Cheap flights, hotels, and outrageous charges...

Just booked my flight to Phoenix for specialized, intense physical therapy. Looking forward to getting my back and neck fixed. I've been told that it's quite painful but if I can handle the therapy there is hope that it will help with the herniated discs I've been dealing with since an accident about 5 years ago. I'm used to dealing with pain every day, but I'm not really anxious to have more pain... but if it helps I think it will be worth it! :)

But not so happy with the whole airline and hotel industry right now. It seems there are extra charges for everything now. I made the mistake of waiting one more day for a better deal (knowing the best deals come on Tuesday at midnight).. but I forgot that I would be missing the 7-day ahead deal. Dang. So I paid $400 for a flight that yesterday was priced at $190. Ugh. But on top of that... the airline charges for seat requests (if I want a window or aisle seat, or a specific seat assignment), and they charge $15 to check in a bag. This isn't checking an EXTRA bag, just your first checked bag. I'm sure there will be no snacks, and I've been told that some airlines are even charging for water now! I'm sure they are trying to get as much out of us as they can, but it's getting ridiculous!

I'd like to hear what the most outrageous charges you have had for either hotel, airline or other travel experiences.... just interested in what is going on in the world of travel.

Utah First State to Offer iPhone App

Utah is first state in nation to offer government service through Apple iPhone Application

Press release

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - Francine A. Giani, Executive Director of the Utah Department of Commerce announced today that Apple iPhone users can now search the Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing's online database thanks to a free Apple application which can be downloaded from iTunes.

The Department of Commerce is the first state agency to offer an iPhone service and Utah is the first state nationwide to offer an Apple application for a government service. For instance, iPhone users will be able to look up a contractors license from a job site, patients can verify a doctors license from a waiting room and homeowners can search for a licensed electrician from their backyard.

"Utah is known for being on the cutting edge of technology and innovation and ensuring access to government services. With this new iPhone service leading the way for other state agencies, Utah can now say, 'Yeah, we have an app for that!' " said Governor Jon M. Huntsman, Jr.

"We are thrilled to be the first to bring the convenience of iPhone applications to a state agency database", said Francine A. Giani, Executive Director of the Utah Department of Commerce, "Our Department looks forward to adding more Commerce services to iPhone users in the near future."

About the Utah Department of Commerce: The Department of Commerce contributes to the success of Utah businesses, professionals and consumers by creating a favorable economic environment. Our mission is to protect the public interest by ensuring fair commercial and professional practices. For more information about the Utah Department of Commerce log on to: www.commerce.utah.gov, or call (801) 530-6701.

About Utah.gov Utah.gov is the State of Utah's official Web portal (www.Utah.gov). It was ranked first in the 2008 Digital States Survey by the Center for Digital Government and also ranked first in the nation in the Center for Digital Government's 2007 Best of the Web competition. It is managed and operated without tax funds through a public-private partnership between the state and Utah Interactive, the Salt Lake City- based official eGovernment partner for the state of Utah. Utah Interactive is a subsidiary of eGovernment firm NIC (NASDAQ: EGOV)

About NIC NIC is the nation's leading provider of official government portals, online services, and secure payment processing solutions. The company's innovative eGovernment services help reduce costs and increase efficiencies for government agencies, citizens, and businesses across the country. NIC provides eGovernment solutions for 2,900 federal, state, and local agencies that serve more than 70 million people in the United States.

Yahoo to Target Billboards Based on Passerbys

(As reported on MarketingVox)

"Yahoo Japan Corp. will begin distributing targeted content via electronic billboards in train stations and other facilities, based on who is walking past.

The company is teaming with Comel Co., which installs and operates electronic billboards. Cameras mounted on Comel's billboards will photograph passersby. Characteristics such as sex and age will be determined using facial analysis technology from NEC Soft Ltd., according to the companies (via MediaBuyerPlanner).

Yahoo Japan will begin the campaign with 500 billboards in train stations and shopping malls in Southern Japan, displaying content like news, weather and ads. Yahoo will then expand the service to Tokyo and Osaka, doubling the number of the billboards, writes CrunchGear.

Last summer, an article in The New York Times about billboards with facial-recognition capabilities caused a tempest over privacy issues. One company offering such technology, TruMedia Technologies, sent a letter to the paper explaining that the company would never record or store any video from the billboards.

The technology behind the billboards only analyzes the images its cameras take. No individually identifiable info is ever stored, the letter stated (via Engadget).

TruMedia’s camera-equipped billboards - inspired by Israeli surveillance - track viewers’ faces to gather reliable viewing data for digital displays and screens."

Facebook Owns Whatever You Post

The latest changes in the Facebook interface, filtering and real-time updating, some think are brilliant, however many of the less tech-savvy users feel it has become too complicated. First-time users may not intuitively understand how to configure privacy for photo albums and friend lists. The default sharing option is set to "everyone" so photos will be shared publicly.

Another privacy concern is the default setting to share personal information with everyone on a user's network (which could include an entire region or state). Some have indicated that Facebook should offer clear safety settings for those new to social networks and those not aware of the threat of scams and phishing and who do not understand they can and should change their privacy settings.

My biggest concern is the change in Terms of Service announced in February which indicates Facebook owns all content uploaded onto the site and reserves the right to sublicense the content as it sees fit.

WO! The implications there are really scary. Think about all of those who upload inappropriate photos -- they could end up on a porn site (legally if Facebook sells the photos)... or someone posting a scandalous image (which could now legally be sold to a tabloid) not that anyone would upload any inappropriate images...

But what about the professional photographer who legally owns the copyright to his / her own images or videos. If they share those images within their own network (family and friends), now they have given Facebook rights to that content -- which legally Facebook could sell to Getty Images, or other sites.

I'm not sure why there has not been more repercussions about the change in Terms of Service, and how Facebook could legally claim ownership to whatever is posted.

Any thoughts?

Tribute to my Grandmother

My brother Mark put together this incredible video of my grandmother. I love my heritage and thought I'd share this with you. :)

American Idol Blog

I just finished updating my American Idol blog update -- and included the Adam Lambert Mad World performance for those of you who missed it. If you recorded American Idol tonight, the performance was cut off because the show ran over. Rude huh... But check out my American Idol blog and you can catch my reviews and Adam's performance there.

FriendFeed Beta

Friendfeed launched their beta version of their site yesterday with a new look - supposed to make the site easier and faster. New features include real-time communication, chat capabilities, ability to pause data stream, posting messages to Twitter, better search filters, and friend suggestions.

I'm not sure if Friendfeed is positioning themselves to compete with Facebook, but considering that one of the FriendFeed founders, Paul Bucheit, is also an R&D developer for Facebook, it could be soon in a place to either support Facebook users, or compete.

Android Computer & Home Phone

T-Mobile is creating an android-powered tablet pc computer and home phone. The phones should be available early next year as reported by MarketingVox. I think it looks interesting but can't make any predictions until we get some more official announcements about pricing, size, memory, and other specs.

Learning MySQL

Well, I'm finally taking the time to learn MySQL. I've wanted to do it for a long time, but who has the time to learn databases and syntax just because? Now our i.TV statistician has gone to run another business and I am taking over running queries, so at last I have an excuse to learn MySQL. It's actually kind of fun to see how people are using our application, what actions are taken most often, and finding out the rich source of data mining can be done through our database.

Anyway, I'm sure the next few days will be filled with queries and learning how to efficiently find what we need. If anyone has any great tips, I'd love to hear them.

Learn how to build iPhone apps

Stanford is planning a new course to teach students how to build iPhone apps, reported by TechCrunch. The course will be available as a podcast through iTunes. This should be a great addition to the Stanford on iTunes U offerings. No matter where you are you can still get benefits of Stanford lectures, courses and interviews.