travel

Did you know that Fiat are launching a product design competition looking for fun ways of traveling from A to B? The next best invention will will £50,000 and be showcased at the Fiat Flagship store in London. To find out more or enter please visit www.fiat.co.uk/smiles.

Competition open 24 July - 22 August 2008

From cover of Airplane! by Robert Grossman

We learned in back in high school physics that it takes energy to move a mass, and the more mass, the more energy. Paul Kedrosky lists some of the tiny moves that airlines are making to squeeze every ounce out, which add up to big savings in fuel.

One airline saved over 17 gallons/year per pound of weight per airplane after shedding inflight phones, ovens, excess potable water, and some galley equipment on an older fleet

If you are a safe traveler, then a European holiday is a safe bet. If you do have a taste for the exotic, traveling around the Middle East is full of surprises and intrigue. And eco-tourism is spreading through the Middle East. A typical journey (by land) could start in Turkey. With a convenient bus system in place, it's easy to travel around Turkey in a non-impacting way to get primed for the Middle East. After Turkey, it's possible to travel to Lebanon and Syria for an unspoiled and authentic tourist experience, and then down to Jordan, Isra...

Although we haven't traveled to Lebanon, we have had a Lebanese friend when touring through Syria. He told us that Lebanon was an advanced country and much different than the "time machine feeling" we were getting in Syria: It was 9 years ago, and the cars looked like they were from the 30s; people everywhere were dressed in traditional gear and it seemed that the environment was very low on the country's agenda (litter was everywhere and cars spewed fumes).

We never did get to visit Lebanon (mainly because getting a VISA would take too much time), but we have been able to...

:: Live happily on this flavorful rice & beans lunch.

:: Transform your old desktop computer into something useful.

:: Book a greener vacation with help from the Sierra Club.

:: Seek out grill-friendly veggies at your farmers' market.

:: Resolve to de-clutter your living space with tips from the show,

(metropoliphone.com)

MetropoliPhone is a simple web app for the iPhone that contains subway maps from different cities worldwide.

It turns the often clumsy task of getting a decent subway map on your phone into something easy, quick and useful. Once you open a map you can zoom/pan it with the usual gestures of the iPhone's touchsreen.

The compiled maps are mostly from the metropolitan transit authority websites of each city.

More city subway maps are expected to be added as well as bus maps.

You might actually find this useful in your city or when you travel.

The project was done in DIY style by Carlos J. Gomez de Llarena.