[Guest post by my CEO and best friend, Mark Harrison]

I have been searching literally for years for a voice-isolation, noise-canceling headset that can handle the noisy environments I have to make calls from on a daily basis. As CEO of a globally-distributed online social media company, I spend 2-8 hours a day on calls. More often than not, I am making these calls from an airport, train, restaurant, or car – or while walking from one of these to another. Wind and ambient noise has been such a part of my telephone world that my team had become convinced that I actually live in a cardboard box under an overpass somewhere.

Over the past few years, I have spent a small fortune on headsets, searching for something that would filter out the background noise and transmit only my voice. I tried countless bluetooth headsets (which did middling jobs, and gave me headaches to boot), and a pile of wired headsets (many of which blocked outside noise for me, but transmitted most all my background noise to the suffering people on the other end of the line.)

Then, about two months ago, I discovered theboom.com googling “voice-isolation headset”. I bought the V4, and it solved my problems immediately. I can be in the noisiest of environments, and the only thing anyone hears is my voice. Here is a recording I made the other day while on the autobahn on the way from Berlin to Munich, in an open convertible at 140kph while passing a deafening construction site. I was having a hard time hearing myself speak, but theBoom headset really only transmits my voice.

The Boom headset is not cheap – the V4 consumer model I use is nearly $200 with tax and shipping, but it’s absolutely worth it to me. The only problem that I’ve had is that the plastics in the V4 have not held up well to my heavy use. The plastic around the earpiece and the ear wrap has cracked and I’ve had to re-glue the foam windscreen. I am thinking for my travel-heavy usage, I am going to have to buy the hopefully more robust “E” model.

In the meantime, I’ve bought a backup v4 for myself (which I am using now what with the first one having fallen apart), one for my girlfriend so we can talk on her morning commutes on the insanely loud BART train, and one for Chris Abraham, my business partner the lord of this site, for his similarly mobile work life. The headsets do work acoustic miracles, I could hardly recommend them more strongly.

No longer do you need to buy expensive converters when you travel to Europe with your phone and your computer, just European plug adapters.

I moved to Berlin from the US in 2007 through 2008 and all I needed to do when I arrived was one of two things: a European plug-converter or a replacement charger.

No need for an elaborate amperage and watt converter or transducer or any of that. The included chargers and power cords for my Nokia phone, my Android phone, my iPod Touch, my iPad, and my Lenovo ThinkPad x61 and ThinkPad x201 worked just fine with only the plug converter, being able to handle 110 volt and 220 volt with their internal converters.

No worries.

When I was there a while, in Berlin, I went to Saturn, their version of Fry’s or Radio Shack or Best Buy, etc, and picked up local category type C and type F-based plugs.  Just match your model or plug or USB-variant and bang, you’re off.

Even modern world-band transistor  radios and other devices are pretty sophisticated these days, however, when it comes to moving your home, don’t move all of your household electronics — just sell them and get new stuff.  Stuff like that doesn’t generally have the same sort of sophisticated internal converter.

So, please, don’t waste a load of time buying expensive universal power adapters before you head off, just make sure you get some plug cheap plug adapters for the country or countries you’ll be visiting and keep them in your gear bag.

In the last ten days I have lost a solid 15 pounds as part of the Attack phase of the Dukan diet but I also thought that going above and beyond the required 25-35 minutes of walking per-day to a good couple hours. Got some vitamin D and also am getting to know my new city better and better.

I don’t share this much but I am a design freak.  One of my favorite parts of being in Berlin was being so close to the Bauhaus school of design.  I am also amazed by mid-century modern design, especially industrial design in the form of furniture and architecture. Well, according to Swiss Miss, there are new Designy New Forever Stamps:

New Forever Stamps from the USPS are dedicated to 12 pioneers of American industrial design. I am seriously excited about these. Here’s where you can buy them. (via design-milk)

While this video is trying to be a scold it is actually exciting bike messenger porn:

Why? Because even if there were proper bike lanes and bike intersections and even German bike crossing lights, it wouldn’t change what is happening here.  It is in the culture.

Back in the late 80s and early 90s when I was a bike courier in Washington, DC, I rode like a bike messenger.

I always took the quickest route between my pick up and my drop off point. It was all about the the traveling vector and predicted point of impact.

I became very good at predicting someone committed to their vector, someone who might betray they vector, or someone who was vectoring shyly. And I could anticipate someone who would probably freeze (bad) or change their tack (worse), or stop short (worst).

So, the video actually tends to be, to me, daily bread. Not anymore, though, because biking in Berlin has beat it out of me (bikes laws are tough) and Portland literally pisses and moans about people who don’t follow lanes, signs, right-of-way, and lights.

Anyway, this video ends up being a master class in how it is — and often should be — done.

I spend this morning over at the Portland Farmers Market here in SW downtown Portland, Oregon, on the campus of Portland State University in the south Director Park.

I brought my Freitag bag in order to collect my booty and started wandering around.  Since I am only a couple-few blocks away from the park, I thought I would save my appetite for some market food — such as a breakfast burrito from this kiosk, Enchanted Sun.

Then, more walking around, looking and looking, taking each kiosk in.

After picking up some greens in the form of different types of kale and mustard greens.  How should I cook them?

Then I got over the fact that I am not in Berlin for die Spargelsaison and picked up a few bunches of asparagus tips, a bag of what are called German Butterball potatoes, some radishes, and some Baby Bok Choy Kimchi and some Wild Mountain Flower raw honey.

Then it got a little cool and so I stopped at Café Vélo for a bespoke drip coffee, something called, if I recall, some sort of Indonesian Peabody.

So, then, after my coffee, I decided to call it a day and head back to the apartment to grab my bike for a ride since it isn’t raining.

Anyway, here’s my take for the entire morning out.  Please share any recipe you’d like to share to help figure out what to do with all off this green stuff:

[Guest post by Mark Harrison who just got back from a trip to Zanzibar that he can't stop going on about so I gave him a platform -- also, this article is adapted from a Trip Advisor review]

Teddy’s Place offers very reasonable prices, friendly & caring staff, great food, lovely accommodations… it’s the perfect backpacker place. I stayed at Teddy’s Place for 10 days over the 2010 Christmas holidays and had the most relaxed and pleasant stay.

The hostel is set on a spacious, shady, sandy parcel fronting via a beautiful palm grove onto the sugary sand beach of Zanzibar’s gorgeous east coast. It’s some of the best swimming in the world – warm, turquoise water and gentle waves behind a protecting reef. The hostel is located in Paje, walking distance along the beach to many other restaurants, clubs, hotel, kite-surfing schools, etc.

The hostel grounds are surrounded by a high natural stone wall with a guarded gate, so it’s quite secure – I left my laptop/smartphone/wallet/passport in my banda the whole time, no one goes in, even the cleaning staff enter only upon your specific request. The accommodations are simple but very clean and airy woven thatch bandas with sand floors and two mozzie-net covered beds, a fan, lights, and electric outlets for your phone/laptop/whatever.

The bathrooms and showers are in a separate banda and are simple, but are very clean and pleasant. There are shaded, breezy common areas with Zanzibar couches everywhere – perfect for warm, lazy days of reading, sipping tropical drinks and chatting with the very friendly fellow travelers this place seems to attract.

The food is DELICIOUS. Breakfast is included and is fresh juices, tropical fruits, omlettes, pancakes with Zanzibar honey, fresh coffee or Tanzanian highland teas… yum. During the day you can order fresh seafood, pizza, pasta, salads, fresh coconuts brought down from the surrounding trees, plus very nicely done cocktails and longdrinks. For Christmas dinner, the chef prepared lobster and a variety of seafood, grilled goat, beef, chicken, and a variety of Zanzibari specialties…

There are weekly movie nights with the guests and locals, and every Wednesday night they have their famous Hakuna Kulala BBQ/dance party that it seems the entire east coast shows up to. A great opportunity to meet Zanzibaris, local ex-pats, and fellow travelers.

Teddy’s Place is currently being managed by a very sweet, charming, fun, and extremely professional young couple from Berlin. They make everyone feel very much at home and will do everything they can to make it a pleasant stay – including taking the guests along to parties up and down the beach and connecting you with trustworthy, dependable people for snorkeling trips, spice tours, taxis to Stonetown, etc.

A wonderful and very affordable place to relax and recharge from travels around Africa, work on the mainland, or from the chaos and stress of Dar. I would definitely recommend it to any traveler looking for a bit of Zanzibar paradise on a budget!

(Disclosure: I know Lasse & Jo, the current managers, from Berlin – that said, this review is 100% straight… I had a GREAT time, and they are running an amazing establishment!)

I never really fell in love with the Hair song, Let the Sunshine In until I had an experience in Berlin very similar to this one (yes, Berlin is totally awesome no matter what you think):

Orchestre Miniature in the Park AKA OMP only plays music that mentions either the sun or summer. My friend Elisabeth King gigs with them.  They only play children’s and toy instruments. One day a couple-few years ago with Phoebe Kreutz (she loves Berlin too) popped in an joined OMP in singing Let the Sunshine In, from Hair, in Berlin, and it was so awesome I was done. Mind you, the video I linked to is not the right one, it is from an ad hoc outdoor gig at Ostkreutz in Berlin, but you get the idea — I know I have it recorded somewhere on YouTube myself, but I am still looking for that.

Sigh.

Before that, I already knew Ms. Kreutz because OMP loves to play her song All Summer Long (but be sure to also check out Phoebe Kreutz’s version of All Summer Long as well)

And here’s All Summer Long by Phoebe Kreutz

And here’s a really gorgeous version of Let the Sunshine In that I think takes place in Washington Square Park:

And here’s OMP playing All Summer Long:

And here’s the version of Let the Sunshine In from the movie Hair:

Since studying German at the Goethe-Institut in Berlin last Spring I have been remiss in my German-learning. I spent the last 2 weeks in Berlin and realize that my German is falling apart.

As you know, I am a proud member of Rosetta Stone’s TOTALe language-learning solution — and also a former Rosetta Stone blogger.  Last night I wanted to refresh my German since I had an hour.

I didn’t feel like getting my laptop out and was on my Apple iPad so I searched the Apple iTunes App store for maybe a flashcard app or something that has recently come out.  Well, on a lark, I searched for “Rosetta” and up popped the TOTALe Companion for iPhone.  Though not ideal, I downloaded it.

I dusted off my TOTALe login and password and before I knew it not only was I refreshing and practicing the vocabulary I learned at Goethe-Institut Berlin, Hartnackschule Sprachschule, and on Rosetta Stone TOTALe but the TOTALe Companion is even better than that!  Why?

Well, it tests your pronunciation!  Yes, the language drills on TOTALe Companion are as sophisticated as they are on the proper website.  After they read you each work or phrase and show you a relevant supporting photo, there’s a “ping” and the application awaits your voice.

If you’re on an iPod Touch, you’ll need a headset but on the Apple iPad or the iPhone, you can just talk.  Just say the German word or phrase and you’ll either nail it, part of it, or you’ll fail to pass.  If you fail to pass a few times, it just pops you to the next one.  And you can do this all the way through all of the vocab in the entire course.

What’s even better is that you can download each lesson to your device so you can probably download lots and lots of vocab to your local device well in advance of studying, which means you don’t even need to be online to practice, do your drills, memorize, and also practice your speech and pronunciation.

Mind you, I have been reading the comments and reviews in the Apple Store and some have been pretty bad and here’s why: people want everything for free and the full TOTALe course costs about a thousand dollars a year and the TOTALe Companion requires, ultimately, that you become a member of the Rosetta Stone TOTALe system — become a subscriber.

If you’re not a subscriber, I think you’ll be able to get three months free; however, this isn’t a stand alone app — you need to login with the credentials you’re given when you join the Rosetta Stone TOTALe language-learning system.

I do own an Apple iPod Touch so it’ll be perfect on there, though I have been using it on the iPad.  Since this app is a native iPhone and iPod Touch app, when you install it onto the iPad, it’s not built for the iPad.

So, you’ll have to deal with app being a small little emulated iPhone app in the middle of the iPad screen or you can click the “2x” and have a passable iPad experience.

The gorgeous photography that Rosetta Stone is known for looks great on the iPad so once you get going, you won’t even care that you’re using an iPhone and iPod Touch-only app because it just looks great.  But I can’t wait to use it on my iPod Touch — honestly, I really need to just get myself an iPhone.

I have not tried it out yet, but I believe the app has also has a hand-free mode so maybe you can use the app just passively to be able to just listen to the words while you’re doing something else, like at the gym.

The TOTALe Companion is what I have been waiting for.  It is a little bit of a pain needing to do everything on my laptop with a headset.

Rosetta Stone TOTALe Companion on iTunes App Store

This exclusive application is for Rosetta Stone Version 4 TOTALe™ customers only. To purchase Version 4 TOTALe™ or upgrade from Rosetta Stone Version 3 visit RosettaStone.com.

Continue your Rosetta Stone TOTALe™ experience away from your computer with Rosetta Stone TOTALe Mobile Companion™, exclusively for Rosetta Stone TOTALe customers. This unique application enhances language learning with Rosetta Stone TOTALe by incorporating our innovative speech-recognition technology, so you can practice your speaking skills wherever you take your iPhone® or iPod Touch® mobile device.

About Rosetta Stone TOTALe

Start discovering a new language with Rosetta Stone Version 4 TOTALe. TOTALe pairs everything that’s made Rosetta Stone the language-learning leader worldwide with an entirely new experience online. With TOTALe, you learn using our award-winning software, practice online with native-speaking tutors, and connect with others in our exclusive online community filled with games and other activities.

When you are away from your computer, you can continue your exploration of language with Mobile Companion™. Mobile Companion works seamlessly with the other Rosetta Stone TOTALe features to help you progress in your language-learning journey.

With Rosetta Stone TOTALe Mobile Companion, you’ll be able to:

- Practice your speaking, pronunciation, and vocabulary skills anytime, anywhere.
- Refine your skills with material from Rosetta Course™.
- Learn using either the touchscreen or hands-free mode.

Everything works together in Rosetta Stone TOTALe to move you towards real-world conversational ability.

This application is only usable by TOTALe customers. Speech-recognition technology requires a headset microphone on iPod Touch devices. Find out more at RosettaStone.com.

Start learning a new language today with solutions from Rosetta Stone.

According to Gizmodo, Man Officially Cured of HIV,  NAM Aidsmap und “The Berlin Patient”: Der Mann, der HIV besiegte in Stern.de

For the first time, a man has been declared officially cured of HIV. The remedy may nearly have killed him, but it opens a door—just a crack—to hope that we may someday kill off the scourge for good.

[...]

The treatment Brown underwent was aggressive: chemotherapy that destroyed the majority of his immune cells. Total body irradiation. Finally, a risky stem-cell transplant that nearly a third of patients don’t survive—but that appears to have completely cured Brown of HIV.