Genuine Curiosity

iPhone 3G battery life, part 2

Yesterday I wrote about how I extend my iPhone 3G's battery life (using Kensington's Mini Battery Extender and Charger for iPod and iPhone).

Well, I've got another day under my belt with both the phone and this device, and have some additional thoughts:

1. The battery on my iPhone 3G seems to last a bit longer each day, and was noticeably better today. Maybe it needs some "breaking in" through a few days of use, or something like that. I am assuming it will level out soon since it can't continue to get better forever, can it?
2. I decided to try recharging my phone with the Kensington battery extender today, and I find that it will charge the phone very quickly - much quicker than I'd expected. In less than an hour, it brought my phone from approximately 25% charged to fully charged.

I still haven't fully tested its effect on talk time (i.e. live use of the Kensington battery as a power source while talking vs. just as a charger when I'm not using the phone) but I'm still quite pleased with this device as a way to keep the juice flowing in my iPhone 3G.

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Technorati tags: iphone 3g, battery, gadgets, productivity Del.icio.us tags: iphone 3g, battery, gadgets, productivity

My solution to iPhone 3G battery life

Well, I took the plunge on Saturday and moved from a Blackberry to an iPhone 3G. I am working on a more detailed review of the pros and cons of what I've done but, in the mean time, I wanted to let you know my solution to the shorter battery life of the iPhone 3G.

For the record, the battery life is "just OK" - it isn't abyssmal and, as PC World reports, the iPhone 3G's battery life is better than that of competing smart phones.

What's my solution? I bought Kensington's Mini Battery Extender and Charger for iPod and iPhone (available via Amazon and elegible for free 2nd day shipping for Amazon Prime members). I've only had it for a couple of days but I love it already. On a call-heavy day, I start to run out of juice on my iPhone by late afternoon / early evening. By plugging this battery extender into my phone I get a few more hours of talk or browsing time (I haven't had it long enough to give you definitive times, but it definitely lets me finish the rest of the day).

This battery extender plugs into the docking connector on the bottom of your iPhone (original or 3G, and it works with the iPod Touch, too). It is small enough to carry in my pocket which I did all day today, for example. When you attach it to your iPhone, it is small enough that you can still use your phone without feeling like a mutant and you can continue using your headphones since the iPhone's jack is on the top of the phone.

This battery comes with a retractable charging (but not syncing) cable which plugs into your USB port or iPod charger, and you can charge it alone or while it's attached to your iPhone (in which case both will be charged). The LED's on this battery are very useful. When you are charging it, the three blue LED's (on the left in the photo) indicate when the charge level has reached 20%, 60%, and 100%. The red LED (on the right in the photo) is lit during charging and during use with the phone, it begins blinking to let you know when you have less than 20% remaining.

As I said, I've got more coming about my iPhone conversion but this was just too exciting to wait.

A resource for the travel-weary

I can't believe I never knew about it, but I just found out about a wonderful resource for frustrated air travelers. This is particularly handy for those of us in the northern hemisphere, since we're getting into the height of over-booked, under-experienced travel: summer vacations.

The resource I learned about is the "Coalition for an Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights" (CAPBOR). They can be reached in the US by phone at 1-877-FLYERS6 (1-877-359-3776), and they are staffed by volunteers who specialize in helping you deal with problems you encounter during air travel. Add it to your address book, just in case.

CAPBOR helps you understand your rights, formulate your requests in the best way to circumvent rigid airline policies, and if you have a canceled flight they will even help you find out flight status / alternate flights, help you book hotels and car rentals, and find out weather information.

You can find out more about CAPBOR and their mission at flyersrights.com, and learn about the services they can offer. They also have an excellent blog at strandedpassengers.blogspot.com. Both are well worth checking out.

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Related items:

• CAPBOR's Stranded Passenger Survival Guide
• Things to do in the middle seat (6/28/2006)
• Packing without wrinkles (11/17/2005)
• LifeHack: Knowing whether you've got good airline seats (9/5/2005)

Yapta gets more amazing

Yapta (Your Amazing Personal Travel Assistant) which I reviewed in the past, is launching some new capabilities today. To refresh your memory, the things Yapta is best at are:

1. helping you track airfare prices to get the best deal (you get alerts when the price drops) and
2. helping you get money back from the airlines if the price drops after you buy your tickets (again, they alert you and provide instructions for how to get a refund or a voucher from the airline)

I've been using this for a while and, thanks to "best" #2, I've gotten several hundred dollars back form United when my airfare dropped on one of my family's vacation trips.

What's new today?

In the past, you had to use a browser add-on to get Yapta's functionality, which meant you used a bunch of other web sites to search for flights and used the add-on to "tag" the trips you want to watch.

Now, they've unified several capabilities into a web experience that doesn't require a browser add-on. You can, through their web site:

• quickly search for the cheapest flights based on your saved preference profile,
• start tracking price fluctuations for a number of routes and flight combinations all at once (great for planning trips that are a good distance in the future), and
• get alerts via email when fares drop or fall below a "target" price that you can configure.

After you purchase your ticket, the site will alert you when you're elegibile for a travel credit from the airline. That's how I got my vouchers from United - and it was dirt simple, since I followed the instructions Yapta included in their email.

They've also added some other convenience features like storing your frequent flier numbers, information on your unused tickets, and information on your travel credits.

There's much more than I've described here - check it out yourself -- for free -- at Yapta today.

Fresh Gear: How about a Monster power up?

When you're traveling with a notebook computer or other electronic essentials, a power outlet is like an oasis in the dessert (and you can usually spot them by looking for clusters of tethered travelers huddled nearby, drinking up the precious current). When you're low on juice, it can be frustrating when you're in an airport with only a few outlets.

Well, Monster has a great way for travelers to increase their access to power on the go: It's their Outlets To Go 3-Outlet Portable Powerstrip and it's pretty cool. This allows you to expand a single (grounded) outlet and turn it into 3 outlets. This extra capacity can come in handy in several situations:

• In the aforementioned scarce outlet situation, you can provide the means to share an outlet with other travelers
• For international travel, simply carry this power strip and a single international power adapter, and you'll be able to plug in 3 devices at once
• Its short length of cord allows you to more easily utilize power outlets in tight spaces - especially if you have clunky power supplies for some of your devices

There are a few other nice features on this little power strip:

• It rolls up small (as in the picture) and you can plug it back into itself to keep the cord tidy, and maintain a small profile
• The outlets have enough spacing to accommodate even large power bricks (there are 2 outlets on one side; 1 on the other)
• The power connector is flat and exits to the side, so it is less likely to interfere with other plugs or devices
• The "Monster Power" logo glows blue when the strip is "live" so you can tell when the circuit is hot
• It has a built-in circuit breaker to protect you from dodgy power situations

You can get the US version of this for about $12 on Amazon so it's reasonably priced.

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Related items

• Fresh Gear: The flattest wallet ever (5/2/2007)
• Travel Light: I've got the power... (9/25/2006)
• Things to do in the middle seat (6/28/2006)

Blackberry: 1-800-Whatever

I've been using a Blackberry with a full keyboard for quite a while, and have always been frustrated about dialing letters or words since the Blackberry doesn't have any kind of indicator what letters go with which numbers. For example, when I want to dial by name on a company phone system, I have resorted to doing the mapping in my head: something like "Let's see...ABC is 2, DEF is 3... dangit!"

Well, I just found out there is a much easier way: When you have to dial by name, wait for the prompt and simply press and hold down the "Alt" key on the Blackberry and use the keyboard to type the name you are trying to dial. The Blackberry will automagically send the right tone to match what you've typed. Awesome time saver.

When dialing 1-800-Whatever, the same technique applies - just punch that into the dialing field in the Blackberry's phone screen, and it will do the math for you.

Bonus feature: If you work for a company that uses a main number with an automated menu where you can dial individual extensions, try this. Type an extension into the phone screen (such as "x123") and the Blackberry will prompt you to set up your phone for automatic enterprise dialing. After this is set up, you can simply type the extension number for anyone in your company into your Blackberry. The Blackberry will then dial your main number, pause for the specified number of seconds, then punch in the extension number.

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Related items:

• NextAction! for Blackberry - a fresh look (8/26/2007)
• Jott a note to yourself (5/10/2007)
• TravelHack: Find good plane seats on the run (1/31/2007)

Yapta gets foxy

I've written about Yapta a couple of times in the past (see "Related items" following this post) and how it's useful for today's airfare climate. As a refresher, you use Yapta's browser add-on to track airfares by "tagging" (or "bookmarking") the exact flight itineraries that you want while searching on airline websites. Once a trip is tagged, all key flight information - including price, airline and travel dates - is automatically stored on the traveler's "My Trips" page at Yapta.com and users are subsequently notified via email when prices drop.

If prices drop after you've purchased the ticket, you are notified when you're eligible for a travel voucher or refund from their airline.

What's new?

In the past, Yapta only worked with Internet Explorer. Well, good news to you Firefox (Windows and Mac) users: Yapta released their Firefox plug-in today. It's free if you want to give it a shot. You can get more info or download the Yapta plug-in for Firefox.

Yapta can be used to tag flights on the following sites:

http://www.Alaskaair.com
http://www.aa.com
http://www.Continental.com
http://www.Delta.com
http://www.JetBlue.com
http://www.united.com
http://www.usairways.com

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Related items

• Yapta helped me get cheaper flights (11/13/2007)
• Want to share my personal assistant? (5/23/2007)
• Can you watch your legally purchased DVD's on your video iPod? (5/21/2007)

Learning from the site of a Trucking Accident

What the heck does the title of this post mean? Well, I'm referring to the TruckingAccident.org Blog where I found a great resource for the road warrior in a post called "The Mobile Productivity Toolbox: 100 Resources to Keep You Productive When on the Move."

Some of the new finds (for me, anyway) from this list include:

• #4: Mobivox: Get cheap Skype calls even when you're away from your computer and WiFi with Mobivox's service.
• #7: ProjectStat.us: If you're traveling, you may not be able to field lots of calls and emails about progress on projects. Keep everyone out of your hair by letting them find out with ProjectStat.us. [Note: ProjectStat.us is awesome - and I love their logo]
• #61: oh don't forget: Get reminders sent to you via SMS with this service. You don't even need an account to do it.

And, as the name of the post implies, there are 97 others. Go check it out!

Oh - and if you are a blogger, you might find some gems in another one of their articles: "Travel Blogging: 100 Resources To Help You Post on The Road."

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Related items

• Packing tips, part 1 (5/30/2007)
• Packing tips, part 2 (6/8/2007)
• Travel tools for red-eyes and jet lag (6/17/2006)

What's in your wallet?

Want a quick and easy way to keep track of what's in your wallet in case it gets lost or stolen?

I've scanned my credit cards, drivers license, etc. (front and back) into a PDF file that I have encrypted into a self-extracting ZIP file (with 256-bit AES encryption and a complex passphrase). I have this ZIP file stored electronically so that I can get to it anywhere in the world. That way, if I lose my wallet I can quickly get a list of what was in it, including the contact numbers on the back of the cards.

The ZIP file also contains a scan of my passport in case I lose it while traveling abroad.

I've added a recurring reminder in my calendar prompting me to update the scan from time to time.

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Related items

• Fresh Gear: The flattest wallet ever (5/2/2007)
• Travel Light: I've got the power... (9/25/2006)
• Emergency medical information (8/9/2005)

Pre-trip planning lists

Leaving town for the holidays? Make a list. Actually, many people have some of the more common lists covered (who's naughty and nice, who to send cards to, etc.) A list that is particularly valuable for me is my "don't forget to do this stuff."

Some things on my list include the following:

Arrange for pet sitter	Adjust thermostat (lower in the winter, higher in the summer)
Leave check for pet sitter	Turn on "out of office" reply on email
Stop newspaper delivery	Change voicemail greeting to let people know you're gone
Hold mail delivery (you can do this online in the US at www.usps.com)	Pay all bills (or schedule them in online banking)
Bring garbage from kitchen garbage can to outside can	Print out itinerary and confirmation numbers
Check weather forecast for where you're going and pack appropriately	If you're traveling internationally, ensure you have: current passports, valid visas, etc. (allow at 6 weeks for US passport processing)

This is just a sample of the things on my list, and we end up adding things to it every time. For example, 2 trips ago, we forgot my 7-year old's suitcase in her room; now, everyone must put their luggage by the front door and we double check that everyone has their bag before we leave the driveway. Last trip, I forgot my Blackberry and we almost missed our flight because I needed to go back and get it (it's also my phone).

Don't have a list? Here is a great online travel checklist, organized as a timeline - this provides a really good place to start.

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Related items

• Pack without wrinkles
• Things to do in the middle seat (6/28/2006)
• Travel: De-stress or Distress? (12/20/2006)

Yapta helped me get cheaper flights

A few weeks ago, I wrote about a free service called Yapta, which stands for "Your Amazing Personal Travel Assistant" (get Yapta now, or read my previous post about Yapta). Shortly after I started using Yapta, I bought a couple of plane tickets for a family trip and used it to watch the fares to see if they dropped. My tickets were about $760 each when I paid for them (yep, I know - pricey).

What does Yapta do?

The way Yapta works is that you can tell it what trips you're shopping for, or which tickets you've already bought. From there, Yapta starts monitoring the prices and lets you know when they drop (you can set how far they need to drop before you're notified). If the price drops, most airlines will either give you a refund or issue a travel voucher (depending on their policy) if you contact them before the price goes back up again (you've gotta act fast - those fares change quickly).

Yapta can track fares from the following airlines (currently US-heavy), but they have been adding more to the list:

• AirTran Airways
• Alaska Airlines
• American Airlines
• ATA Airlines
• Continental
• Delta Airlines
• Frontier Airlines
• JetBlue
• Midwest Airlines
• Ted Airlines
• United Airlines
• US Airways

Well, did Yapta work?

About a week ago, I got an email from Yapta on my Blackberry saying the fare had dropped, and I was elegible for a voucher from United Airlines for the difference. They even told me where to call and what to say to get my voucher (pretty cool). I called United, and the price had dropped to $601 per ticket so I got vouchers in the amount of $308.

Now that is what I call an amazing personal travel assistant. It's free - what are you waiting for?

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Related items

• Want to share my personal assistant? (5/23/2007)
• Shouldn't a business make money? (10/4/2005)
• More tools before you fly (8/30/2006)

Sit on your luggage?

I know from personal experience that sitting on top of your rollaboard luggage is generally not good for it. Most rollaboards are just not made to support the weight of a human.

I found out that a local company (they're based in Oregon area where I live) has decided to change all that. The company is "SeatKase" and they are making some nice, carry-on sized luggage with a fold-out seat that you can sit on. SeatKase luggage has been tested to hold up to 250 pounds, so it's really tough stuff.

SeatKase uses a patent pending design for the wheels that make them stop rolling when you sit on the luggage so you don't end up sitting on the floor. The luggage is also designed to make it easy to create a laptop stand so you can couple the luggage with any chair that's handy and create an office on demand.

On the SeatKase site, you'll find data on the wheel locking mechanism, as well as ordering and pricing information (the bags are $99 US - a great price for something that looks to be very well made).

I haven't seen one of these in person yet, but this seems like a great idea for road warriors.

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Related items

• Packing tips, part 2 (6/8/2007)
• Packing tips, part 1 (5/30/2007)
• Packing without wrinkles: Updated: Don't be the crumply traveler (11/17/2005)

Learning in a different context

Last week, I had the privilege of being a chaperone for my daughter's sixth grade class as they went to "Outdoor School." I wasn't familiar with this concept until we moved to Oregon but, apparently, it's pretty common up here. Basically, the whole class goes to an outdoor location (some classes go to the coast, my daughter's went up to a Kiwanis camp on Mount Hood).

For several days, we worked with the kids on a variety of physical, mental, and team-building activities, and it was extremely effective. We went to a couple of mountain lakes to do water studies, went on night hikes to observe the stars and constellations, went on nature hikes to study things like microenvironments, and went on an 11.5 mile hike to a peak where we could see 5 nearby mountains all at once.

For each activity, the students were asked to answer a number of questions in their science journals to enforce what they's learned. There was also plenty of time to reflect, enjoy nature, and get to know each other in a new environment.

One of the things that really struck me was how well some of the students did in this environment. In many cases, students who are usually disinterested or "just OK" in the classroom dove into the activities with tremendous focus and passion. Just being in a different context -- along with combining learning, physical activities, and a more social, team-oriented approach -- really unlocked their curiosity.

If you ever feel uninspired when it comes to learning, maybe you can unlock your own curiosity or create a new spark by changing how you approach it. Find a way to get outside, make it more hands-on, or get involved in a supportive group environment to make it more fun and change the context of learning.

For example, it's one thing to read about the life cycle of fish but one of the "big moments" we experienced was standing on the banks of the Salmon River watching a couple of salmon spawning. Way cool - you can get a glimpse of it in the short video I captured of salmon spawning.

This was at the Cascade Streamwatch project in Wildwood, Oregon. If you're ever out this way, it's a wonderful place to do some outdoor learning!

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Related items:

• Teaching To Learn (6/11/2007)
• Of broken glass and Boy Scouts (4/5/2005)
• Cowboy learning (6/27/2007)

Put your friends on the radar

If you're like me, the number of "social networking" invitations you receive seems endless (I'm a long-time LinkedIn user, but have been invited to join Facebook, Quechup, Xing, and a ton of others). While it's nice to be asked, I haven't been joining all of these other networks because I don't feel that I have the cycles to be a good citizen in too many of these communities.

I've just been introduced to a cool new service called SameCell that adds a new twist to social networking -- and it requires very little process overhead from me. SameCell is designed to let you know when you are near one of the "buddies" in your list to make it easy for you to connect with each other for coffee or whatever. The service is currently Blackberry-centric, with plans to move to many other smartphone platforms in the near future.

As the name implies, SameCell monitors which "cell" of wireless coverage you're currently in, and checks to see if one of the people in your list is in the same cell or an adjacent cell. For each contact in your list, you can set a proximity range (in miles) so that you will be alerted any time that person comes within the specified range.

The software is free and easy to install (if you want to install, just point your browser at http://www.samecell.com/setup from your Blackberry). Once the software is installed, you activate your free account, then you can easily add or invite others to your buddy list - SameCell integrated directly with your device address book.

There is a bunch more information on the SameCell site, including videos explaining more about how it works, answers to questions about privacy, etc. There is also a link on the home page to get on the list to be notified when versions for other phones are available.

Who knows - maybe I'll see you on SameCell the next time we're in the same airport!

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Related items:

• NextAction! for Blackberry - a fresh look (8/26/2007)
• Digby - Blackberry's best friend? (8/11/2007)
• Jott a note to yourself (5/10/2007)

pzizz field report #1

Recently, I wrote about pzizz, a great tool to help you with "power napping." During a very demanding business trip the other day, I tried a pzzizz experiment. I was taking a short, mid-day shuttle flight from San Francisco back to Portland, and I was dragging due to lack of sleep the couple of days before.

I was getting that "nodding off" feeling anyway, so I took out my iPod and loaded up a 20 minute pzizz "Energizer Nap" soundtrack. pzizz guided me through the relaxation process, I fell asleep, and it woke me up at the end of 20 minutes.

Afterward, I felt much better, and was good for the rest of the day. This is pretty cool. I'm still looking forward to testing out the jet lag angle of this on my next trip to Europe.

Some tips if you try this:

• Good headphones that block out ambient sound help a lot (see my review of my earbuds)
• Keep your knees out of the aisle when the cart comes through - I had to do a restart on my nap from that one!

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Related items:

• pzizz: State of the art power napping (7/15/2007)