iPad, the cannibal

With people digging Apples, Apples eat PCs:

“Sales of traditional notebooks appear to be feeling pressure from the iPad, causing a scramble by vendors to launch iPad-like tablets,” Um wrote. “We believe that a majority of this impact is occurring on the lower end of PC sales as the iPad is priced close enough to this range that it becomes attractive to consumers looking to make purchases within this segment.”

He continued: “We are not sold that the iPad is purely cannibalizing PC sales, as the functionality of the iPad cannot yet deliver the functionality of notebook PCs. -  AppleInsider

It was the guy in the cap!!

Virtually weird. Strip search scanners will now inflict another indignity: they’ll make you look like some generic dweeb in a baseball cap….

The concerns of travelers such as Powell, which led privacy advocates to sue the government, may soon be eased. L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. and OSI Systems Inc.’s Rapiscan, makers of the scanners for U.S. airports, are delivering software upgrades that show a generic figure rather than an actual image of a passenger’s body parts. The new display would mark sections of a person’s body that need to be checked.

The revisions “certainly address most of the privacy concerns,”Peter Kant, a Rapiscan executive vice president, said in an interview. Every passenger will generate an avatar that “looks like a guy wearing a baseball cap,” he said. - Bloomberg

Man, I’ve got a shirt just like that, but my stomach’s not nearly so flat. All in all, a poor resemblance.

Late night laundry with Rolf

If you like tiny...

I often joke that my cellphone is so small that I could swallow it if being approached by government agents. In the tiny vein, here’s a flash drive so small you can leave it in your laptop/netbook without fear of breakage. The protective cap actually seems bigger than the drive. Keeping up with it (or retrieving it if you swallow it) will be the biggest hassle.

The LaCie MosKeyto:

HT: GIZMODO

Update on September 3, 2010 by Frank@OBOW

AN ITEM THAT’S GETTING A LOT OF BUZZ

Rolf's no baggage update

Update on September 2, 2010 by Frank@OBOW

Rolf’s blog…if you prefer to read rather than watch & listen.

Touching development

The light traveler’s best (techie) friend just got a lot more visual:

So we just got our hands on the new iPod touch… and boy is it small. As you would expect, the functionality of the device is identical to the iPhone 4, as well as the functions of the cameras. In essence, it’s a much thinner iPhone 4, with no cell radio and a lower quality still camera. The design is relatively in keeping with previous touches, so no major surprises there, but the inclusion of that A4 chip, higher resolution screen, and front and back cameras makes it a far more versatile device. Take a look at the gallery below if you’re wondering just how much of a sliver this is — it makes the iPhone 4 look… fat. - Engadget

Update on September 2, 2010 by Frank@OBOW

Update on September 2, 2010 by Frank@OBOW

It seems that a sizable percentage of OBOW readers use the Touch or iPhone and it’s not hard to see why. I’ve been thinking lately about the difference between Apple users and Apple people. I count myself as one of the former, not the latter. Is it inevitable? Do all users become fanboy/girl drones? I suppose not. There are no little white Apple-with-a-bite-gone stickers on my tiny car yet.

Bin loaded

Toney mag for smart people The Atlantic has solved the overhead problem. Encourage people not to carry on or to carry on less by employing:

…Spirit’s strategy: make it more expensive to carry-on luggage than to check bags. If it cost $30 to carry-on and $10 to check, I can almost guarantee that you would see a vast improvement in amount of free overhead bin space.

Second, if airlines don’t want to create another fee, then eliminate the one for regular-sized checked bags and increase ticket prices accordingly. I have often crammed as much as possible into my carry-on-sized suitcase to avoid the fee associated with bringing a larger bag that would have to be checked. After all, doing so can save you a significant amount of money on a round trip.

A third alternative is to price all luggage — whether carry-on or checked — based on weight. Then, flyers will still have an incentive to pack light to save airlines money on fuel, but won’t have a disincentive to check. If it were free to check, some passengers would still likely prefer to carry-on due to fears of lost luggage, but surely more would be open to checking. - read more

Don’t like #1, #2 is better, and I think #3 is better still, though none are as good as this radical idea: Enforce existing rules!

All hands - enhanced patdown

Now this:

Logan airport security just got more up close and personal as federal screeners launched a more aggressive palms-first, slide-down body search technique that has renewed the debate over privacy vs. safety.

The new procedure - already being questioned by the ACLU - replaces the Transportation Security Administration’s former back-of-the-hand patdown.

Boston is one of only two cities in which the new touchy-feely frisking is being implemented as a test before a planned national rollout. The other is Las Vegas. - Boston Herald

Update on August 24, 2010 by Frank@OBOW

Big Sister Janet is still very proud of the girls and boys in blue:

Secretary Napolitano Announces Second Major Aviation Security Milestone this Month

Press Release

June 24, 2010

DHS now performs 100 percent watchlist matching for all flights by all U.S. air carriers

Washington, D.C.—Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced that 100 percent of passengers flying domestically and internationally on U.S. airlines are now being checked against government watch lists through the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Secure Flight program—the second major step in fulfilling a key 9/11 Commission recommendation achieved this month.

Today’s announcement comes less than three weeks after TSA reached 100 percent watchlist checking for all passengers traveling within the United States and its territories through Secure Flight. Before TSA began implementing Secure Flight, airlines held responsibility for checking passengers against terrorist watchlists. - DHS

TSA's (felonious?) follies

Now that’s what I call a checkpoint:

At what point does an airport search step over the line?

How about when they start going through your checks, and the police call your husband, suspicious you were clearing out the bank account? - read more (HT: Jeff)

Tangled up in blue:

 A former supervisor for the federal Transportation Security Administration has pleaded guilty to stealing $20,000 worth of jewelry and other items from checked luggage at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. - read more

One world, no bags

Two Gadlingites are out to demonstrate the viabiltiy of no-bag travel:

“Why?” you might ask? It’s partially to show the ease and fluidity of travel when unburdened (figuratively and literally) by luggage and it’s also a challenge. A challenge about making compromises on the road, pushing their gear to the limits and keeping cool while traversing the planet in one set of britches.

Read about it here. I’m sure they’ll be liveblogging the whole thing. (HT: Buzz)

 UPDATE: FOLLOW THEM ON ROLF’S BLOG.

Update on August 20, 2010 by Frank@OBOW

ABC news is also interested in this endeavor.

Update on August 20, 2010 by Frank@OBOW

Update on August 20, 2010 by Frank@OBOW

Update on August 20, 2010 by Frank@OBOW

From USA Today interview:

Q: How does paring down to essentials take you out of your comfort zone as a traveler?

A: It means I have nothing to fall back on, nothing to pack “just in case.” But in many ways that’s a good thing, since I can pack only true essentials. It also means I have to depend on others or seek out new experiences in a pinch. I have go to the barber for a shave in Morocco, for example, or visit a thrift store for a coat if the weather gets cold in New Zealand.

 Q: Let’s talk about the personal hygiene/stink factor. Any strategies for not grossing out your seatmates?

 A: I’ll be hand-washing my undershirt, socks, and underwear every day (letting it dry overnight). If for some reason my undershirts become irreversibly rancid after several weeks on the road, I’ll just buy new ones. I’ll also be carrying a small deodorant, and showering twice a day whenever possible.

Q: Boxers or briefs - and how many?

A: Briefs — one to wear, and two in the pockets. I’ll wash a pair each night.

Familiar ground for OBOWers, news to most of those who will read these major media pieces…

Traveling with a Traveler

A comment by Jonathan in the “Three Things I Can’t Live Without” thread reminded me that Marmot makes a longer version of their excellent Precip - the Traveler. I can see putting this over a wool sport coat and being very comfy in the winter. Might be long enough to keep your bottom dry on a wet bench too. Now I know what I want for Christmas.

Chute, he's sounding loopier

This WSJ report suggests Steven Slater’s now-famous meltdown/flakeout/emergency exit escape may have had less to do with boorish passengers than with his own mental state. And passengers say Slater sported a gash on his head during the flight. If that resulted from some jerk’s suitcase, I get the frustration, but who knows where it came from? If I were his lawyer I’d be asking him to tone down the celebrity bon vivant thing.

Update on August 12, 2010 by Frank@OBOW

…and loopier:

“… police have completed interviews with 70 percent of the passengers aboard Monday’s bizarre JetBlue flight at Kennedy Airport and all of them said they never saw flight attendant Steven Slater get hit in the head with a piece of luggage or argue with anyone.” - CBS New York

Update on August 12, 2010 by Frank@OBOW

Update on August 13, 2010 by Frank@OBOW

And maybe those beers he nicked on the way to the chute weren’t the first adult bevvies he’d imbibed that day.

Major baggage, 15 minutes fame

The feisty New York Post splashes:

‘Wing nut’ has major baggage and reports:

The JetBlue flight attendant who flipped out after his plane landed at JFK and then escaped using the emergency chute is a self-professed “bag Nazi” who was furious over a passenger’s oversized luggage, authorities said yesterday.

“I hate to be a bag Nazi when I work a flight, but I feel if I am not, then I am letting down all those who cooperate and try to help out as well,” fussy flight attendant Steven Slater wrote several months ago on Airliners.net, an aviation Web site on which he uses the handle “skyliner747.”

Discuss here.

Update on August 11, 2010 by Frank@OBOW

And wouldn’t you know, the evil of gate checking had something to do with it:

After JetBlue Flight 1052 landed in New York, one of the women who had been asked to gate-check her bag was enraged that it wasn’t immediately available, Turman said.

“The woman was outraged and cursed him out a great deal,” Turman said. “At some point, I think he just wanted to avoid conflict with her.” - Yahoo

Update on August 11, 2010 by Frank@OBOW

He’d been dreaming of taking the slide for 20 years?

“For 20 years, I thought about it,” he said in an interview on Wednesday morning. That’s how long he’s been in the industry. “But you never think you’re going to do it.” - NYT

This hurts his “I couldn’t take it anymore and just snapped” defense a little bit, but probably helps his chances of sitting down for a chat with Barbara Walters or whoever does that kind of thing these days.

Kindle 3 flies

Sold out.

One bag, one carplane

Lose weight (luggage or body, or both) if you want fly/drive your own carplane:

The car, which flew for the first time last year, has lost 90lb of useful payload, down from 550lb to 460lb. This means that with a full tank of fuel (120lb) it can carry just 330lb - 23 stone - including pilot, passenger and luggage. It has, however, gained an emergency parachute, meaning that it can land safely even if its wings were to fall off. - telegraph.co.uk

Alas, its release has been delayed. Reserve one here. Won’t fit in your garage:

PHOTO - TERRAFUGIA, WWW.DRIVENTOFLY.COM

Update on August 6, 2010 by Frank@OBOW

Not even Captain Renault is shocked

PRIVACY FILTER?This story is a couple of days old, but I’ve been busy…

For the last few years, federal agencies have defended body scanning by insisting that all images will be discarded as soon as they’re viewed. The Transportation Security Administration claimed last summer, for instance, that “scanned images cannot be stored or recorded.”

Now it turns out that some police agencies are storing the controversial images after all. The U.S. Marshals Service admitted this week that it had surreptitiously saved tens of thousands of images recorded with a millimeter wave system at the security checkpoint of a single Florida courthouse.

This follows an earlier disclosure (PDF) by the TSA that it requires all airport body scanners it purchases to be able to store and transmit images for “testing, training, and evaluation purposes.” The agency says, however, that those capabilities are not normally activated when the devices are installed at airports - CNET

And who’d have ever suspected that gambling was going on at Rick’s? Also, the privacy filter should be called the “alien converter.” Creepy. You imagine the poor creature is saying “Don’t shoot, earthling.”

Update on August 6, 2010 by Frank@OBOW

TSA:

Q. What has TSA done to protect my privacy?
A. TSA has implemented strict measures to protect passenger privacy, which is ensured through the anonymity of the image. A remotely located officer views the image and does not see the passenger, and the officer assisting the passenger cannot view the image. The image cannot be stored, transmitted or printed, and is deleted immediately once viewed. Additionally, there is a privacy algorithm applied to blur the image.

Update on August 6, 2010 by Frank@OBOW

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Cabin crew crime

Everyone’s heard of brutish baggage handlers who pilfer checked bags. How about stealthy stewardesses picking pockets and more?

The French police have arrested an Air France flight attendant accused of stealing tens of thousands of dollars in cash, traveler’s checks and jewelry from dozing business-class passengers on dozens of international flights, judicial officials said Tuesday. Authorities arrested the flight attendant on the tarmac at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris early Friday, according to a report in the newspaper Le Figaro. An investigation began in January after five passengers aboard an Air France flight to Paris from Tokyo reported the disappearance of a total of $5,000 in cash. - New York Times (thanks to the lovely Maria for the tip)

Europe sans hotels

I’ll just bet couchsurfing is easier with one bag…

Social networking first significantly influenced the world of travel in 1999 with the start of Couchsurfing, a service in which members offer a spare couch — or bed, or floor space — to fellow Couchsurfers, at no charge. It spawned a social phenomenon, and today counts almost two million people in 238 countries as members. - read more at nytimes.com

And if you want more than a couch, the above story is mostly about renting (cheaply) private accommodations that are quite nice, assuming you can avoid the odd psycopath.

Outlets three plus USB

Here’s a useful device: the Monster Outlets to Go 300 turns one AC plug into three and provides two USB outlets. It would be cool if you could go USB-USB and charge a laptop without the proprietary power block and cord. That would save weight, but I assume that’s impossible (I checked - it is impossible). At least this adapter would let you charge your laptop and USB devices at the same time, without plugging those devices into the charging laptop. (HT: Scott Carmichael at Gadling)

Spirit CEO votes for the coat?

Spirit CEO Ben Baldanza must have been reading OBOW. He says (in effect). “Hey, wimps, you don’t need no stinkin’ bags. Get one of those new travel trenchcoats and no-bag it already!” 

‘The head of the nation’s most fee-happy airline told Congress today that bringing luggage on vacation was “not essential” to travel and his airline was actually helping the poor fly by charging up to $45 to place a carry-on bag in the overhead bin.’ - ABC

A reminder, Spirit charges for carry-ons but not for one personal bag which must fit underneath a seat and measure 16 x 14 x 12” (40 x 35 x 30cm) or less. 

Update on July 15, 2010 by Frank@OBOW

Update on July 15, 2010 by Frank@OBOW

Here’s a thought: since Spirit expressly allows several items like coats, wraps, etc. to be excluded from the carry-on fees, someone should design a bag that looks like a folded raincoat. The TSA people wouldn’t care - they’d just scan it with everything else. The gate agents would just see a bulky, folded coat. It would need hideaway straps, obviously.