Travel...without a net (book)

[orrenm]

I'm off to San Francisco for a few days, for an audio engineering convention. I like SF as a town—for a while I went to school in the East Bay, at UC Berkeley, and driving into "The City" was always a fun time. I don't get to see much of it as I'll be manning our company's booth inside (basically, a 10x10 bookstore selling our music technology books, one of which I co-wrote). But I do get let out of the building for lunches and in the evening, so there's always some fun.

 

For the first time, I'll be traveling without a laptop or netbook. My only computing devices will be my iPhone and my iPad. Too bad that Storyist for iPad isn't quite ready yet! I'm used to being able to do a fair amount of work and stuff on the road, so we'll see how things turn out without a full desktop OS in my bag of tricks...

 

I'll let you know,

 

Orren

[Steve E]

Once upon a time computers took up whole rooms and weighed tons and cost millions to buy, maintain and staff. But then, in those days, before laptops, the boss didn't expect you to do work on the road. It's a mixed blessing.

 

Curious about your findings.

-Thoth (who gets to work at home and deduct office expenses).

[orrenm]

Once upon a time computers took up whole rooms and weighed tons and cost millions to buy, maintain and staff. But then, in those days, before laptops, the boss didn't expect you to do work on the road. It's a mixed blessing.

 

True. OTOH, I like having electronic gizmos so that I can keep up with email, Twitter, Facebook, watch videos, listen to music, etc. For all those things, the iPad was perfect!

 

Curious about your findings.

 

I found that traveling with just an iPad and iPhone was all I needed. A total of one time, I needed access to an internal work application that would have required my laptop, but someone else was able to access it for me, so no problem. And on a personal note, I found that my iPad was the just fine for browsing and video and even playing the odd game (I'm currently enjoying both Angry Birds and Plants vs. Zombies).

 

Plus, I have to say, with "security theater" being what it is at airports today, not having to pull a laptop out of my bag was very welcome. It was great traveling with a backpack, and nothing else. I just had to take my shoes and jacket off and call it a day. For a general rundown (with no gear talk ) about AES, including a few paragraphs where I get my panties in a bunch about the direction that airport security is going, I've rambled about it on my blog.

 

Orren

[Steve E]

True. OTOH, I like having electronic gizmos so that I can keep up with email, Twitter, Facebook, watch videos, listen to music, etc. For all those things, the iPad was perfect!

...I found that traveling with just an iPad and iPhone was all I needed. ...

Good to know. Now all it requires is a camera and a good smart cellphone and the iPad can satisfy all my gizmotic needs.

 

...A total of one time, I needed access to an internal work application that would have required my laptop, but someone else was able to access it for me, so no problem. ...

We get by with a little help from our friends.

/Do you need anybody?/

/I need somebody to access an internal work application/

 

And on a personal note, I found that my iPad was the just fine for browsing and video and even playing the odd game (I'm currently enjoying both Angry Birds and Plants vs. Zombies).

A thousand years from now, little gray space aliens are going to read the phrase "I'm currently enjoying both Angry Birds and Plants vs. Zombies" and wonder how our species survived as long as it did. Or the opposite. I really don't know much about little gray space alien psychology.

 

Plus, I have to say, with "security theater" being what it is at airports today, not having to pull a laptop out of my bag was very welcome. It was great traveling with a backpack, and nothing else. I just had to take my shoes and jacket off and call it a day. For a general rundown (with no gear talk ) about AES, including a few paragraphs where I get my panties in a bunch about the direction that airport security is going, I've rambled about it on my blog.

YES! I very much enjoyed your blog ramble. Our "security theater" is a joke in the rest of the world. Even Israel thinks our measures are absurd for our volume of traffic. And every month we still fail inspection, allowing four-out-of-ten "mock terrorists" to smuggle bombs and other weapons onto planes. But I have a way to end the "security theater"— make people who ride private corporate jets (or their own personal aircraft) go through it too. They may not hear our voices in Washington anymore but they still hear theirs.

 

-Thoth.

[orrenm]

A thousand years from now, little gray space aliens are going to read the phrase "I'm currently enjoying both Angry Birds and Plants vs. Zombies" and wonder how our species survived as long as it did. Or the opposite. I really don't know much about little gray space alien psychology.

 

You never know, perhaps this is the first step toward A Taste Of Armageddon...

 

 

YES! I very much enjoyed your blog ramble. Our "security theater" is a joke in the rest of the world. Even Israel thinks our measures are absurd for our volume of traffic. And every month we still fail inspection, allowing four-out-of-ten "mock terrorists" to smuggle bombs and other weapons onto planes.

 

I think this picture does a pretty good job of summing up my attitude toward the current security theater's effectiveness...

 

 

But I have a way to end the "security theater"— make people who ride private corporate jets (or their own personal aircraft) go through it too. They may not hear our voices in Washington anymore but they still hear theirs.

 

Of course, that's why those people will never have to go through it. They have a lobby. Just like you can now (since 2007) bring a lighter on board. The tobacco lobby insisted...

 

Take care,

Orren

[Steve E]

Of course, that's why those people will never have to go through it. They have a lobby. Just like you can now (since 2007) bring a lighter on board. The tobacco lobby insisted...

My head hurts.

 

Try traveling in a wheelchair. There are a dozen places to hide a bomb in a wheelchair (its frame is mostly tubular steel) and they'd never catch it because they typically don't have the facilities to properly x-ray it and they won't dismantle it. (Thank goodness for small favors.)

 

BTW: Where did you find that (I'm assuming) poster?

-T

[orrenm]

BTW: Where did you find that (I'm assuming) poster?

 

I just had someone that I follow via Twitter retweet a link to the artist who drew it and posted it on reddit, and I copied it (and gave him credit on my blog).

 

I have to say, I get a lot of nifty links via Facebook and Twitter. I probably spend way too much time on them, but the flipside is, it gets fun stuff (and useful stuff for my job as well, not just marketing but finding out about companies, potential authors, etc).

 

Orren

[Steve E]

I have to say, I get a lot of nifty links via Facebook and Twitter. I probably spend way too much time on them, but the flipside is, it gets fun stuff (and useful stuff for my job as well, not just marketing but finding out about companies, potential authors, etc).

I have to say, I've been a Facebook and Twitter holdout for a long time now. But you're moving me in their direction.

-Thoth