Sustainable Tourism: Video Demo of our Intro to Travel and Tourism Course
Posted on October 27, 2009
Take a look at a demo (with a short piece on sustainable tourism) of our new edition of “Travel and Tourism: Opening Doors for Your Future,” an interactive course that introduces the Travel and Tourism industry as a serious career path to high school or entry-level college students, people who are about to enter the workforce or those who may be seeking a new career. We have added a Library/Personal Edition on DVD and a Flash video-based e-Learning Edition that can be found online at http://learntravelandtourism.com. The course is both educational and motivational, loaded with timely information about how vast and important the travel industry is, its history, sustainable tourism, future trends, its various sectors and how they work together, and the wide variety of career opportunities it offers.
It is the successor to the “World of Many Faces” video/workbook that my good friend Renton De Alwis put together in 1994, which was used in universities, schools and companies around the world and still is in many libraries
» Filed Under Video, Sustainable Tourism, Travel Biz | 1 Comment
Augmented Reality – Star in Your Own Cartoon
Posted on September 10, 2009
I have enough trouble with real reality, but add software (in this case, something with the unfortunate acronym/name FLARToolKit) and the mind unreels. Try living in your own cartoon here, at this site developed by GE to demonstrate wind and solar energy.
» Filed Under Sustainable Tourism, Tech & Science | Leave a Comment
Up From Baja: Point Lobos Migrates North
Posted on September 2, 2009
Point Lobos (c) 2009 Russell Johnson
Don’t know much about geology, but what I am learning defines me, in the nature of nature, as the insignifcant biped that I am.
Paid a visit to the Pinnacles National Monument. Not recommended during the summer as the temperatures regularly hover around the 100F mark. The best time to go is in the cool spring when the wildflowers are blooming.
I did learn (in the air conditioned comfort of a interpretive center) that The Pinnacles are actually the weathered remnants of an ancient volcano, half of which hitched its way along the tectonic freeway and is now holed up in some rock motel north of Los Angeles.
But as movers and shakers go, Point Lobos is the clear winner.
See Photos on The Connected Traveler
» Filed Under California, Photography | Leave a Comment
Art in Carmel: The Not-So-Good, The Bad and the Badder
Posted on September 1, 2009
Moseying ’round Carmel, California Saturday, I wondered how its tourist trap economy could survive when one of its major exports is cheese-ball art. There are often three or four stores selling similar product in a single block. But then, it doesn’t take too many sales to make the monthly nut. The Golden Gate Bridge picture below was priced at $47 thousand (Psst! I can sell you the real thing for half that). I didn’t bother to price the Statue of Liberty (Psst! I’ll toss that in a half-price). Does Carmel have any figures on its GAP, its Gross Artistic Product?
» Filed Under California, Culture | Leave a Comment
Qik: Yikes, Is That A Reality Show in Your Pocket?
Posted on April 30, 2009
I used to dread it when my wealthy aunt dragged out the magic lantern, put up the screen and proceeded to torture us youngsters (and I am sure our less-traveled parents) with fuzzy slides and stilted stories about her encounters with the pigeon pocked monuments of Europe. Now, thanks to the internet, we have tedium on demand…or as it is on demand and we might not choose to demand it, we can choose spontaneity and entertainment instead. And that fun, these days, could just come from the little device that has become our love it/hate it sidekick, our mobile phones.
Qik is a game changer in video. It is a free software program that works on almost any video-capable phone, that enables you to broadcast live video on the internet for the world to see: to your own free video page, to YouTube, to MySpace, to almost any place your cyber pals lurk. It also stores your video on line, so those who are asleep while you are mugging your way through the Montmartre can watch it later. But Qik’s possibilities are endless, like catching an evil-doer in the act and storing the evidence online before he can wrench the phone from your hands. I spent some time with Rishi Malik of Qik.
Most Qik video is not ready for prime time…yet. It is not the fault of Qik, but of mobile phone manufacturers who use poor quality cameras and codecs (the software schemes that process video). My wife’s Samsung Blackjack delivers passable video while my Blackberry Bold is virtually worthless. Rishi’s Nokia produced a good picture. But Rishi says the future is HDTV. Samsung has a phone (the Omnia HD) that shoots 720p high definition television, which, if your carrier can handle the bandwidth, should look just fine on that big Plasma TV you went into hock for.
Podcast Video [ 0:01 ]» Filed Under Video, Gadgets & Cameras, Tech & Science | Leave a Comment
