$69 portable hard drive enclosure adds keypad password protection

by Scott Carmichael on

Keeping strangers away from your data has suddenly become a hot topic, but whether the US Government is after your information, or just your everyday thief, it always makes sense to protect your files.

Hong Kong based Brando, has introduced a portable hard drive enclosure with a password keypad. Without knowing the access code, strangers won’t even be able to access the hardware. If you want to take paranoid to a new level, you can use double protection by encrypting the data stored on the drive.

This enclosure does not include a hard disk, so you’ll have to invest some more in a 2.5″ hard drive, which will cost you upwards of $65, plus you’ll have to install it yourself.

In the coming months, I’m sure we will see more of these products pop up. The combination of the US government admitting that they can (and will) seize suspicious equipment and the general fear of the Chinese government during the Olympics is driving paranoia to a new level. Of course, some of that paranoia is justified.

When it comes to securing your data, the only 100% safe method is to leave important files at home, don’t carry anything you wouldn’t want to share with a stranger, and never ever login to any kind of site unless you are 100% sure the connection you are using is secure. Of course, the first sign for any customs official that you might be hiding something, is a hard drive enclosure with a password keypad, so you really can’t ever win.

U.S. Airways will charge for that beverage, unless you make a fuss

by Jeffrey White on

A few days ago Josh brought us a report about U.S. Airways beginning to charge customers for water — bottled for now.

On August 1, U.S. Airways introduced fees for beverages like soda, juice and water that used to be free.

U.S. Airways is the first domestic carrier to go this route. Other carriers are all but guaranteed to follow suit soon.

It’s pretty much a fact of life flying in America these days: If it’s on board, it’s going to cost you.

That is, unless you feel like making a big fuss about it.

Airline passengers have an ally against these seemingly trivial beverage charges: Flight attendants, the majority of whom are adamantly in favor of revoking them.

The New York Times reported the other day that the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, the major flight attendant union, is objecting to charging the $1 and $2 for nonalcoholic drinks. The union went a step further: If a passenger objects, flight attendants probably will just give them the drink for free.

“We’re trained to keep order on an airplane and defuse confrontation,” Mike Flores, president of U.S. Airways’ chapter of the union, tells the Times. “If it take giving a free beverage to somebody to do that, so be it. I expect there will be flight attendants who just give everything away.”

A U.S. Airways spokesman tells the Times that the airline has advised its 6,700 flight attendants to “err on the side of the customer” when making a decision whether to defuse a confrontation by handing out a free beverage.

So, there you have it folks: A major domestic carrier saddling its employees with a new fee policy that they do not want to enforce, and in many cases likely won’t in the end.

Finding Grace Kelly in Paris

by Josh Lew on

Those looking for a taste of the glamorous side of the 1950s can find it in Paris. The City of Lights and snobby waiters was a hot spot for the Brad Pitts and Angelina Jolies of yesteryear.

Grace Kelly is probably the ultimate example of 50s fame. An exhibit at the Hotel de Ville showcases the life and times of the American movie star who the French embraced after she married Prince Rainier of Monaco and became Princess Grace.

The exhibit is no mere collection of black and white snapshots. Kelly’s Oscar is on display alongside ball gowns and other articles of clothing. Also of interest are a collection of Kelly’s letters. I suppose it might be interesting to learn that people actually wrote letters once upon a time, but Kelly’s letters where to the who’s who of the day. The collection includes correspondences with Alfred Hitchcock and Jackie Kennedy.

So this exhibit might be a bit over the top, but perhaps a bit refreshing. After all, Grace Kelly defined glamor before glamor became all silicone and botox. I doubt there will be a similar exhibit featuring any of today’s starlets in 50 years.

Source

The 10 oddest travel guides you’ll ever read (if you can find them)

by Jeffrey White on

One day in college I was combing through the library’s shelves for a book when I stumbled onto a weathered, dusty hardcover called Afloat and Ashore on the Mediterranean by a man named Lee Meriwether, first published in 1898.

I continued to thumb through it at various times that semester, liking not only the upbeat narrative but also the obscurity of both the book and the author (I have a thing for these types of travel books).

Lee Meriwether might be the most obscure American travel writer there is. He penned dozens of books in his lifetime, all seeming to be out of print, some with direct titles like Recollections of Memphis and some with decidedly clunkier ones like Carrying Civilization to Ethiopia Benefits the Whole World as well as Italy and Ethiopia.

I just love the clumsy redundancy of that title. And the best Meriwether title, almost a book in itself: Seeing Europe by Automobile: A 5,000-mile Motor Trip through France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy; with an Excursion into Andorra, Corfu, Dalmatia and Montenegro.

Anyway, when Meriwether died in St. Louis in 1966, at the age of 103, his travel tombs, apparently never big sellers, had long been forgotten — by most, at least.

But not by Slate..

The online travel magazine cites Meriwether’s A Tramp Trip: How To See Europe on 50 Cents a Day in its recent list of the 10 wackiest travel guide books ever written. It was coming across Meriwether’s name on this list the other day that rekindled memories of that discovery in those shelves years ago.

Tramp, written in 1896, could be the first shoestring guidebook ever, as well as an early backpacker narrative, and as such probably should be regarded as an important milestone. It isn’t really, no doubt because you can’t find the book anywhere.

Slate‘s list highlights nine other works all similar in their inconsequentialness, including one written solely for an audience of English roof-climbers.

The titles:

  1. The Truth About Hunting in Today’s Africa, and How To Go on Safari for $690.00, by George Leonard Herter (1963)
  2. A Guide Through the District of the Lakes in the North of England, by William Wordsworth (5th edition, 1835)
  3. Das Generalgouvernement, by Karl Baedeker (1943)
  4. Fodor’s Indian America, by Jamake Highwater (1975)
  5. Bollocks to Alton Towers, by Robin Halstead, et al. (2006)
  6. Travel Guide of Negro Hotels and Guest Houses, by Afro-American Newspapers (1942)
  7. Lonely Planet Guide to Micronations, by John Ryan et al. (2006)
  8. The Night Climbers of Cambridge, by “Whipplesnaith” (1937)
  9. A Tramp Trip: How To See Europe on Fifty Cents a Day, by Lee Meriwether (1886)
  10. Overland to India and Australia, by the BIT Travel & Help Service (1970)

You’ll have to read the story to get a brief summary of each book and what makes them odd.

The strangest travel guide I know didn’t make Slate’s cut. That would have to be A Journey Around My Room by Xavier de Maistre (1785), which is about, well, just that: A journey from a bed to a desk. It’s still in print.

Daily deal – Garmin c580 GPS device with MSN Direct service

by Scott Carmichael on

Sorry folks, my daily deal for today is yet another GPS unit, but this deal was too good to keep from you.

Inside this Garmin c580 is a special FM receiver that can pick up a data stream being broadcast on some radio stations. This data sends the most recent traffic information directly to the GPS receiver. In addition to traffic, you even get the local weather, gas prices and movie times. Imagine being able to tell your GPS unit that you want to be direct to the cheapest gas station within a 5 mile radius!

And to make things even better, the Garmin c580 has a built in handsfree carkit, which allows you to make phone calls though the integrated speaker and included microphone. You will need a Bluetooth enabled phone to use this feature.

The MSN direct service is not nationwide, so please check the MSN coverage site if you are thinking of purchasing this for the online services. The Garmin c580 comes with a full year of free service from MSN direct, and once this year is over, you can renew for just $49.95 a year (or $129.95 for the lifetime of the unit).

The device itself runs the familar Garmin interface, with their comprehensive Navteq maps, and with the built in text-to-speech feature, you’ll get real spoken instructions (turn left on main street).

A device with these specifications normally runs around $499, but it is on sale today for just $179.99.

So, to recap; you get comprehensive maps of North America, handsfree calling through Bluetooth, text to speech for directions and street names, an MP3 player, online services from MSN direct with traffic, weather, gas prices and movie times, the patented Garmin lock theft protection system and even the ability to add your own custom points of interest.

You’ll find the Garmin c580 on Amazon.com, which means free shipping and no tax for many states.