From the 15th to the 18th of February, the beautiful city of Barcelona, in Spain, becomes the place for mobile leaders to collaborate and gather as well as exhibiting their advances in mobile phones.

In 2009, Mobile World Congress hosted approximately 47,000 mobile professionals from 182 countries. In addition, more than 2,400 members of the press reported from the event, representing more than 1,500 media groups from 76 countries. This year, even with the crisis, the numbers will be quite similar. Although some handset makers (such as one of the leaders in the market, NOKIA) have skipped this year’s congress, there is still plenty of mobile industry news about cell phones, carriers, services, and software applications.

Some of the highlights of the event this years are the cheapest mobile phone in the world, a mobile phone that turns into a projector, phones for aged people… and the Windows Phone 7, the phone that Microsoft will launch at the end of the year. If you want to know more about this congress visit www.mobileworldcongress.com.

Steve Job, Apple’s Chief Executive Officer unveiled his company’s last gadget on Wednesday: the iPad. It is, as he defined it, a mixture between an iphone and a laptop, it is a tablet device the size of a book, a centimetre thick but what can this device do for us?

As travellers, we will focus on the characteristics that will change travelling costumes: for example, to refer to how long the battery lasted, Steve Job said you could watch movies in a flight from San Francisco to Tokio non stop, that is ten hours! Another program the ipad includes is a map application, which of course is something we have already seen in the iTouch or other smartphones but what about travel guides?

As the iPad is also an e-book but with GPS and internet technology, will we have normal travel guides in it? Or will they be more than just e-travel guides, more interactive? Pictures, how to get there from where you are, the distance between where you are and where the place is… Could this be a whole new life for travel guides? What do you think?

Some time ago, we talked about some applications on Google that were very useful to plan a holiday or just to get an idea of what a city or a country looks like when we don’t have the time to travel. Today, we have discovered something else: webcams.travel. It is still a beta version but the idea couldn’t be better: webcams situated in strategic places all over the world so you can see exactly what it would be like to be there in real time.

Are you going somewhere soon and would like to know whether it is dark at 5 or not? Try it! Or are you just tired of working and want to daydream about where you could be if you were rich enough and didn’t have to work? Go for it! At the moment, images are updated every five minutes in some places, every hour in others but as we have said, it is only a beta version…

However, as good and entertaining as this webpage can be… Nothing is better than a real holiday and getting to know your destination by walking around.

According to a study carried out, it is estimated that over 14 million SMS were sent on Christmas Eve between 9:00pm and midnight and the same amount were sent again for the 31st of December 2009.
The total could reach 30 million SMS in two days or rather…. in only 6 hours!! Can you imagine the profits for the 3 main mobile phone companies? But it’s probably better not to focus our topic on that aspect, right?
Everyone sends and receives lots of SMS around this time of year. It’s easy, fast and efficient, but it always so nice to receive a traditional, hand-written Christmas card.
Did you receive more SMS this year than last year?
Which did you use more: social networks or your mobile phone?
Which was the clever text message you liked the best?
Happy 2010!

A few months ago in Blogtelopia we discussed how full body scanners work and the debate being raised about the limits on people’s privacy. These scanners are installed in some airports in Europe and the United States. The debate on this topic has hit the headlines again, after the failed terrorist attack by Al Qaeda on 25 December in Detroit. The United Kingdom and Holland have announced their intention to make widespread use of this technology. In contrast, while we await news as to the Spanish government’s position on the subject, the Spanish Association of Air Transport Users and Professionals (ASETRA) has already declared to be against using full body scanners in Spanish airports, stating that they do not guarantee passengers’ fundamental rights. For now this system is voluntary and therefore travellers may decline to go through it.
Do you think that using these scanners is justified to strengthen airport security?

Jon Rawlinson is a filmmaker who specialises in documentaries. His career has taken him all over the world to capture his adventures on video in countless different destinations such as Tahiti, Bora Bora and Jordan. The videos on his blog are spectacular to watch and they also serve as a source of inspiration for planning a future trip. Instead of dealing with all the stress involved with the festivities going on at this time of year, why not sit back and relax with the images that Jon filmed at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Japan. Its main tank features the world’s second largest acrylic glass panel and it holds whale sharks and manta rays.

We can get ourselves lost, but not our mobiles. Every day more programmes are being developed (the majority of which are based on GPS technology) that allow travellers to move around more freely in the cities they visit, thanks to their mobile phones. They detect our location. Not only do they know where we are, but they also tell us where to find nearby restaurants, ATM’s or the closest tube station. Just like in the movie “Minority Report,” in the not too distant future, we will be able to personalise our mobile phone so that it only shows us the information we want it to. Many telephone and videogame companies are currently investing heavily in this direction. The Iphone 3GS is one of these devices with the most applications of this type. It has a built-in GPS and compass. iTacitus is the name of a European Union project that aims to apply these technologies to provide the reconstructed images of the buildings that we visit that are in ruins . With the help of your mobile, not only can you walk in between the ruins in Rome (some of which require the traveller to have a very vivid imagination), but you can also get an idea of what the ground that you are standing on actually looked like originally. Did you know that the Parthenon in Greece used to be blue and red? Are we perhaps facing the beginning of the end of tourist guidebooks?

If you think that Twitter is for “Twits”, and telling the world what you’re doing in 140 characters is a total waste of time, then think again.

Not only is it a useful medium for reporting breaking news but it’s also the latest social networking website to offer a quick fix to help plan your holiday.

Of course you can get the latest deals and information on promotions from us by checking out the feeds for @HotelopiaUK.  But  if you’re looking for somewhere slightly different to stay, Twitter allows smaller tour operators to post feeds including @HotelsinRome or even get in touch with the hotelier direct.

There’s @royalramblas who tweet direct from their four star hotel on Barcelona’s La Rambla.  Or check out the feed for this little agro-turismo in Majorca @Peppersantblai .  It’s run by their resident donkey, who will tell you all you need to know about a great rural stay on the island.

Best of all is the opportunity to connect with the locals in your holiday destination.  Type in your destination into the search box, and see who’s writing about it.  A couple of useful examples of  local Tweeters are in the Isle of Wight: @Red_Funnel , Majorca: @Mallorcanow and Cévennes (South of France): @cevennes

Just click on the feed and use the @ reply tool to ask them questions of your own; favourite restaurants, recommended sights etc.

Plus if you’re looking for where the party’s at when you get there, just tap in “party near: Paris“ to get the low-down on what’s happening in your holiday destination

Finally, get up-to-date feeds on information and advice by the Foreign Office by following @britishabroad.

And if you’re really stuck for something to do on holiday.  Tweet where you are and open yourself up for suggestions like this journalist did…

Happy Holidays everyone!

For anyone who has ever dreamt of becoming the next great travel writer should check out a website just launched in the UK.

Simonseeks.com, which is the brainchild of Moneysupermarket.com founder Simon Nixon, invites travel writers to submit destination reviews from places they have visited.

Independently written articles or User Generated Content (USG) are nothing new in the travel industry (that’s what Trip Advisor is essentially about). However sites like this are becoming increasingly popular as travellers are looking for more information before they book a break.  For example you can read from thousands of independent hotel reviews made by customers before you book on www.hotelopia.co.uk.

Writers will receive a revenue share based on the amount of clicks made on their Simonseek’s articles and while there are no promises that writers will become internet millionaires, payment will surely provide a great incentive for users to contribute to the website.

Making a long road trip has just been made easier thanks to a number of cool applications developed for the iPhone.

Favourites include MapsBuddy, which doesn’t just provide mapping, but gives shortcuts for the nearest petrol stations, restaurants, and other pit-stops you wish to make.

Also, why pay for an internet connectionwhen you can get it for free. Download the app for WifiTrack which detects your location and pin-points the closest wifi spots to where you are.

And for those travelling with kids, there’s even an application for Road Trip Fun.  Game of “I Spy” anyone?

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