Travel Tech

Podcast #97 — 1st Trip to Beijing; Most Important Hotel Technology

Lots of travel has kept me away from the mic — Beijing, London, Vienna, Phoenix, New York, and New Orleans. Big difference in airline load factor between international and domestic flights. The international flights were at 30-50% capacity while the domestic flights were booked solid. These trips allowed me to compare the different treatment US…

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Podcast #96 — Eating and Drinking with Social Media; Frequent Flier Alliances

Finishing up my annual 2-week travel sabbatical in an unseasonably warm Chicago. In this episode, a listener asks about if and when to use travel compression socks, we discern the popularity of in-flight Wi-Fi service from Gogo’s IPO filing, and dissect a recent article on the best airports for tech users.  We look at the…

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Podcast #93 — Travel Stories from September 11th; Traveling with a Google Chromebook

Coming up to the 10th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks, I repeat a segment from the September 2005 episode that tells the stories of travelers trying to get back home when all planes were grounded and all US borders were closed after the attacks. Also, we finish up the two-part review of new…

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iPad 2 vs. Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 — Hands-On Impressions

I walked out of the Google I/O developers conference in May with a pre-release version of Samsung‘s challenger to the iPad — the Galaxy Tab 10.1.  Rather than put it up for sale on eBay like many attendees, I decided to take it on the road with me.  I’ve been traveling the last two months…

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Podcast #92 — Not-So-Upbeat Traveler; iPad 2 vs. Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

Into the summer travel rhythm with a mix of vacation and business travel. Using an Apple iPad 2 and Samsung’s new Galaxy Tab 10.1 Android tablet during this mix gave me enough real world experience to make some recommendations. A couple of recent web links describe this podcast as “not as upbeat as others” which…

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Podcast #90 — More Comfortable Traveling in India; Tipping Towards Android?

Lots of business travel this month — UK, India, Germany, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Madrid — so there’s a lot to talk about. The international travel lets me compare business class seats — there’s a wide range of experiences even within the same airline. While in India, a listener asks my advice on adjusting for…

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Podcast #87 — Sick on the Road; What’s in My Briefcase?

I skipped the Midwest’s “snow-pocalypse” by flying to Phoenix where it was unseasonably cold — in the 20’s and 30’s F — but without snow. It’s been a cold winter and I came down with some nasty bug while visiting Dallas, which reminded me how miserable it is to be sick while traveling. Before my…

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Two Weeks with a MacBook Air

I’ve been working with my 11-inch MacBook Air for two weeks — time to walk through my initial impressions. First, though, it’s important that I lay out what in technology-land is called my use case — what I need my MacBook Air to do. If you don’t understand my expectations, my conclusions might not make…

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