Have Laptop Will Travel

New Tools For The Blogger On The Road

After only some days, the list can be updated.

With the introduction of the excellent offline Google Reader [modus], we can delete FeedDemon from the list and save $25.
Although FeedDemon still has some more features than Google Reader, Google Reader performs well and fast.

Another addition to the list, comes in the form of the new version of Windows Live Writer.
Windows Live Writer is an all straightforward, out of the box editor for most blog platforms. Installation is easy and writing is even easier. It feels like writing in Word, with support options for your theme, just less bloated than MS Word. If you blog alot and hate to be stuck in your blogplatform editor, Windows Live Writer is what you need.

The Editor comes with many insertion and formatting possibilities and also supports tags properly, but not 100% correctly if you want to use site internal tags.
Live Writer can ping services when publishing entries, or publish entries at a specific time. Basically you’ll find everything you need and the feel is nicer than writing in the WP editor.
Screenshots after the jump

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Laptops and Jihad

Jihad and Laptops

Here’s your chance to vote.

Will giving laptops away virtually for free in countries with heavy influence from radical Islam result in:

A) A new generation of peaceful Muslims who appreciate the generosity of the West

or

B) A new generation of tech savvy radical Musilims ready to wage jihad with their laptops?

Passport RFID Chips

Did you know that all passports issued by the US State Department after January 1, 2007 have always-on radio frequency identification chips, making it easy for officials and hackers to grab your personal stats?

If you’re worried about strangers slurping up your identity or your privacy in general, here’s what you can do about it.

Disclaimer: Tampering with a passport is punishable by 25 years in prison, not to mention the “special” customs search with rubber gloves.

I am not instructing you to try these methods, only discussing possible solutions.

The RFID-tagged passports have a distinctive logo on the front cover. The chip is embedded in the back.

Accidentally leaving your passport in the jeans you just put in the washer won’t work to disable the RFID chip. You’re more likely to ruin the passport itself than the chip.

Forget about nuking it in the microwave as the chip could burst into flames, which wouldn’t be good. It would probably leave telltale scorch marks, besides a burnt passport probably wouldn’t smell to nice.

So what is the best approach you might be asking yourself?

Hammer time. Hitting the chip with a blunt, hard object should disable it.

To the best of my knowledge, a nonworking RFID doesn’t invalidate the passport, so you can still use it.

I bet right about now you’re wondering what information is stored on the RFID chips. I’ll tell you… your name, nationality, sex, date of birth, place of birth and a digitized photograph of you, the passport holder.

Eventually, the government contemplates adding additional digitized data such as fingerprints or iris scans.

According to a document I found, the State Department claims it has addressed privacy concerns. The chipped passports “will not permit ‘tracking’ of individuals,” the department said.

I don’t buy it for one second. How about you?

The document goes on to say that the RFID chip “will only permit governmental authorities to know that an individual has arrived at a port of entry, which governmental authorities already know from presentation of non-electronic passports with greater assurance that the person who presents the passport is the legitimate holder of the passport.”

If you have any more information about this exciting violation of our privacy, let me know. Feel free to comment or contact me in private.

Do you like to drink? It’s Happy Hour!

I do a lot of traveling with my consulting work. Many of my readers do a fair amount of traveling as well.

After talking with a few friends and co-workers, I’ve found that we all have the same issue from time to time while out on our travel adventures… finding a good watering hole to relax and get some drinks.

I was doing some research this evening and I came across MappyHour.

Yep, it’s time to find a beverage – anywhere in the world:

MappyHour - Happy Hour Map!

So what is MappyHour exactly? It’s a nifty web application using the Google Map API and some other special sauce to help you find a beverage anywhere in the World, or so it appears.

How it works is you click on a city, or anywhere on the map, then it will zoom in and display nearby bars and their happy hour specials. So cool!

They even allow user submissions and bar ratings. The site is pretty new and they’re adding new features daily, so I’m sure as time goes on, the site will get even better.

It doesn’t work on handheld devices as of yet but I heard that it’s being worked on. Having a mobile version of this would be huge for people traveling or for locals.

I’ll be keeping my eye on this project for sure.