Travel gadgets, sites, and services to save money, time, and a whole lot of hassle
I travel across the country two or three times a month for work. As a modern-day road warrior, I know firsthand that the very best tech travel tools on the market today are the ones that save you time, money, and a whole lot of hassle. Here are my top picks.
Top Sites: A new twist on travel tools
1. Ebates
Price: Free
By now, most people know you can score great deals through online travel sites like Expedia or Priceline. But a little insider secret: If you start at Ebates.com and use it to get to those other sites, you not only get bigger savings — coupons and discounts of up to 50% off — you also get back a certain amount of money that you spend. With this bundling of deals and layering of coupons, you basically get paid to shop for everything from plane tickets and hotel and car reservations to luggage or a great digital camera. It's pretty great to get back from a trip and get a big, fat check. Read more...
Microsoft buries two surprises in Windows 8 hype
Last week I wrote about Microsoft's new Building Windows 8 blog. The first installment, from Windows head honcho Steve Sinofsky, ran 1,247 words and told us, basically, absolutely nothing about Windows 8. The two posts that followed didn't offer much more.
The second post expounds on Windows 8 and USB 3.0. The third post, out Tuesday, reveals Windows 8's reengineered approach to copying files as it relates to dialog boxes.
Oy! Microsoft's trying to save a company whose stock has gone exactly nowhere for the past decade, revolutionize an aging product, halt Windows' slipping market share, spur corporate clients to immediate worldwide adoption, and bring an exciting new vision of Windows to the desktop, to the tablet, and to the phone -- and we're talking about dialog boxes? Clearly, Sinofsky's biding time, waiting to drop the big bombs at the Build conference on Sept. 12. In the interim, we're getting pablum. Read more...
Foxconn to rely more on robots for manufacturing
Foxconn, the maker of Apple's iPhone and iPad, plans to rely more on robots for manufacturing over the coming years, allowing the company to invest more in research and development and save on labor costs.
Foxconn CEO Terry Gou made the remarks in a speech last Friday at the company's campus in Shenzhen, China. But while Foxconn confirmed some of the contents of the speech, the company declined to offer specifics on the level of automation Foxconn plans to deploy.
Local Chinese media, however, reported that Gou had said the company plans on deploying 1 million robots over the next three years to complete routine assembly tasks. Foxconn currently uses 10,000 robots. Read more...