Today, the traffic statistics site that some say doesn’t count for much, Alexa, stepped up its game. The last time they made a significant change, it involved the way the traffic was interpreted and largely affected the numbers of most sites adversely.
This new update gives the whole site a face lift, but also adds more information about the visitors to a site. While the accuracy of the information delivered is still going to be up for debate, it’s nice to see more of it available and the new look is refreshing. It does make me wonder if everyone will be as pleased about the increased amount of data provided to anyone looking. Do you want everyone to know your bounce rate or average pages viewed per user?
When I travel, I always make sure to bring along all my cameras, phone, laptop, chargers, etc. It’s a lot to carry around, but I’d rather lug it all around with me than forget something and find myself disconnected from my technology. Still, there have been times where I’ve been stuck in an airport with no laptop or no way to charge my phone. The future looks slightly less bleak with something I noticed at the Dallas Fort Worth airport on my way home last night.
It’s called PowerPort and it handles all your charging problems in one spot, prints, gets you online, and offers up laptops to rent.
Charge anything
OK… Probably not anything, but they claim it can charge up to 1,200 makes and models of devices, which pretty much means that they’re including the 7 or 8 most popular connectors. If your device has some crazy proprietary connector and isn’t an iPod, you may be out of luck. Even so, In Philadelphia, I charged my iPhone in a laptop workstation area at the terminal and kept looking up from my more comfortable seat 10 feet away to make sure someone didn’t walk off with it. $4.50 might just be worth it to not have to worry about that if you have an expensive device in need of charging. Ultimately, I’d suggest having something like the Mophie Juice Pack or the Ecosol Powerstick with you, but in a pinch, $4.50 is an OK rescue price for a dead battery.
Rent a laptop
If I didn’t feel compelled to take my laptop everywhere, I would be all over this, and that may be its only flaw. I think people who really need to be online that much will generally have a laptop next to them at the terminal already. That’s not to say it’s a bad idea. When I saw it, I thought it was a great idea and a great price. For $6.95 an hour, you can have an internet-connected laptop to use while you wait for your flight. I see some possible problem areas. First, it’s an unmanned kiosk, so there’s nobody to check the laptops when they are returned after rental. The reason this gives me concern is that it’s like lending your laptop to someone right before and right after you use it. How can you be assured that your data is secure and that the laptop will be free of viruses or even be functioning properly when you get it? I’m sure that 99.5% of the time a laptop rental will go flawlessly, but it’s the last .5% I’m worried about.
Print documents
There’s not much to say about this except that you can print documents with the laptop rental at no additional fee. Of course, it’s a shared printer out in the open, so if it’s confidential, you should go grab it right away.
Surf the web
We’ve seen this in airports and hotels for a while. I’ve never been a big fan of using a public computer that is easily viewable by anyone to get online. If I’m looking up directions on Google Maps or just checking some sports scores, that’s fine, but if I’m logging into something, checking email, etc., I want a little more privacy.
Additional thoughts
This isn’t a paid post, nor did I actually try any of the services offered and the website seems to be lacking in detailed specifics, so if you want more information, go to powerports.com and poke around or contact the company directly with questions. I wanted to write about it because, as a tech consumer, I was excited about the concept and would have forked over a few bucks to use it if I didn’t already have everything I needed with me. If you’ve used it, I’d love to hear your opinions and experiences.
This week’s Bookmark Friday introduces links to fellow Twitter users who ask for links. Last week, I announced that I would give a link or two out to Twitter users who sent me a tweet asking for a link. All anyone had to do was follow me on Twitter and tweet the following:
“@joetech I want that free link in your Bookmark Friday post : http://www.joetech.com/suggests/bmftw”
This week, I want to introduce you to a couple great Twitter users you should follow:
BenSpark (New England)
Bio: I take a Photo-A-Day and have been for nearly 4 years. I tweet using Utterli and many other things.
Site: http://www.benspark.com/
If you want me to link to you, send a tweet and it might happen and while you’re at it, check out my free Twitter t-shirt contest.
As for the bookmarks, it’s already late here in New Jersey, but they’re here now, so enjoy:
istopover.com – This is a great idea that could either go really bad or change the way you think about vacationing. The concept is simple. Offer a room in your home for by-the-night rental or find an available room when you are traveling. Now anyone can make a few bucks giving out-of-towners a deal on their short stay.
Sound wave bracelets – I like to mess with technology that turns sound into visual presentation of some sort, so I liked this idea. The company turns special phrases like “I love you” into the 3D vidual representation of the sound’s wave and puts it on a bracelet.
WeFollow – WeFollow is a Twitter directory. In about 20 seconds, you can add your account and associate it with a few tags. Then it’s listed under those tags in a directory format, sorted by popularity.
100 Great Resources for Design Inspiration – Last week, I offered up a link to some 400 inspiring business card designs. This week it’s general design inspiration resources… 100 of ‘em. Eat up.
Twittad – A while back, something called Magpie emerged, connecting advertisers with Twitter users willing to tweet for cash. This idea seems better, connecting advertisers with Twitter users willing to put ads in their backgrounds. It works for Break.com and MySpace.com, so why not?
Exchanging blog traffic with related posts – Exchanging links has always been an important way to boost traffic while helping your visitors find new content, so I thought I’d share this post for you bloggers.
SkyServer – Wanna see the whole universe without a telescope? This site aims to provide the world with a complete map of the known universe for free.
I like to keep things interesting, so in the spirit of doing something different, I’m writing this review for a roll-up silicon USB keyboard from BudgetGadgets.com using the keyboard, itself. I’m doing this because it seems to induce typos around every corner and I want to see if it gets any better the more I use it.
The bad and the ugly
In all fairness, it’s not ugly, but the giant Caps Lock key gave me a chuckle when I first saw it. I laughed less when I found that it doesn’t work. The next thing I noticed is that a silicon keyboard is definitely less productive, so far. Because silicon keys are more flexible, you need to be more precise in trying to hit the middle of the key for it to register the keystroke properly. This can obviously be a problem since it directly affects the intended use. Something else that really threw me off was the extra Shift and Space keys. I’m not really sure what they’re for, but it seems like they could have just made the space bar larger… likewise for the Shift keys. If not that, perhaps a Home key would have been nice. The flexibility of it also makes it a lot harder to type on as it rest in your lap. I have my review notebook under it as a flat surface. Of course that would be true of any roll-up from any manufacturer.
The good
While I found plenty to complain about, this cloud does have some silver lining. First of all, it’s a full keyboard that I can carry in my pocket, so it’s highly portable at the very least. Next, it’s spill-proof. An old roommate once spilled a full can of soda into my keyboard. If it had been this keyboard, I wouldn’t have spent that night carefully cleaning and blow-drying an opened up keyboard. Also, after some use, it’s a little easier to type on, but still not comfortable.
Would I buy one?
Personally, I don’t have a use for it. I like my laptop keyboard more and it works just fine, so I don’t need an external. If I did need one, though, I’d like to see one easier to type on and with a better key configuration and working Caps Lock. For about $10, it’s OK, but could use some work.
