Sending A Postcard Fun Again With New Smartphone App

by Chris Owen on

Sending a postcard when traveling was once a big part of the experience. Never mind that the traveler often made it home first. Bringing along stamps and an address book to enable sharing the places we visited was part of it all. That was then, this is now and the Canvas Art of Living app enables iPhone and Android users a chance to make their own digital postcard.

Partnering with Hyatt Hotels, Canvas Wines has hotel guests looking for a QR code on their drink coaster at restaurants, bars and lounges. After scanning the code with their phone, users are sent to the Canvas Wines website where the free app is available for download.

Users can select a pre-made postcard design, upload a photo from their smartphone or take a new photo. A hand-written note is not an option but including a personalized headline and custom message is.

Automatically saved to each user’s personal gallery, the digital postcards can be shared via email, text message or on Facebook. iPhone users can convert their digital postcard into a printed postcard to be printed and mailed.

Shiny and new, the Canvas Art of Living app is getting a lot of attention but surely not the only way to send a postcard, digitally or otherwise. A number of services including Zazzle, Hipster and others use location-based photo sharing technology to enable postcard making.

Looking for something to collect? Need a break from digital?

Postcard collecting might be just what you need. Collectors of postcards engage in Deltiology, the study and collection of postcards by specific artists and publishers, or by time and location.




[Photo Credit: Flickr user btwashburn]

10 Smartphone Apps For Business Travelers

by Jessica Festa on

Traveling for business can be stressful. Juggling clients and projects away from your desk with unreliable Wi-Fi, especially in an unfamiliar city, will make you wish you had some serious help. For assistance on the road, check out these 10 apps for business travelers.

TripIt

The first step to getting work done efficiently while traveling is to be organized. TripIt allows you to forward your flight, hotel, car rental, tour confirmations and travel information to one place and creates an easy-to-read trip itinerary for you. You’ll also be able to add maps, travel notes, photos and recommendations.

Evernote

Evernote started as an easy way to take notes, and transformed into a tool for users to always remember their brilliant ideas. Notes can be saved as text, pictures, audio files, websites and more, and is sorted into notebooks, which can be efficiently tagged. And coming in December, the app will be adding new tools for businesses.

Dropbox

One of the biggest hassles when traveling is not having access to your files. Dropbox solves this problem by creating a place where you and your coworkers can save and access shared text, audio and video files. No longer is it necessary to email yourself or attach files.JetSet Expenses

While on the road, it can be difficult to keep track of what you’re spending. JetSet Expenses allows users to track expenses, create expense reports and get paid in a timely manner. It’ll help you save money, and reports can be sent directly to your boss.

Wi-Fi Finder

To do work, you’re often going to need Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi Finder uses GPS to find hotspots. Additionally, you can download locations offline if you’re not going to have good cell service.

QuickOffice

QuickOffice‘s mobile app allows users to view, edit and exchange Microsoft Word and Excel documents, as well as PowerPoint Presentations. You’ll also be able to get and send files from the cloud quickly and efficiently.

Asana

Asana, a “shared task list for your team,” allows for you to create and collaborate with coworkers. Make and assign job duties, add due dates, view projects and make edits in real-time.

AwardWallet

Many business travelers have a large reserve of points and miles. AwardWallet keeps track of your loyalty programs, frequent flier miles, hotel and credit card points, allowing you to view and manage them all in one place.

FormMobi

FormMobi is useful for when you want to create personalized forms, film out and sign documents and store data that can be shared with your team. With the option to drag form elements you want, making your own is simple, and photos and voice notes can be added at anytime.

HoursTracker

While traveling, you’ll often be accounting for your own work and hours. HoursTracker allows you to choose between manually inputting your hours or setting a timer. You can track your hours and overtime in the app, as well as send the timesheet to your boss.

[flickr image via Johan Larsson]

Police Urge Hikers To Learn Orienteering Instead Of Relying On Smartphones

by Sean McLachlan on

Police in northern Scotland have issued a call for hikers to learn orienteering rather than relying on their smartphones for navigation, the BBC reports.

Grampian Police have had to lead four separate groups to safety in the past week. The latest rescue included the use of mountain rescue teams and a Royal Navy helicopter to retrieve 14 hikers. The hikers were in the Cairngorms, a rugged mountain range with some of the UK’s tallest peaks.

Police said that the growing use of smartphone apps for navigation can lead to trouble. People are relying too much on technology without actually understanding the world around them. Police then have to rescue them at taxpayer expense.

Hiking with an app sounds to me like the antithesis of hiking. Basic orienteering with a map and compass is not difficult to learn. I’ve been teaching my 6-year-old and his brain hasn’t melted. Not only do a map and compass not have to rely on getting a signal, but they help you understand the land better and give you a feel for your natural surroundings.

So please folks, if you’re going out into nature, actually interact with it!

3 More Apps All Travelers Should Download

by Libby Zay on

Here at Gadling, we think technology and travel go hand-and-hand. We use apps when hiking, to find food, and to get to know the locals, among many other things (like, for example, simply passing the time). Of course, new apps are being developed every day and we’re also finding innovative ways to use apps that might not necessarily be branded for travelers. Here are three news apps that can help make technology work for you when traveling.

WooFound
Free
After struggling to find things to do and places to eat that matched his and his date’s tastes, Joshua Spears set off to create a web personalization app that could help. The process is simple: the WooFound app displays photos of restaurants, events, attractions and more that could possibly fit a user’s interest, and the user decides if the images are “Me” or “Not me.” The app learns your preferences along the way, and uses location-based technology to relay suggestions. With a promise that no two users will have an identical personality profile, this is a great tool for someone who is exploring a new city and doesn’t know where to go. Unless, of course, you’re traveling with others – that could present a problem!Matchbook
Free
With a name inspired by a time when visitors would take an artfully designed matchbook from a restaurant as a token of remembrance, the Matchbook app is a tool for helping you save location details and other information on important places. The app is helpful when a friend rattles off a laundry list of bars suggestions, or when you’re walking down the street and want to remember to return to a place you passed. Even better, Matchbook not only takes the best places from your list, but also the top places from everyone else who uses the app, and it maps them. So not only will you never forget the places you wanted to check out, but you won’t get lost along the way.

PressReader
Free to download, then $0.99 per publication or $29.95/month
Download the PressReader app and scroll through more than 2,000 magazines and newspapers with ease. That number includes local, national and international publications, meaning you can have access to what is happening in cities across the world before you even land. Page by page, the publications are presented exactly as you would find them in print, only on the convenience of your mobile device. Download publications before you set off on a trip and then get prepped for your trip on the plane.

More App Guides on Gadling
Travel Apps Help You Explore Like A Local
10 Best Photography Apps For Travelers
Use Your Mobile Apps Better
iPhone Travel Apps Ranked By Actual Usage
10 Best Travel Apps For Frequent Fliers
Where Are All The Travel Guide Apps for Android?

[Photo by saanjaybhatia, Flickr]

An App To Improve Your Las Vegas Travels

by McLean Robbins on
We love Las Vegas, and anything that helps us save money in Sin City is good in our books. That’s why we love the new TravelVegas app. Made by the same team that launched TravelVegas.com, a great site for Las Vegas Discounts, the free app is full of coupons and useful information.
“By simplifying an overwhelming amount of information in an iPhone app, we are able to help travelers find their way around the city, all while saving them money,” said Brandon Schenecker, TravelVegas CEO.
While we like the idea of discounts, we’re probably not the clientele for the $5 steak and egg breakfast special. Instead, we prefer to use the app for planning, saving things we plan to do in the “favorites” tab and then using the map feature to plan out our itinerary.

The app is also useful while strolling the strip. Travelers can explore the city on a multifaceted map that allows the user to sort, filter and search for just about anything. Lost, as we so often happen to be? Users can make a phone call, get directions, or view an indoor hotel map.

You can also use the app to view a menu and set up dining reservations, buy discounted tickets, or book a hotel room, something that is notoriously difficult to do on Vegas hotel’s flashy but less-than-easy-to-navigate hotel websites.

What do you think?