Recently in Travel Category

The NYT says it's getting there: 

Now, with 80 percent of passengers using these self-service options, the next step is electronic boarding passes, which essentially turn the hand-held devices and mobile phones of travelers into their boarding passes.

At least half a dozen airlines in the United States currently allow customers to check in using their mobile devices, including American, Continental, Delta, Northwest, Southwest and Alaska.

But so far, Continental is the only carrier in the United States to begin testing the electronic passes, allowing those travelers to pass through security and board the plane without handling a piece of paper. Their boarding pass is an image of an encrypted bar code displayed on the phone's screen, which can be scanned by gate agents and security personnel.'

Crunchgear has a fawning declaration of love for DFW, where I passed through on my way to and from San Francisco not long ago.

Did he not see the "electricity vending chair" that I posted about?

Airports are generally the responsibility of governments. They maintain highways, too. We talk about an "information economy" but why are there so few on-ramps to the "information superhighway" for travelers? This is something I hope someone in Congress could make a priority...an "earmark" I could live with. Why do we let T-Mobile extort $7 people every time they fly? Shouldn't we want to make our nationwide wi-fi network as ubiquitous as our mobile network? Heck, we have mobile phone "towers" in large buildings, what's wrong with applying the same build-out to public wi-fi? Why hasn't the FCC chimed in, here?

This is especially important since some non-GPS phones (like Apple's hugely popular iPhone) can get location data by finding known wi-fi hotspots and comparing them to a map. This could be a great way for Mobile Phone providers to comply with E911 requirements that the FCC has set for them. Problems with triangulating via towers? Add some increased location functionality through a wi-fi network.

On the other hand, Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA)'s Wireless Customer Bill of Rights that we discussed last week has a section that would keep states from preventing municipal wi-fi.

Maybe that will extend to airports. Meanwhile, I pay my taxes and my fees. Why can't I get some electricity in Dallas?

Also, there is actually a bill calling for a Nationwide Broadband Census which passed the House but is stalled in the Senate. Drew Clark has been a leader on this with his Broadband Census project. I can't wait to hear his talk tomorrow at Politics Online 2008 and should have a good report for you.

Besides my planned objective, critical, and sometimes offbeat coverage of 2008 South by South West festival in Austin next week, I may possibly be giving a short talk at Bar Camp Austin this coming Saturday, about the oft-overlooked fact that while most of us like to make fun of Ted Stevens and wish that Congress could totally understand the Internet and Interactive Technologies, we do a very, very poor job of presenting ourselves and thinking of ways we can pro-actively work to prevent the wrong Committee Chairman from disliking your company enough that his bill could hurt you. 

The Taliban wants mobile networks shuttered during evening and early morning hours so they can't be tracked by U.S. forces. From Ars:

The towers and offices of mobile phone operators in Afghanistan are being pressured to shut down operations at night by the Taliban. The former rulers of Afghanistan and current insurgent group held "talks" with the four major mobile companies in Afghanistan today, and gave them three days to go dark for 14 hours per day--or else.

The reason for the threat is the Taliban's belief that American soldiers and rebels within Afghanistan are using mobile phones to track down remaining Taliban members. "Since the occupying forces stationed in Afghanistan usually at night use mobile phones for espionage to track down the mujahideen, the Islamic Emirate gave a three-day ultimatum to all mobile phone firms to switch off their phones from five in the afternoon until seven in the morning," Taliban spokesperson Qari Mohammad Yousuf told Reuters, ironically via mobile phone (and presumably during daylight).

No word on whether or not this will trigger a flood of tourism by Americans looking to get away from their BlackBerry email while on vacation. I can imagine the commercials now..."Kabul: where you can really get away..."

We're incredibly unfriendly to "e-travelers."

(yes, that term sounds lame but it's the best I can do.)

Consider the following photograph I took at DFW while on my way back from California:



That's my laptop, plugged into a chair with an outlet, which gives me a massage (which I had to turn off because it hurt), let me listen to "music" (I had my iPod and was on the phone anyway) and most insultingly, only dispenses electricity when I pay for it by the minute.

Now, I'm not opposed to paying for things. Take Wi-Fi, for example. Free Wi-Fi, while sometimes nice, can be crowded, slow, and insecure. Consequently, now and then I'll pay T-Mobile or whoever a few bucks when I have a long layover so I can get some real work done. If I traveled more, I would buy a "broadband" AirCard, but I'm not at that point yet.

I do believe that you generally get what you pay for, and when I feel I get better service by paying for it, I pay. Case in point, capitolvalley.net's email is on a hosted exchange server which lets Alex and I use Exchange's various useful features to collaborate and maintain contact using our BlackBerry devices when we work several thousand miles apart. We pay extra to our wonderful hosting service (and they are wonderful, because they put up with me) for this service because it works very well, and  brainstomed/tried out a few different solutions before agreeing to split the cost of the hosted Exchange and BES for a pretty good price. For the most part, it's been incredibly helpful. We get what we pay for.

Airports need to maintain infrastructure, some things are best left to "outsourcing." T-Mobile has done a great job of putting Wi-Fi everywhere and keeping it well maintained wherever they install it. On the other hand, electrical outlets are not something that should be "pay by the minute" by themselves. I understand they are scarce, but so are places to sit while waiting for a flight and charging your gear and working.

Here's an idea to the Airport Authorities of the World: I would gladly throw down a few bucks for access to a "mobile office area" during layovers (not, I repeat not the "club lounges" that airlines offer for exorbitant amounts) where I could pay for a quiet space with access to Wi-Fi or a plug-in, a work surface, comforable chair, and maybe a USB hub to charge my BlackBerry, iPod, and other devices that all share a common connector.

What I will never do again, if I can help it, is pay $5 for 20 minutes of electricity to charge my laptop so I can write.  To whoever running the Dallas Fort Worth Airport had the bright idea to install those chairs, you can do better.

I have an RFID keyfob to get into my office. My apartment just installed them. Pretty soon, I'll need one to leave the country.

New passports issued by the United States have an electronic Radio Frequency ID chip in them containing well, exactly what the passport says. This is supposedly to help prevent forgeries and keep customs lines moving, since it's easier to hold an RFID to a reader than scan a barcode. Really.

Naturally, privacy advocates are still outraged, because with the right technology, any idiot can sit on top of a building in a foreign country with a high-powered RFID reader, a sniper rifle, and start picking off Americans one by one. Or, he could just steal your identity.

The Government has responded by including some metal in the passport cover so it can't be read while closed. Still, some are wrapping theirs in foil. What's even more troubling is that under new "security" procedures, you'll need a passport to enter the country by land if you're driving in from Canada. More links on this later, but I had so much trouble getting my building's front door to unlock with our new RFID tokens that I felt I had to say something about it.

I'll do it tomorrow and report. Or maybe just wait until I have $100 to spend next week. Meanwhile, Alex is reviewing BlackBerry software. Good for him.

So on a lark I decided to sign up for the Registered Traveler program. Pay $128 (minus my discount code) and I get to waltz through an express security line. Why did I do this?

1. I'm sick of taking off my shoes and turning off my laptop
2. I wanted to see what all the "sky is falling" privacy activists were talking about

Now, I'm as big a privacy advocate as any, but as Bill Joy said, "you have no privacy anymore." Once I tried to Western Union a friend some cash, and WU knew my past 3 addresses and phone numbers. Why should I be paranoid about sharing information that credit bureaus already know? Hell, they remember more about me than I do, which can be useful when I forget my old college addresses and want to reminisce about my old roommates. The questionnaire was like when I got my new car insurance (ditching GEICO for State Farm saved be $100/month, btw). Where did I live, what is my drivers' license number, etc etc. How is this intrusive? I give that information out all the time to banks, phone companies, etc. If anything this gives me more privacy since now TSA weasels don't have me stripping in public or turning on my laptop to examine my raunchy start-up background.  The next step is I have to go to a American Express Travel Center (thankfully near my office) and show them my license and passport, and *boom* I can get my SmartCard and waltz through security like a human being. The system may not be perfect, in fact if you're a regular reader of Patrick Smith's Ask the Pilot you should be aware of all sorts of problems with Airport Security Theater, but $100/year is a small price to pay for getting some of my dignity back. Part 2 on Tuesday: Getting "vetted."