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Technology Gets Smacked Down by Old-School Guidebook in Moscow

The folks over at Condé Nast Traveler recently sent three writers on a mission to Moscow and gave each of them a different tool to use in completing some touristy activities. One writer was armed with an iPhone, the other was given a new BlackBerry Bold phone and the last writer was left with an old-school guidebook from Eyewitness Travel.

Interestingly enough, the writer saddled with the guidebook ended up completing the required tasks much faster than the other two with the internet at their disposal. And here's why:

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Cellphones / Travel Gadgets / Blackberry / Blackberry Storm / International Phones / → All Tags

The Blackberry Storm is Not The Susan Boyle of International Phones

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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Travel Gadgets / Clothing / Geek Travel / Cellphones / → All Tags

Electronic Hug T-Shirt Provides Love (and Creepiness)

Sometimes all our travel adventures make us a little lonely. Going it alone is fun and helps create a sense of adventure, but often, you just want a little love. That’s where the Hug Shirt comes in, and hopefully it’s the solution for times when a phone call just won’t cut it.

CuteCircuit has put together the technology for this interesting little gadget. Just send a text message to one of your buddies, and the shirt will react to the message. Special sensors sewn into the garment will actually respond by giving you a hug—or at least some sort of creepy stimulus that’s supposed to feel like a hug. It uses Bluetooth to transmit the electronic hugs, so iPhone users are good to go.

The shirt has been a work in progress for a while, so there’s no specific launch date just yet, and the cost isn’t available. However, we can’t wait to witness this, uh, unique device in the wild—especially since it’s machine washable. We’re all about the love, but what if no one even gives you one of these e-hugs—would it just make your more depressed?

Related Stories:
·The Hug Shirt [Official Site]
·Sending A Hug Is As Easy As Sending A Text [Digitpedia]
·Travel Gadgets coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: newblood91]

Travel News / Airlines / Cellphones / Emirates / → All Tags

Emirates Air Hopes To Be the First to Let You Annoy Fellow Passengers with Silly Cell Phone Calls

Just as fast as we expressed our love for the Emirates lounge in Singapore's amazing-looking buffet, we now express our disdain for Emirates Air since they have announced their plan to allow passengers to use cell phones on flights, beginning in January.

But to give them some credit, we are taking into account their "special cell phone rules" such as:

The carrier, which operates 434-seat Boeing 777-300 aircraft between Glasgow and Dubai daily, said passengers would be charged £2 a minute to make calls. Only five passengers would be able to make voice calls at the same time, with others who attempted to make calls being alerted by their phones when a line became available.

Additionally, Emirates still needs to gain all the necessary approvals for this to happen so it's not quite a done deal. AeroMobile, a company which has been developing these types of cell phone deals for other airlines, has to have their equipment approved by aviation authorities before the service can be implemented.

However, the phone use may just be restricted to texting and emailing, which we are totally fine with. Anything beats the pointless, "So whatchu doing?" cell phone call.

[Photo: Sparklerawk]

Related Stories:
· Airline says passengers will be first to use mobile phones [Scotsman.com]
· Emirates+ Your Tummy = BFF [Jaunted]