Boltbus tweaks onboard wifi, good and evil return to balance

by Grant Martin on

I had the pleasure of riding Boltbus last week, taking the time to ride the MARC all of the way from Baltimore to DC just for the chance to ride the bus back to New York. In my review, I pointed out that the service was nice, clean and on time, although I had issues with the encryption of their wireless network. Indeed, as of their frontpage last week they were having issues with Macintosh users connecting to their über secure mobile network.

David Hall from Boltbus got in touch last week to update me on their networking issues. He told me:

“Want to know the truth… we don’t like the 26 digit key either… we run credit card transactions over that network and the encryption is meant to protect those transmissions. This weekend… we are loading new programming and eliminating the key“

Sweet! Given the increasing number of Iphone, Mac and Linux users this will make integration into the wireless network easier all around. If someone rides on Boltbus this week, let me know how things went and I’ll update this post.

TwittEarth: Watch tweets from around the world

by Justin Glow on

I have to admit, at first I didn’t really understand Twitter. Microblogging? Who cares? But then I signed up for an account, connected with a few friends, and — like most everyone else using the service — became addicted. It really is a great way to stay up-do-date and connected with friends and family. Heck, Gadling even has a Twitter account, but we’re still working the kinks out of it so it’s pretty quiet now. If you’re still unsure of what Twitter is, watch this.

Anyway.

TwittEarth is a nifty little website I just found that displays recent tweets from around the world on a spinning globe, Google Earth style. It serves no other purpose than giving you a new way to look at the data, but it does a great job at that. So off you go — sign up for a Twitter account and microblog away, or just stare at the pretty spinning globe.

(Via TechCrunch)

Follow up: Drove Someone Insane With Postcards

by Justin Glow on

Remember the guy who auctioned off the service of sending your friends and family bizarre postcards from a far-off location, each peppered with enough personal information to really freak them out? We covered the story back in December of ’07.

The winning bidder ended up paying $415, and they gave permission for Bryan Sack — the guy behind the idea — to post them on his website. Seven post cards were sent from locations around Poland and Berlin. Here are a few choice lines:

  • “I gotta tell ya, the radio here leaves a lot to be desired. It’s like most of their music came from a flea market in Yonkers.”
  • “If you send me an MP3 of you doing a Jackson 5 cover, there’s a good chance I can make you a chart-topper.”
  • “A lot of the food here is delicious, but it operates under the presumption that I will be plowing a large field or operating a grain harvester.”

Can you imagine randomly getting these from someone you don’t know? I’d love to here a follow-up from the winning bidder and see how the recipient reacted.

Check out all the postcards here.

(Via Boing Boing)

Big in Japan: Tibet unrest changes Everest climbing routes

by Matthew Firestone on

From San Francisco to London and Paris to India, protestors are taking to the streets to demonstrate against China’s hosting of the Olympic Games. Angered by the Chinese government’s refusal to meet with the Dalai Lama, as well as the continued suppression of human rights in potential breakaway regions, the world is seeking to punish China on the eve of its long-anticipated coming out party.

For travelers on the ground in China, independent tourism has never been more difficult, especially since parts of the country have now been entirely closed off to the outside world. Following wave of violence that commenced on March 14th, the Chinese government has entirely barred tourists from entering Tibet. As a so-called ‘autonomous region,’ non-Chinese nationals must obtain special entry permits for Tibet.

Sadly, it’s looking like the ‘Roof of the World’ may remain in relative isolation until the Olympic Games have passed, which is a huge blow at a time when tourism in the region was beginning to flourishing. Here in Japan, this was highlighted recently in the news when Mr. Yuichiro Miura, the 75 year-old thrill seeker who once skied down Everest using a parachute as a brake, announced that he was changing his Everest climbing route.

At the young and spry age of 75, Mr. Miura (alongside his son) was planning on climbing Everest from the Chinese side in a bid to regain his title as the oldest man to climb Everest. However, despite all of the preparations that he has made, his climbing permits were canceled following the unrest in Tibet.

Mr Miura first held the record as the oldest person to climb Everest when he reached the top in 2003 at the age of 70. Although his record was broken just three years later, he is determined to regain it despite having to change his proposed route at the final hour. According to Mr. Miura, who is presently in the Nepali capital of Kathmandu, “We are here to climb and so we will.”

Of course, would-climbers on Everest are also saddened by the current political climate in Nepal, which is threatening to topple the nation’s troubled monarchy. And, China is also exerting pressure to not allow climbers to scale Everest until after the Olympic torch has been carried up and down the summit. Needless to say, a protest at the summit of Everest would not be a great PR moment for the Chinese government!

Despite all of these hurdles however, Mr. Miura is confident that he will shatter the Everest climbing record by the end of May. Mr. Miura is best known for having skied down Everest in 1970, using a parachute as a brake, footage of which later appeared in an Oscar-winning documentary. However, his latest bid for worldwide fame is perhaps even more challenging, given that Mr. Miura is a septuagenarian.

Then again, in a country where living beyond the age of 100 is a pretty common feat, perhaps Mr. Miura shouldn’t be too upset if his travel plans are canceled this year…

** Mr. Miura’s photo was taken by the Agence French-Press (AFP). Other images were courtesy of the WikiCommons Media Project. **

Seven wonders of the United States: Utopia and baseball

by Jamie Rhein on

The ABC’s morning show, “Good Morning America” has a series in the works to get people to tune in May 5-13. Each day they will feature a “wonder” of the United States. A panel of travel experts are in charge of the picking. What seems daunting to me is figuring out the parameters, and then narrowing down the choices. In February, Gading ran a series on the 14 sites in the U.S. that may achieve World Heritage organization distinction over the next 10 years. Even that list doesn’t help much.

Does one choose architecture over nature? What about sites with cultural significance? How does the Grand Canyon compare to the Empire State Building? If I were to pick the top wonders of the U.S., two of them would be Disneyland in Anaheim, California and Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama. “Say, what?” you might be thinking. I have my reasons.

I’d pick Disneyland, not because I think Disneyland is the most wonderful place in the U.S., but because it was created by Walt Disney as a version of Utopian society. Really. There’s a loads of stuff written about it. Optimism, innovation and cleanliness were built into its design. The values Disneyland promotes are meant to reflect the U.S., and over the years Disneyland has had an enormous influence on American culture. Look at marketing alone and how many people pour into a Disney establishment each year. When people come to the United States for vacation, Disney is one of the places they head. Since Disneyland was the first to open, it gets the nod.

Why Rickwood Field? Well, it’s the oldest baseball park in the U.S. that still looks like it did back in 1910 when it first opened. Willie Mays played here. I thought about choosing one of the larger more famous ball parks, but when I did a search for the oldest ball park in the United States, Rickwood Field came up. Whenever Rickwood Field gets an update, the update looks like the original.

Wonders of the world, in my opinion, should mostly represent the original creation, otherwise history is covered up and discarded. Rickwood Field is also significant in the history of U.S. race relations. This was the home of the Black Barons of the Negro League.

Because baseball is a sport that most folks in the U.S. have played at one time of another–and it is one that has had an enormous impact on the identity of many U.S. cities–look at the economic impact alone, I think a baseball field is a U.S. wonder. So, these are my two choices off the top of my head. I’m interested to see what the travel experts pick. I doubt they’ll think of Rickwood Field. Disneyland? Maybe. The Grand Canyon? I would say it is a yes.