Tech Policy

TravelMob.com Launch - Traveling with Friends is now just that much easier

I'm proud to announce that my group travel startup, TravelMob.com launched today! This is a project I started while a grad student at the Technology Policy Program.

TravelMob.com Screenshots

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: travel group)

I'd love to hear your feedback, email me at adam / @ / travelmob.com and let me know what you think.

Press release is at http://blog.travelmob.com

TravelMob is travel site meets Evite; while a few others have similar models, TravelMob has some outstanding differences.

Travelmob lets you create a trip homepage, invite people, manage RSVPs, upload important files, create a photo gallery, see top tours for your destination, and plan via message board. There's a Facebook-style newsfeed that shows what everyone on your trip's doing.

Also, there's an integrated air, hotel, car, tour booking into the site via web services. So you can search/book directly from the site or your trip homepage. When you book anything, it goes into your trip's itinerary. There's a "Jump on this Flight", button which will search for a seat on the same flight.

Starting in October 2008 half of the team will be taking an around the world trip, using the site to plan, blogging the whole experience, and digging up the best events to travel to with friends.

Blogs are official now

When the US Department of State launches a blog, you know that blogs have now become more than just respectable! check out the DipNote!

Blogs on Wall Street Journal

WSJ can jumped on to the blogs bandwagon. Here are the  new WSJ blogs:

My favorite Washington Wire:       Political Insight and Analysis From The Wall Street Journal’s Capital Bureau
Market Beat is growing on me slowly: WSJ.com on market-moving news and analyzing interesting trends and numbers
I hardly read the Law Blog: law and business and the business of law.
I have outsourced reading the Holiday Sales News Tracker (a seasonal blog?) to Barry Ritholtz of the Big Picture.
The most recent addition to the WSJ blogs is Juggle: choices and tradeoffs people make as they juggle work and family

You don't need subscription to the journal to access these blogs. Enjoy!

TPP's 30th Anniversary

Just in case you missed the flyer, this year the Technology and Policy Program is celebrating its 30th anniversary.  A schedule of events is posted on the program website.  The events include two yet-to-be-determined lectures on Technology and Policy leading up to a very special "weekend" of events keyed around the 6th annual TPP Symposium on Thursday, June 8.

I will post more as details become available.

Competition in Laxity

I couldn't resist: One of the largest ski resorts in Vermont, Killington, is trying to secede from the state and join New Hampshire because the resort town thinks that property taxes to finance education are too high. Moving your credit card business to Delaware is one thing, but moving a mountain 30 miles to New Hampshire? I think that might cost more than it would save in property taxes.

Fusion Fitness Center - Newark, DE

And now, a brief diversion from our regular (intermittent) posting.

OK, a shameless plug.

This Saturday, February 18, my brother-in-law, Nic DeCaire, is opening the doors of Fusion Fitness Center in Newark, DE.  Nic has been training people in the Newark area for a while and has always wanted to open his own gym - Saturday is the big day.

Nic was featured is yesterday's Delaware News Journal (Get Fit).  Check out the article to learn more about Nic.  If you are ever in Newark, stop by Fusion Fitness Center and say hello - tell them Tom sent you (that and a $1.25 just might get you a bottle of water).

University Channel, and other Podcasts

I recently got turned onto the new world of Podcasts. A Podcast is an audio program syndicated by RSS feeds, same as blogs.

I got turned onto the "University Channel" recently, a forum for disseminating lectures run by the Woodrow Wilson School. Its got some great stuff, and its all free.

Does anyone have any other podcasts that they like?

On Science and Math Education

Saheli has some excellent, very excellent posts on science and math education. I often wonder about math and science types who show disregard for all things other than science and technology. I think that over time they will realize their folly. Many a times, I am bugged by the other side who have no inclination to know about S&T, and even worse have never been encouraged to look at science and math aspects of education. Saheli asks very pertinent questions:

Our budget is deeply out of balance, our climate is changing, we're fighting over teaching the basis of all modern biology in the public schools, and the current rage in the blogosphere is over the technical meaning of the chemical in chemical weapons. The American people have very little understanding of how income and poverty are distributed in this country, how common death and destruction are in Iraq, or how much more likely they themselves are to die by gunshot than by plane crash. What do you think tomorrow's citizens need to learn better?

I only skimmed the posts for now, but I am going to print these out and read them at leisure.

Thinking about Terrorism

I have been fascinated by counter-terrorism as one of the most intellectually stimulating topics. Somebody referred to it as the mother of all systems problems. That may well be true, for one has to take in to account complexities of geo-politics, psychology, social networks, history and culture, and technology among many other aspects.

The entire issue is so complex that I have a hard time to start picking up different threads. My lense at looking at counterterrorism has been mainly geopolitical, and while I find that immensely helpful in understanding terrorism, it is hardly enough to explore the entire gamut of counterterrorism.

  I would start with Thomas P. M. Barnett's Pentagon's New Map. Watch Barnett's presentation on C-Span if you don't have time to read the book. The Counterterrorism blog provides a group commentary on different aspects of counterterrorism. Most of this analysis is US centric. John Robb at Global Guerrillas has some great analysis on possible disruptions, as well as a few theoretical frameworks for analysis which can be extended in different directions.

A while ago Frontline had two great documentaries (You know it was coming) titled Al-Queda's New Front and Cyber War. The first documentary looked at Al Queda's spread in Europe in the wake of March 2004 bombings in Madrid. The second explores the vulnarabilities of cyberspace from a terrorist attack.

I am also slightly confused about where strategic defense ends and counter-terrorism begins. Obviously, the boundaries are not clearly demarketed. Any thoughts?

Share Your Ideas!

Do you have many great ideas, and not enough time to follow up on most of them? Now, you can share your ideas at these different venues:

IdeaSling
IdeaShrub
ShouldExist
Halfbakery

Enjoy!