Science and Operations in Antarctica has been a keen interest of mine for many years. During the Austral Summers of 2012-13, 2014-15, I worked at a number of locations in Antarctica. In this paper, I take a closer look into the sources of funding for American operations in Antarctica, as well as explore a number of geopolitical issues.
Executive Summary
Antarctica is the world’s southernmost continent, and is a the last remaining unexplored and uncolonized frontier. It’s a haven for advanced scientific research, exploration, and international geopolitical cooperations. A massive amount of funding is necessary to support these various objectives in Antarctica – this includes funding of core logistics, facilities, as well as the essential research and development projects. The National Science Foundation is the Federal Government’s agency which is tasked with managing funds and overall management of all operations in Antarctica. Out of the NSF’s total FY2015 budget of $7.463 billion dollars, $67.52 million goes into direct funding in Antarctica. This paper breaks down analysis of operations in funding in Antarctica into these key categories:
Funding sources and distribution to Antarctica initiatives
Scientific and Geopolitical goals of America’s presence in Antarctica
Historical trends and future outlook for operations in Antarctica
Introduction
Antarctica is the frozen frontier of humanity. It’s the world’s southernmost continent, is almost completely frozen, and remains one of the last pristine locations for conducting scientific research. Because of its unique location and circumstances, almost all of the research that happens in Antarctica can’t be done anyplace else.
This is a cold, hostile environment, and in order for scientists to work in the harsh conditions of the frozen continent, they require a large amount of support, supplies, and logistics. The management and support of science in antarctica is overseen by the National Science Foundation, who through the use of taxpayer dollars, funds almost all aspects of operations on Antarctica. In this paper, I’ll focus on defining and assessing the economic, governmental, scientific, and social implications of the US maintaining a consistent presence and producing useful research in the highest, coldest, windiest, driest, and highest desert on earth.
In researching this topic, I used the resources of the University of Denver Library, including various online publications, governmental databases, books, and journals. Additionally, I drew heavily on my own personal experience working in Antarctica, as well as interviews with a small subset of my peer group.
My personal experience in Antarctica covers two seasons on the ice. During my first season spanning the Austral Summer of 2012-2013, I worked for Gana a’Yoo Service Corporation, under contract from the Lockheed Martin Antarctic Support Contract. I was deployed to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, located at the geographic south pole of the earth. My primary job was as the station’s breakfast cook. However, during almost all of my available free time, I volunteered to work at an Emergency Medical Technician at the medical clinic, as the South Pole Press Correspondent for the National Science Foundation, and as a field science assistant for the Askaryan Radio Array, Ice Cube Neutrino Observatory, KECK Array Microwave Telescope, South Pole Telescope, and BICEP2 Microwave Telescope. I got the absolute most I could out of my season at the south pole.
My second deployment was during the Austral Summer of 2014-2015, to the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Field Camp. During this deployment, I worked as a field science manager for the University of Wisconsin Space Science and Engineering Center’s Ice Drill Design and Operations Division, under a science grant from the National Science Foundation. I spent the first month of my deployment at McMurdo station taking care of core expedition logistics and preparations, and the rest of my time on the ice at WAIS Divide Field Camp, working on servicing, disassembling, packing, and shipping the Deep Ice Sheet Coring Drill.
Throughout both of my seasons in Antarctica, I wrote an extensive account of my experience, which is available online at http://JeffreyDonenfeld.com/Antarctica .
This research paper aims to assess how the National Science Foundation accounts for and supports research and operations in Antarctica. This study is limited by the amount of accurate and timely information available at the time of writing. Antarctica has been a controversial topic for many years, managed piecemeal by a wide variety of governmental and nongovernmental organizations, and broadly overseen by the United States Antarctic Program, overseen by the Office of Polar Programs. As such, there’s somewhat little specific information readily available about the business and economic aspects.
The answers and issues that this paper aims to address are:
How does funding flow from American taxpayers, through the National Science Foundation, into both science grants as well as Antarctic support contracts?
How is a budget for Antarctic science and support spending developed, and how has the budget fluctuated in recent years? Is the current scope of operations appropriate, or should more/less funds be allocated? What are the top negative issues surrounding the historic allocation of funding for science in Antarctica?
Why does it make sense for the United States to support operations in Antarctica? Is “Basic” research economically important? Are there other reasons, including geopolitical reasons, to maintain a presence in Antarctica?
Do other government organizations who use Antarctic resources, such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and Department of Defense (DOD) contribute significantly to the overall project?
Does money come from sources other than tax payers?
This paper is organized into 5 main sections addressing each of the five main questions, as well as summaries and a bibliography.
Literature Review
The studies of this topic that were most relevant seemed to be the US Government’s “Blue Ribbon” Studies, as well as the NSF’s Congressional Budget Request documents. These studies contained a good amount of hard data, as well as worthwhile analysis of the issues they covered. Additionally, I made use of a number of excellent journal articles. Most of these sources tended to focus on budget issues and geopolitical issues of the presence of the United States in Antarctica, with a few also covering the value of science. Additionally, the most abundant and insightful research for this study came from my own expeditions to to the ice, where I learned firsthand what it takes to make the United States Antarctic Program run. The pieces of data that were the most useful for this study were the quantitative analyses of actual budgetary constraints.
Results and Analysis
General Funding Flow from US Government to Antarctic Projects
Signed into law December 18, 2015, the United States Consolidated Appropriations act of FY 2016 appropriated the National Science Foundation $7.463 billion dollars in funding. That amount was $119 Million (1.6 percent) above the previous years appropriation level, and $119 more than the Senate Appropriations Committee version of the act. It was $69 million more than the version passed by the house, as well. See Fig1 for the FY16 Omnibus breakdown. [1]
That $7.463 billion dollars that the NSF receives is subsequently distributed through a number of subcategories. These include Research and Related Activities ($6.033B), and Major Research Equipment ($200.31M). These funds are then broken down even further, and eventually flow to activities directly related to both Antarctic science and Antarctic operations support. [2] Fig 2 & 3 highlights the portions of the NSF Omnibus that goes to sectors supporting Antarctic activities. [3]
Further breaking down the flow, within the Research and Related Activities account, funding flows to Directorate for Geosciences (GEO), among other accounts. It’s within the GEO account that the Polar Programs division is housed (PLR), and within PLR, i sthe US Antarctic Logistical Support (USALS). GEO is the office that supports the fields of basic research into the earth’s global environment, including Water cycle, geologic interactions, and ice sheets. The USALS requested $67.52 million in funding for 2016. [4]
Within the Division of Polar Programs, there’s an additional breakdown of funds. The primary benefactors include The Ice Cube Neutrino Observatory (Which I’ve visited personally), US Antarctic Facilities and Logistics, US ANtarctic Logistical Support, and the Antarctic Infrastructure Modernization for Science initiative, which includes the “Master Plan” McMurdo redevelopment plan. [5] See fig4 for a complete breakdown of this section.
The McMurdo “Master Plan” is a phased plan to redevelop the entire McMurdo station area, including science, housing, logistics, and support facilities. It’s the subject of an ongoing Blue Ribbon Panel review chartered in 2011[6], and is expected to cost a total of $300 million in all. [7]
Historical Budget Fluctuations
According to a presidential request to congress in 2014, and the subsequent House Appropriations Committee voice vote on the FY 2015 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies appropriations bill, the NSF, and related R&D projects were one of the only categories to receive an increase in funding. This follows the historical trend of Science receiving more funding year over year since 2000. More specifically, the GEO office, which manages funding of Antarctic operations has seen a steady rise in its funding. In 2000 GEO was appropriated roughly $650 million, which has now increased to roughly $850 million in 2015. [8] Fig6 highlights this increase in funding.
Maintaining National Presence and Geopolitical Influence in Antarctica
In addition to supporting science and research in Antarctica, there’s a strong drive to maintain a powerful geopolitical influence in Antarctica. As of FY16, the Directorate of Geosciences is directly tasked via Presidential Memorandum 6646 with funding and supporting the US Department of State. [9] The Department of State acts as the primary steward of the Antarctic Treaty, which covers all territory of the continent of Antarctica, as well as the Southern Ocean. [10]
Despite America’s overwhelming geopolitical influence and power in Antarctica, there are still large, unrecognized territorial claims by various nations. The nations formally claiming (sometimes overlapping) sections of Antarctica are Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom. Notably absent from this list is the United States and Russia, who make no formal claims, yet reserve the right to do so if and when that time comes. [11]
Other Governmental Organizations Using Antarctic Resources
In addition to primary scientific grantee groups performing research and activities in Antarctica, there are a number of other intergovernmental agencies with interests there. These include the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the US Geological Survey (USGS), the Smithsonian Institution, and the Department of Energy (DOE). These organizations are supported directly under the Directorate for Geosciences, as per Presidential Memorandum 6646, and receive a portion of the $67.52 million in funding for GEO in Antarctica.
In my personal experience working in Antarctica, I’ve interacted with representatives from NOAA, USGS, DOE, and NASA. For example, I was privileged to be given a tour of the NASA Satellite Downlink control room and witnessed the repositioning of the major downlink satellite dish. I’ve been given a personal tour of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Atmospheric Research Observatory at the Amundsen Scott South Pole Station. I’ve stood in the former location of the first and only nuclear power plant in Antarctica. I’ve used Antarctic maps created and maintained in part by the US Geological Survey. These supported organizations play a critical and necessary role in both completing their own missions, as well as supporting the missions of the various other scientific and logitical groups involved.
Sources of Funding for Antarctic Operations
Funding for operations in Antarctica comes primarily from the federal government. According to a 2009 NSF report , while overall R&D expenditures has been increasing from 2000 onward, the actual proportion of federal funding of academic R&D effort has been steadily dropping – from 64% in 2000 to 60% in 2008. See Fig7. Other sources of funding, besides the federal government include state and local governments, industry, institutional funds, and a small portion from other sources, which may include private funding. [12]
Conclusion
Out of the 7+ billion initial budget, a surprisingly small amount of money flows down to support for the complex logistics or operating in Antarctica – a mere $67.52 million. Since 2000, the budget for science and operations in Antarctica has been steadily increasing, from $650 Million in 200o to over $650 Million in 2015. The US supports and maintains operations in Antarctica not only for science and research, but also for geopolitical reasons, such as acting as the primary and most powerful steward of the Antarctic Treaty. The South Pole Station is a major symbol of America’s key role in Antarctic Geopolitics. A presidential memorandum directs the usage of Antarctica for other governmental organizations, and appropriates a portion of the overall Antarctic funding to them. These organizations include both scientific, logistical, and geopolitical players. In addition to federal funding, roughly 40% of the overall funding comes from other sources, which include both local governmental resources, academic institutions, and private organizations.
In this paper, I’ve aimed to explore the organizational and appropriation structure of broad R&D funding for operations in Antarctica. I’ve explored high level budgeting, geopolitical objectives, science breakdowns, as well as funding sources.
I found that the flow of funds from the US Taxpayer to projects in Antarctica is long and complex, and that in recent years the amount of overall funding has been steadily increasing. I’m a huge supporter of scientific researching and development, and am glad to see that the US is putting increasing dollars into supporting this R&D.
Further lines of research include a closer look at budgeting for the upcoming “Master Plan” McMurdo redevelopment and reconstruction plan, a deeper analysis of how funding translates to a tangible economic ROI, and further implications of geopolitical friction and economic interests on the ice.
Although this study take a good look at a few of the topline issues surrounding operations in Antarctica, there are a few caveats. Oftentimes details surrounding operations on the ice can be murky. It’s also notoriously difficult to trace the exact path of dollars, and harder still to track those dollars back around to the other side of economic ROI. Going forward I’m looking forward to being able to parse these aspects further.
The most important broad implications of this study are the scientific discoveries that come from research done in Antarctica. For example, recent work by Cornell University and the BICEP2 Microwave telescope could one day shed light on what happened at the very beginning of the universe. [13]
Mervis, J.. (1997). NSF Fits in New Projects Despite Squeeze on Funding. Science, 275(5300), 609–609. Retrieved from http://0-www.jstor.org.bianca.penlib.du.edu/stable/2891175
AIBS news. (2009). Bioscience, 59(6), 530-531. Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/docview/216480990?accountid=1460
Committee reviews logistics of U.S. antarctic program. (2012). (). Lanham: Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc. Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/docview/1152171176?accountid=14608
(2014). NASA, NSF Continue R&D Budget Recovery in House, But … Retrieved April 15, 2016, from http://www.aaas.org/news/nasa-nsf-continue-rd-budget-recovery-house-climate-research-cut.
NSF Congressional Highlight Consolidated Appropriations Act of FY 2016. (n.d.). (2016) Retrieved April 15, 2016, from http://nsf.gov/about/congress/114/highlights/cu16_0104.jsp
(2015). FY 2016 – NSF Budget Request to Congress | NSF – National. Retrieved April 15, 2016, from http://www.nsf.gov/about/budget/fy2016/.
The author standing at the Geographic South Pole, Antarctica, with the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in the background. 2012.
Author Note
Written as part of University of Denver Daniels College of Business Executive MBA Program Economics Class, Taught by Prof. Robert Melville, Spring 2016.
Written by Jeffrey Donenfeld, originally for the University of Denver Daniels College of Business Executive MBA Program Macro Economics Class, Spring 2016. I received an A on this assignment. (Original paper PDF)
Leadership is a critically important factor affecting any team or group venture. In this paper, I analyze the leadership and management style of Dawn Riley, CEO and Captain of the America True Sailing Team, as she guides her team to race for the 1999 America’s Cup.
Dawn Riley is the CEO/Captain of America True, the first coed syndicate to race for the America’s Cup. Over three years, based on her vision for America True, she built the syndicate from scratch, bringing on investors and sponsors, designing and building a boat, and hiring a sailing crew to race it. In June 1999, Riley must decide how to handle the San Francisco office now that America True’s base of operations is moving to Auckland, New Zealand, where racing will begin in four months. She is facing pressure to phase out the office to cut down on costs, but Riley believes that the people in San Francisco and the work they are doing are key to her vision for America True. She must weigh the tension between immediate pressures to win and the longer-term sustainability of her vision.
Leadership Analysis – Dawn Riley at the America True
By Jeffrey Donenfeld, Spring 2016
Executive Summary
The Dawn Riley case (Hill, 2000) describes the circumstances, goals, and challenges that CEO Dawn Riley faces in managing and preparing the America True sailing team for the Louis Vuitton Cup sailing regatta, as well as the challenges of adapting her role to the highest benefit of the team. Dawn Riley is a veteran sailor, and now in this most critical point in her team’s history, she must make decisions as to her leadership style, responsibility undertaking, and focus. Additionally, a veteran upper management team, leading designers, expert office staff, and a solid boat crew all stand to benefit from her leadership. There are various factors at play, including her team and company’s organizational structure, prismatic personalities among the team members, and rapidly changing goal requirements, all on a rapid timescale leading up to the defining event in this team’s history.
Key Issues and Recommendations
Dawn Riley fills a variety of roles within the team, must strive to specifically define her optimized position and fulfillment of these roles.
The America True team is diverse and multi-talented, but also hotheaded and driven. They must bond together and work towards a common goal.
Key leaders within the team must support Dawn in her role as CEO, as well as step up to lead the team within their areas of expertise.
Thesis
Dawn Riley, while an experienced sailor and longtime CEO of the America True sailing team faces personal and team leadership challenges within her team. In this most trying moment, Riley must revolutionize and define her role within the team in order to ascend as the best leader for her team.
Situation
Dawn Riley is the CEO and Captain of the America True Sailing Team. In preparation for the Louis Vuitton Challenger sailing regatta, Riley faces management, organizational, and team challenges which she must address both with herself, as well as the rest of her team. Implications of this case study include analysis of broad team and corporate leadership methodologies, an understanding of basic sailing and regatta mechanics based on the author’s personal sailing and regatta experience, and an in-depth look at Riley’s personal leadership and management style. The key issue of the case is determining the optimal course of action for Riley in defining and refining her role within the team. Recommendations contained within this study are critical because the success of the America True sailing team depends heavily on Riley’s own success as a leader, manager, and sailor.
The Dawn Riley case is difficult to analyse. On one hand, Dawn Riley is an admirable, multitalented, and successful leader who has brought her team to the upper echelons of the competitive sailing community. On the other hand, Riley can be seen as an overstressed, thinly spread micromanager who presents conflicting directions to her team and has driven them almost to the brink of organizational paralysis, unable to effectively compete in the Louis Vuitton Challenger series.
These two sides of the issue make proper evaluation, refined recommendations, and exacting follow through important. At stake here are Dawn Riley’s pride, career, and professional sailing record. More importantly, her entire team’s success is on the line her. Riley getting her act together as CEO and Captain is the most important task at the present moment for Team America True.
Questions
The questions that need to be answered in evaluating this case are:
What roles is Riley currently undertaking within the team?
What does the team most need out of Riley in these final six weeks before the regatta?
How can the rest of the team members step in to help Riley define and refine her job roles?
How specifically should Riley define her roles to best benefit the team?
What else needs to happen on the team to give them the best chance of success in the Louis Vuitton Challenger?
These questions must be answered collectively by Dawn and the team immediately, and deliberation and decision should include all levels of team members.
Analysis and Recommendations
One pervasive issue facing the team is their focus on meetings. The team consistently spends time, energy, and resources assembling themselves in various factions to discuss issues that could have been handled one on one, or by other means of communication. Some amount of meetings are good – they build team synergy, allow for groupthink, announcements, and collaboration. However, the amount of time the America True team spends on meetings takes away from their time and resources they could be spending on other more important items. In the case material it’s noted that Riley seeks to encourage the boat crew to connect and collaborate with the design crew. (O’Toole 1996) This is admirable. However, in the current form, the meetings don’t actually encourage a free and open exchange of ideas. They do just the opposite by setting a rigid and terse environment in which ideas are stifled and time is wasted. In order to step away from the rigid meeting structure and encourage more productive and free-flowing communication, novel new methods should be employed. This could include asynchronous communications such as email and instant messaging, as well as synchronous communications such as one-on-one chats and calls. (Lifehacker 2012) As discussed in class, leaders don’t necessarily always need to be rulers or dictators to effect change and communication among those being led. By relaxing her command over the team with rigid meetings and allowing communication to organically flow, Riley will become a more effective leader. (O’Toole 1996)
Riley works on both a management level as CEO, as well as on a crew level as a member of the boat crew. This creates an increased workload for Riley, and hampers lines between her professional and crew personas. Ultimately, Riley needs to be removed from the crew. In limited instances, Riley should join the boat crews only an outside observer in order for her to maintain basic connection to on-water development. She could sail with the crew on a semi-regular basis in order to integrate between business leadership and on-water intelligence. However, she should not be working as a consistent member of the race day A or B crews.
Unfortunately, sexism is rampant in our world today, and especially with high-level leadership. (Beswick 2015) Riley’s diversified position puts her in the hotseat, and open from attacks from all sides. In order to combat sexism from the outside, as well as within the team combat sexism, Riley should ascend to her core CEO role, and put in the time to make the team shine. By focusing more time on CEO duties, she can make the team better competitively, as well as tackle other “press worthy” tasks that could help gain future sponsorship and funding. These could include gender equality, under dogness, and altruistic funding partnerships/sponsorships. It’s her undeniable success in this one role that may help insulate her from a myriad of criticisms, including the scourge of sexism.
Riley faces a team bonding issue that’s arising from the “A” and “B” crews being selected just prior to race day limits the amount of bonding and “synergy” that can be built.(Beauchamp 2013) Optimally, “A” crew selection needs to happen well prior to race day in order or develop sub-team synergy. Waiting until race day or just prior to race day eliminates the possibility of building crucial sub-crew synergy. It’s that potential synergy that could make or break the team during the critically stressful regatta day.
Currently, the America True team, at the request of Riley, begins their post-practice debriefing on the boat, as they’re being dragged back to port. This is a measure that was implemented by Riley as a way of saving time and getting the debriefs done as soon as possible. However, setting up debriefings so soon after racing fails to give crew members adequate time to decompress and develop their own thoughts and feelings about how the day’s practice unfolded. In order to give the crew appropriate down time after practice, and to enact a structure that allows Riley to stay off the boat during practice, formal debriefs should happen on the dock. Sure, it may take a bit longer, but those minutes of rest and reflection for the crew as they’re being towed into port may prove to be valuable.
Recommendations
In order for Riley to become a more effective leader of her team, she must step fully into the role of CEO, giving up her conflicting duties as a member of the boat crew. As CEO, a number of changes must be made. These include:
Streamline team communications by reducing meetings, introducing novel new communication tactics.
Give the team rest after practice, before debriefs.
Focus on team fundraising and sponsorships as full-time CEO.
Delegate other design and staffing decisions to other experienced members of her team’s senior management.
Conclusion
The core question of the Dawn Riley case was how can Riley change her management techniques and roles within her team in order to give them the best chance of winning the Louis Vuitton Challenger regatta. It was found that there were a number of structural, functional, social, and hierarchical changes that should be made. Class material on ethics and leadership styles, as well as other outside sources was drawn from. Further analysis of the issue could reveal additional efficiencies, techniques, and ideas for bringing the America True team to victory.
Jeffrey, H. L., Beswick, E., & Meade, J. (2015). Learning and unlearning sexism in the workplace. Human Resource Management International Digest, 23(5), 18-20. doi:10.1108/HRMID-05-2015-0086
Bruner, M. W., Eys, M. A., Beauchamp, M. R., & Côté, J. (2013). Examining the origins of team building in sport: A citation network and genealogical approach. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 17(1), 30-42. doi:10.1037/a0030114
O’Toole, J. (1996). Leading change: The argument for values-based leadership. New York: Ballentine Books.
Written by Jeffrey Donenfeld, originally for the University of Denver Daniels College of Business Executive MBA Program Executive Leadership Class, Spring 2016. I received a 94/100 on this assignment. (Original paper PDF)
“False acceptance”, overcommitment, and an imbalance of giving/taking behavior is a huge consideration in both the workplace and our everyday lives. It’s been a subject that I’ve been keenly aware of and interested in, stemming from my days working in interactive media in NYC. This article from the Harvard Business Review is a great analysis of workplace giving and taking, and I highly suggest reading it as a beginning step in refining your role as a manager in your busy work environment.
Employees make decisions every day about whether to contribute to others—and their willingness to help is crucial to group and organizational effectiveness. But in a competitive, often zero-sum, world of work, generosity can be a dangerous path. How can leaders foster it without cutting into productivity, undermining fairness, and allowing employees to become doormats?
The key, explains Wharton’s Adam Grant, is to help givers reach a more nuanced understanding of what generosity is and is not. They’ll be better positioned for sustainable giving when they can distinguish generosity from three attributes that often travel with it: timidity, availability, and empathy.
Givers can overcome timidity, Grant says, by learning to act as agents—using “relational accounts” to advocate for others while negotiating for themselves. They can set boundaries on when, how, and whom to help. And they can strive to be perspective takers, not just empathizers, gathering knowledge about others that can lead to more-productive allocations of time that will benefit the organization as a whole.
During November 2015, I traveled with my family to discover Cuba. We explored Havana, and then got out of the city to travel to the southern coast and around a variety of towns, farm villages, beaches, mountains, and monuments. Here’s how it went…
Itinerary
Our itinerary took us through Havana, Trinidad, Las Terrazas, Remedios, Santa Clara, and Viñales. It was great seeing a wide range of places within Cuba, especially since we had a little more than a week to do it. The full daily log is below.
Getting in to and around Cuba
To get to Cuba, we flew Xtra Airways, a charter airline, from Miami, Florida direct to Havana, Cuba. The flight was great, and very straightforward. For visas, we each got a slightly different visa – my visa listed me as a reporter, since I was taking photos to write this story.
To travel around Cuba, we took a variety of Taxis within Havana, and then hired a private driver and van for the out of town sections. Since we were a group of 5 with limited time, it was very very convenient to have a dedicated, local driver to get us around. Had I done it with a single partner and had more time, it would have been fun to do it backpacker style with public transportation etc. But for our group and time constraints, the way in which we did it was great.
Photo Gear
While in cuba, I shot with four cameras. The Apple iPhone 6S, Sony RX100m3, GoPro Hero4 Silver, and Lytro Illum. All four were interesting cameras to shoot with, and allowed me to be flexible in both capturing the shot I wanted, and in being mobile and unencumbered most of the time. For more on the innovative Lytro Illum Lightfield Camera, click over to my full review. Although all four cameras are great for their own purpose, by far my favorite is the Sony RX100m3. It’s small and lightweight, is relatively easy to use for its size, and takes absolutely amazing photos. I love the flexibility of being able to shoot from waist level, as well as the bounce flash trick, and smooth video.
Photos
Here’s Cuba through my lens….
To fly from Miami to Cuba, the only way to go is on a charter flight. We flew Xtra Airways, which provided a direct flight from Miami to Havana..
The outside of our Casa Particular Bed and Breakfast. We had the entire building, including the top balcony. A great place to stay, right in the middle of Havana.
Our Casa Particular in Havana was great. Rooms were super cute and clean, and the staff was welcoming and friendly. We were the only group staying there, so we had the entire place to ourselves.
A taxi picks up passengers outside of the Hotel Nacional, Havana, Cuba. From Wikipedia: The Hotel Nacional de Cuba is a historic luxury hotel located on the Malec
My father walking around the Hotel Nacional, central Havana. This is right around the area where many of the missiles involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis were stationed. From Wikipedia: The hotel was built on the site of the Santa Clara Battery, which dates back to 1797. Part of the battery has been preserved in the hotel’s gardens, including two large coastal guns dating from the late 19th Century. There is also a small museum there featuring the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. During the crisis, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara set up their headquarters there to prepare the defence of Havana from aerial attack.
Getting drinks at Bar Rosa Nautica, Hotel Nacional, Havana, Cuba.
These Coco Taxis are everywhere in Cuba, and people ride them everywhere. Cute. From Wikipedia: Cocotaxi is an auto rickshaw-type taxi vehicle in Cuba. They have two passenger seats, three wheels, an egg-shaped fiberglass body, and a 75cc two-stroke engine. The word coco means coconut, whose shell shape the vehicles mimic. Though noisy, they cost less than regular taxis.[1]
Exploring Havana. This is the outside of the central Ministerio Del Comercio Exterior, and lies right in the heart of Havana.
Taking an evening walk in downtown Havana past Pabellon Cuba. From LaHabana.com: The Pabell
Internet access in Cuba is severly limited. There is a cell phone network, but it’s mostly voice and sms only. To get internet, cubans buy access cards, and then connect to public wifi hotspots. The hotspots are setup on popular street corners, so at night, it’s common to see groups of Cubans crowded around an internet hotspot area, all immersed in their smartphones and laptops.
Cubans enjoying wifi internet. Although it’s extremely slow, the internet does work, and people are glued to their phones.
There’s a smal, underground club culure in Havana, and we were lucky enough to find Sarao’s Club – one of the city’s music and club culture hotspots. From ALaMesaCuba.com: With an elegant and sensual modern style, Sarao’s bar all in white greets you in the mornings, in an atmosphere that brings the peace needed to carry on with your day. by night, it surprises you with the warm presence of the merriest colors and with music to bring rhythm into your life. This is the ideal place for breakfasts, lunchs and to go for tapas with your friends. a place where everything is possible and you can tell so. Sarao’s Bar, your size…
Classic American cars are extremely popular, and they’re repaired endlessly, right out on the street. This scene of a man fixing his car while his wife looks on was repeated throughout Cuba. Cubans are certainly among the most engenious.
In addition to slow wireless internet, movies and tv shows are also distributed (illegally) via USB drives. Here’s a sign advertising USB drive copying servies..
More classic cars cruise around Havana.
Walking around central Havana. This is a fairly common street scene, with a few cars, and lots of people happily walking around. The buildings are old, but are absolutely beautiful, and maintained as much as they can be.
A Cuban man looks out from his wrought iron door in Havana.
The food in the Old City, Havana was spectacular. We ate at lots of great paladars.
Two schoolgirls walk home through centra Havana, Cuba.
A typical house in one of the more residential sections of Havana.
Despite many well-maintained old buildings, some building, even in central Havana, are simply crumbling away. This one was miraculously still sort of standing..
From Wikipedia: The Christ of Havana (Spanish: Cristo de La Habana) is a large sculpture representing Jesus of Nazareth on a hilltop overlooking the bay in Havana, Cuba. It is the work of the Cuban sculptor Jilma Madera, who won the commission for it in 1953.
Paladars are unofficial restaurants, and this one was in an apartment building. Walking in, it looked like somebody had simply converted their apartment into a kitchy restaurant. The staff was amazing, as was the food.
Exploring Jaimainitas, outside of Havana.
Sushi, outside of Havana.
Mosaics at the house of Jos
The beach outside of Miramar, Cuba is beautiful – people surf, and enjoy the late afternoon sun. From Wikipedia: Many embassies, including the landmark Russian embassy, are located in Miramar – in particular on Quinta Avenida (Fifth Avenue) before called Avenida de las Am
Cars are repaired endlessly, and our taxi driver was very proud of his 1950’s car with a more recent Hundai engine.
Rallying signs are everywhere in Cuba, with slogans and art.
Nighttime in Havana.
At Paladar LaGuardia, we had an amazing dinner, and great drinks on the rooftop. From LaGuardia.com: En el a
On our way to the Fabrica De Artes, we encountered huge waves from the sea splashing over onto the roadway.
Fabrica De Artes, Havana is a great art and performance space. From FAC.CU: Donde estamos
Situado en la Calle 26 esquina a 11, Vedado, este edificio fue la Estaci
Trendy art people hang out at the Fabrica De Artes
On the way to Vinales, we tooka quick stop at Las Terrazas. This small coffee-growing village was situated in the mountains, and was beautiful to explore. Here a farmer shows us a few of his drying coffee beans. From Wikipedia: Las Terrazas is a small community and nature reserve in the municipality of Candelaria, Artemisa Province, Cuba. It is located in the Sierra del Rosario mountains (part of Guaniguanico range), which was designated a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1984. The village has a population of about 1,000 and a number of hotels and restaurants catering for tourists. The nature reserve includes 5000ha of secondary forest[1] which was planted on the surrounding (deforested) hills by building terraces to avoid erosion; hence the name (in Spanish, terrazas means terraces).[2]
The reserve is rich in flora and fauna, and includes lakes, rivers and waterfalls. Organised excursions on the many footpaths and trails can be booked at the local tourist office.[3]
Looking off into the valley outside of Vi
A tobacco farmer in Vinales shows Jill what the tobacco seeds look like.
A tobacco farmer in Vi
A tobacco farm in Vi
I caught a chicken!
Dog and Tobacco Farm, Vi
A local farmer shows us the red beans he grows on his farm.
The beaches near Trinidad, Cuba are absolutely beautiful. We spend a great day relaxing on the beach, and found this makeshift cafe setup by a few fisherman.
Fresh caught fish lunch. The fish was cooked on a stove made out of tire rims and wire mesh.
A local woman looks out from her home in Trinidad, Cuba. From Wikipedia: Trinidad was founded on December 23, 1514[1] by Diego Vel
Our homestay in Remedios, Cuba.
This is the provisions book that Cubans use to track what they get from the government.
This is the provisions book that Cubans use to track what they get from the government.
This is the provisions book that Cubans use to track what they get from the government.
A local grain dispensary in Remedios, Cuba.
Inside a church in Remedios, Cuba
Earnest Hemmingway’s house – Finca Vig
Walking around Remedios. From Wikipedia: Remedios (Spanish pronunciation: [re?me
Cuba Diary
We did LOTS in Cuba. Here’s a quick daily log of our activities – far from complete, but a good overview:
Day 1 – 2016-11-24
woke up at 3am to get to airport early for xtra airways flight Miami > Havana
taxi, easy, cuc30 airport to airbnb- airbnb checkin and late breakfast – omelettes and fresh guava juice and strong coffee
walked around looking for bank and internet cards
met up with dads friends from ingrnius
went to grand hotel havana for views, cambio.
lunch at paladar – shredded pork
passed ice cream park
nap at airbnb
got evening snack at next door bakery
jason and jill arrived
family dinner at paladar cafe laurent
early sleep
Day 2
breakfast at bnb
explore hotel nacional
sent postcards to mihi and wukate
walked across the center of town through callejon de hamel
walked through chinatown
walked into floridita restaurant
walked through obispo walking street
got lunch at ivan chef justo
walked around old havana some more, discovered central csthedral square
hired driver in old red car and went up hill to castle
saw worlds longest cigar
checked out nuclear missiles
cruised down to to jazz club
got confused by multiple buena vista social clubs
taxi’d back to airbnb
walked to sarao’s nightclub, then to dinner at 11th floor block building paladar
walked back to sarao and saw mana-like band
sleep
Day 3
woke up late had breakfast
chatted with travel agent ti work out plans
got taxi to jaimanitas
bought gifts at art area
had lunch next to canal – sushi with cuban rice
taxi to the beach along miramar near copacabana
taxi to beach hotel
taxi to revolution plaza
walked to rosenberg memorial and performing arts center
found santeria worship dance and danced with them
walked to ice cream park
checked email at cuba libre hotel
had an amazing dinner at paladar la quardia
taxi to fabrica de artes
sleep
Day 4
woke up early to have breakfast at airbnb
met eric our driver
stopped at airport
hit the road for Vinñales
stopped for lunch at Las terrazas
walked around las terrazas, found flamingos, found coffee plantation
had wifi session at las terrazas cafe
got back on road for viñales
arrived in vibales at family home
stopped at overlook hotel in vinales
went in cave hike and boat ride
stopped at tobacco farm and discovered cinnamon tree, fighting cocks, etc
went to homestay – jason and i stayed on roof
had dinner at family house – great chx and lobster
walked around town and saw live music at cafe
went to bed early
sketch showerhead
Day 5
woke up early for home cooked breakfast
took morning stroll with jason
drove to house owners farm
saw farm with corn tobacco chickens pigs goats water pump
hit road for cien fuegos
stopped in At a few gas stations for gas and food
arrived in cien fuegos and walked around for an hour
saw pier, art galleries, town square, grocery store
drove to palace at punta gorda
got on road for trinidad
arrived at dennis homestay in trinidad
walked around town and found restaurant el medico
Day 6
woke up for home cooked breakfast in back porch
cruised out to exclusive beach resort for relaxing afternoon on beach
walked to end of beach for fresh fisherman lunch
drove to la boca beach at end of river to explore
returned to Trinidad
walked around town with dennis and learned about history if trinidad
grabbed dinner at la botija and listened to snazzy jazz band
Day 7
got in van and started drive to santa clara
stopped at che monument
drove to santa clara
went to beach on cay las brujas
drove to remedios and walked around town – first place with internet and also a pretty hotel
had a nice dinner at the casa particular
“the help”
slept late, woke up at 8 and walked to coffee mans house
Shots from the Lytro Illum
Throughout the trip, I shot a series of lightfield photos with the Lytro Illum Camera. I was testing and reviewing it on behalf of Lytro, and had a great time learning about lightfield photography. If you’re interested in more about the Lytro, check out the full review: Shooting Lightfield Photos in Cuba with the Lytro Illum.
The Lytro Illum takes photos using a specially developed lens and sensor that essentially captures all focal lengths and multiple angles of a scene simultaneously, and lets the photographer recompose and refocus a photo after it’s been shot. It’s an incredible new technology, and essentially adds a whole new element to the post-processing creative possibilities of digital photography. With traditional digital photography, exposure, color balance, and light levels can be tweaked and edited after the photo has been taken. Now with the Lytro Illum, focus is added to the creative possibilities.
https://vimeo.com/102169690
Shooting with the Illum
While the Illum was an interesting camera to shoot with, after snapping multi thousands of photos with it, and editing a countless number, I can say that it’s not really the best camera I’ve ever shot with. Sure, the perspective shift and focus shift features are really neat and enable more creative possibilities – but besides these neat tricks, the photos the camera makes is just not that great quality. When looking at just the flat photos it takes, I’m underwhelmed, and was constantly wishing I had my RX100m3 in my hand instead, to just take a great quality version of the same scene, even without the re-focusability. So I’m definitely a fan of the Lytro Illum for it’s extremely innovative new features and unlocking of new photographic realms. However, I don’t feel like these new capabilities really added anything substantial and long lasting to my photos, once the novelty of clicking around in the custom viewer wore off.
Holding the Illum
The Illum is a cool looking camera. It’s futuristic and sleep, representing an SLR from the far future. However, its actual physical functionality is extremely limited, compared with the functionality of a similarly sized and shaped standard DSLR camera, for example any Canon Digital SLR, from a Rebel on upwards. The buttons just weren’t as responsive as the could have been, the screen not as bright and clear as it could have been, and the touch screen interface is just not great. For in-the-field, from-the-hip shooting, you need to have your physical controls dialed in perfectly, easily adjustable, and to a point where there’s absolutely no time needing to be spent waiting or dealing with the interface. The Illum wasn’t there yet.
The Illum is an interesting proof of concept camera, and a valiant effort to make it appealing the pro photogs. It was fun shooting with it and learning the quirks – but I’m still looking forward to the next advance.
Staying in contact while traveling across the remote and inaccessible reaches of our globe is an issue I’ve (fortunately) been faced with quite often over the last few years. Between multiple Antarctic deployments, a myriad of open ocean sailing expeditions, and the usual stream of backcountry and alpine mountaineering adventures, sometimes it seems like I’m more often relying on deep-field comms rather than my good ole iPhone. So when I was offered the opportunity to be able to actually pair my loved iPhone with a satellite data gateway, I jumped at the chance. Enter the Thuraya SatSleeve Hotspot. Thuraya was nice enough to send me a unit to test out during a recent trek around northern Japan – here’s the rundown.
What It Is
The Thuraya SatSleeve Hotspot is a Satellite Wifi Hotspot. It connects to a Thuraya satellite in geosynchronous orbit around the earth and establishes a data connection. It then rebroadcasts that data connection as a standard WiFi hotspot, accessible to standard iPhone and Android smartphones running the Thuraya app. Your smartphone can then send messages on whatever messenger service you use, sync emails, and whatever else you need data for. Additionally, within the Thuraya app, you can place satellite phone calls and send/receive SMS messages. Finally, the SatSleeve unit itself has a dedicated SOS button that can be programmed to call any number you like, and used independently of a smartphone in emergencies.
“The SatSleeve Hotspot supports the communication needs of all smartphone users – from frequent travelers and adventurous explorers to corporate and NGO users.
Created for customers preferring to use their smartphone separated from the satellite unit, with the SatSleeve Hotspot, a portable Wi-Fi Hotspot, you have the range and the room to move while you make calls, use email, send messages, or enjoy your favorite social media apps in the comfort of being in an indoor location while the hotspot is outside and facing the satellite.
The SatSleeve Hotspot comes with a stand inside the package and is compatible with various iOS and Android models.“
It’s for the frequent far out traveler who absolutely needs to be able to stay in touch on a range of data-centric internet services, including syncing emails and chat messages. It’s for the person who can’t be bothered to have to go stand outside to make a call, but wants to be able to talk on their smartphone like normal, while using a satellite connection. It’s for the group of people who need to place their data uplink outside, while wirelessly using the data inside their base or heated tent. It’s for the sponsored expeditioner who needs to be able to send status updates, tweets, and photos from the deep field. It’s NOT for the extreme traveler who needs a foolproof emergency communicator that will absolutely work when they need last ditch effort critical communications. It’s not for the person who primarily needs to make voice-based calls to register their location or communicate expedition details only. It’s not for the survival minimalist who wants a pack-and-forget backup comms system. And importantly, it’s NOT for anybody wanting any of these services in the Americas – Thuraya covers Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia only.
Testing Method
I tested the SatSleeve Hotspot while exploring northern Japan in the winter. This included testing from the roof of my homestay in Shizuoka, testing from a bullet train moving very quickly, and testing from the very very snowy mountains of Hokkaido. I used the SatSleeve Hotspot, charged with Micro-USB only (I did not use the included charger), and connected it to my Unlocked iPhone 6S with a DoCoMo SIM (and usually used in the states on AT&T).
First Impressions
It’s a solid unit. The SatSleeve electronics unit comes in a sturdy box. On opening, the actual electronics package is connected to a foldable plastic stand, which lets the antenna be directed toward the sky. The design is such that the stand clicks into the back of the SatSleeve, and is easily removable. This lets you replace it with a phone holder, or probably a bunch of other accessories. Removing the stand also reveals the SOS button and emergency speaker/microphone. The Satsleeve also comes bundled with a charger and some international plug tips. I was a bit confused by the inclusion of a traditional wall wart charger – the SatSleeve can charge with this via its “ring type” charging input port. but the SatSleeve also has a Micro-USB port, which it can charge from as well. If this is meant as a piece of field gear, it’s my opinion that simplifying the design to use only the standardized Micro-USB charger would be the thing to do – everybody has a usb charger, the cables are everywhere and universal, and the design of the unit could be simplified. Simple is good for field gear. I realize there could be a time savings by charging with the bundled charger – but why not just bundle a high-power 2.4 amp usb charger? Better yet, make the SatSleeve Hotspot with a USB-C port, and then charge however fast you want – and be updated with the latest and greatest connectivity standard.
Setup of the app was a breeze, and in no time I had my iPhone connected via Wifi to the SatSleeve.
Like
The SatSleeve is easy to get connected to the smartphone, and it acquired the signal from the satellite relatively well. Once I figured out where in the sky to point it, it made the connection and I was online.
Data was slow, but it did work. I was able to send text messages, and made a couple of calls. Of course, the call quality sounds like a satellite call – compressed and with a bit of delay – but that’s to be expected.
The unit is solidly built, and the rubber mat on the stand gives the satsleeve a solid grip on the roof or whatever I propped it up on. The extendable antenna is a good design touch, allowing the SatSleeve to be stowed without risking breaking the antenna.
I certainly appreciate that the SatSleeve can be charged with Micro-USB. This lets me carry one fewer charger while I travel.
The SOS Button. YES. This is an absolutely essential feature of a satellite communicator, and I’m very glad they included it. Once you’ve programmed your emergency number in with the app, just hit the SOS button and the unit calls that number. It’s great that they included a speaker/microphone for the call, so you don’t even need to tether a smartphone.
The app works well, and I love the calling and sms features – including the ability to restrict numbers, check account balances, modify ring tones, etc etc. It really feels like a normal cell phone when you’re using the app. There’s also a lot of advanced config options in the app, which luckily I didn’t have to fiddle with.
The battery life on this thing is great. I left it setup for a solid afternoon, and the battery lasted, providing a wifi hotspot the whole time. Additionally, when it’s setup and connected, I can select within the app to turn the satellite data on or off. So I can stay connected, but not burn data while I’m composing and email – only turning on data when I need to actually send that email.
Although I didn’t thoroughly test it, I like that there’s some SIM card/provider flexibility here, and the SatSleeve can be configured for a variety of providers and access profiles.
Don’t Like
Pointing the SatSleeve was difficult. Thuraya includes no way of figuring out where in the sky the satellites are. I know they’re geosynchronous so they’re in the southern sky (when you’re in the northern hemisphere like I was). However, if I didnt know this myself, there’d be no way of knowing where to point it aside from trial and error. The signal meter in the smartphone app doesn’t provide quick enough signal data to make it useful for actually pointing the SatSleeve antenna – there’s not enough info, and no feedback on refresh rate of the meter. Additionally, the app doesn’t seem to include any kind of guide for pointing. It would be great if the app could look at the smartphone’s gps location and then give a simple arrow to the user (based on compass bearing of the smartphone) of which way to point it. Just that one screen would make it so much easier. Also, since the SatSleeve has a speaker built in, how about an audio cue for when the antenna is optimally pointed? This was a huge missed opportunity.
It’s great that I’m able to use my SatSleeve Thuraya SIM card directly in my mobile phone to get on GSM networks with my Thuraya account. However, even after reading the liteature on their website explaining the feature, I was still thorougly confused. Could I put my AT&T SIM in the SatSleeve? Did the SatSleeve have a GSM radio in it too and could get itself on GSM? So many different ways it could work, and there wasn’t any one clear and simplified explanation. I did eventually reach out to Thuraya, and their awesome product expert got back to me with this explanation: ‘
There are 4 elements in the matrix:
SatSleeve Hotspot
iPhone 6s
Thuraya SIM card can be used in both:
SatSleeve Hotspot – to make a satellite call and billed on the Thuraya account
iPhone 6s – to make a normal GSM call and billed on the Thuraya account
AT&T SIM card
SatSleeve Hotspot – to make a satellite call and billed on the AT&T account
iPhone 6s – to make a normal GSM call and billed on the AT&T account
Therefore in summary, either SIM can be used in the SatSleeve Hotspot to make satellite calls, and either SIM can be used in the iPhone to make GSM calls.
To answer the specific question; does that mean I can put my AT&T Sim card in the satsleeve hotspot and use it in japan, on my AT&T account?
Yes, you can put the AT&T SIM card in the SatSleeve Hotspot and use it for satellite calls in Japan, and will be billed on the AT&T account.
So, I’m still not totally clear on how that would work with my AT&T account billing, or how it would work with the Thuraya account billing – but it’s good to hear that they do seem to have a system in place here .
Still on the SIM swapping feature – the SatSleeve uses a full sized SIM card. My iPhone 6s uses a super tiny Nano-SIM. So, I really can’t put the Thuraya SIM in my iPhone without first trimming it down – and then to put it back in the SatSleeve, I’d have to use a size adapter. I guess it’s most flexible to do this and outfit the SatSleeve with a full size SIM port that can accept all sizes of SIMs with adapters.. but I’d love it if the Thuraya SIM I was sent was a Nano-SIM, with an adapter – then I could adapt it to fit full or micro sim, or go naked with my iPhone 6s and the Nano-SIM size.
The Thuraya Satellite Network – it works, but I gotta say it’s not the best. Coverage is not global, and is concentrated over Europe and Asia. Since the satellites are in Geosynchronous orbit, they’re at a fairly high altitude, making the round trip time of the signals long. This makes for a noticeable lag on voice calls, and a delay on data. Compared to my years of experience making Iridium calls both on the high seas as well as in Antarctica, the Thuraya calls are considerably more laggy, and sound a bit worse. Sure Iridium isn’t perfect, but the calls are more consistently clearer, with much less lag or delay. Additionally, with Iridium, there’s no pointing of the antenna, since the satellites are orbiting overhead – Stand in one spot and one will probably pass over you in time. With Thuraya, you must point the antenna in the general direction of the satellite. That’s good for static connections, and is fairly solid once you have the connection – but not the best for randomly pulling out the phone and connecting. Especially in Antarctica, I loved that I could just turn on my Iridium phone and there would almost instantly be a satellite overhead. (Admittedly, Antarctica is a special use case for Iridium – since Iridium satellites are polar orbiting, their coverage gets awesomely concentrated around the poles. At the equator, coverage is much more spread out – although still good.)
That SOS button – it calls one number, yet there’s a whole speaker/microphone dedicated for it. What’s to stop Thuraya from adding a few more buttons, or at least a simple one or two button interface to select from a speed dial menu? Even with that one button, I’d love to be able to long-press the button to get the emergency number, but click the button to scroll through a speed dial list, read out-loud through the speaker. I understand adding this feature potentially dilutes the product line targeting – but it would be cool. Heck, why not just roll the hotspot feature into a more full featured XT-PRO”v2″?
The usermanual on this thing is not great. Even after looking through the website a few times, and browsing the manual, I wasn’t aware of the multiple APN’s and compression settings, or how the SIM swapping worked. Much much much more clear startup and messaging could really increase the utility of this product.
Should you buy it?
If you’re looking for a dedicated Satellite Wifi hotspot and need basic data, and live in the Thuraya coverage zone, this could work. For example, at a distant mountain cabin where you just need to get a few emails and checkin on things, but aren’t moving much. But for other more mobile users, and users who need a ruggedized there-when-you-need it expedition phone, I’d say don’t go for this. Additionally, unless you know you’re ONLY going to be in the somewhat limited coverage area, there are other satellite networks that offer better global coverage that could make your investment in pricy hardware go farther – such as Iridium. However, the SatSleeve Hotspot is a well executed Satellite Hotspot, which is easy to get setup and online in a basic sense. If you do grab this, I’d suggest going through a 3rd party seller such at Outfitter Satellite (whom I’ve used before, and like), who can provide you with setup help and support perhaps a bit more efficiently than Thuraya can directly.
Satellite comms in this day and age is such a cool thing – the ability to be on any spot on the globe and make a call, send a message. It’s super cool that companies like Thuraya are welcoming in the age of smartphones, and building a product specifically to get these mini-computers online. I’m excited to track the future of these development, as radios and comms hardware continue to be miniaturized, until someday hopefully soon, our now-terrestrial-based cell phone towers can somehow move to the sky, and there’s no such thing as “coverage area”. Beyond that, with future advances of quantum computing and entangled bits, we could someday rid ourselves of radio-based communications altogether. Thuraya, thanks for helping pave the way.
Today at Boomtown Accelerator, we were treated to a presentation by mentor Ethan Zoubek, who spoke about key concepts in relating to people and making room in your life and mind for things to just… happen. Here are a few notes from Ethan’s talk.
Practice slowing down
“Shower thoughts”
`Recognize that a sale is not an event, it is a sequence of events.
Practice naming the source
Only two sources of things – either Love or Fear
Fear of not getting something you want, or fear of losing something that you have. (Like getting freaked out about fund raising)
Be aware of motive and intent.
Before starting a call, meeting, or talk – slow down for a second, and define your intent. Consider shifting from fear to love.
Practice detachment
Try to get ahold of and eliminate the practice of “future-tripping”. Don’t get flipped out about the future. Give a deal etc everything you’ve got, but once you’ve given it your all, detach. Let it happen
Detachment does not equal Indifference
Practice giving
Give with no thought of what you’ll receive in return
A moral and spiritual cleansing
Example – corporate content marketing, white papers, etc. Although there’s a lot of calculation involved there.
Geek Squad how-to videos are a great example
Practice not knowing
Remain teachable
Build vulnurabiliy to foster connection
Just ask – Make no assumptions. No guessing
“Ask the second question”
Practice the next indicated action
We operate in dense of furious activity, and have huge to do lists. Slow down, breathe a bit, consider source, detach a little bit, and then the next action that you should take will make itself clear.
If you give it room, the next thing that should happen will present itself
Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be going through Harvard Professor Michael Sandel’s Ethics and Morality course “Justice: What’s The Right Thing To Do”. It’s part of my University of Denver MBA program’s Executive Leadership class, and I’m glad that we’re incorporating so many high quality resources into our overall curriculum.
Sandel address a series of alternative theories of justice. The utilitarianism of Jeremy Bentham is outlined and criticised and then John Stuart Mill’s refinements are discussed. The libertarians, in particular Robert Nozick, and their arguments are discussed. Then Sandel discusses Immanuel Kant and his ‘categorical imperative’. The discussion then goes on to John Rawls’s work. Then Aristotle and the concept of ‘telos’ is discussed. It is here that Sandel begins to make clear his own perspective. He argues that justice, rather than being or autonomous (as Kantians or Rawlsians might have it), has a goal. A form of communitarianism. Sandel quotes Alasdair MacIntyre and his characterisation of humans as being ‘storytelling beings’ who live their lives with narrative quests. (From Wikipedia)
One of the excellent characteristics of the course it that the class lecture recordings are available freely online, and compliment the book of the same name. It’s broken up into 12 Episodes:
Applying for MBA programs, and making my ultimate selection was not an easy process. I took both the GMAT and GRE standardized tests multiple times, attended multiple test prep courses, filled out lots of applications, refined my resume, tapped my peer group for recommendations and advice, and researched many courses. In the end, I applied to 6 programs.
My admissions essays took a time and energy. As a means of preserving them, and making them accessible to future aspiring MBA students, I’m publishing them here.
Thanks again to my trusted friends and colleagues who supported and advised me through the application process. The journey has just begun…
MBA Program Admissions Essays
Written by Jeffrey Donenfeld, Winter 2015 to Spring 2016
University of Colorado at Boulder Leeds School of Business
Why Leeds? Illustrate why earning your MBA at Leeds will enable you to achieve your ambitions?
Joining the Leeds community and earning my MBA will give me the clarity, community, and skills to enhance my career and rapidly become a leader and visionary in my field. What follows is the story of my career trajectory so far, and an explanation of how Leeds will enable me to take my work — my passion — to the next level.
Shortly after graduating from The University of Colorado at Boulder, I was recruited to join a digital marketing firm in NYC. Over the next eight years, I moved up rapidly in the field and ultimately joined the core team of a small interactive media agency called Morpheus Media. At Morpheus, we built our core team of 12 into a 125-expert strong industry leader. This was a life-changing experience and an unsurpassed opportunity to make significant inroads in the quickly expanding interactive media and technology industry. At our height, we were the North American agency of record for LVMH, encompassing over 30 luxury brands. My experiences in interactive media gave me the forum to become the effective team leader, group manager, salesperson, consultant, communicator, and innovator that I am today.
Although my career in interactive media was engaging, challenging, and a natural fit for me, my next big step was just over the horizon. I asked myself: “What’s the ultimate, most ambitious, most fantastic dream job I can imagine?” The answer was to work on science expeditions in Antarctica.
The road to becoming an Antarctic Field Science Technician was long and frustrating, but ultimately successful. Because I knew nothing at all about the specific science, lifestyle, and career options on the continent, I started researching, networking, and applying for every job I could find. To support my research and engagement with the scientific community, I wrote a blog post every single day until I accomplished my objective. I also met countless scientists, contractors, managers, and explorers. And then one day, three years after I started my quest, I received a call from Lockheed Martin telling me I had a week to get to the Denver Airport and catch my flight to the ice.
Working in Antarctica was a life-changing experience. During my most recent season on the ice, I worked as a Field Technician and Project Manager on the University of Wisconsin’s Space Science and Engineering Center’s DISC Drill team. I was in charge of comprehensive accounting for our team’s scientific equipment and industrial machinery, management of the packing and shipment process, and general gear and logistics for the entire season.
My experience working in the field set the stage perfectly for my next step. My next endeavor is to combine my team leadership, agency-level project management and sales skills developed in NYC with my field science management and organization experience to move into the upper levels of field science and technology project creation, development, sales, and management.
My post-MBA plans cover two important areas of possibility and interest, and I look forward to using my time at Leeds on academic pursuit and discourse, surveying potential pathways, and exploring the options I can create for myself.
On one pathway, I envision relaunching my own technology and media consulting company, Four North, to specialize in field science-related management and consulting. On the other pathway, I look forward to joining a field/science project management team as a project leader and visionary at a government agency such as NSF, USAP, NCAR.
The scope and offerings of Leeds are perfectly aligned with my academic and career pursuits for multiple reasons. First, the program’s focus on entrepreneurship speaks to my curiosity and passion for leadership and innovation in my own endeavors. As a serial entrepreneur myself — having formed my first company over 15 years ago — I’m excited for the opportunity to engage in more formal academic studies of entrepreneurship, and to connect with my fellow like-minded classmates.
Second, Boulder is a rapidly expanding hub for innovative new companies and novel ideas. It’s the perfect location to not only learn about these companies, but also to interact with them directly. While at Leeds, I look forward to exploring the full scope of area-based companies and ideas, and to relating them to my own passions and studies. Further, in addition to the new startups, Boulder is also home to some of the world’s premier scientific laboratories, government contractors, and government agencies such as the Lockheed Martin Antarctic Support Contract offices in charge of high-level Antarctic support management, which synergizes directly with my previous and future career endeavors.
Finally, Boulder is… beautiful. The location, environment, people, and general feeling of Boulder make it the ideal place to pursue my MBA while remaining engaged with, and energized and inspired by, the surrounding environment. I know this firsthand because I’m already a CU Undergraduate alumnus, and I live in Boulder.
I’m very much looking forward to joining the Leeds School of Business 2018 MBA Class, and hope you’ll invite me to join your community.
How does your intellectual curiosity drive your professional and personal growth?
My intellectual curiosity has been the primary driver of my growth, both personally and professionally, for as long as I can remember. As an undergraduate student at the University of Colorado at Boulder, I chose to major in Psychology —not because I had planned to become a psychologist, but because I loved the subject matter, loved my classes, loved learning about the human mind and the way individuals interact, loved doing projects with my fellow classmates, and loved engaging in my studies. I chose to study psychology because it satisfied my intellectual curiosity, and this innate interest paid off by providing me with the academic focus to solidify the ideas and understanding I already possessed within.
Similarly, I chose my first career — in interactive media — based on my personal passions and innate understanding of the principles of advertising, marketing, sales, technology, and a vision of the future. I started down this path not because I had studied it in depth in school or because I calculated that it would be a rapidly expanding field (which it became). I chose interactive media because I had a passion for it and an innate understanding of its fundamentals, which allowed me to quickly stand out as an industry leader, innovator, and creative thinker.
My interest and employment in managing field science operations in Antarctica was also fueled by my intellectual curiosity. I had long been personally interested in discovering remote corners of the globe and understanding its supporting infrastructure. I wasn’t sure where the road would lead, but I followed my passion and learned as much as I could about Antarctica and how to get a job there. After three years of persistent fact-finding, training, and networking, my dream came true. I secured a position working in support of scientific discovery in Antarctica with Lockheed Martin.
The final example of my passion fueling my personal growth is my blog. In my freshman year of college, in 2000, I set a personal goal of writing an article in my blog regularly. I succeeded! And I have continued writing ever since, maintaining a comprehensive blog chronicling my thoughts, interests, and pursuits. In the past 15 years, I’ve written close to 1700 online articles, countless portfolios, studies, analyses, and montages. The ultimate exploration of my intellectual curiosity is online at http://JeffreyDonenfeld.com
My long history of passionate pursuit has lead me to my next step of academic focus and discovery, as I look forward to continuing to pursue my passions at Leeds.
I started to approach the world differently when …
I started to approach the world differently when I realized that I could do anything I wanted to do. That there was no specific, set career path that I was forced to take. That I could call anybody a friend. That I had the ultimate, blessed freedom to pursue what was in my heart. And I did it. I’m doing it right now by applying to join the community at Leeds.
Having the power to do anything I set my mind to is extremely liberating and energizing. Even in the face of an adversity, I can still do whatever I set my mind to is liberating and empowering. Suddenly, the whole world is available — and even if there are definite barriers to dreams, there’s always a way to make the essentials possible.
I remember sitting at my desk years ago and telling myself – “there’s nobody holding you here but yourself”, and making the decision to pursue my dreams. And although it’s been a long and hard fight — which I’m still fighting — I’m glad I did it.
It’s because of this realization, and my renewed, inspired, optimistic, and empowered approach to the world, that I keep a short, but powerful saying on my desk to look at everyday: “FORTUNE FAVORS THE BOLD”. I live by that every day.
University of Denver Daniels
What contribution will you make to the Daniels learning environment? Include examples of previous experience that demonstrates your readiness for graduate school, specific to the program for which you are applying.
My distinct diversity in career and life experience make me a superior contributor to the Daniels community and, more specifically, to my class. Several aspects of my background and experience support this.
After graduating from college at CU-Boulder, I was fortunate to start working in the quickly-growing digital marketing field in New York City. I worked my way up gaining experience with a number of smaller marketing firms, until I signed on to help develop and grow a then-small interactive ad agency. I was the 12th employee at Morpheus Media, and one of the two founding members of the SEO Department. During my four years at Morpheus, I helped grow the company from a 12-person startup to a 125-person industry leader. I was one of the co-founders of the SEO and Social Media departments, the founder of the Mobile Media department, and one of the agencies senior-strategists. I was also involved in sales and business development on a weekly basis. My experience at Morpheus exposed me to the full spectrum of business strategy, growth, management, and optimization. Looking towards the Daniels MBA program, I’m excited to combine my significant past experiences with academic discourse and team interaction, and to emerge as a community leader and motivator.
During the past few years, tI re-focused my career trajectory to pursue my interest in working in Antarctica with the United States Antarctic Program in supporting National Science Foundation-funded scientific exploration and experimentation. I pro-actively made this shift out of a desire to diversify and to continue to pursue what truly makes me excited. Working in Antarctica over two seasons was an incredible experience as I managed a team of deep-field professionals to service a precision deep-ice coring drill at the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide Camp, one of the most remote Antarctic field camps in the middle of the largest highest, coldest, windiest, and driest desert on earth. Although a departure from the office life, my work at WAIS was a continuation of my on-the-spot decision making, dynamic management, and adaptive strategy experience, as we battled complex logistics, uncooperative weather, and remote locations to accomplish a shared objective the right way, at the right time.
It’s these diverse, multidisciplinary, and one-of-a-kind experiences that make me an unparallelled contributor to the Daniels community, which I look forward to joining in the fall.
Describe an ethical dilemma that you encountered. Explain alternatives you considered and how you determined the best action to take.
Antarctica. The whole place is a bit of an ethical dilemma, but during my two deployments, I got to witness firsthand the nuanced dilemmas inherent in living in a government-run town, scheduling housing and logistics in conjunction with the US Air Force, and grant-funded project operations.
I’ve deployed to Antarctica twice. My first year, I was stationed at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. The station houses about 150 people during the summer, and is a massive structure elevated above the snow and ice. The very existence of the station, given the extensive fuel, personnel, and resource requirements is incredible. The station burns millions of gallons of jet fuel to power generators for heat and electricity. There’s a fully featured galley on station serving three meals per day, in addition to holiday and special meals. Everybody has their own heated bedroom, and there’s a weight room, gymnasium, library, music room, and movie theater accessible to everyone – all at the south pole.
Merely living there brings to mind the ethical question of whether or not all of the infrastructure and energy is worth it. Sure, there’s great scientific research being done there – but could it be done with less luxury and excess? I asked myself this question almost every day while on station, and decided that yes, it would be possible to conserve more, but potentially at the cost of productivity and quality of life. In order to cope with this dilemma, I decided to do my best to conserve as much as possible while there, as well as do the best work I possibly could, maximizing the benefit of the myriad resources. Additionally, I wrote extensive articles on my personal blog documenting all of the interesting aspects of the station, with hopes of extending the benefit of the incredible structure at the south pole to people around the world.
Stanford GSB
What matters most to you, and why?
The relentless pursuit of dreams is what’s important.
Realizing my dreams. Making the choice to pursue my dreams. And critically, changing the universe to make my dreams happen is what truly matters to me. By far the most illustrative story of my pursuit of the impossible is my quest to get to Antarctica. I failed for four solid years, and finally, after struggle and questioning, finally arrived at the South Pole.
I worked in NYC for a number of years starting and growing an interactive ad agency from 12-125 people, and although my career in interactive media was engaging, challenging, and a natural fit for me, my next big step was just over the horizon. I asked myself: “What’s the ultimate, most ambitious, most fantastic dream job I can imagine?” The answer was to work on science expeditions in Antarctica.
The road to becoming an Antarctic Field Science Technician was long and frustrating, but ultimately successful. Because I knew nothing at all about the specific science, lifestyle, and career options on the continent, I started researching, networking, and applying for every job I could find. To support my research and engagement with the scientific community, I wrote a blog post every single day until I accomplished my objective. And then one day, three years after I started my quest, I received a call from Lockheed Martin telling me I had a week to get to the airport and catch my flight to the ice.
Working in Antarctica was a life-changing experience. During my most recent season on the ice, I worked as a Field Technician and Project Manager on the University of Wisconsin’s Space Science and Engineering Center’s DISC Drill team. I was in charge of comprehensive accounting for our team’s scientific equipment and industrial machinery, management of the packing and shipment process, and general gear and logistics for the entire season.
For the past 15 years I’ve been writing regularly on my personal blog, and for the past 5 years I’ve been writing personal stories about my quest to Antarctica, including an entire account of the evolution of my journey there. http://JeffreyDonenfeld.com/Antarctica
The quest for Antarctica initially seemed like a completely impossible dream, with so many questions at the beginning. Where to even start? However as I realized, you must start somewhere, anywhere, and just get moving. It’s this almost blind confidence that enables each of us to achieve what we truly want, and make the impossible dream happen.
The easy thing for me would be to go back to working an office job I’m easily qualified for. The hard thing is to continue to pursue my career, personal, and life goals – which includes joining the Stanford community.
To remix President Kennedy: I choose to go to Stanford. I choose to go to Stanford this year, not because it is easy, but because it is hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of my energies and skills, because that challenge is one that I am willing to accept, one I am unwilling to postpone, and one which I intend to win…
Why Stanford?
Joining the Stanford community is that next ideal, impossible, perfect, dreamy ideal which has sculpted my life and career since the beginning. It’s the continuation of my crazy idea to build a tech startup in NYC – and making it work. It’s the continuation of my insane idea of getting a job at the southern axis of the earth – and making it work. It’s the continuation of my proof that to change my world, and the world, FORTUNE FAVORS THE BOLD. That’s why Stanford.
It’s my conception of having a vision of a perfect path forward, where the universe falls into place and flows. What follows is the story of my career trajectory so far, and an explanation of how Stanford will enable me to take my work — my passion — to the next level.
Stanford is home to some of the most innovative thinkers, brightest minds, and weirdest dreamers anywhere. But it’s missing my creative drive and unwavering dreams.
My experience working in multiple fields, including in the middle of the world’s largest, highest, coldest, windiest, and driest desert sets the stage for a refinement, innovation, and elevated pursuit of vision – and Stanford is the community, curriculum, and challenge to make that happen.
Stanford’s focus on creative entrepreneurship, innovative thinking, and constant challenge is ideal. Stanford’s engaged community and extensive network is essential. This Fall, i look forward to joining the Stanford community, and creating the next step.
Hult Business School
To help our Admissions team better understand you, tell us about your professional and personal achievements, and why you are a good fit for Hult.
Joining the Hult community is that next ideal, impossible, perfect, dreamy ideal which has sculpted my life and career since the beginning. It’s the continuation of my crazy idea to build a tech startup in NYC – and making it work. It’s the continuation of my insane idea of getting a job at the southern axis of the earth – and making it work. It’s the continuation of my proof that to change my world, and the world, FORTUNE FAVORS THE BOLD. That’s why Hult.
It’s my conception of having a vision of a perfect path forward, where the universe falls into place and flows. What follows is the story of my career trajectory so far, and an explanation of how Hult will enable me to take my work — my passion — to the next level.
I moved up rapidly working with startups in NYC, particularly in building Morpheus Media. There, we built our core team of 12 into a 125-expert strong industry leader. It was life-changing, in that i developed solid business skills on the spot, and realized that I had the ability to help make an entire company run. My experiences in interactive media gave me the forum to become the effective team leader, group manager, salesperson, consultant, communicator, and innovator that I am today – that’s a lot of roles – all of which I learned as they became a critical necessity of my everyday life.
Although my career in interactive media was engaging, challenging, and a natural fit for me, my next big step was just over the horizon. I asked myself: “What’s the ultimate, most ambitious, most fantastic dream job I can imagine?” The answer was to work on science expeditions in Antarctica.
The road to becoming an Antarctic Field Science Technician was long and frustrating – but I made it a success. I have a knack for that. Because I knew nothing at all about the specific science, lifestyle, and career options on the continent, I started researching, networking, and applying for every job I could find. To support my research and engagement with the scientific community, I wrote a blog post every single day until I accomplished my objective. I also met countless scientists, contractors, managers, and explorers. And then one day, three years after I started my quest, I received a call from Lockheed Martin telling me I had a week to get to the airport and catch my flight to the ice.
Working in Antarctica was a life-changing experience. During my most recent season on the ice, I worked as a Field Technician and Project Manager on the University of Wisconsin’s Space Science and Engineering Center’s DISC Drill team. I was in charge of comprehensive accounting for our team’s scientific equipment and industrial machinery, management of the packing and shipment process, and general gear and logistics for the entire season.
My experience working in the field sets the stage for a refinement, innovation, and elevated pursuit of vision – and Hult is the community, curriculum, and challenge to make that happen.
Hult’s focus on creative entrepreneurship, innovative thinking, and constant challenge is ideal. Hult’s engaged community and extensive network is essential. And Hult’s location, as well as global reach is literally where it’s at.
This Fall, i look forward to joining the Hult community, and creating the next step.
INSEAD
Give a candid description of yourself (who are you as a person), stressing the personal characteristics you feel to be your strengths and weaknesses and the main factors which have influenced your personal development, giving examples when necessary.
The problem with me is that I dream big, and obsessively pursue my dreams until I achieve them. I’m an eternal optimist, and throughout my life I’ve been one to think that when I apply myself, I can change my world when it needs to be changed. I’ve proven this to myself time and time again, in my personal, social, and professional lives – and it’s been for the better AND worse.
The ability to dream, and believe in your dreams can be a powerful force of change. My career pathway is a telling example of my dreams constantly evolving, and my continuous pursuit of them. Coming out of college, I moved to NYC with the vision of living the big city life, working with my best friends, having a typical Manhattan apartment, and developing a close knit community in one of the world’s craziest cities. My first job coming to the city was at a very small marketing firm, but with time, I worked my way up, and eventually made my dream a reality. By the time I was ready to leave the city, I was on the management team of a large ad agency which I helped to create, working on strategy for the world’s largest luxury brands.
Onto the next dream: Antarctica.
What better way to take a next step than to step completely out of the city, and into the largest, highest, coldest, windiest, and driest desert on earth. That’s what I had in mind when I decided to get a job working with the United States Antarctic Program. I knew nothing when I started the quest, and I failed at it completely and consistently for 4 long years. But I was determined to make my dream into a reality. I was committed, and it was going to happen. Four years later, after numerous last minute flights to meet managers and administrators at Lockheed Martin, countless phone calls, training courses in the mountains, and sleepless nights, I got a cryptic email, and then a call. They said I had 5 days to get myself with all of my gear to the airport, and hop on a flight to the South Pole.
Those are two examples of how I’ve pursued my dreams, and luckily made them happen – but there have been numerous dreams I’m still working on, that I’ve failed to achieve, and that I don’t even know how to start. I’ve been fortunate enough to have the intellectual and unwavering drive to make lots of them come true, and I’ve also failed time and time again. Through all of this, though, I can’t imagine any other way to be. With so little time, the only thing that seems logical to do is the best, brightest, highest, most incredible things I can think of – and that’s what I intend to continue to do at INSEAD. I can’t picture it any other way.
Describe the achievement of which you are most proud and explain why. In addition, describe a situation where you failed. How did these experiences impact your relationships with others? Comment on what you learned.
I failed consistently on one seemingly impossible task for over four years.
Then, in a moment of synergy, luck, and opportunity, all of the pieces came together, and I found myself a week later on a US Military flight to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, Antarctica.
Four years before my ultimate success, I was working at Morpheus Media – a rapidly growing digital marketing agency. Although my career in interactive media was engaging, challenging, and a natural fit for me, my next big step was just over the horizon. I asked myself: “What’s the ultimate, most ambitious, most fantastic dream job I can imagine?” The answer was to work on science expeditions in Antarctica.
The road to becoming an Antarctic Field Science Technician was long and frustrating, but ultimately successful. Because I knew nothing at all about the specific science, lifestyle, and career options on the continent, I started researching, networking, and applying for every job I could find. To support my research and engagement with the scientific community, I wrote a blog post every single day until I accomplished my objective. I also met countless scientists, contractors, managers, and explorers. And then one day, three years after I started my quest, I received a call from Lockheed Martin telling me I had a week to get to the Denver Airport and catch my flight to the ice.
Working in Antarctica was a life-changing experience. During my most recent season on the ice, I worked as a Field Technician and Project Manager on the University of Wisconsin’s Space Science and Engineering Center’s DISC Drill team. I was in charge of comprehensive accounting for our team’s scientific equipment and industrial machinery, management of the packing and shipment process, and general gear and logistics for the entire season.
Throughout this life-changing quest, I met countless incredible individuals who taught me to follow my passions, do what’s interesting and weird, and never give up. It’s this very reason that I’m now excited take on my next endeavor of earning my MBA and revolutionizing my career with INSEAD.
The full story of my quest for Antarctica is told in exhaustive detail on my blog at http://JeffreyDonenfeld.com/Antarctica
Tell us about an experience where you were significantly impacted by cultural diversity, in a positive or negative way.
I ran my best marathon ever amidst smiling, confused, cheering crowds lining the streets of Pyongyang, North Korea.
Here, in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, cultural diversity takes a weird, homegrown, and remarkably flourishing twist. It’s mandated, controlled, and sculpted by the all-seeing government. And lacking an unbiased alternative or diversified voice, the one way truly is the way. As I explored North Korea, this homegrown spin of diversity was both an inspiration, and quite depressing at the same time.
In a certain light, North Korea’s insulated cultural, political, and social ecosystem is a fantastic distillation of truth and purity. For the last three generations of leaders, the cultural identity of the north has been singularly shaped and refined into an incredibly well defined, deep, and powerful national identity. It’s character is completely unique – beautiful expressions of creativity and inspiration abound throughout Pyongyang, if you look with the right eyes. People are pure and loving once you give them a chance. And within their microcosm the people of North Korea are healthy and proud of what they’ve built.
There’s a prevalent dark side to this insulated brand of singularized cultural diversity as well. Looking in from an outsider’s perspective, North Korea is a timewarp of short-sighted cultural norms, crushing control of the people, and oppression of even the most basic rights. Their society could be seen as dull and lackluster arising out of an almost complete embargo of outside influences.
I disagree with this fatalist view. The optimistic, inclusive, and loving view of North Korea is the one I choose to embrace. Government politics are one thing – but looking directly at the people and heart of the nation, it’s easy to see, with the right eyes, the flourishing warmth and unique cultural identity that’s been created.
The full story of my cultural exploration of North Korea is online at http://goo.gl/83SD7m
This year while attending CES 2016, Homido hooked me up with their super tiny Google Cardboard VR viewer, the Homido Mini. After a bunch of testing, my verdict is: this is the cardboard viewer to get.
The Homido Mini is small – it’s a foldable plastic contraption, with two lenses on one side, and a spring-plastic clip for your smartphone on the other side. The frame folds in half for easy carrying, and that’s about it. To use the Homido Mini, simple unfold it, fire up whatever Google-Cardboard compliant or similar app on your smartphone, slip your smartphone into the cip, and then hold look through the lenses. Boom, VR.
There are LOTS of VR viewers out there – all the way from fully integrated ones like the Oculus Rift, to simple ones that just work with Google Cardboard and similar. For the Google Cardboard crowd, which the Homido Mini is part of, the viewers range in complexity. The NY Times cardboard viewer, for example, consists of an origami-like cardboard box, with velcro closures holding your phone, a foldable light guard, a spring loaded cantilevered button for interacton, etc. Those work great, but I think that the quality of VR on your smartphone is somewhat limited, and is not the best. A simle viewer like the Homido Mini is all you need to get a great experience with VR on your smartphone, and there’s no need to go any more complicated with larger viewers. If you want higher quality, upgrade to an overall higher end, dedicated system, like the Oculus.
It’s for these reasons that I’d say, if you want to experience the fun and simple thrills of VR on your smartphone, look no further than the Homido Mini. It’s small, cheap, and folds up to fit in your desk drawer. When you get tired of the mini and yearn for more quality.. take a big step up to dedicated hardware.
The Remocam Smart Home Security Camera bills itself as a super versatile, next generation home security camera. I tested it out at my home, in my office, and while on the go over the last few weeks. Here’s how the Remocam performed, and how it stacks up to the competition.
What It Is
The Remocam is a home security camera, with integrated pan/tilt motion, IR illumination, wireless connectivity, audio, and local storage. It pairs with its own mobile app.
“Remocam is a Smart Home security camera that can monitor your home, business, or vacation home. It sends live video feed and motion detection alerts to the Remocam app on your smartphone. It’s also equipped with a Smart Home capability that lets you control your electronic devices.”
The Remocam claims to have lots and lots of functions, from home video monitoring all the way to controlling your tv from afar. It’s marketing to and situated for the home use, who wants to be able to keep casual tabs on what’s going on in their house while they’re away. It would be great for a family with young kids and hectic schedules. It’s not ideally tasked for corporate users, 24/7 security monitoring, or multi-camera integrated systems.
Testing Method
I tested the Remocam in my home. I first had it setup on my fireplace mantle, where it had a view of the entire living room and kitchen. From there, it was setup with a view to my outside porch, and then setup in my office with a view over my entire office area. I had it running on my own home WiFi, and tested the mobile app with my Apple iPhone6 on AT&T.
First Impressions
On unboxing the Remocam, I was actually surprised by its size. It’s a little larger than I had expected, but given its large range of functions, that’s understandable. The camera is solidly built and reasonably heavy. Setting it up above my fireplace, it sits solidly, and the small tug from the power cord isn’t enough to move it at all. The box also contained the power cable, and a weird piece of lens protection film, which was never fully explained.
Setup was easy, and in a few minutes I had it connected to my home wifi. It didn’t come with its own SD card, so I used one I already had. It also did not come with any cables for connecting the audio input or outputs – which are not essential for operation.
Once I got it setup, I had a bunch of questions about its operations – so I fired off a few queries to their support email. These questions were asked on 2016-02-08, so features may have been changed/updated since then.
Here’s what I asked:
Q: Howdy guys, I’m loving my Remocam so far. and love checking in on the camera with the iPhone app. However, there are cases when I’d like to be able to check in on the camera on my macbook, using a normal web browser. How do I do this? I can’t seem to find any sort of functionality on the website – and of course, this is a super important feature.A: I’m happy to hear you are enjoying your camera!! We currently do not have Remocam accessible from a web browser. You can only view the camera’s feed from our app on Android or iOS phones or tablets. However, we are working on making it accessible via website browser and hope to offer this in the near future!
Q: Hey guys, I just installed my Remocam to test it, and it’s working great. For permanent installation, I’m thinking about putting it somewhere where I have some other gear installed. Unfortunately there’s no proper electrical outlet nearby, but there is an avaiable high-power USB port I could use. Is it possible to power Remocam via USB, like most other electronics? I see that the power adapter is 5volts, 2 amps – so that seems like it’s low enough power to be supported by USB. Is there a Micro-USB or USB-C version?A: If you would like to power Remocam via USB, you will need a 5V/2amps USB charger. We only provide the power cord that comes with Remocam, we do not supply the USB chargers. Does this answer your question? [ed: No, this didn’t answer the question – since the Remocam has no Micro-USB or USB-C input port, it’s not possible to power it via USB. Even with the existing power input port, they didn’t supply any sort of USB adapter cable – so no, it cannot be plugged into a usb charger, even if the power rating is correct.]
Q: Hey guys, I noticed on the back of the remocam that there’s a line in and line out ports – but there doesn’t seem to be any documentation on these ports anywhere – how exactly do they work?A: Thanks for emailing in about this. The in and out ports are for external speakers/microphone that you can use. If you have an external speaker or microphone, you can plug it into Remocam so that the noise is louder when someone speaks through the camera and when noise is picked up from the room Remocam is in.
Q: Hi guys, how do I get the remocam to loop or cycle record on the SD card? I’d like it to be recording video locally, and overwriting the old video when the card fills up, so I can always see the most recent stream of video, in case something happens, or if the network goes down, etc. How do i get the remocam to do this? A: Remocam is not able to loop or cycle recordings on the SD card. Whenever the SD card fills up, you will need to manually delete the videos you would like to delete.If you would like to always see the latest videos and have old videos automatically recorded, I would suggest using the Cloud recordings. Then, you will see the videos from the app, and the oldest videos will automatically be deleted.Update 2016-03-29 – After sending this post over to Remocam, I received this update regarding cycle recording: When the microSD card is almost full (with 500MB of storage left) the oldest videos will be automatically deleted and replaced with the newest motion videos. You will receive motion push detection at all times as long as the push notifications and motion sensor are turned on. You will receive the push notifications even if your microSD card is full.
Q: Hey guys, I love the remocam, but I currently use a self-managed cloud server to record security camera footage. How do i configure the remocam to stream its video to a different server, other than to Remocam?A: Remocam can only include to our Cloud serve that we provide. It is unable to be configured to stream to a different server. Sorry about this! Hope it is not too inconvenient for you!
Q: Hey guys, the place where I’m going to install remocam has one very bright lightsource, but the rest of the scene is darker. I need to adjust the exposure on remocam to be correct – its automatic exposure is making everything too dark, because the 1 light source is so bright. How do I do this?A: Currently, you can not adjust the exposure of Remocam’s video feed. This is something we are working on offering in the future, however it is not currently available. Sorry if this is an inconvenience. Is the video feed view-able near that light source?
Q: Hey guys, I noticed in my Remocam box there’s a yellow piece of paper with a circular clear sticker attached – what is this for? There’s no mention of it in the documentation.A: This sticker is just to protect the lens. We just include it for customers who would like to protect the lens, however we do not recommend using the sticker while using the camera as it can make the feed blurry.
Q: Hey guys, I noticed that there’s no documentation of the format of the MicroSD card. Can the remocam support Exfat? HFS+? FAT32? Where is the info on this?A: Remocam is compatible with micro and ultra micoSD cards that are 32GB or less. This information can be found here on our shop page for Remocam. We only support fat32, not HFS+ or exfat.
Like
I love the pan/tilt features. The camera has a great range of motion, which makes it easy to monitor an entire room, and makes it very easy to setup.
The ability to record to an SD card directly on the camera is a cool way to backup the cloud recordings.
The ring of infrared LEDs really help illuminate the room during the night.
Pairing the camera with my TV remote was cool – I love being able to control gadgets from afar. I’m not sure these things need to be paired, but it’s still cool.
I love that the audio listen/speak features are complimented with proper line in/out ports – makes for very flexible installations.
Don’t Like
The only way to monitor the video feed is through the mobile app. There’s no online browser-based access. So if I’m without my phone, I can’t get to the feed.
No way to cycle record on the SD Card. That means the SD card is really only good for actively storing moments I trigger myself, or via motion, but can’t be used as an always-on recording so I can go back and see the last however many hours of footage. This forces me to rely on Remocam’s (paid) cloud recording service. This also makes my home monitoring entirely dependent on the wifi. If wifi goes out and something happens, there’s no way to see what happened – the camera has to be connected to the internet to record (save for spot-recordings on the sd card)
No USB power. I know this is a small one, but in the age of higher and higher power usb, I hate getting yet another wall-wart that’s good for only one gadget. I know it would be expensive, but Remocam should power this via USB-C, and really future-proof that section of the product.
Another small thing, but that polished surface on the top of the base is going to show dust really quickly.
Should you buy it?
While the Remocam is a good quality camera with a fairly wide range of features, I’d say wait on buying this. The hardware/software integration is not as tight as it could be, and a couple critical features to make it a truly great and reliable security camera are missing. The camera is certainly a fun gadget to play with, but unfortunately, the entire package is not at the level of design and engineering inspiration that makes me want to add it as part of my home.
Remocam is coming out with a doorbell soon, and based on the experience with the
I’m sad to not have the greatest review of Remocam, because this little camera is trying, very hard, to be great. However at this point I feel like there are too many half-baked features being packed in. All of the features basically work, but none really shine.
Remocam is coming out with the Remobell soon, and given the solid first try with Remocam, I’d reconsider the Bell. Don’t write off the whole company – they clearly have vision and drive, and I’m looking forward to seeing what they come up with next in this highly competitive market.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been listening to the current-generation of Ultimate Ears’ Bluetooth Speaker lineup; the UE Megaboom, UE Boom2, and UE Roll. This comes after owning the original UE Boom for about two years, and listening to is almost daily in my car, at home, in my office, and in parking lots while putting on ski gear. That’s to say, I have a lot of experience with the Boom, and know how it sounds. This review focuses on the big daddy of the lineup – the UE Megaboom.
What It Is
The UE Megaboom is the latest generation of Ultimate Ears’ popular portable, rugged bluetooth speakers. It’s the largest, beefiest, loudest, and most robust speaker in the lineup, and still sports the awesome ruggedness, waterproofness, and class-leading sound quality and features of the rest of the UE lineup.
“UE MEGABOOM is the 360-degree wireless Bluetooth speaker on steroids that blasts freakishly amazing sound to every corner of the party.”
This is the largest UE speaker, but it’s still waterproof, rugged, and portable. This speaker is for the more discerning listener who wants the highest quality sound from a portable bluetooth speaker. It’s for the rich kid who wants to totally rock his medium-sized house party. It’s for the weekend warrior who is setting up at the campsite and making lots of noise. It’s for the home listener who has a hip and new kitchen or living room and wants simple, high quality sound throughout without fuss. The Megaboom is sleek and cylindrical, and comes in a variety of nice colors – so it’s easy to fit in with your decor, it sits flat on a surface, and it has no weird shapes that stick out, get in the way, or call too much attention. The one place it’s not best for is for the permanent, integrated home or office audio solution. Sure, it can be mounted on a tripod or similar, and can be charged and powered at the same time, and connected to aux-input. However, the general design makes it not the best. If you’re looking to wire your house for permanent sound, go with something else. But if you’re looking for rockingly loud, high quality, portable, rugged speaker that can rock your kitchen as well as it can rock your picnic, and you have the cash and discerning ear to want the best you can get, this is the one.
If you’re looking for something smaller and less pricey, and want more casual listening or background music, get the Boom2. If you’re on a budget, want to listen to mainly podcasts, want to give it to your kids, or want to backpack it out to the campsite, get the UE Roll.
Testing Method
I tested the UE Megaboom in my home, in my office, and while traveling up and down to the Colorado ski mountains over the course of about a month. I listened to music on Spotify from my iPhone AND an android phone, locally stored FLAC tracks from my computer, podcasts from the iOS podcast app, audio cast from the Chromecast Audio and connected to the aux port, and took a bunch of conference calls on it.
First Impressions
I owned the OG UE Boom for two years and loved it. I tested the UE Boom2 and UE Roll, and they were both great. But after 2 minutes of turning on the Megaboom, I’m blown away – this thing is awesome. For the modest increase in size and weight, this speaker rocks so much harder than any of the others, and is still easy to pick up and drag around. The battery came 30% charged, and it didn’t quit throughout my entire hours-long first listening session. Awesome.
Like
The Megaboom has mega sound quality. It’s definitely a step up from Boom2 in both loudness, clarity, and range. The bass of the Megaboom is deep and present, and doesn’t sound overly processed. It’s obvious that the larger physical size of the Megaboom allows it to produce genuinely deeper, clearer, louder bass. The highs are still crisp and clear, like they’ve been on the other UE speakers. But the bass here really shines.
The pairing process of the Megaboom is a breeze. Additionally, it pairs quickly with my iPhone when I turn it on, and confirms power, pairing, and power with nice sounds and voice feedback.
The volume of the Megaboom is controlled directly from my iPhone. This is a small detail, but important. When I click the volume buttons on my phone, the actual volume of the Megaboom changes. This is in contrast with the other, less-good method of volume control, where I change the volume on my phone, giving the speaker a “hotter” output, but the actual volume setting of the device is independently controlled on the device. With the Megaboom, these two volumes are the same, which I like a lot.
I love squeezing the Megaboom and hearing it tell me how much battery I have left.
For its size, the Megaboom gets LOUD! Like, really loud! It can easily rock a good size room of people, and can fill a living room with loud, clear music for a whole party. The battery life is great – it plays all night.
Don’t Like
I kinda hate that the power and audio ports are on the bottom, and the power on the top. I know it’s meant to be picked up and handled and dragged around – but it would be cool if it was a bit easier to keep plugged in while using etc. I know I can just turn it over, but I like having the bass drivers at the bottom of the speaker.
The motion activated functions – tap tap for track skipping etc – I don’t care. I never used these except to test that they work. And even when I was using the speaker in a more “dynamic” environment.. with friends rocking out in a parking lot before skiing – my phone was never so far away that I felt I needed to pick up the speaker to change the track. It just seems like an unnecessary feature.
That’s about it that I don’t like – everything about this speaker is pretty amazing.
Should you buy it?
If you’re looking for a great quality bluetooth speaker that can rock your house, house party, backyard etc, and you have the budget to buy the best, this is the one you should get. Of course it’s not as portable as the other smaller speakers. But it’s still small enough to throw into a picnic bag, or weekend bag. I really don’t think that a more portable speaker is necessary. Do you really really really need a speaker small and light enough to backpack with deep into the woods, or carry in your luggage as you travel the world? I dont think so – take a break, enjoy nature. Leave the rocking out for when you can rock out with the best bluetooth speaker – the UE Megaboom.
Of all the bluetooth speakers I’ve reviewed, this is the one that sticks around as the offices daily listening speaker. Sure I’ve tested a bunch of others and listened to them for a while – but this the one I actually use on a daily basis when not evaluating for a review. Get it.
The UE Roll is Ultimate Ears smallest, and least expensive bluetooth wireless speaker. I had the opportunity to test it out for a few weeks around the house, in the office, and on the go. Here’s how it went, and what you should consider when buying it.
What It Is
The UE Roll is in the latest generation of Ultimate Ears’ popular portable, rugged bluetooth speakers. It’s a rounded disc, a little larger in diameter than a BluRay, fires sound out of one of the broad sides, and sits on its back resting on bungee cords. It’s bungee cord allows it to be attached to a variety of object, and it includes an audio-in port.
“UE ROLL is the 360-degree wireless Bluetooth speaker that brings unapologetically awesome sound to beaches, cliffs and mountains.”
Find official specs here: http://www.ultimateears.com/en-us/ueroll#ueroll
And be sure to check out this quick video from Digital Trends, which goes behind the scenes of the development of the UE Roll:
Who It’s For
The Roll is the smallest, lightest, and least expensive speaker in the UE wireless speaker lineup. It’s aimed at kids on a budget who want a fun, decent sounding speaker that won’t break the bank. It’s aimed at travelers looking for acceptable sound in a lightweight and rugged package. It’s aimed at beachgoers who want to turn on some podcasts or background music while hanging out. It’s certainly not for the audiophile, home high quality audio listener, or for rocking a good sized party alone.
The roll also has somewhat unconventional looks- its rounded shape make it awkward to sit on a shelf – but for getting out and about, it’s perfectly fine being placed randomly on a tree stump, poolside, or bungeed to a support beam or whatever. The volume buttons are huge and easily accessible on the front of the speaker, impossible to miss, and totally usable with gloves on.
Testing Method
I used the UE Roll around my home, sitting next to me in my office, bungeed to the showerhead in the shower, and even dragged it into the woods and hung it off twigs of a tree stump. I listened to lots of podcasts, and music with it, mostly on Spotify.
First Impressions
The Roll is a fun, bright color, and is kinda fun to hold and play with on the desk. I initially thought that the bungee cable enabled the Roll to stand up on edge with the bungee acting like a rigid kickstand – but no – the bungee is limp and rubbery, and is really just good for strapping it to bars, handing it from hooks, and attaching it to its floaty. I wasn’t super impressed with the aesthetics of it at first, but given its pretty good sound for the size, i’m convinced it’s pulling its weight.
Like
For its size, the Roll sounds pretty good. Music at low volume is perfectly find for background, or passive listening. If you’re hanging out with friends and need some random music to fill the background, this is great. It’s also great for podcasts. It certainly gets loud enough with no distortion to listen to podcasts over the noise of the shower or cooking. And when paired with my Macbook via Bluetooth, it’s nice to bring a louder speaker closer to me while I’m watching Hulu and cooking at the same time.
For a shower speaker, the bungee cable is pretty neat. It’s easy to slip over the showerhead, and the waterproof port covers keep everything dry.
The volume of the Roll is controlled directly from my iPhone. This is a small detail, but important. When I click the volume buttons on my phone, the actual volume of the Roll changes. This is in contrast with the other, less-good method of volume control, where I change the volume on my phone, giving the speaker a “hotter” output, but the actual volume setting of the device is independently controlled on the device. With the Roll, these two volumes are one and the same, which I like a lot.
Hit both volume buttons and it tells you the battery charge level. It’s a small feature, but for a speaker that’s a pain in the ass to keep plugged in all the time, this is a good stress-relief feature.
For its size, it gets plenty loud, and doesn’t distort.
It’s rubberized and rugged – I’m not going to try, but it seems fairly indestructible.
Don’t Like
The Sriracha color I was sent is pretty damn ugly. It’s fun for beside a pool, I suppose, or if I was a bit younger. If I had kids, they’d love playing with this thing and listening to kids songs on it.
No speakerphone feature. I guess I’m not super missing this feature, but it’s kinda nice for impromptu conference calls. I understand with the price point etc, though.
It’s sound quality isn’t all that – it’s clear with good highs, but the bass lacks a bit. Given the size though, I’m ok with it.
It rocks and rolls when sitting on a flat surface. Again, great for running around with, but not the best home speaker.
Should you buy it?
Sure! At this point, it’s inexpensive enough to almost impulse buy. And compared to all the other speakers in this price/size category, this is definitely the best one. If your’e looking forward to lots of hanging out at home listening to podcasts, want an occasional speaker to bring out for some background party music, or want some light tunes at the campground this summer, grab the Roll. Any more rocking out, go for the upgrade with the UE Boom or UE Megaboom (the Megaboom is my favourite..)
Find It Here
Groupon Coupons partner T-Mobile sells a few colors of the UE Roll here, and paired with one of the many coupons on Groupon Coupons, there could be some sweet discounts.
For its price and size, the Roll is fun and sounds great. It’s indestructible, versatile, and interesting. Don’t look to it for party rocking volume or audiophile sound, but it gets the basic music job done well.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been listening to the current-generation of Ultimate Ears’ Bluetooth Speaker lineup; the UE Megaboom, UE Boom2, and UE Roll. This comes after owning the original UE Boom for about two years, and listening to is almost daily in my car, at home, in my office, and in parking lots while putting on ski gear. That’s to say, I have a lot of experience with the Boom, and know how it sounds. First, the flagship of the line is the original Boom – called the Boom2 in its current generation. It’s mid-sized in the lineup, and straddles the line between portability and sound quality.
What It Is
The UE Boom2 is the latest generation of Ultimate Ears’ popular portable, rugged bluetooth speaker. It’s roughly the volume of a pint of beer, fits in cup holders, comes in bold colors, is minimally waterproof, ruggedized, and has premium, eq’d sound. From UE:
“UE BOOM 2 is the 360-degree wireless Bluetooth speaker that blasts loud, insanely great sound with deep, powerful bass. Everywhere you go.”
The cool thing about the Boom2 is it’s broad appeal to a bunch of audiences. The speaker is small and portable, so makes a great travel speaker if weight isn’t your primary concern. Think travel like car camping, road trips, tour groups (the kind with rolling luggage, tour busses), etc. The speaker is rugged, coated in rubber, and waterproof – so it’s great for busy families with rowdy kids knocking things over, great to drag around the vacation house out to the edge of the hot tub or to the side of the pool. The Boom2 also has singular, handsome looks, and is right at home (in some of the colors) on the edge of the desk (where I have mine right now), on the kitchen bar, or in the middle of the cocktail table. The one place where it’s not the best is for more permanent installation – yes, the speaker can be powered and charged from MicroUSB, and has a line input port – but they’re on the bottom of the unit. So if you want to use the Boom2 while plugged in, connected to the aux audio port, have access to the top power and pair buttons, and have it in the “correct” orientation for the side-firing stereo speakers (with treble on top and bass on bottom), then you’ll have to use the tripod screw mount to elevate the speaker up a bit. Kind of weird. But anyway, the Boom2 is great for portability.
Testing Method
I tested the UE Boom2 in my home, in my office, and while traveling up and down to the Colorado ski mountains over the course of about a month. I listened to music on Spotify from my iPhone AND an android phone, locally stored FLAC tracks from my computer, podcasts from the iOS podcast app, audio cast from the Chromecast Audio and connected to the aux port, and took a bunch of conference calls on it.
First Impressions
After owning the OG Boom for two years, the Boom2 is a definite, albeit modest improvement. The units physical fit and finish are tighter – the speaker grill is a tighter weave. The buttons feel clickier. The port covers on the bottom are nicely integrated. The unit fits in your hand and feels heavy and solid. There are no weird protrusions or catches – each surface feels great. Turning it on gives a reassuring power on noise, and instantly goes into the drumbeat pairing mode. It just works well.
Like
The Boom and Boom 2, when Doubled Up, each act as a stereo speaker individually, playing the same audio source. That makes sense, since the Boom and Boom 2 aren’t acoustically identical, so using each as one side of a stereo pair would be weird. I assume that if I were to double up two Boom 2’s, each would act as one side of a stereo pair. I can’t try this because I only own one Boom 2.
The sound quality is a definite improvement form the OG Boom. It’s clearer, and gets considerably louder without distorting. I noticed that as the volume is turned up, the Boom2 seems to adjust the EQ accordingly, so nothing gets distorted, but the volume increases. I’m not a huge fan of this, but it works to consistently squeeze acceptable sounding audio out of a relatively small speaker. The only way to do this without a computer controlled EQ would be to just build a bigger speaker… which is not the point here.
The pairing process of the Boom2 is a breeze. Additionally, it pairs quickly with my iPhone when I turn it on, and has a much longer Bluetooth range than the original Boom.
The volume of the Boom2 is controlled directly from my iPhone. This is a small detail, but important. When I click the volume buttons on my phone, the actual volume of the Boom2 changes. This is in contrast with the other, less-good method of volume control, where I change the volume on my phone, giving the speaker a “hotter” output, but the actual volume setting of the device is independently controlled on the device. With the Boom2, these two volumes are one and the same, which I like a lot.
I love squeezing the Boom2 and hearing it tell me how much battery I have left.
For the size of this thing, the sound is really really fantastic. Sure it doesn’t have the best most ground shaking bass, but it sounds good in almost all regards. Music sounds smooth and pleasing. Podcasts are clear. And the speakerphone function works as it should. The FLAC files I listened to sounded good too – but no better than the compressed tracks I listened to on Spotify. I’d say if you’re looking for an audiophile grade speaker that will really make your super high end audio tracks shine, this is not the speaker. But for rocking out to Spotify tracks, this thing is really great.
Don’t Like
In “Double Up” mode, paired to my original UE Boom, I experienced a good amount of crackling and sound dropouts on the Boom 2. In this mode, it appeared that my phone was paired over bluetooth to the Boom, and then the Boom was paired to the Boom 2, sending audio data. I’m not sure if this is an issue with the Boom sending audio data to the Boom 2, the Boom 2 receiving the audio stream, or some other linking issue between the Original Boom and Boom 2 – but it was a pain to deal with. Of note, the speakers were about 15 feet from each other, and the Boom was 10 feet from my phone, in a normal living room, both with charged batteries, latest firmware.
The color of my Boom 1 is orange rubber and a purple grille. How horribly ugly, and unfitting in any decor. I understand that it’s fun and youthful, but for my desk space, it sticks out like an eyesore. Luckily, Logitech does sell Boom 2 in more subdued colors.
The motion activated functions – tap tap for track skipping etc – I don’t care. I never used these except to test that they work. And even when I was using the speaker in a more “dynamic” environment.. with friends rocking out in a parking lot before skiing – my phone was never so far away that I felt I needed to pick up the speaker to change the track. It just seems like an unnecessary feature.
On a few tracks, the super low bass does get cutoff. I know this is because of its small size, but still, I really love that deep bass in XX’s “Fantasy”.
I wish the audio in, charging ports were all on the top, so i could keep this thing standing up correctly while charging, connecting to external audio, etc. I know it’s easy enough to turn over, but it still seems upside down when I do that.
Should you buy it?
If you’re looking for a super versatile, great sounding Bluetooth speaker that will sound great in normal rooms in your house, and have good chops for rocking small parties as well as your campsite, get this one. It’s totally usable in the widest range of situations I can imagine, and looks great doing it.
I’m psyched that the UE Boom2 is doing so well for Ultimate Ears – it’s really a great speaker that’s hard to be truly disappointed with in any areas. It has its flaws, but it really is overwhelmingly great and versatile. Get this speaker and drag it around everywhere.
Today I’m excited to publish the documentary I shot last April 2015 in North Korea with Filmmaker Justin Martell and Uri Tours Owner Andrea Lee. We’ve been working hard for the past few months to assemble everything, and here’s the result.
I’m Jeffrey Donenfeld, and I am an adventure travel consultant, interactive technology strategist, and expedition photographer.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, also known North Korea, has always seemed mysterious. In April, I decided to check it out for myself – and to run the 2015 Pyongyang Marathon in the process.
To get into North Korea as a tourist, it’s necessary to join a tour group. I traveled with expert tour operator Uri Tours, and specifically did their Pyongyang Marathon Beijing Departure Long Tour option.
Our initial meeting as a group was the night before at a restaurant in Beijing, and then most people stayed together that night in Beijing in a hotel.
The next morning, we departing Beijing for the DPRK via the country’s official airline, Air Koyo, on a Russian-made Antonov AN-148.
The ride was smooth; refreshments included sandwiches and beer, and the entertainment consisted of a concert DVD of the Moranbong Band.
After landing in Pyongyang, we were greeting by our guides from the Korean International Tour Company and boarded a coach bus to the the capital of the DPRK, Pyongyang.
We checked in at the Yanggakdo Hotel in the center of the city, on the Taedong River.
After dinner with our tour group in the hotel’s dining room, it was off to bed to get some rest for the Pyongyang Marathon.
ACT 2
DAY TWO – MARATHON/WAR MUSEUM
JEFF
After the marathon, my group returned to the hotel to clean up and have lunch in the rotating restaurant atop of the Yanggakdo Hotel. The view from the top is spectacular, with Pyongyang stretching into the distance.
At the Mansu Hill Grand Monument, the huge statues of leaders Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung dominate, surrounded by memorials to the Japanese Occupation of Korea and the Korean War.
At the Pyongyang Victorious War Museum, our tour guide wore a military uniform, showed our group relics from the Korean War, and took us aboard the captured US Navy Ship Pueblo.
Afterward, we had dinner at a restaurant on the other side of town – traditional korean hot pot! And, of course, lots of beer.
Next we checked into Koryo Hotel, the second largest hotel in the DPRK. The lobby was grand, and with leader Kim Il Sung’s birthday approaching, it was full of Kimjongilia and Kimilsungia.
The rooms are soviet-style kitsch replete with a smoking lounge, comfortable beds and a tv with 3 channels running your favorite DPRK music videos and soap operas.
ACT 3
DMZ
JEFF
The next morning we had breakfast and headed south to Kaesong, a city right on the border with South Korea.
As we approached the Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ, there were giant, colorful posters promoting unification of North and South Korea.
We were bused down a long, isolated road and entered the Joint Security Area.
We were also shown the armistice agreements, one in Korean, the other in English, preserved under glass.
There were also numerous displays chronicling the many visits the DPRK’s leaders have made to the DMZ to inspect the front line.
Our KPA guide lead us to the actual Military Demarcation Line. The feeling was light and jovial – but with the undertone that it could turn serious quickly.
After exiting the JSA, we visited the Koryo History Museum which is located in the city’s former Confucian academy, and contains priceless Goryeo relics and cultural artifacts.
Next to the museum is the Koryo Stamp Shop, where you can purchase DPRK themed posters, along with postcards and stamps so you can send a one of a kind keepsake to your friends back home.
Before leaving, we enjoyed traditional Kaesong cuisine at the Janamsan Hotel.
The subway cars are soviet built, and, though vintage, they run well.
The Pyongyang metro stations are grand, and each one having its own artistic motif and elaborate mosaics depicting the leadership as well as life in North Korea
In the station, there are central displays with the day’s newspaper.
The annual Kimilsungia flower show is held in honor of Kim Il Sung’s birthday – and featured an entire hall filled with some of the most intensely arranged and ornate flowers I’ve ever seen.
That night we enjoyed some of the best beer in town at the Taedonggang Craft Brewery bar. There are seven different beers available, conveniently numbered 1-7, from lightest to darkest. Of course, the bar also has a healthy supply of Korea’s most popular liquor, Soju.
ACT 4
MOUNTAIN/NAMPO/BOAT
JEFF
The next morning we checked out of the Koryo Hotel and southwest to Mount Myohyangsan. It is a beautiful mountain, and I had a great time hiking it with the group.
After our hike, we enjoyed seafood and fresh clams at a restaurant in the port city of Nampo. After serving the food, the staff changed into costumes, and performed an entertaining song and dance routine.
After lunch, we chartered a private boat and cruised 15 kilometers down the Taedong River to the West Sea Barrage, a sprawling 8-kilometer long system of dams which blocks off the Taedong river from the yellow sea.
After a day on the water, we arrived at the remote Ryonggang Hot Springs Resort in Onchon, outside of Nampo. The bathtubs in our rooms filled up with water from the hot springs, which was advertised as “healing” and “therapeutic.”
ACT 5
DAY OF THE SUN
JEFF
We took a beautiful early morning ride through Onchon, passing many cooperative farms, we passed through Nampo and arrived back in Pyongyang where citizens were enjoying The Day of The Sun, birthday of the country’s founder Kim Il Sung, and the biggest Holiday in North Korea.
First we visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, a mausoleum where leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il lie in state.
After a lunch that consisted of North Korea’s signature dish, cold noodle soup, one member of group jumped into a soccer game with the locals, while I made some new friends.
Next we took a stroll through the iconic Moranbong Park, where we were greeted by the locals and even invited to dance with them.
We went across town to Mangyondae, Kim Il Sung’s birthplace, and toured a nostalgic recreation of the hut where he lived as a boy under Japanese occupation. We toured the site alongside a large group of boys who looked to be the DPRK’s version of the boy scouts.
All week we had been seeing the locals practicing dance routines, and finally we got to see what they had been working on; an extravagant, choreographed dance routine in the center of Pyongyang.
ACT 6
WRAP UP
JEFF
The DPRK is a place like no other; an enigmatic socialist time warp, filled with beauty and intrigue. I have traveled extensively, but my trip to North Korea with Uri Tours will remain by far of my most amazing travel experiences.
Super special thanks to Mike & Anne from HoneyTrek & RTW Packing List for their support in spreading word of this doc. They rock!
The Acid Lounge started as my radio show on the University of Colorado’s Radio1190 radio station for a solid five years, from 2000-2005. Now, it exists as a series of playlists and podcasts, published sporadically and sometimes monthly.
This week, I had the opportunity to speak at the Boulder JCC’s Ignite Chanukah Event. I gave a 5-minute Ignite talk entitled “The Frozen Chosen : Jews in Antarctica”. The talk, and rest of the event went great, with about 100 people attending, and food/drinks aplenty. Thanks to Michael and the Boulder JCC staff for hosting, Boulder Jewish News for covering the event, and the rest of the sponsors.
Related, here are two blog posts about my Chanukah celebrations on the ice:
Jeffrey Donenfeld talks to third graders about Antarctica.This past week in NYC, I had a great time speaking to my cousin’s 3rd grade class about life and work in Antarctica. As much as I like speaking with adult groups about the ice, I can truly say that kids absolutely ask the best questions. This class came prepared with lots of q’s about penguins and polar bears, ice cold temperatures, sunsets, icebergs, and food. Awesome!
If you want to keep your cold beer cold, hot coffee hot, and look good doing it, an insulated pint glass may be for you. Here’s how things went during my 2 month long evaluation of a 5 of the leading insulated pint glasses on the market.
TL;DR: The Stanley Stacking Vacuum Pint is the best insulated pint glass.
Kevin enjoying fresh morning coffee from the Stanley Stacking Vacuum Pint before a late-fall ascent of Grays and Torreys peaks.
The insulated pint glasses I tested were:
Hydro Flask True Pint
Stanley Stacking Vacuum Pint
Avex Brew Insulated Pint Glass
Kleen Kanteen Vacuum Insulated Tumbler
Silipint Happy Camper Measuring Pint
Primus Commuter Vacuum Insulated Mug
Kathmandu Coffee Grip Tumbler
What It Is
The vacuum insulated pint is the outdoor industry’s answer answer to the traditional pint glass. It’s the shape of a traditional 16oz pint glass, made of stainless steel, and has a double-walled vacuum insulated construction. The glasses don’t usually come with lids, although a few are available. They’re easily hand washable, are super durable, and look great. They don’t need coozys to insulate your hands from them, they don’t sweat with cold drinks, and you can pick them up immediately after pouring boiling water in them.
Who It’s For
It’s for the hip beer drinker or coffee connoisseur who love the form factor and universal utility of a pint glass (LIKE ME). It’s for the person who is sensitive to keeping their drink at the perfect temperature, and loves to look good while holding their drink. It’s for the person that needs more than an 8oz cup of coffee to get started in the morning, and wants the first and last sips just as hot. It’s for the person who wants to enjoy their drink in extremely hot or extremely cold environments. It’s for the person who doesn’t want their cold drink sweating on their wood table.
First Impressions
I love the general feeling of the pint glass – it’s perfect to hold, 16oz capacity is great for a solid drink, and the shape makes it easy to clean. All of these glasses, save for maybe the Primus one are generally shaped like traditional pint glasses.
Stanley, Silipint, Kleen Kanteen, and Primus ship theirs with lids – a nice addition for sure, even though I usually don’t use the lid.
While most of the glasses come in a variety of colors, I immediately prefered the universally good looking brushed stainless steel color.
The Avex pint comes with a nifty silicone band which provides additional grip, and prevents multiple glasses from dinging against each other when they’re in a box.
Testing Methodology
I used each one of these glasses in a regular rotation over the course of about two months. I drank my coffee out of them in the morning, drank soda water from them during the day, and relaxed with a cold beer at night. Additionally, I took the glasses on a bunch of camping trips for use hot and cold. I also dragged them out to my car to accompany me on my daily driving commutes.
How the pints stack up.
Each pint is different, and they each have their strengths and weaknesses. Overall, I tended to prefer the traditional-shaped glasses without too many extra bells and whistles like a built in bottle opener or lid. Here’s how testing went on each:
Stanley Stacking Vacuum Pint
The Stanley Stacking Pint is the undisputed winner of the insulated pint glass bunch. Its design is straightforward and good looking, it feels great in the hand, and it insulates both hot and cold like a champ. Out of all of the pints I tested, this is the one that naturally became my go-to pint for my morning coffee and afternoon soda water. I liked using it so much that I had to make a conscious decision to keep my rotation going so I could give equal review time to each pint.
The Stanley Pint features a minimal and basic design – it’s the size and shape of a standard pint glass, nothing more. No strange shapes, snazzy grips, bottle openers, or other superfluous features – just a pint glass. But a great one. The pint I tested was unpainted stainless steel, but they also sell it in a number of other colors, including the very handsome and classic “hammertone green”. The stainless steel is brushed on the outer wall, polished at the lip, and untextured/matte inside. The bottom has a very small lip around the edge, with a stainless steel disk covering the finishing port.
On the table, the Stanley Pint is handsome and singular. It holds its own as a nice looking drinking glass for social gathering, outdoors sports, etc. In addition, I believe the stainless steel color would even be at home in a more “trendy” house, classy yacht, or private rooftop poolside – it’s simple and classy. The black Stanley logo doesn’t stand out too much, and is understated and cool. The only improvement I could wish for on this front would be for the stanley logo to be laser etched into the steel near the bottom of the glass as simply the logotype without the box, rather than screened on with ink near the top – that would truly make it at home in the most sophisticated tables and for restaurant use.
In the hand, the pint feels natural and solid. The outside wall is smooth, but the combination of texture from the brushed steel and pint-glass-standard taper makes it solid to hold, even when wet. The lip at the top is slightly thicker than the Hyrdo Flask True Pint, but it’s still a pleasure to drink out of, and the polished lip keeps things looking and feeling clean.
Inside, the pint is matte steel, with straight walls down to the bottom. There’s a very slight lip at the very bottom, but nowhere near as pronounced as the True Pint. The straight inner walls of the pint make it easy to clean quickly with a sponge. So if you have a stack of these after a raucous party, they’re a cinch to wipe out.
Performance for this pint is excellent – hot stays hot, cold stays cold as you’d expect. It’s not leaps and bounds ahead of the competition – all of them did their jobs well – and this one is no exception. Buy this if you’re looking for the ultimate performing and good-looking vacuum insulated pint glass, and can do without added features, and a lid.
In the mean time, if you’re looking to pick up an insulated Stanley beer vessel, I’d recommend checking out the currently-available Classic Vacuum Pint. It’s much larger and heavier than the Stacking Vacuum Pint reviewed above, but it does come with its own lid with built in, removable bottle opener, and is more heavily insulated. It works great and looks good – although it’s certainly not as slick or nice as the Stacking Vacuum Pint. Use this Groupon coupon to pick up a Stanley Classic Vacuum Pint for a sweet discount online at Kohl’s.
Hydro Flask True Pint
The Hydro Flask True Pint looks and feels great. It’s brushed stainless steel inside and out, and remains true to the simple pint glass form factor. It doesn’t have any super special bells and whistles, and is purely an insulated pint glass – excellent.
For its 16oz capacity, the True Pint is remarkably svelte an feels great in the hand. It’s a bit more “conical” looking and feeling than other pint glasses – which is actually pretty nice to hold. The walls of the pint gently taper as they go up to the lip, and the lip is remarkably thin considering it’s a vacuum insulated pint. The True Pint I’ve been using is simply brushed stainless steel. It’s matte/brushed on the walls, except at the top lip, where it’s shined to a bright shine. The pint glass looks great, both on the table, and in the hand.
One small design detail that I’m not a fan of is the step-down lip on the inside of the pint. At the very bottom of it on the inside, the diameter suddenly narrows, breaking up the smooth and straight inner wall. I understand this is probably to aid in stacking the pints and preventing them from sticking together. However, I really do think it takes away from the complete aesthetic of the pint, and makes quickly cleaning it a bit of a pain – it’s hard to quickly stuff a sponge down in that little constriction at the bottom. Stanley seems to make a stacking pint work without this design quirk.
In use, the True Pint works very very well – it keeps hot hot and cold cold, no problem. The outsides of the glass never get hot or cold, and it sits flat and stable on the table.
Avex Brew Insulated Pint Glass
Gotta love them for trying to add a little something extra -the Avex Brew has a built in three-position bottle opener on the bottom. This allows you to grab a bottle of beer, use the base of the glass to open it, and then pour into the pint. The pint has a slightly higher capacity than most other pints, and comes with a nifty rubber ring that sits 2/3 of the way up the glass, and provides a bit of additional grip. There’s also a black grip ring glued onto the bottom, making it grip the table well. The blue color is bold and eye catching, and the polished steel at the top has a nice, although slightly warmer glow than others.
The bottle opener feature of this mug is great in theory – of course the time you really need a bottle opener is when you’re about to pour a beer. However, to make the bottle opener work, additional space is needed in the bottom of the pint – this increases the overall size, without any additional capacity. Additionally, the cavity needed for the bottle opener to work is nearly impossible to clean, and after a bunch of use, I’ve noticed a build up of random dirt and grime. I accidentally smushed some peanut butter into the bottle opener opening while it was sitting in the sink, and it took a good bit of scrubbing and a partially shredded sponge to get it out. The rubber grip ring is a fun accent – but in usage I didn’t feel like it added too much. similarly, the bottom grip ring is a nice touch – but i don’t feel like I was lusting after more grip in the first place, and I’m afraid that the ring is going to become unglued at some point in the future and fall off.
Also worth noting, Avex is partnering with 5 water conservation organizations and for one month, working with them to bring awareness to that organization. Check it out here: https://www.avexsport.com/ittakesadrop/
Buy this if you’re planning on dragging it to picnics and parties, and need a functional and distinctive glass that’s easy to spot and won’t slip from your hands once you’ve had a few.
Kleen Kanteen Vacuum Insulated Tumbler
The Kleen Kanteen Tumblr looks great – its stainless steel has the best finish and lustre of the bunch, and the chrome cap on the bottom is classy. The pint works great too. Out of the bunch, it was one of the best insulators, seemingly keeping my coffee hot for a bit longer, and cold drinks cold all day. Its construction is solid and reliable, and it sits firmly on the table.
However, after holding it and using it for a while, I felt that for a 16oz capacity, it was a little bit clunky. Its softly rounded base seemed to sit a little fat on the table, and holding it wasn’t as sleek as the rest.
Their lid is undeniably good – it seals on the pint well, opens and closes, and has a bonus straw hole. However in use, the shape of the lid made it hard to sip hot coffee without slurping up a bunch of air too. I’d much prefer the shape of a starbucks lid. I do commend them for making a pint glass lid – if you’re looking for an insulated pint that performs well, and can also transform into a commuter mug in a pinch, this is the one. If you’re a kitchen worker and are looking for a personal cup with lid to keep your shift-drink cold, this is the one. Buy this glass if you want an solidly built and shiny insulated pint that comes with a multifunctional lid.
Silipint Happy Camper Measuring Pint
Although not a vacuum insulated stainless steel pint, the Silipint stands on its own. The Silipint, as the name would imply, is a food-grade silicone pint glass. The walls are thick, yet the glass remains bendable and soft. It holds its shape perfectly, and its rubbery texture is easy to hold. My Silipint is the “happy camper” model, which is a frost-clear silicone, and has handy oz and cup measuring markers printed on the outside. I love that the pint glass is see-through and has the measuring markers on it – I recently used it to measure out all the ingredients for pancakes, and it makes for handy mixing of cocktails too.Although the pint glass doesn’t insulate quite as well as the vacuum insulated stainless steel ones, I was surprised at how well it did insulate. I could hold coffee at any temperature, and although the glass sweated a bit, it didn’t drip from sweat much.One other key feature is that since the glass is indestructible silicone. They’re flexible, so they can be crammed into your backpack, dropped by friends and kids, and generally abused as much as you want – they just bounce back to their original shape. And yes, they do bounce – I’ve tried it, and with the right angle, I can bounce it from the floor onto my kitchen counter.
One final note. After a bit of use, I’ve noticed that this pint has absorbed a little bit of food odor, which won’t seem to come out. The rest of the pints in this review are metal, and this one is silicone rubber, so I understand that it’s a slightly unfair comparison. However, it’s worth mentioning. As an example, this morning I drank 2 glasses of very strong, near-boiling coffee from an orange Silipint pint glass. After those, I quickly rinsed it out, filled it with ice, and drank about 3 glasses of plain soda water from it over the course of the day. Then I washed it out very thorougly with dish soap and water and sponge, and let it dry on the drying rack. Not sitting here with it clean and dry, I can faintly pick up the smell of coffee when I smell the inside of the glass. Comparing that to my Stanley stainless steel pint glass, which I have treated the same way on other days, I smell no odor at all. So, for that it’s worth, there go. If I wasn’t specifically testing for this I doubt I’d notice anything, but for the purpose of this review, I think it’s worth mentioning.
Buy this glass if you have kids or are prone to dropping things, and want a fun, indestructible glass that’s as good for poolside as it is barside.
Primus Commuter Vacuum Insulated Mug
The Commuter Mug is more of an insulated travelers mug than a pint glass. However, it’s still the basic size and shape of a pint glass, so I thought I’d include it in this review. The glass holds 16oz, and insulates great. After a an hour or so, my coffee is still hot, and my cold beer is still cold.The glass comes with its own screw-on commuter top, and the threads are molded directly into the steel of the glass. The screw on top seals well, and is easy to sip out of. However, after a bit of use, the clicky seal top began to stick and malfunction, and I ended up just leaving it unsealed most of the time. The other flaw with this glass is that the white paint on the outside goes right up to the lip of the glass. Making for a cool-looking white glass, however after a few uses, the paint started to chip off the tup, right where I put my lips. Flaking paint where you put your lips seems like a decent safety concern – so I removed this from the rotation as soon as I saw the flaking.
Buy this glass if you’re mainly on the go and in/out of your car a lot, but only use it with the included sealing top.
Kathmandu Coffee Grip Tumbler
Major fail. The pint glass is single wall stainless steel. Its insulation comes from an outer skin of corrugated rubber, which surrounds the entire outside of the glass, including wrapping around to the bottom. The corrugated rubber traps a layer of air between the rubber and the outside of the steel. This works in theory. However the rubber is soft and stretchable. So when the glass is used for hot beverages, the air in the gap expands, and stretches the rubber out into a bulbous shape around the glass. On the sides this would be fine, but the real failure here is that the normally flat bottom becomes rounded, preventing the glass from sitting stably on a surface. So, add your scalding hot coffee to the glass, set it down on your table, and by itself, this flawed pint glass will spill itself. I used this twice – once to test hot, and once to test cold. The cold performance is marginally better than a standard glass glass.
Don’t buy this.
The Best
The Stanley Stacking Vacuum Pint is the best insulated pint glass. Bold and handsome looks, awesome insulating performance, stacking perfection, and easy cleaning make this the leader of the bunch. Buy it on Amazon.
The Rest
Hydro Flask True Pint – Near perfect design and good looks. Slightly more flared shape makes design impact softer. The weird interior constriction in the bottom of the glass makes it a bit more of a pain to clean, and perhaps needlessly decreases volume. A strong runner up, though.
Silipint Happy Camper Measuring Pint – In a class of their own – perfect for accident-prone areas where ultimate insulation isn’t the goal. Fun and durable, but not the classiest of the bunch. Should be compared to other silicone pints.
Kleen Kanteen Vacuum Insulated Tumbler – Good, but not perfect lid. Lustrous and good looking finish with performance to match, but feels overbuilt.
Avex Brew Insulated Pint Glass – The built in bottle opener and rubber ring is fun, but ultimately not worth the added complexity. Love the larger capacity.
Primus Commuter Vacuum Insulated Mug – Flaking paint and a finicky lid. Even if you’re a commuter, there’s probably a better one out there.
Kathmandu Coffee Grip Tumbler – It spills itself. Enough Said.
In the lead-up to CES 2016, lots of new electronic products are being released. Cheero just brought out it’s high-power Power Plus 3 portable battery pack.
What It Is
The Cheero Power Plus 3 is a 13400mAh mobile USB Battery Pack. It’s meant to be carried with you to give you two USB power ports, for charging your mobile phone and other USB-charging electronics.
Who It’s For
This power pack is for the mobile professional who uses their phone and electronics hard throughout the day, and may need multiple charges throughout the day, need to charge multiple devices simultaneously, or may need to charge over the span of a few days. It seems great for traveling if the lightest weight is not a concern, or for mobile content producers who have lots of gadgets that need to be powered up.
First Impressions
The Power Plus 3 comes in a small, unadorned cardboard box, very much reminiscent of the Amazon “Frustration Free Packaging”. It’s easy to open and simple. Inside, the power pack is a small white square puck, almost exactly the size of 4 18650 batteries lying next to each other. The battery is slick and small, and remarkably heavy for its size. HIgh density. The package also comes with a good quality white Micro-USB Charging cable and user manual in Japanese and English.
Testing Methodology
I tested it by throwing it in my daily bag and using it to keep my iPhone, digital camera, and bluetooth headset powered up throughout the day. I also used it while traveling on a recent business trip.
Using It
Using the battery pack is simple and straightforward – charge it up with the Micro-USB port. Plug in your USB cables and attach your devices to charge, and click the button. The battery charges quickly and consistently – and it has a ton of power. On a recent trip, I used this thing with two phones almost every day, and it never skipped a beat. For its size, it’s surprisingly powerful, charging two phones at least twice every day.
Additionally, since the battery pack supports pass-through charging and has two output ports, I can plug it in to recharge overnight, as well as charge up two phones at the same time. The next morning both phones are completely charged, as is the battery pack. Perfect – and it only requires one usb power input to the battery to charge the battery and two phones simultaneously.
One other benefit of the large capacity, pass-through charging, and dual ports is energy buffering for less-than-ideal charging situations. For example, if I’m charging the battery from a solar panel and the sun goes behind the clouds (thereby dropping the panel’s output power), the devices I have plugged into the battery will still keep charging at their original speed, sipping from the battery directly.
The one subtle feature this battery is missing is a way to change the on/off behavior of the battery. Since the battery automatically turns off after a certain amount of time, and doesn’t turn on automatically when plugged into power, the battery won’t automatically start charging connected devices when it receives a charging current. This could potentially create issues in instances when I’m using the battery as a buffer from a solar input. Companies like Voltaic address this by adding a way to change from auto-off timer to always on, depending on the use case and what the user selects.
Good
For 13400mAh capacity, this thing is small! Seems like they got a great power density out of the Japanese 18650 cells they use inside. The USB ports are nice and tight, providing a good connection to your cable. The power button large and easy to find. The case is smooth and sleek feeling, and has a high quality look and feel to it. It’s flat on two opposing sides, so it stands up on end, which is kinda nice when it’s sitting on your cluttered desk. It charges with Micro-USB, which is the current standard for mobile charging (although I predict it will soon change to USB-C). Somebody made a custom leather case for it.
Bad
It doesn’t include a flashlight like most battery packs do – but in reality, I’ve never ever used the flashlight in any battery pack for anything. It just adds complexity. I’m glad they left it out of this. There’s only one high speed charging port – so one of your devices gets charged fast, and one slow – but if you’re charging an iPhone and a Bluetooth headset, it’s perfect. It doesn’t have USB-C, which I think is, or should be, the new universal data and power standard for electronics. Get rid of display port, usb-a, micro, mini usb, lightning, and just go with USB-C
Should You Buy It?
Buy it if you’re looking for a very high capacity in a relatively small size, only need 1 high-speed charging port, and don’t need USB-C. I’d tend to wait for the next round of battery packs to be release which support USB-C charging – which will be backwards compatible (with an adapter) to USB-A, and be able to charge up your new Macbook, Chromebook Pixel, or future laptops and gadgets which use the new and super-versatile USB-C spec. I’ waiting for one of those. I’m personally waiting to get my hands on a MOS Reach Go.
Fall colors in Colorado are beautiful – and what better vantage point than the top of 2 Colorado 14ers. This weekend, I did the Fall 14er adventure and climbed with a group of friends to the tops of Grays and Torreys Peaks. (USGS Topo Quad)
Wikipedia:
“Grays Peak is the tenth highest summit of the Rocky Mountains of North America and the U.S. state of Colorado. The prominent 14,278-foot (4,352 m) fourteener is the highest summit of the Front Range and the highest point on the Continental Divide in North America. (There are higher summits, such as Mount Elbert, which are near, but not on, the Divide.) Grays Peak is located in Arapahoe National Forest, 3.9 miles (6.2 km) southeast by east (bearing 122°) of Loveland Pass on the Continental Divide between Clear Creek and Summit counties. The peak is the highest point in both counties.”
Cooking and lighting with the Biolite, with the rest of our camping toys strewn about
Fresh coffee in the morning.
Kevin enjoying fresh morning coffee from the Stanley Stacking Vacuum Pint before a late-fall ascent of Grays and Torreys peaks.
Fueling up for our climb..
Our first de-layering stop. Things heat up as soon as the sun comes over the mountain.
Morning light…
Kevin taking a quick break…
Selfies!
As we ascended higher, the snow began to creep in a little…
Approaching the summit ridge of Grays Peak
Lunch at the top
We made it to the top!
Jumping for joy at the top of Torreys
Jumping for joy at the top of Torreys
Shooting mountain photos with the Lytro Illum
Descending Torreys in the light snow.
On our descent, we encountered a beautiful white mountain goat.
Travel is getting hipper and hipper, and toiletry companies are getting in on developing new packaging and products for those of us on the move. Squeeze Pod makes convenient single-serving toiletry pods aimed at the lightweight traveler. They sent me a few packets to try out on trip or two – here’s how it went.
What is it:
Squeeze Pod Travel Size Toiletries are a series of super-small, single use toiletries packets, made for quick and easy traveling and usage when you only need a few night’s worth of bathroom supplies. Each pod has a rigid plastic shell and foil cover, which is snapped open for use. All products are natural and eco-friendly. Products in the line include: Shampoo, conditioner, body wash, facial cleanser, shave cream, hair gel, hand sanitizer, moisturizing lotion, toilet odor eliminator.
From Squeeze Pod:
Squeeze Pod is an innovative line of single-use natural toiletries. Made in the USA, these single-use pods are leak-proof, TSA-compliant, vegan and PETA-certified cruelty-free. Squeeze Pod natural toiletries are perfectly suited for those with on-the-go lifestyles; busy families, business travelers, adventure-seekers and more.
Who it’s for:
It’s for the on-the-go traveler who needs only a few nights worth of toiletries, and who is mainly staying at hotels or homestays, rather than camping or backpacking.
First impressions:
I received the box of toiletries on the mail, and was impressed that they included a plastic toiletry bag, which is actually pretty nice. The pods are bundled together in strips of three, and are relatively easy to separate. Once opening the package and dumping them all out, I was a little scared with all the little plastic pods scattered everywhere.. seemed like a lot of small items for just a few toiletries.
How I tested:
Squeeze Pod sent me a package including sample of all of their pods, as well as a clear toiletry bag, I do a bit of travel, and used the pods during a few recent trips, as well as at home. Notably, recently I took a weekend trip to NYC for a bit of business, and flew Spirit Airlines. Spirit has very strict baggage policies, so I packed only in my small briefcase shoulder bag. The small travel pods were perfect for this!
Design:
Each pod is a teardrop shaped plastic pod, with a semi-circular rounded back, and a foil piece covering the flat front. The pods are connected in groups of three, and they’re easy to snap apart. However, once separated, they leave jagged sharp bits of plastic on the edges. Kinda hazardous when fishing around in your toiletry bag for one after getting out of the shower with wet, soft skin.
In Use:
The actual products the pods contain is great. They smell great, and all work great. Some of the products, like the body wash are items I’d love to start using full-time, if there were large bottles available. I appreciate that they’re all-natural too, although to be honest, that wouldn’t be the biggest selling point for me. The pods are small, and opened by folding the plastic tip backwards, breaking the plastic and opening the packet. The foil and plastic are soft enough that the product can be squeezed out. However, because half of the pod is made of plastic, it’s difficult to squeeze every last drop out. Still an easy experience though – and totally possible with wet, soapy hands.
After the product is dispensed, the pod becomes trash – so for each use, you generate a piece of trash that’s a combination of plastic and foil. This was actually my only big complaint about the Squeeze Pods – they generate trash! I understand the use case for individual-serving packets,but really hated cleaning up little plastic pods all over the bathroom floor that I had chucked over the curtain as I used them in the shower. I feel for travelers, the utility of the small packets is great, but if you’re going to any more than a few nights, a small 3oz bottle (the 3oz bottles from Sea-to-Summit are what I swear by – they’re cheap, come with product in them, have a tried-and-tested no-leak cap, and are refillable) of product would much more convenient, generate less trash, and be refillable. The teardrop, half rigid pods are a cool way of packaging the product, and make it easy to snap open when your hands are slippery. However, I feel like the product could also have been packaged in ketchup packets to contain the same volume, pack down even smaller, and generate trash that may compact down more after use.
Shampoo, conditioner – A great combo, works as well if not better than what I usually use in the shower, and smells great – like what I’d get at a salon.
Body wash, facial cleanser – Both of these smell great and work just fine. The facial cleanser was good, but I’d still opt for my regular. The Body wash smelled so good I’d opt for that all the time, if they sold a big bottle of it.
Shave cream – It spreads! Just the little pod of it is good for all but the heaviest beards.
Hair gel – I actually didn’t use.
Hand sanitizer – NOT alcohol based, but very creamy feeling and nice smelling. Takes a minute to rub in.
Toilet odor eliminator – It works, but I’m not usually so finely concerned about this issue, so I think the utility may have been lost on me.
Good:
The product in Squeeze Pods is top-notch. Works great, smells great, and is definitely on-par with any other premium toiletry I’ve used. Using Squeeze Pods is not a compromise on product quality.
They’re small and convenient for a night or two, or for your “office overnight” kit.
The plastic case they come with is nice for a basic dop kit.
Bad:
The actual pods are one-time-use and generate trash on every use. You end up with lots of little plastic pieces in the trash. If you’re camping, lots of little plastic to pack out, or risk losing in the woods.
The plastic pods have sharp edges once they’re separated from each other. Not the biggest issue, but could be pokey if you’re fishing in the bottom of your bag for moisturizer.
Specs:
Squeeze Pod’s current product line includes the following: Natural Shampoo (SulfateFree,) Natural Conditioner (Sulfate-Free,) Natural Body Wash, Natural Facial Cleanser, Natural Shave Cream, Natural Hair Gel, Natural Hand Purifier, Natural Moisturizing Lotion and Natural Toilet Odor Eliminator.
Should you buy it?
Buy it to keep in your desk at work just in case you need to stay overnight. Buy it to take with you on a single-night work trip where you’re packing in only one hand-carry bag. Buy it for your wife so she can keep a few small packets of moisturizer in her bag, instead of letting a pump-bottle spill everywhere. But if you’re traveling for more than a few nights, going to the outdoors, etc, I’d suggest looking to a refillable, reusable bottle.
More info…
Buy Squeeze Pods direct at Squeezepod.com or on Amazon with free shipping for Prime members. .
“False acceptance”, overcommitment, and an imbalance of giving/taking behavior is a huge consideration in both the workplace and our everyday lives. It’s been a subject that I’ve been keenly aware of and interested in, stemming from my days working in interactive media in NYC. This article from the Harvard Business Review is a great analysis of workplace giving and taking, and I highly suggest reading it as a beginning step in refining your role as a manager in your busy work environment.
Last November, I had the privilege of testing out the Lytro Illum Lightfield Camera while exploring Cuba. Here’s my quick review of the innovative camera.
While the Illum was an interesting camera to shoot with, after snapping multi thousands of photos with it, and editing a countless number, I can say that it’s not really the best camera I’ve ever shot with. Sure, the perspective shift and focus shift features are really neat and enable more creative possibilities – but besides these neat tricks, the photos the camera makes is just not that great quality. When looking at just the flat photos it takes, I’m underwhelmed, and was constantly wishing I had my RX100m3 in my hand instead, to just take a great quality version of the same scene, even without the re-focusability. So I’m definitely a fan of the Lytro Illum for it’s extremely innovative new features and unlocking of new photographic realms. However, I don’t feel like these new capabilities really added anything substantial and long lasting to my photos, once the novelty of clicking around in the custom viewer wore off.
The Illum is a cool looking camera. It’s futuristic and sleep, representing an SLR from the far future. However, its actual physical functionality is extremely limited, compared with the functionality of a similarly sized and shaped standard DSLR camera, for example any Canon Digital SLR, from a Rebel on upwards. The buttons just weren’t as responsive as the could have been, the screen not as bright and clear as it could have been, and the touch screen interface is just not great. For in-the-field, from-the-hip shooting, you need to have your physical controls dialed in perfectly, easily adjustable, and to a point where there’s absolutely no time needing to be spent waiting or dealing with the interface. The Illum wasn’t there yet.
Testing Method
Today at Boomtown Accelerator, we were treated to a presentation by mentor Ethan Zoubek, who spoke about key concepts in relating to people and making room in your life and mind for things to just… happen. Here are a few notes from Ethan’s talk.
Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be going through Harvard Professor Michael Sandel’s Ethics and Morality course “Justice: What’s The Right Thing To Do”. It’s part of my University of Denver MBA program’s Executive Leadership class, and I’m glad that we’re incorporating so many high quality resources into our overall curriculum.
Starting this spring, I’ll be attending the University of Denver Daniels College of Business Executive MBA Program in order to earn my Master of Business Administration graduate degree. It’s an 18-month long program, in a small cohort experienced professionals.
This year while attending CES 2016, Homido hooked me up with their super tiny Google Cardboard VR viewer, the Homido Mini. After a bunch of testing, my verdict is: this is the cardboard viewer to get.
Those work great, but I think that the quality of VR on your smartphone is somewhat limited, and is not the best. A simle viewer like the Homido Mini is all you need to get a great experience with VR on your smartphone, and there’s no need to go any more complicated with larger viewers. If you want higher quality, upgrade to an overall higher end, dedicated system, like the Oculus.
“Remocam is a Smart Home security camera that can monitor your home, business, or vacation home. It sends live video feed and motion detection alerts to the Remocam app on your smartphone. It’s also equipped with a Smart Home capability that lets you control your electronic devices.”
Q: Hey guys, I just installed my Remocam to test it, and it’s working great. For permanent installation, I’m thinking about putting it somewhere where I have some other gear installed. Unfortunately there’s no proper electrical outlet nearby, but there is an avaiable high-power USB port I could use. Is it possible to power Remocam via USB, like most other electronics? I see that the power adapter is 5volts, 2 amps – so that seems like it’s low enough power to be supported by USB. Is there a Micro-USB or USB-C version?A: If you would like to power Remocam via USB, you will need a 5V/2amps USB charger. We only provide the power cord that comes with Remocam, we do not supply the USB chargers. Does this answer your question? [ed: No, this didn’t answer the question – since the Remocam has no Micro-USB or USB-C input port, it’s not possible to power it via USB. Even with the existing power input port, they didn’t supply any sort of USB adapter cable – so no, it cannot be plugged into a usb charger, even if the power rating is correct.]
Q: Hey guys, I love the remocam, but I currently use a self-managed cloud server to record security camera footage. How do i configure the remocam to stream its video to a different server, other than to Remocam?A: Remocam can only include to our Cloud serve that we provide. It is unable to be configured to stream to a different server. Sorry about this! Hope it is not too inconvenient for you!
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Who It’s For
Should you buy it?
Who It’s For
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I tested the UE Boom2 in my home, in my office, and while traveling up and down to the Colorado ski mountains over the course of about a month. I listened to music on Spotify from my iPhone AND an android phone, locally stored FLAC tracks from my computer, podcasts from the iOS podcast app, audio cast from the Chromecast Audio and connected to the aux port, and took a bunch of conference calls on it.
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The Acid Lounge started as my radio show on the University of Colorado’s Radio1190 radio station for a solid five years, from 2000-2005. Now, it exists as a series of playlists and podcasts, published sporadically and sometimes monthly.
This power pack is for the mobile professional who uses their phone and electronics hard throughout the day, and may need multiple charges throughout the day, need to charge multiple devices simultaneously, or may need to charge over the span of a few days. It seems great for traveling if the lightest weight is not a concern, or for mobile content producers who have lots of gadgets that need to be powered up.
Using the battery pack is simple and straightforward – charge it up with the Micro-USB port. Plug in your USB cables and attach your devices to charge, and click the button. The battery charges quickly and consistently – and it has a ton of power. On a recent trip, I used this thing with two phones almost every day, and it never skipped a beat. For its size, it’s surprisingly powerful, charging two phones at least twice every day.
Fall colors in Colorado are beautiful – and what better vantage point than the top of 2 Colorado 14ers. This weekend, I did the Fall 14er adventure and climbed with a group of friends to the tops of Grays and Torreys Peaks. (USGS Topo Quad)
Travel is getting hipper and hipper, and toiletry companies are getting in on developing new packaging and products for those of us on the move. Squeeze Pod makes convenient single-serving toiletry pods aimed at the lightweight traveler. They sent me a few packets to try out on trip or two – here’s how it went.
First impressions:
In Use:
Good:
