Keyport Slide solves the problem of loose keys once and for all

by Scott Carmichael on

Our friends at Engadget just reviewed the Keyport Slide – a brilliant new way to store your keys. Especially when you travel, a ring full of keys can be real nuisance. I once scratched the screen of a $1000 phone when I put my keys in the wrong pocket.

The Keyport Slide is ingenious – you photograph six of your keys, and Keyport sends you a FedEx package with key blanks, and the Keyport Slide itself. You then bring your keys to the local hardware store, and have them cut based off the original. Once the keys are made, you insert them into the Keyport Slide, and you have yourself the ultimate keychain. This procedure means you never have to send your original keys to Keyport and don’t have to risk losing them.

Best of all, you can order chipped keys, for cars that utilize transponders for the immobilization system. The whole concept is brilliant, and the Engadget review didn’t uncover any downsides, other than a bit of hassle in finding a locksmith willing to cut the blanks.

The Keyport Slide is available in four colors, and retails for $79 for the basic edition, and $99 for a version with a chipped car key. To order your own, head on over to the Keyport web site.

Plane Answers: Do jets have keys, my first airline flight and overwing exits

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!

Lee asks:

Hi Kent –

Two items, please…

Silly question here, but I’ve always wondered, does a typical jetliner have “keys”? You know, like you have keys to the car. And is the same true for a 757 or 767, whatever?

Believe it or not, Lee, they do have keys, but only for the cockpit door. Fortunately they’re standardized, so we only need to carry one key. For security reasons, this key doesn’t open our ‘bank-vault’ style door inflight.

Also, do you remember your first REAL solo? You know, when they handed you the “keys” (maybe) and said, “you’re the man today.”

And not in some Cessna or tree-topper. When you got that big break after you were hired by one of the big name commercial airlines. You were behind the wheel of your first big jetliner taxiing across the field and made that final turn only to see a mile of runway in front of you knowing it was up to you to get 50 tons of flying brick in the air.

What’d all that feel like?


Since airliners are flown as a crew with two or three pilots, for me, it never really felt like my first solo flight did. There’s just nothing to compare to that experience; it’s one that I’ll always remember.

I do remember just a few things from my first flight in an airliner. It took two hours to taxi our 727 out of Newark airport and I was amazed that any airline could make money with such long takeoff delays. Fortunately, I’ve never had as long of a taxi since.

But really, I can’t recall anything else on my first flight at a major airline probably because it really wasn’t entirely different from flying a smaller aircraft. It was exciting at the time, and I’m sure I was awash in the new procedures I had just learned, but I can’t say flying a 12,000 pound airplane is that much less exhilarating than flying a 500,000 pound aircraft. The same is especially true when transitioning from, say a 737 to a 777.

Oh, I do remember that there was no hotel room for me that night in Indianapolis, so I slept in the hotel’s conference room instead. But the flight itself was a blur.

Patrick wonders:

On the little card that shows what to do in case of an emergency the little pictures show the little cartoon guy putting the door on the seat. Wouldn’t this get in the way? Why not just chuck it out the opening?

I wondered about that as well. Some aircraft have two over wing exits next to each other, so it may be preferable to place the door on the seat (I would use the one behind or in front of the exit row) rather than risk hitting someone who is already standing on the wing outside.

Also, keep in mind that it’s more common to have those over wing exits used in an evacuation that may or may not have resulted in any damage to the airplane. I’m sure those doors are hugely expensive in that case.

Do you have a question about something related to the pointy end of an airplane? Ask Kent and maybe he’ll use it for the next Plane Answers. Check out his other blog, Cockpit Chronicles and travel along with him at work.

Lower Keys Underwater Music Festival, July 14

by Willy Volk on

On Saturday, July 14, Big Pine Key — a quiet, easy-to-miss Key between Islamorada and Key West — will host one of the most unusual festivals in the US. The 23rd annual Underwater Music Festival will allow divers to explore Looe Key Reef — part of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary — to the rhythms of the sea. Literally.

Staged by a local radio station, the event features the station’s music selections broadcast underwater via speakers suspended beneath boats moored on the reef. (The playlist typically includes ocean-themed tunes such as “Yellow Submarine” and “Fins.”)

Moreover, local divers will dress as Sonny and Cher, Elton John, David Crosby — and even a mermaid. An Elvis impersonator will rock the house that day, and divers can even check out some underwater art. For more details about this summer concert, contact the Lower Keys Chamber of Commerce at 1-800-872-3722.

I attended the event last year, and it was a lot of fun — though somewhat disorganized. TIP: If you’re interested in seeing Elvis or the other underwater “musicians,” be sure to ask early and often about their location. They only perform for a few minutes, and not all the dive boats know where they are. Despite the confusion, the day was still a lot of fun, and the diving was good.

Keyed Up

by Erik Olsen on

The one trip I ever took to the keys I made in a blood red Ford Mustang convertible. A couple of buddies and I
blew out of Miami and headed due South on the reckless whim that we’d be able to find a place to stay when we shoed up.
It wasn’t that  easy, and we ended up in a rather grungy hotel in a cheesy part of town in key West. Strike
that….cheesy part of town is too limiting. ALL of Key West is cheesy. But hey, cheesy can be OK. And Key West was
fine. It was warm, the beer was cold, and I ate my own weight in conch fritters.

Now all of this is a lead
up to the piece I read
this morning over at the Washington Post about the keys. Now the writer here is far more adventuresome than I was
those years ago. She does some diving, ruminates on the hundreds of tarpon hanging around a place called Robbie’s
Marina, and generally explores many of the lesser known keys…something I wanted to do, but simply had no time for.
She also checks out the dolphin shows and runs into a charming 70-pound loggerhead turtle named Bubblebutt. So she
covers an immense amount of round in just four days in the Keys, which kinda made my trip those years ago seem kinda
weak.