Observations from the NBTA convention

Last week's NBTA's annual convention was billed as the biggest and most successful travel management conference ever. A common question I was asked while roaming the tradeshow floor, "What do you believe was the hot topic at this year's conference?". My response was simplly stated "nothing really new here". In reality I believe more was left unsaid then presented in any particular seminar or general session. For example, Sam Gilliland, CEO of Sabre, presented a panel of ex-airline execs who chatted with Peter Greenberg. I really wanted to know what the private equity buyout of Sabre means to the industry not to mention the Travelport acquition by Blackstone and the recent IPO by Orbitz. Instead the two airline executives talked about the need for high speed rail for the NorthEast corridor (DOH!). A familiar theme in Sam's introduction speech was "you the corporate travel manager, really controls the industry", but is this really true?

Perhaps the problem with this conference is that the position of corporate travel manager is a moving target. This week, I have been updating my NBTA database from 2004 and I immediately noticed about a 70% turnover in names just for the letters A and B! Could it be that the coveted target of the suppliers at the conference is a moving one? Is the position of travel manager a long term career? My apologies to my friends and colleagues who have been in their role for many years, but the reality of the market is that at an average company a new travel manager emerges after about 4-5 years. Why is this? Corporate travel management is not a core competency of any organization (except TMCs that is). There is little room to advance in the position other than adding more commodities to the role if the the CTM is in procurement (as many are moving towards) or moving to other positions in the company. So if I were to conservatively estimate that 50% of all travel managers turnover in a 5 year period, marketing to these individuals becomes a constant re-education effort. No wonder the conference lacks innovation, there are so many newcomers to the position every year, it is nearly impossible to move to start a more forward thinking dialogue.

Browser 3D

Microsoft call this browser as the simple browser.

Most of 3D browser, like was launched by ActiveWorlds and Blaxxun Interactive, become number one for avatar program to chat.

SpaceTime didn't interest with this field. They use 3D just to make more beautiful their visual navigation.
Open YouTube with SpaceTime more impress than direct from YouTube. So try this innovation.

Reactor Never Dark watches glow for ten years

Watches with tritium illumination elements have been around for a while, and while they glow for a long time, they're much dimmer than traditional phosphorescence solutions, which are extremely bright but tend to fade quickly. Reactor's new Never Dark line goes for the best of both worlds, with an extremely bright phosphorescent compound called Superluminova backed up by tritium illumination. According to Reactor, the Superluminova can recharge instantly with even the smallest exposure to light and the tritium remains illuminated for up to ten years. You probably have bigger problems than punctuality if you've been in the dark for ten years, but people expecting the unexpected can expect to fork over $300-$450 for the Reactor Trident, the first Never Dark watch.

CorporateTravel Technology Today and Tomorrow

I am pleased to announce that my most recent corporate travel study: Corporate Travel Technology: Today and Tomorrow is now available for a pre-published order with a discount of $100 (purchase price is normally $600, pre-publication price of $499). In addition if you are attending the NBTA show next week you can receive an additional $100 discount if you order the study by August 31, 2007. The study will be released in mid- late August 2007. This research is the result of intensive review of products and services offered in the corporate travel space. You can check out the table of contents here and purchase the study through the TTCI or PhoCusWright stores.

Here is a link to the flyer we are distributing at next week's NBTA conference.

Japan gets the PSP lite in three additional colors

Filed under: Gaming

Showing a little love for the home crowd, Sony announced today that in addition to the three "basic" colors of black, silver, and white, Japanese PSP fans will also be getting the PSP lite in three metallic pastel shades: Rose Pink, Lavender Purple, and, um, Blue. No word on if we'll ever see these officially make it Stateside, but seeing as the original PSP was unlocked, you can bet some eager graymarketer is getting ready to cash in.

PS. You know Sony should've given the new model an official name when even PSP Fanboy is calling it the "PSP lite."

[Via PSP Fanboy]

Fujitsu LifeBook U1010: The smallest UMPC

Fujitsu LifeBook U1010 was claim by Fujitsu as the smallest Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC) in the world. This gadget use Intel Core 2 Duo T7500. This gadget has size 71mm (long) x 133mm (width) x 26,5 - 32,0 (high) and weight just 0,61 kg.

Specification of Fujitsu LifeBook U1010 are memory 1GB, hard disk 40 GB, bluetooth, wireless, slot card CF dan SD, fingerprint sensor, screen 5,6 inchi 1024x600 pixel and operating system by Windows Vista Home Premium.

I'm Back....

My apologies to my loyal blog readers. I was on vacation in Israel for most of June and I have been on the run finishing up various projects since I returned. A couple words of advice concerning travel to Israel. My family and I felt extremely safe during our stay. Don't let the US media make you believe otherwise. As the birth place of three of the world's major religions, visiting Israel is like no other experience. That being said we did have a slight mishap while enjoying the Dead Sea. My cousin's rent-a-car was broken into and about 1/2 our luggage (all the luggage we had with us) was stolen. This included our passports. Though Israel is very safe, personal property is not, especially in remote areas where Bedouin's live. I am sorry to report, per the Israeli police, that the Bedouin's main source of income is theft. So if you do travel to Israel and see a Bedouin wearing a Steely Dan t-shirt, wearing my wife's skirt listing to my son's IPOD, let me know! In reality personal possessions can be replaced. BTW if you ever do lose your passport in Israel I would recommend the consulate in Jerusalem rather than the Embassy in Tel Aviv. They were extremely helpful in getting us temporary passports.

I realize a lot has been happening over the last month in both travel and technology. I hope to make up for lost time this week with a number of entries.

LG FlatronWide L206WU USB monitor comes to North America

Filed under: Displays

LG is announcing today that it's bringing the 20-inch FlatronWide L206WU USB-based monitor to North America. You may have seen the display over at our sister site Engadget Chinese, where you can also check on the specs: in case you don't know Chinese, the L206WU is based around a Samsung SyncMaster 940UX and has a 3,000:1 contrast ratio, 170 degree horizontal / vertical viewing angles, and most importantly eschews DVI and VGA for a USB connection that can be daisy chained over five more displays. Other USB-based display options have generally included some form of built-in lag due to the restrictions of the USB connection, so it'll be interesting to see whether LG and its partner DisplayLink have managed to provide a solution. Price and availability dates are yet to be announced.

NEC spruces up LaVie laptops with 3D paint job

Filed under: Laptops

NEC's LaVie laptops haven't exactly been relying on their looks to get noticed, but the company seems to be trying to change that, recently introducing a new "3D" paint job option for those wanting to stand out in a crowd. According to The Register, the laptops make use of a special metallic paint which, "when surrounded by a magnetic field," magically displays a "hologram-style" pattern.

Otherwise, the laptops appear to be thoroughly ordinary, boasting a 15.4-inch display and your choice of AMD Sempron or Turion 64 X2 processors. Not surprisingly, they're also only available in Japan, where they apparently start around the $860 mark

iPhone from Apple: Touch Screen

New Apple innovation iPhone was launched, this gadget is combination between iPod, hand phone, computer and internet browsing. iPhone have touch screen to call and hear the music.

This gadget have moving sensor that can automatically change the screen according position of iPohne. This gadget can you buy at US$499 and have memory up to 4 GB.

Size: 115 x 61 x 11.6 mm
Weight: 135 gram
Display: Touchscreen 3.5 inc, 16 million colors, resolution 320 x 480 pixel
Ringtones: Polyphonic, MP3, Vibrate
Memory: 4 and 8 GB
Konektifitas: GPRS, EDGE, WiFi, Bluetooth, USB
OS: Mac OS X v10.4.8
Messaging: SMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging
Browser: HTML (Safari)
Color: Hitam
Camera: 2 MP, 1600x1200 pixel, video
Fiture: Google Maps, Widgets applications, iPod audio/video player, PIM including calendar, to-do list, Photo browser/editor, Voice memo, Integrated handsfree
Talktime: 5 hours

Nokia debuts totally fugly 7500 Prism in China

Filed under: CellphonesBy all accounts, Nokia's designers are either on a cutting edge so far into the future and so deeply advanced that we can't understand it, or they've all gone off their medication. The bizarre 7500 Prism (which may or may not be the similarly styled 7900) made its debut at a Nokia fashion event in China today, along with the 8600, 8800 Sirocco, 6110 navigator, 5700 XpressMusic, 6500 classic, 6500 slider and the 3500 -- though none of them were as totally zany looking as the Prism. The phone's specs are at least fairly normal, featuring a 2 megapixel camera, microSD slot, a QVGA screen and rocking the S40 (version 5) OS. It's unclear at this point why the company believes people will want a diamond shaped keyboard, but since the FCC has already approved this model, we'll soon learn if they really do.

evDaytona: electric motocycle with turgid windscreen

Filed under: TransportationFeel like cruising upwards of 93 miles-per-hour on a motorcycle without using a single drop of fuel? How about being absolutely certain that a great egret could hit your windshield without even fazing you? If you're in agreement with those two tidbits, Triumph's evDaytona looks to be the bike for you, as it can go zero to 60 in a mere 2.9 seconds, roll 143 miles on a full charge, and sports a five-year battery life to boot. This aluminum alloy-framed machine sports all the amenities you'd expect to find on your average motorbike, but throws in a ginormous windscreen and removes the need for fossil fuels along the way. Of course, the bike currently still needs DOT approval, and while we've yet to see anything definite on price, word on the street is that this here ride will run you about $77,000 whenever it actually launches.

[Via MotorBiker]

Sony MP3 Flashdisk Review

Flash disk from Sony has good design and have some features that didn't have by other flash disk, this items has 2 type, that is NW-E003 and NW-E005 F

Features and Specification:

- Capacity E003 1GB - E005 2GB
- Bluit in USB Jack
- Support MP3, Atract3
- 3 Minutes charge
- 3 Hours playback
- 28 Hours long play
- FM Tuner

Japan's awash in slim, 120Hz Sharp AQUOS G LCDs

Filed under: Displays, HDTV

Oh boy, 16 new AQUOS LCD models were just announced for Japan. The AQUOS G lineup is available in bottom and side-mounted speaker options ranging in size from 52/46/42/37/32/26-inches. All the sets above 37-inches pack a 120Hz ASV panel with a trio of 1080p capable HDMI inputs, 1x DVI, and more (no component) touting a 2,000:1 contrast and 450cd/m2 brightness. Sharp also managed to slim down all the sets considerably with the 52-incher measure just 11-cm (4.3-inches) thin. On sale in Japan starting August 21st with prices ranging from ¥180,000 ($1,466) to about ¥550,000 ($4,480).

[Via Impress]