CNN Business Traveller
SHOW #82
Technology Special
We’ll be looking at the latest technological innovations that make life on the road more bearable - the gizmos and gadgets that are available, if people are using them and if they are actually any good, for instance – glasses that allows you to sit back and watch movies, software that lets you have share and update documents across multiple devices – laptop, work computer and home PC; and cameras with wi-fi that email pictures as soon as you take them.
We’ll be presenting the show from the city of Venice, rolling out what is believed to be the most extensive wireless internet system anywhere in Europe. Ten thousand kilometres of cables have been laid, establishing wi-fi hotspots just about everywhere in the city. For the locals it’s free, and from September, visitors can pay $7 a day.
LAPTOP SECURITY
These days, there are wi-fi hotspots everywhere you go – from coffee shops to hotel lobbies, on trains and at airports. Airports in particular have become a hot spot for hackers. Business travellers working away on their laptops, trying to productive in between flights are unaware that their laptop could be tapped into very easily. Airports themselves are unaware of how open their own networks are exposing sensitive information such as passenger and baggage details. CNN’s Phil Black was at the departure gate with an IT expert to see how vulnerable we really are.
SOCIAL NETWORKING
As we travel the globe on business, it is now very easy to explore the social networking opportunities around us. Air France-KLM, for example, offers its passengers the chance to get together, play golf and network. This kind of networking has obvious advantages for executives building contacts but there are also benefits for women business travellers. Some social networking sites are now targeting business women travelling alone and help them connect with other lone female travellers. CNN’s Ayesha Durgahee joined some women for dinner and asks how useful these websites are.
HI-TECH HOTELS
Lead by the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering, a special laboratory in Germany is developing the Hotel of the Future. They’ve designed a futuristic hotel bedroom with a swaying bed that rocks you to sleep, walls that change colour, a voice-activated plasma TV that acts as room service, and a robot that serves drinks. CNN’s Jim Boulden visits the lab to get a taste of the future and to see whether we really need to be so high-tech.
LUGGAGE
We’ve all dragged our suitcases, struggled with them up the stairs, hauled them over curbs and cobbled streets. A new smart suitcase can help ease all that stress. Live Luggage is a power-assisted suitcase that has built-in sensors so when you are trying to haul your 32kg suitcase over a curb or up a hill, the wheels will turn faster, depending on the gradient, and will feel like you’re dragging 3kg. Richard Quest puts the suitcase through its paces around Venice.
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