Five fantastic travel friendly iPad apps

by Scott Carmichael on

The iPad has been out for over a month, and it already has a decent lineup of travel friendly applications. Of course, the iPad can still run the 200,000 apps designed for the iPhone, but to take full advantage of its large screen, you’ll want to stick to apps specifically designed for the iPad.

We’ve picked the five best looking apps available for the iPad right now, and best of all – these five apps are all under ten bucks.
1. FlightTrack Pro

What happens when you take one of the best selling iPhone travel apps, and update it for the iPad? Well, you get FlightTrack Pro for the iPad. FlightTrack Pro integrates with TripIt, allowing for easy itinerary imports and trip management.

In FlightTrack Pro, you can track the exact location of a flight, check for delays and even look up the weather at your airport. Best of all, if you are on a flight with Wi-Fi from Gogo Inflight, you can use your iPad as a replacement for the boring Airshow screens. To make a great app even better, if you have a 3G iPad or manage to find Wi-Fi on the road, FlightTrack Pro will keep you updated with information on departure gates, delays, arrival gates and more.

iTunes app store link: FlightTrack Pro
Price: $9.99

2. Kayak

Car rentals, hotels and cheap flights all in one app – that describes Kayak. The app provides easy access to the awesome multi-airline flight search system that made Kayak famous. On a single screen, you can see past searches, hotel deals and airline search options.

iTunes app store link: Kayak for iPad
Price: free

3. Couch Traveler HD Earth Explorer

Got a week where you are stuck at home? How about traveling the world from the comfort of your sofa and iPad? Couch Traveler is a really well designed app that harnesses the power of Google maps and aerial images to provide a fun way of sightseeing. It works just as well at home as on the road if you are looking for something to see.

iTunes app store link: Couch Traveler HD
Price: $1.99 (introductory price)

4. UpNext 3D cities

When Google maps are not enough, you should check out UpNext. The app currently covers Austin, Washington D.C., Boston, San Francisco and New York. Once a city has been downloaded, you have access to maps with 3D buildings – along with a powerful search system.

Need somewhere to eat? Browse the categories and navigate using the well designed 3D maps.

iTunes app store link: UpNext 3D cities
Price: free

5. PointInside for malls

We recently took the iPhone version of Point Inside for a spin – and the company behind this mall mapping app managed to be one of the first to make it onto the iPad with a dedicated new version.

As a reminder – Point Inside is a mapping and search app for shopping malls. Found yourself in a mall you’ve never visited? Use this app to find what you are looking for. The app also offers quick search access to things like restrooms, ATM’s and food.

iTunes app store link: Point Inside
Price: free

Five free and cheap alternatives to expensive hotel Wi-Fi

by Scott Carmichael on

Paid hotel Wi-Fi is one of my biggest pet peeves when I travel. I fully understood asking people to pay for Internet back in 1999, but in 2010, Internet is no longer considered an amenity – it is up there with a toilet and a television.

Unfortunately, plenty of hotels still find it perfectly acceptable to charge upwards of $10 for a day of access.

Short of finding somewhere better to stay, there isn’t all that much you can do – unless of course you read Gadling and follow our five tips.Borrow Wi-Fi from someone else

When you turn your laptop on, you’ll usually see the hotel Wi-Fi network, along with a bunch of other network names. These other networks are what you are after. There won’t be much chance of finding other networks if you are in a brandless motel in the middle of nowhere, but in most major cities, you are bound to find loads of them.

Increase your odds by staying on a high floor, and investing in a Wi-Fi boosting antenna like the Wi-Fire (reviewed here last year). Simply move the adapter to a window, and point outside.

One word of warning – never transmit personal data over a random connection you happened to pick up – install software that encrypts your traffic, or you may run the risk of others snooping on you.

Share one paid connection

Staying at a hotel with a bunch of colleagues or friends? How about purchasing one connection and sharing it with others? There is some technical trickery involved in this, but the basic procedure involves a special wireless router that can pick up one signal, and broadcast it to others.

Downsides involve getting caught, and having to share the speed of one connection with others – if one of you starts downloading a movie, everyone will suffer.

Tether your phone

Got a phone with an active data plan? Many of them can be “tethered”, which allows you to take your data connection, and share it with a laptop computer. In some cases, the process involves a one-time investment in tethering software (like PDANet), and on other phones you may need to do some hacking (like jailbreaking your iPhone).

Best place to start? Google “tether my phone”. One word of warning though – don’t overdo it! Operators don’t like tethering (unless you pay extra for it), and any massive data transfers may get some unwanted attention. Limit your surfing to we and email, and don’t do silly things like movie downloads.

Invest in a mobile broadband adapter

On the road a lot? If you regularly spend $20 on Internet access, you may want to invest in a mobile broadband adapter. These (usually) USB adapters plug into your laptop and offer access to a 3G or 4G network. These adapters often offer speeds on par with what the hotel can offer – but have the added advantage of working anywhere within the coverage area.

Be sure to pick a provider with good speeds/coverage, and remember that there may be places without coverage, or with so many people using the service that speeds grind to a halt. Expect to pay upwards of $40/month for the service.

Only need access one or two times a month? Consider a prepaid service like Verizon mobile broadband or Cricket (which can be turned on or off on a monthly basis).

Use a third party Wireless provider

Instead of paying for daily access to Wi-Fi, consider signing up for a third party Wi-Fi service like Boingo.

With Boingo, you pay a monthly fee ($9.95) for unlimited access to thousands of hotspots.

Take for example the Swissotel in Chicago – this property charges $10/day for Internet access, but Boingo subscribers can access it as much as they want, using their account – for under $10/month.

Best of all, Boingo works at airports, restaurants, cafes and thousands of other locations. When just one day of access can pay for the monthly subscription, you’ll understand why I consider this a great bargain.

Boingo subscriptions are available for unlimited use in the United States or as a global subscription for Wi-Fi locations worldwide. The Boingo service even makes the process of makes connecting easier thanks to a handy software client, available for Windows, Mac and several mobile devices.

Google Goggles helps you explore the world with your phone

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Ever needed a quick translation of a foreign menu? Wanted to identify an unknown landmark? A new app called Google Goggles offers mobile users highly useful way to decipher the world around us using the camera on your mobile phone. This new service for Android users makes it remarkably simple to find quick translations of foreign languages, identify landmarks or even pick a bottle of wine, all rolled into one.

To use Google Goggles, all you need to do is launch the app and take a photo using your phone’s camera. See a word on the menu in Paris that you don’t recognize? Skip the guidebook and send a picture. You’ll be given a translation right on your phone. Or maybe you’re walking around and want to know more about a building or landmark. Send a photo of it and you’ll be delivered an explanation. It’s a new way of searching the world visually, tapping into Google’s vast database and the increasing power of mobile devices. Much like augmented reality and location services, mobile devices now allow travelers the ability to make the real world ‘clickable’ – almost as if you were surfing the web.

Although Google Goggles is a tremendous leap forward for travelers, it’s still not universal to all mobile phone users. To download the app, you have to be an owner of one of Google’s compatible Android devices (sorry iPhone owners) like the Nexus One or Droid running version 1.6 or above. If that’s you, you can find Google Goggles by searching and downloading it from the Android Marketplace. The recognition software is also not perfect. The technology is still in its infancy so don’t expect every image you send in to be recognized. Still, the concept of Google Goggles is exciting one for travelers. For anyone with a mobile phone, a whole new range of services is on the horizon.

VholdR top 5 snowboarding clips shot with the ContourHD helmet camera

by Scott Carmichael on

Fans of the great outdoors probably don’t need an introduction when it comes to the VholdR ContourHD helmet camera – but I can highly recommend taking a few minutes out of your busy Friday to check out the results of their Lib Tech snowboard video contest.

The five clips posted above were all shot using the ContourHD camera – and every single one of them is simply amazing (though the winning clip is just mindblowing). So, check out the clips, and if you feel you need to document your own antics, head on over to vholdr.com to check out their assortment of products.

GateGuru launches international airport coverage

by Scott Carmichael on

Back in December, we introduced you to GateGuru – an App designed to help you find amenities at the airport. Since then, the app has grown spectacularly, and was even featured in one of the Apple iPhone commercials – a great testament of its success.

At launch, GateGuru only covered the United States – but as of today, the app has added listings for its first batch of international airports.

In GateGuru, you’ll now find London Heathrow along with 12 Canadian airports. The complete list of new airports can be found here.

With GateGuru, you’ll never be stuck trying to find somewhere to eat, shop or entertain yourself – making it the perfect app for when you become stranded at the airport. GateGuru is free, and can be downloaded from the App Store (iTunes link).