NB: This is a guest post by Sling Media, makers of SlingBox.
Business or leisure, travel is a well-connected world these days. But what services and products can travellers use to ensure they make the most of the web, stay in touch with the rest of the world and work effectively?
1. Wuala
Now that the floppy disk has died a long awaited death, the latest in accessing data is in the cloud, such as the rather ingenious cloud service offered by Wuala.
Offering free secure online storage, Wuala allows its users to store, backup, and access files from anywhere and to share files easily with friends or colleagues.
The beauty of Wuala is that it allows its users to trade their idle disk space in exchange for online storage, and in doing so keeps the service free to use!
A simple online currency converter with iPhone, BlackBerry and Android apps to ease the confusion of overseas shopping.
3. FotoTranslate
Fototranslate from ABBYY allows you to instantly translate text using your smartphone’s camera. In just a few seconds, the program automatically recognises the photographed word, and shows the translation on the phone screen.
Fantastic for deciphering local menus and road signs.
4. Skype
Skype is a great solution to horrifyingly high international call tariffs. Use Skype to make voice calls over the Internet. Calls to other Skype users are free, while calls to both landline and mobile phones can be made for a nominal fee. Multi-user video calls are now also included in the basic service.
5. Net Doctor
Not sure what vaccinations you need? Use the NetDoctor guide to find out what’s required for your destination.
6. iPass
Any traveller who can’t be torn away from their laptop would be crazy not to get an account with iPass.
They are the world’s biggest wifi network so wherever you are, you’ll be able to get connected.
Once you are registered, just “save to favourites” and you won’t even need to enter your details when you are trying to get online; iPass will find nearby hotspots automatically.
7. Next Flight
If you’ve missed a flight and want to quickly check the next available flight or if you finished up a meeting early and wondered if you can hop on to an earlier flight, then this application is a handy solution.
Next Flight provides you a list of available flights from all airlines and airports worldwide.
8. Blurb
Have a mountain of fantastic travel pics languishing on your digital camera? Rather than leave them to the digital ether why not create a fantastic coffee-table style book with Blurb.
Turn your pictures into a travel bible for friends and family to admire, or if you have higher aspirations you can even sell it via Blurb and become the next Ansel Adams.
Preload map data on your iPhone before you leave, so can you be on the streets, offline, and still know everything about the area you are in.
You don’t need any network connection once the application is installed– no WiFi, no 3G, no GPRS, so no nasty data charges to return home to.
10. Zagat
For international foodies Zagat guides are a trusted source of unbiased opinion. Hailed by the Wall Street Journal as The Gastronomic Bible, you can search online or on your smartphone to get the most of out eating abroad.
11. Posterous
If you can’t find the site that satisfies your travel needs in terms of sharing content, how about starting your own? Posterous makes it easy to write your own blog, upload pics, videos so you can create your own guides.
12. Cab Corner
CabCorner.com is a global, mobile web-based, cab-sharing platform that connects commuters headed in the same direction.
Put simply this site allows to you find people to share cabs with, helping to cut down the cost of getting to the airport or hotel.
And, of course…
13. SlingBox
Whether keeping up with sport, watching local news or catching up with your favourite TV series while away on holiday the SlingBox makes it possible to stream HD TV, DVR or DVD to a computer or mobile device anywhere, anytime.
No need to download additional apps, users can tune in straight from a browser to make access quick and easy, and watch on any PC or Mac laptop, or desktop, in the world.
NB: This is a guest post by Sling Media, makes of SlingBox.
Related posts:
About Special Nodes
SlingBox should be number 1 in my book. I watch my U.S. TV including all DVR’ed programs in full hi-def from anywhere in the world, including airplanes with wi-fi. This is an awesome product.
Useful suggestions!
re 9 above – do you really have to keep refering to the iPhone as if it were the only phone in the universe or do you like under the Steve Jobs reality distortion field?? Nokia phones have had this for ages, HTC phones now have something similar.
I don’t see any excessive reference to the iPhone.
If you actually follow the link for 9, you will see that it’s an app for just ‘iWare’, so they are entirely justified to refer to the iPhone for that service.
Would you rather that the wider population not know about a useful tool because you have an agenda with the iPhone?
re 9 above – do you really have to keep refering to the iPhone as if it were the only phone in the universe or do you live under the Steve Jobs reality distortion field?? Nokia phones have had this for ages, HTC phones now have something similar.
@sceptic alta vista didn’t get a look in either, post google
Thanks for the post SlingMedia, but have to admit that after 3 years living as an expat and using a SlingBox I switched to something easier and cheaper: a remote IP plus Hulu, Netflix, etc.
Nr 14. TRVL, a free iPad app with lot’s of destinations you can download for free.
@michel – thanks for mentioning your own product
We are super impressed that you can download destinations?!? Must take some bandwidth that…
You are right, Nothomb wrong with that right? We are doing It for travelers, so good tip?
It does take bandwith, but we want lots of people into the TRVL tent. Hope you like it and be willing to get us on board since we dont have Richard Bransons budget
Good tips can be measured on merit of bias?
By the way 13 brings bad luck
@michel – we were being ironic about the 13.
I’m glad I came across this article via Twitter. Studying abroad in May for a few months, these apps will certainly be of use
Find A Flight Buddy app on Facebook allows you to find interesting companions for your flight. Just put in your flight details to find out who else is taking the same flight and connect with them. The benefits of finding a Flight Buddy :
- Turn a boring flight and the wait at the airport into something interesting.
- Save money by sharing a cab to / from the airport.
- Connect with like-minded people who are travelling to a concert, sports event, academic seminar or business exhibition.
- Flying to a place for the first time? It is easier with a buddy.
- Who knows – you might find someone special !
The Slingbox is definitely a cool device but I have been reviewing a couple different company’s products as well. I have been really excited to work with the Dish Network Sling Adapter through work to see if it can be used in the travel industry as a useful tool. I have come to a conclusion; paired with the Dish Logitech Revue the technology is revolutionary! I used the Logitech Revue to research and investigate my destination after which I recorded the keepers to my DVR. After getting on my flight, I was sitting for about an hour due to a delay and so I used the Sling Adapter to stream all my research to my iPhone with the down-loadable Dish Remote Access. I watched a few recorded pieces on a location near to the airport and several after I landed. I also managed to catch a National Geographic episode that was relevant as well. So it’s important to get this information out to the travelers world so that all can be aware of how great a tool this duet is.
These are all great online services and travel applications but have you heard of Keyoobi yet? This is a new little Ipad app that just debuted at coolTech 2011 if Tampa on Friday. It’s an app that pulls data from both your Calendar and Contacts so you can plan your schedule more efficiently. It lets users see their day’s appointments as a route using Google Maps so road warriors are now able to determine how much travel time they have between appointments, see the best route to get there, and know which clients or prospects are in the area so they can fill those gaps with productive meetings. It’s a great and affordable app for business travelers. Had to share! Check it out! http://www.facebook.com/keyoobi
A useful list but you might want to use spell check, if only to get better ranking in search for this topic. Read: travelers.
I know this post is eight months old, but for the next list (if you plan to do this annually) be sure and include Instagram and Evernote – these are incredibly helpful apps.
It’s a gross assumption to imply that the journalists writing this list would not be using an English dictionary when checking their spellings.
To have said that using American spellings on key words to get a better meta rank would have been a fine statement!