The idea is to give people flying between the two cities ideas of what to do once they arrive:
Ultimately we want everything on the site to have a "twin," whether it be a place, a neighborhood or a person. So if you like this restaurant in New York, you'll like this one in London. That just feels potentially really useful and different.
So far it looks pretty similar to the user recommendations you get in Dopplr--but limited to only two cities. Will Paris be next now that BA has snatched up L'Avion?
We're now declaring it officially dead, after two full months of dormancy. (Save one minor update to fix a typo.) Not exactly what we'd call an impressive move into web-centric public relations.
The real question now is why the blog is still online. Does American want to remind people how it canceled more than 1,000 flights in one week this April? Does the airline aspire to look like a bumbling relic from the 20th century? Our free advice to AA: Delete this Blogger account immediately!
Since we're now living in the age where having extra baggage can cost you a pretty penny, we've decided to revisit an old site called One Bag which offers tips on how to pack light. The site is extremely in-depth--we didn't know you could write so much about one bag!--and there's a lot of text. Truthfully, it's almost too much text to get through.
What we did find useful was the section on bundle wrapping, above, a technique that allows you to minimize the creases in your clothes and maximize the space in your carry-on. Also, the wardrobe packing list is pretty helpful though there are some tips that will have the fashion police chasing you down the jetbridge:
Several companies make pants with zip-off or roll-up legs (which convert them to shorts, capris, etc.)
The packing list won't make any fans with women, either. How could it possibly recommend that ladies bring just one pair of lace-up shoes for business meetings, daytime walks and hiking. We're not sure such a shoe even exists.
And don't even get us started on using our bathing suit tankini top as a body suit under a skirt or jacket. We'd rather pay the checked bag charge!
You may not realize it, but Montreal has been a global cultural mecca for decades. Sure it's frequently visited by University of Vermont students interested in legal boozing, but the city is also home to one of the most progressive electronic music, fashion, design and cuisine scenes in all of North America. Lucky for you, then that the good folks from Tourisme Montreal have made planning a long weekend there even easier with a new website.
The new Gridskipper launched yesterday, after a few weeks of tinkering, a change of ownership and a change of spring into summer. The verdict? Not too many fans out there.
We actually just got done Windexing our glass house--long weekend coming up, you know--so we don't plan to throw any stones just yet. But, damn, just about everybody else has.
That "intimate," "romantic" cafe looked like the perfect place to take a first date until you Googled it and discovered it was "way too jammed with tables" and "serves everything congealed."
As the popularity of San Francisco-based review site Yelp grows, businesses are starting to criticize its amateur reviewers--because they're cutting into profits.
While the Yelp founders defend the site as giving power to the masses who comment on coffeehouses and rate restaurants, owners of the businesses under review claim an untoward relationship between the tone of reviews and the amount of advertising they've purchased on the site. One shop owner told The New York Times, "Yelp does not respect us as business owners," since users submit rankings without consequences.
We've always regarded Yelp as Citysearch minus the pop-ups, but occasionally it gives us bright ideas. How much stock do you put in "crowdsourced" review sites like Yelp?
Hyping the oft-ignored borough of the Bronx can't be easy when the tourist playground of Manhattan is just across the Harlem River. But when The New York Times checked up on the Bronx Tourism Council the other day, the newspaper found a miserable website full of busted links and outdated information. Calling the office wasn't much help either:
A voice-mail message for the council's marketing director and executive director was not returned. A call to the council's Bronx hot line resulted only in a recorded greeting: "Please join us for the Bronx's official tree lighting ceremony, Monday, December 17, at 5 pm at the Bronx County Building." That's December 17... 2007.
Turns out that getting slammed in the city's paper of record is motivational. A mere two days after the NYT report, the website has been revamped and is newly useful, though that's not saying much. To wit: There are five "Entertainment" options, four of which are multiplexes. Need lodging? You'll find two listings on the site.
How much longer till the Bronx Tourism Council starts a blog?
The notoriously hilarious website Signspotting has just relaunched, featuring even more photos of ridiculous Chinglish, poorly worded bathroom placards and unfortunately named restaurants. (Dinner at Phat Phuc Noodle Bar, anyone?) The revamped site now lets you rate every sign, making it into a veritable Hot or Not for semioticians.
It can also net you some travel cash. Every week, site photo editor Doug Lansky sifts through dozens of entries to pick the best sign and pays the photographer $50, just like that. Really awesome signs can even earn round-the-world tickets on Star Alliance; so far six have been awarded and Lansky hopes to hand out another next month.
In the meantime, he's organizing an exhibition in Stockholm of some of the best Signspotting has to offer. The outdoor show in Kungsträdgården Park runs July 5-20.
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by pbb
