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Chicagoans were excited to hear that on a recent visit to France its mayor Richard Daley was going to check out bicycle rental, namely the Velib service for on-demand bike rental. This system relies on renting bikes from and returning them to a “service point.” On a recent visit to Germany, I saw examples of bike rental where the bikes stand alone.

In Berlin it was not uncommon to see red and silver bikes with a “DB” logo, part of the Call A Bike service. The service is summarized on this English-language page on their Web site, and it is a straightforward service where you establish an account, and when you want a bike you call a phone number, enter the code on the bike, then enter an access code on the bike and you’re on your way. This picture was taken at the Potsdamer Platz train station with several bikes available. Many times I saw just one bike, all alone, waiting to be rented. The bikes have a unique design and even a carrier with a cable for carrying packages. Click on the photo for a larger view.

I also found DB bikes around Frankfurt, as well as bikes from another vendor available for rental in a similar manner. By being able to rent and leave them wherever your destination is, the service is extremely convenient. When you are done with the bike, you lock it to a sign post and call in the location and it is picked up.

By the way, DB stands for Deutsche Bahn, the German national railroad. Now that is an integrated transportation system!

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Several months ago while making a purchase on Staples.com, I saw where I could get a free SunRocket phone after rebate. As a Vonage customer following the patent-infringement headlines, I thought it was well worth it to get a phone for the second-largest VOIP provider, just in case. That backup plan item has fallen off the list with the shutdown of the SunRocket service altogether, which is detailed on their home page.

Cleaning out my bookshelf the other day, I found the phone. It clearly states it will not work on any other service. So what am I supposed to do with it? I don’t want to just throw it away to add to the burgeoning landfills, and paying $10 to recycle it at Staples isn’t too appealing either.

Any thoughts? Maybe someone at the VON conference will have some ideas?

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Have you updated your LinkedIn profile to include a photo? What you say, you didn’t know that you could do it? I only heard about it from a blog post last week that it was available as of last Friday – sorry I forget which one, as I was on vacation – and just remembered to do it today.

While I was at it, I also added the photo to the right sidebar of The Hot Iron. I have been meaning to add it, as many bloggers have pointed out that I haven’t had it there.

I’m surprised it took this long for LinkedIn to offer this. And in a limiting fashion that is all too familiar with the social networking site, you can only upload one photo, and it is limited to the size of a postage stamp. You must also be logged into LinkedIn to see one as well. Photos have been available out of the gate from the large networking sites like Facebook and MySpace – and don’t forget forums too! Now if LinkedIn can provide users the option to link to anyone else within the overall network so I don’t have to keep forwarding requests along… well, one can only dream.

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