Next stop: Amsterdam

Time for some field testing of Kindlefish and pannekoeken: I'll be in Amsterdam for the next few days.

McDonald's Around the World: Stockholm, Breakfast Edition!

In case you missed the previous post, you can see the standard and night menus over here, but this time around I ended up at a McDonalds in time for breakfast on my way to Romme Alpin with some friends. What does a Swedish McDonalds do differently? Well, take a look:

 Yes, Swedish McDonalds offer Swedish pancakes for breakfast! No hotcakes here! I didn't end up getting that this time, but there's some serious localization going on here. See more after the jump!

Kindlefish - No Muss Translations for the Amazon Kindle

One of the best features of the Amazon Kindle is the ability to access the internet virtually anywhere for free. Since there is no touchscreen, the interface can be a bit difficult at times, but for simple errands like checking your email, reading up on something on wikipedia, or sending a text message with google voice it's great. For example, I step off the plane, switch on my Kindle and a few moments later I can send a SMS saying that I got there safely. It doesn't cost me a thing and it just works.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Kindlefish is back with a whole new look! Please read more about it here.

However, one thing that hit me the other day is that I should be able to use Google Translate on the Kindle to help me out in situations where I need to communicate a message, but there's a language barrier. The standard Google Translate page doesn't work for the Kindle and the mobile Google Translate page returns text that is too small to be easily read, and a little clunky for use on the Kindle.

So I fixed it. I present to you: Kindlefish!

Details and a walkthrough after the break!

Ich war ein Berliner: Three things to do in Berlin, Part 3

3. The DDR Museum (Station: U2, U5, U8: Alexanderplatz)


The history of a split Berlin is visible at a glance of the architecture in Berlin, but the culture of the former East Berlin has rapidly been replaced with the usual western, pro-consumerism capitalism that we all are familiar with. The DDR Museum opened in 2006 as a private museum, and is a very interesting slice of East German culture. Part of the museum consists of the usual exhibits on the macro-political conflicts and the Berlin wall, but a good portion of the museum is devoted to nothing more than the everyday life of an East German. And that is fascinating.

Ich war ein Berliner: Three things to do in Berlin, Part 2

2. Tempelhof (Station: For Building, U6: Platz der Luftbrücke, For Park, U6: Tempelhof)

Tempelhof is an airport in the south of Berlin with a very long history, some good and some bad. It was built during by the Nazis prior to World War II and was built in the impressively terrifying monumental style of that regime. The building itself is more than a half mile wide between it's "arms", which dwarfs anything in the area. It is well preserved and gives a sense of the architecture of the time, which makes it worth a building if for nothing else than to reflect over would have been. In many ways, I wonder how something so obviously from that era could survive the process of denazification that occurred after the war...

Tempelhof on a West Berlin Stamp

Ich war ein Berliner: Three things to do in Berlin, Part 1

Berlin is a great city with a complex mix of new and old cultures right at the epicenter of some of the largest battles in modern history, both physical and ideological. Moving throughout the city, it's very clear that Berlin is a city that is constantly in a state of change and re-imagination. For a city that offers someone for everyone, I was really glad to be able to get away from the more touristy areas and spend the days with my friend and resident Berliner in some more out of the way places. In particular, I'd like to share three places, one of which is really interesting but on the beaten path, while the other two are a little more out of the way. After the break, we'll visit a fleamarket, Tempelhof, and the GDR museum!

Berlin!

10 Minutes in North Korea!

Given how little video comes out of North Korea, it's amazing to see a slice of life from there. Steve Gong gives us this insight into the nation, filmed in secret. Apparently the North Koreans aren't up on the latest camera tech, because they didn't know that his Canon 5D could also shoot video. Combined with a little electric tape to cover the screen and some practice focusing blind (something I need to do), this is the result. The full raw footage will be part of a film project, "One Day on Earth", who hired him to go there.

Personally, I would find it completely unnerving to have those video camera guys popping up all over the place around me. There's one at 2:17 filming him and then another 3:45 in a complete different area. Is that just because he's a foreigner, or is that just part of "normal" society?

[Steve Gong via John Herrman]

Flight Report: RyanAir (for a change)

I have a friend in Berlin and promised to visit her at some point, since she moved back there last month. Since my schedule is a little tight and I didn't want to spend hundreds of dollars on it, I decided to try RyanAir for the first time ever. Whooooo boy.

My ticket was about $35, including all of their miscellaneous fees (and without any checked luggage, which would have been an additional $35). Even when you consider the $35  and hour long ride out to Skavsta (which is "Stockholm" in RyanAir parlance, which is actually 90km to the south), it's still a pretty good deal, but I have never been on such a cheesy airline before!

The Mileage Game: Why I picked United Mileage Plus

This is a follow up to my earlier post about how to pick a mileage program, just to show how it happened in my case. I am an active member in two programs:

• United Mileage Plus (for Star Alliance)
• Alaska Airlines (for basically everyone else)

And here’s I picked them:

• Hub cities: Seattle (SEA) is Alaska Air’s Hub city, which means they are going to very attractive for the number of flights and pricewise, so major points to them. United is present at SEA, but so does Delta and Southwest, so on that end it’s a draw.
• Alliances and Who I fly with: A lot of my international flights are on Lufthansa (LH), Continental (CO), SAS (SK) or United(UA), so Star Alliance was a pretty obvious choice. Alaska (AS), Delta (DL), Northwest (NW), British Airways (BA), and American Air (AA) are all sometimes airlines for me, but BA and AA are in oneWorld while DL and NW are in SkyTeam while AS is in its own world.
• Earning potentials: Alaska brings in all of my random players under one roof: I earn miles on my AS account when I fly AA, BA, AS, or DL. That was a win because otherwise wouldn’t be able to pool my miles and I don’t fly any of them enough to really accumulate enough miles just on their own. With the Star Alliance side, UA makes sure that I get 100% of my flown miles more of the time than the programs with LH, CO, or SK.
• Bonuses and Redemption: Chase is hooked up with UA and Bank of America is AS’s bank. I have an aversion to Bank of America and their offer wasn’t as attractive as the 25,000 from Chase. LH didn’t have anything and while CO’s was similar to UA’s, UA still had more options to earn bonus miles through partners. In terms of redemption, I really didn’t know but it turns out that AS and UA are both pretty good about mileage inventory.

Final Verdict: UA due to partner airlines, destinations, bonus miles through partners, and redemption opportunities and AS for all of the other airlines that I usually fly just to get them in under one roof (since then they’ve also added Kenmore Air and Icelandic Air as partner airlines, so this was a big win for that role!).

Food Fridays: Bakery Nouveau in Seattle

One thing I love about travel and just in general is food. All sorts, from restaurants to street food and from molecular gastronomy to freshly picked fruited, it's all good and everywhere you go you find great stuff. 

In Seattle, we have a little taste of Paris called Bakery Nouveau. This little gem is in West Seattle and 15 minutes from downtown by bus, but rivals any bakery in Seattle. They've got plenty of local awards under their belt, but their claim to fame also includes first place in the Coupe du Monde de Boulangerie. 

For New Years, we went all out and got a cake, which was absolutely delicious. If you like chocolate, this cake was very much a death by chocolate experience. However, the bakery is much more than just sweeties and high end cakes like this: It's got everything you could need from croissants to tarts to danishes and sandwiches for both breakfast and lunch. 

Many more pictures, after the break!

Gear: The Amazon Kindle (3rd Gen) WiFi + 3G

This past December, I decided to jump on the eReader bandwagon. The reason was simple: I was going to be reading a lot of articles in PDF over the next half a year and I didn't want to waste paper and money printing them out or run out of battery while reading on my laptop screen. After a review of the other readers on the market, like the B&N Nook and the Sony reader, I decided to go with the flagship Kindle 3 with Wifi and 3G.

UPDATE: The new Kindles are here. Check out my reviews of the Kindle Touch and Kindle Fire!

Was it worth it? Yep. It does the job, adds some extra features above and beyond just reading books, and did I mention free 3G worldwide? It does that, too.  Here's the basics:

Size and Feel: Extremely compact. This thing is like carrying around half a magazine, but with as much reading as you could possibly need. There's 4GB built into the device (not expandable), and that's plenty for thousands of books. The device itself feels nice and sturdy, with easy navigation via the side buttons. While it fits in the hand, I decided to opt for the official leather case and it feel very high quality with that on it (which apparently now only comes in the lighted version. If I had known that the light case actually draws power from the kindle itself, I might have opted for the extra $20 for it). With the case, it feels like holding a nice book or Moleskin journal. Update: After 8 months of use, the Kindle is still going strong. Some of the letters on the keys have been worn partially away, but otherwise it's been hassle free and looks as good as when I got it.

Screen: The screen is a 600x800 black and white E-Ink display. It honestly looks and reads like paper, which means it is easy on the eyes (literally). Even after hours of reading, you don't experience eye fatigue like many people do with LCD screens. The screen is responsive, but don't expect slick animations or anything fancy here. The screen speed is just fine for books, where you only have to change the screen every page or while navigating the system, but you will never watch a movie on here. Another major benefit is that there is no such thing as glare with this screen or issues with reading in the sun. If you can read paper, you can read the screen (as seen below).

Interface and Performance: It's really strange not having a touch interface. You expect to be able to touch the screen at first, but it's just not the case. Navigation is simple, and grouping of books is straightforward if a little laborious. There's a dictionary built in, and support for highlighting of passages (which stores that text in a new file for use later on) which is GREAT for references. The only disadvantage is that the concept of a "page" is blurred so referencing them is a little different. In fact, I don't know the proper way to reference a kindle book and according to my e-mail exchange with Purdue no one really does.

The three main navigation keys are "Home", "Menu", and "Back". They're pretty self-explanatory and work like you would expect them to. Pressing left on the five-way pad will offer to delete books. Pressing right will let you see details and group books into "collections". It's a very simple interface, but underneath it all is linux so future firmware releases could dramatically expand what the device can do. If you want see what else is under the hood, I recommend taking a look at the teardown of it over at EEVBlog.

In the realm of performance, the Kindle 3G has one major thing going for it: Battery life. It's not a blazing fast machine (but it is fast enough). It's not meant to stream full HD movies to your TV or run Starcraft II. It's meant to make reading easy, and that it does without complaint for what seems forever. I charge my kindle about once a week with heavy use and 3G on. If I were to turn 3G off and didn't use it every day, battery life would be measured in weeks.

Shop and Getting Books: Since I've got the 3G version, I can get books anywhere and anytime. I just load up the Amazon store, search for the book I want and hit buy. It shows up on the kindle within a minute.

It really is that easy. People with the wifi version can do the same, but only if they have an active wifi connection. That said, I highly recommend the full 3G version (or the slightly cheaper 3G with special offers. It's $50 less, but has "sponsored screensavers" and "special offers") over the wifi versions. The extra money is well spent for something that works everywhere, virtually without question, for free.

For PDFs and other eBook formats, there are a few more hoops to jump through, but nothing too drastic. Adding PDFs can be done via USB (it's a standard USB cable), by dragging and dropping the PDF into the documents folder on the device. PDFs are supported, but they are rather clunky to navigate, so I usually use the other option for getting material on to it: I send it to my kindle via email.

This is perhaps my second favorite feature, although to do it for free requires a wifi connection. By sending your documents to [you]@free.kindle.com with "convert" in the subject line, Amazon will convert your PDF files to their format and then send them to your kindle directly (no cable) when you log on to a wifi connection. All the clunkinessPDF that you need to read by the end of the day... The whole process to send, convert, and deliver to your Kindle takes about 5 minutes. If you don't want to have to find a hotspot, you can also send the documents to [you]@kindle.com with nothing in the subject and they will be delivered over 3G but it costs a little bit ($0.99/Mb with a $0.99 minimum) to use the 3G connection that way. Overall, I'm extremely happy with this method of getting stuff. You can do it from any computer with the popular document types and it makes reading them much easier than trying to do it in the original formats. I've barely needed to plug the USB cable in.

Where this method does choke up a bit is when PDFs have images or columns. It's still readable, but the formatting has been removed, so sometimes it shows up strangely.

Extra Features: Besides the ability to read books and documents, there are a few other tricks up the Kindle's sleeve. The first is the built in dictionary. If you ever need a definition, you simply move the cursor to the word and it pops up at the bottom of the screen with it instantly. Convenient and unobtrusive. The dictionary is also all there, if you would like to read it A to Z. Next, there is an extremely limited MP3 player built in, which isn't that exciting, but the real gem for the audio features on the kindle is the ability to read texts out loud. The speech is a little faster than I would like, but it sounds fairly natural and is a free option for when you don't want to read yourself. You can also post quotes from the book you're reading to your facebook and twitter, without leaving the book. It's just a baked in feature. Speaking of quoting, one killer use for the kindle is for references and quoting. When you highlight text, you can create a snippet which is stored as a text file and you can write notes to go along with the snippets. Plus, everything on the Kindle is searchable. Just type in what you're looking for, and it'll find that word or phrase wherever it appears in any of your documents. This is an excellent feature if you're in school and trying to study or need to take notes!

While all those are nifty features, the killer feature of the Kindle 3G, besides the screen itself, is the 3G connection. The Kindle has free 3G wireless service just about everywhere you're likely to end up. It sounds hard to believe, but it's true: I've used data service in the USA, England, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Greece, Turkey and Sweden and in all cases it happily hums along without ever sending me a bill. Looking at the coverage map, we're basically talking anywhere you're likely to go, except central Asia and large parts of Africa. At first, this might sound like a whoop-de-doo feature ("Great, now I paid Amazon to be able to sell me books via 3G! What's so great about that?"), but there is a built in "experimental" browser which means your Kindle is effectively a copy of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In addition to being able to use the browser to access most of the web (no flash or overly complicated pages), Wikipedia is also baked in, meaning you can access it anywhere and anytime you need it. Say you need to know about United Airlines....

There you go!

Of course, as mentioned you can also access the web with your built in browser. The combination of near universal 3G and internet makes your Kindle 3G the ultimate backup communication tool.

Did your battery on your phone die, but you need to send a message because your flight was delayed? No problem. Log in to Google Voice on your kindle and send them a text message, anywhere in the world.

In Greece but don't speak Greek but need to speak Greek? No Problem. Head over to kindlefish.com (by yours truly) on your kindle, type in what you need to say, hit a button, and get it back from Google Translate in Greek. Instantly.

Forget to send an important email before you left for your Hawaiian vacation, but you just got to the beach? No problem. Sit back, log in to your e-mail, and send it without spending half the day hunting down an internet cafe or having to go back to the hotel.

Just need a fix of my blog? No problem. It'll do that too. Or read the news at Kinstant.com! Or update your Facebook status! Or.... you get the picture.

Of course, since then, there have been some new entries into the ereader market, including the Color nook, kobo, and the Apple iPad (which has been increasingly billed as an alternative). While the Apple and nook both get marks for being able to play Angry Birds and perform other non-reading tasks better than the Kindle 3G, I can't get on board with them as ereaders because of the LCD screens (and their issues with bright light and eye fatigue) and the internet connectivity question. The nook and kobo are both wifi only devices and while the iPad does offer (partial) unlocked 3G support to use it you have to pay. Here in the states $15 will get you 250Mb, but if you're travelling you're looking at $25 for 20Mb. You could use a foreign data plan too, but that also requires getting the chip and getting signed in. All in all, you're also in a situation where you have to think ahead of time, take time to fix it when you get there, or just pay AT&T, while with the Kindle 3G you just know it will without any fuss at all. Turn it on and the 3G symbol appears. For free.

Now that I've time to get to know this device (this was first published in February, and updated in August), I still can't get over how useful the universal 3G is and how useful it was for me when I was writing my thesis (All my articles in one, searchable, place with no effort note taking? Yes, please!). I love it.

The Mileage Game: How to pick a mileage program, step by step

Picking the right frequent flyer program is the first step towards bending the mileage game in your favor, and the choice goes beyond simply which airline you fly the most. Here is a step by step guide to picking your mileage program(s):

1. Find out which airlines are based in your city: If you live in a hub city for a certain carrier, that often determines what airline alliance you’ll end up in because there are more inexpensive flights on the carrier based there. If you’re not a hub city, find out which airlines are fighting for your city and consider joining one of those.
2. Research the alliances: Airlines form cooperative alliances which mileage can be earned and redeemed on partner airlines. This means that even if you’re flying Lufthansa, you can still earn mileage in your United or Continental mileage account. The three major alliances are Star Alliance, SkyTeam, and oneworld. For those of you in an Alaska Air hub city, Alaska has their own unique constellation of airlines which includes carriers from both SkyTeam and oneWorld, but with the draw back that if you achieve elite status there are fewer perks and there are some limitations on how you can redeem your miles. On the other hand, these one off airlines can open up unique opportunities. For example, Alaska Air partners with Kenmore Air, which operates float planes from Lake Union in Seattle. For 10,000 miles you can get a round trip to any of their uniquely northwest and often remote destinations, plus amazing views of the northwest thanks to their low altitude flights.
3. Take a look at your history and figure out who you usually fly with. Although this doesn’t bind you that airline, but again it gives you yet more insight on what alliance you should invest in.
4. Once you have an idea about what alliance would suit you best, it’s time to start reading through the frequent flyer sections of each airline. You want to pay special attention to what fare classes earn miles on what airlines (for example, for my United account if I fly SAS on some common discount economy tickets I earn 25% of the flown miles! Because of this, I usually fly Continental or, better yet, Lufthansa, where I earn 100% of my flown miles (and an elite bonus on top of that), even if there is an extra stop involved).
5. While you’re there, you’ll also want to double check the redemption section and learn about how many miles you need to get your free ticket. Some programs are simply better than others, but the average right now is about 25,000 miles for a domestic ticket and 50,000 - 55,000miles to Europe.
6. Don’t forget the bonus miles! If you are willing to sign up for a credit card, or jump through other hoops, you can land a healthy chunk of miles pretty quick. There are fees attached to these credit cards, so they're not free, but if you plan on closing the card or converting it down to a lower fee or no fee (if available) card, you can come out ahead. Other times, there are free miles for things like signing in online, or flying certain routes with that carrier. 
7. Lastly, (and perhaps most importantly) some carriers have better odds of redeeming miles than others, so be sure to do your research! If you have a million miles it doesn’t matter one bit if you can’t find a seat to spend them on! A fairly recent survey (at time of publishing) can be found here.

At this point, it’s time to decide: You will have to weight these factors yourself, but the best program will give you the most options to the most places with the most opportunities to earn 100% mileage and the greatest chance of redeeming for a seat. It’s also a good idea to sign up for a secondary account with another airline that covers the other alliance(s), so that you always have some place to put your miles just in case the fares are so much less that it doesn’t make sense to fly within your primary carrier.

Layout Tweak: Now with larger images!

I decided to tweak my layout a little, given that the vast majority of people are screens that are greater than 1024x768. I'm still debating whether I should keep it, but the result?

Before:

After:

A little bit of a difference...

Coming Soon: Food Fridays

If you've seen my foodie photos, you'd know that I love to try new places and new foods. Food is a type of culture and one of the biggest perks of traveling. By going someone and sharing in their cuisine, you learn much more about the place you're visiting than all of the touristy sites you could possibly visit.

The type of spices used (and unused), plus the variety of vegetables, fruits, and meats that go into dishes tell a story of the landscape and environment they live in. The way it is prepared and served, in addition to the manner in which you eat, tells you about the social relations embedded in the food. Even the adaptations of non-local dishes tells you about the tastes and preferences of the society you visit. Lastly, where it is made, whether it is institutionalized in restaurants or dished up on the side of the street, tells you about the mode of life and the means of the people you are visiting. In short, food is living culture and is one of the few aspects of contemporary culture which is visceral and easily available to the visitor. To share a plate is to share a story and an experience.

In honor of this tradition, I'm going to start posting "Food Fridays" every other week to show off some of the places and foods I've experienced, along with the story behind them.

The Mileage Game: Tips for Beginners

If you like the idea of free travel, then getting into the mileage game might be for you. There are, of course, lots of loop holes and restrictions that the airlines have put in place to make it difficult for you to actually redeem your miles, but if you’re willing to put some thought into it you can bend the game to your side. Some advice if you’re just starting your mileage addiction plan:

• Consolidate! If you have a mileage plan for every airline you fly, then you’ll never earn enough miles to fly for free. Instead, read up on which airlines are in what alliance and then pick one airline frequent flyer program to give every time you fly within that alliance. Your miles will pool and you’ll be flying for free much faster.
• Don’t let your mileage expire! This is one of the most common annoyances for the infrequent traveller: If you haven’t had any activity on your account (redemption of miles or accrual of miles) within a certain period of time (two years for United), all of your miles will vanish. It doesn’t matter if you have 5,000 miles or 500,000 miles: If you don’t keep an eye on it, you can lose everything. The good news is that any activity at all, even a single mile, will reset that countdown for all of your miles and most airlines have a “mileage mall” where you can buy stuff through a plethora of different websites (even gift cards on some!) and earn miles regardless of payment type just for starting your shopping session in their “mall”.
• Don’t let miles rule over your travel or purchases. All frequent flyer programs are designed to get you to spend more money than you might otherwise. If you see a higher fare or an offer that will give you miles for buying something from a third party, always make sure that the miles you gain is worth it. For redeemable miles, a conservative estimate of the value of your miles is around $0.01 per mile. That means that if you wouldn’t sign up for something or make that extra purchase for $5, then you also shouldn’t do it for 500 miles (although this doesn’t apply for things that you would genuinely buy otherwise: In that case, you can think of your miles as a 1% discount).