Practical Hacks

Set multiple sites as your home page(s) – Firefox, IE, Chrome

Kevin — Thu, 17 May 2012 09:00:59 +0000

If there are several sites you visit each morning, or on an otherwise frequent basis, you can set them all as your “home page(s).”

In Firefox, open the sites you want on separate tabs, and then go to options; click on “Use Current Pages,” and then click OK. You’re done.

In IE, open Internet Options and list the sites you want in the Home Page box; then click on “Use Current” and “OK” – you’re done.

Although I’m not a user, I understand this is also possible with Chrome: open your browser, go to Preferences, select “Open the following pages from on Startup,” add your pages, and you’re all set.Similar Posts:

The frequent fliers who flew too much – L.A. Times

Kevin — Thu, 10 May 2012 11:28:06 +0000

Intriguing story about a couple of travel junkies who signed up for unlimited first class travel on American Airlines for life (at a cost of ~$400K) only to end up being investigated by the airline’s “revenue integrity team;” an excerpt:

In September 2007, a pricing analyst reviewing international routes focused the airline’s attention on how much the AAirpass program was costing, company emails show.

“We pay the taxes,” a revenue management executive wrote in a subsequent email. “We award AAdvantage miles, and we lose the seat every time they fly.”

Cade was assigned to find out whether any AAirpass holders were violating the rules, starting with those who flew the most.

She pulled years of flight records for Rothstein and Vroom and calculated that each was costing American more than $1 million a year.

Rothstein, she found, would sometimes pick out strangers at the airport and give them surprise first-class upgrades with his companion pass. Once he flew a woman he’d just met in New Delhi to Chicago, a lift American later valued at nearly $7,500.

There was nothing in the AAirpass terms prohibiting that. But Cade considered the habit striking in light of something else she found. Rothstein made 3,009 reservations in less than four years, almost always booking two seats, but canceled 2,523 of them.

You can read the entire L.A. Times piece here: The frequent fliers who flew too muchSimilar Posts:

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New trend in air travel: leaving your iPad behind

Kevin — Wed, 09 May 2012 09:00:51 +0000

Interesting article from The Wall Street Journal‘s Middle Seat column: Oops! I Forgot My New iPad On the Plane; Now What? Author reports that hundreds of iPads are being left behind by harried or careless travelers. At the end of the piece is a useful checklist of steps you can take; an excerpt:

Protect Yourself

How to safeguard data and personal information on iPads, tablets and e-readers:

For a new device

–Apple can engrave information on the back. Securely taping a business card to the device works, too.

–Buy a brightly colored case that is easy to spot in a messy airplane cabin. A unique case will also help airline personnel locate the device in a storage room.

–Enable cloud storage for sensitive data, such as Apple’s iCloud, Google Drive or Dropbox.

–Go to settings on your iPad and enable Find My iPad.

–Set up your screen saver to display a phone number that someone can see even if the device is locked.

–Keep serial numbers of all devices in a safe place. That will help the manufacturer’s customer-service representatives offer guidance.

Before a flight

–When purchasing a plane ticket, provide a phone number that the airline can use to contact you.

Definitely worth a read if you travel and use a Kindle, iPad, or similar device.Similar Posts:

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The $100 Startup: Start your own business NOW!

Kevin — Tue, 08 May 2012 09:00:18 +0000

If you’ve ever thought about pursuing your dream and starting your own business, buy this book. If you know someone who claims to be an entrepreneur but hasn’t actually done anything, give them this book.

Chris Guillebeau’s The $100 Startup launches today, and it’s simply the best book I’ve ever read on how to turn your dreams and passions into a business. Right now. Without tons of resources or money.

Chris profiles 50 individuals most of whom started with very little, and who all created remarkably successful businesses. In addition to a wide range of interesting startup stories, the book is a veritable blueprint for how to make your dreams happen. It includes checklists, ways to screen and test your ideas at little cost, insight into pricing decisions, and tips for launch plans.

More than anything else, the book will deliver a solid kick to your posterior. The businesses profiled in The $100 Startup and the examples from Chris’s own experiences make it clear that there is virtually nothing stopping you from starting your own business.

Print: The $100 Startup

Kindle: The $100 Startup

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Quick take: Goodhope 18″ convertible travel bag

Kevin — Mon, 07 May 2012 09:00:42 +0000

The Highs: Surprising capacity, light weight, dirt cheap

The Lows: Some materials are decidedly “basic;” feature creep is not an issue

The Verdict: At the price, a legitimate value; if it wears out, buy another!

The guy who coined the word “underwhelmed” might have had this bag in mind. When it arrived, I removed it from its packaging, looked it over for about a minute, and tossed it in the corner of my home office.

Sometimes first impressions are less than perfect, however. After trial packing the Goodhope, playing around with it a bit, and taking a few photos, I have a new appreciation for the bag. It’s still THE definition of “no frills,” but this bag would be perfectly adequate for quick, one or two night trips as long as you’re not too hung up on brand or image.

The basics

The Goodhope is an 18″ convertible (suitcase / backpack) bag with one main compartment, a second compartment for odds and ends (pens, camera, iPod, papers, passport, etc.) and a few extra pockets on its front. It weighs a mere two pounds.

Features:

Available in any color you like as long as you like black or dark green
Material: nondescript synthetic-like substance (600D polyester)
Main compartment measures 17.5″ x 12″ x 5″ (actual measurement)
Front zip compartment has open pocket, mesh pocket, and pen holders
Converts to backpack via hideaway straps
Top grip handle will not win any design awards, but it works
Shoulder strap and backpack straps
Made in Malaysia

Dimensions:

Overall dimensions: 12 H x 18 W x 6.5 D

Additional photos

Here’s a shot of the secondary compartment. Zippers are metal with metal pulls, and are protected by storm flaps. This compartment can handle your phone, camera, and miscellaneous papers. 3″ looseleaf binders need not apply.

I packed 4 golf shirts, a pair of khakis, underwear, and a couple pair of heavy socks into the main compartment, and there was room left over. Compression straps shown below are a 50¢ upgrade. Just kidding.

The word that best describes the backpack straps (below) is “present.” On a positive note, it’s not as though you’re going to be carrying 20 pounds of stuff in this bag. I took the bag as packed above, added two fairly heavy hard cover books, and hoisted it onto my back. I walked around the house for a few minutes, and am happy to report that nothing fell off. The bag was OK, too. Ha! Back to the bag as backpack: it was reasonably comfortable, and the shoulder straps didn’t slip around or otherwise feel flimsy.

The grab handle and the shoulder strap attachment points are solid, and in fact this top mounting area is reinforced with a couple of steel rods; it’s fairly hefty. The grab handle is wrapped with genuine vinyl; again, it ain’t fancy, but it works. Strap hardware is polymer, as is the norm in this class. One thing that is a bit unusual is how close the two mounting points for the shoulder strap are to one another (see lead photo in this post). This didn’t seem to have any noticeable impact on stability or usability in the limited testing I’ve done with the bag.

Meh: below, the pad for the shoulder strap. This is approximately 1/16″ thick, and I suppose it helps distribute the weight of the bag across a slightly wider area. See earlier comment about how much weight you’ll likely carry in the Goodhope 18″ convertible.

Wrapping up

The 18″ Goodhope has as much chance of being inducted into The Travel Bag Hall of Fame as Mitch McConnell has of starring in the next James Bond film: it will not happen. The Goodhope is functional and surprisingly commodius, but design awards do not figure prominently in its future.

If that’s what you’re looking for — a small, fully featured convertible bag with tons of style — check out the Tom Bihn Western Flyer. Its dimensions are very nearly the same as the Goodhope. You’ll pay for it, though – as I write this, the Western Flyer is $210.

The Goodhope 18″ Convertible, on the other hand, is $25.99, plus I paid appx. $9 for shipping from Wayfair. At that price, it’s a crazy stupid deal, as long as its nondescript looks and less-than-robust elements (handle, straps, shoulder “pad”) aren’t too big a turnoff for you.

Bottom line? If you’re a road warrior who travels every week, fuhgeddaboudit. If brand, style, and image are among your critical purchase considerations, no soup for you! But if you’re looking for a small convertible bag for occasional quick trips, and aren’t hung up on owning a bag that looks like it belongs in the back seat of a Prius – or a Porsche – the Goodhope 18″ Convertible may very well be the bag for you. And at ~$35 landed, if it eventually wears out or throws a rod, buy another! You’ll still be way ahead of the game.

See it here: Goodhope Convertible @ Wayfair

Note: I have no connection to Goodhope or Wayfair

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