I got a little news today

1. Boingo is launching retail and commercial services.  Chicago is just the first city and I’m sure it will grow.  Boingo will be covering convention space as well as showrooms.  I’m not sure what they mean by showrooms but I do know that if folks can pay for Boingo instead of the outrageous fees for internet at trade shows there will be some very happy customers.

2. The other piece of news I got today is from PayPal.  This is the second time they scared me.  Each time I get a call from them I think OH NO someone hacked my PayPal account and all my money is gone.  That hasn’t happened and it’s their PR folks calling to update me on something.  Today it was that PayPal is now in open beta with their online payments library for the iPhone and iPad.
I usually wouldn’t cover this kind of thing but they were so nice on the phone I just decided to.

A few months back I was flying out of Long Beach Airport (LGB) in California and decided to test the internet speed when I was there.  I like many others have been known to spend a great deal of time waiting for flights that are sometimes shorter then the time we wait in the airport.  At bigger airports there are airline club rooms that aren’t all that bad to spend some time in, but Long Beach airport isn’t one of them.  It’s as big as some of those more luxurious club rooms but being small is part of it’s advantage.  I can litteraly go from the curb to the furthest gate in under 3 minutes and that’s not even breaking a sweat.

I really like flying in and out of LGB and like most of my readers I tap into the wifi in the airport during the wait to board.  My last two times waiting to fly out of LGB were very different.  One I had reasonable internet at 2.09mbps down and 1.64mbps up.  I want to congratulate the airport on doing this right.  It’s not as fast as I’d like to see but it will sure do when checking email and using Google Docs.

On the other hand my most recent visit to the airport was very different.  I couldn’t find an access point to use to get on the net.  I tried every single AP and none worked.  I checked Boingo which usually gets me on at most airports and no luck there.  I ended up having to use my trusty Nokia phone with JoikuSpot (a program that turns your phone into a wifi hotspot utilizing your networks 3G data) running on it to get on the web.

I’m not sure what happened to Long Beach Airports wifi but I was disappointed to find I couldn’t use it.  Oh well, there’s always next time.

I left on vacation a few days back, as I write this I’m in the passenger seat of a giant 12 passenger Ford F350 van.  This thing is a monster but I like it. I’ve been preparing my electronic gear bag (I like to call it my toy bag) and I never know exactly what I’m going to bring until I leave.  I have also been updating the firmware on some of my phones (N85, N79, and N97) and in the case of my E71 I had to reinstall all my apps and have it ready for this big trip.  So I decided to make a list of all the apps I’m putting on my E71.

• emoze – push email – 1 email or facebook account is free, then it’s a yearly subscription
• Taskman – manage the apps on my phone – 1 time fee
• Nokia Email – mobile email – free for now but will start charging for it
• Ovi Maps 3.0 – map program -free with option to buy voice guidance
• Ovi Contacts – mobile IM – free
• Ovi Store – place to download apps for Nokia phones
• Qik – Video Capture and instant upload to the web – free
• Gmail Java app – mobile email – free
• Google Maps – java map app – free
• Skyfire – web browser – free
• Truphone -mobile VOIP (highly recommend) – free within SIP network and paid for other
• Boingo – agrigated wifi service – paid
• Nimbuzz – IM and VOIP – free
• Fring – IM and VOIP – free

This isn’t a complete list but what I put on for this trip knowing I needed my phone to be my single point of communication at some times.

Update: Truphone is my lifesaver. I had nearly 0 reception in my cousins newly remodeled basement and not very good reception anywhere else in their house and Truphone made it possible for me to conduct a few business calls and conference calls I needed to participate in.  I also loved how easy it was to reroute my Google Voice # to my Truphone # in just a few seconds.  Once again Truphone combined with Google Voice (previously Grand Central) saved the day land kept me working.

So I am going away for 3 weeks this winter.  I will  be visiting the beautiful country of Israel.  I am trying to line up my technology in advance for this trip and trying to keep it as light and little as possible.  I will have a handful of phones with me including the Nokia N78, N95, and my trusty yet dated E61i, I have a review netbook at the moment.  It is an Asus Eee PC 901 and I am loving it.  I also have a Proporta battery pack, which will keep my Nokias charged everywhere.  As for connectivity at airports and around the city I have a Boingo account that should keep me connected at the 4 airports I will be visiting and I hope lots of other locations around Israel.  I am concerned though that I will run out of juice on the netbook mid flight.  I am planning on making it a video  player for my daughter and I don’t want her upset the battery died mid Elmo episode.  I wish I could get a tip for my Proporta charger to use with the Asus.  I am considering purchasing a converter for use in cars and on the airplane to plug the Asus into.

I now have to start thinking about my connectivity to the grid.  I already have an Orange Big Talk sim card to use for my voice needs.  I am now looking into data so I can stay connected to email, IM, Jaiku, Twitter, and mobile maps and search.  I count heavily on mobile connectivity and being able to search and look up maps whille I’m mobile.  I am hoping that I can add data onto my Orange sim card but don’t have high expectations.  Last year when I was in Israel I had the sim in a Nokia N95 and it was not able to access the data I paid for.  My contingency plan for data is using United Mobile.  I have to check on the data rates but they usually pretty competitive.

Two of my favorite services I use everyday are GrandCentral and Truphone.  I take all my calls via GrandCentral and forward them to Truphone.  I can either answer the calls via Truphone or forward them to my current GSM #.  When I change sims upon landing in Tel Aviv the Truphone app on my phone will ask me if I want to forward my calls to my Orange sim versus my AT&T sim I use in the US.  This means I can have all my calls forwarded to my Orange sim in  Israel and not pay a penny for the service or to receive calls on the Orange sim.  If this is getting confusing to you imagine how I feel, but it works and it works quite well.  I did the same kind of thing when I was in Barcelona earlier this year using a Yoigo sim card.

As everybody the world over knows Los Angeles has the worst traffic anywhere.  When I give directions to out of towners and they ask how long it will take to get here or there I say x amount of time or all day.  The sky is the limit.  So I was on my way to a meeting and got here a bit early, so what  do I do, whip out the Asus Eee PC 901 I was kindly sent to review.  I figured I would be able to connect via Boingo, an aggregater of wifi hotspots.  Well as my luck usually goes Boingo doesn’t connect right off the bat.  I fiddle with it a bit and use JoikuSpot to get on line to retrieve the Boingo customer service number.

When I call I’m greeted by a very nice women named Bianca.  I won’t go into the harrowing details of her getting me back on track but in short she got me set back up and ready to work.  I can’t tell you how frustrated I would have been talking to me and how grateful I am that she didn’t get pissed and tell me to shove off.

Anyways, many thanks to Bianca and Boingo for being and having such great customer service.

I was fortunate enough to be asked to participate in a promotion by Boingo to test out and use their service. Boingo is a service that unifies many paid and free wifi hotspots together to give you one log in at all of these thousands of locations. The service runs $10 for a mobile version and $22 for the computer based version, there is also a $59 international option. I heard today that they have over 100,000+ wifi hotspots in their world wide network and it is growing regularly.

I have used Boingo now a hand full of times and have really appreciated the service. Recently I was at a Marriott and was connected immediately upon opening my MacBook. I had 2.8mbps down and 1.8mbps up, this provided and controled by the service provider iBahn but I was still pleased. The speeds are not great but the fact that I connected automatically and was able to do work like check email and surf the net was great. I look forward to using the service more as I will be traveling this winter a great deal and think this will really enhance my time in between meetings and at airports plus it will open up remote out of office locations where I can meet with people and now still be connected.

Thanks Boingo and I will keep you all informed of how Boingo keeps me connected. By the way congratulations to Boingo and Telefonica for their new partnership and adding tens of thousands of new hotspots in Spain.

So this morning started like any other morning except when my wife got in the car with my daughter it wouldn’t start. Being suburban living big city Americans the first thing we did was call AAA. They came out and diagnosed the problem as a bad battery (Joe was extremely courteous and helpful) so it got jumped. So instead of going to work like I usually would in my home office I had to take the car in to get a new battery, while I was there we decided it needs new tires, brakes, a brake flush, and an oil change. So what does a self employed mobile evangelist (I’m really an event planner) do??? You guessed it, I brought my trusty Apple MacBook and started working. Remember though, we jumped the car and I couldn’t just leave it for a half hour while I made sure everything was charged and ready to go, no I had to close the lid on my laptop, stuff it in my Crumpler bag (thanks Nokia) and go. Since this morning I have done all kinds of regular work related things, like making calls sending email and lots more. Gone are the days where spending time at the mechanic is time wasted. I have been working for about 5 hours until the MacBook battery gave out and now I’m typing this on my IGo Stowaway BT keyboard and the most amaizing Nokia E71. Today was not as productive as it could have been if I had my regular truly highspeed internet, duel screen set up and mouse, but working on a 13 inch MacBook with less then optimal wifi isn’t as bad as it could have been. I’m actually enjoying typing on this tiny bluetooth keyboard creating this post but wouldn’t want to do it every day. I must say though, being ready at a moments notice is a way of life and in this case very useful. I suggest everyone, especially you take a few minutes and make sure their laptop bag is packed or you have a little “go bag” packed.

Here’s a list of what I always, have ready to go either in my laptop bag which is for everyday life or in my go bag which is for emergencies or for longer then a day or 2 out of the office.

• Chargers for phone, bluetooth headset, laptop and other powered accessories
• Spare batteries
  
• Electrical currency converters for traveling outside my home country
  
• My Boingo log in information
• Log in and pass words all incoded for important sites
  
• A Cat 5 cable for the laptop
• A spare set of contact lenses
• The sim cards I have for other countries
• My MaxRoam sim card
• Ear phones
• Business Cards
• Pen and a pad of paper
• A Proporta charger
• Note: Leave a copy of your credit cards, drivers license, health insurance card, and passport with a trustworthy friend

Now as I wait for the Firestone guys to finish working on my wifes car I’m glad I won’t be working like this again tomorrow, but I could make this a lifestyle with a little more preparation. Take a look here at the Working Anywhere blog for tips on being a global nomad.

I’m lucky enough to get to test different products and services sometimes and wanted to share this one with my readers.  Boingo is offering their GoBoingo service for free this weekend.  It can be used on a laptop or a mobile device.

With GoBoingo, you’ll have one-click access to the world’s largest Wi-Fi network, including more than 500 airports and 17,000 hotels. You can even use Boingo around town at participating McDonald’s®, Barnes & Noble, and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf locations.

So, download GoBoingo (www.boingo.com/freedom), get your free Wi-Fi pass for a limited time and enjoy the holiday, compliments of Boingo.

I’m going to be testing their service for the next few months and reporting back to them and to you on here.  Do post any experiences you have with them on the blog and you can be sure we will let Boingo know.   Just so all the Mac users know they have a great Mac app so don’t worry about being left out.