Super Bowl XLV at sea? You bet

by Chris Owen on

Just about every cruise ship has a sports bar. Many ships have huge LED outdoor screens. It just seems to be a natural pairing to add this year’s Superbowl in for on-board programming. Cruise lines are doing just that and more.

Just to be sure the big game would be around for those sailing on Superbowl Sunday, Doug Parker of CruiseRadio got with each line to see what they had planned. “I’ve called every cruise line and most got right back to me with their plans” said Parker, working on a story for next week’s Cruise Radio broadcast.

They will be showing the game from “at least one lounge area on each ship” replied Holland America Line. “We will be airing the game fleet-wide!” chimed in Royal Caribbean.

Cruise lines have played a part in Super Bowls of the past too. In 2005, cruise ships parked close to Jacksonville Florida to serve as floating hotels for Super Bowl fans. On board, cruise lines often offer special game day packages complete with junk food and traditional beverages.

Travel Agencies are joining in the fun too, sponsoring “Super Bowl Cruise Party” groups on several major cruise lines. Boasting “Large screen TV’s everywhere”, Super Bowl groups formed long ago requiring just a small deposit to sign up and allowing monthly payments over time.

There is one drawback to watching the Super Bowl at sea though:

Cruise ship television reception works off a satellite system that must constantly be re-aimed because the ship is in motion. That can cause momentary signal loss from time to time. A few seconds lost at a critical moment on the football field could be a problem.

Would mutiny result?

Photo: Chris Owen

Craigslist user scams New York Times writer in London

by Elizabeth Seward on

Being victimized by internet scam artists isn’t hearsay–it’s happening all over, to all kinds of people, and all of the time. New York Times writer, Seth Kugel, published his personal testimony yesterday–a testimony of innocent trip-planning gone wrong.

While organizing his pending trip to London, Kugel found himself on Craigslist looking for attractive sublets in good neighborhoods. When he came across a Notting Hill studio available for a seemingly fair price (around $73 a night), he emailed the address in the ad and was responded to right away.

When the respondent requested that Kugel wire the money directly to his bank account, red flags should have been waving wildly in his face. But in Kugel’s defense, he’d recently lived in Brazil for two years; a country he claims utilizes wire transfers for even everyday expenses, like medical bills.

But he was duped. And that’s really all there is to it. Myriad are the ways in which internet scammers trick users out of their money, but it sure seems like accommodations, be them temporary or ostensibly permanent, are among scam artists’ favorite lures.

The good news? Kugel pieced together an insightful and resourceful list of ways in which we all can better avoid being scammed. You should read it here.

[photo by Elizabeth Seward]

Tucson taco restaurant removes lion tacos from its menu after threats

by Scott Carmichael on

Well, that was quick, and rather unsurprising – the Tucson restaurant that planned to serve lion tacos will have to find a different shock meat. After receiving threats, the restaurant owner has decided to pick something less controversial.

After the announcement, everyone involved found themselves on the receiving end of threats – the owner, his family, the restaurant customers and even the vendors.

In our survey, 30.5% of our readers said they’d eat a lion taco, so there is clearly a market out there for exotic meats like this. Still, it’ll probably be a long time till Boca Tacos y Tequila attempts to serve something this controversial.

Killer B: Why You Should Ignore the New Letter Grading System for New York Restaurants

by David Farley on
A specter is haunting New York restaurants. An eight-by-ten placard sporting a big letter–A, B, or C–has put the fear in the hearts of chefs and restaurateurs around the city. As reported by Gadling last summer, letter grades issued by the Department of Health have begun appearing in restaurant windows, announcing to passersby and potential diners the hygiene grade the restaurant scored on its last inspection.

Good idea, right? The New York Times reported last week that nearly 60 percent of the city’s 24,000 restaurants have an “A” grade. But what of those eating establishments that have a lowly “B” or “C” grade? The Department of Health imported the idea from Los Angeles, where I grew up. You steered clear of restaurants with a B or lower, assuming that the kitchens must be dens of filth, crawling with unsavory creatures. And so I was all in favor of the letter grades following me from the West Coast. That is, until I started doing a bit of research and realized that a “B” grade in a restaurants wasn’t as frightening as it appears. You should ignore the new letter grading system for New York restaurants. Here’s why.

Let’s rewind three years to February 2007. That’s when someone captured on video a bevy of rats making themselves at home in a KFC in Greenwich Village. The copious amount of press it attracted forced the DOH’s hand and they began clamping down, popping into restaurants with more frequency. Two and a half years later they decided on the Los Angeles-style letter grades.

The overall point of the letter grades is transparency. Previously, in New York you had to log on to the Department of Health’s website if you wanted to find out what a restaurant’s score was at the last inspection.


Now that violations will result in a big fat scarlet letter affixed to the front of the restaurant, chefs aren’t taking any chances. In fact, they’re being too safe. Many are freezing ingredients when they didn’t before, for example, as well as making other compromises to their approach to ingredients that the wouldn’t have done before.

“The problem,” Steve Crane, the owner of Greenwich Village Italian restaurant Po, told me, “is that the DOH can go around until they find a violation.” Case in point: Po received a “B” when the inspector noticed the hose attached to the espresso machine was dripping water into a bucket, not into an actual drain. Surely, a violation. But surely not one that’s going to compromise the cleanliness of the food. Yet when potential diners see a “B” stuck to the window, they may think the worst.

That’s the concern of Andrew Rigie, director of the New York State Restaurant Association, who says that he’s concerned the grades can be misleading. “Either a restaurant is safe to serve food or they’re not. A or F. In no way is the restaurant industry trying to mislead the public. But we don’t want to turn people away because they see a B or C. When, in actuality, a B or C is safe, according to the DOH, to eat at.”

All that said, the New York State Restaurant Association, which was initially opposed to the letter grades, has told restaurants to keep mum about their criticisms of the letter grades in the spirit of diplomacy. Which maybe explains why several chefs and restaurateurs told me how much they hated the letter grades, but wouldn’t go on the record to voice their complaints.

So next time you’re in New York and the restaurant you had your heart set on has a big fat “B” displayed in the window, it’s not as eyebrow-raising as it might seem. It’s not because there were rats running around the front room; it’s more like the trash can in the corner of the kitchen didn’t have a cover or the espresso machine wasn’t dripping into a proper drain.

Super Bowl bound? Check out these ten travel friendly gadgets for your trip!

by Scott Carmichael on

People who watch the Super Bowl at home use the big game as an excuse to shop for a new big screen TV – but can you use the game as an excuse to go gadget shopping? You bet you can.

We’ve collected ten gadgets that can make the trip to Arlington even more exciting – from a neat product that can send your Super Bowl photos to the Internet as soon as you make them, to a device you leave at home that allows you to watch the Super Bowl commercials (and other fun content) on your phone or laptop – no matter where you are.

[AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez]


Eye-Fi wireless memory card

Made some amazing photos of the “big game”? Find yourself a Wi-Fi hotspot, turn your camera on, and send them instantly to a variety of online photo services – including Facebook, Picasa and YouTube (for videos). Cards work in any device that takes SD memory cards, as well as several recent camcorders.

Product page: Eye.Fi
Price: from $49.99

Super Bowl mobile apps

There are 100’s of mobile applications designed just for the Super Bowl. Some are useless – others provide everything you’d ever need for the big game in a single app. Apps are available for almost every mobile platform, but you’ll obviously find the best quality stuff in the mobile market of your iPhone or Android device.

For iPhone specific apps, check out our friends at tuaw.com.

Prodcuct page: iPhone App Store, Android Marketplace, Blackberry App world
Price: from free

Pocket HD Camcorder

The rules at most stadiums prohibit camcorders – but thanks to the current generation of pocket HD camcorders, you won’t have a problem getting one of these past the checkpoint. Just keep in mind that almost none of these shooter will feature a zoom lens (other than digital zoom), so if you want a close-up of that hot guy or girl 50 rows away, you’ll be better off with a decent digital camera with HD video support.

Product page: Flip Camera
Price: from $149.99

Balanzza Mini Luggage scales

Prevent disappointment at the airport by investing $25 in a compact luggage scale -especially if you went a little crazy at one of the merchandise stands at the stadium, your airline may want a big chunk of whatever cash you have left to let your overweight luggage back on the plane.

Thank goodness airlines don’t weigh passengers (yet) – all that stadium food would cost a fortune to load on the plane!

Product page: Balanzza Mini
Price: $24.95

Vulkano Multimedia streamer

Catch pre-game TV by streaming your home cable or satellite signal over the Internet to your mobile phone or laptop. Simply hook the Vulkano up to your home AV system, and the box sends TV anywhere in the world – including to your smartphone when you are waiting for the game to begin. Bonus: watch the halftime commercials as the are broadcast.

Product page: Monsoon Multimedia Vulkano
Price: from $109.99 (with promo code)

XtremeMac InCharge Mobile

Traveling with an iPhone usually means having to decide between using your phone all day long and running out of battery life by dinner time, or only using your phone for emergencies. If you want to take full advantage of your phone at the game, consider the new XtremeMac InCharge Mobile. This 2300mAh battery pack can almost triple your normal battery life.

To top it all off, the InCharge Mobile also features a built in kickstand, LED battery indicator and MicroUSB charger/sync port.

Product page: XtremeMac
Price: $79.99

Scottevest jacket or vest


Carrying all your gadgets to the game in a backpack or other carrier can be a pain in the backside – especially when you need your hands to carry beer and burgers. A Scottevest jacket has up to 25 different pockets, some large enough to hold an iPad or other large device. Jackets come in a variety of styles, colors and sizes.

Product page: Scottevest
Price: from $100

Nikon S8100 digital camera

The new Nikon S8100 is a compact digital camera with a 10x optical zoom, full HD video and easy to use controls. Best of all, the camera can be found for under $250 – making it a fantastic bargain.

Product page: Nikon S8100
Price: $299 (MSRP, $249 in most retail stores)

Joby Gorollapod Tripod

Large tripods are banned from the stadium, but compact flexible tripods from Joby won’t bother anyone. The newest magnetic tripods from Joby can be stuck to metal or wrapped around almost any other object.

Product page: Joby Gorillapod
Price: from $19.95

Monster Mobile Jamz headphones

The atmosphere in the stadium may be exploding – but sometimes you may want to just listen to some of your own music before the game begins. Good noise isolating headphones can block out a massive amount of outside noise and let you relax in relative peave and quiet. The Monster Mobile Jamz headphones feature an in-line remote control and powerful noise isolation.

Product page: Monster Mobile Jamz
Price: $149.95