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TRAVEL TECH THURSDAY: Go visual

Oakland's Jackson London Square staton, a stop for the Amtrak Coast Starlight.

Oakland’s Jack London Square station, a stop for the Amtrak Coast Starlight. — ©IBIT/G. Gross

Smartphone apps that let you do more than just send your pics and videos give you tools to creatively share your travels with family and friends. IBIT is playing with a few of them, but there are lots.

Cellphone cameras have come a long way in a short time. Many now have sensors actually many times superior not only to those of earlier phones but even to the earliest full-fledged, full-sized digital cameras.

Learn a little about how to compose a photography, how to make use of light, shadow and color, and you can produce stunning pics with your iPhone or Android device — and perhaps even the newest Blackberry. Small wonder then that more than a few travelers now bring their smartphones to visually document their trips, and leave their cameras behind.

Even better, smartphone app designers have been busily cranking out applications designed to make the most of these miniaturized digital cameras. Everything from photo and video editing programs stripped down for use in a smartphone to applications designed to enhance the cameras themselves.

Of late, I’ve been dipping my digital toe into this world, and there’s more than enough out there to justify all-out, all-in, head-first plunge.

Let’s start with the smartphone camera itself.

the basic iPhone camera has some nice features, especially the Panorama, which lets you take super-wide-angle shots by slowly panning the phone across the horizon. The image at the top of this blog post is an example of an iPhone panorama.

But what if you want more than that out of your camera when you travel? Here are a few apps to consider.

Camera+
There are lots of photo apps with filters and other special effects to let you jazz up your pics in artistic of playful ways, or try to salvage a bad shot — and more often than not, you’ll end up paying them.

My biggest interest is in apps that help me control the photographic process before the shot, the ones that do a better job of composing a shot and controlling the exposure than your basic smartphone camera.

The first of those that I came across was Camera+. Among the features I really love are the:

Horizon Level — No more cockeyed horizons that need to be straightened out after the fact. Really effective when used in combination with the next feature.
Stabilizer — A feature common on today’s digital cameras, you may need it even more with your smartphone camera. This app gives you one.
Burst — This feature allows you to shoot multiple frames in rapid sequence with a single push of the button, about 5 frames per second, ideal for capturing fast action. Camera+ warns you in advance that shots taken in Burst mode will be of lower image quality than those in Normal mode, so try to save this for shooting in good light.
Timer — to give you a chance to put yourself in the picture, without the now clichéd arm-extended pose — or even worse, the mirror shot.

Something a lot of iPhone users will appreciate. If you have a shot taken with the default camera app and you think it needs some tweaking, you can import it to Camera+ and enhance it there. Nice.

©IBIT/G.Gross

Even better, both for capturing fast action giving you more control over your pics while you’re shooting is Fast Camera, which claims to be the fastest camera app out there for iPhones. With a shooting speed of 800 frames per minute, it just might be.

It’s not free, costing $1.99, but you get all its filters and other effects when you buy it, no nickel-and-diming you for all-ons. Gotta like that.

Other iPhone camera apps worth checking out include:

Any of these will help you shoot better and edit better. But there’s another aspect of smartphone photography that’s almost as important as the images themselves, and that’s being able to share them via social media.

Pic Jointer
This is where smartphone cameras really come into their own for travelers. The combination of camera, camera app and social media make it possible not only for you to share your travels with family and friends in real-time, but to do it in creative ways unthinkable in the days of film photography.

One that lets you get creative with presentation is called Pic Jointer. This app lets you combine and frame multiple pics together in your own digital montage.

Specifically, Pic Jointer gives you 16 different image frames, each holding from a single shot to four different images in a wide variety of layouts — square of rectangular, vertical or horizontal. What’s more, you can use all 16 of those image frames in your choice of four different ratios — 1:1, 4:3, 3:4 or 3:2.

The flexibility doesn’t end there, though. You can use your fingertip to position each image within its individual cell. There horizontal sliders and other touch controls that lets you change the size ratio of each pic in the montage, as well as an auto-enhance filter and other visual effects.

And once you’re done, you can save the finished montage to your smartphone photo album email it, or post it online via four of the most popular social media outlets — Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr or Instagram, itself a great smartphone app for sharing images from anywhere.

Postagram
But if it works as advertised, something tells me my favorite way of sharing my travels and travel pics is going to revert to a 21st century version of an old-school custom — sending postcards.

Not digital one, real ones, sent from your iPhone via an app called Postagram.

No, you’re not misreading that. Postagram turns your smartphone pics into actual postcards. You write your brief accompanying message just as you would on an actual postcard, then that will show up in the snail-mail boxes of the family and friends that you designate from your smartphone address book contacts.

This is not a free service. Once you’ve used up the handful of free trial postagrams you’re allotted, you pay 99 cents per card.

Yes, you can send your pics digitally anywhere on the planet in a matter of seconds, but there’s still something pretty cool about getting a travel postcard in the mail — especially one that you know was custom-made just for you.

ALSO CHECK OUT
TRAVEL TECH THURSDAY: In search of travel apps, Part 1
TRAVEL TECH THURSDAY: In search of travel apps, Part 2
TRAVEL TECH THURSDAY 2.7.13
SAFE TRAVEL: Can your hotel room be hacked?

the IBIT Travel Digest 1.6.13

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The good, the bad and the bizarre in the world of travel

Welcome to the first IBIT Travel Digest of 2013. Let’s get going.

SAN FRANCISCO: BAY HEATING UP?
The folks at Smarter Travel have listed San Francisco as one of the travel destinations to watch in 2013.

That might sound a bit like saying the sky is blue and water is wet, since San Francisco has always been a hot travel destination. But the city that calls itself “The City” has some new attractions going on line this year, and it’s all about the bay that gives the city its name.

This year, the Aquarium of the Bay is putting in an exhibit devoted to the rare river otter — one of which recently turned up, almost as if on cue, in the ruins of the old Sutro Baths, to the delight of sightseers and the puzzlement of scientists.

The Exploratorium, which has delighted generations of visitors with its science exhibits, also is getting a new and greatly expanded headquarters this year along the city’s waterfront.

But the main event will be the opening of the sleek new east span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, replacing the old span damaged by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

Not only is the new bridge gorgeous and designed to hold up better in an earthquake, but it incorporates something that cyclists have dreamed about for decades — a separate bike/pedestrian path. The illustration above shows you how it will look once it’s in service.

People will be able to ride or walk from Oakland to Treasure Island, the halfway point of the bridge, something that was never possible before.

Plans/discussions/arguments are underway to add a similar deck to the original west span of the bridge.

I can’t wait for the chance to take my bike up to the Bay Area and join my cycling friends, old and new, for a spin over the bay — even if it’s only to Treasure Island. Half a bay is better than none.

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GO SMALL, LEAVE HOME
You already know about the cruise ship industry’s building boom, but it’s not just the big lines building big ships. Less well-known outfits also are turning out new, smaller vessels. One example is Alaskan Dream Cruises, which currently operates three small ships for Alaskan cruises.

How small is small? ADC’s three vessels hold a combined total of 162 passengers. Your typical Carnival or Royal Caribbean cruise ship may hold close to ten times that many — on one deck.

When you board a typical cruise ship, holding anywhere from 2,000 to 5,400 passengers, you may feel as if you brought half of your hometown with you. Not so on a small cruiser. It’s a completely different experience. Faster. Smoother. More intimate.

The super-small cruise ships can easily get into scenic inlets and bays, even explore small rivers, where the floating behemoths would surely run aground. Once ashore, you get more time to sightsee, because your small cruise vessel can dock at much smaller harbors. The mega-ships have to shuttle you back and forth on tenders, which really eats into your limited time in port.

Being smaller, such cruises are seldom cheap. But the experience can more than make up for the price.

AMERICAN + USAIR = ?
With each passing day, a merger between American Airlines and US Airways looks like a done deal.

Even before American filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year, industry analysts have been expecting the airline to be snapped up by one of its financially healthier rivals. When Delta dropped out of the fray and United opted to buy Continental instead, that pretty much left the field open to USAir.

And as we move into the new year, the wheels are already turning.

Last month, American’s pilots approved a new contract, the last of the airline’s three labor unions to get on board. Having all three unions signed means that American can now come out from under Chapter 11.

The other shoe dropped just last week, when USAir pilots gave their blessing to a proposal by their American Airlines counterparts on how the two groups would handle a merger.

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DRAMA BUILDING ON THE BLUE NILE
Ethiopia kept its plans for the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam so quiet that they first were labelled “Project X.” But when you’re planning the largest dam in Africa on one of the world’s most disputed rivers, that’s a hard elephant to hide.

When finished in 2015, the reservoir it creates on the Blue Nile River will be double the size of Lake Tana, the largest lake in Ethiopia — and the source of the Blue Nile itself.

Issat Falls on Ethiopia’s Lake Tana, source of the Blue Nile. © Cdkeyser | Dreamstime.com

Simply put, the GERD is Hoover Dam on steroids. It will surely become an enormous tourist attraction, and the electricity it generates could transform Ethiopia.

But mega-dams often do major, unforeseen damage to the environment, and Ethiopia shares the Blue Nile with Egypt and Sudan. Both countries already are unhappy about this dam.

Make that very unhappy.

People a lot smarter than me have been saying the next great global conflict will be over water, and observers in East Africa are already sounding alarms over this project.

IBIT says: Expect drama.

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And now, here’s The Digest:

AIR
from Travel Weekly
Could this be the Next Big Thing in airline add-on fees? Bundled fares.

from the New York Times
New screening procedures from the TSA are letting some travelers actually leave their shoes on when going through security. The key word there, of course, is some.

from the Los Angeles Times
Save on airfares to Europe? Think off-season and outside the proverbial box.

from NBC News
Forget the Six Million-Dollar Man. Tom Stuker is the One Million Frequent-Flier Mile Man. And that’s how you get a jumbo jet named after you.

LAND
from the New York Times
How to get the most out of TripAdvisor.

from National Geographic
Ice hotels. If you’re not “cool” after spending a night in one of these places, see your doctor.

from Smarter Travel
For a lot of women, wearing stiletto heels while traveling may be impractical. In Greece, it’s also illegal. One of 11 weird laws around the world that can trip up the unwary traveler. SLIDESHOW

from CNN Travel
Ten cars for every type of traveler.

SEA
from Gadling
Ways to save on your next cruise.

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AFRICA
from Mashable
Take a good look, world. Here they come: A smartphone and a tablet computer, designed by an African, built by Africans. Hitting the market now. This could be IBIT’s future travel gear…and maybe yours, too?

from informAfrica
Forget “The Lion King.” The leopard — not the lion — is the real “king of the jungle.”

from the Washington Post
Not all of Africa’s fascinating sights are of wilderness and wildlife. A look at urban Tanzania and Ethiopia. SLIDESHOW

from Africa Review
Mali’s Islamic extremist insurgency threatens the country’s deep musical traditions.

from The New Vision (Uganda) via allAfrica.com
Bill Gates loves Uganda?

AMERICAS
from the Wall Street Journal
New York City is still America’s biggest tourist draw. Who says so? A crowing Mayor Bloomberg — and a record 52 million visitors in 2012.

from the Los Angeles Times
The many and varied joys of a stay in Santa Barbara. A guide to its sights, sounds and tastes.

from NBC News
The US State Department issues a new travel advisory on Haiti: “No one is safe.”

ASIA/PACIFIC
from the Washington Post
Would you build an entire city around an airport? The place is called Songdo, and if this experiment works, it could change the way the world travels.

from France 24
Not content with making knockoff purses, pirated movies and even fake Apple stores, the Chinese may be counterfeiting a set of skyscrapers.

from CNN Travel
China prepares to open the doors to the world’s largest building.

EUROPE
from The Guardian (London UK)
Twenty bargain vacation options across Europe.

from Associated Press via USA Today
If you’re planning to visit Vatican City anytime soon, bring your prayers but leave your plastic. The Vatican has gone cash-only.

from the New York Times
Berlin. It’s not just about currywurst and beer anymore. The city’s better restaurants are racking up Michelin stars. Ich bin ein foodie?

from CNN Travel
QUESTION: How do you get the world’s largest airliner through a small French village? ANSWER: Very carefully.

Edited by P.A.Rice

TRAVEL TECH: Dual-SIM cell phones

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If you travel the world — or plan to — this is what your future looks like for handheld communications.

Nerd. Freak. Gadget geek. Call me whatever, but I’m always on the lookout for something new to make the traveler’s life easier.

The dual-SIM cell phone definitely falls into that category.

(The one shown here is the Samsung C3222 quad-band dual-SIM mobile phone. For purposes of illustration only.)

Odds are you already know about SIM cards and mobile phones, especially if you’re a regular IBIT reader.

SIM cards are actually the computer chip that contains your phone number and usable minutes on cell phones that run on GSM operating systems.

(This differs from phones that run on CDMA technology that lock you in to a single provider — like, say, Verizon Wireless in the United States. Most of the world’s cell phones are GSM-based. The only big CDMA users are us and China.)

GSM phones let you swap out SIM cards anytime you like. So if you have a GSM-based phone in the United States and you’re traveling abroad, no need to buy a different phone just to use in a different country.

Just take out your US-based SIM card, buy a cheap local SIM card at your destination and slide it in. Instantly, you have a local phone in a foreign country, complete with your own phone number. When you go home, switch back. Pretty cool, huh?

But as always with technology, there’s always somebody out there asking, “What if?”

As in, “What if you could make a cell phone that could hold two different SIM cards at the same time?”

You ask, technology answers. Enter the dual-SIM cell phone.

Simply put, it’s a cell phone with two SIM card slots, enabling you to install two different SIM cards from two different cell service providers at the same time.

Now, you’ve got one phone with two different phone numbers, two different providers, that works in two different countries. No more cracking the thing open, changing SIM cards and having to reboot the phone after you close it up again.

Just turn it on and you’re good to go. One’s in use; the other’s on standby, which is why these devices also are known as standby dual-SIM phones.

Switching between them is as easy as pushing a few buttons on your phone. Sounds lovely, does it not?

But we’re just warming up here.

The first generation of dual-SIM phones started coming out a decade or so ago outside the United States (you Verizon users, feel free to start gnashing your teeth now), and users in Europe and Asia have enjoyed them for years.

But as those of us old enough to remember floppy drives can tell you, technology not only doesn’t stand still, it doesn’t even take coffee breaks.

Which is why we’re now seeing something out there called active dual-SIM cell phones.

Which means both your SIM cards, each on its own plan and with its own phone number,are working in your one phone at the same time.

Don’t get comfortable yet. We’re not done.

Nowadays, you can even find triple-SIM card phones. Yep, one phone, three different SIM cards. Simultaneously.

You almost need a calculator to comprehend the amount of flexibility this gives you:

A single phone that works in two or even three different countries, locally.
A single phone that can work off multiple calling plans from the same provider, if you choose.
Run 2G, 3G or possibly even 4G cell phone networks off the same phone, at the same time.
Simultaneously make/receive phone calls while listening to music, cruising the Internet or doing something else.
Your own conference calls with multiple callers across multiple cell networks, at the same time.

When you look at all the possibilities, the mind reels.

As with anything else in life, there are tradeoffs. The big tradeoff with dual-SIM cell phones is battery life. It goes down substantially, by a third or more.

So far, I’ve seen dual-SIM phones on sale online for about $80. And those were quad-band phones, which means they work on all four GSM frequencies — which means they should work just about any place on planet Earth where there’s at least one cell phone tower within range.

The key, of course, is that it be an unlocked phone, not electronically chained to Verizon or any other mobile phone service provider.

The shorter battery life is potentially a major pain inthe Southern Hemisphere, so to speak — especially if you’re a long way from home. But when you consider all the freedom, power and control that they give you, it just might be worth it.

ALSO CHECK OUT:
CELL PHONES 2: The two-phone solution
CELL PHONES 1:

In case of riot, read this

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If your travel destination descends into chaos, there are some things you need to do before you depart and after you arrive.

By now, you know about the London riots, which have unleashed three days of chaos so far. Not only may it not be over yet, but there’s a chance it could spread to other British cities.

Faced with these conditions, the best thing would be to re-schedule your trip entirely. If you can’t, here are some steps you might take to protect your trip, your investment — and most of all, yourself.

BEFORE YOU GO
Whatever luggage you were planning to bring with you, reduce it by a third, by half if you can. If ever you wanted to travel light, it’s at times like these.

There is, however, one little piece of equipment you’ll want to add to your gear — little AM/FM radio, or one of those attachments that allows you to pick up AM and FM radio stations on your iPod. I’ll explain why in a minute.

Check with your airline/hotel/tour operator. Ask questions. If your trip is disrupted by events on the ground, what kind of help are they prepared to give you?

If you can find a travel insurance company that will cover your trip in the event of riot or other “civil disturbance,” by all means get it. Most, however, do not. Again, check around and ask a lot of very specific questions.

Major riots can throw a city’s transportation grid into chaos, leaving you unable to reach your final destination — for a few hours, a day or at all. Before you leave home, make a list of hotels near your arrival airport — addresses, phone numbers, Web sites.

You’re looking for places close by you can find a room temporarily, either until things calm down in the city and you can get to your actual destination hotel — or in the worst-case, a place you can be safe and comfortable while you arrange for an early return flight.

Regular IBIT readers already know to have a credit card with them strictly for emergency use, something to pay for that airport hotel room, meals, and if necessary, that unexpected early flight home.

Now, you know, too.

We’ll hope it doesn’t come to that, though.

Don’t dress in a way that makes you stand out in a crowd, for any reason. Muted colors, nothing flashy. Leave the jewelry and other bling in the suitcase — or better yet, at home.

ONCE YOU’RE THERE
Keep your passport with you, on you, at all times and guard it with your life.

If you have a laptop, iPad or smartphone with Internet access in London, keep a close eye on the BBC News website for current information. Other London sites to monitor include the Guardian newspaper, SkyNews and ITV London.

Another good site to monitor: the Metropolitan Police.

If you don’t have a smartphone that works in the UK (or can’t cope with the obscene roaming charges), and you didn’t bring that radio with you from hom, stop in one of the airport electronics shops before heading into London proper and invest in a cheap little AM/FM radio, something that can pick up London radio stations.

Scan the dial until you find a station offering current info. Your best radio bet may be BBC London 94.9 FM, but troll around the dial until you find a station that’s helpful. It could be the easiest, cheapest and most constant of keeping up with fast-moving events, and figuring out which areas are safe, and which aren’t.

If you find that your destination is caught up in the turmoil, or you need to pass through riot-torn areas to get to final stop, I have three words for you:

DON’T GO THERE!

Neither out of curiosity nor out of some bullheaded determination to get where you’re going. You’ll only be putting yourself in Harm’s way, and there’s no guarantee whatsoever that Harm is going to step aside to avoid you. Just don’t do it.

Hang out at the airport awhile. Plot a safe route to your destination if you can. If you can’t, or if you’re even slightly unsure, check into that emergency hotel room for a night, catch up on the news and make alternate plans for tomorrow.

If things don’t look any better the next day, don’t go then, either.

Far better to try to figure out a way around a trouble zone than to try to get yourself out of one once you’re in it. Don’t get caught up.

Lastly, the emergency phone number in London is not 9-1-1. Over there, it’s 9-9-9. Easy to remember, but hopefully, you won’t need it.

Be smart. Be safe.

ALERT
Police are now reporting disturbances in Liverpool, making it three principal British cities now suffering civil unrest, London and Birmingham being the other two. This is no longer a “London riot.” It is now a UK riot. Adjust your approach accordingly.

ALSO CHECK OUT
When things go sideways

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Tag Archives: smartphone

TRAVEL TECH THURSDAY: Go visual

the IBIT Travel Digest 1.6.13

TRAVEL TECH: Dual-SIM cell phones

In case of riot, read this

Wi-fi in slo-mo

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