Merry Christmas, or other appropriate Season's Greetings to all

The Woman Road Warrior site has a great peom base on the "The Night Before Christmas", called "The Flight Before Christmas". Worth a read at this time of year.

And safe travel to everyone, all the best for 2010

Your "Geek On The Road"

Stefan

Made my connection tonight by 2 minutes, phew!

weather great, now maintenance problem delay out of ORD. Tight cnxn in ATL, so no chance. Thanks Delta for rebooking on next flight

Bad weather in ATL so delay getting and 1 hour delay out :-(

New Inflight WIFI Pricing

I just found out that GoGo Inflight have changed their pricing plans, giving far more flexible approach.
For flights less than 1 1/2 hours the charge is only $4.95, and a day pass is now $12.95 (same as the 3 hours + rate). In between the two is a $7.95 charge for mobile devices (smartphones, etc.), for 3 hour + flights.

This seems a more reasonable pricing, so will probably result in more people availing themselves of this service. In addition, GoGo has been running some promotions which allow people to earn free access. This probably means that the bandwidth on each flight will be shared across more users. Hopefully the impact is not too serious.

Back off to Chicago, from 80 F to 20 F? At least it is warmer than last week

New Gate Checking procedure for carry-ons

A while back I made mention of my set of laminated gate check labels, an effort to be more evnironmentally correct by not needing a new label for each flight. On a couple of recent Delta Connection flights, I have been forced to use new labels as it is claimed they are now scanning the gate checked luggage.

I do not understand why re-using the same label should be a problem, especially if the scan is related to the flight. In fact, I think it would be a good idea for Delta, or any other airline, to issue their frequent fliers with permanent gate check labels (like my laminated ones) to save using all that paper.

C-c-cold in Chicago this a.m. only 2 degrees, -20 with windchill. Looking forward to heading home tonight (80 degrees today)

Now that Tiger lost the Gatorade sponsorship, maybe Viagra should be the
next sponsor

The snow continues to fall in Chicago, luckily though not sticking on the ground

Woke up this morning to a blanket of white across Chicago. Will make for some fun getting to the client

TSA efficiency

Oops, I did it again, forgot to take the Delta 1st class water bottle out of my briefcase. This time the bottle went through at least two airport scans. At the last one they even did a hand search because they had seen a bottle, then decided it was my aspirin bottle! I must admit that even I did not find the bottle until three days afterwards either, and then just by chance.

But it shows you how "good" the TSA scans are.

Soduk to TSA

Website?My new website is almost ready at www.patriotcomelately.com. Look for further details soon including FB name change

Snow in Chicago today. That should be fun

Magic club tonight! Probably my last monthly meeting before I start traveling again. Nice to see the guys again

Off to magicians' lunch

Stefan Bartelski
Sent from my Samsung EPIX
Email on the go
Now that is real magic

Christmas Wishes fireworks, Disney has really mastered the art of fireworks to music - Spectacular

The Magic Kingdom Christmas parade is way better than the Halloween version

It's snowing on Main Street, Christmas is really coming!

Off to the Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Very, Merry Christmas Party, hot chocolate & cookies under the palm trees

Back in Orlando, off to Lake Eola

Stefan Bartelski
Sent from my Samsung EPIX
Email on the go
Now that is real magic

Meeting finished,now CTA Blue Line to O'Hare

Good morning Chicago. Nice dry, fall day.

Just about to leave ATL for Chicago. (just love ping.fm)

Made it to ATL on earlier flt that arrived same time as original flt, just missed earlier connection

At the airport, on my way to Chicago

back to work again

Off to the magicians lunch

off home from EPCOT, time for a Lovejoy.

At EPCOT Food & Wine, Los Lobos tonight

Just landed, glad to be back in good ole Florida again

In the plane now, looks like an on time departure

Off to the airport, homeward bound

1/2 way thru day 3 of 3 of training. Soon be in that silver pencil in the sky, homeward bound

Good morning all. Day 2 of 3 of training, learning about being in 'the zone'.

Good morning world, day 1 of 3 of training in Dallas

Arrived in Dallas. 2+ hr flt, more 5000 Year Leap Unplugged. Great listening

Off to Dallas tonight. Due to confusion about timezones in cfm email, a little early. Will do some work at airport.

topped off the CYHUN day at the Magic Kingdom and Wishes. Love those fireworks

Day off today! Taking a special tour at Disney, try out of a new product

walked out of Grayson Town Hall tonight, what a sham. Total
disgrace how he manipulated the list to make most of the room his supporters

After all registered guests, a number of obvious Democrats added to the crowd to fill empty seats.

In the Grayson Town Hall, strangely heavily Democratic. Just like last tiime

Glenn is on fire this morning tcot

news seems to be that the Birth Certificate suit not thrown out of
court (yet?) :-) tcot

Just landed after my trip to the Windy City. Glad to be home

Just arrived in Chicago for a couple of days working

Off to Kool Katz for the No Show No Vote party & Think Tank

Off to a magic show by Aldo Colombini, followed by a lecture by same

At Lakeland Teaparty,in the rain :-), getting ready for my speech

Getting ready to leave for Lakeland 9-12 teaparty

Getting ready for Lakeland 9-12 Teaparty

Just leaving the big Apple (LGA), managed to get an earlier flight

Beautiful night approach, Liberty, East river, Queens, Citifield

On my way to NY, state not city.

Stefan Bartelski
Sent from my EPIX
Email on the go, now that is magic!

Skyclub improvement

My "home" Skyclub in MCO has started serving fresh cookies. Is this a Worldclub influence?
Unfortunately, the ATL DSC where I am now does not participate in this food upgrade.

Unusual rainbow effect

Back from my trip to Colorado

Tekkeon auxiliary battery for cellphone

with my previus cellphone I had an extra battery, as well as a charger that would chare the phone and the extra battery at the same time. For my new phone I decided to try something doffereent. I bought the Tekkeon 1800 external battery and am glad that I did.
The Tekkeon is about as big as a fliphone (folded) and has a USB output port. I plug in the phone's USB charge 'n sync cable and the phone recharges. Supposedly it has enough juice for two full recharges. Today, because of a problem with my overnight charging, I am actually using the phone with the battery attached.
The tekkeon is rcharges using a mini USB port. this works well with either my computer of the charger of my Zivio headset (2x USB).

TSA (Government) efficiency

When I arrived at my destination on my current trip I realized that, as I had nt traveled for a while, I had forgotten my routine. Specifically, I had forgotten to take out my 311 bag at security. Of course, with usual TSA efficiency, they had just let it go through. That makes me feel real safe!

1st trip with my new Tom Bihn Checkpoint Flyer bag

A few weeks ago I splurged and bought myself a Checkpoint Flyer at Tom Bihn. This allows me to speed though airport security, without having to remove my computer from the briefcase. Two clips at the bottom allow the computer section in the middle to fold out and lie flat on the scanner belt. Just a few seconds less at each security transit, but ever so convenient.

I ordered accessories, including the Freudian Slip, and an organizer pouch. The latter clips to one of the rings that are scattered throughout the bag. Although it looks smaller, I am able to carry just as much as in my old Tumi. Only thing that I missed was another small clear organizer, to hold small change out of my pockets. Unfortunately, shipping is more than the organizer. I will have to wait for a trip to Seattle ;-)

Off to Kool Katz for the 912 Project meetup

Working on videos from yesterday's Uniting America Rally

Back from dentist, all fixed now :-)

Off to dentist - temp crown to be replaced with real one :-(

just back from eye exam, eyes still sore

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Expanding My Social Network Footprint

I have now added a number of tools to connect the diffferent social networks and this blog. For example, ping.fm allows me to make one posting which is replicated across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and this blog, see the "ready for the weekend" posting below. TripIt provides details of my journeys, and Flightmemory shows the history of my flights.

TripIt is very useful beacuse I can forward the confirmation emails from airline, hotel and rental car to have all details in one place. Once consolidated, I generate a single update to my Outlook calendar, so I also have the information on my phone. Previously I had to add each mode of travel separately, which took quite a bit of time.

Ready for the weekend

Phone saves the day

Actually, the phone did help out quite a bit on my one day trip last week. I arrived at the airport and was waiting for my colleague to pick me up before the meeting. I got a frantic call that a serious error had been discovered in the document which we had prepared and had printed at Fedex Office. I was able to download the document, from my sent items in email, and make the necessary corrections in Office mobile. The corrected document was then emailed to a nearby Fedex where my colleague stopped by and had the offending page replaced in the books already prepared. All told this was adetour of less than 45 minutes, which was the extra time that we had before our meeting.
Samsung saves the day! Technically I could have done this on my Treo 750, but it was much slower and less reliable.

New Phone

I finally bit the bullet and replaced my aging Treo 750. I had been looking at the Treo Pro, but it is not cheap, $399 via Palm (unlocked and no contract) or $249 through third-party supplier (with 2 year extension).
I looked at other alternatives, but decided I wanted to stay with Windows Mobile, due to my investment in software. I found a device with very similar specifications to the Treo Pro, but free after rebate! This device is the Samsung Epix.

Up to now I have been pretty happy with this phone, except for one issue. My TomTom software does not seem to run, using either the built-in or an external GPS. During my reserach I had seen that there were some issues with TomTom, but there seemed to be resolutions. Unfortunately the resolutions did not work for me. However, I have done further reserach and found some other possibilities, so when I get time I will play around with that.
Until then, Google Maps is working, and while it is not turn by turn, it will be enough to get by temporarily.
Otherwise, everything seems to be working OK. I do have to watch my battery usgae, but that was the same on my Treo 750. And on the Internet, I have found tweaks and ideas that should help with the usage. Finally, I have also found a rechargeable external battery, that can be used to recharge the phone. I will probably get one of those, it has 2-3 times the capacity of the internal battery and is actuially quite small. A future post will let you know my experience with that gadget.

Bad Connections?

Yesterday I had to make a last minute booking to fly to Richmond today. Luckily I was able to find a flight that was both early enough for the meeting and not too expensive. It was also with my airline of choice,Delta. The ATL-RIC segment was on DL Connection (ASA).
I checked in last night, could only get a "seat request" for the second leg. Arriving at the gate in ATL,I noticed that I had not cleared yet for a seat but that there were at least F seats available. When the boarding started I still had not cleared and I also noticed that others had been cleared. I managed to get the attention of the gate agebt between zones 2 and 3. She looked in her computer and saw that I was not flagged as checked in. Luckily she still had a seat for me.
As ths was a one day up and down, I had no leeway if they had not been able to accommodate me, even though I had a confirmed ticket.

Moral of the story, always check, preferably at the Sky Club that your next segment is correctly setup, if you have a seat request card instead of a confirmed seat.

SUDOK Delta, check the communications between your systems.

on the road again

After a long silence, apologies for that, I am back in the air. this blog post is being written on my new phone.
Yes, I did finally replace my aging Treo 750.
With what will be the subject of another post later this week, when I capture my experiences using the phone on a one day upand down

Demise of CLEAR :-(

So all of a sudden the CLEAR lanes at a number of airports are no more. Readers of this blog will know that I have talked about the advantages of CLEAR, especially at my home airport, where TSA wait times can vary from 5 to 45 minutes. And as there is not Elite status lane either, this now means that I will need to arrive 20-30 minutes earlier for each departure and hope that I do not hit the 45 minute wait!
I belive that TSA is partially to blame for this sad ending, as they never accepted any on the suggested shortcuts that Clear proposed, e.g. not removal of shoes, no need to remove laptop from (normal) bag. Their insistence on treating pre-screened people exactly the same as other travellers made a mockery of the pre-screening process.

Post-merger seat selection

After a couple of weeks away from air travel (road trip via RV - 3500 miles, 16 states and lots of fun), I am back to the airports.

Now that the DL/NW merger is advancing, there are still some areas that do not work correctly. I recently booked flights up to Chicago, via delta.com. The site booked me on DL numbered flights, but operated by NW. When my upgrades came through, I went to delta.com and selected my normal window seats.
Surprise, surprise, when I checked in (directed to NWA.com from delta.com), my seat changes had not been processed :-(.

Lesson learned: when travelling on NW operated flights, be sure to make your seat selections at their site.

Speed test on GoGo in-flight WiFi

This picture shows the results of a speedtest while using the GoGo inflight WifFi on a flight between ATL and MCO (Orlando). I was also able to connect to my Slingbox and view a reasonable quality picture. I have read elswhere though that the WiFi speed can vary as you cross the country, I guess as you get closer or further away from a ground station.

Below is the message, which I found very interesting, letting users know that the WiFi would be shutting off soon.

Inflight WiFi......Finally

I am posting this blog from 29,000 feet (or more as we are still climbing). I am finally on board one of Delta's GoGoInflight equipped 757's. While the MD88 fleet is now fully equipped, I have not flown that aircraft type for a while. Although a couple of months ago I was on a GoGo equipped flight, I did not realize until I was examining the contents of the seat pocket (my book was finished) on our descent.

This time I noticed the WiFi sign at the entrance door and so immediately turned on my computer once we passed 10,000 feet (and the captain's signal of course). So here I am, on the Internet at 35,000 feet (by now). I must try out some other fun stuff, like connecting to Sling, etc. I will post the results when I get back on the ground. Of course Flightaware was the second thing that I did, picture attached above as proof. Kinda fun to watch your progress on your own computer, rather than a PVT.

Fallen to the Twitter spel

I finally decided that I had to join everyone lse and try out the Twitter phenomenon.
So now you can follow me at, opf course www.twitter.com/geekontheroad. more of my posts will be travel (on the road) than tecnical (geek), ateast to start with.
Please do join my Twitter journey, and fell free to let me know what you wouldlike to see me tweet.

Beating International Cell Phone Roaming Charges

A couple of weeks ago I went acros the "pond" to the UK on business. beforehand I did some research to find a cost effective way to use my cell phone abroad. I started with my current provider, AT&T, to see what packages they have. I needed the ability to make both voice and data calls. As far as I could find I could get a plan ($6/month) that reduced my voice costs from $1.29/min to $0.99/min. This rate seemed to be irrespective of whether I was calling locally abroad or home to the US. If I paid $25/month I could use up to 20MB of data a month, with a reduced rate per kB above that.
I then looked at some of the pay as you go plans in the UK. I only looked at the Big 4 providers, not any of the myriad of smaller PAYG services available. The best deals seemd to be withT-Mobile and Orange, the former being the one that fnally worked out best for me. I put GBP20 on a SIM picked up at a local cellphone store after arrival in the UK. This allowed me to buy a package of 120 minutes of US/Canada calls for GBP 7.50. this equates to 10 US cents per minute, much better than the $0.99 AT&T wanted. In fact the US calsl are cheaper than the UK calls, which were being charged at 10p per minute after the first 2 minutes (@ 20p).

It also provided me with 5 days of "unlimited" data access, technically T-Mobile (and all the other Big4 providers) seem to cap you at 25MB per day. No financial penalty for exceeding the cap at T-Mobile, but they reserve the right to throttle your usage. I could also buy extra days of data, GBP1 at a time, or GBP2.50 for 5 days. I got 5 free international texts, but was paying a relative low amount for both local and international SMS messages outside of the "gift".

To be able to use the "foreign" SIM card, I needed to unlock my phone. This was doen easily by calling ATT customer service, who walked me through the process. The most difficult thing was finding a non ATT SIM card, which is needed to initiate the process. I would obviuosly have one in the UK, but I wanted to carry out the unlocking before leaving the US, in case I needed to conatct technical support. Luckily a colleague lent me his card (Sprint from a Blackberry) and the actual unlocling only took a few minutes. If you have not been withe your provider for long enough (6 months to 1 year) there are also companies on the web who will provie the unlock code for a small fee, just Google "unlock GSM".

After a week in the UK, I still have over GBP5 on my card for local calls and more than 60 minutes in my international package. I will be returning in a couple of weeks so will find out soon how long the packages iare valid. But even if I have to put more money on the card for my next visit it is stiall a lot cheaper than anything AT&T had to offer.

Automatic arrival messages

I have signed up as beta tester for a service, ArrivedOK,which sends a text message to chosen mobile phones when your flight arrives at its destination. How does it know that you have arrived? You have to provide your flight schedule to their web-site. Then 30 minutes before your scheduled arrival, it starts scanning the mobile network for your number. Of course, if you have followed instructions, your phone is turned off. When you land and are allowed to turn on your phone, the ArrivedOK computer senses your phone and notifies the chosen mobiles with text (SMS) message of your choice.

They have built in rules which are supposed to prevent errors due to changes in flight schedules, or diversions, etc.

The site also allows you to list blogs, which are updated with arrival messages, similar to the text messages sent to the mobile phones. So look for messages on this blog in the near future. After the beta test, there will be a charge for this service, it will be interesting to see what they feel is the value to us frequent travellers.

For more information, click on the title above.

***LATE BREAKING***
I ran into a problem because their registration process did not filter out US based phone numbers. Currently their service works only for European based mobile phones. I heard from their customer support and they are working on a couple of solutions, the long term will take a few months to implement but will provide full SMS capabilities. They may also implement a short term solution which involves only email alerts and this could be ready in a matter of weeks.

Flight tracking gadget on blog

At the top of the blog page, I have added a gadget which shows the statistics of the flights I have taken since the beginning of 2009. The gadget shows a summary of miles, hours and count of flight segments, but you can view detailed information, including maps, by clicking on the summary.

Portable Speakers for laptop TV viewing

I am now carrying around (in my main suitcase, not laptop bag) a pair of USB driven speakers. I bought these from TigerDirect for less than $20, including shipping. They work really great when I use my Sling connection or Netflix Instant in my hotel room.

They certainly beat the puny speakers built into the laptop.

Ode to small airports

One of the advantages of visiting many different locations as a consultant, is that you often get to experience small airports. Currently I am travelling reguarly through GSP (Greenville-Spartanbug). It has 7 gates on the A side (I think) and 4 on the B side (I know). They also provide free internet service. So I have something to do while I wait fro my departure. of course, since it is such a small airport and the TSA lines are normally negligible, I do not need to worry about arriving early for my flight.

So I do not usually have time to enjoy the free Wi-Fi. :-(

Save some paper...save a tree

With refernce to my NW flight a few weeks ago, I forgot to mention that NW have an excellent green initiative. When checking in on-line for a multi-segment itinerary, you only print one boarding pass, which contains info of both (or more?) flights. DL is still printing one boarding pass per segment (per page), even if you select to not print the destination information. So here is another idea that DL will hopefully merge into the the new DL-NW system.
Actually there are quite a number of computer related items that DL can learn from NW:
Multi segment boarding passes
Segement related Outlook update (instead of just one for the whole itinerary)
User friendly flight status notification (i.e. ability to look up active items, even if you do not thave the notification number)
2D barcodes for mobile check-in (Strangely enough the original blog posting about the DL trail at LGA actually shows a 2D barcode!)

Oh well, maybe one day they will get their tech act together

Zivio Update

I have been using the Zivio BlueTooth headset (see earlier post) for a week now, so thought I would give my initial feedback.

1. Sound quality is excellent, I hear no complaints or comments from people at the other end, and I can hear everything very clearly. I have used it in windy conditions and on the streets of New York, which are good tests of the noise reduction.
2. Like other headsets which I have used, I cannot get a perfect fit, so it feels a little loose now and then. But with the magnetic ear loop, I do not feel in danger of losing the device and a quick press and it is reseated in the ear.
3. Battery life is great, I still have not recharged since its initial charge at the weekend. I do not use the headset all day like some, normally about an hour in the morning and evening each, with longer usage on Sundays and Thursday/Fridays while travelling. But I fully expect it to match the published 10 hour talk time.
4. Voice command is more reliable than with my nXZen headset, only very occasionally does the phone not recognize my command (and require re-initiating VC).
5. The device is defintely lighter than my nXZen and I could, if I wanted, easily wear it all day.

So while not the cheapest of headsets, this is definitely a keeper!

Paperless Check-In at LGA...Ooops

In an earlier post I expressed excitement about DL's expansion of their paperless check-in facility. On a recent trip I was able to use it for the first time. Below is the message which I sent to DL about my disappointment at the poor results which I experienced.

After using paperless check-in for CO & NW flights (EWR & DTW) I was full of expectation about busing it for my flight out of LGA on DL. Unfortunately, it did not meet up with my earlier experiences, in a number of ways. I would like to pass on some suggestions and hope that DL will take them as constructive criticism (Katie please note).

Firstly, the check-in process…I received the usual text message and went straight to the (mobile) site. I checked in and expected a text or email with my bar code (as with CO or NW). No such luck. I had to follow the link in the “check in now” email, and then select ‘Reprint’ to get the barcode to display. For mobile transactions there were just too many screens, scrolls and clicks. If I may suggest, the CO process, with MMS message (text message with text) is the better process, NW is a close second where the barcode is emailed. The latter will not work however for pax who do not have email on their phone.

Back to the story….Now that I have the barcode on my screen, one thing that struck was that DL is using a traditional 2D barcode and not the 3D code being used by both CO and NW. As 3D barcodes are easier to read, this put some suspicions in my mind. And yes, at the security checkpoint, even after setting my backlight to full brightness, the barcode could not be read. So out of line, reprint a paper pass, and back into line. Luckily I can use the Clear line, so at least I did not have to wait 15 minutes again [On an aside and not DL's fault, but the Clear line had "lost" their scanner and had to use the TSA scanner! Obviously not many people use this feature at LGA, especially Clear members].

Next stop, Crown Room, and yes again, no joy with the scanner. The agent at the door actually said that he thought that the Crown Rooms were not yet ready to accept the mobile barcodes.

So finally, what will happen at the gate? I am actually writing this in the Crown Room before my flight, so I will have to let you know later whether this last step was successful.So while I am excited about paperless checkin being expanded on the DL network, especially at my home airport, MCO, I am worried that I may not be able to use it much. Unless DL “borrows” technology from their sister airline NW, which I know works for me.

DL expanding paperless check-in

On the Delta Blog, they have announced that they are expanding the paperless check-in and will be introducing it soon to my home airport, MCO.

"MEM joins LAS, LGA and MSP, which already have the product up and running. Over the next few months our eBoarding product will also roll out in ATL, SLC, and MCO. But… as of 12pm we’ve reported only 15 mobile check-ins today in our launch city. Help us get the word out?"


This is great news as I love this system. I have used it on CO and NW flights (EWR & DTW). When you are on the road and not at a regular location it really saves having to hunt down a printer, or getting to the airport a little earlier so you can use the check-in kiosk.

Anything which allows me to arrive later at the airport is always good

The value of Elite Level Customer Service

On a recent return trip from Washington DC, I was booked via Memphis as my usual Delta flights via ATL were too expensive. After push back from the gate, we sat on the apron for a number of minutes before the pilot announced technical problems. Our expected departure kept getting delayed, 10 or 15 minutes at a time. As we were back at the gate, and after the third announcement that it would be at least another 20 minutes I knew that I would not make my connection in MEM. People we already leaving the plane, so I realized the staff at the gate would be busy. I also remembered that there was an ATL bound flight which I could catch, if there were seats. So rather than trying to arrange new flights at the gate I immediately called the DL Elite Level reservations, and yes, the agent was able to block seats for me all the way home. The biggest problem was getting NW to release me off the MEM bound flight so that the DL flight could be confirmed. While waiting for the offload, I did hear the NW agent telling other passengers that the ATL flight had no seats available.However, the DL agent on the phone was great, staying with me while I arranged the offload and then making sure that the DL gate agent had everything correct for my new flights.

Moral of the story is: in case of problems, get on the line with elite level reservations immediately!

Hidden charging trick

I do not know if this is a ThinkPad only trick, but I just found out that the USB ports on my X61 stay live even after the computer is turned off. I occasionally have used the USB ports of the laptop to recharge my phone in an emergency, when no AC power is available. I turn on the computer for this and of course that uses even more power. With the number of devices today that use USB charging, e.g. phone, headset, etc., this could be a very useful feature.

Sorry, false alarm! I found out that after about a minute the power is finished and the phone charging light goes out. However, even if the computer has been turned off for more than 12 hours, the USB is still 'hot' for 30 seconds. But too short to charge the phone :-(

New Bluetooth headset

On a recent trip I discovered that I had lost my nXZen Bluetooth headset, or so I thought, as I did come across it in a forgotten pocket a few days later. I wanted something with good noise reduction/elimination as I have been spoiled by the nXZen which rivals the Jawbone in sound quality. While doing research into what is currently the best headset with noise reduction I came across the Joby Zivio. I found the best information about sound quality was at BlueTruth.com, where they have sound clips of many headsets, recorded under different conditions.

Not only did the Zivio have very good reviews with respect to sound quality, it is a very stylish device too. The sound quality is aided by a retractable boom microphone, which can be used when you are in a noisy environment, or do not want to raise your voice so your called party can clearly hear you. The Zivio also claims an excellent battery life of 10 talk hours. It comes with a series of different ear inserts, so you should be able to find one that is comfortable. Especially since the speaker unit has an adjustable angle too. If the ear fit is very good then you can dispense with the ear hook shown in the picture, it is just a magnetic clasp. I am keeping the ear hook as a backup, as I do not want to have the headset drop off my ear as I run through the terminal.

I have paired it, without problems, with my Treo 750 and held a quick, unscientific test. Standing outside on a blustery day, with cars going past I heard no wind noise (great!) and no background noise (great!). I will have to see what my wife says when I call from more noisy areas, like an airport concourse or car rental shuttle.