More Useful Tools for Travelers

I've been using a few new travel tools lately that I think are worth sharing with you.  These have all been "field tested" and have not been discarded (that's a good sign for someone like me).

MetrO Worldwide Most smartphones Free	MetrO is a very easy-to-use application to help you plan routes from one place to another using public transit.  It is a single app that can deal with multiple cities through downloadable "modules" for a huge list of cities around the world. I first used MetrO a couple of weeks ago in Berlin and it was extremely helpful - it helped me plan my route for the day, helped me figure out my options when I deviated from my plans, etc.  On the MetrO site, you will find links to download the app for your specific phone type, then you can download the appropriate maps from within the application.
HelloFlight.com US only Browser-based Free	This informational site is very useful for finding out what delays might impact your travel - whether from weather, congestion, or some other reason.  It currently works in the US only but, since I fly most of my miles in the US, I find it helpful. In addition to the delay information, you can find out lots of interesting things such as flight history for specific planes, specific flight numbers, as more.  There are also a number of cool tools, such as one tool where you can tell it which ZIP code you live in, and it will tell you what flights are scheduled to fly over (and when, and at what altitude). Find out more at HelloFlight.com, and see a list of features on HelloFlight's tools page.
TripIt  & TripIt Pro Worldwide iPhone app, plus browsers and mobile browsers Free plus fee-based Pro features	TripIt is an interesting application.  It lets you aggregate all your itineraries and travel plans into one spot, making it easy to track your upcoming trips.  Adding an itinerary is a piece of cake - after you've registered, simply forward your confirmation emails to plans@tripit.com and it will automagically process the details and add it to your account (it knows who you are because you tell it which email addresses you'll be sending from).  I haven't had an itinerary rejection yet, regardless of format - text, HTML, and PDF.  You can also add or edit trips manually, should you so desire. Once the itineraries are up there, you can share and compare them with anyone you like.  For example, I have around 60 people "connected" to me on TripIt and it tells me who'll be near me on future trips so we can plan to get together for drinks or dinner.  I've used this quite a bit, and this alone is great. For more features, you can upgrade to the Pro version for a reasonable annual fee (more details on the TripIt Pro page).  My favorite Pro feature is the real-time flight status feature.  This does things for me like: Tells me exactly 24 hours before my flight that I can check in online, if I wish Alerts me if there are any changes to my flight - delays, gate changes, cancellations, etc. If my flight is delayed, it will suggest alternate flights Sends "connection reports" to my phone to tell me my arrival gate, my next departure gate & terminal, and how many minutes I have to make the connection.  This feature has already made the difference between me making a flight and missing a flight. Obviously, the Pro features are most useful to those of us who travel a lot.  If you're not sure, you can take a 30-day free trial and try it on for size. Regardless of whether you use TripIt or TripIt Pro, I highly recommend this application.

Hopefully you'll find something useful here to make your travel a bit easier in the coming weeks and months.  And, as always, if you have any must-have travel tools I'd love to hear about them.

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Protect Yourself! Germs travel, too.

As we move into the holiday season, that means more travel and more close contact with more people.  And where there are people, there are germs.  And it's not just travel season, it's also H1N1 season.

Now - as you may know from the blog here, I travel a lot.  What you may not know, is that I don't get sick a lot.  I follow the well-publicized advice to wash my hands frequently and use hand sanitizer (I have a travel-sized bottle of hand sanitizer hooked to my laptop bag at all times).

But I also take one extra precaution during air travel.  It's one that serves me well, and I'd like to share it with you:  individually wrapped sanitizing hand wipes.

I maintain a stash of about 10 of these tucked into a pocket in my bag so I always have one handy.  Then, when they serve food on the plane I not only wipe down my hands, I also wipe down the tray table on the plane. 

Why?  Because practically everyone who sat in that seat before me used that tray, including sick people, children, and messy adults.  And I've seen people seat their babies in diapers on those trays.  And it makes me feel better to wipe them off before eating food or drinking drinks off of them.

So, do yourself a favor and take some of these wipes along as you head out for the holidays.  I hope they serve you as well as they have me.  I order them in packs of 100, which cost about $7 via Amazon.

P.S. If you are leaving in the next few days and you need some right away, you can always sign up for a free trial of Amazon Prime and get them in 2 days for free, or 1 day for an extra $3.99.  Want to know more about Prime?  I wrote about how much I love it recently (and it will be well-used by me during the upcoming Christmas buying season).

You can become a celebrity

Author Marsha Friedman sent me a copy of her book, "Celebritize Yourself" and I read it the other day.  At first, I was a bit skeptical; read a book and become a celebrity?  You're kidding, right?

What I quickly discovered is that you actually can become a celebrity by using the techniques in this book.  That's partially because Friedman uses a slightly different definition of celebrity than the one you may be thinking of.  In her parlance, a celebrity can be anyone who is well known as an expert on a specific topic, who is then sought out to speak or share their ideas.  That helped me, since it didn't mean I needed to go on American Idol to become famous.

The other thing I discovered is that you can use Friedman's techniques in other ways, as well.  What do I mean?   I'll break it into two levels, which I'll call Public Celebrity and Local Celebrity (these are my constructs, adapted from the ideas in the book by the way)…

Public Celebrity

Public Celebrity is the true intent of the book.  Friedman takes you through the process of deciding on a domain where you can demonstrate the right uniqueness and expertise to become a celebrity in that area. 

Once you know what that is, she helps you test it to make sure it's something that will stick for you, then provides some worksheet-style exercises to get clear about the unique and differentiated value you bring to the table.  This is what forms the foundation upon which you will build your celebrity.

From there, there are numerous activities revolving around writing a book (an essential element in Friedman's methodology), getting speaking gigs, and promoting / publicizing yourself as an expert in your field.  She tells you how to assume the 'attitude' and confidence of a celebrity - a sort of walk the talk guide for celebrities to help you project the image of celebrity to others. 

These techniques stem from real-life learnings -- Friedman's "day job" is promoting celebrities, including actors, musicians, public officials, and other well-known celebrities. Oh - and that book I mentioned?  It's what enables you to say, "I'm writing a book,"  and eventually, "I've written a book," which changes how you're perceived by others.

Not much of a writer?  Don't worry - Friedman discusses thoughts on how to select and use ghost writers, freelancers, editors, and others who can help you get your ideas into print, as well as how to get the book published.

If you want to be a well-known authority on a topic (I think of my friends Rosa Say, Lisa Haneberg, and Phil Gerbyshak as examples) you'd be well-served to follow Friedman's advice, which is well-presented in a concise, easy read.

Local Celebrity

Maybe you're not inclined (or not ready) to become a Public Celebrity. That's fine, but I think you can still learn something from this book.  If you want to be perceived as a more credible, more authoritative influencer by others in your company or your circle of influence, you can apply a lot of Friedman's techniques on a different scale.

First, decide what you want to be known for.  Then use Friedman's tools from the book to clarify, test, and validate that you can be passionate, credible, unique, and differentiated on that topic.

Then begin using the techniques to project your image within the company.  While you could still write a book, you may be able to get good results from writing papers on your topic, sharing your expertise on internal blogs, in memos, etc.  Rather than public speaking engagements, you can lead brown bag lunches including instructional sessions on your topic. 

Use your imagination - it's about creating artifacts to demonstrate your expertise, then creating opportunities to present your thoughts to others.  You can even go so far as identifying your target audience (management, peers, subordinates, customers, etc.) so you can hone your message, the venues you select, and the delivery mechanism to fit your audience.

You can certainly become a Local Celebrity and make a difference in your organization - work, community, or otherwise.

What are you waiting for?

If you want to stand out as an authority - Public or Local - "Celebritize Yourself" provides a very concise guide to help you create your plan and your brand.  I encourage you to check it out.

And did I mention I'm writing a book?

Augment your reality with Layar

This week, I had a meeting with a customer in Vienna (Austria, not Virginia) and we went to lunch afterward.  The talk turned to iPhone apps, and he turned me on to an app called "Layar" that he says is in the category of apps known as "augmented reality apps."  I tried it out and I really like Layer (it's free, too).

So what the heck is Layar?

Let me try to explain.  Layar is an app that uses the technology in your iPhone to add a layer of information to your life.  Layar:

• uses the GPS to tell where you are,
• looks up relevant content on the internet based on your location and filtered by the content Layar you select (more on that in a minute),
• plots the data on a "grid" that it shows you on your iPhone screen, and
• dynamically updates your screen as you walk around, point your camera at things, etc.

That still isn't doing it justice, but if you envision Robocop or some other sci-fi movie in which information is populated in a heads-up display in real time, you'll get a sense of how Layar works.

My example

Here is what was going on when I snapped the screen grab at right.  I was walking from a train station to my hotel in Berlin, and I saw the ruins of a church and was curious what it was.  I started up Layar, selected the Wikipedia overlay, and pointed my iPhone at the church.

One of the little "W" icons had a blue line connecting it to the location of the church, so I tapped on that W, and it turned to a globe icon and populated the little text balloon you see at the bottom of the screen.  I was then able to go to Wikipedia to find out more about the church (it's a fascinating story, actually).  Now, I know what the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church is, as well as some of the story of why it looks like it does now.

This app made the rest of my short visit in Berlin many times more enjoyable, and I'll be using Layar to help explore other cities I visit in the future. 

Multi-Layar choices

There are other Layars to choose, such as ones that help you find hotels, bars, businesses, nearby Twitter users, pictures taken nearby, etc.  It's a lot of fun to experiment and see what the Layars know about the area around you.

My only complaint?  As with any iPhone app that uses the GPS, using Layar a lot will cause you to drain your battery much faster than normal.

There are more videos and screen shots at the Layar web site.  If you have an iPhone, it's worth checking out, particularly since it's Layar is free.

Riches Among The Ruins

In a break from my 'usual' fare in nonfiction books, I just read a book that isn't about management or self-improvement and I really enjoyed it so I want to recommend it to you.  The book is called "Riches Among the Ruins: Adventures in the Dark Corners of the Global Economy," by Robert P. Smith.   

This autobiographical book is written from Smith's perspective as an international financial in the "fringe" markets of the world, or as the title describes, the 'dark corners of the economy.'  He calls himself "The Indiana Jones of International Finance" and  the title comes from the premise that he, like an archaeologist, looks for valuable things within the ruins.  In his case, it's ruined economies.

You see, starting in the 60's Smith was involved in speculative trading during tumultuous times in lots of out-of-the way economies, such as El Salvador, Guatemala, Vietnam, Nigeria, Russia, Iraq, and Turkey.  Through his experiences, he learned a lot about the financial and psychological forces that feed our world economy and he does an excellent job of pulling you into his world in a way that not only teaches some fundamental economic concepts, it gives you a better feel for how business is done when the rules are - shall we say - fluid.

Entertaining, but poignant

The book is a fun read, and the style is very conversational and vivid -- as I read it, I could readily picture the scenes in my mind..  But more than just a fun read, this book left me with a feeling of uneasiness.  Why?  Because, with all the economic strangeness in the world, this book gives you an appreciation for just how unpredictable the economies of our world are, and just how successful people are at getting around the official rules when money is involved.

For example, when you read Smith's account of the many steps taken during the Vietnam War to prevent inflation from impacting the local Vietnamese currency - and then you see how futile those steps were - it makes you wonder whether any of the current activities around economic stimulus packages, tariffs, regulations, and so forth will actually do much to prevent further inflation and economic distress in today's world.

When you read about the collapse of the Russian economy, you wonder if the phrase "too big to fail" has any meaning at all.

On the plus side, you also get a glimpse of how creative, enterprising people can actually drive great success in spite of (or, as in Smith's case, because of) economic problems.  And you get to learn how Smith, while making a lot of money, has actually been pretty good at putting that money back into the world in ways that benefit others.

The final chapter?

After tagging along with Smith through many shenanigans, he tries to tie all of his lessons learned in a final chapter called "American Twighlight."  This chapter is a must-read as it uses the lens of Smith's learnings to take an objective look at the current state of the US economy.  The news is mixed, as you might expect - but not as dismal as the chapter title might imply.  He doesn't predict the US's demise but he does talk about some fairly dramatic changes we could see within our lifetimes.  Given his past (and his success in reading the currents of the economy), I am thinking seriously about what he says.

And, I am thinking that I might just go looking for some riches among the ruins myself.  If you're looking for a new and different book to read, I recommend Riches Among the Ruins.

And, if you like this sort of book, you might also want to look back at my review of a book about the Enron debacle.