These days it seems airlines are trying just about anything to make an extra buck. The latest quick buck approach that I’ve experienced is the added charge to fly in the emergency row on Northwest Airlines flights. I did this yesterday, paying an additional $15 to fly in the emergency row of a flight from Minneapolis to San Francisco. Since I don’t fly Northwest that often, I couldn’t have qualified for a Northwest Perks upgrade for the emergency row. For those of you who don’t fly that often, the emergency row seat is considered a ‘better seat’ because there typically is more leg room. It also means that you have the added burden of opening up the airplane hatch in case of a crash landing. And that’s where I thought the Northwest policy took on some morbid undertones. Aren’t the exit row passengers paying for both real legroom AND a quick exit off of the aircraft in case of emergency? That doesn’t seem right, does it?
I know that this is a relatively new policy, so I bet Northwest hasn’t faced some of the tougher questions that will arise from this approach. For example, what happens if an unqualified person [A child, someone who can’t lift the 35lb. door, etc.] buys the upgrade and then, upon arriving at their seat, the flight attendant has to inform them that they need to change their seat? I can only imagine the lunacy that will follow. Will that person then get a refund, and when? I’ve been on more flights than I care to remember where someone become belligerant just because another person accidentally took their seat. Can you imagine if these people are asked to move from a seat they paid a premium for?
It seems like air travel already has too many ‘whacko’ factors and this is one that the airline industry would be best served to stay away from. As for me, I don’t think I’ll pay for that privilege again.
TechCrunch is one of the best web 2.0 blogs out there. Not only do I rely on it to get the latest word on emerging online applications, but recenly Michael Arrington has added some great, in depth reviews of popular web applications. In the latest review, TechCrunch takes on the major mapping services from Ask.com, Google, Yahoo, Windows, and MapQuest. Their conclusion:
Overall, Yahoo Maps was by far the best application tested. Its fast Flash interface, multipoint directions, live traffic information, and easy send-to-mobile feature make it the hands down winner. It also features the most robust API options.
For the most part, I have to agree. Yahoo’s mapping capability is more evolved, and from my long time reliance on online maps, I can say that Yahoo rarely leads me down the wrong path.
It goes without saying that I believe Wordpress is the best blogging application available today. This week Automattic, the company founded by Matthew Mullenweg - developer of Wordpress, annouced it had received “a little funding“. That’s great news for all Wordpress fans, especially those who use Automattic’s Wordpress.com. Like most open source applications, not all of the credit for Wordpress can go to Matt, however like most successful open source applications, Matt should get some financial rewards for his efforts to build WP into the great piece of software it is today. Automattic has a lot of other great applications on its plate, and this intial funding should help to secure the future of those as well. Congratulations Matt!
My pal Marc Perton writes over at Engadget that Samsung is going to sell their UMPC for approximately $2,000 in Korean. What!?!? This thing was supposed to be a sub-$500 machine! Ok, so Samsung will include a bunch of accessories for that price, but lets be realistic here. Can you imagine plopping down that kind of cash and not get a full fledged tablet PC?
UPDATE: Engadget issued an update in which Samsung claims the actual price in the US will be closer to $700. Also, it looks like Samsung will release this on May 1 at a launch party in the Bay Area.
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The boys over at 37Signals dropped another hint that Sunrise may be around the corner. ‘Bout time the world got a decent CRM tool….I hope they don’t dissappoint us.
A few days ago I mentioned that I was helping out on a great new event in Pittsburgh, the Silk Screen Film Festival. Well we’ve finally got a list of movies that are planned for the festival, and they look pretty impressive. Opening up is a film called Amu. The story-line is one of a young adopted woman who returns to her native India to find her past, and stumbles into the dark secrets of her childhood. She was a young child who was orphaned during the anti-Sikh riots that convulsed across India soon after Indira Gandhi was assassinated (1984). It was a particularly dark time in Modern Indian history, one that still sparks powerful emotions, especially amongst the Sikh diaspora. I’m looking forward to the screening of Amu and the rest of the excellent selection of films that the festival committee has gathered for Silk Screen.
Well, I shouldn’t say that with such excitement, since I put a lot of time into customizing Squible for this blog. Overall I like the look of this theme, but as it stands today, it is awfully flaky on some browsers….especially the beta Microsoft IE 7. I know that is more the fault of the big M than of the Squible developers, but what an I say. My statistics show a growing number of visitors are coming in via IE 7, so I guess I should be ready to handle that. When I first kicked off this blog, I was using a very, very simple theme. I’m looking for a new theme that replicates that simplicity. Since my last theme update, the Wordpress community has expanded the number of themes, increased the quality of those themes, and generally been humming with activity. So, I’ll be off on a hunt to find another workable theme over the next week or so. Wish me luck!
UPDATE: I just found this great Ambiru single column theme over at the If..Else Blog. I did a little bit of editing, removing the standard category approach by opting for a tag cloud, and added a feed link in the title. I like the look of this theme a lot. I think I’m going to stick with this for a while.
Check this site out. Pretty cool, subjective rating of city skylines. Interesting to note that Pittsburgh is mentioned, given that we’re such a small city. But, we do have a great skyline!
