Travel tech news: January 26, 2012
Every two weeks we bring you the latest news in travel technology from around the world. Here are our latest picks.
Check in with a wave of your phone
Aviation technology provider SITA has unveiled a new proof-of-concept to allow check-in and boarding of flights merely by waving your phone around in the future.
More information is in the demo video, but we like the thought of just tapping your NFC-enabled phone on a reader – even when it is turned off – to check in, access airline lounges and board the plane. Anything that speeds up that process is a good idea. Now if only it could make the security line move faster as well…
For people that can’t use Google, there’s … Google!
Have you ever wanted to book a hotel close to a major landmark but not been to figure out how far away it is? Well no, neither have we, because we can work a search engine.
Apparently the world’s biggest search company thought it was a problem, however, so Google has updated its Hotel Finder service to allow users to enter a major landmark and filter by proximity and transit time.
Have a play with it and see what you think. We’re still undecided whether it is genuinely useful or just a nice gimmick…
Throw your phone in the river? Sure, why not…
Toilets. Pint glasses. Puddles. Rain storms. Up until now such things have spelled instant death for your mobile phone. Not any more. Demonstrated at the recent CES exhibition, Liquipel offer a nanotech-based service that promises to coat your entire phone with a waterproof barrier at the molecular level.
Right now a variety of smartphone models can be sent to the company to be protected, but longer term Liquipel hopes to partner with manufacturers to offer waterproofing out of the box. End result? With a bit of luck, no more drowned phones. We can’t wait.
… and put a tonne of bricks on it while you’re at it
In the spirit of mistreating your technology on the road, enter Casio’s latest prototype. Although far from a final product, this rugged little number will apparently survive a 10 foot drop, a similar depth immersion in water and handle up to a tonne of weight being placed on it when it eventually hits the market.
All of that will come in extremely handy next time a buffalo stands on your phone while you’re on safari in Africa.
Of course you probably won’t be in too much danger from a buffalo or anything else if you’re carrying this phone, as they’ll be far too busy laughing at how silly it looks to worry about attacking you.
File your nails while storing a quarter million songs
How many times have you wished you could store all of your music and movies on the same device you use to tidy up your hangnails? Hundreds at the very least … right?
Well, Victorinox to the rescue.
The venerable Swiss army knife maker will be shipping its new SSD model later in the year with encrypted storage ranging from 64Gb to a whopping 1Tb.
Pricetags will be as huge as the storage capacity, with the premium version expected to retail for (gulp) $3000. Don’t forget to take it out of your hand luggage at the airport…
[Images via lilivanili, Google, Liquipel, Engadget and GShockZone]
