Technology and Apps

In December 2007, Air France began a 6-month test allowing e-mail and text-messaging service to cell phones while in flight (no voice calls yet). Only one Airbus A318 plane is testing the program, and no one will know ahead of time if it will be used on their flight.

The service works only with GSM cell phones. Calls will be billed directly to users by their own providers at “international roaming rates.”

New “No mobile” lights will be installed next to the “No smoking” signs aboard the equipped planes.

The GPS-CS1KS is a small GPS module that allows photographers to plot their digital photos onto Google Maps.

The module can track a photographer’s location for 10 hours on AA batteries. Later, with a computer, the software generates an interactive map overlaid with thumbnail pictures, each picture placed where it was taken. Users can zoom in and out, etc.

Measuring 3x1x1 inches and weighing eight ounces, the device retails for $150 and is available at Amazon.com or from Sony (877/865-7669, www.sonystyle.com/gps).

Trackstick II is a personal GPS data logger that uses the Google Earth 24-satellite network to store its location at preset intervals. It can record your position every five seconds or up to once every 15 minutes.

About the size and weight of a Swiss Army knife (4½"x1¼"x¾" and 1.48 ounces), it comes with all the software needed to download your route onto your computer after your trip. You then can view the data on a 3-D Google Earth map. 

With your cell phone and the service Textamundo, you can get an answer by text to almost any question, 24/7. The service works on 500 cell phone networks in 198 countries, with 20 active agents based in the USA, Ireland, UK, Austria, Australia and Honduras standing by to access the Internet.

Most questions are transport related (a flight’s status or “Need a taxi at Bankgok Hotel”), but you can ask for anything (sports score, weather, etc.). Send the name of a hotel, for example, and be sent its address, phone number and even GPS coordinates.

Rick Steves (425/771-8303, www.ricksteves.com) has four iPhone and iPod Touch apps for travelers: Historic Paris Walk & Tour, Louvre Tour, Orsay Museum Tour and St. Peter’s Basilica Tour. Content is from his guidebooks and PBS travel show, including info on hotels and restaurants (open hours, costs, etc.). A pull-down audio/video player offers audio commentary or a video feature for certain sites.

Apps cost $4.99 each and, once downloaded, are self-contained and do not use the phone’s data connection. A demo is available at www.ricksteves.com/iphonesupport

Helpful to those on self-drive itineraries, English Heritage (phone +44 0 870 333 1181) offers travelers with GPS units a downloadable overlay which shows the locations of the organization’s 400-plus properties and cultural sites on the map relative to one’s position. It is available for Garmin and TomTom GPS units at www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.20913.

Available for iPhone (OS 2.0 or later) or iPod touch (with version 3.0 or before), the application “1,000 Words” shows simple pictures on the phone screen to help people communicate overseas.

Topics are organized into 12 categories, like money, activities, help (SOS), dining, hotels, etc. Simply tap the category, scroll through the pictures and enlarge the one needed to show to another person.

The app can be downloaded for 99¢ from the App Store and does not need Internet access to function.

Frommer’s travel guides for Paris and London are available for download on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Each point of interest can be plotted on the map relative to others, with reviews and contact information. Items like restaurants can be sorted by price, cuisine, rating or neighborhood. The guide includes suggested itineraries, with details of each stop.

At $9.99 each, the guides are available through the iPod Touch and iPhone’s built-in App Store. Once downloaded, the guides do not require an Internet connection. Visit www.frommers.com/go/mobile.

Google Goggles, a free application for Google Android smartphones (version 1.6 or higher, and a data connection is required), can translate text, identify artwork and landmarks or even help you research the wine you’re ordering.

First, use the phone’s camera to take a picture of the text or object you want to identify. For text, you input source and destination languages (the application currently reads English, French, Italian, German and Spanish).

For the iPhone, the software applications mPassport London and mPassport Paris allow travelers to locate medical help in those cities (in Paris, English-speaking). The apps pull up lists of hospitals, pharmacies, paramedics, doctors (by specialty) and dentists. Users can find each on a map and make an appointment using the screen.