travel tech

“Free” Texting on Your iPhone

Travel Tech

Except for some apps, the word “free” doesn’t often come to the mind of an iPhone owners.  The phone itself isn’t cheap ($199-$399 for a new 4S), and you’ll probably end up buying some accessories (a dock, a case, car charger, etc.) that don’t come in the box with the phone. Unless you buy an [...]

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Travel Fun: Riding Heathrow’s “Pods”

England

On my 2006 and 2009 trips to Europe, I flew in and out of London’s Heathrow Airport because the four daily non-stop flights between it and San Francisco International Airport increase the odds of being able to snag a “free” (more or less) cushy seat in Business or First Class and all of the neat [...]

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Queue Up For The New iPhone 4S

Travel Tech

Apple’s latest iteration of its popular smartphone, the iPhone 4S, will be available from AT&T, Verizon and Sprint next Friday, October 14th.  But if you can’t wait out the week, starting today you can pre-order the new phone directly from the Apple Online Store. Here’s some of what is coming to the iPhone with release [...]

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iPhone 5, Can You Hear Me? Where Are You?

iPhone
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Skypeing Via TV? Not For Everyone, Not Yet.

Travel Tech

“Skype on an HDTV is cool – makes you feel like Capt. Kirk on the bridge of the Enterprise arguing with a Romulan general intent on wiping out the Federation”, says San Francisco Chronicle Technology writer, David Einstein, in his Monday, September 12, 2011 column. While I wanted to be an intergalactic traveler ever since [...]

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Zapping Apps to Your iPhone

Travel Tech

Promises, Promises Earlier this month, Apple announced over 200 new features that will be available to owners of iPhone 3GS and 4 models, and the iPad and iPod Touch, when the company releases the newest version of its mobile operating system, iOS5, sometime this fall. But one of those new and super-useful functions is available [...]

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“Juicing Up” Your iPhone’s Battery

Travel Tech

History may well name the iPhone as one of the greatest inventions ever made:  This pocket sized computer (it probably should be called the “iPocket” since it is its data processing ability, with a few hundred thousand mini-programs to choose from, not its telephonic function, that sets it apart from the original hand-held cell phones) [...]

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Getting The News Via Twitter

App Reviews

Enough is sometimes too much. Being Force-Fed by Twitter A few months ago I felt that I was being “overfed” by Twitter.  TMUI (“Too Much Useless Information”) and TLVN (“Too Little Valuable News”) was being figuratively shoved down my throat, like a baby bird being force-fed worms by an mother insistent on making its chick [...]

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Upgraded Kindle iPhone App Available

App Reviews

One Size Fits All In part one (August 27, 2010) of my three-part story “The Guidebook In Your iPhone” I discussed the purchase of Kindle e-books which can be read on Macs, PCs, iPhones, iPad, and iPod Touch devices:  Just buy one copy, marked it up, highlight passages, close it on one device, re-open the [...]

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Travel Tech: Santa And The Smartphone

iPhone

Have you’ve asked Santa to bring you, a loved one or a friend, a shiny new iPhone 4 or another AT&T smartphone for Christmas?  Don’t forget ask him to pick the right data plan, particularly if he’s going to be replacing a 3Gs (or older) model iPhone. Sometimes AT&T is like the genie of the [...]

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Travel Tech: Using The Google eBookstore

Travel Tech

On Monday, December 6, 2010, Google “opened” its eBookstore offering over 3 million books in electronic versions that can be read on Android and iPhone smartphones, the iPad and iPod Touch, e-readers from Barnes & Noble and Sony, any other device that supports Adobe’s e-book platform, or by using a Web browser that is Javascript [...]

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Travel News Update (10/20/10)

Travel News Updates

Here are this week’s travel and travel technology stories on the Web: Making Dream Trips Real (The New York Times) An “Unhappy Halloween” Ahead At Airports? (Elliott.org) Airlines Oppose Co-Pilot Hours Rule (AP via The Seattle Times) The Price At the Pump Is Up (The Oregonian) Finding Wi-Fi In The Sky (The New York Times) [...]

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Travel Tech: Where It’s At, At The Airport

App Reviews

One task we all face when we arrive at an airport is finding where we can get food, money, a “Romance Novel” to read, powder our noses, or take ground transportation. Before leaving home we can access on-line maps at an airport’s Website to electronically reconnoiter where to find key travel services.  Once at the [...]

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Travel Tech: Reading Magazines On The Road

App Reviews

While cleaning out my e-mail in-box before an upcoming trip I found an offer I couldn’t refuse:  National Geographic gave me a free inter-active electronic variant of its August issue which I already had in “dead tree” version since I’m a subscriber to the print edition of the magazine.  (National Geographic Traveler is also available [...]

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Travel Tech: Netflix On Your iPhone

App Reviews

Netflix Comes To The iPhone After months of waiting, Netflix customers who own iPhones got their wish to be able to connect to the movie service at least partially fulfilled when a free Netflix app recently became available. Netflix At Home Or On The Road My Windows XP desktop computer’s 21” diagonal monitor screen is [...]

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Travel Tech: Remembering 9/11

App Reviews

The iPhone has coined a new phrase in the American lexicon:  “There’s an app for that.” If you are an iPhone owner, you know that there are something in excess of 250,000 iPhone apps covering nearly every use that one could conceive.  But I will bet you dollars to Megabytes of data download that you [...]

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Travel News Update (9/15/10)

Travel News Updates

Here are this week’s travel and travel technology stories on the Web: Avoiding Airline “Add-On” Fees (Elliott.org) “Lexus Lanes” In The Sky (Chicago Tribune via The Seattle Times) Airport Scanner Risks (The New York Times) OpenSkies “Money-Back Guarantee” (AP via The Oregonian) U.S. To Tax Foreign Tourists (The Slatest) $9.99/Day Car Rentals (Maybe) (Chicago Tribune) [...]

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