Posted 03/21/2012 at 10:26am | by AJ Dellinger People take trips for a wide variety of reasons: Conducting business, attempting to get away, studying abroad, or maybe even being exiled from your homeland. Regardless of the reason for escape, planning for travel is often stressful. Aside from the never-enjoyable act of packing, there's the hassle that comes with trying to organize your entire trip with no guarantees, except for a string of numbers for ticket confirmation and an uncomfortable moment with an overly grabby TSA officer. If you're constantly on the go -- and in the air as often as on the ground -- it's time to download TripIt. The app sets out to make travel plans feel more like an extra day of toes in the sand. rather than the standard feeling of feet to the fire. Never again will you feel the horror that overcomes travelers as they scour Read More

TripIt has once again updated its iOS app with few cool features. Version 3.0 brings several new options, including: TripIt’s core functions remain intact, allowing you to access all travel itineraries in one place, shared trips included; as well as to see your friends’ trip plans, including “Who’s Close,” TripIt groups and network updates, and “Inner Circle” for Pro users. Additionally, Pro users can also get a heads up on reward points nearing expiration on the homescreen, or click through to access all accounts, point balances, progress towards the next status level, year-to-date and recent activity. TripIt – Travel Organizer (FREE) [iTunes link] TripIt – Travel Organizer – no ads ($3.99) [iTunes link] SPONSORED MESSAGE Get free domestic and international calls and texts to anyone with the Vonage Mobile app available as an iPhone calling app or Android calling app. Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now Read More

Looking for a quick last-minute gift? Not feeling up to fighting the holiday traffic, crowds and checkout lines? Just too lazy busy to shop? Then you may want to consider giving the gift of an iOS app. You can gift any paid app from iTunes on your computer or from the app’s description page on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Just scroll down past the screenshot and look for the “gift this app” button. All you’ll need is the recipient’s email address to complete the transaction. This app list includes both new releases and old favorites. It’s entirely subjective! Note that some of this year’s best apps are free, so they aren’t on here. (Waving to Instagram, Path, Spotify, Flipboard, Pinterest, HBO GO, etc.) Also, everyone already has Angry Birds (the original). It’s not on here, either. 1. iMovie ($4.99) Everyone should have this app from Apple, the fun moviemaking app for Read More

Looking for a quick last-minute gift? Not feeling up to fighting the holiday traffic, crowds and checkout lines? Just too lazy busy to shop? Then you may want to consider giving the gift of an iOS app. You can gift any paid app from iTunes on your computer or from the app’s description page on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Just scroll down past the screenshot and look for the “gift this app” button. All you’ll need is the recipient’s email address to complete the transaction. This app list includes both new releases and old favorites. It’s entirely subjective! Note that some of this year’s best apps are free, so they aren’t on here. (Waving to Instagram, Path, Spotify, Flipboard, Pinterest, HBO GO, etc.) Also, everyone already has Angry Birds (the original). It’s not on here, either. 1. iMovie ($4.99) Everyone should have this app from Apple, the fun moviemaking app for Read More

If you travel frequently, keeping track of all your flights, hotels and car trips can be made easier using a few different iPhone apps that consolidate all that information in one easy to access location. These iPhone apps are great because not only do they give you a dashboard for your flight information, but they also help you keep track of changes to your trips and easily input your information into the apps. Price: $3.99 TripIt is hands down the best trip and itinerary app for the iPhone. This is not only because TripIt offers a great application but also due to the unique service that TripIt provides which helps you automatically create trips using your confirmation emails. Once you’ve setup your account at tripit.com, all you have to do is forward your confirmation emails to plans@tripit.com and they will instantly add the information and create trips for you with all Read More

TripIt already has mobile apps for the iPhone, Android and BlackBerry platforms. Now they decided to dedicate some attention to the iPad users and the result is a new app that fully takes advantage of the large screen Apple’s tablet rocks. TripIt for iPad allows users to access all their trip reservations in one place, including air, hotel, entertainment and more. Moreover, there’s a new mapping feature along with GPS-enabled driving directions, airport information, and even seat assignments, “all designed to make traveling easier.” Apparently more than 70% of TripIt users own or plan to purchase the iPad, representing a considerable group of people. Even if you’re not an existing TripIt user, you can become one right from within the application and instantly access all your itineraries at-a-glance and explore them on a map. While in the mentioned map view, you will be able to see airports, hotels, ground transportation, restaurants Read More

For those of us who use the TripIt service and app to keep track of our upcoming travel plans, the lack of an iPad version of the app was somewhat annoying. You could always load the iPhone app onto your iPad and use the 2X button to expand the size, but it just didn't look or feel right. Third-party apps that accessed TripIt's API, like TravelTracker Pro, filled the gap, but they didn't have that TripIt 'made here' feel. All of our requests for the iPad app were answered today, as the travel organizer has come out with a new universal version of the app. The app is available in two flavors -- a free, ad-supported version and a US$3.99 version without advertising. The TripIt iPad edition is nicely designed to take advantage of the extra space afforded by the tablet's screen, and large maps that display your trip plans to Read More

There was a time when taking an electronic device with you on an adventure holiday would have been seen as sacrilege, as how would it be an adventure if you had that level of assistance?  Thankfully, we think things have changed, and your smartphone is seen as not only an essential safety tool, but something which can enhance your adventure too! If you’re planning an adventure this year, here are ten hints and tips about what to equip your iPhone with before you go. 1.  A Really Tough Case. If you’re going to be using your iPhone 4 in harsh environments, it’s going to need to be well protected.  There are several super-tough cases available for the iPhone, and we’ve previously reviewed the Ballistic HC for the iPhone 4 and the Otterbox for the 3G, and both are seriously hard wearing, sealed units able to withstand proper shocks. 2.  An Extended Read More

TripIt updated its iPhone application with several usability features. As a result, you can now edit your plans within in the app, pick the right flight among updates in the app, and there’s a new sign-in experience that doesn’t bounce you to the Web or do anything weird. Before this release, it was a hassle when plans have been changed at the airport and you couldn’t update myTripIt with the new flight info. Moreover, when TripIt’s itinerator detected conflicting plan information, it did show the conflicting plans in the iPhone app but to resolve the conflict, you needed to go to the web browser. Finally, the sign-in process used to involve visiting m.tripit.com in Safari and then going back to the application. No more! The latest update removes all the hassle mentioned above and is, as usual, available at no extra charge. You can download the ad-supported version of TripIt for Read More