I’d just like to finish off with a couple of miscellaneous items that came in handy.

The Nexto DI eXtreme is…aggressively unattractive.  But it can back up 250gb of photos directly from a memory card, it has an amazing battery life, and they have somehow perfected an interface that only uses one button (using long and short presses to navigate).  I drag this along on any trip where I’ll be taking a lot of pictures, and may not have access to my laptop for long periods of time.  Fortunately, I’ve never had a failure that necessitated having a backup, but it certainly makes me feel better.

I’m not going to mention my iPhone, because…well…it’s been covered.  But I did use it constantly, and my favorite app from this trip (besides Angry Birds) was Yelp.  Being able to see every business in my immediate vicinity that’s open was great, especially at 11:00 on a Sunday night in Missoula.

“Once more upon the waters! yet once more! And the waves bound beneath me as a steed That knows his rider.”

We are modern day adventurers, and our vehicles are our steeds.  For this trip we mounted up in a 2009 Kia Sportage.  It actually managed to seat five people in relative comfort, even with all of our gear (and I’m guilty of bringing a little more gear than everyone else).  Gas mileage was great, performance was decent, and and amenities (MP3 player connectivity, etc.) were plentiful.

All of my photos from the trip are viewable on Flickr.  And now back to your regularly scheduled program!

The Sportage at night in Wyoming.

After inquiries from the FCC regarding early termination fees charged by carriers, you’d think they would be a little more careful about blatantly ripping off customers.  Ha! Just kidding, cell carriers aren’t afraid of the FCC.

AT&T plans to up its early termination fee from $175 to $350 on June 1st.

Coincidentally, that’s right before the new iPhone comes out.  There are two ways to go with this.  The first scenario is the most likely - that AT&T simply wants to cash in on people pulling the cancel-your-account-and-sign-back-up-for-a-subsidized-iPhone maneuver.  Or that the new iPhone costs so much that to subsidize it, they have to charge a higher ETF.  

The second option is that I was wrong, a CDMA iPhone really is in the works, it’s closer than we think, and AT&T is desperately trying to prevent customers from leaving its notoriously spotty network once it’s no longer the only iPhone game in town.

Either way, unless AT&T announces some special deals for current iPhone customers, you’ll be left with two options.  Incur the $350 fee, cancel and reup your account, and get a subsidized iPhone.  Or if you don’t qualify for an “early upgrade,” pony the $600-700 (possibly more) for an unsubsidized iPhone.  Neither of these are particularly compelling, but there’s a third option.

Cancel your account now, and switch to another carrier until the 4th generation iPhone comes out.

Sprint and Verizon offer a 30 day trial period with no commitment.  Canceling your AT&T account before June 1st with only incur the current $175 ETF.  Then just switch back to AT&T when the new iPhone comes out (theoretically within the first two weeks of June).  They’ll welcome you back with a subsidized rate on a brand new 4th generation iPhone, and a contract you can’t cancel for less than the price of a cheap car.

Hey remember that thing about Verizon not getting the iPhone until at least 2012? Turns out I was right.  If you’re on Verizon and you want an iPhone, it’s time to pony up that absolutely ludicrous ETF and switch to AT&T.  But you might want to wait until July then the new one comes out.  Until then, you may want to give the Kin a shot.  The reviews actually aren’t bad, and it’s certainly one of the more interesting products Verizon has had in awhile.

It’s not just the gear, it’s what it can do. I’ve always liked gear that can tell me where I am.  In my formative years, that was maps, charts, compasses, and when I could get my hands on it, my dad’s Magellan NAV 1000.  Now I’ve got two devices within arm’s reach that can tell me exactly where I am, and display it in a thousand different ways.  The weird thing is, my iPad doesn’t even have a GPS receiver.  How does that work exactly?

I re-watched this video and thought I sounded kind of…uninformed.  So here’s the long version of “I think it uses wifi.”

Skyhook Wireless is a really interesting company.  With considerably less fanfare than Google’s much-talked-about Streetview, they’ve managed to accomplish a feat of similar scope.  They wardrove 70% of of the population centers in the US and Canada (and continue to do so, to update their database).  Now they have a database of over a hundred million wifi access points (identified by their MAC address), and their associated geographic location. 

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Opera for the iPhone is now the #1 most downloaded free app in all 22 app stores.  This pretty well showcases Apple users’ desperation for third party replacement for the stock apps on the iPhone.  It’s also amazing, considering it’s currently not a very good browser.

Now, I’m a fan of Opera on the desktop.  It’s always been the enthusiast browser of choice - chock full of cool features and settings.  But it does feel a little rough around the edges, with a design and polish that looks fine on a PC, but a little out of place on the iPhone.

So far, most of the reviews I’ve read have focused on the speed.  Here are my informal benchmarks:

• Somemotivationrequired.com - Opera: 10s Safari: 10s
• Nytimes.com - Opera: 10s Safari: 1:28m
• Bensbargains.net - Opera: 24s Safari: 24s
• Kotaku.com (mobile) - Opera: 13s Safari: 9s
• Reddit.com - Opera: 14s  Safari: 12s

This wasn’t conducted in any kind of scientific capacity (I did clear my browser cache first), but it looks like they’re pretty evenly matched, excusing the Times website.  So what don’t I actually like about it?  Well…I’ve only read one review that really sums it up nicely, and it wasn’t even from a major website - it was by some dude in the comments on Gizmodo.  Yes it’s a wall of text, but it’s a good wall of text.

Personally, I’m happy to have a second browser, because sometimes Safari just can’t load a page properly, and maybe Opera will be able to.

Now I want Chrome on my iPad.

I get it, guys.  Seriously.  Everyone I know who doesn’t have an iPhone has one of two reasons.

1. They’re on their mom’s family plan and she won’t switch carriers.
2. They’re on a company plan.

And that’s nothing to be ashamed of.  You’re cheap, you’re owned by your company, whatever.  But if you’re a journalist, you have something of an (oh god I can hear people laughing) obligation to report well-researched, or at least plausible facts.  The latest article cites the following highly credible sources:

• “People familiar with the situation”
• “People familiar with the device”
• “People briefed by the company”

And, none of those people said anything about Verizon.  Just CDMA.  So, employees of WSJ, with your Blackberries; I sympathize, I really do.  But Apple isn’t going to make a Verizon iPhone just because you write an article every week, predicting it.

One “we told you so!” isn’t worth years of bad journalism and failed predictions.

It’s that time again - time to venture into the primitive fringe of civilization known as the San Juan Islands.  And what does a gear enthusiast like myself bring on an expedition like this? Short answer: a lot.  Long answer: see below.

REI Thermo Fitted Cap.  This hat proved itself on a couple of trips that involved snow, and one where it rained the whole time.  The only problem with it (and I’ll admit this is minor) is that there’s no way to identify, at a glance, where the back is.  The logo is offset, and there isn’t a medial seam.

Osprey Stratos 40.  It seems like I’m linking to a lot of dead products.  Does this mean I need to update some of my gear? Anyway, I need a main bag to carry the kind of stuff normal people bring on trips - you know, like clothes.  I got this one by going to REI and talking to Boots (if you’ve been to the flagship store much, you’ve probably met Boots). I told him I wanted the biggest backpack that could fit in an overhead bin without making me look like a jerk. This is my primary travel bag for any trips longer than overnight.  I’m not a huge fan of it, but it gets the job done. Mostly it’s just not very interesting looking, and it doesn’t have enough pockets to organize things in a useful way.

Lowepro Stealth Reporter D550.  If I’m driving somewhere, I don’t bother to repack my laptop bag, I just throw it on top of everything else.  I may write a whole article about this at some point.

The Crumpler Keystone.  Gotta bring a day pack, right?

Merrel Chameleon Stretch.  I just pulled these out of storage.  They’re not waterproof or insulated, so I mostly use them in the summer.  They are ridiculously comfortable though, and have great traction.  This pair went with me on several trips last year.

Black & Decker Simplestart. I’ve had this in my car since Christmas.  I tried to use it on Friday but I think the battery was dead.  Guess I should recharge it every month or so.

Thule Cascade XT 1700 roof box.  Never know when I may need to transport a bunch of stuff back from the island.  It happens.

1998 Subaru Impreza. I love my car.  It’s like a big piece of gear.  AWD is unstoppable in snow, and the hatchback design can fit a ton of stuff in the back.  It’s also unpretentious and blends in everywhere - I consider this a feature.

AN/PVS-7 Night Vision Goggles with head mount.  It actually gets dark in the islands (unlike Seattle).

iPhone 3Gs. Gotta bring my phone.  I’m also rocking a six foot sync cable from Monoprice (so handy).

Meebo. I used this a ton on the ferry, when it turned out that their plethora of “WE HAVE WIFI!” signs were in fact vile, unscrupulous lies.  The Meebo iPhone app is free, and is considerably better than the my former favorite IM app - the for-pay BeeJive.  It’s just lacking one feature - it works in landscape mode, but not upside down.

Well, I *just* got back from that trip (needed broadband to finish this article, arg).  So I think I’m going to wrap this up and unpack.  

Yeah, unpacking takes me awhile.