How is Twitter Impacting Travel ?

Twitter is a great tool and resource for some travelers who use it for everything from checking itineraries to ordering a meal. Interestingly some 60% of people who purchase travel online are social media users and more and more savy travel companies are proactively offering customer support for travel matters via twitter. JetBlue serves as an excellent example of how to do Twitter well.

SmartMoney reporter Kristen Bellstrom talks about creative ways travelers and companies are using it to connect. Watch !

What's Not Included in the iPhone 4 OS ?

Nicole Lee, associate editor for CNET, recently shared some interesting observations in an article today about what was NOT included in the recent iPhone 4 OS upgrade. Here are her thoughts:

• Mass storage mode: We would've liked to see an easier way to just drag and drop files from our computer to the iPhone without having to go through a third-party app.
• Tethering with AT&T: Yes, we know this is already possible with the current OS, but AT&T in the U.S. have not gotten onboard with it yet (tethering is currently available in other countries like Canada and the U.K.). We were hoping we would hear more about it at the event, but no dice there.
• Audio profiles: It would have been nice if the iPhone had different audio profiles for different environments that you could easily switch between.
• Flash support in Safari: Yeah, this was a pie-in-the-sky wish, but we know a lot of you out there wanted it.
• FM radio: Another one that was highly unlikely, but again, we know there are some who want it.
• Wi-Fi syncing: We would've really liked it if we could sync or back up our information on the iPhone over Wi-Fi instead of having to plug in our USB cable.
• Built-in photo editing: We know you can get third-party photo editors on the iPhone but it would be nice to have a built-in one as well.
• Printer support: This is a little more relevant to the iPad, but we also wished iPhone OS 4 would provide some printer driver support, which would be very helpful for printing out documents and notes.
• Multiple notification bar: On Android, there is a handy pull down area where you can see all of your recent notifications, like for your new messages or new voicemails. It would be nice to see that on the iPhone as well.

So do you think that her expectations were a bit too high for this recent release ?

What Will iPhones OS 4 Be Like ?

iPhone's new operating system details were released in a press event at Apple's headquarters today. The OS 4, will be released to developers this week and to users in the summer. It will provide access to calendar, photo library, still image and video data, and includes abilities to help apps run faster. In addition the new OS will support multitasking of apps. It will be interesting to see when the continual upgrades stall out and when a new iPhone hardware device is planned to be offered.

"We weren't the first to this party but we're going to be the best, just like cut and paste," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs, alluding  that cut-and-paste hadn't been available until a year after the first iPhone launched.

Jobs went on to say, "It's really easy to implement multitasking in a way that drains battery life. If you don't do it just right your phone's going to feel sluggish and your battery life is going to go way down. We've figured out how to implement multitasking of third-party apps and avoid those things."

The new iPhone OS will allow users to press the home button twice to see a menu of  active apps. Tapping one app takes you directly into that app. Apps can remain running in the background. Some of the benefits to this are, for example, that you can keep listening to music in Pandora while doing other things on the phone. The multitasking enables push notifications to alert users to an incoming Skype call. "It was really simple to implement. Just a dozen lines of code," said Skype's head of product development David Ponsford.

Another example of the new OS capabilities are letting you know when an app running in the background has requested your location from the device's GPS. This to address privacy and security issues.

The announcement comes a week after Apple's launch of iPad. Apple has sold 450,000 iPads to date, and users have downloaded more than 1 million iPad applications and over 650,000 digital books from the iBooks store. The company has sold more than 50 million iPhones and 35 million iPod Touches.

TheiPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad all run iPhone OS 3.0. The current OS has been criticized for lacking multitasking support for full multitasking. The OS also restricts add-on software to apps available through Apple's App Store.

The App Store currently contains 185,000 apps, Jobs said, adding than users have downloaded more than 4 billion apps from it to date. About 3,500 of those apps are optimized for the iPad.

Additional features planned for iPhone OS 4 include a 5x digital zoom camera feature, and tap to focus in video.



Marketing & Twitter

Like a lot of businesses ours has been working on integrating social media. Many Kudos to our team, in particular Denisse, Justin, Robert, Rodney, Kelli, Kristina and others who are experimenting with Twitter, in addition to other tools, over the past few months. It isn't easy and we're just getting started, but we are learning more every day.

Many don't understand the value of Twitter in particular. But a lot of folks have learned, as this Hubspot article expresses, it is VERY valuable if its just used properly. That is the trick using it properly. Watch Mark Shaw's expert twitter tips video that gives some great pointers on adopting this technology to engage your customers and create a discussion friendly environment around your brand.

The Internet of Things

The day when we will have communicative clothing might not be too far off, according to a report titled “The Internet of Things” recently prepared by McKinsey & Company. The research highlights major changes that will result from a growing ubiquity of sensors and objects connected to the Internet, including “sensor-driven decision analytics” and “complex autonomous systems.” Watch the IBM video below for more details on autonomous systems.

The report identifies these systems already exist. For example, pill like cameras are now used to explore the digestive tract and send pictures back to doctors to pinpoint sources of illness. Data from remote satellites and sensors in the ground can modify fertilization of crops. Billboards in Asia can change to display the preferences of passers-by.

This however, is just the beginning. The McKinsey report claims as more sensors enter our devices and even clothing, we will have the ability to monitor the behavior of people, places and things through space and time, enabling such business applications as presence-based advertising.

Would consumers want to experience this kind of intrusive advertising? If done correctly, it could offer great benefits.

As much as any industry, health care should benefit most from this evolution. The McKinsey report notes, “In health care, sensors and data links offer possibilities for monitoring a patient’s behavior and symptoms in real time and at relatively low cost, allowing physicians to better diagnose disease and prescribe tailored treatment regimens.”