253D143441%2526partnerId%253D30). iTunes allows users to [share music](http://www.apple.com/itunes/share/) (but not copy) over your local network with zero configuration using Apple’s Bonjour technology. It works on both the MAC and PC and all you do is click the “Share my music” checkbox in the Sharing panel of the iTunes Preferences dialog.

I’ll never meet Craig, but I do know he’s got good taste in music.

Microsoft’s Fingerprint Reader, a biometric authentication device for PC’s on the market since 2004 has been hacked by Mikko Kiviharju, a researcher with the Finnish Defense Forces. He has published a report titled ‘Hacking Fingerprint Scanners or: why Microsoft Fingerprint Reader is not a security feature’,outlining in a very clear and concise manor how the fingerprint image taken by the scanner is not encrypted and thereby making it possible for someone to steal (or technically ’sniff’) the image.

The report was presented at a recent Black Hat Europe conference and can be found here. While Microsoft markets the scanner more as a convenient tool to log onto websites–rather than a security device–it is a bit scary knowing that an unencrypted scan of your fingerprint could be stolen and used for numerous dastardly deeds.

While hacking the image is apparently no simple feat (it requires physical access to your PC, for one), it’s still a bit unnerving to know that Microsoft for some reason has chosen to license the scanner without an encryption feature.

At the recent CeBIT exhibition, Toshiba announced that their Qosmio G30 Notebook will also feature an HD-DVD drive, starting next month. This new generation DVD technology offers high definition content playback and is backed by Toshiba and NEC, while a competing format called Blu-ray is backed by Sony, Panasonic and Samsung.

Called ‘the most feature-rich home entertainment notebook we’ve seen to date, bar none’ by Cnet, the G30 features a 17 inch display, 2GHz Core Duo processor, 1GB of DDR2 memory, two 100GB hard drives, 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0, and will be fully compatible with Windows Vista.

Touted by Toshiba as a ‘4-in1 entertainment unit’ , comprising a high definition DVB-TV tuner (an HDMI connection is provided for watching on a a big screen TV), audio player, DVD player and PC. This is no doubt one of the most impressive laptops on the market, but I think it is a bit early to jump into either of the next generation DVD technology camps quite yet.

65% of travelers who have online access used the internet to make their travel plans in 2004.

Business travel comprises 18% of the total U.S. domestic travel.

22% of people flying for business are doing so to attend a convention, conference or seminar, of which 34% combine a ‘pleasure’ activity during their journey.

Travel and tourism create $3.4 billion in economic activity in the U.S. PER DAY.

37% of the U.S. adult population used the internet to get travel and destination information in 2005.

The longest nonstop commercial flight in scheduled service is Singapore Airlines’ daily Singapore-to-New York route, which takes a scheduled 18 hours.

The world record for the longest distance traveled nonstop by a commercial airplane, was a Boeing 777-200LR that flew last November from Hong Kong to London (eastbound), taking 22 hours and 42 minutes and burning 52,670 gallons of fuel–thats 0.255 miles per gallon.

Just last December, according to the TSA, 1,655,072 prohibited items were intercepted from travelers…..most of them knives and scissors.

The French are tops in average yearly vacation days: 39. U.S. workers only averaged 12 (!).

These figures are from the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA), based in Washington D.C.

The entire inFlightHQ team is headed to California for our Essentials of Business Blogging seminar. We should have some good business travel tales to share in the next couple of days.

View From the Wing has a great post about getting the difference refunded when the price of your ticket goes down after you bought it.

Now if only that were applicable to the stock market.

According to Aviation International News reported a few weeks back that “Israel’s Tadiran Communications (Stand A943) is introducing its fourth-generation rugged personal digital assistant (RDPA) here at Asian Aerospace.”

The PDA is incredibly rugged and designed to stand up to life in a war zone, but if you’re the kind of business traveler who happens to have toddlers at home, or can’t seem to avoid spilling her coffee all over her DPA, then this gadget may be for you.

BTW, what’s the difference between a PDA and a DPA? Hmm…

New York Times columnist Chris Elliott recently wrote a piece for Microsoft’s online Small Business Center listing his top 5 tips for getting the best seat on the Airplane.

Elliott’s e-mail newsletter is also a great source for ” insider tips, resources, and irreverent insights.”

Today, Delta will ask a three-person panel to void its contract with its pilots so that airline - which has been in Chapter 11 since September - can unilaterally impose pay cuts on pilots. In negotiations with the union the airline has said that it needs to cut $305 million from pilots’ annual salaries, while the pilots are willing to give up $140 million on the condition that current wage levels will return after a period of time.

But in the hearings which began today, the airline said that it would cut up to $325 million from the pilots’ contracts if the panel agrees to void the airline’s collective bargaining agreement with its pilots.

Pilots say that they will strike if the airline cuts their pay unilaterally, and the airline says that a pilot strike will put it out of business. Despite that, pilots’ unions from other airlines have said that they will offer their help if Delta pilots strike.

Passengers with tickets on Delta airlines in the next few weeks are advised to follow strike news closely. In the event of a strike, Federal law requires other airlines honor tickets from the affected airline for fees of $50 or less. The frequent flier survival manual has a good list of helpful hints in the event of an airline strike. One I’m sure you’ll all be interested to know is that other airlines can’t honor an e-ticket, so be sure to get a paper ticket when a strike looms. Another good tip if you don’t want to go through the rigamarole is to buy another fully refundable ticket on an unaffected airline and then get a refund if the strike doesn’t happen.

At least as far as legroom is concerned. This according to Fortune.

blogs.flyertalk.com posts about a Fortune piece on the best domestic first class cabins. Here are some highlights:

Susan Daimler of seatguru.com says domestic first class is nothing to write home about. “People get on the plane and are like, ‘this is first class? It’s often a disappointing experience.”

First class averages only about 38 inches of seat pitch. That’s only four or five inches more than most coach cabins. (Internationally, it’s more like 60 inches.)

• American is installing lie-flat seats for business-class passengers between New York and Los Angeles.
• Air Tran is generally the best deal.
• American is great if you are traveling between New York and Los Angeles.
• On Northwest, Avoid DC-9s. You only get 34 inches of pitch.rding and free alcoholic beverages. But you won’t get any extra perks like power ports — they’re only on the international fleet.
• United’s ps service, offered between New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco,”is the best domestic first class experience. Period.” They have ie-flat seats in first with 68 inches of pitch.

Thank the fabulous folks over at Make for this crazy looking contraption masquerading as an Altoids box. Apparently this little homemade switch box allows you to listen to your iPod and answer your cell phone at the same time. I’ve heard of such things existing before - but never in an Altoids box.

Heaven only knows why I find this Altoids box thing so cool.

Technorati Tags: altoids, switch_box

• The Lobby has news of a wind powered cell phone recharger. Too bad there’s no wind in airports, which is where people often find themselves worrying about a drained battery. Of course, that wouldn’t be a problem if anyone could find an electrical outlet in an airport…
• Meanwhile, Gear Live brings us a foldable fabric keyboard to go with the new Origami/Ultra Mobile PCs.

Technorati Tags: origami, ultra_mobile_PC

David Pogue’s column in today’s New York Times heralds the Samsung Z5 as a “thoughtful” new iPod killer that improves on some key features of the world’s most popular .mp3 player. Behind the creation of this new toy was Paul Mercer (subscription required) whose software toolkit was used to build the iPod.

The Z5 has quite a few nifty features that give the iPod a run for its money. The battery runs longer, the menu button takes you all the way to the main menu when you click and hold, the screen prompts you with album art and reminds you when you’ve locked the keypad.

But there are also downsides. Because of the huge battery, the Z5 is “no Nanoesque wafer.” But the biggest problem is that the Z5 can’t play songs downloaded from the iTunes store.

And as Pogue points out, “at least six factors make the iPod such a hit: cool-looking hardware; a fun-to-use, variable-speed scroll wheel; an ultrasimple software menu; effortless song synchronization with Mac or Windows; seamless, rock-solid integration with an online music store (iTunes); and a universe of accessories. Mess up any aspect of the formula, and your iPod killer is doomed to market-share crumbs.”

Ultimately it’s that seamless integration that keeps me coming back to the iPod again and again. Seamless integration that the Samsung Z5, for all its cool features and long-running battery, simply doesn’t have.

Technorati Tags: iPod, iPod_killer, Samsung_Z5

JK on the Run has a great post about the new Ultra Mobile PC or (UMPC) code-named Origami. It certainly looks cool, I’d love to run down to the computer store and play with one for a while - but whether it’s worth $500-$900 remains to be seen.

At best, it could wind up being an effective replacement for both the laptop and PDA for the business traveler. At worse, it could be simply another overcomplicated and impractical toy.

Technorati Tags: origami

The waiter at Hanuman Thai - my favorite restaurant in downtown Kirkland, WA (which happens to have free WiFi) tells me about a very cool service called Text Pay Me that’s kind of like PayPal for cell phones.

I can imagine this coming in very handy for splitting dinners with coworkers when you don’t have enough cash. I hope it takes off and becomes even more streamlined. It would be so efficient to use this to pay for transportation in particular - bus, train, taxi cab - and for other quick things like coffee or drive through.

Technorati Tags: text_pay_me

As part of its bankruptcy restructuring, Delta has grown its Salt Lake City departures list to 100 destinations and added a JFK hub to strengthen its international business traffic.

But while the airline was full steam ahead on restructuring, it may not exist long enough to see the plans come to fruition. Delta pilots continued to picket outside Delta terminals ahead of a potential strike. The airline and the union failed to make an agreement about long-term pay cuts for pilots ahead of a March 3 deadline, and so the negotiations are now headed to binding arbitration to determine if the airline may throw out the pilots’ contracts and unilaterally impose the pay cuts. The pilots have said they will strike in that eventuality, and Delta has said that a strike would put them out of business.

The likelihood of a strike is so pronounced that my very level headed and practical in-laws - who typically plan trips at least six months in advance - have made plans to use their Delta miles on a last-minute trip to Mexico. “With the pilots determined to kill the airline,” my father-in-law said, “who knows how much longer these will be worth anything?”

Technorati Tags: Delta_Airlines, pilots_union

Gadling and The Lobby report that two new airlines, MAXjet and Eos have whole planes full of those glorious reclining business class seats that actually allow a night’s sleep on a red-eye.

The catch? The airlines only serve certain popular trans-atlantic routes. But in an era where airlines are trying to figure out what will be profitable long-term, I’d say this is a good start.

UPDATE 12:05 p.m. According to this press release, Eos is now available for purchase via Worldspan Travel Agencies, good to know.

Technorati Tags: business_travel, Eos, leg_room, MaxJet