Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2009 > September > 08 > Entry
In the air, tech-overloaded
I don’t travel very often (babies will do that to you), but when I go somewhere, I try to make sure I’m stocked up like a proper mobile warrior.
That means carrying the right cell phone/laptop charger in the smallest and lightest form you can get it. It means buying a Mophie Juice Pack Air for my iPhone for those long days of walking that I did over the weekend in New York City.
It means having small game console like the Nintendo DS, which also has very tiny game cartridges. You can easily fit a dozen of them in a small laptop bag pocket.
What I wasn’t expecting was that the travel apparatus itself was going to take care of me, rendering many of my preparations unnecessary. We flew Jet Blue for the first time and everything they say about the airline is right: it’s a different experience. Although there was no in-flight Wi-Fi, there was free wireless Internet in the JFK airport terminal. In the air, XM radio and DirecTV were on offer. We did watch two episodes of DVDs, but mostly my eyes were glued to episodes of “The Sopranos” on A&E. Sure, they’re the edited versions, but I can’t pass up an opportunity to see the classic “Long Term Parking” episode again.
In a weird way, it was an embarrassment of tech riches. Instead of busting out my iPhone or laptop during the flight, I just kicked back and enjoyed what was there. I even had time to read an actual book. The kind with pages and a binding.
As for New York City, it was great to see the Apple Store cube in midtown Manhattan and to be able to have a real use for all those GPS apps and Google Maps. We were never too far away from a restaurant we were looking for.
And, I’m not saying you should jump the gun and tether your iPhone 3G to enable your laptop to avoid expensive hotel wireless charges, but let us just say that if you did happen to do that, it actually works very well. So I’ve heard.
A few quick orders of business — tomorrow night is the big Digital Savant “Beatles: Rock Band” meetup. My story about the game ran in today’s paper and there was a fantastic interactive feature by Rob Villalpando you should definitely check out.
At the event, we’ll be giving away a copy of the limited edition “Beatles: Rock Band” set and Video Game Doctor will be giving away a refurbished Nintendo Wii system.
Hope to see you there!
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