Happy Darwin Day (Observed)!

Yesterday was the 203rd birthday of Charles Darwin. Let's celebrate today by honoring science!

darwinday.org

Charles Darwin passes The Trav Test with ∞A+. 


• Category: People
• Location: Everywhere!
• Cost: Free!
• Ease of use: Easy!
 
• The Trav Test grade: ∞ (Infinite) A+! 

Spotify vs. Pandora

As promised, TheTravTest is back - relaunching alongside Spotify! Spotify is a successful music program that is now available in the United States. There are currently 2 approved methods of joining Spotify: get invited or pay! LifeHacker can tell you more about that. Whether you're in or not, you're probably like the many people wondering how Spotify is any different from Pandora, right?

Spotify and Pandora are similar, yet not. That totally makes sense... not! Pandora plays music similar to something you like and keeps suggesting music it thinks you'll like. Spotify is more like iTunes where you tell it want you want to hear, but everything is free and streaming, not downloaded. Let's say you wanted to listen to something like all of Ari Herstand's music, Spotify can do that. However, if you wanted to listen to Ari's music AND music similar to Ari's music that you may or may not know about, Pandora can do that.

I think it will get down to individual preferences and vary depending on your task. Right now, I'm listening to a Pandora station I created that plays music similar to Ari Herstand, Jay Brannan, Terra Naomi, Ellis, Pink, Alanis Morissette, and Adele (Listen here, if interested) because I just want some background music that I know I'll like. So far, every song it's served me has been great - exactly what I like. If I wanted to hear just Adele like now I do, I'd switch over to Spotify.

One last thing: Spotify has an application so you don't need the website, Pandora does not unless you pay for Pandora One. Since I do most of my work on a personal computer, I prefer having applications. Again, though, this is just a personal preference.

Spotify & Pandora both pass The Trav Test with a B.

 • Category: Products, Music
 • Location: N/A
 • Cost: Free - unless you chose to subscribe!
 • Ease of use: Easy
 • The Trav Test grade: B

Beauty Charade

One thing you won't find reviewed on The Trav Test is make up since I don't wear any! If you happen to be interested in make up tips and tricks, check out Beauty Charade. My friend Kayla recently started the site to blog about her finds. While I can't say I know anything about make up, she definitely does. It's not just make up, though, as she always has something to say about things from nail polish to false eyelashes and everything in between. Maybe I can even talk Kayla into doing some posts here if she does any product reviews!

Beauty Charade is promoted by The Trav Test with an A+.

• Category: Products, Beauty

• Location: BeautyCharade.com

• Cost: Free!

• Ease of use: Easy

• The Trav Test grade: A+

Google's CR-48... So far

Alright, here goes. This is my first review of Google's CR-48. I've had it for a month now and I pretty much hate it. I don't even know where to start. The only thing I like about it so far is the free Verizon service that comes with it, but I have yet to use it and it was a major pain in the ass to activate. So why I do I hate it? Well, first of all, it's nothing special. Want to know what the user experience is like? Ok! Take your computer, launch Chrome, and don't allow yourself to touch anything else outside of Chrome. Seriously. You can't use any other applications like Word or Skype or anything. Want to type a Word doc? Google Docs is your only choice. Want to look at your schedule? Google Cal is your only choice. Want to instant message with a friend? Google Talk is your only choice. Call me crazy, but I prefer Word for Mac 2011, iCal, and iChat.

Ok, so you now know what it's like to be stuck with nothing but the web. What else? Well, the machine itself is SLOW. When both are on WiFi, my iPhone loads webpages about twice as fast as the CR-48. One thing Google talked a lot about when they introduced the CR-48 was that it turns on instantly. Well, actually, my MacBook Pro turns on almost as fast - it only takes about 20 seconds longer. I'd much rather "wait" an additional 20 seconds and have a complete, powerful computer over a bad netbook. Another issue I have with it is the trackpad. I can't even put into words how awful it is!  

So far, going from my MacBook Pro to the CR-48 feels like I'm stepping back into 1995. It is slow, unresponsive, and basic. Don't get me wrong, I love that it was free and the free Verizon service is nice to have when I don't have access to Wifi (which is incredibly rare). I also like that I can toss the CR-48 into the awesome case I got and let it sit in my car in 20º weather and not worry. I probably could do that with my MacBook Pro, but it's such a beautiful machine that I wouldn't even want to try.

I'll post again as time goes on, but one month in, the only thing I like is the price. Oh, and that a group of probably 15 year olds approached me at Chipotle to ask if it was a CR-48 and drool. It took me back to high school momentarily... and I had something that the other kids wanted! Damn, I should have offered to sell it to them... oh well.

My old Black MacBook (left) & My CR-48 (Right) on my bed

Google's CR-48 fails The Trav Test with an F (so far).

 • Category: Products

 • Location: N/A

 • Cost: Free!

 • Ease of use: N/A

 • The Trav Test grade: F

Quick Tip: Twitter Followers

I am addicted to Twitter!  I definitely over-share and love the ability to Tweet friends, companies, and celebrities... sometimes they even reply (friends included in this "they").  I don't like having random followers, though.  One option would be to "protect" my account so people would have to ask for my permission before being able to follow me.  This, however, prevents people who aren't following me from seeing my Tweets even if I mention them.  Since many of the companies and celebrities don't follow me back, they wouldn't see my Tweets to them at all.  The other option takes a few steps and may not be around forever.  First, if you're using the "new" Twitter, you need to switch back to "old" Twitter (you can switch back and fourth freely).  Next, go to your settings page and check "Protect my account."  You'll only leave it protected while you're removing followers.  You see, this is the only way to get the "Remove follower" option.  Next, go to your followers page.  Use the "Remove follower" action to remove the followers you want to remove.  Now, go back to your settings page and uncheck "Protect my account."  You can also switch back to "new" Twitter at this point if you'd like.  Hopefully Twitter will give us a less complicated way to remove unwanted followers in the future, but for now, this works.  Happy Tweeting!


By the way, are you following @TheTravTest?

This is a quick tip from The Trav Test to make every day an A!

Agloves

If you use a touchscreen device (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Droid, Evo, etc) and live someplace with winter, Agloves are for you.  They are a revolutionary new way to use winter gloves and a touchscreen device at the same time.  Other companies have made other products that tried to solve this problem.  They all failed.  Dots Gloves, for example, have some nickel or brass on the fingertips.  The problem with this is that if the gloves don't fit perfectly (actually, they need to be on the tight side), they don't do a damn thing.  They also don't work if you use the pad of your finger to scroll since the nickel or brass is only on the tips.

Agloves, however, work because they have silver nylon throughout.  Silver is the most electrically conductive element so your capacitive touchscreens LOVE silver.  Or, rather, they (g)love it.  You know, I'm typing this thinking I need to find something else to say because 2 relatively short paragraphs doesn't do Agloves justice, but they're simply so great there's nothing more to say.  If you have a touchscreen device, do yourself a favor and order Agloves.  You won't regret it.  Plus, for a limited time, you can enter "Free Shipping" in the coupon code and save the $3 shipping fee!  Actually, if I had to come up with 1 complaint to be my usual cynical self, I'd complain that I paid $3 for shipping when the shipping label clearly says they only paid a little over $1!  That's kind of annoying, but the gloves are still damn good!  Since the CEO, Jennifer Spencer, personally wrote "Thank you" and signed the packaging insert, I'll even give Agloves a few extra brownie points!

Agloves.  Conduct yourself.™

Agloves passes The Trav Test with an A+.

• Category: Winter Accessory

• Location: Agloves

• Cost: $17.99 + $3 shipping when the Free Shipping code expires

• Ease of use: Beyond Easy!

• The Trav Test grade: A+(++++++++++++++)

The Return of The Tonight Show

Tonight marked the return of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno!  The real Tonight Show!  While I don't typically watch late night talk shows, I tuned in for Jay's return.  The intro was fantastic!  They did a play on The Wizard of Oz complete with the amazing Betty White.  The new set seems to be a hybrid of the old Tonight Show set and the Jay Leno Show set.  It's a bit wonky, but it will work.  I love the guest chairs, but Jay's new desk is not my style.  It looks like something I could find on the set of "Hairspray" the movie.

Jay's first guest back, Jamie Foxx, was intense to say the least.  Since he was extremely happy and not at all depressive, I'm thinking he was high on cocaine.  I guess I should say "allegedly" incase he stumbles across this.  I enjoyed Jamie on Oprah last Friday, but tonight I wanted him to sit down and shut up!  Lindsey Vonn was interesting, but I think she forgot the rest of her dress backstage.  Perhaps she was in a hurry.  She didn't say anything unexpected so if you missed it, no biggie.  Jay's musical guest was Brad Paisley.  I hate country music for the most part so I was not into it.

Overall, the show was good, but "underwhelming" as my friend Andrea put it.  I won't be setting my DVR to catch every show, but if I'm sitting around at 10:35pm, I'll tune into The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

The Tonight Show passes The Trav Test with a B

• Category: TV, Talk Show

• Location: TV

• Cost: Free

• Ease of use: Easy

• The Trav Test grade: B

HTML Goodies

I spent some time thinking about what I would review as my very first post.  The first post is going to set the theme for posts to come, right?  Well, maybe.  I was leaning towards a post about my recent experience at Superdawg's new Wheeling, IL location because it was great, but then I thought about HTML Goodies.


HTML Goodies is a really simple site that I have used for YEARS to help me with web design.  I can remember back to 6th grade when I used HTML Goodies to teach me how to write a link code.  I memorized it and, of course, still use this knowledge today.  I have not memorized other things - like color codes (except black and white) - and HTML Goodies is a great resource to look these things up.


Whether you use HTML many times a day as part of your career in web design or only every 3 months when you change your Myspace page (actually, does anyone use Myspace anymore?), HTML Goodies is a great place to get help.  The creator, Joe Burns, writes in a way that is fun and easy to understand.

HTML Goodies passes The Trav Test with an A+

• Category: Tech, How To
• Location: Online
• Cost: Free
• Ease of use: Easy
• The Trav Test grade: A+