Archive for the 'Travel Technology' Category
Priceline.com’s Hotel Negotiator app for the iPhone & iPod Touch
November 4, 2009 4:54pm
Just what you’ve always wanted — William Shatner in your pocket. Priceline launched an app for the iPhone and iPod Touch last week and it has already made it to the No. 3 spot for travel apps on the iTunes store. Priceline’s “Hotel Negotiator” is a handy, free app that starts off with a Negotiator karate chop followed by a menu page, where you can shake your iPhone or iPod Touch to find recent “Name Your Own Price” hotel deals that were booked in your area and then book a deal yourself. You can also select a city from its top 50 destinations. Click “Browse” at the bottom of the screen to get hotel recommendations, see reviews, prices and book a hotel without using the “Name Your Own Price” feature.
When I tried the app under the “Name Your Own Price” feature (versus Browse), the Hotel Negotiator showed me a deal for $100 at a three-and-a-half star hotel in San Diego’s North County Coastal area. I liked that they map out exactly where the hotel would be located since part of the compromise with using Priceline’s “Name Your Own Price” deal is that you don’t find out which hotel you’ll be staying at until they’ve booked it on your credit card.
It’s particularly helpful that they tell you how much of a percentage savings you’re getting on normal rates. I also found it helpful that you can see a list of nearby deal scores because if you’re familiar with that area, you can consider driving a little bit farther to get a better deal. For example, a three-star hotel for $85 was found in North County Coastal between Oceanside and Encinitas with a savings of 39%. But I found that someone scored a $60 price for a three-and-a-half star hotel in the Del Mar - Solana Beach - Rancho Santa Fe area for a savings of 60%. That’s only a 10-30 minute driving difference.
25 best travel gadgets of 2009 from Time.com
November 3, 2009 10:21am
It’s not too early to start your holiday shopping. And we don’t mean limiting that purchasing power to plane tickets. Time.com’s technology editor, Peter Ha, has listed “the best travel gadgets of 2009.” Have a look. If you are an uber-geek, you’ve probably heard of some of these tech toys before (such as the Slingbox, MacBook, iPod touch and Live Luggage Hybrid PA). But it doesn’t matter because there are enough gadgets on the list that we’re confident you’ll find a few that are downright drool-worthy.
If Santa, or even my husband, is reading this post, I’d like the Optoma PK101 Pico Pocket Projector so I can be the most tech-savvy parent at the party, whipping out photos and videos of my 11-month-old daughter. I also liked the Energizer Xpal SP2000, a solar-powered device that can recharge your charge cell and smart phones, iPods, digital cameras and other small electronic devices. Great for long hikes and camping.
Tech gadgets can get expensive, so I appreciate the fact that Ha extended his list to some free and cheap items. Of all the travel-related apps there are out there, Ha recommends the Yelp App and the Zipcar App (both free). If you’re looking for a stocking stuffer, don’t miss the Kingston MobileLiteG2 ($11), a memory card reader with a USB connector so that you don’t have to bring your USB camera cable when traveling. Just snap in your memory card and insert into a computer to e-mail photos. The Eye-Fi Pro (also on the list but priced at $149.99) allows you to skip the memory card part of the process altogether and enables you to transfer photos and videos between camera and computer via Wi-Fi.
—Jen Leo, Los Angeles Times Travel & Deal blogger
Photo: Screen shot of Time.com home page. Credit: Time.com
Halloween treat: Find haunted houses and events with MapQuest
October 28, 2009 8:52am
If you’re not leaving town to stay in a haunted hotel, and the idea of going to a theme park is even scarier than a chainsaw-wielding pig, check out what kind of Halloween events are taking place close to home. MapQuest teamed up with HauntWorld to add Halloween-themed events to its maps. Since L.A. was a little thin, I also checked Las Vegas, San Diego and elsewhere in California to see what was going on within driving distance of L.A.
How to find the ghosts on the map:
1. Go to MapQuest.com
2. Make sure it’s displaying the city you want to look up.
3. Look to the right-hand side of the page. You will see a vertical bar with icons like “H” for Holiday Inns, a coffee cup for coffeehouses, a gas pump for gas stations, etc. On that same scroll bar will be a ghost. Click on the ghost and you will see the map become populated with ghost icons that take you to info about local haunted houses.
4. To see more ghost options, click on the zoom-out feature on the left side of the page noted by the minus sign.
Caveat: Unfortunately there are not as many Halloween events as one would find on our guide to L.A.’s Halloween Events 2009. But it looks as if HauntWorld is open to users adding events.
More info: MapQuest Blog
— Jen Leo, Los Angeles Times Travel & Deal blogger
[Image: A MapQuest screenshot of the Haunted House tool at play on MapQuest. Credit: Courtesy of MapQuest]
Mobile Mondays, Twitter Tuesdays and Facebook Fridays for Joie de Vivre hotel, restaurant & spa deals
October 26, 2009 10:49am
If you are fans of the popular California Joie de Vivre hotel chain, including favorites such as Hotel Angeleno in Brentwood and Hotel Tomo in San Francisco’s Japantown, opt into “Mobile Mondays” with your cellphone. Mobile subscribers (just send a text message to 888999 with JDV in the message field) receive opt-in offers that are valid for seven days at participating Joie de Vivre venues in San Francisco, the East Bay, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Huntington Beach, Venice Beach, Santa Cruz and Sacramento. You could receive free cocktails and appetizers or 25% off a spa treatment.
Joie de Vivre’s “Twitter Tuesdays” and “Facebook Fridays” worked really well for them over the summer — so well that they brought the deals back last week in their Joie of Life campaign. For hotel deals, such as 30% off two- and three-night stays at specific hotels and $89 room rates at trendy hotels, follow them on Twitter (@JDVHotels) and become one of their fans on Facebook. Then tune in on Twitter, on Tuesdays, and on Facebook, on Fridays, to see what kind of deals are on offer.
Tip: Mobile Mondays deals focus on savings at restaurants and spas while Twitter Tuesdays and Facebook Fridays discounts are usually geared toward savings at their hotels. Note that they also are offering a deal for a third night free into 2010.
– Jen Leo, Los Angeles Times Travel & Deal blogger
Photo: BlackBerry displays the Mobile Monday text. Credit: Joie de Vivre Hotels.
IPhone app review - PBS’ ‘The National Parks: America’s Best Idea’
October 2, 2009 5:34pm
The iPhone app that corresponds with the new PBS Ken Burns series “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea” is both a companion for enthusiasts already enjoying the series, and a teaser for those who want to know more about the 12-hour miniseries that everyone is talking about. It is free to download.
The National Parks iPhone App has five sections:
- 2O-minute video preview
- Series schedule (for shows up through the day that is currently airing)
- “Untold Stories” that involve bringing inner-city kids to National Parks, Yosemite ranger Shelton Johnson and the story of Yosemite’s “Buffalo Soldiers.”
- Get Wallpapers, including photos that show Mount Rainier National Park, Olympic National Park, a rainbow from the South Rim at Grand Canyon National Park and tourists at the erupting Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone National Park 1884.
- Get e-mail updates
Kijubi launches at TechCrunch50: 6 outdoor activities you wouldn’t expect from a travel site
September 14, 2009 12:02pm
Most travel websites sell you the essential parts to a vacation — how to get there and where to stay once you do. Many also offer destination travel guide information and attractions to visit once you get there — but Kijubi enters the travel Web space with a refreshing angle focused on selling outdoor activities. Originally known as CalActive, the Web effort is being relaunched by its founders this week at TechCrunch50 in the DemoPit with the new name Kijubi. As in: What “could you be” (say it really fast) doing right now? Lucky for us SoCal travelers, most of the activities archived so far are in California, but they have some activities in Nevada, Maryland and Florida, with plans to fill out Florida, New York and Hawaii within the next six months.
There are travel activities that you might expect to know about when traveling like discounted tickets to theme parks, whale watching tours, mountain biking tours, hot air balloon rides and even a ropes course in Anaheim. Kijubi also has hundreds of options divided by what you can do on land, air or in the water, including some outlandish things to do on your vacation like:
> Flying a historic WWII “Kittyhawk” airplane in Sonoma (starting at $949)
> Polo lessons for beginners in Los Angeles ($150)
> Stock car racing 10 laps in a real NASCAR racer in Los Angeles (starting at $249)
> Zero-gravity flights in several California locations ($5,197)
> Driving a Maserati Quattroporte in Newport Beach (from $850)
> Helicopter flying lessons in Long Beach (Starting at $135)
Even if you don’t see yourself participating in extreme outdoor sports or entertainment opportunities, there are plenty of options to consider for less adventurous travelers in their family, luxury, romantic and kids categories. And at a wide variety of prices too, don’t let the options above scare you off.
– Jen Leo, Los Angeles Times Travel & Deal blogger
[Photo: Screenshot of the Kijubi homepage; Courtesy of Kijubi.com]
4,320 tweets in three days? V Australia hosts real-time Twitter uber-marathon
September 10, 2009 9:06am
My thumbs hurt just thinking about it. But it can be done. V Australia Airlines has three friends in Sydney, Australia, tweeting every minute of their three-day trip. Why? To show you that a weekend in Sydney is totally viable. And how do I know that a team can tweet every minute of three days? Because they already had an Aussie group do it in Los Angeles. The latest uber-Twitter-marathon started at 4 p.m. PDT Wednesday. A little more than six hours later, they were up to 451 tweets.
There are a few ways you can follow the action:
– If you want to read each tweet, minute by minute, follow challengers Jade, Rob and Bobby on Twitter.
– You can follow the group twitter account, @4320SYD.
– There is also a stunning visual Tweet Wall that accompanies the event on their website 4320SYD, if you want to skim through all the photos. It shows that most of the tweets are Twit pics and lets you follow them as they ride motorcycles, go to Sydney’s Manly Wharf and the Taronga Zoo and more.
Happy Hour links: Santa Monica Pier centennial fireworks reminder; personal advice for the Bahamas; important iPhone travel tips
September 4, 2009 5:05pm
> I’d have to say that Ben & Jerry’s is worth paying $2 for on a flight. Thank you Delta. Scott McCartney over at the Wall Street Journal’s airline blog Middle Seat catches up on the decent food options being served to coach passengers.
> A reminder that there will be a big fireworks show on Sept. 9 to celebrate the Santa Monica Pier’s 100th birthday. Here’s a photo gallery of the local icon.
> I wish there was a travel website all about the people you should know in cities around the world. Mollie Chen’s post over at Concierge.com is a great start: Five People to Know in the Bahamas.
> Are you hungry? Enjoy the food art pics of Insane Sandwiches over on the Happy Hotelier blog.
> Have iPhone will travel? Karen Torme Olson offers some important travel tips she wish someone had given her before she hit the road with her beloved smart phone.
—Jen Leo, Los Angeles Times Travel & Deal blogger
(Photo: Santa Monica Pier: Saturday afternoons nearly always draw crowds during the summer; Credit: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times / Aug. 8, 2009)
Travel websites TripIt, Kayak, CouchSurfing make Time.com’s 50 Best Websites of 2009
August 25, 2009 3:35pm
If you can accept that 50 Best Websites of the Year is not a list of new websites, but Time.com’s list of their current favorites, then you won’t mind seeing sites that you’ve heard of before. Especially when it comes to travel. Kayak, TripIt and Flickr made the cut, but it was nice to see less familiar travel-related websites such as CouchSurfing, OpenTable and the California Coastline Project make the list too.
The 50 sites that are mentioned are definitely bookmark-worthy — many of them can help educate, entertain or simplify your online life. Set aside the next 10 weekends if you want to get acquainted with and proficient with your new virtual best friends.
Don’t miss last year’s list either. In 2008, travel websites Gas Buddy, TripKick, WikiTravel, and MapJack were listed.
— Jen Leo, Los Angeles Times Travel & Deal blogger
[Photo: Time.com screenshot of TripIt. Credit: Time.com]
Orbitz adds Google Street View: How it can help you book a hotel
August 18, 2009 11:11am
Orbitz announced Monday that it has added Google Street View as a feature in its mapping functionality. I for one think this is a great addition, but the question is - will you use it? And are travelers that book a hotel or vacation online only a couple of times a year savvy enough to know about it or care? I’d like to show you how you can find the feature and offer a couple reasons why it might help you.
Where is Google Street View on Orbitz?
Go to the hotels section and enter in all the information that you would if you were searching a price on Orbitz: “Where, check in dates, number of guests”. Then click the find button for your results. Once you’ve clicked through the pricing grid to get a list of results you will see a short box with immediate info about the hotel. Beneath the hotel description is a set of blue links that say “Details, Map, Photos, Tours.” Click on Map. You will see a normal grid map. In the upper right-hand corner you will see a blue link to “Street View.” It is right beneath the button for “Get Rates.” Click this and you will see an image that looks like a real photo. This is the Street View that you can then manipulate and get 360-degree street-level views of the hotel and surrounding area.
