Jason Dunn

The Joys of Airplane Business Travel

Ever had one of those airport + flight experiences where enough things go wrong that you wish you could do it over again?

I get to the Dallas airport yesterday, having put in my Nexus pass number online and excited that I can finally use the shorter security line (bit of a long story as to why I’m only figuring this out now), only to find out it has to be put in 24 hours before the flight departs for it to show up on my ticket as a TSA Pre-Check. Apparently the fact that I did it 26 hours before my flight wasn’t quite enough time. Go figure.

Then I go through security and the four people in front of me go through the metal detector. I get instructed to go through the body scanner. I opt out of the body scanner as I normally do. I don’t mind the pat down; I do mind the unnecessary radiation (if there’s no medical reason for it, and it’s not helping me diagnose a medical problem, I don’t want it, no matter how safe it’s supposed to be). The body scanners are part of the war machine that churns away in the USA (and Canada) and is more about fear than actual security. So long as there’s an option to opt-out, I’m going to take it. Getting scanned because I’m told to is not something I’m OK with. The security agent loudly informs everyone in the area that the scanner is harmless and there’s no reason to avoid it. OK, thanks for that Mr. TSA agent, I appreciate you trying to embarrass me. Continue reading The Joys of Airplane Business Travel

USB Wall Charger Roundup Review: All Ports Are Not Created Equal

Like most average geeks, I assume that when I connect my phone or tablet to a USB power source, it’s going to deliver the level of power it says it will. I don’t know nearly as much about electrical system as some do, so when I saw a crowdfunded gadget called the Legion USB Power Meter, I thought it would be a great tool to help me understand power flow and collect real-world data. So, I dusted off my old tech reviewer’s hat, grabbed a bunch of different USB power sources, and got to work. The goal? To understand if the USB chargers I was using were delivering maximum efficiency and letting me charge my devices as fast as possible. Continue reading USB Wall Charger Roundup Review: All Ports Are Not Created Equal

Someone Invent This: An Online Memories/Scrapbook Company

Sometimes I think about businesses or services that I wish existed, and create an imaginary list of features I’d create if I were launching them. Here’s one such company, centered around a sort of “next-generation” photo album. Photo albums today are pretty crude insofar as the methods by which they gather photos from external sources. Some allow you to pull in photos from Facebook, but I haven’t seen any particularly strong implementation. Here’s a list of ideas for such a service… Continue reading Someone Invent This: An Online Memories/Scrapbook Company

The Harsh Reality of Crowdfunding Time to Market

The first time I backed a Crowdfunded project was in 2011. It was a documentary about MMA legend Jens Pulver and from that moment on I was hooked. It always bothered me that the only technology I could buy was whatever large companies decided was what would sell; dumbing down to sell to the general market doesn’t always generate the best products. It’s similar when it comes to movies and creative endeavours, though those artists have had a someone easier path of direct support since the dawn of the Internet age and electronic payments.

Since that first project, I’ve backed 20 more products on Kickstarter, and another 27 on Indiegogo; 48 total campaigns, mostly in the technology or entertainment realm. While only one has truly flamed out into oblivion – a D&D documentary project that got sued by, I think, another D&D documentary project – many are in the vague “we’re building it” phase. Continue reading The Harsh Reality of Crowdfunding Time to Market

HTC IMEI Stickers: Oh For the Love Of…

I was watching an episode of Under The Dome a couple of months ago, and I saw something that made me groan:

See what it was? That big, ugly white sticker on the back of the HTC 8X. It’s a sticker designed to be removed by the customer – it has the IMEI number on it so customers can reference it if they need to call in for support. The 8X is a beautifully designed product – it’s has gorgeous soft-touch plastic that looks great (but sadly doesn’t wear well long-term) and HTC made it in bold, powerful colours. Beauty ruined by a sticker. Continue reading HTC IMEI Stickers: Oh For the Love Of…