Archive for January, 2009

Travel and the TSA

Posted in Travel on January 31st, 2009 by admin – Be the first to comment

I have been on the road every week this year, Minneapolis, Tahoe, NYC, SFO and PHX and got to experience the “joy” of travel. One thing I noticed is a huge increase in the number of TSA agents at every airport. Let me first say based on the fear of being added to a body cavity search list, that the TSA does a superb job protecting us from all enemies foreign and domestic. (I hope that did the trick) But there is no lack of them. I must admit the lines to get through the checkpoints seem to be shorter so perhaps the increase in employees is working. It is amazing to think a brand new government agency evolved from nothing to a huge organization in such a short period of time. Perhaps we should keep this in mind as the discussion of new government entities are being discussed.
BTW, the TSA budget for FY 2009 is $7.1b, about $24 for each of the 300M U.S. citizens.

Business travel and the iPhone

Posted in Technology on January 10th, 2009 by tparette – Be the first to comment

As I mentioned earlier I love my iPhone.  One of the many features I use is the iPod video capability while traveling.  Commercial air travel can be brutal but having a device you can load lots of video content to will make the trip a bit less painful.  The form factor of the iPhone is easier on an airplane compared to trying to watch video on a laptop.  Currently I have about 12 hours of video on mine including three Nova programs from PBS, the FDR series from WGBH, three episodes of Married with Children, a history of NASA DVD and an iTunes u web lecture from MIT.  Even with that,  a large music library and photos I have taken I still have ample capacity.

The TV programs recorded on the DVR are burned to a DVD in standard format.  I use Handbrake to rip them.  The latest version rips directly to iPod/iPhone format and are able to be directly imported to Itunes.

During my most recent trip Google Maps was a lifesaver as I didn’t know my way around Minneapolis and who wants to get lost when the temperature is near zero.

The genius of this device is the notion of a general purpose “platform” with capabilities that continue to be added with software updates.