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Everybody is flying, and everybody is crabby
Ben Huh is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Cheezburger. He will be speaking at Expand NYC this November. Unidentified internet humor company founder planking during a flight. Plenty of people travel more miles than I do, but in 2012, I spent 171 days on the road. 2013 so far? 120 days. When I started Cheezburger, I didn't expect to travel this much, but my role has increasingly become chief evangelist, recruiter and promoter. Technology's impact on travel can be felt every step of the way, starting with weight-saving undergarments to the constellation of GPS satellites we take for granted watching over us. Everyone is used to complaining about air travel: Food is terrible (if there is any); the TSA is getting worse; seats feel smaller; we've suffered a string of computer-system-generated delays; horrific crash photos make the rounds on social media like wildfire; and airlines are charging fees, fees, everywhere. Having traveled intensively pre- and post-9/11, the air-travel experience has actually gotten much better. Yet we live by the Louis C.K. Rule: Everything's amazing, and nobody is happy. Let me count the ways from front door to hotel door.
Tripit adds itinerary editing to iPhone app
We've been fans of the Tripit app & web travel manager since we first looked at it back in 2009, and the latest updates to it haven't cooled our ardor at all. Tripit makes simple something that could be very complicated. It takes all the various emailed itineraries you have for a trip -- flights, hotel bookings, car rentals and so on -- and turns them into one master itinerary with your car rental booking following your flight and preceding your arrival at your hotel. You can view your itinerary online; the iPhone app gives you offline access to it, and with one click you can add the whole thing to your iCal or Entourage calendar. Now Tripit has added the ability to edit your itinerary in that iPhone app; for example, you can change a flight time in case of cancellation or delay. You can also swipe-delete items that are no longer needed, and Tripit will notify you of conflicts if you make changes to flights. The price is still right too; the app is free with ads, or there's a $1.99 ad-free version and then the Pro anual supscription version at US$49 a year. (Edited to clarify ad-free pricing)
Free for All: Ten tips for the virtual traveler
This week I decided to take a break from analyzing cash-shop models and theorizing over what players might consider "nickel-and-diming" (hint: it doesn't exist) to bring you some frequent MMO traveler tips. Now, if you are the type who enjoys playing one game for years and years or who doesn't have any interest in most any other game, this is not for you. These are a few tips that I have learned from covering games over the last years of my life, especially during my time with Massively. Since I have been here (it will be a year in March, if I recall) I have been embarking on a journey across all types of MMOs, one MMO per week. I might not remember everything I have done, but I do remember how to make sure that I feel satisfied after spending only a week in each game. Granted, many of the games I have played have stuck around for a long, long time, some of them becoming favorites. Recently, though, I put so much more into playing the current game that I have to let it go in order to put that much into the next one. How do you live this virtual vagabond lifestyle and still feel good about yourself? What about the golden rule -- a week isn't long enough to get any ideas about an MMO? Well, click past the cut and I'll try to explain.
