Tag Archives: cell phones

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Paperless Boarding Pass

Paperless boarding schemes aren’t exactly revolutionary, but they’re still far from common at US airports. Now, however, Continental Airlines has announced that it will be experimenting with a cell phone-based boarding pass setup at Houston’s Intercontinental Airport. This will enable single passengers (as in one bar code per person, per device) to show security personnel a jumbled mixture of blocks alongside their ID in order to board the plane. The three-month trial program will allow people to receive a paper pass should their mobile/PDA run out of juice before boarding time approaches. While hard plans for future use aren’t yet laid out, the process could spread to other airlines and airports if things go smoothly.

Here’s how the system works. The two-dimensional bar code, a jumble of squares and rectangles, stores the passenger’s name and flight information. A TSA screener confirms the bar code’s authenticity with a handheld scanner. Passengers still need to show photo identification. The electronic boarding pass also works at airport gates.

The system has some limits. For instance, only passengers traveling alone can use the electronic pass. Continental is trying to upgrade the technology so that it can accommodate multiple passengers traveling together. Continental will be the first airline in the United States to try this system, but Air Canada has been offering paperless boarding since September.

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Driving to Distraction

A survey by Liberty Mutual Group and Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) showed that teens considered sending text messages via cell phones to be their biggest driving distraction. Of the teens surveyed, 37% said that text messaging was extremely or very distracting, while 20% said that they were distracted by their emotional states, and 19% said that having friends in the car was distracting. A January 2007 survey by Nationwide found that 19% of motorists say they text message while driving.

The federal government estimates that 30% of all crashes in the United States involve driver distraction. Inattentive driving accounted for 6.4% of crash fatalities in 2003 (the latest data available), according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. While cell phones and text messaging top the list, distractions also include radios, palm pilots, laptops, navigational aides, eating, drinking, grooming, reading, writing, television watching, and attending to children. In November, New Jersey became the second state after Washington to ban driving while texting.

Many companies are now establishing cell phone usage policies because of their concern that they may be held liable for accidents caused by their employees while driving and conducting work-related conversations on cell phones. Some policies state that employees can conduct business over the phone as long as they pull over to the side of the road or into a parking lot. Other companies have completely banned the use of all wireless devices in the car.

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Google With Your Voice

As part of Google’s ongoing effort to make the world’s information universally accessible, they have created and are testing a free service called Google Voice Local Search. The service allows you to use any phone to search for a business listing. Simply call 800-GOOG-411 (800-466-4411) and speak your search phrase.

You can search for a specific business name or for a category. For example, you could just say “pizza” — and you’ll get a listing of pizza providers. You can then send the listing details to your mobile phone via SMS by saying “text message.”

The service is fully automated, so it doesn’t rely on human operators. It connects you directly to the business, free of charge. However, your telephone company may apply regular charges for making a phone call or receiving an SMS. The information provided is the same local information you’d find on Google Maps.

Google Voice Local Search is still in its experimental stage. It may not be available at all times and may not work for all users. They are fine-tuning the service to get better at recognizing users’ requests and finding the businesses they are looking for. It’s currently only available in the United States in English.

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Checking Email on the Road

(Written by Barry Klein)

In our increasingly connected world, more and more of us spend more and more time checking e-mail on the road (unless, of course, the purpose of your trip is to escape to Fiji so you really can get away from it all). For most of us working stiffs, however, the ability to check e-mail on the road is part of what enables us to take a business or personal trip.

The paradox is that as it becomes harder to check e-mail remotely, it’s also becoming easier.

It’s becoming easier due to the proliferation of hot spots, which are springing up all over the place. Many airlines, like JetBlue, offer free wireless access, as do some airports, such as Tucson International Airport. Many coffee shops (including Starbucks) have it, as do many hotels. Even some McDonalds now offer it. A few cities are also experimenting with free wireless. Many exhibit halls offer free Internet Cafes, often with wireless and network cables for your notebook if you don’t want to use theirs. In short, it seems that you can fire up your notebook and find a wireless network just about anywhere these days.

The hard part is that many of these connections are insecure at best. At worst, they are outright phishing sites. They can capture your information with keylogging software if you’re using their hardware and can literally pull it out of the air if you’re using your own.

Presumably, you know better than to log onto your bank account from a public terminal, but what’s the problem with checking your e-mail from it? Think about it. If someone has access to your e-mail account, they have access to your life. Every time you forget a password, it is e-mailed to you (and, if you’re like me, you save it in a folder). Likewise, every time you register new software, your ID and password (probably the same one you use for everything) — are e-mailed to you. Need I go on?

On the road, you either have your own notebook computer with you or you don’t. These are the two basic scenarios.

Using your own notebook computer

There are two parts to using your own computer. One is the notebook itself, and the other is the connectivity. The absolute best-case option is to provide your own connectivity, and it might be easier (and less expensive) than you think.

If you have Sprint cell phone service, as I do, they offer unlimited DSL-speed Internet connectivity at a very nominal cost. So does Verizon. These services aren’t limited to the browsers built into the phones; you can use them as high-speed modems with your notebook. When I open my notebook, I connect (via Bluetooth) to my cell phone for Internet access, and don’t have to worry about whether the free local service is real or a phishing site.

Don’t have Sprint or Verizon? If you have a PCMCIA slot, Verizon sells a high-speed PCMCIA modem, and a low-cost monthly data service that will get you Internet access anywhere they provide cell service, which is most of the country, even if your cell service is with a competitor.

If these aren’t an option, the next best thing is to go out of your way to make sure that the connection you choose is a safe one. For example, one of the joys of the upcoming HIGH-TECC conference is that attendees sit at big tables using their notebooks as they listen to and participate in the sessions, checking e-mail, and staying in touch. You can’t just log on, however; you need to have the appropriate access code. That’s because it is a secured site, and those are the best.

Next best is to make sure that what you are using is the real service, provided by Marriott, Starbucks, or wherever you are. If there is more than one service showing (I’ve seen as many as three presumably T-Mobile sites at the same location), check with someone who knows which is the real one.

As an aside, as we get more accustomed to wireless connectivity, we tend to disdain the lowly CAT-5 cable connection. However, if you’re using the cable connection in your hotel room, at least you can be reasonably sure you really are connecting to the hotel’s own network, and not someone else’s.

Using a “complimentary access” computer

First and foremost, don’t type personal information into a complimentary access computer. There are alternatives.

One easy one that we often forget is to check your e-mail on your cell phone. More and more phones have browsers built into them. Yes, it isn’t as easy, comfortable, or fast as a computer, but it is far more secure. Plus, if you answer e-mail via your phone, it encourages brevity. BlackBerry users, for example, have elevated the one-sentence email to an art form.

Another alternative while away is to set up a new, separate e-mail account — such as a free one from Yahoo or Gmail — and let your family and office know to use that one. You won’t have access to all of your stored e-mails, but neither will anyone else who happens to capture your keystrokes and goes into that account. If you’re using it just to stay in touch, it’s a simple, easy, and free solution, and you can close the account when you return home.

With a little forethought and planning, you can check e-mail on the road and still stay reasonably secure. Of course, it would still be more fun to be in Fiji without e-mail.

G. Barry Klein is a former insurance agent who maintains the www.ultimateinsurancelinks.com Web site as an industry service. He can be reached at barry@barryklein.com

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Text Info on Cell Phones

I have begun using my cell phone for more than just voice calls. Virtually every cell phone sold today has the capability to send and receive text messages. I know what you are thinking; text messaging on cell phones is for kids, not me. Yet I have discovered there is useful information available via text message.

4INFO (44636) is an example. That number is not a zip code, it is the number you text to tap into for info, a killer SMS (Short Message Service) service that provides quick access to movie times, sports scores, flight times, business directories, and other handy info-for your area. To find the nearest pizza joint, for example, just text “pizza Franklin, TN.” For movies, punch in the name of the flick or just enter “movies” in the name of the city or theater. Looking for Starbucks? You can text “Starbucks” and your zip. Within 30 seconds or so, you’ll receive an SMS containing the requested info.

While the service is great it can’t do everything. Missing from the query pool are white page listings and driving directions. On the other hand, it can deliver jokes, drink recipes, pickup lines, and WiFi hotspots — everything you need for getting around town.

Google SMS – If you can’t get the info you need from 4INFO, try Google SMS. It works the same way (you send your queries via SMS to 46645, aka “GOOGL”) and retrieves even more kinds of handy data, including driving directions, word definitions, residential listings, and reverse phone lookups. It’s short on fun stuff, long on practical information. Go to Google.com and you can print the wallet-sized tip sheet if you have trouble remembering query syntax.