Photo: Matt Biddulph

Freelance writers and cafes have always gone hand in hand, but according to the Wall Street Journal, the relationship may soon suffer a permanent break.

The romantic image of the freelance writer sitting in a cozy cafe, sipping a steaming latte and tapping away at their next National Geographic article or bestselling novel, is a common one.

For many writers, the allure of the coffee shop is more than just caffeine addiction. It’s an escape from the distractions at home, where laundry needs folding and the dishes in the sink are begging to be washed. It’s also a solution for lonely writer syndrome, when the need to be with other living, breathing humans becomes unbearable.

While cafe owners used to encourage the regular business, recent economic woes have caused some to change their tune.

At some time or another, most of us have been guilty of nursing a cup of the house blend for hours, plugged in and surfing the web. With the current unemployment rate, it’s no surprise that more and more workers are trying to become location independent.

True penny-pinchers are bringing everything from food to teabags and setting up for the work day in their local cafe, draining electricity and eliminating the need to pay for internet service at home. Meanwhile, potential customers are driven away when they can’t find a table to enjoy their mocha and muffin.

Reaction from management is mixed. Unsurprisingly, some have put time restrictions on laptop use, or locks and signs on outlets politely informing customers that laptop plugs are not welcome. A few actually have a ban on laptops altogether. Other cafe owners have expanded their businesses, adding more outlets to encourage regular visits.

That may seem like the ideal option- if, of course, owners can afford it. Cafes are a popular place for business meetings and interviews, and a no-laptop policy or limited WiFi could be a deal breaker in those situations. But if smaller shops are struggling just to keep their doors open, it’s hard to blame them for shooing squatters away.

Where does this leave the travel writer? It’s usually easy enough for someone backpacking in a foreign country to stop at a cafe for a quick drink and a blog update. Perhaps it’s time to pick up the notebook and pen again- saving electricity, sure, but still taking up hours of valuable table time.

What’s the solution? Some claim angry owners are making a mistake by discouraging freelancers, that any business is good business. Can WiFi addicted customers help support their favorite cafe by splurging on a venti macchiato now and then, or is this long romance finally at an end?

Community Connection:

If you’re a location independent professional in one of the Techiest Cities in the World, is this all a moot point?

And what is a location independent professional anyway? Learn more about this special kind of freelancing in 10 Tips for Becoming a Location Independent Professional.

Photo: Shane Sakata

I’m no trend-chaser–in fact, I tend to be trend-averse–but if you’re a traveler who’s (still) not on Twitter, I’ve gotta say: you’re missing out.

Twitter, a micro-blogging platform that gives users 140 characters to tell their followers what they’re doing– wasn’t designed specifically for travelers. Yet since it launched in 2006, users have found plenty of uses for Twitter that its own founders and developers never imagined.

Twitter is being used by travelers and travel-related businesses in especially innovative ways. Benji Lanyado, travel writer for the Guardian, used Twitter to plan a trip–which he called a TwiTrip– in real time. He’s @bejilanyado on Twitter. Diamond PR, a public relations firm specializing in travel and tourism, has filled last minute spots on press trips by reaching out to travel writers via Twitter. They’re @diamondpr on Twitter.

Another use of Twitter–the tweetchat–is being pioneered this week by travelers. A tweetchat allows users with similar interests to have chats on Twitter during a specific time designated for group conversation. On June 5, expats Honor Dargan and Shane Sakata, who have over 10 years of combined time living in Japan, will be launching a tweetchat called JapanDiscovered.

The purpose of JapanDiscovered is to help travelers make the most of their time in Japan. As Honor and Shane told Matador:

“We really want to share the knowledge that we’ve gained to give other people access to the wide variety of experiences available here. Japan is an amazing country with something for almost everyone. The difficult part of Japan travel planning is knowing where to look. JapanDiscovered! fills that gap with personalized Japan Travel planning recommendations.”

During the JapanDiscovered tweet chat, Honor and Shane will share what they know about Japan and Tokyo with participants so they can plan their travels more easily. “No guidebooks, no internet searches, just real-time answers” is the idea behind the JapanDiscovered tweetchat.

The JapanDiscovered tweetchat will be hosted by Honor and Shane each Friday at noon Japan Standard Time. You can read more about how you can participate here, and be sure to visit the JapanDiscovered website. And if you’re already on Twitter, be sure to add @japandiscovered to your follow list.

If you’ll be joining Twitter for the first time, you can sign up here. Honor and Shane will be giving away a copy of the book, Urawaza, Secret Everyday Tips and Tricks from Japan, to one lucky follower who adds @japandiscovered to their followers and then sends a Japan travel question to @japandiscovered on Twitter. Details about the giveaway are here.

Community Connection:

If you’re planning a trip to Japan, JapanDiscovered is a helpful resource. Be sure to touch base with any one of Matador’s 25 Asia destination experts, who have answers to your questions about everywhere from Taipei to Tibet– and all points in between. And be sure to check out Matador Abroad’s favorite Asia food blogs, too.

Photo: FaceMePLS

Despite all the models and service options that exist, there are no fewer than one million frustrations I experience when traveling with my cell phone. There’s SIM card switch out. Roaming fees. Spotty service.

And that’s just for starters.

But I guess I should be grateful that I’m not Alex Dobson.

Dobson, an 18 year old Canadian who traveled to Peru last year, didn’t intend to take his phone with him at all. When he reached into his pocket and realized he hadn’t left it at home, he threw the phone in the bottom of his backpack and didn’t think anything else about it.

That was until he got home and learned that he had a $13,000 cell phone bill.

Dobson’s phone was stolen along with the rest of the contents of his pack. The thief apparently had lots of friends or relatives outside the country. Making calls to the tune of $3.49 a minute, he racked up a bill that eventually totaled more than $24,000.

Though Dobson canceled his cell phone service and reported the theft to his service provider, Bell Canada, the company continued to send him bills for calls the thief was making. After “investigating” the matter, Bell Canada decided that since the situation didn’t involve fraud (huh?), Dobson was liable for all of the existing charges.

And I thought these shenanigans only happened in the US.

Dobson’s mother, though angry, says “If we’re eventually held to have to pay it, we’ll have to pay it.”

Would YOU pay the bill for calls you’d never made? Share your response below.

Community Connection:

Want to forgo cell phones altogether but still need to keep in touch while you’re on the road? Check out “5 International Phone Plans for Telecommuters” and “Pimp Your Skype Experience” to learn more about Voice over Internet phone (VOIP) options.

Photo: anthony goto

Earlier this week, Matador Change published an article by Dominic DeGrazier about a company offering travelers “insider tours” of the favelas–or slums–of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Soon, travelers who book a trip with Favela Tour may notice some unexpected technological developments: high-speed internet access has arrived in the slums of Rio.

In Friday’s issue of the O Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper, journalist Alexandre Rodriguez reported that Rio’s Dona Marta Favela will be the first Rio slum to receive free high speed internet access.

Already, 16 antennas have been installed throughout Dona Marta, an investment in technological infrastructure expected to provide 10,000 residents with internet access.

The provision of wireless internet in the favelas is part of a larger project called Orla Digital, which launched similar services in Copacabana’s marginalized neighborhoods last July.

That launch allowed the project to work out some logistical difficulties–including intense demand placed on the system by eager users– and the spread of the project to Rio is viewed positively by many groups.

As Rodriguez noted:

“In spite of their poverty, the better part of homes in the favelas of Rio do have computers, and young people use them every day.”

Now, they won’t have to rely upon improvised connections to access the internet.

File this news story under “out of touch”.

Remember when Napster first came on the scene, and everyone in the music industry was in a great big hurry to shut it down?

Of course, they did shut it down successfully.

But then LimeWire came along, and Kazaa, and SoulSeek. And so on.

The music industry carried on trying to take each one down, guns-a-blazin, until finally someone at Apple had the bright idea that electronic music sharing wasn’t going anywhere, so the industry might as well try to get a piece of the pie.

Enter iTunes, and you know the rest of the story.

Sorry for the digression into recent music-sharing history, but I promise, it does relate.

See, my point is, the music industry couldn’t wrap their heads around the fact that things were changing, that people were listening to music in a different way. They couldn’t adapt, and to the extent that they could see the change coming, they could only see it as a threat. They couldn’t imagine that they might be able to co-exist with the change – or even profit from it.

I was reminded of the music industry’s war on MP3s when I read this story, about Ontario’s private coach companies attempting to shut down a popular rideshare website.

From the Globe and Mail story:

Bus line operators such as Trentway-Wagar Inc. – which launched the formal complaint against PickupPal – argue that Mr. Dewhirst’s company is facilitating the operation of an illegal transportation service. Last week the Ontario Highway Transport Board agreed and fined the company more than $11,000 for infractions of the Public Vehicles Act…

[A company representative] said Trentway-Wagar is not opposed to carpooling but simply wants all commercial operations offering public transportation to be treated equally.

Um… huh?

A website that links up drivers with passengers willing to chip in a few bucks for gas is suddenly an illegal transportation service?

Better lock up all the soccer moms who’ve ever shared rides too, while you’re at it.

The bus companies aren’t just desperate to save their (allegedly threatened) business, either. They, and the government board that’s just sided with them, appear to be completely unaware of the way technology has evolved around them:

At one point in the proceedings, Mr. Dewhirst had to explain to the board that an online forum is an Internet site where people can go to discuss a particular topic. In another instance, members of the board were flabbergasted when they suggested a change be made to PickupPal and Mr. Dewhirst offered to make the update on his computer right there in the room.

Ouch.

I don’t think I could name another more useless waste of government time, than sitting around trying to shut down ride-sharing forums – particularly with concerns about climate change pre-occupying much of the world. Shouldn’t the government actually be encouraging this sort of thing?

They may manage to take down PickupPal here in Ontario, but that won’t mean anything in the long run.

As PickupPal’s founder said in the story: “The government has been blindsided by the technology, and the world has changed around them.”

Photo by Drown (Creative Commons)

Depending on your point of view, this news will either revolutionize your flight experience or make it even more revolting:

WiFi is now available in the friendly skies.

Late last month, airlines began rolling out on-board wireless internet service for passengers who just can’t bear to be disconnected while in flight.

The service, provided by GoGo Inflight Internet, is currently offered on select Virgin America, American Airlines, and Delta flights originating in New York City and terminating in San Francisco, Los Angeles, or Miami.

Service is also scheduled to become available on certain Air Canada flights in the near future.

As with most amenities on planes these days, in-air WiFi isn’t free, and it comes with some strings attached.

The service is currently provided for $12.95 per flight, and is supported on most handhelds and laptops that meet specific minimum web browser and software requirements (that information can be found here).

For the sake of your fellow passengers, though, certain uses are restricted. Voice over Internet phone (VOIP) service, for example, is blocked. Other audio and video components may be blocked as trial runs of the service provoke customer complaints.

Initial reviews of the service have largely been positive. Blogger Ryan Block tried out the service on Virgin’s inaugural wired flight this weekend, and reported that speed is pretty good.

Yet some tech analysts wonder what kinks will need to be ironed out of the system before it can be implemented on a wider scale, asking, for instance, how service concerns will be addressed.

For now, passengers on the handful of flights offering WiFi are GoGo’s test market. How about you? Are you looking forward to wired flights, or will the skies become less friendly if your fellow passengers are always connected?

Photo: Magitisa (Flickr creative commons)

The travel blogosphere has been aflutter with all sorts of news about Twitter.

First, blogger Pam over at Nerds Eye View shared her story about how Conde Nast editor Wendy Perrin happened to be following Pam’s tweets, liked what she saw, and invited Pam to come on out to NYC and do some blogging for Conde Nast about a conference they were hosting.

Then, Matador member Christine Gilbert wrote that the LA Times picked up a tweet–one she didn’t even write–about her American Airlines Can Bite Me Contest–and featured the contest on their online travel section.

Written Road’s resident tech expert, Tim Shisler, signed the site up for its own Twitter account, joining Boots-n-All, the Travel Channel, the NY Times Travel section, and other travel specialty sites.

And then, the NY Times reported this weekend, the U.S. State Department finally jumped on board and started showing off its tech-savvy. Its country profiles and travel advisories are now being broadcast via Twitter. Personally, I don’t think I can handle 24/7 feeds about dangers around the world, but if you’re the type of traveler who checks State Department warnings before you plan your travels, then you may want to add this to the Twitter accounts you’re following.

Photo: Robert Scoble (Flickr creative commons)