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Delta's 2020 tech includes 'parallel reality' displays and a binge button
Air travel isn't always a great experience. Delays and other issues can cause extra stress for vacations and work trips. Delta is well aware of this, so it's using some high-tech solutions in an effort to improve the travel experience before you leave the house, inside the terminal and during your flight.
Samsung's Galaxy Fold Premier Service debuts in the US
Did you buy the updated Galaxy Fold now that it's finally available? You now have the posh support to go with it. Samsung has launched its Galaxy Fold Premiere Service in the US, offering all of the foldable phone's buyers dedicated support through video chat (through the Members app) or conventional voice calls. If you're in the right location, you can also get in-person tutorials.
Mall of America debuts helpful holographic elf for the holidays
How would you keep a shopping mall lively in an era when more and more people are buying their holiday gifts online? The Mall of America has a one-word answer: holograms. It's partnering with mixed reality firm VNTANA on what's billed as the "first-ever" holographic shopping concierge. Visit the mega-mall's Holiday Cottage throughout the season and you can speak to Ellie the elf (no, really, that's her name) for help tracking down top gifts. Ask about how to find an Xbox One for the kids, for instance, and Ellie will point you to the Microsoft Store.
Lyft Concierge lets businesses schedule flexible rides
Lyft's Concierge service, which opened up to all businesses earlier this year, lets companies and organizations hail rides for their customers, patients and employees. While it lets those businesses offer an additional service, it's not always clear exactly when a passenger will need a ride. That's why Lyft Concierge is introducing flexible scheduling, which will let passengers use their scheduled ride when they're ready for it. Lyft notes that this new feature will be useful for passengers hit with unexpected delays, like lost baggage at an airport or a long doctor's appointment.
Lyft opens its ride-booking Concierge service to all businesses
Lyft has finally opened up Concierge to businesses and organizations of all sizes. The program allows members to hail rides for other people, giving companies a way to offer that extra touch of service to customers, especially those who can't call for a ride themselves due to one thing or another. Concierge launched in 2016 when Lyft teamed up with the National Medtrans Network in New York City -- the perfect place to start, since most residents don't have cars -- to take patients to the doctor.
Facebook kills its ‘M’ AI assistant on January 19th
Facebook M is, or was, an artificially-intelligent AI that used human operatives to ensure that its recommendations were on point. "Was," at least, because the social network has revealed that its shutting down the platform on January 19th after two-and-a-half-years of operation. The news was confirmed to the Verge today, with Facebook saying that the project was an experiment that it learned a lot from. These insights will be used on other internal AI projects, while the human operatives will be found jobs elsewhere in the company. For everyone else, though, the technology powering M has been used in Facebook Messenger's M suggestions, and those will continue going forward.
Volvo Concierge brings the gas station to you
Today at the LA Auto Show, Swedish car maker Volvo introduced its new Concierge app. The application is a quick way to get third-party vendors to wash, refuel and service Volvos. The best part is that you don't even have to leave your house to have any of these services completed.
Lyft takes you to the doctor even if you don't have a phone
People who don't have a cellphone need rides too, and Lyft is looking to lending a hand. The transportation service teamed up with National Medtrans Network in New York City to take folks to the doctor who can't hail a ride from the app. Instead, Lyft has a web-based Concierge tool that allows service providers to book rides for them. After the rider's name, pick-up and drop-off addresses are entered, a Lyft driver will be dispatched when the time comes. This NYC partnership is a pilot for the Concierge feature, so there's no word on when, or if, it'll make its debut in other cities. [Image credit: Lyft]
Ford service helps you get around town, whatever you drive
Ford's traditional business has revolved around making cars, but it's increasingly seeing itself as a transportation company that just happens to make vehicles. Need proof? Just look at the company's newly unveiled FordPass. The free-to-start service is built to help you get around town, whether or not you own a Ford -- it'll help you find and pay for parking, share cars and (in the future) book ridesharing trips. There's a FordPay virtual wallet that will help you pay for everything, and you'll even have access to free FordGuides (basically, customer service agents) that can help out.
Vertu's posh smartphone is probably more powerful than yours
If you're going to shell out $9,900 or more on a smartphone, you're either nuts or you've really made it in life. Or both. Either way, Vertu's done its part by updating its flagship luxury smartphone line, the Signature Touch, with pretty much all the best specs available in the current market. As CEO Max Pogliani put it, this "is the most complete Vertu smartphone that we have ever produced." Most notably, this new titanium device runs on Android 5.1 and packs an octa-core Snapdragon 810 chipset with 4GB of RAM, along with 64GB of internal storage plus another 64GB on the included microSD card (expandable up to 2TB). Funny how at a time when mainstream players like Samsung, Xiaomi and OnePlus are staying away from microSD expansion, Vertu found no issues with this feature and has therefore chosen to side with spec-hungry folks like us this time.
SanDisk will help you switch to an SSD for $40
Looking to give your aging computer some new life? Swapping out the hard drive for a new SSD could do the trick, and if you're nervous completing the upgrade yourself SanDisk has a new service to lend a hand. The company's SSD Concierge Service offers live video support (via a mobile device, natch) so that folks of all skill levels are able to make the switch and improve speeds from the comforts of home. The service also includes "all of the tools required to upgrade their laptop successfully" including data migration and installation. If you're looking for some help giving your computer a refresh, SanDisk's virtual guidance can be purchased through Amazon and TigerDirect for $40.
Sprint will come to your house if you can't make it to a store
Between Amazon Dash and Netflix, there's almost no reason to leave the house these days. That's why, to save you the agonizing trip to your nearest strip mall, Sprint will bring the retail experience to your house. Next time you're due an upgrade, the company's new Direct 2 You program will send an employee to your door and set up your new device at your kitchen table.
Apple rumored to overhaul its Genius Bar, add 'Concierge' service
Apple is reportedly readying substantial changes to how it runs its Genius Bar support service in-stors, according to 9to5Mac. While the current walk-in system requires the customer to explain the issue then be given an appointment soon after, the new 'Concierge' service (as it'll apparently be called) will tap into special algorithms to offer support for customers, giving wait time based on priority. As 9to5Mac puts it, a broken iPhone screen would receive higher priority than a small issue with iCloud when the phone itself still works fine. Employees will input the customers' issues, and the system will do the rest.
Reserve's forget-the-bill restaurant concierge arrives on Android
Reserve's concierge service is a clever idea -- you book a table at a top-flight restaurant based on when and what you're hoping to eat, and chow down knowing that your bill is already covered. It's only been available for iPhone-toting foodies, however, so today's launch of a Reserve app for Android is a big deal. So long as you're dining in Boston, Los Angeles, New York or San Francisco, you can now secure that deluxe Mediterranean feast from your Moto X. There are a couple of helpful additions coming with the new app, too -- you can browse restaurants with a built-in map, and it's easier to both tack on extra restaurant choices or share the service with your friends (who get a $25 first-meal credit) if you want to get them hooked. This reservation app remains overkill if you're only looking for a quick bite, but it might be just the ticket if you're focused on upscale eating.
Vertu's Signature Touch puts the luxury back into specs
It's been a year and a half since luxury phone maker Vertu ditched Symbian in favor of Android, thus slowly catching up with the rest of the mobile market. Its first Android phone, the Ti, fell behind the curve with its dual-core processor, tiny battery and low screen resolution; then the more affordable Constellation arrived with a larger screen but also let down by a similar chip. Somewhere along the line, though, Vertu finally decided "enough is enough." The result is this good-looking Signature Touch which, for a change, packs pretty much everything you'd expect on a modern flagship smartphone: a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 chip, a 4.7-inch 1080p display, Cat 4 LTE radio (with bands covering many parts of the world), NFC plus Qi wireless charging.
Lime & Tonic brings its luxury recommendation service to the iPhone
There's no shortage of mobile concierge services, but even the wealthy may balk at paying steep fees (or buying exotic phones) solely for entertainment advice. Thankfully, Lime & Tonic has just brought its more accessible luxury recommendation engine to the iPhone. The mobile app automatically suggests up to two premium (and sometimes exclusive) activities per day based on far more refined criteria than a typical point-of-interest app. It can recommend only those posh restaurants that cook your steak rare, for example. More importantly, it's relatively cheap to try -- signing up is free and discounts are common. Lime & Tonic's service is currently limited to Amsterdam, Dubai, London, Melbourne, Prague, Rio de Janeiro and Sydney, although geography is likely no obstacle to the company's well-to-do customers. Besides, it could be the perfect showcase app for that future gold iPhone.
Songza 3.0 update available now
We mentioned Songza's iOS app last year around when it came out, and the music sharing service has just updated the app to version 3.0. The free app has been almost completely reimagined, and while it still offers plenty of tunes to listen to, the interface has been revamped -- it's much cleaner, flatter, and has some nice bits of plain color included. The "Concierge" service is still there and upgraded, so if you simply tell the app what you're doing, it'll try to get you some music to do that with. The company has also focused on ease-of-use, so for example, just holding down any Concierge station button will start up the music, no matter what, so you can get things rolling as quickly as possible. The new version also includes an updated "HQ Audio" system, so the tunes you're hearing can sound as good as possible. As before, Songza can be downloaded for free, and whether you missed it or have wandered away from the app in the past, the latest version adds enough new that it's definitely worth another look. Elias Roman, Songza's co-founder, also tells TUAW that the company has hit a few new milestones recently. The app has just seen its 6 millionth install from the App Store, and served over 560 million songs in just the last month. Songza claims 4.7 million monthly active users, and it says that in total those users spend over 65 million minutes playing tunes every day. That's a sizable user base for sure, and we'll have to see if this updated version makes Songza even more popular.
NTT DoCoMo trials Tap-de-Concier service with a Google Now flair
Japan's NTT DoCoMo isn't content waiting for Google Now to become commonplace before it gives customers a taste of predictive search. The carrier is near launching a trial for Tap-de-Concier, an Android-based service that will pop up maps, media, games and more depending on both the user's own habits, as well as usage and trends from DoCoMo's other portals. The result is a service that theoretically knows what you want, when you want it: Tap-de-Concier can tell that you're looking for train schedules before work on a Monday morning, and restaurants on Friday night. We imagine that some will like the alternative just because it won't be confined to Jelly Bean -- any DoCoMo-offered phone or tablet with at least Android 2.3 can run the service, including Raku-Raku phones. Locals will have between March 26th and September 30th to decide whether or not Tap-de-Concier is more helpful than its Google parallel.
Apple now asking potential Genius Bar customers to reboot iPhone before making an appointment
So, your new iPhone 5 is acting quirky, and you want to make an appointment at the Genius Bar to see what's wrong with it. You go to the Apple website, enter the location of your local store and let the concierge know what device you want to get help with ... and you're promptly greeted with the window seen above, asking you to reset your iPhone before continuing. This little trick often does help, and it's not surprising that a lot of new iPhone customers don't know about this. As Reddit user ehsteve23 pointed out in the first of 368 comments on brewstah's post of this screen on imgur.com, "Suddenly the number of Genius Bar appointments fall by 30%" ...
Mercedes-Benz updates mbrace app with fancy pants 'Concierge' service
Mercedes-Benz just announced a new app that connects its in-car navigation systems with its customers' iPhones. Mbrace version 2.0 still lets drivers unlock their vehicles and, more importantly, find it in a crowded parking lot while adding location-based personal assistance ranging from entertainment, restaurant, directions, and traffic updates via Mercedes-Benz's Concierge service -- assuming you're are an mbrace PLUS customer. Destination information is then fired off directly to your in-vehicle navigation system to get you there. The updated app also includes enhanced Roadside Assistance that transmits the driver's location whenever a call is initiated. Think OnStar with a posh European accent.
