March 2006

In a recent post, the folks at Starwood Hotels mention that a Jetsons-style suitcase may soon be following travelers through the airports, obeying their every voice command. The crazy suitcase - called Fido - is the brainchild of Peter Yeardon.

From The Lobby:

Fido uses motion robotics and voice recognition technology to actually FOLLOW YOU through a concourse using programmable voice commands, including laser sensors that will keep it from crashing into passing travellers and to recognize and navigate uneven terrain.

But for all of Fido Luggage’s utter brilliance in conception, even if it reaches the mass market stage it will, most likely, be banned from airports as autonomous, motorized luggage could create a security nightmare.

Personally, I think any inanimate object that obeys commands and moves is just a little creepy. I prefer my machines to sit nicely on my desk and stay where I can keep an eye on them. But maybe that’s just too many episodes of Battlestar Galactica talking.

According to the Guardian, KLM has been ordered to pay a flier for forcing him to give an onstage presentation for the World Health Organization conference in jeans, T-shirt and sneakers due to his luggage not arriving in time. KLM is appealing the verdict.

Study Warns Cell Phones Could Cause Airliner Crash:

Lifting the current ban on use of cell phones aboard airliners could pose the risk of a major accident, according to a new engineering study. More info here.

Airlines grapple with a carry-on crisis (San Jose Mercury News):

According to Jane Engle, repoprting for the Los Angeles Times, in 1998 the Association of Flight Attendants filed a petition with the Federal Aviation Administration wanting the FAA to set and enforce a maximum size for carry-ons. The FAA said no. More notes from the article:

“Thousands of injuries linked to carry-on baggage occur each year,” the union said in the petition.

The one bag plus a personal item rule seems is now enforced only sporadically. Bag size limits are left up to each airline, so what flies with Continental may not be appproved by United.

Some airlines are increasing onboard storage. American Airlines recently installed deeper bins on its MD-80 fleet to allow bags to be stored with wheels facing out, making room for more bags.

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, the powerful chairman of the Senate Commerce committee, said he wants fliers to be limited to one carry-on item of a fixed size. The idea of installing templates at checkpoints to block oversize bags was also raised.

Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition said “It would kill the business traveler,” he said. “It would add to the complexity and chaos of business travel today.”

My take is that carry ons are fine, it’s the people that take 20 minutes of standing in the aisle fussing to get them stowed that are the problem. Severe limits on aisle clogging should be seriously looked at. Have a checkpoint with a simulated airline interior and a stopwatch. Time travelers on how long they take to get their rear ends into their seats. Anyone taking more than 15 seconds gets their bag checked…

New Kerala did an article about the fabulous Connexion service that sponsors this blog.

The most interesting part of the article was the survey conducted by Connexion that suggested 61% of passengers want to be able to use their cell phones while in transit. I have to say that I find that number a bit high, given all the complaints I hear from people worried that they’re going to allow cell phones.

Personally, I enjoy the brief respite that airplane travel allows me from my cell phone. I much prefer e-mail and AIM for business communication. And I certainly don’t want to have to listen to some rude schmuck making a sales call inches from my head.

Of course, if you have Web access on airplanes, there’s nothing to stop someone from making a call via Skype. But at least with Skype you don’t have the same ugly culture of people yelling into their phones. You can lean in to your computer’s nice microphone and whisper the same thing you feel compelled to shout to a whole room when you’re on your cell phone. And you can adjust the volume on your computer so that you don’t have to ask people to repeat themselves if the connection quality isn’t what you hoped for.

If airlines really must allow cell phone use during flight, they should at least restrict it to certain times and certain sections of the plane.

There was an interesting discussion in the New York Times (subscription required) this morning about the art of piggybacking–essentially hopping on board someone elses wireless network–without their permission.

Of the estimeated 16 million wireless households out there–I would guess that a small percentage bother with properly protecting their wireless network. The article mentions how Humphrey Cheung (the editor of tomshardware.com) and some freinds, actually flew over Los Angeles scanning for open wireless networks with their laptops and found more than 4,500 wireless networks–and only 30 percent were encrypted. I’m betting this percentage is on the high side, nationally.

Is it stealing? I’m not inclined to think so. I will admit that the few times that I have come across an unprotected signal, I did not take advantage of it–it just felt too weird. However, if someone prefers not to protect their signal, then they should assume that someone out there could be tapping in on their wireless world.
So be it.

Have you ever wanted to make a copy of a note or document but were not within a convenient distance of a copy machine (like on an airplane!)? This updated (large)pen-sized portable scanner from Planon, called the DocuPen RC800 might be the answer.

This lithium-ion battery powered, USB-rechargeable device scans in a choice of black and white, standard color, or high resolution 24-bit color (100 or 400 dpi). Coming with a standard 8MB of flash memory, you can upgrade with a MicroSD card for up to 256MB of memory at your disposal. Also included is Paperport scanning software and a leather case. At almost 9 inches in length, this allows for a full scan of a page in one full sweep.
Nice.

I can’t wait to try one.

A company called NaturalNano is developing a paint that effectively blocks all cell phone signals. Using nanotechnology, they have created a way to first insert nano-particles of copper into ultra-tiny tubes (which are 20,000 times thinner than a piece of paper) and then blend these particles into paint.

Of course the wireless industry opposes any such technology–claiming that it is nothing short of signal jamming–which is illegal. NaturalNano denies that assertion, insisting it just amounts to a passive device, not an illegal radio jammer.

Just think of the potential…..churches….schools…..restaurants….

Sounds great to me–just as long as the business using this technology gives proper notification to the end (non)user. I wonder, however, if all the cell phone junkies would ever put up with such an idea.

If you want to make that next business trip a little more unique, try one of these diversions that Sophia Banay at Forbes magazine has put together. Have a few hours to kill in Cape Town?–try a shark diving expedition at the South African White Shark Research Institute–the $200 fee includes scuba equipment/wetsuit/3 meals/transportation–and scuba certification is not even necessary. Or maybe a private tour of the Kremlin ($30/hour) arranged through the Moscow Metropol Hotel.

How about trying your luck at fly-fishing while in Seattle? Dreams on the Fly can arrange the transportation, fishing lines, day license, float tubes and personal guide. My favorite would have to be taking a lesson in the ancient art of Japanese Samurai swordsmanship called Kendo. They are offered by a central Tokyo high school called Nihon Gakuen, that has kendo training facilities. Try this if you happen to be in Tokyo on a Thursday night (or Sunday morning)….$34/lesson. Most hotel concierge personnel should be able to assist in setting up the class.

While rival Delta continues to struggle, Northwest Airlines has reached an agreement with its pilots union.

The deal still needs to be approved by the union’s leadership and members, who are meeting this evening.

In a strikingly similar situation to Delta’s, Northwest had sought to have the pilots’ contracts overturned in bankruptcy court so that they could unilaterally impose pay cuts. The pilots had threatened to strike if that happened, and Northwest had said that a strike would mean the end for the bankrupt airline.

inFlightHQ has ascended to the top of the heap for blogs about business travel according to Technorati.

Sightings of Byron doing a victory dance have been reported throughout the land.

The patent dispute is resolved! Hooray!

Blackberry users can now breathe a big sigh of relief and get back to obsessively watching for the little blinking light.

On Wednesday, Delta airlines and its pilots union failed to reach an agreement about additional concessions on the part of the pilots union to keep the beleaguered airline from slipping further into bankruptcy. The dispute will now be sent to binding arbitration. A three-member panel will decide if the airline may throw out the pilots’ contracts unilaterally and impose more than $300 million in cuts. The pilots union has said that it will strike if that happens.

Today, pilots picketed outside Delta’s Atlanta hub. They carried signs berating the airline for its hefty severance packages for top execs while cutting pilot pay.

The panel is scheduled to begin hearing the case on March 13th if no agreement is reached by then. The hearings will take approximately two weeks. Delta passengers with tickets for the last week in March and first few weeks of April should be aware that a strike could affect their travel plans.

I recently needed (in the case of an old multifunction HP machine) and had a desire (in the case of my Palm PDA) to upgrade to newer models. Having no one in mind to buy these items (or friend of family member to give them to), and hoping to avoid the eBay option, I decided to try the trade-in route.

Palm has their recently enhanced Trade-In Program (registration required). Now you can trade-in PDA’s, printers, desktops, smartphones, projectors, digital cameras, notebooks and monitors. I was offered $100 (after shipping and handling) for my Palm T3 (recent sales at eBay for a T3 of similar condition and accessories was about $150). After receiving the items, Palm sends you a coupon to use at the online Palm Store.

In the case of HP, you can get a trade-in quote for just about any type and manufacturer of computer or office equipment and then after purchasing an HP product, you ship within 30 days your old equipment to HP using a prepaid shipping label provided by them. The redemption check comes from HP after you fax them proof of purchase of the new product.

In my case, the trade-in value of the multifunction machine was only $25. But I happened to have the original box and since shipping was paid for, it was a viable option.

Clearly, to make it more worthwhile, trade-in more than one product (have any friends with unwanted equipment?) at a time. You can even do it as one shipment or from different locations.

If you are like me, you’ve had an old desktop computer, printer, fax machine or cell phone that either is not worth repairing or just outdated and you wonder what to do with it. The choices for many have narrowed over the past few years–most communities will not allow computers, printers and similar equipment to be taken to the transfer station (’the dump’) or to be included in your weekly garbage pile.

Here are a few organizations that will help you recycle or even facilitate a donation of your used equipment to help out with the electronics waste crisis the world is facing.

The National Cristina Foundation offers tech goods and training for students and persons with disabilities.

The Freecycle Network can help you find recipients for your donated tech goods.

Techsoup can help find nonprofit organizations or commercial companies that will reuse or recycle your equipment.

The National Recycling Coalition has a listing of sites and groups that can help you with recycle or donate your computer equipment.

eBay offers some help through their ‘Rethink Initiative‘, providing options for handling your old gear.

Personally, I am happy to be forced into this recycling option–I feel better about doing a little bit for the environment–and am happy to even pay a company to take the equipment off my hands, knowing it will be disposed of in a proper manner.

My family recently flew to London on British Airways for holiday–here are a few of my thoughts on the trip.

In regards to the inflight service….(We were fortunate enough to fly in Business Class) things were much better than the last time we flew British Airways….it was last August when the catering company was on strike and the onboard accouterments were dismal at best (which reminds me of the letter I wrote to their Consumer Affairs office in regards to that experience–and never got a response).

However, this time around all onboard food and supplies were up to par and we were lucky to have a very professional and helpful cabin staff that handled all of our needs quite efficiently, providing a productive work environment (a personal priority).

My only frustration came prior to boarding in London. First the gate number is not announced until just a few minutes before the preboarding process begins (this is done at all Heathrow gates I was told) so if you are at the other end of the terminal as we were, it can make for a bit of unnecessary last minute stress. And then without any prior warning–instead of taking a left at the end of the jetway to board the airplane, you are directed to go down another flight of stairs to the tarmac so you can board a bus to your waiting aircraft. This process helped create a 25 minute delay in our departure time and has become a permanent fixture at Heathrow–at least until a portion of the 90+ airlines that land here start using the new Terminal 5 which has a scheduled completion date of March 2008.

Now if British Airways could just start offering onboard internet access (such as Connexion by Boeing!), their onboard experience would be hard to beat.

Ever-rising fuel prices caused JetBlue to post a $42.4 million loss last quarter, reports The New York Times. With no end to rising costs in sight, the airline has raised the price of a one-way flight by $10.

One particularly interesting statistic in the story was that even though Delta’s prices were lower on many routes, JetBlue continued to fill more of its seats. Industry analysts say this is a sign that JetBlue has a preferred product.

But the airline ran into trouble with CEO David Neeleman’s decision not to use the airline’s available cash to hedge its fuel costs. The move would have insured them against rapidly rising fuel costs. The Times reports that Southwest did hedge the costs and remains profitable, while JetBlue suffered losses.

The folks over at The Lobby have blogged about a really cool service that lets you use SMS to track airport information. The database is updated every 15 minutes.

All us travelers love a good deal, so here’s a couple from the bloggers at inFlightHQ:

* 35% off plus free shipping on pre-orders of [Publish & Prosper: Blogging for Your Business](http://www.peachpit.com/title/0321395387), a Peachpit Press book that’ll teach you how to use blogging to talk with your customers, to build your brand, and sell your products! The book will be in stores this May. Use the code PP-234P-LKMS to buy now and save.

* $50.00 off registration for the Blog Business Summit’s [Essentials of Business Blogging Seminar](http://blogbusinesssummit.com/seminars/) . The seminar is in LA on March 16th. Use the code BYRON (a catchy code) when you register to get the discount.

I flew into San Jose airport yesterday and it was a pleasant relief from the LAXs of the world. Small, but clean, and quick to get in and out of. Reminded me of the Sitka airport, while old, it has less 70s brown in it.

I’m in Palo Alto for the [New Communications Forum](http://www.newcommforum.com/), where I’ll be on a panel about business blogging. Later this month, it’s back to LA for the [Essentials of Business Blogging](http://blogbusinesssummit/seminars/)and then SXSW for another panel about building a business with a blog.