#cranky-dorkfest — Public Fediverse posts

Egypt Air A350-900 (SU-GGH) CAI (Cairo)-LAX landing on 24R after the main Dorkfest event #CrankyDorkfest #LAXDorkFest2026 #Aviation #AvGeek #KLAX #PlaneSpotting #A359 #SUGGH #Fujifilm #SOoC

Weekly output: AI + cybersecurity, physical AI, Cranky Dorkfest + SpotLAX, VenHub

My second trip in two weeks to a city with a name beginning in “A” features much less flying time than this past week’s visit to Amsterdam for the HumanX AI conference: I’m off to Atlanta Monday afternoon for SCTE TechExpo. I’m emceeing one stage at this cable-industry gathering for part of Tuesday afternoon (with the organizers covering my hotel in return) and have a couple of stories to file from there for my trade-pub client Light Reading.

9/23/2026: A Reality Check on How Cyberattackers are Actually Using AI, HumanX

This panel–featuring Aikido co-founder Madeline Lawrence, Noma Security chief information security officer Diana Kelley, and Tenable chief product officer Eric Doerr–was a joy to moderate because of how well the conversation flowed. Everybody locked into a “yes, and…” state right after I asked them to introduce themselves and their companies and then threw in a conversation-starter request that I’d thought of only minutes before: Also, tell me your favorite movie about information security. (Lawrence and Kelley picked WarGames, while Tenable cheated a bit and named the Apple TV series The Silo.

9/24/2026: Engineering the Physical World, HumanX

The lack of the usual panel prep call–we weren’t able to settle on a time for that–did not hold back my conversation with Lifebit co-founder and CEO Maria Dunford, Xoople co-founder and CEO Fabrizio Pirondini, and Mixx Technologies co-founder and chief product officer Rebecca Schaevitz. The first two companies are applying AI to massive real-world datasets, while the last one aims to provide photonics-based infrastructure to make those workloads easier.

9/24/2026: Why I Flew to LAX to Look at Airplanes With a Bunch of Strangers, PCMag

For the second year in a row, I flew to L.A. for Cranky Dorkfest; for the first time, I got to check both of NYC Aviation’s SpotLAX gatherings scheduled around that avgeek meetup. This let me bring a different perspective to this recap, more centered around the photography angle because I brought a much more capable camera than the one in my phone. You can see the results of that in the Flickr album that I began posting Monday.

9/26/2026: I Stopped By This LA Convenience Store to Have a Robot Arm Hand Me a Snack, PCMag

I didn’t spend all of my time around LAX looking at airplanes; I also spent some of it interacting with robots at a VenHub “Smart Store”–and then looking over that company’s Q2 earnings filing.

During Dorkfest 2026, a landing Japan Airlines A350-1000 (JA05WJ). From Haneda. * updated with the correct second photo 😬

#CrankyDorkfest #LAXDorkFest2026 #Aviation #AvGeek #KLAX #PlaneSpotting #A35X #JA05WJ #Fujifilm #SOoC

Bonus photo: one of a few therapy dogs present at the #crankydorkfest ramp tour.

On 9/19/2026 just after LAX Dorkfest: Lufthansa B747-8 (D-ABYN), in their 100th anniversary livery, on approach to LAX’s 24R. It originated from Frankfurt. #CrankyDorkfest #LAXDorkFest2026 #Aviation #AvGeek #KLAX #PlaneSpotting #B748 #DABYN #Fujifilm #SOoC

Greetings from LAX, where #CrankyDorkfest is on. Two-word review: Airplanes! Yay!

Looking forward to attending both @[email protected]’s #SPOTLAX2026 & @[email protected](Brett Snyder’s) #CrankyDorkfest held annually around LAX Airport in September! #AVGeek
Cranky DorkFest
crankyflier.com/dorkfest/
SPOTLAX
www.nycaviation.com/2026/05/impo...

Weekly output: NextGen Acela, Evernote V11, Verizon CEOs, RGB LED, screen time, Cranky Dorkfest, Verizon buys Starry, AT&T standalone 5G, TiVo DVRs

This week will have me crossing a state off my states-visited list for the first time since 2009–Wisconsin, where Oshkosh Corp. is hosting a press day to show off its government and industrial vehicles, including the U.S. Postal Service’s new and behind-schedule duckface trucks. I don’t have a good explanation for why I had not set foot in that state sooner and can only apologize to America’s Dairyland for the extended oversight.

10/6/2025: Amtrak’s new Acela trains can’t keep up with high-speed rail, Fast Company

After taking the new trains to and from New York at the end of August, I had ambitions of writing this story much faster than I did–sort of like how Amtrak had ambitions of getting the new train into service much sooner than it did. But getting the level of detail that I wanted about the railroad’s plans to upgrade the power infrastructure along the Northeast Corridor took more time than I expected.

(I included the full text of Amtrak’s detailed explanation of its plans to improve the catenary along the NEC in the commentary-enhanced version of this post that I published early on Patreon.)

10/6/2025: Major Evernote Update Taps AI for Search and Transcription, But Not Writing, PCMag

I had about an hour Friday to quiz Evernote product lead Federico Simionato about Bending Spoons’ plans for the note-taking app that it bought in 2023, and which I’ve used since 2010–so of course I took notes in my Mac’s copy of Evernote while using the Android app to record our conversation for subsequent AI transcription.

10/6/2025: Verizon Hot-Swaps Current CEO for Ex-PayPal Boss, PCMag

I don’t usually cover C-suite departures and arrivals, but I had some free time. And Verizon’s new chief executive Dan Schulman has a sufficiently interesting backstory–see the New York Times’ interview of him in 2008–that I told my editors I could pick up this item.

10/7/2025: RGB LED Is Getting Its Time in the Spotlight. Will TV Shoppers Tune In?, PCMag

I started writing this post at IFA–the first version had a Berlin dateline. But then I got sufficiently sidetracked and got in enough reporting after that tech trade show for the piece to evolve from an event recap to a broader assessment of a tech development.

10/8/2025: It’s Not Just You: Parents Everywhere Struggle to Set Screen-Time Boundaries, PCMag

Pew’s data about the level of technology use respondents to its survey allowed among kids 12 years old or younger made me feel slightly better about my own attempts at digital parenting.

10/8/2025: What happens when online plane enthusiasts meet up IRL?, Fast Company

This recap of Cranky Dorkfest 2025 was easily the most fun that I’ve had with a story since the last time I went to Florida to see a space launch.

10/8/2025: Verizon to Buy Wireless Broadband Pioneer Starry, Fold It Into Its Home Internet Service, PCMag

Writing this sent me back a ways–both to writing about Starry in its early days, including a December 2017 feature for Yahoo Finance, but also to covering Starry founder Chet Kanojia’s previous venture, the local-TV-streaming service Aereo that the Supreme Court put out of business in a dubious 2014 opinion.

10/9/2025: AT&T Switches on Standalone 5G Nationwide, Unlocking Future Network Slice Services, PCMag

This post also covers Verizon’s advances in standalone 5G, about which that carrier has been quieter than AT&T and T-Mobile.

10/9/2025: Time’s Up for a Timeshifting Trailblazer: TiVo Discontinues Its Standalone DVRs, PCMag

I would have written this much faster if I didn’t get sucked down a rabbit hole of old TiVo posts and reviews, followed by my checking my own TiVo purchase history.

#Acela #Amtrak #ATT5G #avgeek #BendingSpoons #CrankyDorkfest #DanSchulman #digitalParenting #Evernote #fixedWireless #fixedWirelessBroadband #highSpeedRail #IFA #LAX #NEC #NextGenAcela #NortheastCorridor #PewResearchCenter #RGBLED #screenTime #Sony #standalone5G #StarryInternet #Verizon5G #VerizonCEO

Weekly output: customer satisfaction scores, Qualcomm Quick Charge, TiVo OS, The Onion

This week started at home, then took me out of town first to New Orleans for the Online News Association’s conference (the ninth I’ve attended), followed by Los Angeles for Cranky Dorkfest (my overdue introduction to that avgeek meetup).

9/9/2025: This PC Maker Just Pushed Apple Out of the Top Spot for Customer Satisfaction, PCMag

I had more time than I thought I would Monday to write this when jury duty turned into a roughly 20-minute exercise–they seated the jury they needed right before my reporting time.

9/10/2025: Qualcomm Quick Charge Tech Gets Big Update. Will It Appear on Any US Phones?, PCMag

One of my editors asked if I could pick up this embargoed item, and I had enough slack time in my schedule Tuesday to make that happen.

9/12/2025: Xperi’s TiVo OS aims to bring search and simplicity to TV makers, Light Reading

After a show-floor interview at IFA that gave me about 95% of what I needed, it took a few more days for Xperi’s PR firm to confirm a couple of details, after which I wrote and filed the piece for my telecom trade-pub client during some downtime at ONA Thursday afternoon.

9/14/2025: The Onion CEO Unloads on AI’s Joke-Writing Skills, Says Infowars Purchase Still on the Table, PCMag

Having seen Ben Collins on a panel at SXSW 2019, I thought he would make an engaging, funny speaker at ONA. He was, but he also made some serious points about the Trump administration’s frequent hostility to dissent and the need for journalists to resist that pressure.

#ACSI #avgeek #BenCollins #connectedTV #CrankyDorkfest #CrankyFlier #customerSatisfaction #fastCharging #IFA #LAX #LosAngeles #NewOrleans #ONA #OnlineNewsAssociation #Qualcomm #QuickCharge #satire #streamingVideo #TheOnion #TiVoOS #Xperi

The main #CrankyDorkfest attraction may have shifted over by one runway this year, but being this close under an A380 is still absolutely awesome. #AvGeek

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:fr6j3klgg6t5gqk5dvocurnj/post/3lyqo22pezk2l

Every #AvGeek was also here at #CrankyDorkfest

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:fr6j3klgg6t5gqk5dvocurnj/post/3lyooxbawck2c

Every #AvGeek was also here at #CrankyDorkfest

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:fr6j3klgg6t5gqk5dvocurnj/post/3lyooxbawck2c

Good morning from LAX! Not so great news for #CrankyDorkfest, the runway closest to In-N-Out will be closed most of the day.

AUS-LAX on DL 306 for #CrankyDorkfest. As usual, appreciating the wider seats on an Airbus A320 vs. a 737 'cuz shoulder room 😅

Our annual roundup of avgeek news and notes for #SpotLAX2025 and #CrankyDorkfest: https://blog.jettip.net/spotlax-dorkfest-2025-avgeek-news-and-notes

Here, have a couple Korean airline A380s #CrankyDorkfest

For the third year in a row, I'm heading to LAX for #CrankyDorkfest. For the second time, my flight out there is the first Delta flight of the day.

As fair warning, I'll be posting a few plane photos today.

We'll be at #SpotLAX2023 / #CrankyDorkfest this year, September 8-10; if you see Nick (big guy, JetTip hat), please be sure to introduce yourself!

https://www.nycaviation.com/2023/06/spotlax2023-hotel-rooms-now-available/44658

https://crankyflier.com/2022/10/26/mark-your-calendars-cranky-dorkfest-2023-is-september-9/