traveling

If you love sharing your travel stories and photos, road-tripping app HipGeo recently got a redesign that lets users document and share their experiences with remarkable ease.

The free iPhone and iPad app from Los Angeles-based HipGeo passively records your location as you travel. It can then mash your pics and comments into an animated map and travel diary for sharing.

The app tags photos, adds captions, and pinpoints its location on a map. You can share by logging on to the HipGeo site and clicking on "create and share trip." Dead simple. … Read more

We've all been there, right? Your flight's delayed, your entertainment gadget of choice is running low on juice, and all the outlets are taken. So what's a weary, tech-deprived traveler to do? Go drum up some power with your rolling suitcase, of course!

Designer Jung Inyoung has come up with a pretty cool concept of a rolling suitcase that provides power to your devices using kinetic energy. … Read more

So you decided not to spring for the in-dash DVD player and flip-down screens. No problem: your passengers can still watch movies on the road, using your iDevice as the source.

Launching at CES, as reported by Ubergizmo, the Philips PV7002i and PV9002i come with a pair of LCD screens designed to be mounted behind car-seat headrests. Meanwhile, your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad sits up front in a specially designed cupholder dock, which also charges the device.

The PV7002i will come with two 7-inch screens, two sets of mounting straps, the aforementioned dock, and the single cable that connects them all. The screens have built-in stereo speakers.

The PV9002i is identical, but with 9-inch screens. The kits will be priced at $169.99 and $199.99, respectively, and are due to ship in April.… Read more

LAS VEGAS--BlackBerry OS 7.1 wasn't the only thing RIM announced today. Three of the most popular apps on the BlackBerry platform also got some major work done.

First, BBM 6.1 is here, and it adds some sexy NFC flavor to its feature set. Now, friends can invite each other to connect on BlackBerry Messenger by simply tapping their NFC-enabled phones together, which, let's face it, is a hell of a lot easier than inputting those crazy BBM PINs. Also, BBM 6.1 gets the powerful message and profile customization options--animated avatars, emoticons, and colored chat … Read more

The innovative travel search service Hipmunk is ringing in the new year by adding powerful hotel search capability to its mobile apps.

While hotel search has been available on Hipmunk's Web site for quite some time, users of the native Android and iOS apps are only getting the function starting today.

For those not familiar with Hipmunk, it's a travel site and mobile application, similar to Kayak, that offers a unique way of searching for flights by "Agony." Using an algorithm to factor in things like departure time, arrival time, stopovers, and price, Hipmunk returns search … Read more

Google is taking heat from travel companies that say the search engine is giving preferential treatment to its own travel search tools over those of competitors.

The Wall Street Journal today points to a practice begun by the search giant earlier this month, which provides results for travel-related searches--such as domestic flights--from right within Google, as opposed to pointing searchers towards places like Priceline, Expedia, and Orbitz.

The move poses a serious threat, the Journal says, for these competing travel sites, which can depend on Google for 10 percent to 20 percent of their incoming traffic. With the newer technique … Read more

Stand back, folks, I think we've got ourselves a record-breaker here.

While supplies last, TigerDirect has the refurbished Magellan RoadMate 5045-LM 5-inch GPS for $69.97 shipped. That's after applying coupon code AXX51184 at checkout.

That's not only the lowest price I can recall for a 5-inch GPS, it's definitely the best deal I've seen on a 5-inch GPS with lifetime maps and traffic.

It's true: in addition to a nav system with a nice, roomy screen, you get a forever subscription to realtime traffic conditions and the latest North American maps. All for … Read more

If you need to book a hotel, flight, or rental car, or you just need a little advice before going on a trip, you should definitely check out Kayak.

Think of Kayak as a digital travel agent that searches through hundreds of different travel sites to help you book your trip. It searches through popular sites like Travelocity, Expedia, and Orbitz, all at the same time, and gives you current rates and itineraries that can all be booked in just a few clicks. In addition, Kayak offers convenient travel tools like a packing list, currency converter, and airport information, all … Read more

TripAdvisor is the comprehensive companion app to the popular travel Web site of the same name. It's a great resource for discovering hotels, restaurants, and things to do in destinations all around the world. It even lets you read reviews, talk in forums, and look through tons of photos shot by other travelers.

From the main Dashboard, you can jump directly into a section, and conduct a search for Hotels, Restaurants, or Things to do. But the better way to use the app is through the global search tool at the top of the screen, which pulls up all … Read more