Tagged With "GPS error"
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Re: Wonders of the Modern World
The Soviets have never been completely transparent about Chernobyl, but this is the story as best as I was able to synthesize it: It seems that the alarm system was malfunctioning (going off all the time) so it was turned off by the tech monitoring the system. He had the fuel rods pulled out of their cooling chambers for maintenance work, was distracted (remember, the alarms are off), then by the time he focused back on the task at hand the rods had begun to melt and couldn't be reinserted...
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Re: Madeira gets its ferry back
Apologies: an uncorrected version of the report appeared early this morning. Conflicting partial reports from earlier in the spring, along with difficulty in translation, led to the error. The corrected version appears above.
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Re: Where in the World is Gumbo? #11
The puzzlemaster is aghast at his error! He left the most important piece out of the chronology: the winner! And the winner, at 5:34 pm on Thursday, is @IAM_NOTATOURIST, one of our Twitter followers, whose guess was e-mailed in by our Twittermaster, TravelRob. Hey, @IAM_NOTATOURIST!—come on in and join us! The water and the welcome are warm.
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Re: Whom did you say was flying this plane?
The Air France flight 447 that went down with all souls lost, out of Rio, Brazil in 2009 would have benefitted from a greater system override of the pilots misinterpretation of their flight 'status'. Anything that can reduce pilot error OR system error has to be desirable.
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Re: Whom did you say was flying this plane?
Originally Posted by Bling: Have there been problems with the Google car ? It is interesting technology. As for wanting a human in the aircraft, we can all tell stories of car "accidents" that involved human error, not the mechanics of the machine. Maybe, maybe not. But there's only a couple or so of those on the road for testing. Whole lot different in a sky full of people, don't you think?
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Re: Staying In Touch on the Road: Part 1
It's a nightmare! A fair chunk of my packing now includes various chargers, connection cables and mains power adaptors for phones, iPads, Kindles. cameras.... Oh, plus a universal backup power supply battery (RAVPOWER - good value) in case I cannot get to a mains socket - just to keep in touch! I have to say that the Euro proposal to have ONE single charger for all devices has some merit!! PS - watch out that chargers that are sold as suitable for iPhones are often not powerful enough to...
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Re: Staying In Touch on the Road: Part 1
The RAVPOWER unit that I went for is shown on the following link (a real mouthful): http://www.ravpower.com/ravpow...hite-us-version.html This model has enough power to fully recharge an iPad! Currently available from Amazon for USD 36.00 They also do more powerful packs. (Hope this doesn't cut across any "No Advertising" policies
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Re: Staying In Touch on the Road: Part 1
No, Mac, that doesn't cross any sort of policy. We want to help travelers get good honest feedback about products that might be helpful to them on the road (or conversely that aren't worth the money). What's not tolerated is people paid to promote products on our website and providing dishonest information. Ravpower is exactly the kind of unit I'm looking for. Need to go order it soon.
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Re: Staying In Touch on the Road: Part 1
In the Duel of the Devices, I'm going to declare the RAVPower unit the winner. Both of these devices are essentially external batteries, something that's becoming more popular as more phones come with non-removable batteries. There are two critical differences, however: capacity and output. The PowerStick has a capacity of 750mAh (about half the power held by an average cellphone battery) and a maximum output current of 700mA (phone chargers usually supply 1000mA). The RAVpower device has a...
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Re: Staying In Touch on the Road: Part 1
By the way...here's my solution to the other charger issue (plugging in at home). It's a 5-port USB host that has a short cord to plug in (no brick to get in the way at the outlet) and takes 5 standard USB cords for your devices...the kind that come with your device, although more are available cheaply. The five outputs include 2 2100mA for iPad, 2 1000mA for most phones, and 1 1300mA for Samsung. All can be used for any device up to the designated output (that is, you can plug your phone...
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Re: Staying In Touch on the Road: Part 1
PowerStick only charges from a USB port. The PowerStick has a capacity of 750mAh Perfect ! That is all that I need for my modest travel needs - just a little juice for a camera or my old flip (!) phone, if needed during a day of sightseeing. The PowerStick is only about the size of a pen, takes no thought to use and does not involve batteries. My kind of tool. Travelers who carry a lot more toys have greater needs than little me.
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Re: Staying In Touch on the Road: Part 1
Well, I understand the urge for simplicity and not getting tied down...but both the PowerStick and the RAVPower ar e batteries. The RAVPower isn't big; about the size of a cellphone. But it costs 30% less, and will actually put a full charge on a phone, which the other won't. In fact, it will put a full charge on about 6 phones.
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Re: Staying In Touch on the Road: Part 1
Ran across this device for charging smartphones http://www.jackeryusa.com/
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Re: Whom did you say was flying this plane?
Yes, Bling, but flying is a three dimensional activity, not a two dimensional one, at at gar greater speeds! And Google is not infallible by any stretch of the imagination. Sure, flying is three dimensional but the dimensions do not change. The ground is the ground, however you get to it. The airport runways do not move right and left. The skies are now virtual highways, with planes flying along set paths. That is data for the computer guidance system. Have there been problems with the...
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Re: Banksy Opens up a Bemusement Park in England
The Dismaland website crashed again today as people tried to buy tickets. Since the website crashed over the weekend also, people were speculating that this was part of a extended performance to make the bemusement part experience worse. A spokesperson for Banksy assured the BBC that the website crashed because of high demand. dismaland-website-crashes-again-as-banksy-denies-online-ticketing-error-is-a-hoax-10471010
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Re: GPS: 'Your destination will be...very wet.'
On our recent trip to Sicily, our GPS took us down a farm road that dead-ended, except for a rugged dirt tract that was unsafe to drive in a car (doable in a 4 wheel drive vehicle). The GPS instructed me to continue down the dirt track, but as a human being I declined the machine's advice. Good thing I did, because as we looped back we could see that even the dirt track dead-ended in a mile or so. Somehow we made it to our next destination, although it's easy and expected to get lost a...
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Re: Lynchburg, Virginia: A Town of Many Pasts
EDITOR'S ERROR: When originally published the Lynchburg blog did not include the name of the one person who solved the mystery: PortMoresby. Apologies!
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Re: Euro court extends passenger compensation
Embarrassing error! That flight was to Bangkok, not Budapest!
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Re: How do you buy your travel?
For my upcoming trip, after reading this thread, I did attempt to use an online booking agency for my flights when my attempts at booking directly through the airline's website kept giving me issues. I kept getting an error. Expedia gave me the same error - could not confirm the flights. Unfortunately, I ended up having to call the airline directly. But, I did find out that Lufthansa at least has awesome customer service in that the agent tried his darnedest to get me the right flight for...
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, May 14, 2014: Passing by America, 1969
I never like to take credit for someone else's work, but in this case I may have done the opposite. By error, this picture originally posted attributed to Walker Evans, but it is my own, and Evans remains one of my deities.
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New competitor for TomTom, Garmin and Google Maps
There's a new GPS app asking for attention. Scout, from skobbler, a subsidiary of map supplier Telenav, is free like Google, and offers offline functions like the dedicated GPS boxes. The free version provides online use and offline use...
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United off the hook on "mistake fares"
The U.S. Department of Transportation has ruled that United is not obligated to honor $50 first-class trans-Atlantic fares sold in error two weeks ago. DOT ruled that since customers were only able to obtain the fares by misrepresenting themselves as...
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Bridge not far enough, Take 2
Norway and Russia dedicate a new road link in the far north, but 400 meters of road to complete the link are waiting for diplomatic decisions.
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Google Maps: 'X' marks the (wrong) spot in Norway
A mapping error is sending dozens of would-be cliff-climbers to a puzzled village miles (and a boat ride) away from their destination.
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Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument
Gumbo was visiting the site of "Custer's Last Stand", on the hills and ridges of the valley of the Little Bighorn river in southern Montana
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Alpacas lost and found at hotel
More bizarre lost and found items, this time at a hotel chain.
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The Knife Angel, Gateshead
Ian Cook shares the story behind the Knife Angel, accompanied by lots of great photos.
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Apple Maps still trying to find its way
A fleet of Google's mapping cars...now Apple is doing the same Photo: westbayhomes.org Apple, whose 2012 Maps application got no love as a replacement for Google Maps on Apple devices, is...
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Finishing North of the Arctic Circle
Pointing out that Gates of the Arctic and Kobuk Valley National Parks are tough to get to would be a gross understatement. We tried last August without success. Airplane problems derailed our efforts to get to the wilderness parks. ...
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Drones to travel for armchair tourists?
Imagine sitting in your armchair with a virtual-reality helmet and a remote control and "visiting" the streets of your favorite city, an art gallery, the Grand Canyon, or...? There have long been travel documentaries and the like for armchair...
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Dismaland - the new 'post-apocalyptic' bemusement park in England
Dateline: Weston-Super-Mare, England, August 24th 2015 Housed on the site old Tropicana swimming lido built in 1937 that once boasted the largest outdoor swimming pool in Europe and which has been unused since 2000 we now have the latest "must...
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GPS helps blind hikers, may help millions more
Five blind or partially blind hikers, with the help of an innovative GPS-enabled smartphone app, completed a 6-day, 80 kilometre hike in the Vosges mountain range last week—unaccompanied by sighted guides. The developers, a team at...
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A Visit to Lovely Lake Orta
George G shares memories and images of a visit to lovely Lake Orta in Northern Italy.
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Ryanair makes peace with its pilots
Ryanair, faced with Christmas-time strikes after a year of scheduling horrors, decides talking with unions might just be a good idea.
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Big ooops! Taiwan passports get wrong photo
Taiwan is destroying its new passports after discovering they'd used pictures of the wrong airport in the wrong country as background.
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Iceland finds an 'oops' in its tourism numbers
An error in counting methods has led Iceland to overestimate the speed at which tourism has been growing.
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Staying In Touch on the Road: Part 1
PICKING THE RIGHT TECH FOR YOUR NEEDS This is part 1 of a 4-part report on communication for travelers. Years ago, traveling meant being out of touch with home, and struggling with unfamiliar pay phones for local calls for...
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Finding Reiner #5: Behind the Veil of Time
Reiner’s grave in Poland used to be unmarked, but I’ve made three trips to this beautiful country to fix that one error of war. My upcoming posts will highlight the progression of my research here to learn Reiner’s fate. In...
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Federal Judge: No-Fly rules won't fly
A Federal District Court judge in Oregon has ruled that the TSA's no-fly list is unconstitutional because there is no way for a citizen who believes he or she was put on the list in error to get off. She ordered the government to come up with...
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And it wasn't even GPS that led him wrong...
A wrong turn into what the driver thought was the parking lot turned into a dramatic ride down the stairs into a Post Office.
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William Morris at Home: Kelmscott Manor
PortMoresby returns to the story of Arts & Crafts Movement giant, William Morris and visits his retreat in England’s Cotswolds.
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Yet another "But the GPS said" story
Common sense trumps technology: Don't follow the GPS up a ski slope!
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Bavarian town flush with success
A town that accidentally did too good a job of supply stocking is proud to have finished the last roll....
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Southwest's Hawaii schedule boo-boo
Southwest's Hawaii schedule gets off to a flying start and a glitch that doesn't show return flights for eastern and Midwest cities.
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Denmark: What the right hand doesn't know
How embarrassing! Denmark issued nearly 300,000 passports with wrong-handed fingerprint info, and no one noticed for four years.
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The Acropolis and Parthenon: Enduring Symbols
The Parthenon, sitting in ruins atop the Acropolis in Athens, is arguably one of the world’s most famous landmarks, instantly recognizable to millions around the world. And yet, unlike such others as the Eiffel Tower or the Brooklyn Bridge, it...
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Flight Map App: I tried it out...
A recent news post on Travelgumbo mentioned Flight Map , an Android app that can give you a live flight map display on your phone, even in "airplane mode," with the cellular radio features turned off. It works by combining known information on...
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Rhode Iceland? State tourist video shows Iceland in error
Tourist video for Rhode Island showed The Harpa in Reykjavik by mistake.
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May 3, 2016: Torrey Pines Gliderport, CA
Sometimes a GPS can take you to just where you would have wanted to go if you had known it was waiting there for you...