Globe Genie magically transports you around the world

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Ever had the feeling while traveling that you’d stumbled across something truly extraordinary? A beautiful unknown view or place that wasn’t in your guidebook and only you discovered? That’s how you’ll probably feel after using Globe Genie, a nifty project that lets you randomly “teleport” around the world using Google’s Street View feature.

What is Globe Genie exactly? It’s a project created by MIT grad student Joe McMichael. McMichael took the same software code that powers Google Street View and randomized it. Instead of letting you search for the street view of a place you already know, Globe Genie shows you a random view based on a list of continents chosen from a menu on the right. Choose where you want to “go,” and hit the “teleport” button, and suddenly you’re standing in a farm field in Hokkaido, Japan. Click teleport again. You’re along the coast in Marseille, France. Once again. A tree-lined highway in Mississippi. In other words, Globe Genie lets you experience the thrill of traveling to a new place without ever leaving your desk.

The problem with looking at photos and video of far-off destinations is they are on some level, predictable. You already have an image in your mind of the Eiffel Tower or a beach in Thailand before you get there. What makes Globe Genie truly addictive is that element of randomness – you literally have no idea where you might end up next. Combined with a truly massive database of places and you have a very interesting idea on your hands. Can looking at a computer replace a truly amazing trip? No way. But projects like Globe Genie are proving incredibly addictive for armchair travelers everywhere.

[Via Metafilter]

Daily Pampering: The $8 million iPhone

by Melanie Nayer on

With every new iPhone there is another option for bling. Now that the iPhone 4 is stocked on Apple’s shelves, it’s time for the designers to make their mark.

Enter: Stuart Hughes, the London-based luxury designers who turns everyday items into works of (pricey) art. His latest masterpiece: the world’s most expensive phone.

The iPhone 4 32GB Diamond Rose Edition cost a total of £5 million (almost $8 million) to construct. The bezel is handmade from rose with approximately 500 individual flawless diamonds for a total weight of over 100 ct. The rear section was created using rose gold and, as an added touch, kept the Apple logo in rose gold with the slight embellishment of 53 diamonds. The phone’s main navigation is made from platinum and holds a single cut 7.4 ct pink diamond. If pink isn’t your color, you can ask to have a rare 8 ct single cut flawless diamond put in its place.

Not just any iPhone case will do. This work of art sits in a chest made from a single block of Granite in Imperial Pink. The inside is with Nubuck top grain leather and weighs massive 7kg (approximately 15 pounds).

Intrigued? You should be. There are only two of these in the world.

Want more? Get your dose of daily pampering right here.

Online travel research made simple on Wanderfly.com

by McLean Robbins on

With so many travel review sites available, it’s often overwhelming to sort through published material about a property or destination. We’ve recently discovered Wanderfly.com, launched out of beta earlier this week. The site promises to provide travel recommendations targeted to budget, date and interest in as few as five clicks.

“On average, travelers spend 7 weeks visiting 25 sites* before they know exactly what they want, yet there’s no easy way for them to get inspired online,” said Evan Schneyer, CEO and co-founder. “Travel itself is such an inspiration, and we believe the fun should start from the very moment you decide to go.”

Wanderfly’s interface begins just how a person would when planning a trip: how much can I spend, when can I go, and what do I like to do? The site offers themes, from food and culture to eco-friendly and nightlife.

Wanderfly searches over 20+ sites, including Expedia, Foursquare, Yelp and Lonely Planet, to recommend a destination, flight, hotel and activities. Travelers may customize these options and book, or flip to the next suggested trip. They may also connect through Facebook to locate friends in any of the destinations.

One of our favorite features of the site is that specifiying a destination isn’t required – one can search within a specific region and use the type of trip they’d like to take to narrow down a location. The site is relatively easy to use, and the functionality of searching through trusted brands like Lonely Planet makes us feel more comfortable with the booking process.

The site has launched with information abou1,200 global destinations and taps into social networking through Facebook to further increase usablity. The site is currently at work on an iPad app and plans to soon offer concierge packages, restaurant reservations, travel products and event tickets. In addition, Wanderfly plans to add more user-generated content, group-planning tools and a widget for outside travel parties to integrate into their sites.

Perfect for Amazon Kindle users – free 25 language phrasebook

by Scott Carmichael on

If you are one of the millions of happy users of an Amazon Kindle, then you may want to point your Kindle towards this free 25 language phrasebook.

In the book, you get a massive amount of phases, general language information, pronunciation tips and more. The guide covers the following languages:

German, French, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, Italian, Greek, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Czech, Polish, Hungarian, Russian, Croatian, Turkish, Hebrew, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, Indonesian, Malay, and Thai

Navigating the guide a little tricky, but the price more than makes up for that. To download this free book, search for “Kindle 25 language” on your device or click on this link to order and have delivered to your Kindle.

Of course, if you don’t own a physical Kindle, you can still download Amazon Kindle content to your desktop or laptop, the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Blackberry or an Android device.

(Via: Flyertalk)

New T-Mobile prepaid voice and data plans especially interesting for tourists

by Scott Carmichael on

The U.S. prepaid mobile phone market is finally playing catch-up with the rest of the world. For years, prepaid options over here were lousy at best.

In recent months, we’ve already seen operators like Virgin Mobile and Verizon reduce their prices and offer better products for people looking for a prepaid way to make calls and get online.

Starting October 18, T-Mobile will be the next big operator to improve their prepaid plans, changing every aspect of what they have to offer.

Of course, the real advantage of prepaid voice and data is that you don’t lock yourself into a contract, and you don’t need to pass a credit check – making the plans ideal for short term use or tourists who can’t provide a Social Security Number.

The biggest change in the new plans is that prepaid customers can buy much larger bundles of minutes, messages and data – with a plan starting at just $1/day offering 1500 texts/minutes and 30MB of data. Even heavy users are taken care of, with a $70 unlimited talk/text plan that offers a generous 2GB of data.
The new plans:

New T-Mobile Prepaid Monthly Phone Data Plans:

  • $70/month Unlimited Talk and Text with 2 GB of Data
  • $50/month Unlimited Talk and Text with 100 MB of Data
  • $30/month 1,500 Talk and Text (mix and match voice and text messages) with 30 MB of Data
  • Unlimited Text and $0.10/minute
  • $1.49/day Web DayPass

New T-Mobile 3G mobile broadband data packages:

  • $10 week pass (100 MB)
  • $30 month pass (300 MB)
  • $50 month pass (1 GB)

Along with the launch of the new data plan, T-Mobile will also introduce a new prepaid USB modem, complete with a SIM card and online connection manager.