Tag: Blackberry

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American Airlines Conquers Mobile World with Windows Phone and Blackberry Apps

July 7, 2011 at 9:40 AM | by | Comments (2)

They’re either really ambitious or scared of losing their jobs, as the folks in the IT department at American Airlines are certainly working overtime when it comes to developing plenty of mobile apps. Obviously American Airlines has already released apps for both Android and iPhone—among others like the Barnes & Noble NOOK—but now it looks like they’re extending their services to even more devices.

This week the airline becomes accessible right from your pocket if you’re using your Blackberry or Windows based smartphone. The app should work with all kinds of Blackberry flavors—like Curve, Torch, Tour, and Bold—so even if your IT department isn’t as advanced as the one at American Airlines you should be all set.

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A Little Baggie May Save Your Smartphone from Death By Snow

January 12, 2011 at 8:41 AM | by | Comments (0)

We dropped our iPhone into a pool by accident recently. It sucked, to say the least. However, with some quick thinking and a $3 bag of rice bought from the corner store no more than 5 minutes later, we managed to save it. Then, while walking and tweeting as the wet and heavy snow came down in New York City last night, we wondered how much more precipitation our phone could take. Today, we think we'll have to stop living on the edge and just do the nerdy thing and buy a protective covering during these heavy weather months, and CleverWraps look like the winner.

Essentially they're just sealable plastic baggies tailored to three different sizes, the better to fit a variety of phone types (from iPhones to Droids to old-school Razrs and other flips). But if you're out walking and texting in the snow and you drop your phone in slush or pocket it into even semi-soggy clothing, this little plastic film could be the difference between shelling out hundreds more on a new phone or keeping with your current one.

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An Essential Travel Skill: Track, Secure, and Remotely Wipe Your Phone or Laptop

September 28, 2010 at 3:04 PM | by | Comment (1)

We live in perpetual fear of losing our laptops or phones. Above and beyond the cost and inconvenience of replacing the electronics, the privacy impact—emails, passwords, access to logged-in websites—would be devastating. So we sympathize with the Cogdill family, who accidentally left an iPad on a recent Southwest flight. But since they were prepared, and had set up their iPad with the MobileMe "Find My Phone" app so that it was trackable from their iPod Touch, they got it back from the Southwest employee who tried to appropriate it. Smart!

We put "remote tracking" and "remote deleting" up there with "backing up from the road" as things that travelers absolutely must have set up. You want to make sure that you always have access to your data, and that nobody else does. Simple enough. And since there are free services that allow you to do both, there's really no excuse not to take 15 minutes and install yourself some peace of mind. We've put brief instructions for phones and laptops after the jump.

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Mobile Boarding Passes Are God's Gift to Modern Air Travel

Where: Germany
May 24, 2010 at 3:25 PM | by | Comment (1)

We had a huge problem. Last week, when we hopped all around Germany on Lufthansa flights leading up to the big A380 First Flight, we needed to check into several flights and had no easy access to a printer, nor did we want to wait in a line at the airport to deal with an agent. Therefore we turned to the newest technology—mobile boarding passes—and quickly fell in love with them.

Mobile boarding passes are had simply by checking in online via your smartphone. The airline then emails or texts you a code which will be scanned at the airport, in lieu of a paper printout. They are only offered on a few airlines and only so many of their flights. In the US, airlines like United, Continental and American are seeking to expand the program to over 30 airports, banishing long ticket line waits and last-minute Kinko's runs.

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Air Canada Wins Race For First North American Airline BlackBerry App

October 16, 2009 at 3:57 PM | by | Comments (0)

Having been the first North American airline with an iPhone travel application, Air Canada has now become the first one with a Blackberry app. The software allows travelers to get flight status updates, confirm their reservation, and even generate a 2-D boarding pass that locks in their seats and sets them up to board the plane. That last feature is the kind of thing that separates airline travel apps from the ever growing list of hotel travel apps. Generating a preexisting boarding pass earlier is better.

We've long been confused by airlines that leave Blackberry users behind while rushing into the iPhone market. Do people with Blackberries not travel a lot? Are companies afraid that Blackberry users aren't as tied to their phones? Have they heard of the word "crackberry?" Air Canada definitely has, per their press release:

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The Blackberry Storm is Not The Susan Boyle of International Phones

April 21, 2009 at 3:37 PM | by | Comment (1)

Perhaps feeling a tinge of jealousy in response to those ubiquitous Top 5 iPhone Travel Apps posts, the advertising company tasked with pushing the Blackberry Storm has put out a list of 49 reasons why the Blackberry Storm is the ideal travel gadget. Or as we've taken to describing it, "too many reasons to mock in one post."

The entire thing is written in that peppy "we know you're going to love..." and "we just love..." tone. It's peppered with cutesy rhetorical questions like "... but who really wants to wait for 20 minutes?" and "who can live without IM these days?" And by "peppy" and "cutesy" we obviously mean "obnoxious." As for the actual content of the top-49 list: it leaves a little bit to be desired.

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