Launching the #OnReserve Team via Slack →

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Slack syncs seamlessly across devices, features a powerful internal search engine, and is highly compatible with dozens of other programs that keep businesses running. But Slack’s truly innovative offering goes unlisted: It is a cool office culture, available for instant download.

I spent the last few days setting up onreserve.info and onreserve.slack.com. With the help of an awesome guy named henry from another slack team, I was able to find out that you can register domain names for free, have it hosted via a github page, and use an entire library of awesome images via unsplash.com.

I've been blazing away at lightening speeds setting it up and getting it going. Now, with many various channels ready to go up and running, I want to invite all various Pilots and Flight Attendants to come and join up in an online Live Chat / Bulletin Board / Forum. The end goal really is to become a productive and cool culture where everyone can talk, meet up maybe and or even plan things. No negativity just plane talk... and whatever else.

If you have any more ideas to add, email me or like I already mentioned, join in by navigating to onreserve.info and following the sign-up process. I'll also have a write up shortly on how I did the nitty gritty with more details. Thanks again!

JetBlue's Fly-Fi vs. the Rest →

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The inflight Internet market in the U.S. doesn’t seem to follow any basic rule of competition. On an American or Delta plane you could wind up paying $10 to $20 to surf for the duration of your flight, and “surf” might be a generous word in this case. If there are a lot of other people using the same network on your plane, speeds might be so slow you’ll wind up paddling your way through the web.

At the other end of the spectrum, JetBlue offers complementary Internet access to all of its passengers. Instead of delivering a sluggish Internet experience, its Fly-Fi service is the fastest in the biz delivering speeds over 10 Mbps, and doesn’t restrict high-bandwidth applications like Netflix on its networks.

Installed on about 85% of our Airbus A320s and 100% of our A321s, commuting on JetBlue is a breeze with Fly-Fi. So fast and with access to Amazon Prime, Netflix and YouTube and every other social network, time does fly. I love working here.

No Positive in Building a Stadium →

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Note that those studies looked at stadiums for all major sports. NFL venues, which cost more and are used less, tend to fare worse economically.

Yet a new Chargers stadium really looks bad compared to other public uses for the Qualcomm site. Leading the pack, by far, is higher education.

Expanding on a classic 1956 paper by Nobel Laureate Robert Solow, economists since the 1990s have argued that boosting “human capital” is key to further economic growth once basic resources, like money and raw materials, are in place. Put simply, building knowledge builds a better economy.

I guess I'm probably not going to be popular either but paying over $1 billion in public funds just doesn't give me the feel goods. We owe it to our kids to build a better and brighter future with great economic benefits. Rooting for a sports team that won't proportionally give back it its fans, count me out for ANY tax increase.

2016: The Year of Higher Insurance Premiums →

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Health insurance companies around the country are seeking rate increases of 20 percent to 40 percent or more, saying their new customers under the Affordable Care Act turned out to be sicker than expected. Federal officials say they are determined to see that the requests are scaled back.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans — market leaders in many states — are seeking rate increases that average 23 percent in Illinois, 25 percent in North Carolina, 31 percent in Oklahoma, 36 percent in Tennessee and 54 percent in Minnesota, according to documents posted online by the federal government and state insurance commissioners and interviews with insurance executives.

This is just the first two paragraphs. To captialism and the biggest scam of the 20th/21st century... insurance... Happy Fourth of July.

The NEW Kindle Paperwhite is the One to Buy! →

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I spent much of the past week repeatedly forgetting that I was supposed to evaluate the Paperwhite as a gadget. Whether I was reading Paula Hawkins’ “The Girl on the Train” while sitting by the pool or lying in bed with the lights off, the hardware simply disappeared, leaving me alone with the words on the page.

Most of the technology that enables that is in the new 6-inch E Ink touchscreen, which now has the same high-resolution 300 pixels per inch as Amazon’s elite $200 Kindle Voyage.

This is what reading on a device should be. And at $119 with special offers count me in!

 
 

Sex and Happiness and $50K Extra →

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Data from 16,000 American adults on incomes, sexual activity and happiness led economists to conclude in a much-­discussed 2004 study that increasing the frequency of intercourse from once a month to once a week increased happiness to the same extent as having an additional $50,000 in the bank.

I'm going to go with this excerpt. I mean, who minds an extra $50K?

Put Technology Down and Love

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Having two little ones in today's world, you end up relying a bit too much on technology from video monitors to the every distracting iPad for the toddler to keeping up with various news feeds. When it comes down to it, nothing beats the tenderness and physicality of touch and attention. Love this commercial!

An S800 Drone Shreds Off a Southwest Boeing 737 Winglet

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Reckless flying in paths of passenger aircraft. Thanks Mr. Drone Pilot for messing up the rules for the rest of us.

*update: obviously this has been outted as a hoax showing off digital graphics and video editing. Read the winglet which shows branit.com instead of Southwest. Sorry for the confusion. *

PSA: If You Like Music, Don't Fall for Beats Headphones →

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A detailed teardown (via PopMech) of a pair of Beats’ immensely popular Solo headphones conducted by hardware-focused venture capital firm Bolt has some answers buried beneath. The headphones are incredibly cheaply made. The company cuts corners everywhere it can; gluing pieces together instead of using screws, and reducing the amount of tooling wherever possible. Amazingly, for all the company’s claims about precision sound design, the headphones use freaking off-the-shelf drivers!

As if this wasn't reason enough?! I still can't believe that Apple was tricked into buying such a shitty product! And yes, I Have tested and spent spent $399 on their Stuido Pro but promptly returned them one hour later. Trash!

Do yourself a favor and go with some Grados. The best $100 on headphones you can spend are on the Prestige Series SR80e.

Also of not, their "award winning" Beats Solo are essentially filled with extra metal for added weight to trick you into thinking they are substantial.

A Guide on How To Have Sex on a Plane

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Not safe for work due to language, but his sketch it pretty awesome! Take notes but 1) I don't recommend or condone this in any manner 2) after some flight attendants see this video, I doubt you'll have the chance. Cheers and fly safe!

Steve Huff is "Wowed" by Leica's New Q! →

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While only having this camera for a whopping three days, I managed to take it with me EVERYWHERE I went over those three days as I wanted to get as much use with it as possible so I could write this review after having 72 hours with the Q, and wow, for the 1st time in years I am truly “wowed” by a Leica camera that is not an M version! This is good, for all of us and for Leica.

Steve Huff does another great mini review on Leica's latest all-in-one offering. Priced at $4,250, it's around $1,000 than Sony's full frame fixed lens mini, but it's German and yes, I want it!