Webware

Finding the right services to help you save some cash (and headaches) when you travel can be difficult. That's where this roundup comes in. Below you will find a few resources to help you enjoy a better traveling experience whenever you want to get out of the house.

Get your trip on

Campus Visit If you have a high school student who wants to look for colleges outside of your area, go to Campus Visit and get an Amtrak coupon that gives that student 50 percent off his or her rail fare.

From now through December 13, Amtrak is offering students visiting a college campus the opportunity to save half of the cost of their train tickets. Whoever accompanies the student still needs to pay full price.

Campus Visit, a site that's operated by Collegia, takes care of the coupon process for Amtrak. You'll need to input where you're going, what school you're visiting, and whether or not there's an interview scheduled. As long as the application is approved, you'll have a discount coupon you can use when booking an Amtrak trip. It's a highly commendable service.

Campus Visit helps you get some discounts on Amtrak trips.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Hello Travel Hello Travel is the site for those who don't want to deal with booking a trip on their own.

When you first get to Hello Travel, you'll have the option to research different countries around the world. Once you determine where you want to go, Hello Travel lets you create a full travel itinerary on the site. It's then posted on its agents page where travel agents can review your itinerary, get in touch with you, and build you the trip you want.

I wasn't overly impressed by Hello Travel. Although the service is great as a premise, creating an itinerary took much longer than I would have liked. I'm also unsure what kind of agent response each trip will get. I'd prefer to work with an agent I know, but that's just me. Hello Travel is a nice idea, but your mileage will vary.

Hello Travel helps agents find your trip.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

WorldMate, the popular travel planning and organizational service, has expanded its mobile reach onto the iPhone. The two different versions of the app, which were released late Tuesday night (one free, and a premium version that costs a hefty $19.99), give travelers tools to create and track travel itineraries including flights, hotel reservations, rental cars, and any appointments along the way.

The two versions of the app offer identical functionality for core parts of WorldMate's service, like a flight search tool, world clock list, currency conversion, and a heads-up display on what's on your schedule. However, the paid "gold" version comes without any kind of advertising. Feature-wise, it also adds niceties like an automatic flight status checker that, with the soon-to-be-released iPhone OS 3.0, will send you an alert if there's a delay or cancellation of your flight. It also plugs into Google Maps to tack together a rich map with all the places you're visiting on your trip.

Until it gets the live notifications, users of both versions will simply have to use the one-click "check flight status" link. This checks information against WorldMate's delay and cancellation tracker. It also lets you know about any last-minute gate changes.

WorldMate can put your entire travel itinerary in one app, and give you a heads-up if there are any delays or cancellations. It even has mini apps built in, like this currency converter (pictured right)

(Credit: CNET)

The app is quite polished and ran smoothly on my phone. You can get more full-featured versions of the productivity tools that are included in the app by using other, standalone iPhone applications, however WorldMate's strength is that it puts all of those things in one package. This may seem like a trivial matter, but since the iPhone does a lousy job at multitasking, it's nice to have a Swiss army app equivalent.

WorldMate faces competition from TripIt, which has had its own iPhone app since mid-April. It does many of these things in a free package. However, it does not yet have its own notification service. Instead, it takes any delay notifications you get from your carrier and updates its own information. It's also tied into third-party services (via its API) that can alert you to potential changes to your travel plans.

It's almost summer. Chances are, you'll soon be vacationing somewhere in the world. But what if you want to share that vacation with loved ones?

With the help of these vacation-sharing tools you'll be able to do just that. You can document where you've been, share pictures, and upload videos. And you'll probably enjoy reliving the experience.

Share your travel plans

EveryTrail adds interactive mapping to your experience.

(Credit: Don Reisinger/CNET)

EveryTrail EveryTrail populates your profile page with all the places you've been on vacation. But instead of requiring you to do it yourself, the site uses your GPS device and photos to do it for you. Whenever you go on vacation and bring your GPS device with you, EveryTrail will take your GPS tracks to plot where you've been. When you upload photos to the site, you can add them to the map to show where they were taken. You can also add descriptions to the locations and photos to provide more detail on what you've done. Although EveryTrail requires you to have a GPS device to enjoy it, I think you'll really like it.

Here or There? Here or There is a place to share all your travel experiences in a blog. You can post pictures, videos, and share your vacation with readers. You can also check out other travel blogs from other users to see how their vacations went. Here or There is a nice idea that works well.

myTripBook myTripBook lets you record and share all your travel experiences. For each trip you take, you'll create a diary detailing what you did on your vacation. You can add photos and videos to supplement your content. The site also boasts a recommendations tab so you can tell your readers which bars and restaurants you recommend. myTripBook is a nice service and its trip tracking is outstanding.

RealTravel has great blogs.

(Credit: Don Reisinger/CNET)

RealTravel RealTravel might focus mainly on the dissemination of travel information, but its blog page gives you the opportunity to share your travel experiences. Once you create your free blog, you can use the site's interactive maps to route your trip. You can upload an unlimited number of photos and share slideshows with friends through automatic e-mails that are sent whenever your blog is updated. You can also follow your friends' blogs. RealTravel's blogs section is worth trying out.

RetailMeNot, an online destination for coupons and discounts, announced Tuesday that it has a new printable coupon offering, dubbed RetailMeNot Printable. According to the company, users will be able to print more than 90,000 coupons from thousands of companies.

RetailMeNot also announced that it has partnered with MoneyMailer, Redplum, and Valpak, to provide its users with more printable in-store coupons. The company didn't disclose the details, but it did say that it will continue to add partners to expand the volume of the coupons it offers. Its Printable service is live now.

Rhode Island's general treasurer, Frank T. Caprio, announced Tuesday that he will use Twitter to broadcast the state's cash flow on a daily basis. According to Caprio, each day's tweet will provide gross revenue and expenditure information of the General Fund. Caprio claims his office wanted to be open with the community and Twitter, he felt, was the best way to achieve that. To follow Caprio, click here.

Online travel itinerary service TripIt has unveiled an iPhone app that will keep the user's TripIt itineraries available whether on 3G, offline, or in airplane mode. According to the company, TripIt will provide links to airlines, hotels, restaurants, and more. It also has maps and directions at the ready. The app is available now for free in the Apple App Store.

Goom Radio, a newly-founded New York-based online radio company, raised $16 million in a round of funding that was led by Wellington Partners Venture Capital. The company plans to use the funding to launch its service, hire a dedicated sales team, and build out its infrastructure. Goom Radio plans to launch later this year.

Whether you're moving to a new place or you just want to be more familiar with your surroundings, there are a variety of sites on the Web that fill you in on everything from restaurants to businesses to apartments in your area.

Find some businesses

BooRah If you're only looking for restaurants, BooRah is for you. The site features information on how to get to a restaurant, but really shines when you read through the informative reviews from users and consider the "similar restaurant" tab, which features a listing of local eateries that are similar to your search. Also good: The site's "explore" tool, which lets you look through the city your restaurant is in to find other eateries. It is not as full-featured as Yelp, but BooRah is a fine alternative if you want to find a place to eat tonight.

CitySearch makes it simple to find places in your area.

(Credit: Don Reisinger/CNET Networks)

CitySearch With a revamped site that includes new features and Facebook Connect support, CitySearch is a solid alternative for those who want to get to know their surroundings. The site gives you the option to find bars, restaurants, shopping locations, and more. Each page includes a description by an editor, supplemented by user reviews. In most cases, those user reviews provide valid insight into different locales.

InsiderPages If you're looking for specific type of businesses in your area, InsiderPages is a great resource. You start in a city of your choosing and input keywords like "dentist" or "plumber" to find all the companies providing those services in the area. Once you find a company, InsiderPages displays reviews it takes from CitySearch and other sites, and it includes a description of the business that was written by users who have been there.

FindnTell FindnTell is a useful site, although it's only got New York City info right now. It allows you to search for local businesses anywhere in the U.S. and uses Google Maps to make it easier to find places. It's designed well and its listings are informative.

NearbyNow If you're looking for specific products, try this site. It features categories ranging from appliances to cell phones to luggage. Once you input your location and choose a category, you'll be brought to a page detailing products that are available and where you can get them in your area. Looking for a Stilettoi t satellite radio? It's available at the Best Buy 20 miles from your home and it costs $250. That's the kind of information NearbyNow will provide and it comes in especially handy when you know you need something and you have no idea if it's available. It's a unique service.

TripAdvisor It might not be designed specifically for those who want information about their neighborhood, but TripAdvisor is still a great place to go if you want to find out about hotels or other tourist locations in your area. Whenever I want to get out of the house for a night or simply want to check out something notable in my area, TripAdvisor is my first stop.

Yahoo Local Yahoo Local reminds me of Yelp in quite a few ways. It includes a huge listing of businesses, the option to create reviews, and its page design makes it easy to search around the site. And thanks to the massive Yahoo community, it's also one of the more active sites in this roundup, featuring numerous reviews on restaurants, bars, shopping malls, and other frequented locales in your area. That said, it doesn't have the same social flavor as Yelp, and its listings pages are a bit cluttered. Regardless, it's worth using for a second opinion.

YellowBot is simpler than CitySearch.

(Credit: Don Reisinger/CNET Networks)

YellowBot If you're looking to find places and you don't want to deal with all the extras that sites like CitySearch offer, use YellowBot. The site makes it simple, with two search boxes entitled, "What" and "Where." As you might expect, you're only required to input what you're looking for and where you want to find it and within seconds, you'll have a page displaying the company's user rating, reviews by those who have been patrons of the firm, and contact information. The site also finds reviews from across the Web to supplement its pages.

Yelp If you're looking for the best local search service on the Web, go to Yelp. The site has it all. According to the company it now has over 5 million user reviews and based on my searches, I believe it--nothing was left out. But where Yelp really shines is in its coverage. Regardless of whether you sign up for the site or not, you'll find more cities in Yelp than in any other service in this roundup and I found that since the community is much larger, there are more reviews, giving Yelp an advantage over competitors. (On the other hand, there are questions about the credibility of Yelp business pages.)

Apartments, events, and more

ApartmentRatings Looking for a new apartment and don't know where to begin? Check out ApartmentRatings. Once you input a zip code into the site's search box, you'll find a listing of apartments in the area. Once you click on a property you're interested in, tenant reviews tell you if it's worth living there. I've used the site in the past and the reviews are spot on. If you're moving into an apartment, don't do anything before you consult ApartmentRatings.

Craigslist What good would a local site roundup be without Craigslist? As if you need to be told, Craigslist is the single destination to find anything you want in your area. Whether it's a used couch or open slots on a softball team, you can find it all on Craigslist. And since it's such a popular destination, there's no shortage of local information. It's one of the best destinations in this roundup.

Upcoming helps you find out what to do tonight.

(Credit: Don Reisinger/CNET Networks)

Upcoming Upcoming includes information about upcoming events in your area, such as conferences, concerts, and other social events. But what sets the site apart is its geotagging, which allows you to search for events by neighborhood or general area. And if you meet someone at a show and you want do something with them next weekend, you can friend them on the site and see where they're going next.

Zvents If you're looking for something to do this weekend, Zvents is worth visiting. It automatically determines your location and lets you search through all the events that are happening in your area. Whether you want to check out the free concert at your neighborhood hangout or the big event at the local arena, Zvents has it all. It's my go-to destination when I want to go out.

Allvoices.com has launched a Credibility Meter across its citizen news service. According to the company, the Credibility Meter will be placed at the bottom of every news story to help readers determine the trustworthiness of a particular citizen journalist's postings on the site. The final determination of an author's credibility is based on how well the community likes content from the author, how well the community enjoys a particular report, how many contributors are writing on the same topic, and how many mainstream sources have supporting content about the report. The Credibility Meter is live now.

TripAdvisor launched a search engine Thursday night that will pull flight and fare data from multiple airlines and online travel agencies, the company announced. The search engine offers a fee estimator that will include the cost of checking bags, buying food in-flight, and more. The search engine is available now.

The O'Reilly community blog in Germany announced Friday that the Web 2.0 Expo in Europe, which is typically held in Berlin, Germany, each year, will not be held in 2009 due to poor worldwide economic conditions. The event's backers said that any of those companies that would still like to attend O'Reilly's Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco this year can enter to win a $1,000 travel fund by using the code websf09eu when they sign up for the event. The fund will give the winner three free nights in San Francisco during the Web 2.0 Expo.

Sears announced Thursday that it has launched an online marketplace designed for those who want improvements and repairs done in their home. Dubbed ServiceLive.com, the site aims at connecting Sears customers with local service providers and uses an auction system that lets those servicepeople bid to do the user's requested work. The original bid is set by the user and subsequent to that, companies will bid lower to get the person's business. The site is in beta and live now.

It's almost spring, which means it's time we all start planning our vacations for 2009. To do so, we need sites to help us research new places, decide where we want to go, and figure out what we can still afford.

I've picked five sites that try to do just that. Each site offers outstanding resources to help you find the right destination. And thanks to their user communities that often discuss affordability, you can make a better-informed decision about the price tag.

Driftr
Like other services in this roundup, Driftr relies on the intelligence of the traveling community to provide information about where to go around the world and how to get there. And although much of the information is useful, Driftr isn't a well-trafficked site, so you won't see as many reviews from tourists as you would on TripAdvisor.

Regardless, I liked Driftr's design because it makes researching areas around the globe quick and easy. Its home page features a clickable map that allows you to explore user reviews for places both at home and abroad. In fact, the vast majority of the world is covered by Driftr and almost any country will have at least one review.

At first glance, that's great. But once you start drilling down into the different countries, you quickly realize that the number of reviews for individual locations are generally few. In fact, when I searched for tourist reviews of Florence, Italy, the site only returned two. That's not enough to make a decision.

Aside from reviews, Driftr also allows you to upload photos and videos and discuss the best way to get around a particular city. All those features come in handy when people are actually employing them, but on some pages, only a few sentences were left to discuss the viability of going somewhere, which, once again, leaves little room for you to decide if you want to visit.

I like Driftr because of its potential, but right now, it's not an ideal site due to its sparse user support. As more people join the community, it may be a more worthwhile site, but until then, only use Driftr if you want to go to popular locations like New York City or Rome.

RealTravel
RealTravel is a well-designed site that, much like Driftr, uses the power of the community to deliver travel guides to those who want to learn more about a specific locale. And generally, it delivers a great experience.

The first thing that struck me about RealTravel was its friendly design. Unlike some sites, which feature too much information on the home page, RealTravel makes it easy to find what you're looking for as soon as possible. Want to go to Rome? It's right on the front page. How about Prague? Yep, it's there too. Simply put, finding frequented locations was quick and easy.

Once I started diving into the travel guides, I wasn't as impressed as I was with the site's design. Generally, the travel guides feature basic information you can find on any respective city's Web site. And like on Driftr, the community isn't active enough, yielding a site that's relatively light on solid details about a particular place.

That said, there are some city pages--Rome and Prague, for example--that offer outstanding information, since they're frequented by quite a few RealTravel's users. Those pages offer travel guides, flight guides, a look at where to eat, and more, which makes the site shine. But if you want to travel somewhere that's off the beaten path, don't waste your time with RealTravel. Its community and best content is focused on major locations.

TripAdvisor
There's quite a bit to like about TripAdvisor. Not only does it rely on its huge community to provide great research tools for tourists, it's the best site in this roundup.

TripAdvisor is designed relatively well, although its home page is a little cluttered. Once you get past the clutter, though, you quickly realize that TripAdvisor's destination pages make it easy to find information about a particular city, restaurant, hotel, or landmark. And since there are so many users, you won't have a shortage of good information to go around.

To evaluate TripAdvisor, I looked through its Cancun pages. I went to Cancun on my honeymoon in November and feel I have a solid understanding of the city, where to go, where to stay, and what to do there. TripAdvisor's Cancun pages, thanks to users, delivered the most informative reviews I saw on any of the travel sites.

That said, TripAdvisor's best features--its users--is also its biggest issue. Sometimes, especially with new hotels, TripAdvisor won't help you decide if you should book a room. Some patrons have a bad experience and blow it out of proportion. Others love it so much, they fail to mention that the rooms are smaller than they look in the pictures. On popular locations, that issue is easily fixed thanks to sheer volume, but in less-frequented locations where only a few reviews exist, you'll need to find outside evidence to make a judgment.

TripAdvisor is the most popular travel-research site and it's easily the best, thanks to an active community and extras like photos, videos, and partnerships with travel sites that make it easy to book a vacation. TripAdvisor is your ideal travel research site.

UpTake
UpTake is a unique travel search site because it requires two things from its users: that they travel in the United States and that they know what they want to do.

UpTake is designed well and it makes searching for locations quick and easy. In fact, it's the best-designed site in this roundup.

But when I started digging deeper into UpTake, I was a little disappointed by what I saw. Instead of a site that offers vacation information on destinations all over the world, you'll only find articles and reviews on places in the U.S. Worse, the individual listings were fraught with poor reviews and worse descriptions, making the site practically useless. That said, the sheer number of listings--UpTake returned 49,000 results for New York City--might make some want to use the site since there are so many more options than on competing services. But quality should trump quantity.

As much as I didn't like the listings pages, I like that UpTake allows you to search for places based on what you're trying to accomplish on your vacation. Whether you're looking for a romantic getaway to Hawaii or a fun-filled trip with the kids to Florida, the site will automatically find locations that satisfy that desire and allow you to compare your options. It's a simple feature, but one that I really enjoyed using and is easily UpTake's most redeeming quality.

Virtual Tourist
Virtual Tourist is a nice travel research site that cuts down on all the extras you might find in sites like TripAdvisor and keeps it to the basics: the best restaurants, the best hotels, and the best places to visit.

That sort of simplicity defines Virtual Tourist and also makes it a great choice for when you want to plan your next vacation. I searched for locations like Prague and Paris, and each time, it delivered a slew of great resources that I was able to read through and find detailed information on.

Much like the other sites in this roundup, you'll be forced to evaluate each Virtual Tourist review on a case-by-case basis. For example, one review of a hotel in Rome, Italy, features two reviewers. One claims the hotel is the "nicest hotel" the reviewer has ever seen, while the other says that the hotel "is inundated with vermin." Who should we believe? Once again, more input from third parties is needed to make that decision.

Regardless, Virtual Tourist makes it easy to find locations with the help of its "Tour Guides" section and generally, each of those pages are populated with outstanding information. It may not be TripAdvisor, since it has fewer listings and less users, but Virtual Tourist is a great alternative for those who want a different view on some of the finest locations around the world.

Responding to its users' desire for more restaurant review offerings, TripAdvisor announced Tuesday that throughout 2009, it will be adding features that will allow visitors to do more than review eateries on the site. So far, the site features 2 million reviews and ratings on 500,000 restaurants worldwide. To help users search through those more effectively, TripAdvisor added price, cuisine, and "recommended for" filters to its restaurant page Tuesday.

Also, the company has partnered with OpenTable.com to allow U.S. users to make a reservation directly on TripAdvisor's site. The company's new iPhone app, dubbed Local Picks, lets users find local restaurants and use the device's location-based technology to find restaurants nearby. More features will be announced later this year. Goodrec offers a similar service.

Online radio service Slacker Radio has launched five new stations in time for Valentine's Day. Its Broken Heart Radio station will feature "a melancholy mix of lost love and yearning with a touch of soulful redemption." Slow Jamz aims at getting you in the mood with songs from Marvin Gaye and others, while Rock Ballads Radio tries to bring you and your loved one back to the 1970s and 1980s. All of the company's Valentine's Day stations are live now.

XLR8 Mobile, a company that offers customizable widgets for sharing videos, music, and pictures across social networks, announced that it has changed its name to Dijit. The company's CEO, Eric Allen, claims the name change was the result of his company's "commitment" to developing new technology that allows users to share their original content and focus more on sharing. The company's new name was announced in conjunction with the release of a beta version of its widget platform.

Oodle, a network for online classifieds, announced Tuesday that it raised $5.6 million in funding from existing investors, Greylock Partners, JAFCO Ventures, and Redpoint Ventures. The company, which announced last year that it will power Facebook's Marketplace, will use the funding to form more partnerships. The Facebook Marketplace is scheduled to launch later this quarter.

Search marketing and analytic firm Enquisite, closed an $8 million round of financing that was led by Castile Ventures and Formative Ventures. According to the company, it plans to use the funding for product development and marketing efforts it hopes will expand its operation.

Online travel itinerary and trip-planning service TripIt announced Monday that it has launched a new application programming interface for developers who want to integrate the company's travel itineraries into their respective service. The API will allow developers to share itinerary information between sites and travel agents. The first iteration of the TripIt API, which is available now, will only allow users to read, add, or delete trip plans.

ChaCha, a human-powered answers service, wants to raise $30 million in a Series C round of funding, reports PEHub. So far, the company has been able to raise approximately $11 million, but investor information has yet to be disclosed.

YouTube now allows users who leave comments to delete them. Those who wish to do so can click a new "delete" button that appears in the "Text Comments" section below a video. So far, YouTube will only allow users to delete their own comments.

ProPay, a service that competes with PayPal and provides the same basic service, announced Monday that it's now extending its offering to eBay Bronze PowerSellers. Prior to the announcement, ProPay was available only to eBay Silver, Gold, and Platinum PowerSellers. The ProPay eAuction service requires Bronze PowerSellers to pay 3.1 percent and 30 cents per transaction or lower for Silver, Gold, and Platinum PowerSellers.

The Internet has been voted the best source for investors to make financial decisions, claims a new study from Forbes. The study, which was conducted in November, found 65 percent of respondents believe the Web is the "most important source of investing information." In 2005, only 52 percent of respondents made the same claim. Newspapers, on the other hand, are losing importance. The study found that only 17 percent of all respondents say they use newspapers to make investing decisions.