Lonely Planet Gets Online Travel Channel On ROO's Video Network

ONLINE COMPANY ROO AND LONELY Planet, a leading independent travel guidebook publisher, Web site and television production company, are launching a dedicated Lonely Planet channel on ROO's online video network. The focus is city-based destinations, narrated by authors of the Lonely Planet guidebooks.

Google Says Newspaper Ad Program A Hit

Two months into a test with 100 advertisers and 66 newspapers, Google executives say that a pilot program in which small merchants would go online and bid on the excess ad inventory of daily newspapers has exceeded their expectations. So they plan to roll out an expanded version in the coming months.

"The volume [of ads sold] is tripling where we thought it would be," says Tom Phillips, director of print ads at Google. "I think we'll have real impact next year" on newspapers' bottom lines," he adds.

According to Phillips, the medium is open to a whole new class of advertisers. Newspaper executives and analysts are more cautious, saying that while Google has brought in new advertisers, its online ad technology is so new it remains unclear how much it can help.

 

The Washington Post  Read the whole story...

Barnhart has travel plan for Orbitz rise to the top

December 18, 2006, BY BRAD SPIRRISON Sun-Times Columnist

 

Technological efficiency will help Chicago-based Orbitz Worldwide rise to the top of the competitive online travel industry, new President Steve Barnhart believes. Already chief financial officer, Barnhart, 45, recently was promoted to pilot the second largest online travel agency in the United States. Before obtaining undergraduate and business degrees from the University of Chicago, Barnhart grew up just outside of West Branch, Iowa, home of Herbert Hoover, 31st president of the United States and prominent advocate of the Efficiency Movement. Borrowing a page from his fellow Hawkeye, one of Barnhart's first tasks is to integrate the 10 brands of Orbitz Worldwide, which include CheapTickets, Away.com, and a number of niche and foreign properties, into one back-end management system.

"There will be cost savings in the back office and development platform," said Barnhart, who three years ago was recruited from the Pepsi Bottling Group. "We have a long history of innovation that drives the consumer experience online."

Airlines are in Orbitz' DNA

Orbitz was conceived seven years ago with DNA from United and four other major airlines. Serial entrepreneur Alex Zoghlin, who worked on the original Mosaic browser, was the company's first employee, and served as chief technology officer until 2003. Later that year, Orbitz went public, largely off the merits of one online domestic brand, and helped to trigger what is perhaps a second wave of the Internet boom.

After being acquired by Cendant Corp. in 2004, Orbitz was part of a $4.3 billion buyout in June by private equity firm Blackstone Group. Orbitz Worldwide is now a 700-employee unit of Travelport Ltd., and operates from its new headquarters at 500 W. Madison.

Ealier this month, Travelport acquired Worldspan, an electronic ticketing company it will merge with its Galileo unit.

Last week, Travelocity, a unit of Sabre Holdings that closely trails Orbitz in domestic bookings, was acquired for nearly $5 billion by private equity investors Silver Lake Partners and Texas Pacific Group.

Further, a venture capital affiliate of Texas Pacific Group is an investor in G2 SwitchWorks, a competitor to Galileo and Worldspan that Zoghlin founded in 2004.

Barnhart said Orbitz "severed ties" with Zoghlin after he started the company, which partially competes with Orbitz and has hired a number of its employees. In 2005, Orbitz sued Zoghlin, claiming he violated a non-compete agreement. A representative for Orbitz said the companies recently ended litigation.

Online travel leader Expedia is a unit of media mogul Barry Diller's InterActiveCorp and corporate cousin to brands like Hotels.com and Tripadvisor. "Name your own price" standalone Priceline.com also remains among industry leaders.

As online bookings threaten to surpass traditional services for the first time in 2007, Barnhart is smelling blood. In addition to streamlining multiple brands and reviving the career of game show host Wink Martindale in an entertaining advertising campaign, the 300-plus programmers and technical staffers employed by Orbitz in Chicago and offshore development centers in India and Israel are assigned to balance technological innovation with consumer convenience.

Keeping it simple

"The challenge is not to make it too complicated," Barnhart said. "We always ask 'What is the right level of technology to solve the problem without making it too difficult?'"

When flights were grounded after terrorist concerns in London last August, Orbitz sent more than 320,000 alerts with travel and itinerary information to customers via e-mail, voice mail and text messages. A year ago during the New York City transit strike, travelers were sent information regarding alternate commuting methods from the airport to the city after their flights arrived.

"Innovation and making travel work for our customers is critical to being a winner in this space," Barnhart said.

State offers technology grants

Illinois-based technology companies seeking to obtain federal grant money might be in line for two bites at the government apple. Gov. Blagojevich will announce today that the state is allocating more than $1.3 million to qualifying companies via the Innovation Challenge Matching Grant and Technical Assistance programs.

The programs are designed to increase the number of Small Business Innovation and Research and Small Business Technology Transfer grants by assisting entrepreneurs with the grant-writing process and providing up to $50,000 in matching grants per company.

Brad Spirrison is a local technology reporter and president of MidwestBusiness.com.

Travelocity enters blogosphere

Connecting readers to expert information, Travelocity enters travelers' turf through the company's new web log – The Window Seat consumer travel blog. Serving as an expansive resource for travelers, this first-of-its-kind blog by a major online travel company reveals relevant and uncolored travel advice as well as insider tips from a team of travel industry experts spearheaded by Travelocity editor-at-large, Amy Ziff.

The Window Seat blog offers a unique fusion of expert information gathered from a decade of experience in the travel business with first-hand accounts from travelers themselves. With information ranging from seasonal destination finds and airport security changes to where the stars headed on their last holiday, The Window Seat blog provides a new perspective to enhance the travel experience for every traveler. As explorers chime in on past travel experiences, future dream trips and their new favorite hot spots, The Window Seat's team of experts will be on hand to answer difficult travel questions, dish on destinations and discuss travelers' woes and wins.

"We're proud to be launching The Window Seat blog, which is written by and for travelers," said Amy Ziff, Travelocity's Editor at Large. "I can't think of a better way to share our collective travel experiences and expertise than through a blog."

The Window Seat blog was born out of travelers' need for a forum to share common passion, concerns and questions before they hit the road or head to the skies. As Travelocity's team of editors share their passion for travel near and far, they provide useful resources for travelers in need – even if it's merely an intriguing travel story to scratch their travel itch.

Bloggers can explore everything from local favorites to last minute travel ideas through segmented categories such as:

- Tailored trips: Made-to-fit travel experiences for bloggers interested in family travel, holiday and seasonal travel, festivals and cultural events and more.

- Trip Tips:  General advice for the traveler seeking information on air travel, car rentals, cruises, hotels and more.

- Main Routes: First-hand experiences and recommendations on popular travel destinations and those off-the-beaten-path.

While checking out their view from The Window Seat, Travelocity editors also provide useful links to their favorite travel blogs and resources, allowing visitors to research current TSA packaging regulations and destination videos. Bloggers who visit The Window Seat are invited to add relevant content and will be able to upload photos and view destination videos in the future.

"The Web provides great traveler resources," says Ziff. "The Window Seat provides a great venue for sharing advice, asking questions and rehashing your favorite travel stories."

Related Link: Travelocity's "The Window Seat"

Forbes Traveler releases list of top 400 hotels, resorts

ForbesTraveler.com has issued its first-ever ForbesTraveler 400 list – a compendium of the world's best hotels and resorts. ForbesTraveler 400 properties were selected by a panel of more than 80 travel experts who are unaffiliated with hotels, including prominent tour operators, editors and writers, travel industry executives, CEOs and travel agents.

To create the ForbesTraveler 400, ForbesTraveler.com editors compiled a list of over 600 of the world's top-ranked hotels from a variety of respected sources (brand-new hotels and hotels closed for renovations were excluded); allowed for individual nominations beyond the original pool of properties; and asked the experts to rate each property on seven criteria: service, room & bathroom, décor, food & beverage, public areas & facilities, sports & recreation, and location.

The survey results determined the world's top 400 properties, and the reviews were written by professional travel writers who personally visited each property without receiving complimentary rates or stays from the hotels they covered. All of the 80 panel experts are listed at forbestraveler.com/jsp/panel.

Related Link: ForbesTraveler 400

Ask.com unveils new local search

Ask.com is unveiled on Monday a new local search service that lets people find maps, directions, businesses, events and movies--all through one interface.

The service, called AskCity, integrates data from other Web properties owned by InterActiveCorp, including Citysearch.com for business reviews, TicketMaster for event tickets, ReserveAmerica for campground reservations, Fandango for movie ticket purchases and OpenTable.com for restaurant reservations.

Users can narrow their restaurant searches by cuisine type, neighborhood, street name or zip code, as well as book a reservation through the site and send information to a phone. Users can also plot out routes to multiple destinations, make annotations directly on the map, save it and e-mail to others.

"This is the first time we've done a real integrated channel with Ask and other IAC properties," said Doug Leeds, vice president of products at Ask.com.

The service is launching as competition with other search engines on mapping features heats up . The search site will eventually integrate data from other IAC properties such as Evite, Match.com and RealEstate.com, and further down the road, Gifts.com , Leeds said.

Venice

IAC To Launch AskCity; Local Info Services Site

Reuters reports that IAC and Ask.com are launching a new local information services site named AskCity on December 4th. The site will combine IAC's portfolio of Ask.com, CitySearch, Evite and TicketMaster by providing information and services such as Web search, city guides, maps and event listings.

The future of local news?

Chris Tolles, the head of marketing, for Topix, the news aggregator, may be the only guy in the Valley who speaks faster than Marc Andreessen. By the time he was done with his two hour brain dump Tuesday in Wired's dining room I was whipped.

But it's good he came by. I haven't been paying enough attention to what he and his few dozen colleagues down in Palo Alto have been doing. I thought Topix was just another news aggregator like Google News or Yahoo News, and I figured that since it was backed by Tribune, Gannett and McClatchy, I wasn't going to be impressed. Wrong.

It's become common among readers to moan about how all news is becoming commoditized. There's some truth to this when it applies to news out of Washington or Iraq. Not true of local news, however. Every publication writing about a place like Huntington Beach thinks about the news there differently. You'd have to check the Independent, the Daily Pilot, the Orange County Register, the LA Times and the Long Beach Press Telegram to really find out what was going on.

This is what is cool about Topix.  A geolocating algorithm they've developed allows you to get all the news relevant to any zip code or city from all of its 50,000 news sources. Punch in the coordinates for Surf City and you get all the stories out of all the local papers, without repeats, in one place, along with news about Huntington Beach from other locales like Santa Cruz. You can comment on any of the stories, and people do in droves. Total comments for all stories now approach 100,000. 

You can also use Topix to search 5,500 public company and industry verticals, 48,000 celebrities and musicians, 1,500 sports teams and personalities. You used to have to pay big money to do a Lexis-Nexis search to get info like this or pay a clipping service like Burrelles. Now anyone can do it for free. Something tells me this is going to be a very big deal.

TrackStick GPS Data Logger

Portably Track (via GPS) Your Adventures Via Google Earth or Mapquest!

This small GPS gadget can easily be placed in a car, boat, land speeder, or just about any moving object and will record its own time, date, location, speed, direction and altitude. The recorded information can then be downloaded to your computer through the USB port and optionally integrated with Google Earth or Mapquest. This feature allows you to "playback" the location points of the TrackStick and see a visual mapped history of its travels.

Containing 1MB of memory it can store up to 4000 records allowing for months of travel. When the TrackStick is not moving, memory is not used. The record interval is adjustable to anything between 1 and 15 minutes (this is used to save memory and will not extend the battery life). It's so small you can hide it for covert applications. There are no special software applications to buy and the raw data can be exported in RTF, XLS, HTML, or Google Earth KML formats.

                                                         Also has these features

Records time, date, location, speed, direction and altitude Works with Google Earth, Mapquest, maps.google.com, Virtual Earth Location points are downloaded into its software and then mapped Battery duration is 5 to 7 days of typical operation (low power mode) Requires 2 AAA batteries (not included) Dimensions: 4″ x 1 1/4″ x 3/4″ Comes with TrackStick, lanyard, software CD View the quick start manual

Travelport relies on diversity to beat online booking rivals

Ex-Cendant unit's brands serve individuals, travel agents and corporations

What company does: Online travel booking with more than 20 brands grouped in three divisions: • Orbitz, umbrella name for the division that allows consumers to book airline tickets, hotels, rental cars and tour packages. • Galileo, a booking system for professionals, such as travel agents and corporate travel departments. • GTA, a wholesaler of hotel and tour packages primarily in Europe. Bottom line: For six months ended June 30, revenues of $1.3 billion, up 10.4 percent. Net loss of $1 billion, compared with net income of $80 million a year earlier. Loss included $1.2 billion writedown accounting for sale price to new owner Blackstone Group being lower than what Cendant paid. Locations: Headquarters in Parsippany, operations in 130 countries. Staff: About 8,300 people, including 475 in Parsippany. History: Galileo traces its roots to 1971, when United Airlines started the Apollo computer reservation service for in-house use. In 1987, United sold half of what had been renamed Covia to Galileo Co., formed by four European airlines. Cendant bought Galileo in 2001 for $2.9 billion. Orbitz was formed by five U.S. airlines in 1999 to counter rise of other online booking sites, particularly Travelocity. Went live in 2001. Initial public stock offering in late 2003, then purchased by Cendant in September 2004 for $1.25 billion as the company broadened its travel distribution division. CheapTickets started in Hawaii in 1986 as a regular travel office to sell discounted airline tickets. Went online in 1997. Purchased by Cendant in 2000 for $425 million. Gulliver Travel, founded in 1975, was acquired by Cendant in 2005 for $1.1 billion. In September 2005, Cendant announced it would spin off the renamed Travelport as part of its breakup. Instead, bids from investors persuaded Cendant to sell Travelport to the New York investment group Blackstone Group for $4.3 billion in August. Web site: www.travelport.com, also individual Web sites headed by www.orbitz.com and www.cheaptickets.com

BY TIM O'REILEY DAILY RECORD

NEW YORK -- Without a trace of irony, president and CEO Jeff Clarke wastes no time in describing Travelport as a travel-services conglomerate.

Just a year ago, the term "conglomerate" was an epithet within former parent company Cendant Corp.

Former Cendant chairman and CEO Henry R. Silverman cited the discount that stockholders and analysts assigned to the company's structure as an umbrella for several industries, and the Byzantine financial statements that came with it, as a chief culprit in the stock price moving little in seven years.

As the answer, Cendant was broken into four pieces on the theory that investors would rather own stock in individual industries that they liked than have to buy a package.

The rehabilitation of the conglomerate, in Clarke's view, gives Travelport the base that it needs to ride out the turbulence of computer travel booking as well as pay down the $3.6 billion in junk-bond debt that it shouldered when New York investment firm Blackstone Group bought it for $4.3 billion in August.

"We have an incredible amount of geographic diversity and an incredible amount of business diversity," he said while sitting in the lush former Cendant headquarters on West 57th Street that the company will soon vacate. "We have a company that is hard to match in the travel industry."

Travelport will maintain a small Manhattan presence elsewhere but is shifting the New York location, as well as another in Parsippany that it inherited from Cendant, into a more modest building in Parsippany.

The company's recent history has not been as upbeat as the new outlook.

In December, Samuel L. Katz stepped down as chairman and CEO of what was then Cendant's Travel Distribution Services division after stumbles, particularly overseas, forced the company to issue a reduced earnings estimate that sent the stock downward.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $469 million in 2004 plunged by more than three-fourths last year.

While Silverman defended the division as generally strong and growing, with problems confined to a few areas, he felt compelled to reassure investors that "TDS is not melting down."

In addition, Travelport and its rivals face several structural changes that are squeezing them financially, both for bookings made through travel industry professionals and by consumers directly.

Airlines, which account for more than half of all bookings and are projected to remain dominant for several years, have steadily reduced what they pay in fees and commissions to booking services while trying to lure passengers to use their Web sites.

Although they account for much lower sales, hotels and car-rental companies, including former Cendant divisions, have followed suit.

'Competitive environment'

"This is certainly a very competitive environment," said Susan Clarkson, a senior analyst at Jupiter Research. "You don't see that kind of direct sales by providers in other industries."

Furniture makers, for example, will maintain online catalogues but they always direct customers to the nearest store.

Jupiter predicts that total online travel bookings will rise from $72 billion last year to $128 billion in 2011, but the share of purchases flowing through a supplier's Web site will grow from 56 percent to 62 percent during the same span.

The convergence of the trends became apparent in August, when Blackstone paid $4.3 billion for Travelport.

This caused Travelport to take a $1.2 billion writedown in the second quarter.

The amount represented the difference between the price that Blackstone paid and the higher value that Cendant showed for Travelport on its books based on how much it cost Cendant to acquire the different pieces.

Clarke, who was hired in April after stints at CA, formerly Computer Associates, and Hewlett-Packard, said this is where the value of the conglomerate kicks in.

He has announced a plan to combine certain operations to reduce operating costs by $75 million a year as well as meld some of the technologies among the divisions.

CheapTickets, aimed at consumers, has been put on the same technological platform as Galileo, which sells to large corporate travel departments and travel agents.

"To try to find synergies between rental cars, hotels, real estate and travel distribution is a challenge, a very high bar to clear," Clarke said, referring to the former Cendant businesses. "We have found very clear areas (within Travelport) for working together."

And, he said, the geographic spread and differences between consumer and business orientations among Travelport's more than 20 brands help prevent weakness in a particular area from dragging down the whole company, a classic trait of conglomerates.

The ultimate goal, within the next few years, would be to generate enough growth on sales, which were $2.6 billion for the 12 months ended June 30, and strong enough profits so Blackstone could launch an initial public stock offering and cash out at a profit.

1 company, 3 divisions

The company has been reorganized along "decentralized" lines into three divisions: Galileo, Orbitz Worldwide and Gulliver Travel Associates.

Clarke described this as a way to overcome some of the previous internal hurdles, particularly along geographic lines.

The reorganization also makes it easier to sell or spin off divisions if that looks more attractive than a stock sale.

Here is a breakdown of the divisions:

• Gulliver, a wholesaler of travel products mainly in Europe.

• Galileo, which falls under the broad category of global distribution services. Galileo acts a one-stop middleman for travel agents and companies with large platoons of road warriors. It can book land, air and sea trips.

Travelport has signed contracts spanning five to seven years, with the top six U.S. airlines and has added others, such as JetBlue.

"While there were some price concessions, we are pleased with the outcome because the economics are known and stable," Clarke said.

In various forums, he has yet to spell out how the contracts will affect revenues and profits, but airlines have continually pressed for lower fees and tried to circumvent distribution networks whenever possible.

Combined with the maturity and widespread use of the systems -- Galileo traces its roots to the early 1970s -- growth has run in low and mid-single-digit percentages and profit margins have been squeezed.

This has been the experience throughout the industry, including at major rivals, such as Sabre, Clarkson said.

One alternative has been to evolve from middlemen to technology consultants.

European governments have discussed, but so far moved slowly, to deregulate the distribution systems as a way to open up competition.

Business-to-business booking accounted for $1.8 billion of Travelport's $2.6 billion in revenues for the 12 months through June. The company does not break out the results of Galileo and Gulliver separately.

The second-quarter earnings announcement did disclose that Galileo subscription and software revenues fell as bookings rose.

• Orbitz and several other labels grouped under it that are used by travelers.

Although much smaller than business-to-business at $774 million of Travelport's revenues, the division has been growing at a much faster clip than the business side, but the profit margins remain lower.

This division faces the same competition as suppliers trying to land more bookings for themselves.

Continental Airlines, for example, gives full elite status credit for certain deep discount fares only for tickets purchased on www.continental.com.

"This is something that has been happening across the board," said Aaron M. Kessler, who covers the industry as an analyst at the brokerage Piper Jaffray. "Airlines have been essentially cutting fees to the (online) agencies."

To try to overcome this, various booking sites have added extras, such as Expedia's recent creation of a loyalty points program tied to Citigroup credit cards and Orbitz's post-sale updates on such things as flight delays or changed timetables.

This practice showed up in the second quarter, when Travelport's consumer bookings rose more than 40 percent from a year earlier but revenue went up only 13 percent.

The higher volumes and sale of higher-margin products boosted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization by 38 percent. Other entrants have cropped up that surf through a range of Web sites to find the best prices.

 

However, "There have always been always been independents," Clarke said.

 

He sees the principal rivalry as among four major players.

 

BOB KARP / DAILY RECORD Travelport analysts Ramma Subramani, left, and Lava Mishra confer at the company's new office in Parsippany. The former Cendant Corp. division is consolidating its New York and New Jersey offices in Parsippany.

---

Tim O'Reiley can be reachedat (973) 428-6651 or toreiley@gannett.com.

American Express Launches Well-Designed Consumer-Engagement Sites

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) By Nat Ives  Published: November 21, 2006

American Express Publishing, known for its high-end expertise on travel and luxury matters that are beyond most people's direct experience, is about to start up new wiki-based sites that let the public contribute. But AmEx, whose priority on design can be seen in titles such as Travel & Leisure and Food & Wine, may have found a way to avoid some unfriendly and inelegant aspects of sites such as Wikipedia. It wants its wiki to be pretty.

The company will begin early next month with a site for Executive Travel SkyGuide using a platform developed by Seattle's Wetpaint that will allow visitors to post reviews and articles alongside staff writers' content.

Ease for the consumer
"With the old wiki sites, every one was different and the rules of editing were different," said Mark Stanich, chief marketing officer, American Express Publishing Group. "If you were really intense you could get on there and go crazy but it wasn't really user friendly. This is really like using a word-processing tool. The ease of it to the consumer is important."

The company will begin early next month with a site for Executive Travel SkyGuide using a platform developed by Seattle's Wetpaint that will allow visitors to post reviews and articles alongside staff writers' content.

"The most important thing is that users and readers can share a platform with the published authors," said Ben Elowitz, CEO, Wetpaint. "The traditional magazine has a very, very small section called 'Letters to the editor.' This is the first time that sites can allow users not only to comment on articles but actually write articles."

Mr. Stanich called it a step beyond straight blogging, message boards or web-based groups. "We're seeding it with a lot of good archival things or points of view to riff on," he said. "That's what makes it new to us."

Two schools of thought
The effort, which AmEx hopes could turn profitable by year two on ad revenue, also weaves together two threads of thinking about modern publishing. Publishers frequently argue that magazines' editing and expertise are more important while more and more information floods consumers from all sides. Time Inc. Chairman-CEO Ann S. Moore, for example, has said that her company's core competency is editing. But there's a strong countercurrent of pressure to provide ways for readers to engage the very websites operated by media companies.

Launch advertiser Tourism Australia hopes that latter tactic -- soliciting consumer voices -- will make its campaigns more effective.

"The key for us is that word of mouth has always been the No. 1 motivator for travel anyway," said Michael Londregan, VP, Tourism Australia, Americas. "People's opinions seem to matter so much more than my opinion. This is sort of a cool way of us helping some people to get some good advice that isn't just delivered in ad-speak."

HomeAway Raises $160 Million for Vacation Rental-Site Rollups

Austin-based HomeAway raised a whopping $160 million from VC firms like Redpoint Ventures, IVP, and Trident to go on an acquisition binge and roll up the fragmented vacation rental Website industry.  Usually rollups like this are done in more mature industries.  File this one under, "Bubble Watch."

Web creates new generation of travel writers

Internet technologies have created new forms of publishing that are making it possible for any wannabe travel writer to see their work in print.

Online travel blogs and podcasts, which travellers produce on the move and upload on to the internet in the cyber cafes they visit during their journeys, are attracting audiences of thousands, and thanks to their success, small, independent publishing houses are now turning these amateur works into books.

'Travellers have always kept diaries and scrapbooks of their trips to share with friends and family and to remind them of their adventures. But the web has allowed these to reach a much wider audience, through blogs, podcasts and photo websites,' says Paul Carr, co-founder of ground-breaking publishing house The Friday Project, which specialises in web-to-print publishing. He has seen an increase in people approaching him with their travel blogs and is cashing in on their popularity by turning them into commercial travel books. The company recently published Le Cool: A Weird and Wonderful Guide to Barcelona, which started life as an email newsletter, and is converting tuktotheroad.co.uk a blog by two women who travelled from Bangkok to Brighton, into a book.

Another major trend is travellers using Print On Demand (POD) publishing: this allows anyone to upload their book onto a website, which readers then pay to download and print out or receive in book form by post.

Alastair Humphreys, a 26-year-old Scot, published his book Moods of Future Joys, an account of his epic journey cycling round the world through POD, after failing to secure a standard publishing deal. Though he marketed and edited it himself, it's selling well through Amazon and his website.

Even authors without mass-market potential are turning to POD. 'Most travellers use POD to convert their travel account into something that looks like a book, to share with family and friends,' says Moira Allen, editor of advice website writing-world.com.

Gemma Bowes Sunday November 12, 2006 The Observer

Microsoft Virtual Earth - Now in 3D and With Billboards

Posted: 06 Nov 2006 04:09 PM CST Techcrunch.com

 

Microsoft is unveiling its integration of detailed 3D imagery into its Virtual Earth this afternoon (see Live.com). US users with Vista-ready Windows computers and IE 6 or 7 will be able to navigate through an aerial view of 15 select cities with enough detail to discern the texture of buildings and read clickable billboards from the likes of Fox, Nissan and John L. Scott Real Estate. Virtual Earth 3D is expected to expand to cover up to 100 cities around the world by the end of next summer.

Unlike Google Earth, Microsoft's Virtual Earth is experienced directly inside of IE as part of search results. Search team member Bobby Figueroa told me that the 3D functionality would be useful to many business customers as an integrated feature in offerings like Zillow's real estate search. The imagery was taken from planes and processed with proprietary algorithms.

He also told me that advertising was being integrated into Virtual Earth for the sake of realism. In real life, soda machines don't appear with black or white labels - they say Coke or Pepsi on them, he told me. To insufficiently brand Virtual Earth would apparently be irresponsible in some way, perhaps as an artistic or cultural loss. Figueroa said that billboards would have to prove compelling to users or they would not zoom in close enough to view them in detail and click through. Figueroa would not discuss the particular relationship with the first wave of advertisers but said that the company would evaluate all methods of ad sales and tracking in order to determine what worked best.

I certainly have no inherent objection to advertising, but I'm not excited about it being the first thing I see when I gain the ability to see a new environment in 3D. It seems like a cynical priority when a dazzling new technology is first rolled out. I don't know what I expected though, so I'll wish Vista-ready Windows owners who use IE the best of luck in enjoying the use of a newly 3D virtual world.

You've also got to wonder if anything will ever come of the really impressive Street-Side preview, which we wrote about in February. See also the 3D photo fly through app in the works in Live Labs, called Photosynth.

In addition to integration of Virtual Earth with search and some browsers, another thing you have to give Microsoft credit for is seriously improved picture quality. See the following two shots of San Francisco, Virtual Earth 3D on the left and Google Earth on the right. Lastly a very nice looking shot found on the Virtual Earth blog. Google's got some catching up to in regards to image detail. I'm going to try to grab an image of a billboard when I can.

What's Next? Web Lifestyle Television

Posted by Kathryn Tuggle, FAstCompany at November 1, 2006 10:44 AM

 

LX.TV, a new broadband television network, launched yesterday as the first broadband television network for young affluent online consumers. Although LX.TV first appeared in June of this year as CODE.TV, LX.TV now stands for "Lifestyle Television" and is taking the idea of the tech-savvy moneyed user to a new level.

Although the online network provides professionally produced content, the site is little more than a style and entertainment guide for wealthy city dwellers in their 20s and 30s. Available only in Los Angeles and New York, the site treats visitors to information on shopping, nightlife, arts, health, and philanthropy, all broadcast in high definition.

LX.TV further sets itself apart from traditional broadband entertainment by masquerading as an actual television. When visitors log onto the site, a video plays automatically, just like turning on the TV. To change "channels" viewers can shop a number of two-minute previews before they choose what to view. LX.TV will also welcome the first broadband talk show, featuring MTV News correspondent SuChin Pak and interviews with arts and entertainment celebrities.

As one of the Internet's first broadband channels, LX.TV has a lot to live up to. And with all independently-produced content, it may well exceed expectations. The only question is the viability of the audience. Although Internet TV viewing is up, with 1 in 10 people watching, the target audience for LX.TV is more likely to have bottle service at Marquee than tune in to LX.TV for fashion and society updates.

But high profits in this new media market may keep it a success no matter how many viewers come to the site. Broadband channels eliminate high-cost barriers such as cable carrier or satellite fees, and there are no production studios needed for assembling the content. As long as this medium stays low cost and high profit, an on-demand delivery system can't be beat. LX.TV has also recruited an industry giant as their first sponsor -- Absolut Vodka is rumored to have paid six figures for a six-month sponsorship. The station has also acquired an agreement with NBBC, the syndicated broadband network of NBC, to deliver their content on affiliate networks' Web sites.

Considering the cult following of Rocketboom the video blog and its recent competitor Wallstrip, a similarly irreverent styled online video show, the content and potential sponsorship for LX.TV bodes well for its success.

What do you think? Is LX.TV destined for widespread success? Or do its creators need to go back to the broadband drawing room?

TV Ads Equal Online Sales For Travelocity

If you want to sell more products online, buy some TV time, concludes Jeffrey Glueck, chief marketing officer for Internet travel agency Travelocity. The site is upping its TV ad budget to encourage travelers to search out its name rather than generic terms, such as "discount travel" or "Hawaii vacation."

Glueck says "the dirty little secret to search [engine advertising] is you make money buying your own brand name, but on generic terms, the clicks are more expensive and the return is low." So to get those customers to search his company out by brand name, he does more TV advertising, although Glueck declines to say by how much.

Last year, the company spent one-third of its $85.2 million budget on TV, according to TNS Media Intelligence, but through the first six months of 2006, that is up to half. At the same time, while Travelocity is still on target to spend the same online in 2006 as it did in 2005, it cut newspaper spending 33% and radio buys 67% in the first six months of this year. -

TravelCLICK, VFM Interactive sign exclusive agreement

October 25, 2006

TravelCLICK Inc. has signed an exclusive agreement with VFM Interactive to market Viz-it, a rich digital media content management solution designed to distribute rich media across electronic channels and enhance the online consumer experience.

A report by Harris Interactive indicates that more than two-thirds of online travelers rate visuals as one of the most important buying factors for consumers choosing a hotel online. And, according to another study for the travel industry, rich media click rates are typically five times higher than those for non-rich media(1).

Viz-it works synergistically with TravelCLICK's iStay booking engine, which is designed to optimize hotel merchandising through an enhanced Flash- based user interface. Part of the iHotelier central reservation system, iStay provides a highly graphical, integrated shopping and booking experience using a variety of rich media, including compelling photographs, floor plans and 360-degree room views as well as VFM's Premium Video and Photovideo Tours (videos created from existing image assets).

"Visual content that communicates the guest experience is a powerful conversion tool. It's a must-have for hotels that want to differentiate themselves, particularly independent properties that are trying to build their brand positions," said TravelCLICK Senior Vice President Scott Farrell. "With VFM's advanced digital content management and distribution platform, TravelCLICK provides hotels with the power and flexibility to create a consistent visual brand identity across all targeted distribution channels."

TravelCLICK hotel clients now will be able to leverage digital media well beyond their own websites. Viz-it's web-based management and distribution tool provides a single-source solution for media management and distribution, allowing properties to control media distribution through the GDS, Pegasus Online Distribution Database, search engines and more than 20,000 travel sites including Travelocity, Orbitz, Trip Advisor and Apple Vacations. And, making use of a unique feature of VFM's platform, TravelCLICK customers can selectively control exactly where specific media appears across the Internet.

"The exclusive partnership between VFM and TravelCLICK will provide hoteliers with a unique merchandising advantage," said Paolo Boni, President and Chief Executive Officer of VFM Interactive. "By combining our rich digital media solutions with TravelCLICK's powerful iStay booking engine, we are able to deliver an unsurpassed online customer experience. We are working closely with TravelCLICK to explore all the ways rich media can be used to create mind share among online consumers, market incremental services and increase revenue for its hotel customers."

Related Link: TravelClick

Mapvertising: Getting from Point A to Point Brand

October 25, 2006

Online mapping continues to evolve rapidly offering richer and more detailed graphics such as satellite photos, deeper interactivity and programming flexibility. Major players are still adding and testing features (Microsoft's Windows Life Local is still in beta form).

Sometimes referred to as Neogeography, individuals are creating exciting map mash-ups where they mix maps with other content and information. One recent example from Japan brought together an annual event with the Internet. Individual users overlaid blog information about the best places to see Cherry Blossoms onto online maps.

Effective mapvertising comes down to interactivity - display ads will be necessary and useful, but as the the lines blur between maps, blogs, wikis, and social networks the key to reaching users is cater to and engage with the communities. Mapvertising is an area for marketers to continue to explore and cultivate.

Get the full report from Universal McCann (PDF 940KB)

Reuters' 'Second Life' reporter talks shop

Adam Pasick, in-world correspondent, opens up about how to cover the virtual world and why the news agency is there.

 

By Daniel Terdiman  Staff Writer, CNET News.com Published: October 26, 2006, 4:00 AM PDT

newsmakers On Oct. 16, Reuters opened its first all-digital bureau, a building in the virtual world "Second Life" modeled on its New York and London offices.

Almost immediately, news agencies around the world picked up on the story, intrigued by the fact that one of the oldest existing news outlets would choose to station Adam Pasick, a full-time reporter, in an entirely virtual environment.

For its part, Reuters is using the bureau to disseminate its real-world news feeds to "Second Life" residents, hoping in the process to find a new audience.

Reuters is not the only news outlet to hang a shingle in "Second Life." In fact, CNET had previously opened a "Second Life" bureau and has been using the virtual space as a venue for interviewing luminaries from the technology community.

Still, the fact that Reuters--which is better known for financial and business reporting than for culture coverage--decided to set up shop in " Second Life" is noteworthy.

My parents love it now. They have avatars and hang out in the Reuters building.

Known in-world as Adam Reuters, Pasick is new to covering virtual worlds. ( "Second Life" enables corporate clients to purchase their company's name as a last name for employees' avatars.) But as a seasoned Internet reporter, he is approaching the assignment as he would any new gig.

On Monday, Pasick visited CNET's "Second Life" bureau and sat down for an interview in front of an audience of about 40, during which he talked about many of the issues facing a reporter in such a different kind of environment.

Q: This has been a pretty exciting week or so for you, I'm guessing. What has it been like?
Pasick: You could say that the reaction to our launch went way beyond anything we had expected. Now that the attention from the mainstream press is dying down a little, I'm looking forward to getting into the reporting. We thought we might make a little splash. Instead, I've been getting interview requests from Poland, Colombia, Brazil, New Zealand.

How did the Reuters bureau come about?
Pasick: The idea originally came from a conversation between our CEO, Tom Glocer, and Linden Lab CEO Philip Rosedale at the Sun Valley Conference earlier this year. They came to me (recently) and asked if I wanted to run the bureau.

Why you?
Pasick: I've been writing about technology and media for a while, and somehow, I've gotten the reputation within Reuters of being a bit of a geek.

Adam Pasick's
avatar

What was your initial reaction to being asked if you wanted to do this? Did you know much about "Second Life" at that point?
Pasick: I had heard of "Second Life" but never had been in-world. To be completely honest, when I first heard the idea, I was a bit dubious. But even as I talked it over that first time, I saw that it could be a great idea if done well. I think that's typical of "Second Life": The more time you spend, the more it makes sense.

From that perspective, what did you think "done well" would mean?
Pasick: Offering something useful to the community and being a learning experience for Reuters. If it was just a quick PR hit, I wouldn't have been interested. This is my full-time job. I badly want it to succeed.

So what do you see as the "mission" of Reuters in "Second Life"?
Pasick: If we can provide good financial news and data to the "Second Life" business community, and find a new audience for Reuters among "Second Life" residents, I'll be happy.

So it's as much about bringing Reuters news into "Second Life" as about sending "Second Life" news out?
Pasick: It's twofold. We bring in real-life Reuters news for those who want it, and I write stories specifically for "Second Life" residents.

How do you plan to differentiate your "Second Life" coverage from that of the many "Second Life" bloggers?
Pasick: Well, there will be a certain amount of competition. That's inevitable. But there are so many good stories, especially in the economy and business sectors that I'm focusing on. We're just getting started. We're hoping to do a lot of quantitative stories about the economy, for example. That's one area where Reuters has a lot of expertise.

What was your budget for the bureau?
Pasick: I don't know the exact figure. Luckily, I didn't have to sit through those meetings. But it was a relative drop in the bucket for a company our size.

 

How does Reuters plan to make this effort cost-effective?
Pasick: Right now, there is no direct return-on-investment calculation. We're not selling subscriptions or advertising, for example. But this has the potential to be a very valuable source of experience and exposure to a new tech-savvy community. And it's a tiny project for Reuters. I think my bosses are happy to see where it leads without having a direct source of revenue for now.

How will you and your bosses measure success in this endeavor?
Pasick: I can't give away our internal metrics for success. But broadly speaking, we're measuring visitors to Secondlife.reuters.com and use of (an in-world device that delivers Reuters news to residents). Traffic is the easiest to measure, but it's not the only yardstick we're watching. The caliber of my stories is another. So the pressure's on.

Are you expected to produce scoop after scoop?
Pasick: I'm sure they'd be ecstatic if I did. But no, I think they'll give me some time to learn the ropes.

What are some similarities you've seen between covering this stuff and a "normal" beat?
Pasick: The more time I spend in "Second Life," the more it feels like any other beat. Once you get over--or maybe embrace--the weirdness, it's much the same job: You find interesting people, read as much as you can and chase up the interesting story ideas you find.

What about some of the differences?
Pasick: We've had to do a bit of work adapting the Reuters editorial guidelines to deal with the fact that avatars are anonymous vis-a-vis their real-life identities. I know it breaks the metaphor a bit, but I ask people to provide their real-life identities. Not everyone wants to, and that's their right. I also take into account the reputation that is built up over time in "Second Life." I'm much more likely to trust a quote from someone who's been there awhile.

"Second Life" has gotten a lot of positive press. But there are also many issues that call for critical coverage. It is a business with all kinds of problems. What do you see as some of those?
Pasick: I think I'll gracefully pass on that one. If I have a story, you'll have to wait until I publish.

Well, how about broad topics?
Pasick: OK. Property rights. Contract law. And scalability issues.

How do you explain your new beat to friends, family and colleagues who don't understand what "Second Life" or virtual worlds are?
Pasick: I've had a lot of practice. But I've found the best way is to get them in front of a computer and show them. My parents love it now. They have avatars and hang out in the Reuters building.

Gabriel Riiser (from the audience) asks: There was a Slashdot article recently about several builders of virtual worlds, like Matt Mihaly (CEO of Achaea, published by Iron Realms Entertainment), who are criticizing "Second Life" and Linden Lab for being too much about PR and not enough about the quality of the world itself. What's your take, Adam?
Pasick: I think I'm going to use that old reporter's dodge--which happens to be true--and say that I think I'll report the facts and leave the opinions to smarter people.

But surely, you must have noticed that Linden Lab is rather adept at PR?
Pasick: Well, you don't get to a million registered avatar names by being dumb.

Liv Kamloops (from the audience) asks: Do you see "Second Life" becoming an interactive version of the Internet?
Pasick: This question probably has the potential to make me sound like an idiot. However, I think it makes a lot of sense for there to be a 3D successor to the Internet, and "Second Life" looks like the best candidate at the moment.

Why do you think it's the best candidate?
Pasick: It's a relatively open platform, with content created by users and which is non-game-based. It makes sense that some virtual 3D world or worlds is going to be what's next. Maybe it's "Second Life." Who knows? We wouldn't be here if we didn't think it was a possibility.  

Travel Mags: Show Me the Sunny

LIKE FOOD MAGAZINES, TRAVEL TITLES are also showing staying power in the face of Internet competition. It's hard to know for sure, but like food magazines, their vitality may have something to do with their target markets. High-end readers who actually use the magazines to plan vacations are obviously a desirable demo. Meanwhile, readers who use the mags aspirationally, for vicarious getaways, may simply get more pleasure from luxuriant photo essays about the jet-setting good life than online directories of travel agencies or Web booking services--which still tend to have a utilitarian, stripped-down feel.

Indeed, it's worth noting the travel mags that are still succeeding are all unabashed purveyors of "travel porn"--heavy on photos, with a typical spread juxtaposing private cabana-mansions and their crystal-clear swimming pools against the backdrop of the turquoise sea beyond. With this kind of content, Conde Nast Traveller has seen newsstand sales rise 8.7% while subscriptions remained basically flat with a 0.2% increase, according to the most recent FAS-FAX report from the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) covering January-June 2006. Meanwhile, compared to January-September of last year, in the first nine months of 2006 ad pages rose 6% and revenue jumped 11.1% to $102.5 million, according to the Publishers Information Bureau (PIB).

Travel + Leisure, a property of the American Express Publishing Group, is also having a good year, at least from an advertising perspective. While subs and newsstand sales were basically flat in the first half of 2006, PIB data for the year to date has ad pages rising 14% to 1,317 and revenue up 19% to $121.9 million. Like Conde Nast Traveller, Travel + Leisure doesn't stint on opulent photo spreads with high production values.

By comparison, more sensible titles aren't doing nearly as well. Despite its idyllic name, Endless Vacation is a budget travel title focusing on trips in the continental United States, paying more attention to nitty-gritty details of logistics and cost than Conde Nast Traveller and Travel + Leisure. Endless Vacation is holding its own in circulation, but its PIB figures are plummeting, with ad pages down 33.8% and revenue falling 16.6%. The equally sensible National Geographic Traveler saw subs fall 2.9%, ad pages 11.1%, and revenue 6.2%. And while Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel expanded its subscription base by 11.5% to 578,396, advertisers appear to be ambivalent, with ad pages falling 14.8% and revenue 2.1%.

There's an interesting endnote: although ABC figures aren't available, in-flight magazines are enjoying an ad boom. Although consumer titles might raise their nose at these custom publications, the basic value proposition is undeniable: of all "captive audiences," airline passengers have to be the most constrained, claustrophobic, and content-starved. In-flight personal TV on the JetBlue model may change this, but for the time being, in-flight mags are sitting pretty in the seat pocket in front of you.

According to the PIB, in January-September 2006 Hemispheres, the in-flight magazine of United Airlines, saw ad pages and revenue both jump 37% to 851 and $42.7 million, respectively. Southwest Airlines Spirit is up 15.7% in ad pages to 1,211, and 28.3% in revenue to $37.5 million. Finally, US Airways Magazine took off in the first nine months of 2006, with ad pages up 115% to 1,193, and revenue up 46% to $33.7 million.

Destination Marketing in the age of Web 2.0

October 23, 2006 by Joseph E. Buhler

The travel industry is again undergoing radical changes in less than ten years since the first wave hit, with the introduction of the web in travel. Online travel, however it was and still is defined, in record time became the largest industry on the web.

Changes on a scale imagined only by few, have happened since and there is not one segment of the travel industry that has not been affected by that first shift to online commerce. By the end of last century it was mostly in the United States where the initial start-up companies were concentrating their efforts and where at first the phenomenal growth took place.

Today, the impact has been felt around the globe and the fastest growing regions are now Asia/Pacific and Europe, and the original online travel agencies (OTA) are players on the global stage. In the past few years they have, at least in Europe, been joined by the erstwhile written off traditional major tour operators who are now engaged in intense competition with these intruders on what many considered their turf.

Recently the new expression of the 'customer-to-customer' (C2C) marketplace was coined. This is a very apt description of what is happening today. Enabled by blogs, podcasts and social networking sites as well as other web 2.0 technology introductions the consumer today can be as informed about anything as never before in history and even more importantly, has the easy means to communicate his or her knowledge and expertise on any subject to anyone else in the world. In terms of the travel industry, everyone can become a travel agent or tour operator, or even destination marketer at least in his own mind. The ingredients and the tools are certainly at their disposal.

Companies and organizations will in future increasingly have to try and interject themselves into all the conversations going on among customers in the marketplace about their product, service or destination for that matter, rather than dominating what in the past very often was a one way communication. This new C2C reality will have a significant impact on the role of marketing in any industry. As Seth Godin, the author of some of the most innovative bestsellers on marketing, including 'Purple Cow' has said: 'Conversations among the people in your marketplace happen whether you like it or not. Good marketing encourages the right sort of conversations.

The first signs of this new world of Web 2.0, which lets the audience participate in the production and distribution of content and tag it with keywords, are a number of new types of sites sprouting up such as Del.icio.us, Rojo, and Digg. In the travel space there are of course, TripAdvisor and IgoUgo, which have been around for a number of years with active communities of feedback providers. They, as well as the by now considered traditional online travel agencies, face a new type of competition from the likes of Tagzania, Gusto, Wikia, Boardingate and many more. The most important feature these sites have in common, is the ability for users to collect information and articles from sites they find of interest, add their own comments and tag them with keywords. This makes it easy for sharing with and viewing by friends or the public at large. Google Map mashups, such as MapMyHotel, are another new type of sites allowing travelers to get a detailed look of a property or attraction location and combined with personal annotations and reviews by others get a feel for the place more real and up-to-date than previously possible. In the small group and affinity travel market there is TripHub, which includes a blog for group planners. Of course there is also the 'big daddy' of sites Yahoo! They have not only acquired the meta-search company FareChase but also with their Trip Planner made some significant improvements and added Web 2.0 features to its Yahoo!Travel section. Traditional companies, such as Starwood Hotels also have embraced this new trend. Sheraton now makes customer feedback and reviews the main focus of their web presence right from the home page.

Blogs and podcasts are other developments with significant potential impact on both travel planning and the actual travel experience. Anyone with web access and some basic knowledge of computer software applications can in fact start a blog or publish a podcast, making their experience immediately available to the world at large. Combined with a RSS feed, this new user generated content is easily available for anyone with updates delivered as a free subscription.

The specific impact of Travel 2.0 on the various sectors in the travel industry is yet to be determined. What seems clear already, however, is that the role of any intermediary is being challenged even more by this user-generated content and the free flowing consumer conversations going on 24/7 on all the sites and the transparency this creates. As this web based innovations further develop and become even more user friendly than they already are today, combined with improved and integrated booking functionality the changes will be more dramatic than what we have experienced so far.

For DMO the dynamics of existing business relationships will no doubt undergo rapid and significant change. It will no longer be sufficient to maintain and develop an information rich destination website but build a platform that taps into and feeds off the sites mentioned earlier and to facilitate the dialog among past and potential future visitors. The opportunities have never been bigger to truly achieve WOM (both the mouth and mouse kind) and stimulate the buzz. What no DMO should attempt is to try and control the dialog or manage it. The mirror has never been shinier but it also has never been pointed as directly at the destination and its suppliers as it is today. Accept it, embrace change, innovate and start joining the conversation, today. The alternative is to be left behind and risk being ignored.

Joseph E. Buhler can be reached at buhlerworks

AOL Teams With Sheraton

AOL IS GETTING INTO THE hotel business--sort of. The Internet portal has created a co-branded site with Four Points by Sheraton, a budget hotel chain, that will give guests free access to AOL videos, news, music and other content. The new site is being tested at the Sheraton Manhattan Chelsea Hotel in New York before potential rollout. The co-branded site will appear as the Internet welcome page on computers in individual hotel rooms and on courtesy terminals in the lobby. In the Four Points' signature "Family Room," guests will also be able to watch AOL Video on a large TV screen connected to a PC. The partnership with Sheraton is the first time AOL has teamed up with a hotel chain to offer on-site online services.

Microsoft Teams With MTV To Push Local Search

MICROSOFT HAS TURNED TO MTV to tout its Windows Live Local Search, a new mapping and directory offering from MSN that's currently in beta testing. MTV Network's college-focused MTVu will work with Microsoft to produce the upcoming installment of "Quad Squad," a reality program in which business school students compete to create ad campaigns. The contestants of "Quad Squad"--who hail from rival schools Indiana University and the University of Illinois--will create, implement and measure marketing campaigns for Live Local Search. Live Local, which launched into beta testing in December of 2005, is MSN's local search and directory offering; it is monetized by MSN's adCenter, the company's paid search platform.

RealTravel Trip Planner: Cut, Paste & Share Travel Tips

Posted: 13 Oct 2006 03:19 AM CDT TECHCRUCH

RealTravel has come a long way since we first mentioned them in our Web 2.0 conference roundup last October. They now have very deep travel content - mostly written by users, and some from a recent partnership with Frommer's. The site has an active community of tens of thousands of frequent travelers who talk about their experiences and freely give their recommendations via blogs, forums, photos, etc.

Tomorrow RealTravel will annouce its new My Trip Plan tool, which can be found in the main navigation area. Travel content on the site includes an "add to My Trip Plan" button. Clicking this basically cuts and pastes the information into the My Trip Plan area along with a link to the original content, and this information can then be shared with others for discussion.

TripHub and Yahoo, among others, also offer good trip planning tools. RealTravel's new My Trip Planner actually falls short of those existing tools in terms of pure organizational features. However, the depth of content available from other travelers gives RealTravel a different kind of advantage. And while RealTravel can create better planning tools over time, it will be hard for competitors to compete with RealTravel's active traveling and content-creating community.

All the content on RealTravel (except the Frommer's Guide content) is drawn directly from user posts and photos that are categorized by location and type. Editors, with the help of some automated classification, and choose the cream of the crop to be featured on the site. Readers can also affect the ranking of posts by voting on them or implicity when they add the content to their trip plan. All this content populates the site's info on trip ideas, photos, blogs, dining reviews, sight reviews, useful links, and hotel reviews.

The blogging platform performs like any other blog (RSS included) except you catagorize by location and type (if it's a review or not) before you write up the entry. You can't drop drop images directly in a post, but instead associate some photos with it via an image gallery. You can print these photos out later using Qoop. Readers can comment on posts or leave questions in RealTravel's location specific forums.

RealTravel has accomplished all of this in just one year, and with only $1 million in angel funding. They are a poster-child for the way to run a lean web service, and I suspect a bigger round of financing, or acquisition, will come in the near future.

RealTravel : Technorati

tune into stations around the globe

This radio is a great one for travellers, language enthusiasts and those far away from home with a passion for radio from around the world. You'll be able to tune into thousands of stations and as the radio is digital, it'll all be crackle free. Not only that but this WiFi radio can access all your music on your PC without having to turn the computer on. Stations are listed alphabetically and you can use the preset to select up to 10 favourites. RRP £119.99

Mio H610 Personal Assistant SatNav

The Mio H610 isn't just any old personal assistant, it's a SatNav too with on foot and in car navigation with 24 European maps displayed on a 2.7 inch touch screen, a photo viewer an MP3 player with 17 hours of playback, video player, currency converters and games. Internal memory is 1GB but a SD/MMC card can add 4GB more At around the size of a pack of cards, it's definitely pocket friendly that way plus the two supplied covers are interchangeable, the one shown is a white flower design. It'll hit the shops in early November with a RRP of £269.99

Mio store locator

Acer e-Series GPS

It's not pink, but it is apparently the perfect size for our handbags (they clearly haven't seen the size of mine - I could fit a whole car in), so it can still be classed as GPS for Girls. Praise be! However, facetiousness aside, it is pretty tiny at 103 x 58.4 x 17.5 mm and weighing just 130 grams. It's also finger-friendly as opposed to stylus-stabbing, as well as loads of Points of Interests and decent maps. There's also an integrated MP3 player, and a photo viewer.

There are three models available. The e305 has UK maps and POI, the e310 has European maps, pedestrian mode and an AC-Adaptor and the e360 comes with live traffic information. Pricings yet to be released.

More car stuff: Navman F20| Hot Pink CarTrek| Barbie's

Smalltown and GrayBoxx

Smalltown and GrayBoxx: Two approaches to local search and two approaches to tapping the Yellow Pages gold mine

By Tom Foremski for Silicon Valley Watcher

Local search and local online commerce are the next battlegrounds for the giants such as Google and Yahoo, but also for many startup companies. The lure is the billions of dollars spent on Yellow Pages advertising by local businesses.

We have Yahoo Local and Google Local, plus Max Levchin's Yelp, CitySearch, Ingenio, plus local newspapers and other companies--all trying to grab a piece of the local search and local commerce ad spend.

But tapping into the local businesses market through online services is hard. The same factors that make scaling a global online service easy on the Internet become reversed when applied to local businesses.

For example, a local pizza parlor gets nearly all its business from within two miles of where it operates. Reaching China or even a neighborhood five miles away is something the Internet does well for many companies. But it doesn't make much sense for a local pizza parlour, and the same is true for most local businesses--they all nned to reach customers in their neighborhoods.

I recently spoke with two startups, Smalltown and Grayboxx, with two different approaches.

Smalltown targets neighborhoods and small communities

I was very impressed with Smalltown's approach to local search because of the elegant design and simplicity of the site. Simplicity is not easy to do but it is extremely vital in the online space.

Last week I spoke with Smalltown CEO Hal Rucker. "To succeed in local markets we belive that you have to be local," said Mr Rucker. "So we've created 'webcards' which are a type of virtual index cards with their own web address that can be created by anyone local, by a business or an individual."

An example of a webcard:

Webcards can be attached to each other, and also sent to people. They provide an easy to use template that allows busy, small business owners to create a web page about their business without having to have a website.

And the process is simple enough that any customer of a local business can create a webcard that acts as a recommendation, or a warning, by filling in text and adding photos.

"With webcards we are helping to build what we call the 'local web.' And it creates 'social advertising,'" said Mr Rucker.

The roll out of Smalltown will be town by town. The first two are San Mateo and Burlingame, in the heart of Silicon Valley.

If they can get the formula right, then they can reproduce it in other small towns and city neighborhoods.

Each Smalltown would have a local person/agent to help evangelize the service and also aid local businesses and people to produce webcards. Smalltown is =offering cash bounties to people of $5 per five webcards, a smart way to create a large inventory of webcards, which creates a potentially useful library of local content.

SVW's take: Smalltown has a great user interface and I love the concept of webcards, each with their own web address, each discoverable through the search engines, as well as the local Smalltown portal.

What I'd like to see with such approaches is a compelling front end, by which I mean a reason to go to the site even if I'm not actively searching for something local. What would draw me to it if I did not have a need to find something? I've got a couple of ideas...

Coming up next in SVW: Interview with Bob Chandra, founder and CEO of Grayboxx (still in stealth mode). This local search startup taps unseen databases to create ranked lists of top local businesses favored by their communities. . .

Iran 'to open atomic site tours'

Iran 'to open atomic site tours'

Bushehr is scheduled to be fully operational in November 2007 Iran's president has ordered that the country's nuclear sites be opened to foreign tourists to prove its programme is peaceful, state media report. No details were given on the nature of the trips, or when they might begin. Possible attractions would include the plants at Isfahan and Natanz, or a reactor being built in Bushehr. The reported proposal comes after the UN Security Council has told Tehran to halt uranium enrichment, amid fears it is trying to build nuclear arms. Iran maintains it has a right to a nuclear programme, which it says is purely for civilian purposes. 'Peaceful' So far United Nations atomic watchdog inspectors and reporters are the only foreigners believed to have been allowed to visit the controversial sites. The head of Iran's tourism organisation said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had asked his group to study ways for tourists to see the sites, state news agency Irna reported. "This authorisation has been issued since the Iranian nuclear activities are peaceful," Esfandyar Rahim Mashaii told the agency.

Travel planning becomes a do-ityourself occupation

The Internet has changed forever how people purchase travel, and those who pitch hotels or destinations need to get on board or get left in the low-tech dust.

"Today's customers are time-starved, tech-savvy and information-rich," Travelocity.com founder Terry Jones told local tourism leaders at the Scottsdale Convention & Visitors Bureau's annual meeting Friday at Camelback Inn in Paradise Valley.

Americans and their computers or PDAs have turned travel planning into a do-ityourself occupation, he said.

By 2009, they will be spending $100 billion a year on online travel purchases, Jones said. Already, 68 percent of the U.S. population is online, and 79 percent of U.S. travelers are.

Even more important, Jones said, 98 percent of college kids have made an online purchase. "And today's college students are next year's consumers," he said.

"You need to fish where the fish are," Jones said.

Get the full story at the East Valley Tribune

Online customers take flight from poor travel sites

Online travel companies are missing out on bookings or driving customers to rival sites because of poor web site design or user experiences, according to new research.

The study of more than 25 travel web sites suggests that cumbersome search engines, hard to find booking forms and hidden charges are the biggest mistakes.

Webcredible, who carred out the research, says a lack of print-friendly page designs and not promoting competitive prices on home pages also caused people to click away.

'The travel sector experiences one of the highest levels of comparison shopping online. A massive one in four visits to travel web sites come from another site in the same category,' said Webcredible director Trenton Moss.

'Users are unlikely to hang around for long if they can't find what they are looking for, but by making a number of easy-to-implement changes online travel companies can significantly improve the satisfaction of their web site visitors. This would ultimately lead to increased bookings and revenue.'

Get Webcredible's "Online Travel Sector Usability Report"

Hoteliers eye podcasting

A number of hotels and hotel companies are testing the waters in what some believe might be the next big tool in the electronic marketing toolbox: podcasting.

With initial investments being small, these hoteliers feel that it's worth a shot to experiment with the medium in case it does take off.

"We see podcasting as alternative radio," said Ryan Bifulco, president of Travel Spike, an electronic marketing consulting company. "You do not need an iPod or other MP3 player to download a podcast. In fact, you can listen to a podcast at your desk, on your computer or you can listen to it on satellite radio.

"Think of it as a radio show or audio blog that you can also listen to on your computer or iPod," he said.

Bifulco sees huge potential for podcasting. At the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International Internet Travel Marketing Conference in New York, he drew attention by saying, "Podcasting will be bigger than blogging."

Get the full story at Hotel & Motel Management

SideStep syndicates its travel search service

SideStep is syndicating its online travel search service so that Web sites can allow their visitors to search for airline tickets, hotels and car rentals directly from within their sites, the company said in a statement.

Using SideStep's syndication technology, site publishers will be able to offer visitors access to more than 600 airlines, 125,000 hotels and 30,000 car rental sites around the world. SideStep's first syndication partner is ForbesTraveler.com, the company said.

Source: CNET News.com

InterContinental Hotels Books TurnHere for Branded Web Films

› › › ClickZ News  By Kate Kaye | September 14, 2006

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623430
 

In the hopes of getting people into its swanky rooms, InterContinental Hotels and Resorts is aiming the camera at what's outside of them. Local online travel video producer and distributor TurnHere has begun producing short Web films about each of the lodging company's 140 worldwide hotel locations. The effort, which is TurnHere's first wide-scale sponsored film series for an international advertiser, is part of InterContinental's broad branding initiative to promote its personalized concierge services and neighborhood smarts.

"What sells the hotel isn't just the hotel but the neighborhood and what you're going to do there," suggested TurnHere CEO Brad Inman.

The hotel's sponsored mini-movies will spotlight sights and places of interest surrounding each hotel. Keeping with TurnHere's mission to harness the charismatic appeal of neighborhood characters, the InterContinental flicks will be narrated by each hotel's concierge. In the first of the series, Robert Watson, chef concierge at The Willard InterContinental Hotel, offers viewers an insider's guide to his favorite Washington D.C. spots, beyond The White House and other requisite destinations.

"The main objective of this is that we want to provide our guests with authentic and local knowledge of each destination," said Jennifer Ploszaj, global director of brand communications for InterContinental Hotels and Resorts. "[TurnHere's] business model allows us to scale this across the world," she stressed. "We'd never be able to do this on our own."

Over 80 cities in the U.S. and elsewhere are represented by quirky locals and their favorite haunts on the TurnHere site, which features hundreds of professionally-produced films about neighborhoods, shops, restaurants, bars, clubs and other points of interest. Thus far, most of the short Web movies are not sponsored. However, paid advertorial films promoting local advertisers like Atlanta's bottle opener maker, Brown Manufacturing, and Poughkeepsie's wiener joint Soul Dog, are cropping up on the site.

The film production firm is setting it sights on national advertisers with local footprints for future film series, and has been in talks about creating videos for liquor and bank brands, according to Inman.

Because a variety of directors will be shooting the InterContinental films, they "won't be formulaic," Inman noted. Movies focused on Paris, New York, Prague, Mexico City, Toronto and other hotspots are in production for the hotel chain.

The advertiser aims to have about 40 of the intended 140 movies completed by the end of October, according to Ploszaj. In addition to the TurnHere site, the films will be featured on InterContinental's pre-trip planning concierge Web site, and later will be integrated into the company's main site. In addition, Inman noted, InterContinental might place films on its in-room television video network or post them to the homepage of each hotel's wireless network.

The firm also will feature its films in e-mails. "We're developing a viral marketing strategy," Ploszaj told ClickZ News. "Our goal is to share this information with a wider audience of consumers."

The advertorial films, which will be co-branded by InterContinental and TurnHere, will be distributed through Google Local and Google Earth, according to TurnHere's Inman. The production firm in July introduced its integration with Google Earth, which allows users to download an application that marks map locations with icons linking to TurnHere movies about those cities. TurnHere also distributes its shorts through MSN Video, Google Video, iTunes and Yahoo.
All of the production firm's movies can be e-mailed, downloaded or linked to. The company also lets affiliates place a text ad-supported TurnHere player on their sites that automatically streams different mini-flicks each day. Affiliates can license a premium player and split ad revenue with the film company.

InterContinental's recent marketing efforts include sponsorship of an Aston Martin racecar driver, according to Ploszaj, who added that TurnHere will shoot a "day in the life" of the speed demon at the upcoming Petit Le Mans race in Atlanta. Along with the video series, Ploszaj said InterContinental is running banner ads on AOL and Yahoo, targeting finance, travel and lifestyle content. In addition, the advertiser is running new campaign spots on CNN International, and plans to re-launch its site next year.

In related news, TurnHere on Monday announced it will be providing video production services to online video job recruitment firm RecruiTV.