It gets to a point when everyone needs to pack their bags, hop on a plane and spend a week immersed in local culture or lying on a beach forgetting about the work-load back home. However, packing for a trip away can sometimes be stressful – travel guides, books, entertainment, mp3 player, portable DVD player for the kids… It all adds up to one heavy suitcase. Thank goodness for the iPad! Going on holiday has been made simple, and lighter, by the brilliant technology advancements going on at Apple HQ. Here are the top travel apps for anyone who wants to make a trip away even more enjoyable.
Liligo for iPad
The most advanced (free) flight-search app out there will prove invaluable if you find yourself packing in the job and becoming an expat in Croatia. You’ll want to come back and pick up your valuables eventually, so use this nifty little app to search over 250 travel sites for the cheapest flights. Compare, filter and touch. Ta-da! Your seat on the next flight out of Dubrovnik is waiting for you.
Researchers from the EHCI Research Group have been working on some pretty cool head-tracking technology to allow the iPad 2 to produce 3D images without the use of special 3D glasses. The front facing camera on the iPad 2 has been made to track the users head movement and then corresponding to the position of their head display a certain image so they end up with a 3D effect.
The demos shown in the video below are not anything mind blowing but with some more time I’d be interested to see what they and other developers produce using the technology.
North Point Community Church band are embracing the holiday season by using iPads and some apps to spread some festive joy through music. Using iPad apps like iGog, Guitarist and Pocket Organ the band has been able to reproduce some classic Christmas music such as Carol of the Bells, Rocking Around the Christmas Tree and Feliz Navida. Video below:
Even international cable news agency, the BBC, is now planning to make itself available via iPad. It intends to launch its own iPlayer application as a means for viewers outside the UK to get hold of a commercial subscription via their iPad.
A report in the Financial Times has confirmed the BBC’s newest technological move. At present, the free iPlayer web is only available to viewers from the UK who indirectly pay subscription fees by way of TV licensing fees that go to the broadcasting company’s program funds. Since it can no longer generate anymore income from its UK viewers, the BBC is devising on new ways to offer paid-subscription access to its foreign patrons. The company is specifically targeting the US market for their paid iPad app.
Liligo for iPad
