Airport Tech: Sometimes They Get It Rignt

One thing I really hate about airports is never being able to find an open outlet to charge your devices. There's always one random outlet located in a far off gate. To top it off, its usually not near a seat, so you have to sit on the dirtiest floor imaginable.

Another thing that disappoints me about most airports is having to pay for Wi-Fi. After paying for the cost of a ticket, transportation to the airport, baggage checking fees, and the ungodly price of horrible airplane food, I hate having to pay another fee.

Check out how St Louis Lambert Airport ranks in outlets and Wi-Fi in the video below! If you can't see it, click here!

Keep Up With Tech Without Going Broke

So I blacked out and when I woke up I had a preorder for the new Google Nexus 7 tablet lined up and ready to go. I swear, it's not my fault! Ok, it is. The good news is that I didn't put myself in any financial trouble because I already had the money stashed away for emergency gadget buying.

I prioritize what's important by allocating a large part of my take home pay after bills, savings, and regular expenses to spend on whatever I want. As you can tell by this blog, I love tech and science. So I save this splurge money every paycheck until I find something I want that's tech and science related, so that I can get it with no worries.

This only works if you go cheap on things that you don't really care for. For me, a big chunk of that is for clothes. I wear clothes until they die and don't care much about what's the fashionable wear for this year or season. I also rarely go out and spend massive amounts on drinks or other expenses involving in clubbing. I spend minimally on this and other stuff so that I can splurge on what I love.

Don't go broke ... just adjust your priorities!

Conference Tech Lessons: Blogging While Brown 2012

Meeting people like the amazing Adria Richards is a plus for conferences. She approved of my C:\ shirt!

I came away from this weekend's Blogging While Brown conference inspired and willing to invest in myself to make this blog the best that it can be.   In the midst of this conference, I came away with several thoughts regarding technology.

Personal Interaction >>>> Virtual Interaction

One of the benefits of a conference is meeting people that you've only corresponded with online. The in person meeting makes a world of difference.   My online persona is a representation of me, but the in-person meeting is just as, if not more important. It must be apparent that your online persona is an extension of your personality, not something totally different.  Otherwise, you can come off as disingenuous and playing a role on the internet that is not real.  Personal connection matters.  You know that excitement when someone like Dr. Goddess, Luvvie Ajayi, or Slim Jackson interacts with you online? Yeah, that's magnified by a thousand when it's in person.

Technology is a Great Conversation Starter

When you're around people that are more successful than you and you're the new face in the room, it can sometimes be hard to approach people.  I was able to start a lot of conversations with talk about gadgets - cell phones, tablets, or my infamous gadget sandwich.   Nearly everyone was on some sort of device - engage people about them.

You NEED an Extended Charging Solution

In this era of social networking, you need access to a cell phone during an entire conference, which can sometimes last 10 hours or more, plus dinner, drinks, etc.  Having an extended battery for your phone is key. Fellow attendee BrothaTech had a several charging solutions for his gadgets. I've been using the uNU Power DX extended battery for my iPhone, and I never had my phone drop out.  Perfect for twitpics of people after they are ... a bit inebriated.

I had a great time at the conference, and I will definitely be attending next year!

Pay Attention When Using Your Tech!

I walk my dog nightly, and there are a couple of things that annoy me:

• People that call to my dog without asking
• People that touch my dog without waking
• People that wander into my path because they're not paying attention

While the first two are straight up disrespectful, the third is just as annoying.  Whether people are talking on someone walking with them, talking on the phone, or texting, my dog has almost been crush by the raggedy sneakers of some idiot.  

However, fining for texting is just stupid. It doesn't discourage the activity, and I damn sure don't want cops spending their time looking for people walking as opposed to solving real crime. 

I know I've been guilty of texting while walking.  To be fair, I try to be good about it  - I tilt my phone in such a way that I can see what is ahead of me.  However, I lose the sense of feeling when people come up either behind me or directly on the side of me. I've definitely been surprised by people, especially bikers and joggers, that come up quickly behind me as I'm trying to share my latest joke with the world.

Texting is an amazing piece of technology that let's you stay connected with friends without having to have an actual phone call.  No excuse to walk into other people though.

The good news is that I remember several annoying high school kids from Fort Lee, so that's a plus. Ticket them like crazy!