Holidays
TSA agents may steal your belongings
Would you be surprised if I told you that some TSA agents have been caught stealing from passengers? The TSA is reporting that an agent at JFK may have stolen up to $5,000 in cash from passengers as their personal affects rolled down the screening conveyor belt. Another TSA employee, this time in Dallas, has been put on administrative leave because he may have stolen up to 8 iPads from passengers. MSNBC interviewed (Nico Melendez ) a TSA spokesperson who made some interesting recommendations for travellers:
Canada's WestJet to charge more service fees
Westjet is Canada’s second largest airline and it recently announced that it has found opportunities to double “ancillary revenue”. Ancillary revenue is income derived from non-ticket sources. One of the possible sources of new income “could be” checked baggage. The Westjet CEO said more specifically (according to Reuters) that they are carefully watching airline industry practice of charging passengers a fee as of the first checked bag (Air Canada charges $25 as of the first checked bag). This provides more motivation to be a onebag traveller.
Veho 360 Bluetooth speaker review
Although this is primarily a European product, it is often easily available on ebay and I wanted to conduct a quick review for my readers. I received this as a christmas gift and have been using it daily for about 3 weeks now. Quick look The Veho 360 is a small cylindrical battery powered speaker. It stands 5 cm tall and 4cm in diameter. The device has a 2.2 watt speaker that shoots sound out from the top. On the side, it has 2 ports: a charging port and a 3.
Be safe when staying in a hotel (part 4) - Hotels are for spying
In most countries, a hotel is simply a convenient place for you to stay and recharge. Without naming any specific countries, local intelligence agencies in some of them are known to use hotels as an information collection tool on guests. In these countries, you should assume that everything you do is monitored including telephone conversations via the telephone assume the hotel's internet service is monitored assume the room is bugged for audio monitoring and sometimes even video This being said, it is important to never leave your laptop, PDA or confidential/important documents in the room.
Be safe when staying in a hotel (part 3) - What to do when checking in
When travelling, it is best to assume that anyone can be a hostile. When you pull up to the hotel, ensure all of your luggage is removed from the taxi or bus. Stay with your luggage until it is brought into the hotel lobby. Even in the lobby, always keep an eye out for your luggage. Remember that thieves are always looking for distractions and a busy lobby may be the perfect opportunity to snatch your items (or stuff something) in your bag.
Be safe when staying in a hotel (part 2)
How to choose the safest hotel room Always choose a room between the 4th and 6th floor (never lower and never higher). The 6th floor maximum is in place because most fire department truck ladders have a maximum height equal to the 6th floor[ of most hotels]. Any higher and rescue during an emergency becomes problematic. The 4th floor recommend is in place to make it difficult for someone to enter your room from the ground floor (from the outside).
US thanksgiving black friday sales record set
Although the final numbers arent in yet, many analysts are already predicting a record year for Black Friday sales. IBM is predicting a 24.3% increase sales over last year for black friday sales. ComScore says online sales grew 26% (compared to 2010) totalling $816 million. ShopperTrak said : “This is the largest year-over-year gain in ShopperTrak’s National Retail Sales Estimate for Black Friday since the 8.3 percent increase we saw between 2007 and 2006. Still, it’s just one day. It remains to be seen whether consumers will sustain this behavior through the holiday shopping season.