Acapulco For Christmas

Word Lens

Just bought this augmented reality app for my upcoming trip to Acapulco. It translates instantly as you look at a sign or menu or whatever through the view finder. Pretty incredible.

[via Gizmodo]

SFOhhhhhhhh Yeah!

That is a picture of the design for The Plant Café Organic and Pinkberry Yogurt, two of many additions included in the new Terminal 2 Virgin America / Jet Blue wing at San Francisco International Airport, set to open April 2011.

Click here to see many more pictures, including some vintage ones from the original SFO, as well as further descriptions of what to expect.

iPhone Cassette Case

I'm not really one for cases on an iPhone (unless it's free), but I'm sort of into this one. I could see myself using it when traveling to keep from clunking around in my backpack, and then using the stand if I were to watch a movie or something. Not sure I need one really, but it's a fun approach to a travel case if you're in the market for one. Also available in black and red.

[via Gizmodo]

Tumi Or Not Tumi? There Is No Question

Does it ever feel like customer service is dead? That a brand standing behind its product is something from a bygone era? Because to me it does on an almost daily basis. Perhaps I have high expectations, or perhaps businesses today have absolutely no accountability to their customers.

That is why I was so delighted today to find that, to my complete surprise, Tumi does not fall into this category. I lent my bag (pictured above) to Junna for her trip to NYC. Upon her return, she collected her luggage from the carousel and found that the entire wheel and wheel casing were missing. The bottom corner of the bag looked like it had been blown off with a shotgun. We contacted SFO baggage who–to no one's surprise–explained they were not responsible for ANY damage to the luggage, and that if we have traveler's insurance that might cover it.

Yes, of course. Traveler's insurance. Of course we have that.

Fools.

Anyway, we were going to contact Virgin America–who are the best people flying planes these days by a mile–and hope that perhaps they would be willing to take some ownership for the completely-destroyed, now-unusable piece of luggage.

Before we got around to that Junna recommended I bring the bag into the Tumi store and see if it was at all fixable. I was sure it was beyond repair, but I made the trip anyway. I walked into the downtown San Francisco location on Grant St. fully anticipating to be completely disappointed. I approached the counter and held up my mangled bag and said I was wondering if the damage might be able to be repaired. The fellow took the bag from me, held it up to examine it, and started to say,

"Ummmm..."

I knew that sound. It was the sound of a salesman pretending that he cared about your problem before explaining it was just that–your problem. The salesman, whose name just happened to be Ryan (great name), looked up and finished his sentence with, "Yeah I can fix this for you. When do you need it back?"

Still skeptical, I said "No hurry whatsoever. Whenever is fine." He said he could have it ready for me Monday and to just write down my name and number on the pad of paper that was sitting in front of me on the counter.

Now this was nice and all, but I wanted to know what it was going to cost. I asked, and he explained it would be free, and that they have all the parts on-site, but that even if they didn't and they had to ship it to be repaired, it would still be free.

I was dumbfounded.

He went on to say, "That's why you buy a Tumi bag" and I followed that immediately with "And that's why I will always buy a Tumi bag from now on."

I recommend you do the same, as well.

Thank you Tumi for completely going above and beyond my expectations and serving as a perfect example of exemplary customer service in an age of automated help lines, no return/no exchange policies, and mostly apathetic sales representatives.

It truly made my day.

Fail Of The Day

A Superjumbo Jigsaw Puzzle

Sometimes designers set out to create something gorgeous; other times, it’s a technological breakthrough. Often, though, their goals are more mundane, like finding a way to shave an inch off the width of the back of the cheapest seat in an aircraft.

Slimming down the cheap seats was one of innumerable design challenges faced in work on the Qantas A380, which is being prepared for its first flight next month, from a factory in Toulouse, France, to Sydney. It will begin regular commercial flights in October.

A First Look Inside JetBlue’s JFK Food Court

JetBlue unveils its culinary mecca at JFK's Terminal 5 on October 1, and we've scored restaurant renderings designed by meatpacking-friendly firm ICRAVE (STK, Tenjune, One Little West 12). The designs are classy and varied: Alexandra Raij should be cozy in her warped tapas bar; Michael Schulson's Asian spot Deep Blue is meant to make you feel cocooned in water; and Mark Ladner's Aeronuova trattoria screens old Italian flicks. The Loft, which has no celebrity-chef affiliation, recalls a Soho apartment you can't afford. La Vie, the French café, isn't the most daring design-wise, but a menu from Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson could make up for it. Since you can't eat until you clear security, we're booking our tickets now.

A Peek Inside the New JetBlue Terminal at JFK: An Antidote to Air Rage?

The cornucopia of fine-dining options at JetBlue's soon-to-open JFK terminal isn't for everyone — some of us are fine subsisting on $8 trail mix from the Grove and a pouch of Terra Blue chips, thank you. But the affable David Rockwell and architecture super-firm Gensler recently gave a hard-hat tour that proved $743 million can buy a little something exciting for everyone. Starting October 1, JFK's landmark Terminal 5 (originally designed by Eero Saarinen) will no longer stand abandoned beside the AirTrain — it will be alive with JetBlue passengers. Among the highlights:

• Playgroundlike springy rubber floors specially designed for post-security bare feet.
• A marketplace (ahem, retail and concessions) with grandstand-style seating and JetBlue-sanctioned buskers (Rockwell cites Union Square as his inspiration).
• Four words: Ron Jon Surf Shop.
• Twice the number of required toilets, including an extra-large WC labeled "Family Bathroom," which may deter awkward foot-tapping incidents.
• A handy time-warp passage. As soon as the last speck of asbestos is wiped clean from Saarinen's 1962 terminal, passengers can be dropped curbside to reenact their own TWA-era farewells, and then proceed through the restored "flight tubes" to the new terminal.

To prevent a total meltdown on October 1 (à la London Heathrow's Terminal 5 debacle), the airline is staging a mock opening day on Saturday. More than 1,000 frequent flyers, plus crew, family, and friends, will show up, be handed empty suitcases and script, and embark upon a simulated journey — sans planes. Let's hope no one else ever has to wait around for a flight to nowhere.

High Five for T5 [JetBlue]

American Air kicks off in-flight Internet service

AMR Corp's American Airlines began offering Internet access on long-haul domestic flights on Wednesday, making American the first U.S. airline to offer full in-flight broadband.

The world's largest airline said its passengers on Boeing 767-200 aircraft can pay $12.95 for Internet access on nonstop flights between New York and San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles, and New York and Miami.

Airlines have been racing to get reliable Internet access on their flights in hopes of gaining a competitive edge in the troubled airline industry. Other carriers like Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways have made strides in that direction.

Delta Air Lines Inc said this month it soon will start rolling out broadband Wi-Fi access for its entire domestic mainline fleet of more than 330 planes.

Experts have said they expect in-flight Internet to become common in the industry.

American's mobile broadband service, which is called Gogo, is provided by AirCell. Each Gogo session includes full Internet access. Cell phone and Voice over Internet Protocol are not available.

Flying today? Say hello to the TSA for us

If you hadn't heard, TSA's new laptop bag rule went into effect today, so we're wondering: what sort of experience are you getting at the checkpoint? Like many TSA policies, they can take a few days to trickle down to the rank and file, plus your line compatriots could muck everything up by misunderstanding the fairly strict new guidelines for scanner-compatible bags, but hopefully somebody, somewhere is having a better flying experience this weekend.

Update: TSA's official guidelines are here, the cheat sheet is above.

Oregon begins building first "solar highway" project

Just over a year ago, we passed off a far-out proposal that would turn highways into wind farms. Now, however, the state of Oregon is proving that such feats are actually within reach as it breaks ground on the first so-called "solar highway" demonstration project. The project will be installed at the Interstate 5 and Interstate 205 interchange in Tualatin, where it will cover around 8,000 square feet and produce 112,000 kilowatt hours per year. The total cost for the 104-kilowatt solar photovoltaic system is $1.3 million, and believe it or not, it should be completed and operational in December of this year.

[Via Digg]

TSA to introduce less annoying laptop bag rules this Saturday

Passengers who have what the Transportation Security Administration calls "checkpoint-friendly" laptop cases — so-called because X-ray machines can easily see through them — will be free to go through security without opening the case.

The World Wide Web - August 5th, 2008

A Reason To Live In Arkansas
http://materialicio.us/2008/08/02/arkansas-house-marlon-blackwell/

Vampire Weekend (for lovie)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_i1xk07o4g

Delta Plans to Offer Wi-Fi on Its Jets
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/business/06wifi.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

iPhone 2.0.1 now available through iTunes
http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/04/iphone-2-0-1-now-available-through-itunes/

In-flight calling ban passes hurdle in House
http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/in-flight-calling-ban-passes-hurdle-in-house/

My Bloody Valentine Announce North American Tour
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/50411-my-bloody-valentine-announce-north-american-tour

Radiohead Use Fancy Technology in Camera-Free Video
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/142023-radiohead-use-fancy-technology-in-camera-free-video

Radiohead – House of Cards
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nTFjVm9sTQ