Tech Thursday: Digital Tools to Aid Your Travel Experience

GenConnect interviewed Sarah Spagnolo, T+L's digital projects editor, about our latest tech tools that can help you get the most out of your travels.

Tech Thursday: The Peninsula Hong Kong's High-Tech Renovation

The 84-year-old grande dame just unveiled the next-generation rooms of its modern tower, part of a $58 million, 15-month renovation. (The original building will reopen in April 2013.) T+L got an advance look at the 21st-century makeover, complete with cutting-edge technology hatched in the hotel’s own R&D lab and a sleek new design that maximizes space and functionality. $$$$

• Guests can make free international calls on the wireless phones with VoIP (voice over Internet protocol).

• Ten multi-language touch-screen panels placed around the room control the lights, curtains, thermostat, television, and Internet radio (all 3,000 stations).

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Tech Thursday: Using Social Media for Storm Updates

It’s no secret that last week’s hurricane took a major toll on the East Coast and its residents; with so many outages, how was anyone able to stay current with news of the situation?

Both Facebook and Twitter played a big part in helping to keep everyone informed. Whether you follow the actual sources of the information, or your friends do and repost, everything anyone needed to know about the storm was all there—flight cancellations, public transportation announcements, and even voting location changes—at the touch of their fingers. I kept myself up-to-date mostly via information streaming through my Facebook feed, with a few glances at my Twitter feed.

But you can’t always rely on your friends to provide this information, so just in case, here are a few important accounts to keep an eye on to stay in the know when it comes to inclement weather.

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Tech Thursday: The Future of Hotel Technology

When it comes to reliable, easy-to-use tech amenities, hotels have lagged confoundingly behind what most travelers have at home or on their smart phones or tablets. Even at many so-called state-of-the-art properties guests wrestle with inscrutable room controls, ornery A/V setups, and awkward communications systems. Thankfully, some hotels are now stepping up their tech game—for real.

What’s Here Now

These days, any property worth its room rate offers free Wi-Fi. But too often it’s exceedingly sloooow. Solution: many hotels (including the Radisson in San Diego and the Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo) are rolling out 100 Mbps Internet service, which is fast enough to download an album in three seconds.

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Tech Thursday: Four Great Portable Speakers

Music sets the mood to any atmosphere; this rings true whether you’re lounging around in your living room, commuting to work in the morning, or de-stressing while on vacation. It’s certainly true for me. And, while many hotels have been equipped with iPod/iPhone docks—which will all require replacements or the addition of an adaptor with the new line of iGadgets—not all of them do...not to mention, not everyone uses iOS devices. So sometimes the best solution is to bring your own. Here are four of my newest faves.

BRAVEN 600
The smallest of the BRAVEN SIX series, this sucker still packs a powerful punch. The battery lasts up to 12 hours; it comes with a drawstring pouch, perfect for carrying around; and can even be used to charge your smartphone up to 70%—at the cost of its own battery life, of course. It connects to your music device via Bluetooth, and is perfect for anything from listening to music at home or even to entertaining a small outdoor gathering. And best of all: it easily slips into any carry-on bag.

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Tech Thursday: Chic New Bags for Your Camera

Finding a good camera bag that is both functional and stylish is a seemingly near-impossible feat, at least in my findings. They’re always bulky, vinyl, sacks, with nothing new or fashionable brought to the table. Yeah, I get it: its primary purpose is to organize and protect your camera and accessories, but why does it have to be so dull? I like a little flare, okay?

So I was pretty excited when I saw the newest line of Acme Made camera bags, which just hit the market this earlier this week. They’re functional, good-looking bags, and come in four different sizes, depending on how much equipment you’ll be carting around with you. You can buy them in olive green and grey, but I’m partial to the grey one, which has a brushed nickel look to it, and a delightfully surprising burst of lime green on the inside. The internal compartments are adjustable and/or collapsible, so you can customize it to suit your needs.

www.acmemade.com; from $29.99.

Joshua Pramis is the social media editor and resident tech aficionado at Travel + Leisure. Follow him on Twitter: @joshuapramis

Tech Thursday: Amazon Debuts Kindle Paperwhite

Watch out NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight, you’re no longer the only e-reader with a light-up display in town. Last week, Amazon announced the upcoming release of the next stage in the Kindle series: Kindle Paperwhite.

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Tech Thursday: T+L Launches Tripeze App

Exciting news! Here at T+L, we’ve been busy working on creating a new iPhone app, and finally our hard work has paid off. Today, the app, called Travel + Leisure Tripeze, debuted in the iTunes store. And we couldn’t be happier to share it with all of you avid travelers.

The app was designed to map your treks so that you can a: keep a record of them so you can remember exactly where you went, and b: share the trips with your friends, with you acting as a virtual tour guide of sorts. Not only that, but if you’re looking for inspiration while you’re on the go, we’ve included more than 200 trip itineraries around the world (all with photos), with another 500 coming soon.

Now the work to build the Android counterpart begins. Stay tuned…

Joshua Pramis is the social media editor and resident tech aficionado at Travel + Leisure. Follow him on Twitter: @joshuapramis

Tech Thursday: Roaming Tips

Even sending a short e-mail while traveling internationally can cost $10 or more. Below are three ways to keep data costs low while staying connected.

1. Purchase a roaming plan. If you want to use your U.S. phone abroad, get an international plan with discounted by-the-minute rates on phone calls and the ability to use data without extra charges. AT&T and Verizon Wireless offer monthly roaming packages, which are prorated and start at $4.99 for calls and $25 for 100MB of data (most phones will let you monitor the amount you’ve used). Be sure to shut off auto-sync when you are roaming.

2. Maximize your Wi-Fi. Unless you have a roaming plan, put your phone on airplane mode and turn on your Wi-Fi. If free hot spots are scarce, try Boingo Wireless (from $7.95 per month) or a router from FON ($49) to access thousands of free and paid Wi-Fi zones worldwide. JiWire’s WiFi Finder points you to hot spots. You can also buy or rent a portable hot-spot device such as Verizon Jetpack (from $49) and XCom Global (from $14.95 per day).

3. Get a local phone or SIM card. Need a local number so friends don’t have to dial the United States? Buy a SIM card at your destination for about $20 and insert it into an unlocked GSM phone (you can rent one for $40 on cellhut.com). Or buy a simple local phone with prepaid credit (around $30; $3 per day for data plans). You can also rent a phone with a data plan before you go at fonerent.com (starting at $9 per week; $5 per 100MB).

Photo by iStockphoto

Tech Thursday: Top New Smartphones

Time to upgrade your mobile device? Here, four state-of-the-art models that will keep you connected, wherever you may roam.

Apple iPhone 4S: The iPhone 4S (and the upcoming iPhone 5) is unbeatable when it comes to apps—more than 675,000 at press time—but international perks vary by carrier. AT&T and Verizon Wireless offer roaming plans, and Sprint and Verizon let you use a local SIM card. $199; AT&T, Sprint, Verizon Wireless.

Samsung Galaxy SIII (pictured): This sleek phone operates on networks at home and abroad (though Sprint and Verizon only work in 48 countries). Its technologies are impressive: one tracks your eye so the screen stays on when you look at it; another switches from text message to call mode when you put the phone to your ear. $199; all major carriers.

HTC One S: Slim, light, and with long-lasting battery power (up to a day and a half), this Android avoids roaming charges by automatically switching to an Internet phone setting when you call from a wireless hot spot. Camera functions include a “burst mode” that can take 99 continuous shots. $149; T-Mobile.

Nokia Lumia 800: Travel apps are a breeze on this tiny phone, which uses the new Windows Phone system. The Lumia 800 also lets you use a locally purchased SIM card abroad. When you include data in your prepaid SIM plan, you’ll have access to your apps on the road. $900; amazon.com.

Photo courtesy of Samsung