United Points: Spend ‘em If You Got ‘em…Quick!

Posted on January 25, 2007 - Filed Under Airlines, Travel Biz | Leave a Comment

I have a gazillion (or maybe half that) frequent flier points on United, a carrier that I have attempted to avoid over the past few years because of some REALLY BAD EXPERIENCES, like not being given a boarding pass because the airline was holding out for people on an overbooked flight that paid more than […]

Review: Nikon D80 Digital SLR

Posted on January 24, 2007 - Filed Under Gadgets & Cameras, Photography | Leave a Comment

I have a deep satisfaction when a mechanical device does what it is supposed to do, when all of the buttons are labeled correctly, in the correct place, reachable by the correct finger or opposing thumb. I found that in the Nikon D80, my first digital single lens reflex camera.
I was a holdout, suffering several […]

The Chelsea Hotel: Topsy Turvy in New York City

Posted on January 23, 2007 - Filed Under New York, Video | Leave a Comment

Sometimes I just like to go sit on a stump. Sometimes in a wild place, watching lines of ants queued up, like Pharaohs’ slaves, delivering boulder-sized breadcrumbs to some fat-bustled queen. Often it is in some city square, like old Jerusalem, where I once sat a spell observing the haggling of a marketplace only […]

The Chelsea Hotel [3:54m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Horse Walks into a Bar: My Digital Lifestyle

Posted on January 17, 2007 - Filed Under Audio, Culture, Tech & Science, Gadgets & Cameras | Leave a Comment

It was one of those bars where the smell of stale smoke and cheap whiskey permeate the air like that of bat turds in a cave, a way-off-the-strip joint in Las Vegas wedged between a wedding chapel and a lawyer whose sign promises to beat your DUI. I had stopped there on my long […]

Horse Walks into a Bar: My Digital Lifestyle [2:19m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

MIT Media Lab Demo - AudioPint

Posted on January 17, 2007 - Filed Under Tech & Science, Gadgets & Cameras, Video | Leave a Comment

You can’t really travel with this (it would, among other things, drive your seatmate nuts) but it is pretty neat, especially for those of us who have delusions of talent. Imagine singing every part in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir…or at least singing barbershop with yourself, as David Merrill of MIT’s Media Lab showed me.
Something […]

MIT Media Lab Demo - AudioPint [5:05m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download