Why You Should Love America’s Worst Airport | Bloomberg

March 7, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

LaGuardia smells like a used car filled with old Cinnabon bags. It’s New York’s second-busiest airport (behind John F. Kennedy International), and yet there’s no convenient way to get there by mass transit. The floors are scuffed. The carpets are stained. Some of the bathroom stalls don’t have working locks. Just this month, a runway was struck by lightning, and brown water poured out of a ceiling. Each year it serves about 28 million people through a hodgepodge of terminals that seem to be perpetually under construction. During a 2015 speech about infrastructure, then-Vice President Joe Biden told a Philadelphia audience, “If I blindfolded you and took you to LaGuardia Airport in New York, you must think, I must be in some Third World country.” People laughed. “I’m not joking,” Biden said. People laughed some more.

I don’t know why, though. LaGuardia is my favorite airport. I want one thing from an airport: to get me to my gate as quickly as possible. LaGuardia, dilapidated hellhole that it is, is pretty good for this. “I can get to the airport 41 minutes before my flight and be fine. That’s impossible at most big-city airports,” says Brian Kelly, founder of the Points Guy website, which offers money- and time-saving air travel tips. Kelly’s good fortune is a result of those terminals, which spread out fliers instead of funneling them through a central departure point.

Are We Breaking The Internet? | Fast Company

March 6, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Recent outages from critical services across the net have created massive disruption in recent weeks: Whether it was Amazon’s S3 service failure, which took down thousands of sites, Cloudflare’s “Cloudbleed” security issue, which forced many sites to ask users to reset their passwords, or Google Wifi’s accidental reset, which wiped out customer’s internet profiles, the infrastructure behind the internet has looked substantially more unstable recently.

The packetized technology that underlies most of the internet was created by Paul Baran as part of an effort to protect communications by moving from a centralized model of communication to a distributed one. While the Internet Society questions whether the creation of the internet was in direct response to concerns about nuclear threat, it clearly agrees that “later work on Internetting did emphasize robustness and survivability, including the capability to withstand losses of large portions of the underlying networks.”

10 Grammar and Proofreading Tools for Content Marketers | Duct Tape Marketing

March 3, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

In creating online content for your business, you want to ensure it has several essential ingredients checked off before distributing it to your readers. Above all else, it needs to be interesting and engaging for them, or you’ll quickly lose their attention. But, second to that, it’s crucial that the grammar, spelling, and punctuation of your content be flawless.

When errors find themselves throughout your content, it not only calls into question your credibility as a reliable and trusted source, but it also causes readers to ask about your motives and whether you’ve put in the time and effort to create quality content for them.

Avoid those mistakes and those questions by properly proofreading your content before it goes out, with the help of these amazing tools:

The Craziest Things That Have Been Funded on Kickstarter in 2017, So Far | Entrepreneur

March 3, 2017March 3, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Kickstarter is a great way for entrepreneurs to get funding for their out-there ideas. And when it comes to crowdfunding — no idea is too crazy. You’d be surprised at some of the things people are willing to fund.

In 2014, Zach “Danger” Brown wanted $10 to make a potato salad — so he started a Kickstarter campaign that wound up raising more than $55,000. From an ostrich pillow to a Grilled Cheesus (i.e. a sandwich press that toasts the face of Jesus in bread) — you’d be surprised at some of the campaigns that gained traction.

A pen made from air pollution, an origami canoe, a levitating timepiece — this year, we’ve already started seeing wild campaigns. Check out the craziest Kickstarter campaigns of 2017 — so far.

KLM tests boarding via facial recognition system | Tnooz

March 2, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Dutch airline KLM has started a pilot project to see if facial recognition software would make boarding any easier and quicker for passengers.

The “biometric boarding” technology has been designed so that passengers do not have to show their passport or boarding pass at the gate.

The system has been installed at a single gate at the airline’s home airport of Schiphol in Amsterdam and is expected to be in place for at least three months.

Passengers will be asked to register at a kiosk beforehand, as they approach the gate for their flight.

Want To Travel In Business Class Flight Cheaply? Here Are 8 Tricks How | Life Hack

March 2, 2017March 2, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Every once in a while we all want to take a vacation or visit someone special. Whether you are an avid flyer or this is your first time, you have to know that you can take advantage of that luxurious business class privilege. We know it is expensive – with all the lavish seats, meals and champagne, and great service from the attendants – but here are some tricks where you can grab this luxury at a lower price.

Upgrade by using loyalty points

Airlines nowadays use loyalty points to entice customers into coming back. If you frequently fly, the miles can add up and you can use them one day for upgrading. A good number of airlines allow their customers to get upgrades on tickets bought for cash. If you have accumulated sufficient points over the past several flights, you can use the earned points to get yourself a seat in the business class. Accumulated points normally have an expiration date. Keep yourself updated with the airlines’ newsletters and emails to know when your points are due to expire.

Snapchat shares to begin trading on NYSE | Business Insider

March 2, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Snap Inc. will make its debut as a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday morning.

The parent company of Snapchat priced an initial public offering of 200 million shares at $17 apiece. That raised $3.4 billion for the company and some investors, and gives Snap a valuation of nearly $24 billion.

The stock is currently indicated to open at between $22 and $24 a share, according to price indications at 10:15 a.m. E.T.

What Do Women in Other Markets Really See When They Watch a Nike Ad? We Asked Them | Adweek

March 1, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

In a recent Nike ad about equality, created by Wieden + Kennedy, a conviction-laden voice says, “Opportunity does not discriminate.” In the background, Alicia Keys croons, “Change is gonna come.”

With that gorgeous piece of work, Nike touted its commitment to inspire people to take local action to advance the values of sportsmanship, self-empowerment and acceptance off the field. Perhaps in keeping with that, the Nike Women account on YouTube—mainly used to promote Nike Training Club—has, since January, released four different regional ads that seize upon these ideas.

In other words, Nike appears to be doubling down on ads that speak directly to women, with calls to activate locally and change social norms.

So, we decided to talk to women from each market to get a better sense of what they’re saying. Find those conversations below, along with the ads.

Google Targets Cable With ‘YouTube TV’—40 Channels for $35 | WIRED

March 1, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

GOOGLE JUST JOINED the “skinny bundle” TV war with YouTube TV, a paid subscription service that streams a slew of premium broadcast and cable networks to your mobile device, tablet, computer, and anything with Chromecast.

Just $35 a month gets you six accounts and access to live TV from more than 40 providers including the big broadcast networks, ESPN, regional sports networks and dozens of popular cable networks. Subscriptions include cloud DVR with unlimited storage, AI-powered search and personalization, and access to YouTube Red programming. YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki calls it the evolution of television, and a bid to “give the younger generation the content that they love with the flexibility they expect.”

Are Any Fad Diets Actually Healthy? What the Research Shows | Live Science

February 28, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

With so many diet fads around these days, how do you know which ones are actually good for you?

In a new review of studies covering about 40 years, researchers attempted to dispel the hype surrounding some popular diet trends and to outline what experts really know about a heart-healthy diet. They presented what might be considered the “best” dietary pattern for reducing the risk of heart disease, and explained why consumers should be wary of nutrition fads such as antioxidant pills and juicing.

The bottom line: A heart-healthy diet is one that’s high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes, and includes nuts in moderation. Heart-healthy diets may also include limited amounts of lean meat, fish, low-fat and nonfat dairy products, and liquid vegetable oils, the researchers said. In contrast, people should avoid saturated, trans and solid fats; sodium; added sugars; and refined grains.