I’ve been surfing around the last few days and about all I can say is “yuck”.

So rather than get caught up in the childish bantering, the market collapse, sad Annual Reports, and more job losses, we’re going to shift gears (maybe from here on out?) and focus on something positive. Personally, I just don’t like participating in doom and gloom, which has escalated into even more absurdity. It’s not only unproductive, and when negativity is all you focus on, what do you get more of?

More negativity.

So for now, we’re going to focus on something positive. Something meaningful. Something important.

My new iPhone!

Oh COME ON! It’s important to me, and this IS my blog, and I had no idea how useful this phone REALLY was until I got myself one a week ago. The screen on my old phone blanked out on me, and with the hundreds of contacts I had saved on it, and because I had saved the settings to silent due to the Directors meeting last week, I had no idea who called or even if they called. With my phone being my left arm, (laptop being my right) it was time for a new phone.

I’ve had team members who have raved about the iPhone for some time, and while I’ve always wanted one (actually wrote about how slick Google integrates with it), until I had a chance to see it and get first hand experience with a number of the applications, features, and benefits I truly had no idea. The only problem I have with the iPhone right now are my kids who can’t keep their hands off it wanting to play games. They’re rather upset that their father doesn’t have any games loaded and while I told them that it’s not a toy, my wife had the nerve to brake out in uncontrolled laughter. (What’s up with that?)

The iPhone 3G combines three products in one – a revolutionary phone, a widescreen iPod, and a breakthrough Internet device. It features 3G, built-in GPS, push email, calendar, and contacts. (You can also talk to people!)

Technology also has a way of making life easier, saving both time, money and space. I remember buying books on tape, which graduated to books on CD, and now I can download thousands of audiobooks on iTunes within a matter of minutes with a digital format that takes up very little space. I’m also thrilled with literally THOUSANDS of niche iTunes Podcasts that I can subscribe to and are downloaded automatically to the phone before I head out for the day. While I did listen to the radio a couple weeks ago during the Super Bowl, I rarely listen to the radio, opting for biographies, motivational, or personal developement CD’s instead. Now with the ability to listen via my iPhone for both books and broadcasts that empower me and nurish my mind instead of bombarding it with negativity and useless chatter, I’m more focused and prepared to take on the day.

Another area I just LOVE is the 3G feature for internet and GPS. This combination built right into the phone is absolutely amazing to me. If you throw in a couple of iPhone applications, that give you instant access to traffic delays, flight delays, and where to find the lowest gas price in your area you’ve got yourself some kind of power in your hand. While the Flight Track Pro is used for clients with air while I’m out and about, I can also access the Atlanta Traffic Cams right from my phone either before I head out or while I’m trying to decide the best route to take home. Another very cool application is Cheap Gas, which takes your current GPS location and not only posts the gas prices of surrounding stations, but when you find one you like, and not sure about the best route to take to get there just hit the “map” feature for turn by turn directions.

Of course the same can be done while you’re out and about using Google Mobile App that I wrote about some time ago. It’s been quite some time since I’ve toyed with voice recognition software, and I have to admit, either Google did their homework, or technology has finally caught up with this type of application making it virtually error free. There’s no training involved like the old days, and results come back surprisingly fast even if it hits the servers and comes back with results. Another application I really like is “Say Who” that accesses the names from you contact list, which is a real time saver when you have as many contacts as I do. Just say the name, it pulls it up and dials the number automatically. No more setup, and no more voice training which now opens up my entire list of contacts, not just the most used or the only the ones I’ve manually trained and programed.

I also love the voice mail features. In the past, people would leave a voice mail, and when I saved it for later because I couldn’t write down the dates or itinerary when I went to access it again, I’d have to scroll through several other saved voice mails in order to get to the one I wanted. It was frustrating and time consuming to say the least.

GONE! Now I can access any voice mail in any order, with a slick GUI interface that provides a name, date and time stamp, and I even have the ability to stop mid stream and call a client or friend back right from the voice mail area to clarify or reply with a quick answer. When done, simply delete.

One area that I know gets a lot of use from others, that I haven’t gotten the hang of just yet is typing on such a small screen. Put a full featured keyboard in front of me and I’ll type for hours, but this tiny keyboard does take some getting use to. I’ve never been one for texting and don’t intend to start now, but I can do like to respond to e-mail on the fly. I can also “Tweet” and update Facebook with many other Social Networking sites on the go. Yes, there are several applications for Social Networking and while I haven’t decide which one works best, (basically because I don’t use them that much) I do like the feature and ability to post on the fly.

Lastly, the browser used was a big surprise to me. I couldn’t imagine being able to read posts like this on such a small screen, but found out that while it is smaller, it’s surprisingly easy to read. It is different navigating around, and you certainly don’t have the space to read without scrolling, but I was surprised at the clarity and ease of use of the built in browser. I wouldn’t recommend it be your only connection to the internet, but it certainly does the job in a pinch when you need to access something on the go.

Bottom line for me is that this phone absolutely ROCKS! The ease of use, stable platform, and incredibly useful and intuitive applications make the phone the best toy, errr, “tool” I’ve seen in a long, long time. The features, benefits and usefulness are amazing and provide real time savers, increased productivity and service to those I associate with.

I give it two thumbs up!

PS - If you're involved with YTB, sign up for our FREE Newsletter. As a Website Owner or Website Seller, we'll keep you up to date with all the latest news, acquisitions, and developments with YTB.

PPS - Subscribe to the Just Picture It Now RSS feed, (including e-mail) for all the latest posts and updates found right here!

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

Back in my Home Automation and Theatre days, I played with a very cool voice recognition program called HAL 2000 here at the house. With “Ellie” (My name for the virtual assistant) I could turn on and off lights, control the security system, HVAC and home theatre. Although “Ellie” has been long gone, I still have all the control equipment in place and control the house on a pre-programmed schedule. Even the Christmas lights I’ll be putting out in a few weeks run on a schedule year round. All I have to do is plug them in.

Google is expected to release a free application today for the iPhone that lets you search for information, directions, or virtually anything else by speaking into the handset, eliminating need for the keyboard entirely. This new voice recognition takes your spoken words and passes them over the Internet to one of Google’s servers. They’re then interpreted by artificial intelligence, translated into a traditional data query, and the results are bounced back to your phone in a matter of seconds if you’re on a fast connection.

Google made the decision to launch this new App on the iPhone. They had the choice of launching on the iPhone or their own Android device, yet they decided go with the iPhone and launch in the App Store. Surely pushing out the app for Android would have boosted Android G1 sales, but they opted for what is best for the user, for now.

Google was under the impression that the application would be live on the App Store on Friday (obviously, since they pushed all significant press attention to it). Sometime Friday they found out Apple wouldn’t be pushing it, despite the fact that Google submitted it for review earlier in the week and got a thumbs up for Friday. One source says they’ve had little direct contact with Apple during the review, instead getting their updates via the standard iPhone developer tool, which has said “in review” for the last few days.

So with any luck today, you should be able to download this free App and then simply place the phone to your ear and ask virtually any question, like “Where’s the nearest Starbucks?” or “What were the REAL travel sales for YTB?” The search results will be displayed in just seconds hands free. And because it has GPS the iPhone will at times include local information, taking advantage of iPhone features that let it determine its location.

Could search results for flights, hotel, or a cruise via voice be that far behind?

Hummmm?

Here’s a cool video on the new application, and I’m sure technology geeks like me will be chomping at the bit to get this downloaded and start using it.

PS - If you're involved with YTB, sign up for our FREE Newsletter. As a Website Owner or Website Seller, we'll keep you up to date with all the latest news, acquisitions, and developments with YTB.

PPS - Subscribe to the Just Picture It Now RSS feed, (including e-mail) for all the latest posts and updates found right here!

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

So you know what a technology geek I am. I was surfing yesterday and this story made me stop and think “I’ve got to get me one of these”.

Can you imagine? Your phone as your new travel guide?!

If you think this is one of those futuristic type phones that you’d only see on in some Si-Fi television show, or movie, think again because the T-Mobile G1 is available and makes the iPhone look outdated. This new phone will not only tell you that your looking at the Roman Coliseum, but when you turn around 180 degrees and point the phone in the other direction, it will tell you that your now looking at Columna Trajano. (Trojan’s Colum) No joke, the G1 not only knows where you are, but which way you’re facing.

Here’s the really cool part. Not only did the phone guide you through Roman Coliseum, but if you wanted to learn more about this new Colum you’re looking at, it will give you a rundown of what it’s all about via Wikipedia.

Wikitude is the culmination of five years’ work for its Austrian designer, Philipp Breuss, who calls the system “augmented reality”. It’s built to run on Google’s new Android operating system for mobiles - and the first phone to have that is the just-released T-Mobile G1, which uses GPS and triangulation to know exactly where it is and which way it’s facing.

Oh, and ladies, there’s a very cool “ShopSavvy” feature on this phone as well to ensure you get the absolute best price on the next pair of shoes you buy. And guys, don’t think you’re out of the loop on this either, you can use this site to find the absolute best price on the G1. (I found everything, including accessories on Amazon)

While I would agree that not everyone would want to be this independent when traveling, this technology is certainly just the ticket for an early adopter like myself. Like the days of vinyl records, I can see maps, tour guides, and yes travel agents being a thing of the past when it comes to traveling in the future. Many of the tour companies I work with have independent Tours that this new technology would be perfect for.

Speaking of technology.

I was able to dive into some of the PHP and CSS files here and fixed some errors and glitches. You’ll notice the dark green or blue boxes in the comments section have been changed so you can now read them. With so many files and code to look through it took some time, but I found it and finally got it changed.

Also in the realm of comments, we have our first subscriber who has been banned from the blog. Both the name and the IP address have been locked out. I’m just not going to waste my time with it any longer. You don’t see me anywhere but here these days, and people who tune in here are looking for enlightenment, not a bunch of spin and foul language.

You’ll also see new feature called “snap shots”. I added it because I think it’s helpful, but some of you might find it annoying. Let me know which way you lean and I’ll either keep it or disable it depending on you’re feedback.

And last but not least, just to show you what a complete technology geek I am, you may notice a new little Icon in your URL line and bookmarks. How a little 16×16 pixel icon gets me jazzed I really couldn’t say, but I think it’s cool and it only took me about 15 minutes to create and implement yesterday afternoon while watching football.

There is more to come, and like I told you last week, one of the reasons I love this new format is because of the way I can customize and expand it. It will always be a work in progress.

In the meantime, I’m going to go check out this new G1 at a local store and may see if I can take it for a spin.

PS - If you're involved with YTB, sign up for our FREE Newsletter. As a Website Owner or Website Seller, we'll keep you up to date with all the latest news, acquisitions, and developments with YTB.

PPS - Subscribe to the Just Picture It Now RSS feed, (including e-mail) for all the latest posts and updates found right here!

Book Your Travel & Vacations With