PlanetEye

Travel Beyond Words

Archive for July, 2008

Tuesday, July 29th, 2008

The BD perspective: Hats off to Innovators

jonah
VP Business Development

It was with a great sense of excitement that I typed the words www.cuil.com into my web browser this am.  I had read late last night about the release of a new search engine created by some ex Google staffers and I was anxious to kick the tires my self.  To be honest, I was less then impressed with the results when I tried it out this morning.  I had no problem getting on to the site; it didn’t crash on me. However, of the ten searches I conducted, not one of the sites I was looking for quickly came to surface on the new engine.

I realize I am but one user, however in reading the reviews come screaming across my RSS reader today, I found I wasn’t alone in my initial reaction.  Unfortunately however, in my opinion anyway, too many of these reviews by the “modern press” were quick to bash the folks over at Cuil.

This is really too bad. I hope that there is little to no effect on the gazillions of readers to these sites.   I am not a techie, and I can’t tell you whether or not the code behind this new site is worth a grain of salt.  As a recent partner recently said, “ I wouldn’t know a firewall from a fire hydrant”. What I can tell you is that trying something new is hard.  Forgetting all the typical rigors of everyday life, which present all their own challenges, when one sets out to create in this web world that we live in they are literally trying to change the world.  Trying to get people to change their everyday habits is not easy; it’s like trying to turn the titanic.  These things take time.

I remember not so long ago, while in law school reading about a new search engine that was going to replace what we were using at the time (Yahoo and Ask Jeeves).  Hard to believe that today, not so long ago from my law school days, Google is the standard when it comes to search.  The Googlers too had to fight the nay sayers and all the elements of their time.  However they believed and they persevered. 

Here in the travel world things are no different.  When I first signed up for AOL in 1990 the only thing I could do with my account is access the Sabre travel system.  When the Travelocitys of the world launched no one thought they would last (save for the innovators of course).   At their absolute height of popularity could you imagine booking a flight without visiting one of either Travelocity or Expedia?  Today, millions of people do, by visiting a site either called Kayak or Orbitz.

It’s easy to write off new things, and criticize them.  Shame on them  for not being able to sustain all the attention they received in this their first day.   I mean, clearly they should have been prepared for every major blogger and news outlet to cover what they were doing right?  The world is full of arm chair quarterbacks.  There are countless examples of innovators who didn’t take no for an answer and persevered through the setbacks that all “startups” suffer.  Lets hope that the folks at Cuil and the innovators of tomorrow do too.

Monday, July 28th, 2008

Travelling Blind

Matt MacGillivray
Software Architect

Planning a vacation, and taking a vacation are very different things.

In June, we planned a vacation around a trip to Alberta for a friends wedding.  She was to get married in Okotoks Alberta, a small town I have never heard of just south of Calgary.  After much debate, we decided to fly instead of drive because it gave us more time to spend in and around Alberta.  Montana and the Dakotas, I will visit you yet.

The planning began.  After pre-planning the roadtrip, a 4 day visit to Waterton Lakes National Park was a must - first 4 days accounted for, pack the tent.  Next 2 days would be in Okotoks for the wedding, where we would splurge for a nice B&B to cleanup and enjoy the small town of Okotoks - next 2 nights accounted for at the Harmony House B&B.  We decided to leave the next 2 nights open… we have a friend in Banff that we could visit, a friend mentioned visiting Gopher Hole Museum (???), or we might decide to stay in Okotoks.  We’ll wing it.

Planning complete.  We used PlanetEye, Google for location research, Hotwire for airport hotels and a rental car, and iTravel2000.com for flights.  Done.

The trip begins..

I’m worried about the charter we booked - Sunwing, the price was too good to be true.  It ends up being the best flight I’ve had.. ever?  Sunwing had friendly staff, decent free food with a vegetarian option and complimentary wine.

We get a free upgrade from Avis, and StayBridge Suites Holiday Inn, (both booked through Hotwire).  So far so good.

We head south to Waterton Lakes National Park, stopping at Head-Smashed-in Buffalo Jump along the way.  After 4 days of camping at the Crandell campground, my mind was clear.

Crandell Campground in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada

Crandell Campground in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada

Day 5, driving to Okotoks, looking forward to an old farm town, and some mom-and-pop restaurants on ‘Main Street’ that go fit in with the old style B&B we booked.  As we roll into town, I see a different town than I was expecting - Boston Pizza, Starbucks, Walmart, Smitty’s, new subdivisions, 4 lane streets.  We check the map, yes, this is it.

Huh.  I pictured something small, with a little town atmosphere, but I had only imagined this because of the B&B picture.  I had no other photographs of the city to base it on.  We travelled blind.  We had no context.  Local photos would have really cleared this up.

Photos are the key.  This is what I was missing.  When planning travel, reviews of places can go either way, but what I really needed was something visual.  Photographs.  With a few pictures, I would have understood the town immediately and not been so surprised.

Blind travel no more.  Photos speak louder than words.

You can see parts of the rest of my trip in my Alberta Travel Pack.

Thursday, July 24th, 2008

Lessons Learnt from a Trip to Wonderland

karen
Marketing Coordinator

Yesterday, I went to Canada’s Wonderland with a bunch of friends. What was planned as a day of fun was quickly turned into a day of extreme rain. We went on only a handful of rides before we were soaked to the bone. I was instantly reminded of the summer I spent living in China (where rains can be so extreme that all public transport and major buildings are shut down.)

We decided to make the best of it and headed straight for the funnel cake stand.

We braved the weather for about another hour before we headed to a friend’s house in Kleinburg to dry our clothes and wait out the storm. 

It took only 2 hours to wait it out, and we were dry and raring to go. We returned to the park, and magically, we had some of the best weather we have had all summer. Luckier still was that the crowd had been reduced significantly. We were also able to get on every single ride we wanted at least twice, and we had an absolute ball. (I still can’t believe I braved Behemoth twice in a row.)

On my third trip around the Wilde Beast, I was able to put the whole day into perspective: this is why people travel, and this is why patience and fearlessness is required there, too.

People travel to put themselves out of their comfort zone. We were at Wonderland to scare ourselves all day. There is no “greater purpose” to subjecting yourself to the weird forms of torture that only rollercoasters can provide.

I spent a day in what began as an uncomfortable situation, and it was only when I gave in to the fact that I was on someone else’s turf and couldn’t control my surroundings did it get to be truly enjoyable.  This is exactly what I had to do when I was in China. I got off the plane, didn’t speak the language, and had to make my way to meet my new boss at a location I had never been to (all after 21 hours in the air.) It was only when I bucked up and let life “take the wheel” that the experience truly became amazing.

This is the essence of what makes travelling magical. It’s the ultimate thrill ride that always leaves you with a sense of having really done something. 

We’d like to know if you’ve ever had a time when you felt really out of your element whilst on vacation. Respond in the comments below.

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

PlanetEye Selected As Company to Watch

Mark Evans
Director, Community

PlanetEye is excited about its selection as one of Canada’s “10 Web 2.0 Companies to Watch” by IDC Canada.

“Being recognized by IDC as one of Canada’s leading online companies is terrific news,” said Butch Langlois, PlanetEye’s president and chief executive. “It’s another important confirmation of our online travel planning service and the exciting features we have launched such as the Travel Pack, which lets people collect and organize the photographs and places they discover on PlanetEye.”

IDC made its selections after considering a wide variety of companies it monitors that offer Web 2.0/social networking services. The selection process was based on criteria such as clarity of vision, development of a partner ecosystem, strength of customer/user base, prospects for growth, and the overall market trajectory.

The other companies selected by IDC were AdHack, dthree Inc., Octopz, Overlay.TV, Ramius, SceneCaster, Standout Jobs, Tomoye and Tungle. 

Friday, July 18th, 2008

The Friday Photo: Lago Argentino

Mark Evans
Director, Community

A few weeks ago, we launched a new feature called “The Friday Photo” in which we put the spotlight on a stunning travel photograph. Unfortunately, “The Friday Photo” disappeared for a couple of Fridays as we prepared for the official launch of PlanetEye, which happened on July 10.

The launch went well, and although things are still pretty busy, “The Friday Photo” is back!

This week’s photograph was taken by Carlos Diaz, who takes breath-taking photographs throughout South America. The photo below is of Lago Argentino, a freshwater lake located in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz, Argentina. It is the largest lake in Argentina, located in Los Glaciares National Park.

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Wednesday, July 16th, 2008

Completed: Project Local Expert

Mark Evans
Director, Community

One of the key pillars of PlanetEye is providing travelers with information and insight that they don’t usually get from a traditional guide book - be it great content, compelling photographs, or useful maps that put everything into context.

An important element is our Local Experts, who provide on-the-ground insight on what to do, eat and see, and where to stay in destinations around the world. Since our launch last week, it has been great to see new PlanetEye members get really excited about discovering our Local Experts.

One blogger, Felipe Coimbra, even wrote that our Local Experts are “in my opinion, the most valuable piece of information from PlanetEye….”

The process to build a team of Local Experts in 50 cities around the world has taken quite a bit of time as we focusing on getting people who were not only good writers but, as important, passionate about where they live and excited about sharing their insights with fellow travelers.

I’m pleased to announce we have filled the last holes by finding really good people to write for us in Budapest, Lisbon, Edinburgh, Prague and Mexico City. In some ways, it feels like completing a marathon but it also feels like the beginning of a new journey.

While we have no freelance Local Expert positions open right now, you can complete an application if you would like to be considered in the future.

Here’s a map that shows where are Local Experts are located around the world.


View Larger Map

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Tuesday, July 15th, 2008

Movin’ On Up

Mark Evans
Director, Community

Planeteye Logo-7
Nothing like packing two big events nearly back-to-back.

First, we officially launched PlanetEye last week after a lot of hard work behind the scenes. Today, we’ve moved into a new, larger office about a five minute walk from our old place in downtown Toronto.

Aside from giving us more space, the new place now means all of PlanetEye’s employees are together. Before, we had our hard-working interns located in another office down the hall, while the rest of us crammed ourselves into an office that a diplomatic real estate would describe as “cozy”.

As well, we’ve now got a conference room. At the old place, the conference room was a 6′ x 10′ room that doubled as a kitchen and lunch room, which meant everyone had to make a mad dash for water before a conference call or meeting started.

If the new office has a theme song, it would definitely be The Jefferson’s “Movin’ On Up”.

While the office isn’t a “dee-luxe apartment in the sky” (we’re on the fifth floor), it does have a really good vibe. It feels like the right move at the right time. It feels like home already.

Here’s a photo of our new digs:

CIMG0685.JPG

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Friday, July 11th, 2008

Thanks for the Coverage!

Mark Evans
Director, Community

As we prepared for the official launch of PlanetEye, we were hoping to get a positive reception. After all, there’s nothing worse than getting yourself dressed up for a party but have no one show up.

Fortunately, lots of people showed up for PlanetEye’s coming out party. We got some terrific coverage from blogs such as StartupNorth, Mashable, VentureBeat, Geek Sugar and ReadWriteWeb. The Twitter-sphere was chock-a-block with chatter about PlanetEye. And there was some really nice e-mails from friends and family.

All in all, it was a great day that, in many cases, set the tone for what will be an exciting ‘08 as we continue to introduce new features, more content and great partners.

Here’s a couple graphics of our official launch day (aka OLD) from Techmeme.com, which tracks the major news in the high-tech world, and Summize.com, a search engine for Twitter conversations.

Picture 5-4

Picture 6-5

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Thursday, July 10th, 2008

The New and Improved PlanetEye

Mark Evans
Director, Community

Planeteye Logo-5
Since I joined PlanetEye a year ago, it has been fascinating to watch how the company has evolved, taken new and exciting directions, and started to establish itself as a vibrant player in the online travel planning market.

In the process, PlanetEye has gone from a ultra-private beta involving friends and family to a private beta to a public beta. Today, we’re excited to announce the official launch of PlanetEye as a one-stop destination for all your travel planning needs.

The centerpiece of the launch is a feature called the Travel Pack, which lets travelers “clip” the interesting photographs, attractions, hotels and restaurants discovered on PlanetEye when they are planning a trip or simply putting together travel ideas. Everything on PlanetEye is geotagged, which means you can see everything on a map, and even create your own personalized maps.

What’s great about the Travel Pack is the more you add to it, the better feel you get for your trip because you can easily and quickly get a sense of where everything is located. It means, for example, that if you select a number of restaurants and attractions in the same area, it’s a snap to book a nearby hotel where you can walk to everything.

Another positive development is PlanetEye has entered into an affiliate agreement with Travelocity.com so you can book your hotels (airline flights and car rentals will be also be available soon) on PlanetEye. We’ve also got partnerships so you can make restaurant reservations (OpenTable), buy tickets to events and attractions (StubHub) and book a spa appointment (WaySpa) - all on PlanetEye.

PlanetEye also features extensive travel content. We now have “Local Experts” in 50 cities around the world providing a local’s perspective on what to do and eat, and where to stay. We’re also aggregating a growing number of professional sources, which you can use to seed your Travel Pack.

This is just the beginning as we’ll be introducing more features and partnerships in the coming months!

Our excitement has been building over the past month as our CEO, Butch Langlois, has given analysts, journalists and bloggers a sneak-peak of what we’ve been working on.

Rob Enderle, principal analyst with the Enderle Group, had a encouraging words:

“PlanetEye pulls together advanced social networking elements, contextual mapping, and professional travel information to create the most advanced travel planning tool I have ever seen. If you are planning a trip or simply want to imagine one, PlanetEye is the first place you should go.”

So far, it has been a great adventure to watch PlanetEye develop into a valuable and useful travel planning service. A tremendous amount work has happened behind the scenes to make it all happen, and today’s launch is just the beginning of good times to come.

More: Thanks to VentureBeat and Mashable for covering our launch.

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Monday, July 7th, 2008

A-GPS or Assisted GPS

Juan Gonzalez
Vice President, Technology

Travelling around northern Italy and Switzerland gave me a good opportunity to rely on my GPS-enabled BlackBerry as the only navigation device to get from one place to the next.

Our journey took us to Nice, Monaco, Milan, Lake Como and St. Moritz - a roadtrip that includes breathtaking landscapes of the Alps and innumerable opportunities for great photography.

While we never got lost thanks to the always useful Google Maps on the BlackBerry, many times we found ourselves stopping to let the device “catch-up” with us. The article “The disruptive potential of GPS on the iPhone 3G” in ars technica may provide some important clues about the tricky business of delivering reliable location information in these new generation of smartphones like the BlackBerry and the iPhone.

Perhaps a good introduction to the complexities of GPS technology is the article “Assisted GPS and the iPhone”, where the differences between traditional devices and those that use other mechanisms such as Wi-Fi networks and cell towers to accelerate parts of the process.

All this sounds great when you’re travelling around a city which is densely packed with cell towers and there are plenty of Wi-Fi networks available to download required information. Things start to get a bit more tricky when Wi-Fi networks disappear on the road and all the mapping information needs to be downloaded over EDGE networks (this was the case throughout most of our roadtrip).

All of the sudden the device “knows” where you are, but can’t really show the pictures to communicate that information on time. 3G promises to accelerate most downloads by a factor of 2 to 3 times, depending on the type of files.

Yet, there is one final element that remains a bit of a mystery for all these new devices: how can they provide a precise GPS reading much faster than other dedicated GPS navigators that typically need seconds to get a fix.

Being an “Assisted GPS” seems to be the key, but it also introduces imprecision to the process as we discovered a few times after taking the wrong turn. It would seem as if sometimes, even if our location appeared to be known on the map, it would be delayed by unknown factors.

Without knowing too much, I quickly concluded that not having enough cell-towers available to triangulate our position, the device would depend exclusively on an “old-school” GPS reading, leading to the usual delays associated with it.

This would explain why Apple states that in the iPhone “applications may not be designed or marketed for real time route guidance.”

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