Daily deal – Polk Audio portable iPod speaker dock for $30

by Scott Carmichael on

My daily deal for today is for the Polk Audio miDock iPod speaker dock. This stylish portable iPod speaker is powered by 4 AA batteries, or the included AC adapter.

The miDock is only 100% compatible with the 5th generation iPod. Other iPod versions like the 2nd and 4th generation Nano will play, but they will not charge. The iPhone and the iPod touch don’t fit at all, and will need to be connected to the aux input jack of the speaker.

So, if you have a 5th generation iPod, this is a great way to get a high quality speaker dock for under $30 ($29.99). The miDock is on sale at Woot.com, which means you only have till the end of inventory or the end of the day, whichever comes first. Shipping is $5.

Included in the box is the speaker, an assortment of iPod adapters, a carrying case and an AC adapter.

Amazing Race 13 episode 7: Delhi, India where karma can get you

by Jamie Rhein on

After last week’s dash in Delhi that ended at the Baha’i House, Starr & Nick were the first ones to head out again into Delhi’s traffic for episode 7 of Amazing Race 13. This week’s episode was one traffic jam after another and a mix of what makes life in Delhi so darned interesting. Colorful. Literally. It was also an episode where people who are snide don’t come out ahead. It’s karma, baby, karma.

Travel Tips from this episode:

  • Working with others can benefit everyone. Don’t be a loner all the time
  • The bigger vehicle is not the best one to take through a traffic jam
  • When stuck in traffic, get out of the vehicle and direct the flow to give yourself a pathway to move forward
  • Be observant. When one way of doing a task is not working, don’t keep repeating yourself. Try something else.

Recap and cultural highlights:

If this was Holi in Delhi, the timing couldn’t have been better for an authentic cultural experience with some Amazing Race craziness mixed in, however as a person who has been to a Holi celebration, the volume of this episode’s depiction was turned up several notches.

When each team arrived for the first task at Deshbandu Apartments where a Holi celebration was taking place, one of the team members was to run through the crowd of celebrating people and up a ladder-like tower where dozens of Amazing Race colored envelopes hung. Six of the envelopes had the next clue. The others said “Try again.” As each person ran to the tower and up it to search through the envelopes, the crowd pelted him or her with colorful powder and sprayed water to make a real mess.

In the typical Indian version of Holi, people throw colored powder on each other in fun, but not in the thick clouds as shown in the episode. The idea–sort of–is to celebrate the rejuvenation of spring with colors. People often come wearing white, and have control over how covered in colors they want to be–mostly.

When I went to a Holi celebration, my face was smudged a bit, but I hung back. Kids go nuts. As with any Indian holiday, food is also an important part, and all ages are included.

Unfortunately, the teams in the Amazing Race had no idea what the celebration signifies–and as with any cultural experience that’s not your own, personalities show through. Plus, their version of Holi was not totally accurate.

Christy & Kelly had the hardest time. Personally, I think it’s because they’re so busy making fun of people and thinking that they’re the greatest thing since sliced bread, that they miss details. Tasks come hard to them. Last episode they made fun of Dallas. This week, they were making swipes at Andrew & Dan.

This episode showed Holi as payback. Each time Kelly grabbed the wrong clue and had to run once more into the fray of revelers, I looked for a sympathetic twinge in my heart and couldn’t find one. When she tripped and fell, oh well.

Dallas & Toni caught onto the essence of Holi even though they didn’t know it. Later in the episode, when Dallas, still tinted pink, was running down the road in the midst of pack of kids, Toni brimmed with love at the joy she saw in his face.

After the faux Holi celebration, it was off to the Jain Temple where the Charity Birds Hospital is housed. As with all temples in India, people must take their shoes off before entering. Nick wasn’t thrilled with the idea of walking around barefoot and had no idea why the birds were there. Were the birds sick or were they supposed to be therapy for sick people, he wondered. Seriously, Nick. Don’t you have any cultural know how? It says Charity Birds Hospital above the door, for heaven’s sake. The hospital was founded by the Jains in 1956 to take care of wounded or sick birds and is based on the Jain religious belief that has a high aversion to killing.

Sarah was the most in tuned to the plight of the sick and wounded birds as she and Terrence searched the cages for the next clue. I love the way these two keep calling each other “Babe.” It doesn’t matter what they’re doing. It’s endearing.

Before Tina & Ken could look for the next clue in the Charity Birds hospital, they had to perform their Speed Bump. Tina, now with green hair (and green is the worst for not coming out from blond hair) & Ken headed to the Sikh Temple where they helped give water to the throngs of worshipers. Here, Tina was back to being culturally sensitive after calling the fellows that doused her in green powder, “morons.”

This temple scene was a high point of the episode because of the authentic interactions. Tina, in particular, recognized that she was in a holy place and felt compelled to do a good job. Her “God bless yous” as she handed out glass after glass was rather touching.

After the visit to the Charity Birds Hospital came two Road Block choices: Bleary Eyed and Teary Eyed. In Bleary Eyed, the teams were to follow the small numbers of the electrical wires along a very narrow street in Delhi. Once they reached a man with a sewing machine, they were to give him the series of numbers they found. If they were right, he gave them the location of their next clue which would lead them to the Pit Stop at Humayun’s tomb, a complex of mausoleums built in the 16th Century.

This was an older section of the city, I imagine. As buildings are wired for electricity, the tangle increases. The numbers help keep the circuits straight. I can vouch that all of Delhi’s wiring is not like this, however it the wiring and the traffic indicate a city that is teaming with people.

In Teary Eyed, the teams were to head to a market, pick up two 40 pound bags of dried chilies (one each) and carry them to Sharwan Kumar & Sons, a spice business where they were to pulverize 35 ounces of it into powder by using a mortar and pestle. Sarah & Terrence are the only two who picked this option. In the middle of calling each other “Babe” and pounding away, they choked a bit on the chilies’ fiery fumes.

Nick & Starr and Dallas & Toni arrived at Nai Sarak Street for their number hunting in about the same time, and after they discovered the numbers, decided that if they worked together, they’d get finished faster. Both teams plugged in the Ganesha at the store the tailor sent them but, once they were in their Tuk-tuk taxis, skill had nothing to do with who would get to the Pit Stop first. Traffic means everything.

Traffic threatened to do Ken & Tina in after they completed their speed bump and were catching up, but Ken got out of the taxi to part traffic which worked like a charm.

Finding the numbers was a horrific task for Christy & Kelly and Andrew & Dan. It took them forever to find out what to look for. After Ken & Tina figured out the system, they pointed out a number to Dan & Andrew before they hopped back in their taxi they had wait for them. That’s the way to be nice.

Christy & Kelly who have not been nice to anyone on the whole trip arrived at the Pit Stop last. Ha! Yes!

Who won this episode? Nick and Starr–again. I’m growing weary of them winning all the time, but my impression of them went up a notch when they worked with Toni & Dallas and seemed to enjoy it. I do wish Starr would quit cavorting around in her running bra. It irks me. She’s not in Survivor.

What did they win?: A trip to Kauai, Hawaii

Christy & Kelly’s words of travel wisdom: Keep being each others support system. As much as these two bothered me because of their snide ways, I was impressed with how well they got along with each other. No matter how many problems they might have had, they didn’t snipe at each other once.

For recaps and videos from Amazing Race 13, check out the web site.

Plane Answers: Single-engine taxi, engine-out flight and ATC confusion

by Kent Wien on

Welcome to Gadling’s feature, Plane Answers, where our resident airline pilot, Kent Wien, answers your questions about everything from takeoff to touchdown and beyond. Have a question of your own? Ask away!

Julie asks:

Recently on a short flight on a de Havilland Dash 8, I noticed as we were taxiing down the runway that only one of the props was spinning, and the other one appeared to be off. I have seen this on other flights with the same type of plane, and the first time I ever noticed it I almost thought they had forgotten to turn it on (which is really, really silly I know)!

I know you don’t fly this kind of aircraft, but I thought you might have an answer anyway. I can’t really ever see into a jet engine to tell if it is spinning during taxi, so I guess it is possible that this is something regular with all twin engine aircraft and I just never knew it? Thanks Kent!

HI Julie,

I used to fly the Dash 8’s little brother, the Twin Otter. Even then, when fuel was less expensive than today, we would taxi on one engine as often as possible to save fuel.

Jets do this rather frequently too, but as you said, it’s rather difficult to tell from a distance.

There are limitations, however. We can’t taxi on one engine when we’re too heavy or when we may have to climb a bit of a hill on a taxiway, or if the taxiway may be slippery due to snow or slush. Also, on some aircraft, we need to be sure that we can give a 2 to 3 minute ‘warm-up’ time for the shutdown engine before we take off. So short taxis usually are accomplished with two engines.
John asks:

On a recent A340-500 flight the right engine sounded as if it had trouble. The flight deck crew left the side light on for about two hours and then turned them on every 2 hours after that (this flight was from JNB to ZUR). I was just wondering if we really did have a problem. We have been on many A-340 flights and have not noticed any engine noise.

Can the A-340 fly on 3 engines?

It’s hard to know if there was a problem on your flight, but you can be assured that if there were any indication of an engine issue, such as high vibration, oil loss or over-temperature, the crew would have shut the engine down.

All airliners are certified to fly with at least 50% of their power lost. So on an A340, that means any two engines could have been shut down and the airplane would still fly. They might have had to descend to a lower altitude, but they could still stay in the air.

The light you saw was a wing inspection light, used mainly to see if any ice was building up on the leading edge of the wing. It’s also used, along with all the other lights on the airplane, as an enhancement to the “see and be seen” philosophy when in the vicinity of the airport while on approach.

I’ve ridden in the back of a 737 while pilots were taking their checkrides. One engine was pulled to idle throughout much of this training and I was rather surprised to discover just how difficult it was to tell from the passenger cabin when we were flying on one engine.

While it’s never routine to have to shut down an engine in-flight, an engine failure on a four-engine aircraft is far from catastrophic.

Rishi writes:

I was wondering if you could explain to me the following two questions, please. First, why is that when I listen to ATC talk to pilots that one or both of the parties speak reasonably slowly, and understandably, but then, a moment later, they talk so darn quickly and un-intelligibly?

Second, given that ATC talks really fast at times, how do you pilots ever get to understand what they say? I’m quite surprised because I hardly ever get to catch the name of the airlines when the controller speaks so quickly. Please explain how you get used to this. . .

Hi Rishi,

There are times when pilots have to “read back” instructions from ATC. Those read backs are often spoken rather quickly. Complicated instructions that aren’t routine in nature are spoken much more clearly. So if the phrase is something that’s expected, such as a clearance for an approach or landing, clarity often suffers.

For an example, take a listen to www.liveatc.net and click on one of the audio streams of your favorite airport. After a while, you’ll notice the controllers giving nearly the same instructions to each airplane as they clear them for the approach. It might take an understanding of instrument flying to grasp what’s being said, but you’ll get the idea.

My favorite feed is from Caracas, Venezuela. Listen to the Delta and American flights going in there try to comprehend what’s being said, in between all the Spanish that’s spoken to the other aircraft.

Often it’s not the accent that’s so difficult to understand in a foreign country, but it’s the lack of awareness of the phrases used. I remember the first time I heard a French controller rapidly say “I-call-you-back,” instead of the more common, “Standby” that I was used to.

“Wha..?” I asked the captain.

I’ve now heard that phrase so many times, it doesn’t matter how strong the accent may be, I know what they’re saying.

LiveATC is a great resource for anyone who’s learning to fly or who might be working on an instrument rating.

Do you have a question about something related to the pointy end of an airplane? Ask Kent and maybe he’ll use it for next Monday’s Plane Answers feature.

Daily deal – Aliph Jawbone 2 Bluetooth headset for $80

by Scott Carmichael on

My daily deal for today is for the Aliph Jawbone 2 Bluetooth headset. This headset combines a stylish look with the noise canceling features only found in Jawbone headsets.

I’ve never been a huge Bluetooth headset fan, but if you are going to wear one anyway, it might as well be a pretty one.

The Jawbone 2 headset comes complete with a USB charger, replacement ear loops and 3 different earbuds.

The headset has a manufacturer rating of 8 days standby time, or 4 hours talk time.

The MSRP of the Jawbone 2 is $139.99, but it is currently on sale at Cellhut for just $79.99 with free shipping. You will need to enter coupon code ALIP2B in order to get the shipping charges removed.

(Via Crunchgear)

Ever thought about swimming in the Venice canals?

by Jerry Guo on

I’m a big fan of pranks (see my posts about the “stopping time” series here and here). Add this stunt to the list, and after the jump, check out another video of a similar stun at the Roman baths in England.