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Photo of the Day (08.09.08)

Filed under: Photo of the Day

Much like Aaron, I too have Olympic fever; in fact I spent over 4 and a half hours in front of the television last night watching the whole opening ceremony. With so much of the ceremony focusing on the religious and philosophical traditions of China, I thought that this picture taken by bellumdeos at the Dongyue Taoist Temple in Beijing was fitting.

Want your own photo considered for Gadling's Photo of the Day? Submit it to our Flickr pool and we just might choose it.

 

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Video: Preparation of airline food

Filed under: Scuba Diving, Video

If you've wondered what goes into the preparation of food for an airline, here's an interesting 5-minute video on the process. A few points of note: Up to 45,000 meals are made per day by airline catering companies; the type of food depends on the plane's destination; pilots have to eat different food so as to avoid both of them being down should a full-related illness pop up on the flight; and, every meal is made to be served on the same day. Check it out.



[Via: Upgrade Travel Better]

 

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American Stabbed and Killed in Beijing

Filed under: China, News

With the memory of a spectacular opening ceremony still in everyone's mind, some news from the opposite end of the emotional spectrum came out of Beijing today. Two American tourists, a man and woman, and a local guide were attacked by a man carrying a knife.

The attack took place at the famous Drum Tower that sits above the hutong near Houhai Lake. The tour guide and the woman were injured, but their male companion was killed. The two Americans were relatives of a US volleyball coach.

The attacker, identified by Xinhua News Agency as Tang Yongming from the city of Hangzhou, jumped to his death off the second floor of the tower after the attack.

Such an event is almost unheard of in China. It is even more surprising because of heavy security throughout Beijing. Chinese authorities have expressed concern about terrorism and unauthorized protests in the lead-up to the Games, but crimes against tourists are usually limited to pickpocketing and price gouging.

This appears to have been a random attack. According to reports, the victims were not wearing anything that identified them as Americans.

The attack took place at noon Beijing time. The tower remains sealed off from the public as police investigate.

New York Times coverage of the attack

 

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Daily deal - Camelbak FlashFlo 1.3-Liter Hydration Pack (pink) for $11.41

Filed under: Hiking, Gadling's Daily Deal

My daily deal for today is for the Camelbak FlashFlo 1.3 liter hydration pack. This waist mounted hydration pack has an insulated 1.3 liter pouch and a drinking tube that attaches to your shirt.

The FlashFlo even has room for your keys, wallet and an iPod or other MP3 player. The front of the pouch also has reflective striping to help increase visibility on the road.

Products like this are perfect for hikers, runners, or anyone else who enjoys being outdoors and understands the importance of staying hydrated. The Camelbak FlashFlo lets you drink without having to stop and dig a water bottle out of your backpack.

The Camelbak FlashFlo hydration pack normally costs $40, but if you don't mind wearing a pink waist pouch, you can pick one up today for just $11.41. Amazon Prime members can get the product shipped for free, anyone else will have to pay shipping, or add another $12.59 in products to reach $25 and qualify for free shipping (Amazon is currently offering a free one month trial of Prime)

When you get to the product page, be sure to select the PINK version of the pouch from the dropdown menu to get the low price as none of the other colors are on sale.

(via Fatwallet.com)

Edit: the price has gone up to $17.99, which is still a good deal, but obviously not as "hot" as the original price.

 

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Two weeks of embarrassing passport news

Filed under: News

It's been a bad couple of weeks for passport designers. Several things happened that could alter the future of the technology used in our travel documents.

The first bit of bad news came from the UK, where a van was stolen containing 3000 "virgin" passports. These passports were on their way to an RAF base, where they would be flown to consulates all around the world (previously covered here on Gadling)

The passports were made in a high security printing facility owned by 3M, but of course, no amount of security helps against stupidity. When the driver of the van stopped at a store to buy a candy bar, his colleague (who was still in the unlocked van) was ordered to keep his head down while the thieves drove off, stopped in a dark alley, and unloaded all the passports into a waiting car. The passenger of the delivery vehicle has been arrested and released on bail.

The UK passport service said "computer chips embedded in the passports to store personal and biometric data have not been activated. The service says that means the documents, which are still missing, can't be used as passports.".

Turns out they couldn't have been more wrong, which brings us to the next bit of bad news.

RFID (radio frequency identification) chips in passports have been a hugely controversial issue. Ever since the first trials were conducted, security specialists have warned that they are not the holy grail they are said to be. Back in 2006, right after the first chip enabled travel documents rolled off the printing presses, researchers showed how easy it is to read, and write to the chip in these passports. In a more recent experiment, a researcher read the information off one passport, and altered it, rewriting the data to a different chip, but with a new photo; Osama Bin Laden.

When the standards were developed for the RFID chips in travel documents, a system was put in place that could verify the information stored on the passport with a remote database of "public keys". So far, only 10 of the countries participating in RFID passports have signed up for this new public database, and only 5 are actually using it. Once this system is in place, a scanned passport will be verified against the data it is supposed to contain.

This technology should eventually make it much harder to use a fake or altered passport at an immigration counter, but only in countries that have the systems in place for using RFID. Any other county will still have to rely on the visible data stored in the passport. Since the RFID technology is only intended for immigration purposes, a fake passport can still easily be used for other purposes, like banking or real estate.

In the meantime, there are 3000 UK passports on the market (worth about $3400 each), and millions of passports being printed each month with RFID chips that don't really protect anyone.

With each vulnerability found in these RFID passports, the designers are pushed back a little closer to their drawing boards, where they will eventually have to develop an even better method of protecting the countries they work for. Of course, in the big picture of things, nothing can stop good old human stupidity.

 

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