Southwest Airlines Co.

By Leanna Lofte, Saturday, Aug 6, 2011 | Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game. To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break! Every night before going to bed, I place my iPhone on the charger and watch the little sync icon come alive. Yes, iOS 5 will sync your iPhone or iPad to your computer without wires, and without any user input. It’s all automatic. I have not plugged my iPhone into my Mac in several weeks now, and it’s an easy thing to get used to. And then I needed a photo I’d taken with my iPhone camera. Surely I didn’t have to plug my iPhone into my Mac just to transfer the photo? So I emailed it to myself. But there had to be a better way since you can’t actually retrieve photos from your iTunes backup/sync. A short while later, I discovered PhotoSync. Everyone is going to have to get this app: it’s the perfect solution for our new untethered world. There are options for everyone. Do you only want to sync your photos from your iPhone to your iPad? PhotoSync can do this. Happy using Dropbox and don’t want to change? PhotoSync has you covered here, too. What’s that? You’re a pc, not a Mac? No problem! I have tried several sync methods with PhotoSync, and they are all easy, and successful. PhotoSync offers both a Mac and Windows desktop companion (at no charge!) with setup taking no time, no effort, and almost no thought. Keeping my little girl entertained is always a challenge. Luckily she absolutely adores a little pig cartoon called Peppa Pig. This week a new app called Peppa Pig’s Party Time hit the App Store and she loves it. You get to design the party invitations, make the birthday cake and create the party bags. Once done, all your friends arrive and you can play Pass the Parcel, Musical Chairs and Pinata time. It is a lot of fun for the young ones. It is a well designed app that uses the power of the iPad touch-screen in a Read More

ITA Software, whose product powers your searches for airline ticket deals on sites like Kayak and Orbitz, has been in the news because Google is trying to buy the company. And with good reason: ITA’s own site has been the secret weapon of road warriors because of its ability to sort through lots of flight options and deliver the results in an easy-to-read chart. It’s such a powerful product that competitors have opposed the purchase. But that shouldn’t stop you from loading up ITA’s free iPhone application, On the Fly. The app lets you search multiple airlines using a number of filters. From the first page, you choose departure and destination airports, specific dates or a block of dates during which you’re willing to travel. You can choose how many stops you want the plane to make, whether you will allow multi-airline flights, and you can set it to show you only flights with available seats. You can sort the resulting flights by the airline price, departure time, number of stops, arrival time or duration of the flight. You can even look at a map to see how direct your flight will be. One thing the app doesn’t allow you to do is book the flight. For that, you have to go to another site – otherwise ITA would be competing with its clients. Two other quibbles. Not all of the airlines are represented. To check Southwest Air, for instance, you’ll have to go to its Web site or use its app. The other isn’t really ITA’s fault, but some of the information it gets from contributing airlines is consistently wrong. In a test, I found flight from Baltimore to Martha’s Vineyard to be priced substantially lower on the ITA site then the actual purchase price from the airline. But for its overall usefulness and its powerful sorting, fliers may find this app is just the ticket. Read More

If you've been watching TV over the last few days (and who hasn't, with that USA / Canada hockey game and the tsunami coverage), you may have seen the latest in the series of iPhone ads. The ad, titled "Family Travel," features a voice-over by a Mom who gushes that "It's unbelievable how much better family trips have gotten..." as she demonstrates using the Southwest Airlines app to check in on a flight from Denver to LA, finds a restaurant for the family (Heidi's Brooklyn Deli) in the C concourse at Denver International Airport with Gate Guru, makes sure that she has entertainment for her kids in the form of "Finding Nemo" loaded in the iPod app, and then turns off the living room lights at home with the Schlage Link app. For those of you who are sticklers for advertising accuracy, note that Southwest flight 1403 is not an actual SWA flight between DEN and LAX and that the restaurant list for Concourse C at Denver International Airport is actually a mashup of restaurants located throughout Denver International Airport. All of the apps are free, although Schlage Link does require a monthly subscription and appropriate Z-Link hardware on the home front (similar to the Christmas tree ad from the holidays). Read More

February 23, 2010   Brooke   commercials, videos   Apple’s latest iPhone commercial, Family Travel, focuses on the iPhone’s ability in making “family travel” much more convenient. “It’s unbelievable how much better family trips have gotten. Just last week I checked us in on the way to airport. Found the kids a snack near the gate. And even had their favorite movie ready to go. Then my husband turned to me and said, “Did we turn off the lights?” So we turned off the lights. And that’s why I don’t go anywhere without my iPhone.” Apps shown in Ad: - Southwest Airlines (Free) - GateGuru (Free) - Schlage LiNK (Free, but requires compatible hardware and service plan) Read More

Southwest Airlines is out with its own iPhone/iPod Touch app called DING! The application allows users to book reservations, checkin for flights, check flight status, view flight schedules — all while getting discounted fares on Southwest flights. Those discounted rates are especially emphasized as they are apparently only available through the app. And that’s about all we can say about DING. We also have Southwest Airlines’s Kevin Krone words who said: “Whether you are managing Rapid Rewards credits or need to checkin for your flight, the Southwest Airlines App now offers Customers the flexibility to do that and more-with plenty of Southwest flair!” Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis. Read More