“Mobile Travel Guides Can Help, but Trust Books - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette” plus 1 more |
| Mobile Travel Guides Can Help, but Trust Books - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Posted: 27 Oct 2010 10:57 PM PDT As with so many smartphone apps, it is tempting to look at the current spate of mobile travel guides and proclaim the end of their paper counterparts as we know them. But to borrow a phrase often delivered to impatient travelers, we're not there yet. The better mobile travel guides, like Fodor's iPhone City Guides ($6, for various locales), Lonely Planet's Compass Guides ($5 on Android devices, for 24 cities) and Condé Nast's Traveller series ($6, for Apple devices, covering four destinations), may be great for generating ideas and, at times, finding attractions or restaurants while out and about, but they are still harder to use than a book. I have often found myself ignoring the smartphone while sightseeing. It can be frustrating to repeatedly open an app and navigate an unknown amount of content, often in an unfamiliar format. A book with a dog-eared page, meanwhile, offers instant gratification and gets a traveler back to sightseeing much more quickly. IPads can shift that equation a bit, especially with a Lonely Planet "Discover" eBook ($13 to $18 each). The series, which covers 12 nations, including France, Ireland and Thailand, is faster to use than a smartphone app and blends many of the best aspects of paper books and mobile technology. Pages can be highlighted, annotated and bookmarked, for instance, and the notes are viewable in a summary format. Likewise, sections can be copied and pasted in notes or for use outside the app -- on Facebook, for instance. Lonely Planet's eBook series includes links to different sections of the book, for simpler navigating, as well as links to Web pages for hotels, restaurants or attractions. The guidebook can be searched for certain keywords -- like "library," for instance -- which can save some time. One nagging flaw is that if you touch a hyperlink by mistake and are sent to a different section of the app, there is no back button to return to the last page. The chief problem confronting prospective Lonely Planet iPad users is the limited number of titles. The company said it would publish three more guides this month and more next year. It also will release its "Encounter" city guide series for the iPad next week. The phone apps require more squinting and can be harder to navigate, but the selection is much vaster -- at least for iPhones. Nearly every city has attracted swarms of independent iPhone app publishers who want to be the Fodor's or Frommer's of the mobile realm. In other cases, the local tourism department has done the work. Sometimes these apps are useful, as with Virginia Is for Lovers, or Visit Napa Valley (both free on Apple devices). But in New York, San Francisco, London, Paris and Rome, where Fodor's recently introduced its new line of mobile guidebooks, skip the lesser-known publishers. In the Fodor's guides, users can choose a neighborhood in a given city and see a list of notable sights, restaurants, nightlife spots, shops and hotels, arranged in order of their proximity to the user. Users can download a map to navigate without a connection. The search function, meanwhile, is quick and efficient. Other well-regarded travel publications have also set their sights on the top-tier destinations. The Frommer's "Complete Guides" offer a deep well of content, but the lack of a search feature makes these guides harder to navigate, and iTunes users have complained about the app's tendency to crash. (The app's developer says it has fixed the crashing issue.) Condé Nast Traveller, the British division of Condé Nast (thus the odd spelling of "Traveler"), publishes guides for New York, Paris, Rome and Barcelona. The app will identify places of interest or point to attractions. Lonely Planet, meanwhile, has a bigger presence on iPhones than on the iPad. The company's City Guide series ($6 for iPhones) covers 24 destinations so far, with more to come. These apps are quite slick, with nicely designed, interactive maps and a comprehensive directory of resources. That comprehensiveness can be a problem, though. Because the app lacks a search box, users must sift through all that information to find anything obscure, like libraries or castles. Those with more offbeat travel interests should check the iTunes store, lest they overlook iPhone travel guides for yoga enthusiasts or kite surfers. Android users have fewer choices, at least from established travel publishers. In New York City, for instance, Time Out publishes a free city guide. Lonely Planet is a better resource, offering 10 city guides in the United States, through its "Compass" series, and 15 foreign destinations. The "Compass" guides are in some ways better than Lonely Planet's iPhone guides, since the content can be searched, and the augmented-reality feature can help users find nearby attractions they might otherwise miss. Android city guides from Navigaia, a travel publisher in Paris, offer well-rounded apps that feature videos of city attractions. The apps cost about $8 each. Navigaia is especially good for travelers to second-tier destinations like Berlin, Lisbon and Seville. In such cities, few established travel publishers have released apps. Navigaia is also one of the only established media companies that has released BlackBerry apps. The apps are similar to the Android series and slightly cheaper, with most titles going for $7. For those who cannot bear the thought of not looking at their BlackBerry while on vacation, it is a worthwhile investment -- even if an old-fashioned travel book would be the most versatile form of technology available. Quick Calls The makers of Unicorn Shots, the popular iPhone photo app, have spawned another whimsical hit for children: Unicorn Disco ($2). Load a photo of someone's face, build a character with an array of absurd costumes and watch the character dance alone or with celebrities. ... Here is one for adults: Muhammad Ali ($3 for iPhone, $5 for iPad), a photomosaic composed of thousands of images from the fighter's career, as well as a timeline of crucial events. ... Android users can download On the Fly, a new (and free) airfare-comparison app, and find cheap flights from a full range of airlines. The app is also available on Apple devices, and it will reach BlackBerry users in the coming months. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. First published on October 28, 2010 at 2:00 am This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| A Magic fans' guide to the Amway Center - Orlando Sentinel Posted: 27 Oct 2010 07:44 PM PDT How to get there The arena is located less than one block from I-4 and less than a mile from 408, making it a very simple trip if you're traveling from outside of downtown. If you're heading West on I-4, get off at Anderson Street, Exit 82B. If you're coming East on I-4, get off at South Street, Exit 82B. Both exits will put you within two blocks of the arena. Where to park There are 16 arena-sponsored parking areas across downtown Orlando, totaling 11,000 parking spots. The closest garages – the Geico Garage and the Church Street, both located adjacent to the arena – cost $20 and will fill up quickly. All other locations, some of which you'll need to take a shuttle to the arena from, cost $10. And you can always wing it and park in a resident's yard, although there are the obvious risks in doing that. Visit AmwayCenter.com for a map and price listing. Come early, be happy I-4 will be jam-packed on game nights – even more so than it usually is during rush hour — so it may be a good idea to skip out of work early and arrive before the 5 p.m. traffic rush hits. Because Amway Center is located in the heart of downtown Orlando, there are plenty of restaurants and bars you can peruse before the game, and you could also attend the Fan Fest on Church Street that runs before every game. Food and drinks will be cheaper outside of the arena, so you'll save yourself stress and money. Win, win, win. Take a look around With all of the places to see in the new arena, it's a genuine concern that fans won't be in their seats enough during the game. With the array of restaurants (including some that overlook the court), Stuff's Magic Castle (a play area for children), and the Fan Zone (an interactive look at Magic history), it can be easy to get sidetracked from the actual basketball game. Drink around the world… or at least the Amway Between the Budweiser Baseline Bar, the Gentleman Jack Terrace, the Ozone Bar, the Sky Bar and the Coors Light Mountain Bar, there is no shortage of places for Magic fans to grab a drink. Cheers. Room for growth There are still some empty storefronts near Amway Center, although many of them are labeled with "coming soon" tags. The Amway Center is still less than one month old, and the area is certain to garner even more restaurants, bars, stores and shops in the surrounding area of the arena. Zach McCann can be reached at zmccann@orlandosentinel.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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