Words are not required to describe how well designed this gadget is. And how unique it is.
Mobile Desk is a foldaway chair and mini-table, one suspects, primarily for business travellers, although conference attendees might prefer its ergonomic advantages to traditional event chairs.
It measures 38 inches in length and costs a hefty $500.
Priceline introduced a free Hotel Negotiator app for the Apple iPhone and iPod touch that enables you to bid for and book a Name-Your-Own Price hotel room up to 11 p.m. ET on the evening of your hoped-for stay.
Mobile applications are particularly geared for these last-minute — or, should we say, last-hour — bookings as travelers, who find themselves without a room, can use their iPhones to secure a room whether the would-be customers find themselves at an airport, stranded at an endless business meeting, or at the local saloon.
Last month, Priceline President and CEO Jeffery Boyd talked of envisioning a day when consumer behavior would change so that it would become more commonplace for people to book a room once they arrive at a destination instead of before the trip.
Adventure travel anyone?
VholdR just began shipping the ContourHD1080p wearable camcorder. It seems to be perfect whether you are jumping off a cliff or biking along the boardwalk.
Check out the specs: The company says: “ContourHD1080p offers several unique features including four HD settings (1080p, 960p, and two at 720), two frame rates (30fps and 60fps), lighting you can configure (contrast, exposure, metering, and sharpness), an adjustable microphone, and a new feature not previously announced: Three bitrates (default, high, and max).”
It’s heartening to learn that Verizon Wireless has been dispatching generator-powered mobile sites to Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Calif., where Thursday’s New York Yankees-Anaheim Angels baseball playoff game will be held.
Although, as of this writing, the home-team Angels have lacked for energy, the COLTs (Cells on Light Trucks) units are designed to boost “rapid and short-term network response,” says Verizon Wireless, for calls, and text and pic messages transmitted by fans at the stadium or just regular folks in its environs.
We hear that AT&T, beset with complaints about lack of adequate 3G network coverage for its Apple iPhones, likely could use some COLTs, too.
Fledgling UK travel start-up PitchUp has secured what could be an interesting partnership in its early days after collaborating with TomTom, Europe’s biggest satellite navigation firm.
Vistors to the site with a TomTom device can send the location and details of any of the site’s 5,000 properties (such as campsites, caravan parks) or an equal number of points of interest from around the UK and Ireland.
The “Add To TomTom” functionality works by opening the user’s satnav’s desktop tool on its host computer and automatically placing the relevant content onto the device.
Whenever a new tech product comes out, you always wonder whether it lives up to its promises.
I wrote several months ago about the rollout of Travelport’s Agencia desktop for Canadian travel agencies.
In a post earlier today, Graham Wareham, Air Canada’s senior director of product distribution, says progress has been slow in the integration of agency bookings through Agencia with the Apollo GDS.
This is what Travis Christ, president, The Americas, Travelport GDS, has to say on the issue: “Travelport Agencia integrates neatly with the Apollo GDS, aggregating all Air Canada and GDS content into one display. [It] integrates the profile, and creates a PNR with all passenger and fare information.
There is another way beyond simply guessing whether extra charges will be incurred at the airport check-in desk.
Time to test the No-More-Excess Digital Luggage Weighing Scales then…
Sometimes I have to calm myself down and reel myself in.
I was thinking about that in the days following stories I wrote about how “Google Sidewiki could be a sideshow for review sites” and “Why TechCrunch is wrong about Google Sidewiki.”
Will consumers really take advantage of the ability to comment about a publishers’ website in a side window visible only to fellow Sidewiki users?
I have to admit that I haven’t opened Sidewiki, which sits in my Google Toolbar, since I wrote those posts. It takes an extra step and who has the time.
Need somewhere to keep the MP3 player, batteries, camera, leads, DS, USB keys and mobile phone tidy when travelling?
As the U.S. Dept. of Justice apparently continues to contact customers of Farelogix and Sabre, Farelogix President and CEO Jim Davidson rejected Sabre’s allegation that their developer’s agreement, which Sabre terminated earlier this year, “was an attempt to free ride off of our database and systems.”
Davidson says Farelogix made payments to Sabre for the developer’s agreement, which enabled the FLX Platform to operate side-by-side with Sabre and provide travel management companies with additional functionality as they acquired content from GDS and non-GDS sources.
Davidson won’t say how much those fees were.
But, I’m betting I might be able to pick up and garage a 2009 Acura TL 4-door sedan with 4-wheel drive or a comparable pleasure craft for the boatload of money that Farelogix likely paid for the agreement.
Banish how it used to be carried out – travel inspiration and searching for products has changed immeasurably as consumers find new ways of finding the perfect trip.
Do you understand the true costs of travel payments, how to reduce your exposure to credit card fraud and surcharges or how virtual cards work?
Discussing recent hot topics such as the TripAdvisor-Jetsetter acquisition, hotel wifi, Wordpress and hotels, mobile design and user experience.
Ancillary services are here to stay, so how do travel companies and airlines develop their technology and relationships so that merchandising can work for everyone?