Google+

Posted on July 9, 2011 by admin

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged, a very long while. It’s time to put some life back into this blog. I recently started using Google+, thanks to an invite from a friend. The funny part is that I think most people are hearing about Google+ through Facebook of all places. Many of my friends have posted that they’ve received invites and are willing to give them away.

My first impressions are that it will take some getting used to. I am biased because I am used to the way Facebook and Twitter work and I’m looking in Google+ to see how to do things that I normally would do on those sites; rather than starting afresh and learning from the ground up. This has been rather frustrating but hasn’t reflected negatively on my first impression of Google+.

Once I received the invite and accepted the terms of service (It’s still in Beta so Google take no responsibility if the info you put out gets into someone else’s hands); setup was straightforward thanks to my Google account. I already had a profile setup so it just took the information from there. Thanks to my Android phone and Latitude account; Google knew my phone number and address, and could already start painting a picture of my whereabouts thanks to my check-ins. It had asked me if I wanted to link my Picasa account, which I did and it pulled up all my albums (even the private ones). I don’t think it published any of the photos or albums to my profile but I just don’t like the idea of all the photos that I’ve shared only with certain people to be visible on there. I also use Picasa as a repository for embedded photos, so by nature that album has to be public. However, it contains random photos with no meaning on its own, therefore it makes no sense to display on Google+. Therefore, I tried to delete the album, problem solved, right? Wrong: not only did it delete from Google+, I’ve now lost the album in Picasa. According to rumors presented by Mashable Picasa is going to be re-branded to Google Photos and further integration with Google+ is set to take place. Honestly, I hope that features become available (or I find them for that matter) to hide or remove an album from Google+ but keep them in Picasa/photos.

Circles are new to me and I was given an option to put my contacts in to their respective circles. I don’t know if this actually gave those contacts invites or not, we shall see. But I was surprised to find out that I was already in some people’s circles, interesting.

I’ve tried huddle on my phone and I have to say I’m somewhat impressed. I like the fact that it is very similar to Blackberry’s BBM® service. However, You cannot go in and delete threads, posts or messages, you can only mute the conversation. Something that Google will need to work on in my opinion.

Haven’t gotten around to trying hangouts yet (I looked Ghastly on my webcam yesterday) because I didn’t really feel like talking to anyone direct. From what I understand it’s great, but the final verdict as with everything else, will have to wait till I’m more accustomed to the service.

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Airport Security And Me

Posted on April 4, 2011 by admin

I’ve recently had the fortune to take a trip for a few days to visit friends. Now, before I get into the details of this trip I must give you a bit of a background to my recent flying history.

On all flights that I took on American carriers in 2010 I had SSSS printed on each one of my boarding passes. Now this might not mean much to you but if you find yourself with SSSS printed on your boarding pass, get ready because you are now a selectee. Yes, you are one of the fortunate ones who gets to be scrutinized extra by security officers.

For me this varied from explosive swabbing and a quick visual of the contents of my bag; to a full blown pat-down and more thorough bag search. The only constant to any of these screenings was that I had been chosen to get one. I haven’t the faintest idea what led me to have this Super Special Security Selection, but it did actually get me through security quicker on one occasion as they pulled me from the line and I cut right to the front.

I dare not speculate what got me chosen. I must say though, so far 2011 has been a good year. Let’s hope It keeps up. I’m not going to politicize anything here and / or comment on AIT and other security methods because I have no need to. What does get me going are other people at security checkpoints. There’s a plethora of signs and announcements on what to do and how to prepare for security screening. Yet people don’t even seem to understand the basics.

This past trip I crossed a security checkpoint 4 times. Never did I have to wait very long at any of the checkpoints (first class boarding passes help), but always there’s some idiot who in the 100m from check-in to security has stuffed his boarding pass away so deep that it takes him 3 minutes to find. It would have been somewhat excusable if he printed his own boarding pass at home thus bypassing the check-in counter, but no… he used the airport kiosk.

Next comes the I’ve been waiting in line for 10 minutes but I only take out my liquids and empty my pockets at the conveyor belt- person. The whole reason you had to wait so long is because everyone ahead of you did exactly the same and instead of following the TSA’s broken record instructions while waiting in line, they too had to be told personally what to do once they came face to face with the security officer.

Now here’s something that we’re all guilty of at least once: “sir, is this your bag? It needs further inspection.” This doesn’t always tie up the person waiting in line behind but it can lead to the occasional backlog when too many suspicious toothpicks are found. Having a half litre bottle of water in addition to full-size toiletries is inexcusable though. Really, what part of 1, 1 litre bag of 100ml liquid containers don’t you get. Considering my rant is about American travelers look up 3-1-1 and you’ll get the imperial measurements. Note to self (and everyone out there): the rectangular RFID security tags found mostly on DVDs and other products look like blades when x-rayed.

Please, if you find yourself ahead of me in a security line, do the following:

  • Have your boarding pass and ID ready for inspection before you enter the line
  • Remove all objects from your pockets and place in your bag before you reach the screener
  • make sure that you have your liquids bag out and ready for separate screening
  • please for the love of… check your carry-ons for ‘hidden’ prohibited items before you pack it
  • get a TSA friendly Laptop bag
  • don’t forget to take off shoes, coats and / or jackets
  • use common sense
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Diesel cars

Posted on April 1, 2011 by admin

I never liked diesel cars, especially because the one I learned to drive on was quite horrible. It would take the same amount of time to go from 60 to 80km/h, as it would take to go from 0 to 60. Not impressive at all and especially tedious trying to build up speed on the on ramp before merging onto the highway at around 125km/h. Two of the 40 driving lessons in my package were on different cars, also diesel. One had a Turbo and the other was so small and light that a two-stroke would probably get the car moving. Those two cars certainly provided more enjoyable driving experiences than ‘my’ car, however, they weren’t enough to sway my overall opinion on diesel cars.

Even with my job as a private chauffeur, diesel cars just wouldn’t cut it. Mind you, I also got to drive a full-spec (gasoline) Audi A8 on the Autobahn for a client who was running late. That experience really put most other cars to shame and I was spoiled.

When I’m in Europe, the car I most often drive is a Prius. Funnily, I rated the Prius higher than the diesel cars on my personal like scale solely for the fact that it is gasoline fueled. Performance-wise there are very many diesel and gasoline fueled cars that outperform the Prius but I still cast diesel aside. Whereas, especially in Europe, diesel has an edge. It’s cheaper than gasoline, it’s widely available at the pumps and many models have different diesel engine options. North America has a lot of catching up to do in that respect. For example, one of the largest gas stations I’ve been to in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) only sells diesel at their full-service pump (slapping on an additional surcharge). Running a search on one of the major fuel companies in my area showed that only half of the stations within 50km sell diesel fuel. A gas station in Western Europe might as well just file for bankruptcy if they don’t sell diesel fuels.

Will I ever consider buying a diesel? Yes. I’ve got to say that diesel cars are becoming more and more attractive to me. My reservations on their performance are starting to be proven wrong and with their fuel economy and the rise in fuel prices I’d say that I’d seriously consider a diesel car if / when I look to purchase a car. I hope that Canada and the US catch on and diesel prices go down.

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Facebook has an App

Posted on March 29, 2011 by admin

I don’t like Facebook apps but this one caught my eye. Many of my friends had started using My Friend Map so I caved. When I started law school, I decided it was time to put chains on who had access to my personal data through Facebook. Yes, there are privacy settings that can be set to pretty much stop anyone from even getting more out of your profile than a nondescript photo of a sunrise somewhere and the fact that you are male (or female). But when you click to add an app or to allow access, you’re doing just that; you’re giving the developer of the app access to whatever information they’ve specified they want/need.

In the case of My Friend Map, when I clicked ok, the developer could see: name, profile picture, gender, networks, user ID, list of friends, and any other information I’ve shared with everyone. As well as have access to my and my friends’ current hometowns and cities. In return, they’re allowed to post to my wall. I’m sure the developer isn’t personally getting this information but rather a series of algorithms is presenting him with the statistics he needs but let’s face it, to make the app work he needs the data. (I say him/he but the developer(s) could very well be female).

Do they really need me to authorize them to post on my wall though? Sure the end result, the map image, got posted there but couldn’t they just have made it so we get to decide where it goes. I guess their tactics work though because were it not for the fact that quite a few of my friends’ maps appeared in my news feed, I wouldn’t have run the app.

Oh well, here’s my friend map for anyone who’s interested.

Posted in Internet, Technology | Comments Off

So what’s this all about?

Posted on March 26, 2011 by admin

This is me again entering the blogosphere. I haven’t yet come up with a theme for this blog. I know that I’ll be filling it with travel experiences occasionally and there will be ranting on a wide variety of topics. I want to see where this blog will take me. I’ll probably throw in some reviews on a wide range of things from hotels, airlines etc. to technology and entertainment. All of these things will be neatly categorized and hopefully well searchable.

I intend on maintaining this blog on a regular basis. I have no reason not to considering my smartphone has a WordPress app and I am otherwise never far from an internet connection. Hopefully I’ll have enough topics to write about.

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My Blog

Posted on March 26, 2011 by admin

So this is my blog. This is a blog about anything, about my life, the universe and everything; travels, turning a page, new beginnings and all that. Those who know me personally know about my life and where it has taken me so far. Here’s a summary: right now I live in Canada. Toronto to be precise. Lets face it, if you’re reading this post you probably know me. If you don’t well here’s your chance. Look around and as I grow this blog and fill this site you’ll get a glimpse of who I am.

The basics: I was born in Bermuda then moved to the Netherlands at age 11. Most people who engage in conversation with me and comment that I don’t sound Dutch hear this story too. Yes, English is my first language. That being said, please ignore any spelling or grammar mistakes.

Right now my life is yet again in a transitional phase. Last time, moving continents was brought on by and contributed to the hardships. Ths time, the move had different intentions and then the hardships ensued. Ultimately I am in a better place. Isn’t that what life’s about and why we’re able to cope with the challenges?

I digress. Life’s about moving forward and this blog will be a testament to that.

Thank you for making it this far. I do hope you stick around.

P.s. the answer is 42!

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Bear with me

Posted on March 22, 2011 by admin

I am currently working on getting this blog up and running. I’ve got some posts scheduled to be published and I’m sure that it will take a while before I am completely satisfied with the look and feel of the entire blog.

 

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